At present [this story about Michael Vick pleading guilty][1], which we already knew he was going to do, is placed higher on cnn.com than [the resignation of Alberto Gonzales][2].
[1]: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/08/27/michael.vick/index.html (Vick pleads guilty in dogfighting case - CNN.com) [2]: http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/08/27/gonzales/index.html (Attorney General Gonzales resigns - CNN.com)
A Variation on the DVR, Without Ad Skipping - New York Times
Funny how they're trying to turn in the ability to fast forward, present in every VCR since the 70s, as a feature that you might want to pay for. This is typical of the big media approach to DRM, conflating it with actual features.Pick up your copy of Captain America 25 fast. The New York Daily News has already spoiled the ending, and I’d suspect some other news sources to follow suit. If you really want to know what happens, here’s the article.
Edit: CNN has the story now, too.
It should be noted that Marvel intentionally seeds these stories to hit the day they hit stores to draw people into retail stores. Naturally they want to sell books, but it sucks that surprise endings are often ruined. The problem is that most retailers are small independent stores that have to manage their inventory very tightly. They’ll order enough copies for their regular customers, and then a few extra for walk-ins. Marvel’s been hyping this issue as an important one, so it’s probable that stores knew to over-order it, but chances are it’ll sell out and take a few weeks to restock, ruining the buzz.
While I’m on the topic of the news, I’d like to point out the lax editorial standard for what constitutes “breaking news” on CNN’s homepage. Today, a bright red banner reads, President Bush’s policy in Iraq is not working, the Iraq Study Group said in releasing its long-awaited report. Important? Yes. Breaking? No. Over Thanksgiving my dad said a friend of his had been in the gym on the treadmill, when the news flashed a “breaking news” bulletin. A few people gathered around the TV, fearing there had been a major disaster somewhere. Instead, the “news” was about a celebrity’s divorce filings.
See also:
What would CNN’s website look like if you removed everything but the real news?
I don’t totally agree here. Entertainment news is pretty important to our culture, as are sports, but yeah, I’d love to see real stories.
Setting the stage for another flop?
Sony has repeatedly tried and failed to force new media formats on customers, yet they keep trying it.
During last night’s The West Wing, NBC decided to shrink the screen down to make room for a banner directing us to change the channel to MSNBC to follow a breaking story. Keep in mind that advertisers spend lots of money supporting prime time television, so a network would never direct its viewers to stop watching its programming unless the story were very important. A big story warranting banner treatment usually falls into one of two categories:
Alas, I had forgotten about the third type:
*Celebrity spectacle.
Yes, Michael Jackson’s indictment was deemed so important by the NBC/MSNBC network heads that they directed us to immediatly change the channel and start watching their anchors babble with little information over pictures of Michael entering or leaving the courhouse.
They can only hope that it goes to trial just after the Friends finale.
I’ve been watching mostly MSNBC when I want to see the news lately, along with a smattering of CNN. At some point I’m going to gather up the courage to watch Fox News too see what they’re about.
One thing I’ve been looking for is political bias. The news networks have been showing with some frequency pieces of President Bush’s military base speech yesterday. At one point he finishes a pretty good section of his speech which is met with uproarious cheering and applause. Liberal-slanted CNN has been showing that clip cut right before the applause starts.
On a completely different subject, another short has been released from The Animatrix, titled “Detective Story.”