The Partnership for New York City and PricewaterhouseCoopers have a new study out measuring global cities, and New York scores high, leading many categories with cities such as London, Tokyo and Paris.

Tags: cities  york  global  study  city

I admit I have been neglecting my lonely Palm Pre the past few days. I have no shortage of phones around here and until picking it up earlier today, I haven't been giving the Pre much thought. While I was using the Pre, my thoughts centered around the trouble that Palm is having due to low sales numbers. I also was struck once again with how good webOS is from a user's standpoint. The interface is great, and it would be a big loss to see Palm (and webOS) go away. Then it hit me right between the eyes wouldn't webOS be fantastic on a 7-inch slate?

While it seems that tablet-mania has us all in its grip, the more I thought of a slate running webOS the more excited I got about it. The graphical touch interface is already outstanding, but imagine it on a 7-inch display. The multitasking of webOS would enter new ground on such a screen. It would not only be a productive environment to use, it would actually be fun. If you ask me, Palm could use a little fun these days.

I am picturing a thin slate with a 7-inch screen even a tad bigger would be OK. The great PIM apps on webOS would be stellar if optimized for the larger display. Palm wouldn't have to add functionality, or even change the way they utilized touch, just optimize the display. The webOS browser is already quite good; It would only be better on a larger screen.

I believe Palm could produce this slate, given its history with device design and production. It should follow the Apple model and make sure all existing webOS apps work on the tablet, and provide incentives to developers who optimize existing apps for the bigger screen. Maybe even make a deal with Amazon to get a solid app to work with Amazon MP3. There are many ways for Palm to go with this slate, almost all of them good.

Palm could produce a Wi-Fi model of the slate, but also a Sprint 3G/4G model. This would compete with the iPad, and with the Sprint data network make a bold statement. I can see Palm making a tremendous splash with such a device, no matter what happens with its phone line. Having given this a lot of thought, I can only see an upside for beleaguered Palm with this. Given the tight integration webOS already has with Google services, this tablet would give Android tablets serious competition.

The only question I have about this tablet venture for Palm is what to call the product. There's the obvious Palm Pad, but I think they need something clever to make a splash. How about the Palm Pilot? Raise the original product name that made the company famous, and get people talking.

Related research on GigaOM Pro (sub req'd):

How To Clean Up the Mobile OS Mess

Tags: palm  webos  slate  tablet  gurus

(photo: Evil Erin)

Matt Yglesias analyzes the failure of the progressive block strategy, and chalks it up to progressives not picking issues that centrists care about.

He doesn't note his own role in that failure, vilifying the leader of the progressive block Raul Grijalva as the world's greatest monster unless he backs down. (Our own whip effort started to back Grijalva's efforts, which were already underway in the House when we started in June of 2009.)

I've said many times that it's impossible to expect progressive members of Congress to hold together if they don't have the backing of their natural fiscal constituencies the liberal interest groups and the unions. Without that support, they're left to raise money from PACS and other corporate sources to sufficiently fund their campaigns. That's why they take turns championing progressive bills that ultimately fail so they can pretend they do something, and then vote for bad bills that ultimately pass so someone else can be the failed hero. When Tammy Baldwin votes for one PhRMA-friendly bill after another, progressives can say hey, but she's so good on LGBT issues! Which never actually pass either, but the kabuki keeps activists sufficiently docile and donating to large organizations who fundraise off amping up outrage.

But it's also worthy to note that it's hard for them to withstand the assault of liberal pundits who sneeringly derided their efforts as naive, futile and purist. They should be proudly taking credit for their role in delegitimizing progressive opposition to the bill in liberal intellectual circles, much the same role that the same people played during the Iraq war. After all, it's TNR's stock in trade.

I'll leave it to others to analyze how corporate cash was laundered through foundations to underwrite the efforts of various opinion leaders in the health care debate, but it definitely deserves more scrutiny. . .

Monday, June 1, 2009

Kaiser Family Foundation Launches New Non-Profit Health Policy News Service

Menlo Park, CA In the midst of a major federal health reform debate and the ongoing financial turmoil in the media industry, the Kaiser Family Foundation officially launched Kaiser Health News (KHN) today to provide a new source of in-depth reporting on major health issues. KHN is staffed by experienced health policy journalists and editors, and will feature contributions from a wide array of leading health policy commentators and independent journalists.

[]

At the heart of KHN will be in-depth, explanatory stories about complex health policy issues and major developments in Washington, D.C., and around the country in the health care marketplace and health care delivery system. The news service will cover policy stories like health care reform, developments in major public health coverage programs like Medicare and Medicaid, and complicated ongoing policy challenges like the financing of long-term care, and it will examine the nation's health care system from a consumer perspective. KHN will also provide a synthesis of health policy news coverage through a daily health policy report, original programming from Kaiser's broadcast studio, and regular columns from contributing writers and experts. Jonathan Cohn, senior editor of The New Republic, and Howard Gleckman, senior research associate at the Urban Institute and former senior correspondent at Business Week, will be writing bi-weekly columns. Among others who will contribute occasional columns are: Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute, Jim Capretta of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Judy Feder of the Center for American Progress, and Mark Pauly of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

The development of Jonathan Gruber's much-vaunted model, which formed the justification for econo-wonks and politicians alike to support the Senate bill's voodoo claims about the excise tax, was originally paid for by the Kaiser Family Foundation in 1999 according to Gruber. It was given a facelift this year courtesy of the Small Business Majority, whose money comes from foundations including the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation. (h/t spanishinquisition)

And recall that Kaiser Permanente was the original sponsor of the Washington Post pay-to-play salons.

You have to wonder if any of that Kaiser cash underwrote other efforts at the Post after the parties fell through.

HCAN's efforts were funded by Atlantic Philanthropies, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and George Soros foundations, among others.

So, come on, pundits. Don't let the lameness of progressives in Congress get all the credit for shooting down the public option, rolling back choice, and teeing up constitutional amendments to overturn the health care bill around the country.

Stand proud.

Tags: Blogosphere, Jonathan Gruber, Kaiser Family Foundation, Matt Yglesias, Media, new media, Raul Grijalva, Robert Wood Johnson, The New Republic, TNR, veal pen

	Tags: health  policy  kaiser  care  foundation

Haul is a great modern bike design from Globe Bicycles.

[via Stilsucht]

Tags: milk  globe  design  bicycles  dog

The insanity of the South by Southwest crowds and popularity of location-based services (LBSs) such as Foursquare and Gowalla have me thinking about the future of popular conferences and unconferences.

Do we still need the confines of a massive convention center?

SXSW has already outgrown the Austin Convention Center, spilling sessions into neighboring hotels. When the conference takes over the town, why doesn't the town take over the conference?

We were all glued to our mobile devices and the aforementioned services to track where the parties and people were, why not do the same with the sessions?

When so much value is in the hallway conversations, why not make the streets the hallway?

I realize this may be too insane to imagine for SXSW, but what about your local unconferences?

PodCamp and BarCamp Nashville have just about outgrown the Cadillac Ranch due to attendee numbers.

Why not reserve several neighboring bars, restaurants and cafes? Depending on weather, a city park would also suffice.

Then LBSs could be used to let you know where the people are using awesome services like vicarious.ly and SitBy.Us.

Thoughts?

Photo from Flickr by: Visualist Images

Related posts:

1. 10 signs SXSW Interactive is over And so ends another South by Southwest Interactive. SXSW...
2. Location, location, location I've been using three location-based services recently on my...
3. 5 tips for SXSW I am very excited to be attending SXSW Interactive!...

Tags: location  sxsw  services  interactive  based

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Tags: china  research  applied  companies  materials

David Coleman Headley admitted in a signed plea agreement that he made surveillance videos and conducted other intelligence gathering for the attack, which left 166 dead. He could have been sentenced to death if convicted of the most serious charges, but under the deal he will not be executed as long as he continues to cooperate with prosecutors.

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Tags: attack  charges  under  deal  serious

Universal Music Group will drop the prices on the majority of its new CD releases to between six and 10 dollars. This plan dubbed the Velocity program will go into effect in the second quarter of this year.

UMG hopes this plan will at least slow the serious decline in CD sales that has been going on since MP3s and other digital music downloads came on the scene.

While UMG has its hands in music downloads and streaming, too, the profit margins are usually better with CDs. UMG claims that its cheaper CD plan will maintain a 25% profit margin.

Up until now, most new CDs have actually been more expensive than their download counterparts. If the price comes down, consumers will be more likely to purchase the goods. It's a simple economic principle. But to try to incentivize music fans even further, UMG plans to load the jewel cases with deluxe content that you won't usually get with online purchases.

We're not going to complain about lower prices. We welcome anything that reduces consumers' expenses. But do you think this will actually make a difference? A couple of us in the Mashable office haven't bought a CD in years if you're the same, will UMG's plan turn you around?

[img credit: lrargarich]

Tags: CD, CDs, digital downloads, music, umg, universal music group

Tags: music  umg  cds  cd  plan

Reports have been swirling that Apple plans to ban screen protectors from its brick and mortar retail stores, but for the time being, the items seem to be plentiful throughout many store locations. Several Apple Stores we contacted Thursday afternoon assured Ars that there were currently "plenty" of screen protectors in stock, and did not indicate that this would change anytime soon. (One sales associate went as far as listing off all the variations that were in stock.) None of the outlets mentioned anything about the impending ban or removing the product from inventory in the future.

Rumors of Apple's supposed ban started Wednesday when iLounge reported that several companies had been informed that, starting in May, Apple would no longer carry screen protectors in their retail stores. According to iLounge's sources, stand-alone solutions as well as those bundled with cases will eventually be removed.

There were so many pundit theories about what could have sparked the decision that iLounge wrote a follow-up article to address them. The conspiracy theorists came up with all kinds of reasons: Apple is making room for iPad accessories, Apple wants you to ruin your phone so you have to buy another, the iPhone is too classy for a flimsy piece of plastic, etc. Our personal favorite theory was that Apple might be planning a new product or technology that doesn't work properly with the film applied. iLounge even got an e-mail from an Apple Store employee, suggesting that the ban might be due to the difficulty in applying the protective layer. Apparently, this employee's store barred employees from doing this for customers some time ago.

In our experiences here at Ars, the iPhone screen is extremely hard to scratch, though some of us have admittedly had much better luck than others. It seems much more likely that an iPhone screen will crack due to a fall than it will develop noticeable scratch. In that case, no amount of thin, flimsy, plastic is going to save your device from that.

What Apple is up to is really anyone's guess. We would like to think that Apple is coming out with its own line of overpriced iPhone screen protectors, but it's more likely they are just more trouble than they're worth for Apple. Screen protectors may still be available at Apple Stores, but probably not for long. Don't worryyou can get the exact same thing for your iPhone from places like Best Buy, Fry's, and almost any other outlet that sells iPhone accessories.

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	Tags: apple  screen  iphone  protectors  stores

10 Basic Digital Publishing Skills Journalists/Anyone Should Know...

By Tom Foremski - March 16, 2010

Most journalists I know can barely type, they certainly can't spell but they can tell a great story.

Most professions have to continually upgrade their skills yet I know lots of journalists that are very reticent about adding new skills. They hate to shoot photos, or video, or edit the video. I know a journalist that does not know how to upload a photo!

Carrying a pencil and a notepad is not enough, journalists need to know how to produce media content in a variety of ways.

Here are ten basic skills journalists, heck, anyone should know:

1 - How to shoot a photo with a digital camera and transfer it to a computer for a quick edit.

2 - How to upload an image to a web site in the right format and size.

3 - How to add a hyperlink to a word or part of a sentence by hand. (i.e. hyperlink)

4 - How to quickly shoot digital video and do a quick edit and upload it to a hosting service such as YouTube, in the right format.

5 - How to embed the code for a video in a web page and resize it to fit the page width.

6 - How to capture audio for a video, or just an audio-only podcast, so that the audio is clear and background noise is minimal.

7 - Know some basic HTML and what it does so that common problems with a web page can be quickly fixed.

8 - Know some basic CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and what it does, and be able to quickly fix any problems with a web page.

9 - Know how to promote your content on the Internet without alienating contacts and family.

10 - Know how to get used to an always-on work day that often extends beyond 9-to-5, and produce three times as much digital media content as you think you can, while maintaining high standards of quality and accuracy.

Tags: journalists  skills  video  basic  digital

NPR, WSJ plan Flash-free Web sites for Apple iPad

By Katie Marsal

Published: 03:50 PM EST

Related AppleInsider articles: Flash, HTML5 comparison finds neither has... Cond Nast plans for iPad, but is caught in... Hulu for Apple iPad likely to be a pay-only... Hulu to make videos available on iPad without... Google fights Flash, adds HTML5 support for...

In addition to new App Store software, National Public Radio and The Wall Street Journal also plan to create specific versions of their Web sites completely devoid of Adobe Flash for iPad users.

This week Peter Kafka with MediaMemo revealed that both NPR and the Journal will convert at least some portions of their Web site to load properly on the iPad. The custom-built sites will feature the same content and run concurrently with the traditional and iPhone/mobile-friendly versions of each Web site.

"Visitors to the newspaper's front page will see an iPad-specific, Flash-free page," Kafka said of the Journal's iPad Web site. "But those who click deeper into the site will eventually find pages that haven't been converted."

The news comes weeks after Virgin America revealed it dropped Flash content from its new Web site in order to allow users with iPhones to check in for flights.

But the Journal and NPR are both also creating App Store software specifically for the iPad, suggesting that content providers are taking a multi-pronged approach to Apple's forthcoming multimedia device. Kinsey Wilson, head of digital media for NPR, declined to give Kafka an advance look at the organization's forthcoming iPad application or Web site, but did provide a hint as to what the experience could be like.

"Wilson says that while iPhone apps are a 'very intentional experience' --you load the thing up and seek out specific content -- he thinks the iPad will be a 'lean back device,'" Kafka wrote. "That's traditionally the distinction multimedia types use to differentiate between a computer and a TV. Intriguing."

The exclusion of Adobe Flash from the iPad and subsequent comments attributed to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, in which he allegedly called the Web standard a "CPU hog," have led to a considerable amount of debate over its merits and shortcomings.

Contributing to the conversation in January was Google, which added support for rival format HTML5 to the most popular video destination on the Internet, YouTube. The beta opt-in program is available only for browsers that support both HTML5 and H.264 video encoding. Apple, too, has placed its support behind HTML5.

For more on why Apple isn't likely to add support for Flash in the iPhone OS, read AppleInsider's three-part Flash Wars series.

Tags: ipad  flash  web  apple  site

Shared by Kristopher
I love entertainment.

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Windows Phone 7 is a post from Chris Pirillo

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First, if you have any questions for the Windows Phone 7 Series team, I'd be more than happy to ask on your behalf (as I do live around the corner from Redmond's campus and will be meeting with the team again at some point in the future). Post a comment and/or video response.

I was invited to a behind the scenes look at elements of the Windows Phone 7 Series developer platform. At Mobile World Congress (covered earlier in this channel), Microsoft provided a first look at Windows Phone 7 Series and I'm pleased to offer you the opportunity to see a live demonstration up close.

Yes, I got to play with the phone, too. It works as advertised even as a prototype. Unfortunately, we could not adjust the brightness settings in this particular device. The Metro interface is a bucket of win in my book.

Charlie Kindel partner group program manager, Windows Phone App Platform & Developer Experience was hosting an intimate reception this evening in San Francisco. I wasn't able to make it, but Microsoft arranged a somewhat more private meeting with Greg Sullivan from the Windows Phone team a little closer to home.

I met Greg a few years ago through the Longhorn Labs project (back when Microsoft Windows team leads worked actively with their most vocal community supporters). I'm not sure if I can reveal any more device details at this point, but suffice it to say

I want one.

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One of the cofounders of Zynga, the company's executive vice president of sales and business development Andrew Trader, is no longer with the company, we've confirmed. He has been quietly removed from the company's management page. Remaining cofounders Mark Pincus, Michael Luxton, Eric Schiermeyer, Justin Waldron and Steve Schoettler, remain.

As of a month ago Trader's title had been downgraded to VP of Partnerships and Studio Services, although no top sales or business development replacement executive has yet been named.

Why is he gone? No one is saying. CEO Mark Pincus says only AT [Andrew Trader] and zynga have parted ways. He made an awesome contribution. We need to continue scaling the company. Trader hasn't yet returned a phone call asking for his comment.

Zynga's revenue growth has been nothing short of astronomical over the last 18 months, so it would be hard to blame him for not bringing in the dollars. Perhaps he took the fall for the Scamville saga although that has largely blown over now.

Trader was with Zynga nearly three years, so he's vested on a lot of his stock. Given how much money is at stake, the whole story about why the first cofounder of Zynga has left the building may never come out. Zynga raised $180 million in December 2009, at a rumored valuation of above $2 billion.

And no, I have no idea why he's holding a banana in the picture.

Tags: zynga  trader  company  andrew  crunchbase

For that big screen device ... there's no diversity. You get exactly the Xboxes that we build for you. We may have more form factors in the future that are designed for various price points and options, but we think it's going to [be] important.

Steve Ballmer teases new Xbox 360 form factors, price points and options originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Mar 2010 05:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Tags: steve  points  options  factors  price

The first time I saw the Dodge Charger Super Bowl commercial, "Man's Last Stand," I said, "finally!" The one-minute spot shows five men staring into space like zombies, while a narrator, in their voice, robotically runs down the chores they do and things they put up with.

Tags: staring  space  men  shows  spot

People are drawn to existing competitions like moths to a flame.

It's precisely the wrong way to succeed.

Lots of journalists take significant detours in their careers and their writing in order to win a Pulitzer. Maybe not to actually win one, but to be in that class, to have peers that have won one. Mystery novelists stick to the center of the road, because that's where the road is. Movies are written and released in order to win an Oscar. Once there's a category, a ranking, a place to battle for supremacy, we run for it.

Do you go to trade shows or enter markets or submit RFPs or push for a GPA or even gross ratings points because there's a list of winners or because it's what you actually want to do? Most bestseller lists and prizes measure popularity, not effectiveness.

I wonder if real art comes when you build the thing that they don't have a prize for yet.

Tags: win  order  actually  pulitzer  road

AT&T is constantly getting bashed about its network coverage and how it gets around anticipated shortages. The carrier has been the iPhone network in the U.S., and perhaps its relationship with Apple played a role in AT&T waiting longer than other carriers to get into the Android game. That is set to be rectified with the carrier's introduction of the Motorola Backflip, an Android-based phone which will be the carrier's first. The first AT&T Backflips are hitting reviewer's hands, and a mind-boggling function of the Google phone has come to light. AT&T has removed Google search from this Android phone, and replaced it with Yahoo search. As noted by engadget:

Yahoo has replaced Google as the default search provider throughout the phone. It's crazy: the home screen widget, the browser, everything's been programmed to use Yahoo.

It is not unusual for carriers to work deals for specific software on its handsets. They take money wherever they can get it. But this deal is sure to confuse the customer, as Android phones are commonly called Google phones by many. Let's face it, Google makes Android, and one of its strengths is the tight integration with the company's online services. And search is certainly one of Google's big services, but not on the AT&T Backflip.

This is the equivalent of a Windows PC hitting the market that has Internet Explorer removed and Safari as the only browser. Some customers might be happy by that but most would be confused. Then to make matter worse, imagine that Internet Explorer couldn't be installed by the user to get around this major change. That seems to be the case with the AT&T Backflip, as early testers are reporting the inability to get Google search working in any of the Android programs.

There has been enough complaining about fragmentation in the Android space, so I won't rehash that topic. But there is something so fundamentally wrong when an Android phone has Google search removed. And replaced by Yahoo search? I guess this makes the Backflip the Yahoo Phone.

Related research on GigaOM Pro (sub req'd):

As Windows Mobile Stumbles, Which Smartphone OS Will Seize the Lead?

Tags: android  google  phone  search  yahoo