Advancing a smear that previously had been promoted by the right-wing media, The Wall Street Journal news pages claimed -- without any evidence -- that Democrats attempted to make a "deal" with California lawmakers by giving additional water supplies to central California in return for their votes on health care reform legislation. In fact, the Journal's own reporting debunks the claim that a deal was struck; the Journal previously reported that the allocation was increased after El Niño winter rains "raised the mountain snowpack" in California.

WSJ's baseless allegation: Dems trying to make "deal" for water supplies in return for health care vote. From a text box accompanying an article in the March 20 print edition of The Wall Street Journal headlined, "Health-Bill Horse Trading":

Democratic Deal Making

Lawmakers looking for rewards to vote yes on health care overhaul

[...]

Action: Additional water supplies to central California

Targets: California Democratic Reps. Dennis Cardoza and Jim Costa

Result: The lawmakers remain undecided.

[...]

-Source: WSJ Reporting

WSJ cites no evidence to support allegation of water for vote deal making. Neither the text box nor the accompanying article cites any evidence that the government increased the water supplies for central California in an attempt to win the votes of Cardoza or Costa. Indeed, the accompanying article does not mention water at all. A March 18 Journal article reported that "Republicans also accused Democrats of cutting deals to secure the votes of wavering lawmakers" and referenced the water allocation increase, but that article contained denials from both Cardoza and Costa and stated that "[b]oth lawmakers asked for nearly twice what they were awarded by the administration."

WSJ article echoes baseless conspiracy theory pushed by Journal's editorial pages and other right-wing outlets. A March 19 Wall Street Journal editorial stated that "Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced on Tuesday that central California would get extra public water allocations." The editorial claimed that the increased water allocations were "apparently the price for Democrats Dennis Cardoza and Jim Costa to vote something other than their consciences" on health care reform. Investor's Business Daily, National Review Online, and Fox News' Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity also ran with the baseless allegation. On his radio show, Beck went so far as to say about the increased water allocation: "That's so far past the line of evil, I mean I don't even recognize a government that does that."

Earlier WSJ article: Interior secretary increased water allocations after El Niño rains "raised the mountain snowpack" in California. In a March 17 article, The Wall Street Journal noted that California's Central Valley had been experiencing severe drought, and that the valley would receive "a sharp increase in federal water supplies." The article further reported, "The increase is made possible, [Department of Interior Secretary Ken] Salazar said, in part because winter rains have helped replenish the state's biggest reservoir, Lake Shasta, which now stands at 81% of capacity, compared with 55% a year ago." Salazar also reportedly "said he moved up the announcement by a week or so 'because people on the ground and farming need to have certainty.' " The Journal reported that Salazar's announcement "further eas[ed] drought concerns in a state where El Niño rains have raised the mountain snowpack after three severely dry years." The March 17 Journal article contained no suggestion that the increased water allocation was part of an attempted deal to get votes for the health care reform bill.

AP: "Storms mean California farmers, cities will get more water. In a March 16 article, the Associated Press reported that a "series of drenching storms have replenished many of California's reservoirs, freeing up more water for parched farms and cities throughout the state, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Tuesday." Like the March 17 Journal article, the AP article contained no suggestion that the increased water allocation had anything to do with the health care vote.

Cardoza: "Not satisfied with the water allocation" and "allegation that he has somehow traded a vote on health care reform for more water is absolutely false." Cardoza released a statement making clear that he did not approve of the water allocation because it was "not enough," and stating he has not taken a position on health care reform. From Cardoza's news release:

Congressman Cardoza has been working on the water crisis for as long as there has been a water crisis.

The allegation that he has somehow traded a vote on health care reform for more water is absolutely false and nothing more than an election-year smear tactic.

As he has said, Congressman Cardoza is awaiting the release of the final language of the health care bill and will make a decision after he reads it. He is on record as stating that the water allocation announced earlier this month is not enough for our Valley farmers.

Given that he is not satisfied with the water allocation and he has not yet taken a position on the health care reform bill, this accusation has no basis in facts and in fact makes absolutely no sense at all!

Costa: Allegations of a deal are "laughable, and certainly false." When asked in an interview with Fresno radio station KMJ if he would vote yes on health care even if it was the only way to secure water for his district, Rep. Costa said, "No, I think the suggestion that I made some sort of deal with the White House is laughable, and certainly completely false. You know, Ray that I have been working on water issues for the people of our valley for 30 years."

It's another Jacques Tardi-drawn comic! All hail Tardi! (And hey! I get to break out the Not-Safe-For-Work warning! Just so you know!)

Yesterday, I looked at an adaptation by Jacques Tardi of a book written in the 1970s. Today, we look at a comic that actually came out in the 1970s and is now back in print! It all works out!

You Are There was written by Jean-Claude Forest, who is best-known for this (well, the comic on which it was based), and drawn by Monsieur Tardi. Kim Thompson translated this sucker, and Fantagraphics published this bad bear. You will be charged no more than $26.99 for this, which isn't bad considering it's 163 big-ass pages chock full of grand Tardi art.

This is a very strange comic that doesn't completely work. Forest, channeling his inner Mark Twain, wrote in an early book edition about You Are There: "No one should see in Ici même a pamphlet, a satire on our society or the men who represent its political regime. Nor did I have any specific intention of mocking man's attachment to property. If this attachment leads to grotesque situations in this book, it does so no more than politics, law, groceries or fornication; it serves through its ramblings a story, a plot whose basis lies elsewhere and was intended, so far as I was concerned, to speak of something entirely different." If that's so, it's too bad, because You Are There works best as an absurdist critique of society and politics. It's a rambling, occasionally surreal look at a man who is crazy only because a crazy society says he is; who then is really insane? Perhaps Forest meant it as a love story, and there is a romance at its heart, but the romance is just as odd as the rest of the book, so it's unclear what, exactly, Forest was saying with this comic.

The situation is certainly interesting: Arthur There, the protagonist (and hence the title of the book) lives in a place called Mornemont, which, as we learn early on, was once a vast tract of land of which he is the sole heir. Over the decades and centuries, however, Mornemont has been subdivided into smaller plots of land, each owned by a different family. Arthur is embroiled in a lawsuit to get all the land back, but in the meantime, his one victory has given him ownership of all the walls and the gates through them. He lives in a narrow shack built on one of the walls and makes a living by charging a toll every time someone wants a gate open, gates to which he has the only keys. Throughout the book, he rarely comes down off the walls - the residents, he believes, would kill him for trespassing. His lawsuit to reclaim the rest of the land, however, continues throughout the book. In Paris, the president fears that he's going to lose the election, so he begins making plans to hole up somewhere and plan his triumphant return. Naturally, he picks Mornemont, but the reason he does is clever and changes Arthur's life quite significantly.

Ultimately, this is a story of a man fighting against the forces of conformity, as Arthur desperately tries to remain his own man. Everyone wants him to change, and even if some of the things that happen in the book are in his own mind, he clings to a dream when a lesser (or, perhaps, saner) man would have given up on them. He falls for Julie, who's the daughter of one of the couples living on "his" land, and their relationship is bumpy, to say the least. Julie is a bit crazy, too, in a different way than Arthur. She has what we might categorize as Tourette's, with no internal filters to stop her from saying whatever's on her mind or doing whatever's on her mind. Arthur's behavior is the polar opposite of Julie's, as he keeps everything inside him. This provides the very odd climax of the book, at which their personalities have switched places, to a degree. Julie believes in nothing, while Arthur believes in everything, so when they're on a row boat, about to escape from their pasts, suddenly things are different for both of them. The final image of the book, a surreal summation of events in the book, becomes a comment on what men will do to change their lives. It's not a particularly happy ending, but it is a logical ending.

The one thing you must deal with as you commence reading the book is that, even with a fairly standard narrative, Forest writes oddly. Apparitions appear for no reason. The scene shifts quickly in the middle of a page with no narrative tags to show it. Julie and Arthur often appear to be saying simply what's on their minds and not actually talking to each other. Julie's frankness about nudity and sex is unusually disconcerting (not because she likes sex and being naked, but because of the way she's so aggressive about it, especially in public). There's a strange, detached tone to the book, so even when serious things are occurring, Forest presents it absurdly, making it difficult to penetrate the author's intent (if, indeed, he had any). It's a complex work that keeps the reader at arm's length, which makes it hard to love.

Tardi, however, is stunning. The strange world of Mornemont and its walls are fully realized, with astonishing detail that makes Arthur's desires even more concrete. The warren of homes and barriers along which Arthur runs provide a surreal backdrop for Arthur's fantasies, which Tardi simply places in the panels with no preamble, integrating the hallucinations so well into the "real" that they occasionally catch us off guard. It's a beautiful evocation of how Arthur sees the world. The stolid governmental world crashes against the private lives of the politicians, a theater of fluid sexuality and vice. At the end of the book, Tardi turns the tenants of Mornemont into costumed caricatures, medieval archetypes, and fools, who attack Arthur's home because they're tired of his lawsuit. Tardi pulls out all the stops, with the army moving in and the homeowners turning riotous and the two worlds crashing together. The absurdity of Forest's script is brought to amazing life, from Arthur's odd gatekeeper outfit to Julie's unabashed sexuality - at one point she sucks her thumb, and it's a creepily erotic sight. It's a tremendous work of art, heightening the weirdness of the narrative very well.

I would recommend You Are There because it's a thoughtful look at the pressure of conformity and what drives a man mad. But it is a difficult comic, because Forest isn't interested in making too much sense, even though it's fairly easy to figure out "what happens." Tardi is fantastic and makes the book even wackier, which isn't a bad thing. I have to warn you about it, but it's definitely worth a look.

The unregistered version of iCalamus already offers a cool feature: You can create professional photo books and calendars like in the full version and order high-quality prints at the Photographerbook company. The Photographerbook document service in iCalamus even supports iPhoto calendars (and iPhoto books coming soon) which can be printed at Photographerbook at a lower price.

iCalamus has been developed completely new for Apple's operating system. iCalamus is an excellent choice for all layout purposes from simple posters and business letters over complex layouted magazines up to books and scientific works. Complete Unicode support and the smart PDF import offer easy access to creating and layout work. The reasoned user interface with its low learning curve guarantees for fast success. iCalamus doesn't limit your layout freedom by offering prepared layouts. Its practical tools offer all options for your own creative and productive layout work.

iCalamus is a modular program which will grow in future by external modules, even from third-party developers. Therefore invers Software will create an Open Development Area (ODA) and publish the plug-in interface. iCalamus has been developed in Objective C with intensive usage of Apple's Cocoa library.

You can import all image and text formats which are supported by Mac OS X into iCalamus documents. Images from digital cameras scanners or iPhoto libraries can be imported as well as whole web page content and PDF documents. Grab text content from large PDF documents easily for further text processing. Elaborated masking options and many predefined, partly dynamically changeable frame shapes offer freedom for creativity. Working in precise measurement units is the other side of the iCalamus world. Use virtual copies for multiple document elements and change them afterwards with a few mouse clicks.

Print output uses all printers which are supported by Mac OS X. Optionally output documents in various PDF formats (e.g. PDF-X, encrypted PDF, PDF Fax).

Operating System Compatibility

• New: [650], [651]: Snow Leopard is now supported.
• Fix: Many memory leaks fixed.

• New: [655]: iPhoto 09 is now supported.
• New: Leather books can be ordered.
• New: Books can get book corners and wadded covers.
• New: Books pages can get UV lacquer on both front and back sides.
• New: Photographerbook's product prices have been lowered up to 40%.
• Fix: Document uploads > 2GB are no longer allowed, due to PDF standards which do not allow larger PDF documents.

• Fix: [639]: Images without embedded dpi resolution are no longer re-scaled to 72dpi by default.

• New: [644]: Dialog Edit Text Style redesigned and enhanced.
• New: [79]: The dialog Edit Text Style shows a font preview now, using all available text style parameters.

• New: [640]: New function Create and Apply Text Ruler Styles from Selection in the action menu.
• New: [641]: Dialog Edit Text Ruler redesigned and enhanced.

• Fix: [252], [253], [469], [658]: Text formatting rewritten and enhanced.
• Fix: [593]: Text frames with page text field contents can be copied in all available methods correctly.
• Fix: [610]: Text frames with text field contents can be vectorized.

• New: [418]: Three new Toolbar icons are available now: Document Grid, Page Guides, and Frame Guides. These three icons are equivalents for the relevant View menu items.
• New: [609]: Windows menu offers a Zoom entry now.
• New: [642]: New View sub menu added to Context menus. It reflects the three View menu items: Show Document Grid, Show Frame Guides, Show Page Guides.
• New: A Swedish version of iCalamus is also available now, localized by Karl-Johan Norén.
• New: [671]: The Preferences window dispenses with the still redundant switch Show All.
• Fix: [643]: Number of pages in dialogs New Document and Default Document can no longer be < 1 and > 9999.

After news broke this week that that Yahoo's ad boss Joanne Bradford was quiting, EVP Hilary Schneider quickly emailed employees to say that she'd hold down the fort in the interim, a spokesperson tells us.

See Also: Yahoos Want Seth Dallaire As The Next Sales Boss

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Former Spoiled Magazine Editors Get Rude Awakening In Post-Print World
• Yahoo Finally Announces Deal To Integrate Twitter
• Yahoo! News Hires Bookforum Editor Chris Lehmann, 'Cajun Boy' Brett Michael Dykes

Most forecasters have expected broadcast ad revenues to experience a nice recovery as the recession eases, but BernsteinResearch analyst Michael Nathanson expects a TV advertising to see a rebound that could bring stations back to their healthier 2007 levels. While the major station owners took a big hit on revenue declines last year, margins remained fairly strong. For example, while Gannett’s broadcast revs fell by almost 20 percent in ‘09, it was still able to post EBITDA margins of 42.6 percent. Belo’s TV station ad revs dropped 23 percent between ‘07 and ‘09, but it still managed to produce respectable a 26.7 percent EBITDA margin. And although CBS’ and Scripps’ margins have gone from the 30 percent neighborhood down to the mid-teens, Nathanson expects a large wave of political ad spending this year to boost those levels back up—though on a smaller revenue base.

Most forecasters have expected broadcast ad revenues to experience a nice recovery as the recession eases, but BernsteinResearch analyst Michael Nathanson expects a TV advertising to see a rebound that could bring stations back to their healthier 2007 levels. While the major station owners took a big hit on revenue declines last year, margins remained fairly strong. For example, while Gannett’s broadcast revs fell by almost 20 percent in ‘09, it was still able to post EBITDA margins of 42.6 percent. Belo’s TV station ad revs dropped 23 percent between ‘07 and ‘09, but it still managed to produce respectable a 26.7 percent EBITDA margin. And although CBS’ and Scripps’ margins have gone from the 30 percent neighborhood down to the mid-teens, Nathanson expects a large wave of political ad spending this year to boost those levels back up—though on a smaller revenue base.

The e-book war between Amazon.com and Apple is
getting uglier. Dennis Johnson cites a report in Publishers Marketplace (subscription required) that alleges that Amazon.com is telling publishers that if they switch to an agency model (ala Macmillan) , they will lose Amazon as a platform for both e-books and print.

This battle, which in many ways mirrors similar struggles between record labels and online music stores, underscores some of the challenges that moving into widespread digital distribution for a formerly non-digital product can bring.

Recently, Macmillian’s CEO John Sargent explained the agency model, as it relates to e-book sales, in his blog:

“Starting at the end of March, we will move from the ‘retail model’ of selling e-books (publishers sell to retailers, who then sell to readers at a price that the retailer determines) to the ‘agency model’ (publishers set the price, and retailers take a commission on the sale to readers).”

In other words, Macmillan wants to be able to control how much digital books are sold for on a per-book basis. Much like music publishers fought (and eventually won) the right to sell certain digital tracks or digital albums for more (or less, in some cases) than the $0.99 per track/$9.99 per album standard, publishers want that same control.

Amazon disagrees. And while it did acquiesce to Macmillan’s position at the end of January, it apparently has no plans of making those same concessions for future publishers.

In the Publishers Marketplace report, Michael Cader writes:

“At least one independent publisher of scale was told categorically by Amazon in a recent phone call initiated by the retailer that Amazon would not negotiate agency selling terms with any other publishers outside of the five initial Apple partners. This publisher was told that if they switched to an agency model for e-books, Amazon would stop selling their entire list, in print and digital form. In conversation, Amazon is said to have reiterated that as matter of policy they are declining to negotiate an agency model with any publisher outside of the five who have already announced agreements with Apple’s iBookstore.”

In other words, the agreements that have been made with the five publishers signed to work with Apple — Macmillan, Harper Collins, Penguin, Hachette, and Simon & Schuster — will not be passed on to smaller publishers.

It seems even the agreement with the other four publishers outside of Macmillan (known as Agency Four) isn’t set in stone.

Cader also writes:

“The indications are that if the Agency Four have not finalized new digital sales agreements with Amazon prior to the launch of Apple’s iPad, they could face delisting from direct sale at Amazon, as Macmillan did.”

Translation: If those publishers don’t finalize a new digital agreement with Amazon before the launch of the iPad, they risk being removed from Amazon.com

Because it is both the biggest seller of e-books and print books, Amazon has enormous power in the publishing industry. However, it’s unclear how long it will be able to play hardball with publishers, especially as formidable competitors like Apple (with iTunes) and Google emerge.

Apple, interestingly, held a reverse stance with music executives for many years before finally changing course in January of 2009 with the introduction of variable pricing. However, one reason Apple was able to exert so much influence over record labels pricing was because until Amazon launched its service (again, Amazon took the reverse approach with music, letting publishers set variable pricing for tracks and albums), there was no real competitor in the digital music space.

Amazon isn’t quite as lucky. First, e-books have been around for years and are available in a variety of formats from a variety of different storefronts. In fact, Amazon sold digital books long before it introduced the Kindle.

The e-book market has evolved much more quickly than the digital music space, which leaves less wiggle room for retailers, like Amazon, to exert pressure.

However, make no mistake, for smaller publishers, the risk of losing listings on Amazon.com is still probably a big enough threat to have an effect.

We’ll keep following this situation as it develops.

[via John Gruber]

Tags: amazon, apple, business, ebook price war, ebooks, ipad, Kindle, Macmillan

In continuing to look at the way that Facebook has become a driving force behind online news consumption, Heather Hopkins of Hitwise has dove into the numbers again, this time examing how Facebook users compare with others in return visits.

According to her article, Facebook not only drives a high amount of traffic, higher than Google News, but its users are far more loyal, as well.

Sponsor

Hopkins took a look at the data earlier this month, noting that Facebook drives three times as much traffic to broadcast than Google News, and now we find that these users are also repeat offenders. That is, they don't just visit once, they come back for more. From the Hitwise blog:

Why do we care about this metric? Because "visitors aren't as valuable if they don't come back. Advertisers and retailers need some assurance that visitors will return again and again." Hopkins notes that even visitors from Google.com, often the leading source of traffic to these sites, are outpaced by those from Facebook when it comes to return visits. But why is this?

Hopkins doesn't get into the "why" behind the numbers, but we'd be willing to wager that it has something to do with a few reasons. First, content posted by peers is more likely to be compatible with an individual's world view. Second, their trust in friends as sources might lead them to return for more.

Google, on the other hand, can give great results just the same as it can lead you to the most worthless pages you've imagined. It doesn't offer that one thing we can all trust - the valued opinion of a friend. It's also possible that the friend making the recommendation in the first place is a return visitor who repeatedly recommends the articles they read.

Whatever the reason, the numbers tell us one thing for sure - news outlets need to focus on making sure it is as easy as possible for readers and viewers to share content on Facebook. Or, as Hopkins so succinctly puts it, "with recent Pew Research showing that Newspapers have seen ad revenue fall 26% during the year and 43% over the past three years, understanding where to find loyal readers is becoming increasingly important."

As one of ReadWriteWeb's iPhone users, I'm always looking for new applications to try out. Some get downloaded for a day and then deleted right away, others slowly inch their way closer to my homescreen. Even rarer are the ones that become actively used on a regular basis. Occasionally, we like to share our findings regarding our favorite new apps. (See, for example, last month's list here). Although I can't guarantee that all of the ones on the list below will become favorites forever, they piqued my interest enough to get a coveted spot on my iPhone this month. Let us know what you think about their potential for long-lasting success.

Sponsor

I've been playing with Miso off and on for a week or so. Dubbed a "Foursquare-Like App for Homebodies" by yours truly, this app lets you "check-in" to the TV shows and movies you're watching and earn badges. While I like the idea, I've found that the app suffers from the lack of an easy way to find and follow other users. That leaves us TV-watching "stay-at-home" folks feeling a little too isolated when already taking part in a rather non-social, non-interactive activity. However, if the app can improve the ability to find and follow other like-minded entertainment consumers, there's potential for a fun "niche use" type of app here. (Review: Miso: A Foursquare-Like App for Homebodies)

MediaServer seems so promising, but I've had trouble getting all aspects of it to work properly. The app is designed to be an easy way to view your iPhone media on your TV set by way of a Media Center-type hardware device (XMBC, Boxee, etc.) or game console (PS3, XBox 360). And it is easy to use. You install the app, launch it, and boom!, your media console sees your iPhone - no configuration required. As far as viewing user-created videos or photos, the app excels. But streaming music or video? Not so much. Due to varying degrees of DRM applied to the files themselves and codec support on the hardware device, playing media on your TV is harder than it should be. (I tried with the Xbox in my tests.) Whether it's the app that's to blame or the hardware, I can't tell. However, MediaServer did become a great way to do iPhone photo slideshows on the TV and that alone is keeping it on my phone for now. Hopefully the rest will be improved in time.

The RWW bloggers who attended the recent SXSW festival have come back raving about the barcode-scanning Stickybits app (iTunes link). The app, which debuted at the conference, goes hand-in-hand with the online service that lets you either print your own barcodes or buy pre-made stickers which you can then associate with real-world objects. Using the Stickybits iPhone application, anyone encountering these stickers in the wild can scan them to discover whatever data theyv'e been associated with. Will Stickybits actually stick around though? It's too soon to tell, but it sure is fun to play with in the meantime. (Review: Stickbits: Portal to Another Dimension or Graffiti for Nerds?)

Although not brand-new, the Siri app which debuted in February on the iPhone is rapidly becoming one of our all-time favorites and therefore has to make this list again. If you have not installed Siri yet, do so now! Built with artificial intelligence technology, Siri functions as a personal assistant which can provide information on a variety of topics from weather to movie listings to restaurants, events and more. You can either type into the app's search box or speak your query to get started. And the more you use it, the smarter it gets. The voice recognition works well, too, although it never understood "Alice in Wonderland movie" no matter how many times I said it. (Maybe it already knew I wouldn't like that movie?) We'll give it a pass there, though - voice recognition is a tough nut to crack. Still, the intelligence of this app will soon have you relocating the apps it replaces (movie listing apps, restaurant finders, etc.) to back screens of the iPhone. (Review: Siri: Your Personal Assistant for the Mobile Web)

Obsessed with ego-tracking your Twitter stats or tasked with managing a corporate account of some kind? Then Tweeb's new Twitter analytics tracker (iTunes link) is a handy app to have. For $1.99, you get access to real-time, on-demand statistics including tweet counts, follower counts, retweets, mentions and clickthroughs on your tweeted links. You can also use the app to tweet, manage your friends, block or unblock users, view Twitter profiles, view your following lists and manage multiple Twitter accounts. The data is presented in clean, easy-to-read layouts and there is even a history section so you can measure your growing influence over time. Well worth a couple of bucks if you access this data on a regular basis!

The first app to access Google Buzz natively is pretty great, but I'll admit that I'm more likely to switch over to Buzz from Google Reader's mobile website than launch a standalone app. If the iPhone had app multitasking though, that would be a different story. Still, Buzzie has a few standout features - photo-sharing and photo browsing, most notably. It also feels "a lot snappier" than Google Buzz's web app, noted Frederic earlier this month during his demo. (Review: Buzzie: The First Native Mobile App for Google Buzz)

Part of Springpad's service, this Evernote competitor functions as a mobile note-taking and reminder app. Similar to Evernote's offering, you can write a note or snap a photo to remember something (which is then added to your online account), but it also introduces barcode-scanning as another way to "remember" an item. You can use the app to access all your saved data, too - handy for accessing shopping lists, recipes and restaurants you want to try while you're out and about. (Review: Springpad Takes on Evernote with Semantic Technology, Barcode Scanner)

Other apps getting demoed on our iPhones include the following:

• Brizzly for Twitter: Will we leave Tweetie 2 for this new Twitter iPhone app? It could happen!
• Feathers: Want to have a little fun with your tweets? Feathers lets you decorate them with symbols, icons or even post them upside-down.
• Notifio: Just launched, this app tries to bring Android-style notifications to one central place on the iPhone, but it's dependent on others to use its API to do so. If successful, it could be amazing...but that remains to be seen.

You can see all the apps on my iPhone courtesy of AppsFire here.

Print Tools for Outlook is a Microsoft Outlook add-in. It will help you automatically print incoming and outgoing messages with attachments (as well as messages and attachments separately) without even opening them. The plug-in automatically unpacks and prints packed ZIP and RAR attachments, and supports manual and automatic working modes. Program settings necessary for the automatic working mode are intuitively clear and few in number. Messages printed with Print Tools look exactly the same as those printed by the standard means of Microsoft Outlook.

Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010

Robert Andrews is puzzled. Why Are Russians Spending Like Mad To Save Journalism? | paidContent:UK

He writes:

The latest - after last year buying France-Soir, the country’s smallest daily, for €50 million, shipbuilder’s son Alexander Pugachyov is now spending a further €20 million on a marketing campaign to take it mainstream. He’s upping the print run by 20 times, has halved the cover price and has more than doubled newsroom staff from 40 to 100.

Jealous? There’s no part of this that makes immediate sense. In fact, contrasted with the cutbacks, climbdowns and contraction many parts of the industry are seeing, it looks like madness.

...

The Pugachyov scenario in France mirrors that of Alexander Lebedev in the UK ... The former KGB agent took the London Evening Standard, whose circulation was falling, off DMGT’s hands for just a nominal fee, forewent cover-price income in favour of free distribution on a higher print run, and pledged a £25 million investment over three years.

“£25 million investment??” That’s unheard of in today’s news publishing economy... Now Lebedev’s set to repeat the act by buying The Independent.

I think I can help Mr Andrews understand what's going on. It has nothing to do with "saving journalism."

These are prominent publications in their country. They are being bought not to make money but as vehicles to influence politics and society.

It's not the first time this has happened. Hearst used his newspapers for political influence, and many others have done the same.

Investing in propaganda...

The Russians, in particular, understand the power of media. At the heart of the Bolshevik party was its newspaper, Pravda.

The Bolshevik party wasn't investing in journalism when it funded and published Pravda -- it was investing in having its ideas discussed in society, and in the political realm.

These are ultra-rich individuals, they aren't buying the publications as investments in that business, but as an investment that will aid their other businesses.

Mr Andrews notes that Alexander Pugachyov is the son of a Russian shipbuilder and that the French government may place an order for four battleships. I think that's a pretty big clue that the investment isn't about "saving journalism."

Media businesses are often loss-leaders that help drive other businesses. You see this today a lot. Most online media sites, especially blogs, don't make money from online advertising but from selling other things, such as services, or research reports, hosting events, etc. You don't make money directly from the traffic.

- - -

I already have a loss leader, I just need to add services and products that I can sell to help support my journalism. That's why I've started to do some consulting for companies such as Intel, Pearltrees, SAP, and others.

Let me know if you need some help on media/business strategies - 415 336 7547.

Art buyers can now order open edition prints of Sharey Monk’s impressionist oil paintings of antique teacups with a broad array of frame and mat combinations through a new online shopping portal. (PRWeb Mar 19, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/03/prweb3742484.htm

About a year ago we learned that the innovative art purveyors behind the 20×200 Project had partnered with designer Matt Jones to release Get Excited and Make Things, and that all proceeds were to go to CC. We thought this was the coolest way for our friends and fans to support art and Creative Commons both – and have an exhibition-quality print to show for it! Turns out they felt the same way: a year later, Creative Commons has received a total of $13,490 from the edition, which has nearly sold out.

Good news! You can still get your very own print while at the same time showing some love for CC. There remain only 139 of the original 730 prints (varying sizes), so get one today and help us sell out the edition. If you’ve been looking for an opportunity to support CC, this is it!

This is just one of the many, many ways you can show support for the organization that has helped you and thousands of other excited makers of things tap into and become a vital part of the creativity and innovation that surround all of us on the web. Donate, shop at our online store, follow us on Twitter, join us on Facebook, and ensure Creative Commons is around for as long as creative, scientific, academic, and entrepreneurial minds need us.

If you're sick of waiting for Super Meat Boy to release on your platform of choice (WiiWare/XBLA/PC) so you can spend all day hanging out with its chunky characters, Team Meat has come up with a solution to cure your loneliness and simultaneously decorate your home's bare walls.

The developer has partnered with LTL Prints, which also sells those neat Jet Set Radio Future decals, to offer "peel and stick" wall graphics of Super Meat Boy's characters, including the titular hero, Bandage Girl, and Dr. Fetus.

You can even buy a graphic for Gish, the protagonist of another Edmund McMillen 2D platformer. The stickers are available in sizes as small as 10'' x 8'' (ideal for laptops) or as big as 66'' x 52''! You can see them all at the Super Meat Boy aisle in LTL Prints's site.

The greatest benefit of moderating a session at the Magazine Publishers Association conference on e-reading today was the chance to witness Slate founding editor Michael Kinsley’s induction into the Magazine Editors’ Hall of Fame. I caught his wry acceptance on video but missed the chance to record Nicholas Lemann’s touching introduction of the man a lot of people think of as the definition of “editor.” (The video embedded below is brief but a little shaky at times due to operator error; for those of you who prefer, here’s an mp3.)

Not coincidentally, this all took place during the inaugural National Magazine Awards for Digital Media, the first time the American Society of Magazine Editors has honored editorial achievement on the web and mobile devices in the same way as print. Or, as Kinsley put it, after years of struggle by ASME, “I think the Supreme Court said it best in Plessy vs. Ferguson, ‘separate but equal.’” The winners, led by NewYork.com’s award for general excellence, are listed here. Kinsley bridges both: in addition to Slate, his other magazine resume lines include editing roles at The New Republic, Harper’s Magazine, The Economist, and The Washington Monthly. He is now a senior editor for The Atlantic, advising on The Atlantic Wire, among other things. 

The greatest benefit of moderating a session at the Magazine Publishers Association conference on e-reading today was the chance to witness Slate founding editor Michael Kinsley’s induction into the Magazine Editors’ Hall of Fame. I caught his wry acceptance on video but missed the chance to record Nicholas Lemann’s touching introduction of the man a lot of people think of as the definition of “editor.” (The video embedded below is brief but a little shaky at times due to operator error; for those of you who prefer, here’s an mp3.)

Not coincidentally, this all took place during the inaugural National Magazine Awards for Digital Media, the first time the American Society of Magazine Editors has honored editorial achievement on the web and mobile devices in the same way as print. Or, as Kinsley put it, after years of struggle by ASME, “I think the Supreme Court said it best in Plessy vs. Ferguson, ‘separate but equal.’” The winners, led by NewYork.com’s award for general excellence, are listed here. Kinsley bridges both: in addition to Slate, his other magazine resume lines include editing roles at The New Republic, Harper’s Magazine, The Economist, and The Washington Monthly. He is now a senior editor for The Atlantic, advising on The Atlantic Wire, among other things.