The trailer for Whip It, the new roller-derby comedy starring Ellen Page and Marcia Gay Harden, and directed by Drew Barrymore, is now online.
Whip It opens in theaters October 9.
Posts Tagged ‘online’
Online gambling in Europe: A stacked deck
July 16th, 2009 |
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Recalcitrant European governments refuse to open their gambling markets
PROFESSIONAL poker players say that if you have been playing for a while and cannot figure out who the patsy is, it’s you. This dictum also applies to those involved in a high-stakes game between the European Commission, online-gambling firms and several European countries opposed to internet betting. The European Union’s supposed single market, which the commission polices, is fractured over the issue. A study for the European Parliament last year found that seven of the union’s 27 members outlaw online gambling. Of the other 20, only 13 have liberalised their markets. The rest limit online gambling to monopolies owned or licensed by the state.
The sharpest crackdown on gambling firms in Europe is now taking place in the Netherlands, which only allows its residents to place online bets with a state monopoly, De Lotto. Earlier this year the government ratcheted up the pressure on foreign betting firms. Its tactics seem to have been copied from America, which in 2006 struck at online-gambling firms by threatening the banks that they used. In February the Dutch Ministry of Justice warned banks in the country that they could be prosecuted for transferring money from the accounts of Dutch residents to those of online-gambling firms abroad. …
Digital refusniks
July 16th, 2009 |
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By Jane Wakefield
Technology reporter, BBC News
If you weren’t online what would send you dashing for the nearest mouse and keyboard
That is the dilemma facing Martha Lane Fox, erstwhile co-founder of Lastminute.com and freshly appointed Digital Champion.
It may sometimes seem like the world and her brother are tweeting or posting messages on Facebook but the reality is that 17 million Britons have never been online.
They have chosen not to do so, seeing the internet as irrelevant to their lives, too expensive or simply too daunting.
Now Ms Lane Fox is on the hunt for refuseniks.
She hosted the first meeting of her taskforce on Tuesday and its strategy will be to target the six million poorest Brits first as the correlation between social and digital exclusion becomes ever harder to ignore.
Ms Lane Fox has a tough job. As Professor Bill Dutton of the Oxford Internet Institute points out, she is trying to convert those who have no desire to be converted.
"The big question is how do you get people to experience a technology that they are predisposed not to be interested in," he asked.
Government services may not be a killer app but Whitehall definitely wants to do far more business online. Currently 80% of its transactions are done with the bottom 25% of society and migrating services online offers great cost savings.
The idea that you can buy a car tax disc online or enter a tax return, while useful, may not exactly excite the people Ms Lane Fox is targeting although a job search set up by the Department for Work and Pensions has averaged a pretty impressive one million searches per day.
Coventry City Council has taken the radical step of putting applications and bidding for social housing purely online.
The scheme has driven more people to the Foleshill UK Online centre, one of 6,000 centres around the UK designed to get more people computer literate and using the web.
"It is an internet-based service and unless you are computer literate it is not easy. It is a way of us helping people to help themselves," said Chrissie Morris, an advice officer at the centre
But putting services purely online could be a dangerous policy, thinks John Fisher, chief executive of Citizens Online, a charity set up ten years ago to target the most hard-to-reach of the digitally excluded.
"There is a danger that people move too quickly to an online model. Some cheap air tickets can now only be booked online and some offers are available exclusively on the web. The government has to be careful not to follow this route," he said.
Andrew Ferguson, editor of ThinkBroadband, agrees.
"The danger that being a Digital Champion carries is that by enabling more and more to interact with government services online, those that don’t use online services through their own choice may find things increasingly difficult.
"For local physical services like the Post Office we need to consider what effect an almost purely online social welfare system would have," he said.
Educating gangs
Defining what is meant by digital exclusion could be one of Ms Lane Fox’s first jobs.
Jenny Pillar works in one of the 6,000 UK Online centres around the UK. She thinks that the government puts too much emphasis on the idea that going online improves lives.
Gleadless Valley, the deprived part of Sheffield she works in, is made up of council houses and sheltered accommodation.
Persuading people to go online by playing up how computers can improve skills and education has not been a success.
"We tend to focus on the leisure aspects first rather than educational reasons because that immediately puts down the shutters," she said.
That is not to say the centre hasn’t had educational successes.
On the estate there has been a problem with gang members.
"We got to know them because they were hanging around outside. One of them eventually did a literacy course and has a qualification now that he wouldn’t have had if the centre and its computers hadn’t been here," she said.
But for Ms Pillar, there is no point in forcing people online for "digital inclusion’s sake"
"People here may not have computers but there are very few without top of the range mobile phones. Some who have used the centre haven’t been able to read but they can use the internet and would consider themselves digitally included to the level they want to be," she said.
It means it has been hard to recruit regular users to the centre. Themes, such as family days, have proved popular but numbers remain low. In the last year there have been 450 people regularly using the centre. The population of the area is around 10,000.
This perhaps illustrates the scale of the job facing Ms Lane Fox.
Silver bullet
One thing she is unlikely to do is throw kit at people. In the past the government has run a whole series of schemes offering cheap or free equipment but it has never been a huge success.
With broadband costs falling and plenty of schemes around offering cheap new or recycled equipment access is becoming less of a barrier.
A recent report from regulator Ofcom found that 43% of those currently offline would remain disconnected even if they were given a free PC and broadband connection.
"The challenge of getting people online and using services will not just be a case of buying people computers and giving them an hour or two of training," said Mr Ferguson.
"Computer use is an ongoing learning experience, as those who already help friends and family will testify to, so ensuring that free local resources are available to people will be important," he said.
Citizens Online has been running its Everybody Online campaign for five years. In that time it has claims to have converted 88,000 people to become regular online users at an average cost of £50 per person.
Ms Lane Fox is likely to have a budget of around £300m which may be rather modest for the task in hand, thinks Mr Fisher.
"The government may be looking for a silver bullet but it is pretty simple. People need to be shown the technology in an environment that they feel comfortable in and find things to do that directly relate to their lives," said Mr Fisher.
The government has calculated that each new person online creates an extra £220 per year to the country’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product).
Industrial strength
His advice to Ms Lane Fox is to build on best practice.
"At a local level there are loads of great schemes going on but they are fragmented. Ms Lane Fox needs to give them industrial strength and a national focus," he said.
Some critics believe the government is paying lip-service to the problem of digital inclusion.
They question how much Ms Lane-Fox can achieve given she is only going to devote two days per week over the course of the next two years to her Digital Champion role.
The government too seems to have downgraded the problem. In 2008, Gordon Brown acknowledged the importance of persuading more people online and appointed a Digital Inclusion cabinet minister, in the form of Paul Murphy.
But following recent reshuffles, that post has now disappeared and the issue has come back under the wider remit of the Communications Minister.
Lord Carter currently holds that post but will be leaving the role at the summer recess and no successor has been appointed as yet.
Mr Fisher thinks Ms Lane Fox will be hampered by the government’s lack of commitment to the problem.
"Without powerful and informed Cabinet level support, what chance has she of opening the closed doors of the major Whitehall Departments who simply refuse to accept that there is even an issue to be addressed" he asked.
Others question whether Ms Lane Fox, who was educated at private school and boasts a marquess for a great-grandfather, is the ideal candidate for the job.
"In terms of Martha Lane Fox herself, I don’t think she is seen as someone at the forefront of the technology race by the general public, and may not be someone who immediately makes people feel like she is working for them," said Mr Ferguson.
"Someone who was more readily identifiable by the sector of the population the Digital Champion is most likely to be working with may have been a better choice," he said.
She is most likely to be judged on her results.
"The great thing about this type of campaign is that its very easy to measure success," said Alex Salter, co-founder of broadband measurement site SamKnows.
Given that we’re looking to get six million people online in this first phase I’d like to see a trigger-style site, showing how many of the six million come online over the next 12 months," he added. </p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Acronis Unveils Free Online Storage ROI Calculator
July 15th, 2009 |
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The calculator asks users for three pieces of information: the number of servers and workstations being backed up, the data change rate, and the overall cost of storage hardware and software. Based on this information, users can obtain accurate reports on how much storage space would be saved through deduplication, the dollar savings and the percentage of savings.
– People who watch the numbers in corporate offices will go for this: A data
center manager now can utilize a free online service to determine storage
capital cost savings due to deduplication and have the dollars-saved
information ready on demand if asked for it.
Storage management and disaste…
Brad Pitt Wired Magazine August 2009
July 15th, 2009 |
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Inglourious Basterds star Brad Pitt offers his advice on cell phone and online etiquette, when it comes Twitter, Internet dating, and text messaging, in the August issue of Wired Magazine, arriving on newsstands July 21.
Taken From Wired’s slapstick “Ask a Basterd” article:
Brad On Ashton Kutcher Tweeting A Picture Of Wife Demi Moore’s Butt: “Don’t take [...]
Peter Daou: Palin-Mania: How Goldman Sachs Robbed Us While We Obsessed About Sarah Palin
July 15th, 2009 |
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I don’t post with the aim of being contrarian, but lately I’ve found myself swimming against the tide of Democratic/progressive conventional wisdom. I questioned the…
Rupert Grint On “The Early Show†July 15 (VIDEO)
July 15th, 2009 |
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Watch CBS Videos Online
After fighting fierce battle against a potentially deadly bout with swine flu, actor Rupert Grint swung by The Early Show Wednesday to chat about the sixth Harry Potter film and his rising fame in film.
Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince is in theaters now.
Cursing Helps Endure Pain: Study (VIDEO)
July 14th, 2009 |
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Report: Viewers Will Pay For Online Video
July 14th, 2009 |
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According to a new report issued by Strategy Analytics, consumers may be far more willing to open their wallets to purchase Web video content, much as they do with music, than many once believed. The Boston-based research firm forecasts that w…
Man’s first trip to moon recreated for internet generation
July 14th, 2009 |
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Man’s first trip to the moon is about to blast off anew in an online recreation intended to enthrall an Internet generation not yet born when the US mission made history 40 years ago. A virtual reenactment of the Apollo 11 mission that put men on the moon and brought them back safely will
Microsoft Office 2010 Debuts, Challenges Google Apps
July 13th, 2009 |
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Microsoft Office 2010 will be offered as a free online service to Microsoft Live subscribers, directly challenging Google Apps and other free cloud-based applications. Although Microsoft’s market dominance has traditionally been centered on the desktop, the products rolling out at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans show that Microsoft is increasingly seeing cloud-based applications and productivity suites as the wave of the future.
– Microsoft Office 2010, the newest version of Microsoft’s office productivity
suite, will be launched as a free online service for subscribers of Microsoft
Live. The move is a potentially radical one for Microsoft a
company whose market dominance has traditionally been based on desktop-centered
a…
LG App Store Will Focus on Asian Markets
July 13th, 2009 |
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LG Electronics is launching an online store for mobile phone applications with an initial focus on Asia and aspirations for a more global reach by year-end.
– SEOUL (Reuters) – LG Electronics, the world’s No. 3 handset
maker, is launching an online store for mobile phone applications
Tuesday with an initial focus on Asia and aspirations for a more global
reach by year-end.
Phone makers and mobile firms worldwide are in a race to match the
success of …
How to stay hidden / offline to Yahoo Messenger friends?
July 10th, 2009 |
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Yahoo Messenger can be very addictive as a result of interesting and long chatting sessions. However, sometimes you want to see which friends are online without indicating them your online status. In such case, you can login into Yahoo Messenger as Hidden or hide your status for specific buddies in Yahoo Messenger.
Login as hidden in [...]
Social media, Emma Watson and London today
June 10th, 2009 |
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At a session on digital media I chaired yesterday at the Communicate conference in London, the excellent Ruth Sunderland, business and media editor at The Observer, spoke passionately about the importance of, and threat to, good journalism both off and online. She reflected on the demise of many newspapers, grimly documented on www.newspaperdeathwatch.com. Today’s [...]
10 More from the Webware 100
June 4th, 2009 |
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Last week, I looked at the apps chosen by CNet for the productivity section of the Webware 100. There were, however, 10 other sections – 9 categories of apps voted for as top in their class and an extra categories of apps chosen by the editors at CNet. This week, I want to look at a selection of applications from the rest of the Webware 100, with an eye towards their use to increase or improve personal productivity.
Some of the categories aren’t very productivity-oriented, like the music and audio section – I love Pandora and Amazon MP3, but I can’t say they help with my productivity in anything but the most indirect way (by giving me music to listen to while I’m working). The browsing category is particularly useless – picking the 10 best apps for web browsing is a bit like picking your ten best fingers. But scattered throughout the list there were some interesting apps, worth taking a look at.
1. Digsby/Pidgin
Both Digsby and Pidgin are multi-protocol IM clients, meaning you can use them to connect simultaneously to a variety of instant-messaging networks: AOL, Yahoo, MSN, Google Chat, and others. I use DIgsby, which is highly customizable with various skins, which allows me to chat in a very clean, clear, and large-fonted format that’s easy on my aging eyes. Digsby offers integration with Facebook’s chat system, which is nice – the built-in client on Facebook tends to crash on me a lot. It can also pick up your Twitter account, but I find that much too annoying and difficult to work with in Digsby, and leave Twitter duties to dedicated clients. (Interesting that there were no Twitter clients in the Webware 100…)
2. Skype
I certainly don’t need to sing the praises of Skype – the VoIP service is already beloved by many. I pay about $40 a year for a SkypeIn number, unlimited US SkypeOut calling, and voicemail, and use it as my business phone. A cheap handset attached to my desktop makes it very phone-like to respond to calls; for interviews for articles I’m working on I use a $30 Logitech headset and either CallGraph or Skype Call Recorder to record the calls to MP3 (always ask permission when using call recording software!). I also use PamFax to send faxes for a small fee (which can be taken from my Skype credit).
3. Gmail
Like Skype, the glories of Gmail are widely known. What makes Gmail more than just another email service are the various “extras†Google has added to the service, both directly and as options available through labs. Some of my favorites:
- Canned responses for saving snippets of text (up to whole emails) to reuse in future messages;
- Tasks which also integrates with Google’s Calendar, allowing you to place dated tasks directly onto your calendar;
- IMAP access which means I can check my email from wherever, online or through a client, and not worry about things I’ve read showing up as “unread†when I download my email on a different computer;
- Google Docs and Google Calendar integration allows me to view my calendar and recent Google Docs from Gmail;
- Google Chat pop-ups directly in the Gmail interface.
4. Dropbox
Dropbox is a file syncing service that has one feature that sets it apart from similar services: shared folders. You can set up a folder on your desktop that is “mirrored†on another desktop – say, a client’s or collaborator’s. Then, whenever you want to share a file to them, you just drag it into the folder, and it’s uploaded to their computer (or held until the next time they’re online). So far, I’ve only used this for work, but I think I’m going to set up two folders on my parent’s computers. The first one will be on their desktops, and I’ll use it to send them family photos and other files (since the whole concept of “email attachment†seems so confusing to them). The second will be deep inside the folder structure, which I’ll use for backing up my own files – since all they do is web browse and read email, they never come even close to using up the 160 or 320 GB of space on their hard drives, making it a perfect site for my off-site backup.
5. Drop.io
Drop.io offers an easy way to share large files – with no sign-in or registration necessary. Of course, you can create private, password-protected repositories, but you can also just upload a file and send people the drop.io/whatever URL. You can upload up to 100MB for free, and photos, videos, and audio get converted so they can be viewed or listened to online.
6. Aviary/Picnik
Aviary and Picnik are, believe it or not, high-quality online graphics editor. Aviary is the more complex of the two, offering full-featured vector and raster creation and editing, spread over 4 sub-apps. Picnik is more of a touch-up app, allowing you to sharpen, adjust colors, resize, and do other photo editing tasks. Online image editing is a bit of a solution in search of a problem – local apps like Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, or even IrfanView are more powerful and work faster, but folks with netbooks, especially those with small flash-based drives, will appreciate the ability to work on an image now and again without having to install software or wait for their slower processors to apply unsharp mask..
7. Evernote
Evernote keeps getting better and better. The basic idea is you can make notes in various ways – type directly, clip form the web or other documents, take a picture, record a voice note – and the program keeps it organized. Evernote also syncs to an online repository (subject to transfer limits) and to any other computer you install the client on. Apps for mobiles like iPhones and, just released, Blackberry allow you to create and send notes in a variety of formats from your smartphone (unfortunately, neither iPhones nor Blackberries have good enough cameras for up-close shots of text like business cards – try putting a magnifying glass or card over the lens for close-up shots). My favorite recently-discovered feature is the ability to store and index PDF files, of which I have hundreds (academic articles downloaded for various research projects). Since I have a free account, I don’t sync these online – they’d quickly use up my monthly transfer allotment.
8. Google Voice
Only available to former Grand Central users, Google Voice offers powerful call forwarding and voicemail services. Basically, you get a single number that you can have forwarded to any or all of your phones – and you can set up rules to decide what gets transferred where. Voicemails can be forwarded as audio files to your email, or you can read – yeah, “readâ€, since they do so-so voice transcription on your messages – them online in a very Gmail-like interface. Got a troublesome caller, maybe from an autodialer system? Mark it as spam and block it, just like email! You can also make low-cost international calls, but a) I don’t have any to make, and b) the process is a bit complex, so I’ve never tried this.
9. Windows Live Sync
You’d be forgiven for mistaking Windows Live Sync with Windows Live Mesh – both synchronize files placed into a designated folder over the Internet, and both are free. Oh, and then there’s Windows Skydrive, which doesn’t sync but, like Mesh, offers online file storage. Apparently, all these services will one day be a single service, probably called Windows Live Skymesh Sync (or, more typically Microsoft, Windows Live File Storage and Online File Synchronization for Windows, Premium Professional Version 2010). Whatever it’s called, the technologies involved are pretty slick – I use Mesh to backup my netbook, storing all my documents in a folder that’s synched to my “regular†computer’s desktop (and from there saved to an external hard drive and, through Mesh, to the Web).
10. Twitter Search
THe only Twitter-related choice in the list, this once gave me heartburn at first – I mean, really? But after a little thought, it seems a more fruitful choice. Twitter Search is what transforms the screaming multitudes on Twitter into a resource – a cross between a social network, news feed, and trend tracker. It’s real-time, which means you get what’s going on right now, and several Twitter clients incorporate it into their interfaces. I keep a couple of Twitter searches in columns in Tweetdeck – one that catches sites, tips, and jobs for writers, another that lets me know when people are talking about Lifehack, and a couple of “topic of the moment†searches for whatever I’m interested in on any given day.
Well, that’s my take on the Webware 100. A lot of the apps chosen were, to be perfectly honest, a bit… well, boring. Maybe that’s what happens when web applications stop looking like the future and start being the present? In any case, I feel like there’s more interesting stuff going on out there – maybe you’ve got a favorite web application or service that didn’t make the list? Let us know in the comments.
Dustin M. Wax is the project manager at Stepcase Lifehack. He is also the creator of The Writer’s Technology Companion, a site devoted to the tools of the writing trade. When he’s not writing, he teaches anthropology and gender studies in Las Vegas, NV. He is the author of Don’t Be Stupid: A Guide to Learning, Studying, and Succeeding at College.
Follow him on Twitter: @dwax.
Advertiser Online Now, Get a Free Ad In Print
September 18th, 2008 |
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Just saw this house ad on NYTimes.com:
A print ad offered as added value for online advertising. Now THAT’S a reversal.
Here’s more:
NYT is trying to reverse the economic polarity of its business.
Is this kind of offer a trend?