November Digital Media News Stories

Computing:
The mouse turns 40 (30th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/nov/30/computer-science-it-mouse


Searching:
The leading Chinese search engine has been accused of allowing unlicensed medical services to buy high search rankings (29th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/29/china-baidu-internet


Television:
An article on the 20th anniversary of satellite TV (29th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/nov/29/digital-media-television-simon-garfield


Twitter:
A new mode of citizen journalism comes to the fore during the 26th-29th November Mumbai terror attacks – live updates by those caught up in the shootings via Twitter (28th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/28/mumbai-terror-attacks-india-internet-technology-twitter See also (1st Dec): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/dec/01/mumbai-terror-digital-media


Mobile Phones:
Apple has another iPhone ad banned after ‘really fast’ internet access claims (27th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/nov/27/iphone-apple-advertising-ban


Music:
Digital sales overtake CD sales at Atlantic Records – the first label where this has happened (27th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/nov/27/digital-music-atlantic-records


Surveillance:
The Guardian newspaper hires its own satellite and manages to track down the hijacked Sirius Star Saudi supertanker off Somalia (27th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/27/piracy-somali-saudi-supertaker-aden


Privacy:
A feud between two TV anchors at Philadelphia’s local CBS station leads one to snoop on the other’s emails, leading to a court case and his sacking (26th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/nov/26/cbs-news-presenters-lane-mendte


Porn/Privacy:
Salon.com offer an article on the rise in ‘upskirt’ photography and the posting of material on the internet (25th Nov): http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2008/11/25/upskirting/print.html


Internet:
Police in Florida are investigating after a teenager appeared to kill himself live on the internet after being goaded by other web surfers (22nd Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/nov/22/internet-live-suicide


Print:
Newspapers are delighted as the BBC scraps its plans to deliver local news content on the web (22nd Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/nov/22/bbc-internet-local-news


Internet:
The EU’s prototype digitisation of material from its most important libraries and museums etc. crashes with 10m hits an hour on its launch day (21st Nov):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/21/eu


Cyberwar:
China winning cyberwar, Congress is warned (21st Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/nov/20/china-us-military-hacking


Privacy:
A BNP membership list is leaked online, leading to police and other services scanning the members for serving officers. Exposed members are contacted by the press for comments (20th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/nov/19/police-bnp-far-right-list


Digital Media Use:
A report o our ‘digital addiction’ – our digital media use (20th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/nov/20/digital-communications-phones


Internet:
Fears over Australia’s plans to impose compulsory filters over net content (20th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/nov/20/australia-internet-filter-censorship


Virtual Worlds:
Victor Keegan on the rise of virtual worlds and his own experience of Second Life (16th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/nov/16/virtual-worlds-second-life-internet


Politics:
A story about how Obama will take presidential radio broadcasts into the digital age. This week he reached out to the American public using a Youtube video (16th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/16/obama-white-house-barackobama


Internet:
The UK government back the idea of naming and shaming ISPs over the speed with which they take down offensive material (15th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/nov/15/internet-children


Virtual Worlds:
A Second Life affair leads to a real-life divorce. A couple who met in an internet chatroom and moved in together in RL argued after he was caught having sex with a prostitute in Second Life. They split up in SL though stayed together in RL. Then she set a ‘honey trap’ in SL to test her husband again which he passed and they got back together in SL, marrying in a SL ceremony. They soon married in RL too in a 2005 ceremony. She then found her husband chatting with a woman in SL and filed for divorce in RL … The story then goes global … (14th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/nov/14/second-life-virtual-worlds-divorce The story then develops as a pair of reporters logging onto SL get the interview scoop RL reporters camped outside the couple’s home couldn’t get (14th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/nov/14/digitalmedia-secondlife The BBC coverage also offers an explanation of avatar sex (14th Nov): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7729207.stm


Searching/Tracking:
Google uses its data collection power to predict the spread of flu up to two weeks in advance of existing public services (13th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/nov/13/google-internet


Virtual Worlds:
Users of Google earth can now navigate a virtual reconstruction of ancient Rome on 1st April AD320 (13th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/13/italy-google-earth-ancient-rome


Social Networking:
After blocking US military access to Youtube the Pentagon unveils its own ‘Trooptube’ video-sharing service to aid family communication for serving forces (13th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/13/us-military-censorship-networking-communication


Software:
An article on the problems of licensing software (13th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/nov/13/software-research


Nanotechnology:
A report by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution questions the safety of nanomaterials in our products (12th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/nov/12/nanotechnology-pollution


War:
News of more than a dozen foreign raids by US forces against Al-Qaida, often using electronic surveillance and reconnaissance such as Predator drones: rais included ‘a 2006 navy Seal raid on a suspected militant compound in Pakistan's Bajaur region. The CIA watched the entire operation live in Virginia through a camera mounted on a Predator drone.The unmanned Predators have become an increasingly popular tool of the CIA and US military forces. More and more Predators are being switched from Iraq to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, partly to step up the hunt for Bin Laden in the last days of the Bush administration and partly because of the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan’ (11th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/11/cia-rendition-raids-al-qaida

Politics:
John Naughton on the failure of the US Republican party to use digital media as successfully as Obama in their presidential campaign (9th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/nov/09/youtube-technology-internet-election-campaign


Television:
An article on the Virgin media chief discussing the recent settlement with Sky over their channels and the state of Virgin TV and the digital TV market (7th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/nov/07/virgin-media-neil-berkett-interview


Television:
ITV sees its revenues slide again as advertising downturn and online shift takes hold (6th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/nov/06/itv-television-advertising-sales


Theory:
An article on Ray Kurzweil and the idea of the ‘singularity’ (6th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/nov/06/artificialintelligenceai-engineering


Surveillance:
A Chinese official is sacked over claims he assaulted a girl at a restaurant. Video footage led to his identification by Chinese internet users – the human search engine (5th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/05/china-lin-xiaxiang-communist-party


Television:
Sky and Virgin end their actions and channels row (5th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/nov/05/bskyb-virgin-media-richard-branson


Nanotechnology:
A Which report questions the safe use of nanoparticles in cosmetics (5th Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/nov/05/cosmetics-beauty-nanoparticles-royal-society


Privacy:
Virgin sacks 13 after staff post comments on Facebook referring to passengers as ‘chavs’ (1st Nov): http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/nov/01/virgin-atlantic-facebook

September-October Digital Media News Stories

October 2008


Privacy/Social Networking:
Cory Doctorow on privacy in the digital age (31st Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/31/civil-liberty-information-database-jacqui


Print:
A breakthrough deal between Google and the US book industry to sell book content online (29th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/oct/29/google-books-publishing-online-royalties


Security:
The government’s official privacy watchdog warns of the security dangers of bigger databases (29th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/oct/29/data-security-breach-civil-liberty


Computing:
Microsoft unveils Windows 7 (29th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/oct/29/microsoft-windows-7


Music:
UK Music, A new umbrella organisation, is formed to represent the British music industry and fight piracy, headed by Feargal Sharkey (27th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/27/feargal-sharkey-music-piracy


Virtual Worlds/Crime:
Associated Press in Tokyo report: ‘A 43-year-old Japanese piano teacher's sudden divorce from her online husband in a virtual game world made her so angry that she logged on and killed his avatar digital persona. The woman, who used his identification and password to log on to the interactive game Maple Story in May, was arrested on suspicion of illegal access to a computer and manipulating electronic data, police in Sapporo City said. If charged and convicted she could face a prison term of up to five years or a fine of up to £3,100. The man complained to police when he discovered that his online avatar was dead’ (24th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/24/4


Music:
An article on the continuing popularity of sampling (24th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/oct/24/electronicmusic-urban


Piracy:
Chinese internet users are angry after Microsoft launch an anti-piracy tool to combat fake software (23rd Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/oct/23/microsoft-china-software-piracy


Video games:
An article on the problems of the UK games industry (23rd Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/oct/23/games-industry


War/Terrorism:
Analysts suspect a systematic cyber-attack on Al-Qaida websites by western security services (22nd Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/22/alqaida-terrorism-internet


Television:
A complaint that rural viewers will be hit by the digital television switchover as the government has refused to make sure all the broadcasters using Freeview will offer a full service for every home (20th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/oct/20/freeview-rural-country-digital-discrimination


Crime:
A motorcyclist is jailed for 12 weeks after posting videos of himself doing stunts and speeding at 130mph on Youtube (21st Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/oct/20/youtube-ukcrime


Crime:
A secret website for fraudsters to buy and sell stolen credit card details has been shut down (18th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/oct/18/internet-identityfraud-darkmarket


Video:
A new viral video success – footage of a UK basketball player running rings around a visiting US NBA professional (17th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/oct/17/gbbasketball-ussport


Censorship:
The website of turkey’s third largest-selling newspaper has been blocked after a complain by an Islamic creationist (17th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/17/turkey-religion


Crime:
A man murders his wife because of posts she made on Facebook after they split up (17th Oct): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7676285.stm


Internet/Future:
On the movement towards an ‘internet of things’ (16th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/oct/16/internet-of-things-ipv6


Privacy:
The government is drawing up plans for new powers for the security and intelligence agencies allowing them to access personal data online (16th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/oct/16/internet-uksecurity


Virtual Worlds/Video Games:
A new football game will offer off-pitch action as well as matches, mixing the appeal of console games with virtual worlds (14th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/oct/14/games-digitalmedia


Cyberwar:
Hackers force a leading pan-Arab TV station to change its internet domain name (13th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/13/middleeast-internet


Radio:
Hard-up Channel 4 axes its plans for a string of new digital radio stations to challenge the BBC (11th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/oct/11/digitaltvradio-channel4 See also the article at (13th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/oct/13/channel4-radio-digital A few days later figures show that despite C4’s fear digital radio listening continues to increase (17th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/oct/17/digitaltvradio-channel4


Information:
A computer hard-drive with the private details of 100 000 armed forces personnel has gone missing (11th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/oct/11/military-defence


Future;
An article on developments in artificial life (9th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/oct/09/artificial.intelligence.ai.robots


Censorship/Law:
South Korea plans to use the law to control internet postings and content (9th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/oct/09/news.internet


Video:
The rise of ‘the Youtube generation’ (6th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/oct/06/youtube.youngpeople


Mobile Phones/Music:
Nokia seeks to challenge the iPhone with the launch of a new touchscreen phone with unlimited music (the ‘Comes With Music’ service) (3rd Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/oct/03/nokia.nokia


Video:
A University investigates a drunken student initiation videoed by a journalism student (3rd Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/oct/03/students.highereducation


Print:
Cambridge scientists launch a three year project to create the next generation of epaper, allowing full-colour, interactive electronic magazines and newspapers (2nd Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/oct/09/news.internet


Mobile Phones:
A Spanish mortuary has begun offering condolences by text message for time-pressed or distant mourners (1st Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/01/spain



September 2008


Television:
BSkyB loses its legal battle over its 17.9% stake in ITV (30th Sept): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/sep/30/bskyb.itv


Video:
An article on the new viral web video craze – subtitled Hitler videos (28th Sept): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/sep/28/youtube.internet


Music:
The charts try to keep pace with the changing consumption of music by including a ‘subscription plays chart’ (24th Sept): http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/sep/24/internet


Mobile Phones:
Google makes its handset debut with its first mobile phone, the G1 (22nd Sept): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/sep/22/google.mobilephones
See also (24th Sept): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/sep/23/google.apple


China/Internet:
A story about China’s online ’50 cent army’ – how it is paying people to post online messages promoting or supporting government policies (22nd Sept): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/sep/22/chinathemedia.marketingandpr


Security:
A strike threat by prison officers after data is lost containing the personal details of 5000 justice staff (8th Sept): http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/sep/08/prisonsandprobation.justice


Internet:
An article on Google on the occasion of its launch of a new browser, ‘Chrome’ (7th Sept): http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article4692267.ece


Television:
TV’s viewing decline slows but the young are still turning the TV off. Mainstream TV is trying to find new ways to attract desirable audiences (6th Sept): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/sep/06/television.bbc


Print:
The launch of the new Sony Reader, a £199 electronic reader that holds up to 160 books (5th Sept): http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/sep/05/ebooks.sony


Music/Mobile Phones:
Nokia’s assault on the iPhone arrives: a range of phons that will allow the downloading of up to 2.1m songs onto their computer and then their phone for no extra charge for 12 months (2nd Sept): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/sep/02/nokia.nokia