The Los Angeles Times, CNN, ABC News and many other news sources report today (May 19, 2010) that a reaction to an incident on Facebook became tantamount to censorship (one of the issues that the New Media Institute watches). The LA Times reported that a Pakistani court has banned the Facebook site after a ‘draw Muhammad contest’ went public. The contest originates with the concern for the South Park creators who touch a raw nerve apparently. Read more:

-LA Times - http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-pakistan-facebook-20100520,0,4071401.story

-CNN - http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/05/19/pakistan.facebook.ban/

As expected, the Google/Apple rivalry continues on and revs up. The May 19, 2019 article in Business Week writes that Google is working with Intel to get its software onto televisions in a bid to triumph over the struggling Apple. Read more:

-Business Week - http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-05-19/google-pushes-software-to-tvs-steps-up-apple-rivalry-update1-.html

-CNET - http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-20005328-265.html

Online Media Daily writes that a NJ appellate court ruled that a blogger wasn’t a journalist, and so wasn’t covered by the Shield Law which protects journalists from having to reveal their sources. How much of an impact this will have nationally is unclear.  Check out the full article: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=126776&nid=113646

The Arbitron and Edison Research Survey released recently, and set off media coverage as if it were a squabble, not to mention the momentous first time that TV was less vital than the internet. Coverage seemed to make these findings unexpected, but was it really unexpected? We say, “of course not!”

Is Google exiting China?  Rumors predict YES!  Check out the latest buzz on the subject. 

San Francisco Business Times:  http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2010/03/15/daily14.html 

Information Week:  http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/open_source/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=223800260

Wall Street Journal:  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703457104575121613604741940.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsSecond 

Founder of the Coffee Party, Annabel Park, launched the group on her Facebook page out of anger at the Tea Party and its growing influence. Her facebook page has seen it rapidly gain traction on the internet -- picking up over 138,000 fans in less than two months.

BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8566574.stm

The most pressing issue for many offices today is workplace virtualization, the creation of a virtual office environment available in cyberspace from any location using almost any computing platform at any time. Virtualization is not getting email and the web on your phone! It is not being able to sign on AOL, Yahoo, and even that touchstone of the current cyber age Google! It is also not getting text in Timbuktu or tweets from the New York Times in Tomsk. Being connected may be a necessity but it is not virtualization!

Today, comScore released a study on traffic to top Retail sites in Australia during the 2009 holiday season. The study found that three out of five Australians online visited a Retail site in December, as traffic to the category reached its highest volume of the year with more than 8 million visitors during the month.

A nationally-representative phone survey of minors ages 12-17 finds that 4% of cell phone owners ages 12 to 17 have sent a sexually suggestive nude or nearly nude image of themselves to someone else on a cell phone, and 15% of cell-owning teens that age have received this kind of image of someone they know personally on their cell phone. This exchange of suggestive images, also known as “sexting,” is most prevalent among older teens – 8% of 17-year-old cell-owners say they’ve sent suggestive images of themselves by text while only 4% of 12-year-olds with cell phones have done so.