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Uber CEO gives exec public slap on the wrist for threatening journalists
By now, there's no question that Uber exec Emil Michael said some seriously concerning things about the potential merit of digging up dirt on journalists critical of the company at a private party in front of reporters and celebrities. For the record, no, he never said that Uber was actively digging up dirt on seemingly pesky reporters, nor did he suggest that Uber plans to. Still, the very fact that he responded to the issue of seemingly slanted journalism with a pretty detailed plan of attack set off a media firestorm. This whole thing prompted Uber CEO Travis Kalanick to take Michael to task on Twitter today, noting that his comments at that dinner demonstrated a distinct lack of leadership and humanity.
Recommended Reading: a brief history of female superheroes
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. Suffering Sappho! The Tortured History of Female Superheroes by Molly Lambert, Grantland With the truckload of recent comic book movie announcements, female superheroes are poised to make a big splash at the box office in the years to come -- including Gal Gadot (above) as Wonder Woman. However, previous female-led efforts in the genre haven't done well, and the biggest films continue to have dudes as the lead actors. Grantland takes a look at the troubled history of female superheroes as both Marvel and DC Comics prep to give the ladies another shot at Hollywood glory.
Citizen journalism game will show how your photos change the story
As the Ferguson protests made exceedingly clear, citizen journalism is both a blessing and a curse; while it can expose police brutality and censorship, it's also prone to misinformation. But how do you illustrate the complexity of the subject for the general public? If you're developer Nicky Case, who has a history of tackling difficult subjects, you build a game around it. His as yet unnamed title will have your character trying to gain Twitter followers (that is, score points) by taking photos at controversial events like protests. The trick will be to accurately capture what's happening without polarizing any group more than necessary. You may want to photograph police corruption, but the cops could block you from certain areas if you antagonize them too quickly; at the same time, you don't want to take extreme shots that turn peaceful protests into riots.
Australian bill would jail those who report on leaked spying operations
Journalists in the US and UK may be relatively safe from the government's wrath when they report on surveillance leaks from the likes of Edward Snowden, but the Australian press may have to tread carefully before too long. Attorney General George Brandis has presented a bill that would make it a crime to reveal information that might "prejudice the effective conduct" of "special intelligence operations," such as those from the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). It also creates new charges specific to people who might become whistleblowers, such as contractors and the spies themselves.
WSJ writer gives Twitter password to the internet and the obvious happens
We put a ton of trust in technology everyday, but are you confident enough in two-factor authentication to give out any of your passwords? Christopher Mims of The Wall Street Journal is. In a post on the site proclaiming that passwords are "finally dying," Mims extolls the virtues of the secure login method immediately after giving out his Twitter password. He says that he's confident he won't be hacked because, among other reasons, the second authentication step (a text message containing a numerical code that's sent to the user's cellphone, or an app that generates a code should you be outside of cellular data range) is apparently difficult to intrude upon. As Forbes has spotted though, Mims' Twitter account has since been slammed with people trying to login to it, his phone blew up with authentication codes as a result, forcing him to associate a different phone number with the microblogging service.
CNN wants to prove that drones are safe for news reporting
Stunning video footage like that from a recent tornado in Arkansas (see below) shows the potential for drones to radically change journalism. However, it's illegal to operate them in the US, especially near a disaster or accident scene -- which has prompted a new research project from CNN and the Georgia Institute of Technology. The aim is to figure out which type of equipment, personnel and safety measures would be needed to safely operate news-gathering drones in US airspace. While such UAVs would no doubt give media outlets like CNN improved coverage, they'd often end up in close proximity to crowds, emergency personnel and even rescue aircraft. That means US regulators might be reluctant to approve them for reporting -- even though they've already authorized lower-risk activities like pipeline inspection. CNN's group hopes to show the FAA that it can be made safe for journalism, likely so that it won't be frozen out when new drone regulations are finally announced. [Image credit: Brian Emfinger via YouTube]
Oculus game teaches journalists how to survive in war zones
You're sat in the back of an armored personnel carrier when, suddenly, something hits you and the lights go out. Stumbling out of the darkness, you emerge onto the battlefield armed with just a video camera and a first-aid kit. Laying in front of you is a wounded soldier screaming for help, but would you know what to do? This is Stringer, an Oculus Rift title designed not as an alternative to Battlefield or Call of Duty, but to teach journalists sent into war zones how to survive.
Facebook Newswire aims to deliver breaking news to journalists
Twitter's made serious efforts to turn itself into more than just a social network: it wants to be the go-to tool for journalists searching for breaking news. Naturally, it makes sense for Facebook to follow suit as the two continue to play feature tag. Newswire is Zuckerberg & co.'s answer to Dataminr for News. It aggregates shared stories, photos and status updates that might be of interest to journalists and news organizations. This isn't just some haphazard collection of BuzzFeed lists and conspiracy blogs, though. The service is powered by Storyful, a company that specializes in filtering out the noise and delivering "valuable content" through a social newswire service.
State-sponsored hackers are attacking news outlets on a massive scale
It's not hard to spot instances of state-sponsored hacking against dissidents and terrorism suspects, but it now appears that these attacks frequently target the press -- and more often than you see in the news. Google security engineers report that 21 of the top 25 media outlets worldwide have faced some kind of government-backed hacking attempt, with many of them flying under the radar. In Vietnam, for instance, attackers have tried to discourage coverage of human rights issues by tricking journalists into compromising their PCs. Google argues that awareness is the solution. The more press organizations recognize the online threat, the better they can lock things down and make sure their stories get heard. [Image credit: European Union 2012 - European Parliament, Flickr]
Ask Massively: And the money will follow
A reader named Josh recently wrote to Massively to ask about the viability of a career in games journalism. He's not a kid with stars in his eyes; he's an adult who works for an elite tech company, and his dad is a published journalist himself. He once focused his MMO hobby into a livestreaming channel and blog but shut them down because of the time involved, and now he's considering whether a career shift to doing what he loves might be worthwhile. As a 30-year old with a family of three, I have a feeling that it would be very difficult to transition into the world of technology journalism. My impression is that it is an industry that does not really pay that much, and therein lies my quandary. My question for you at Massively is whether it is really possible to pursue the field of technology/gaming journalism and still support a family? And what traits are desirable in a technology journalist? Do editors look for people who have journalism degrees and existing experience, or is it a situation where you can step up to the plate and impress someone with your existing skill? How many of you that work for Massively actually support yourselves and your families based on your journalism, and what did it take to get to that point in your careers? Unfortunately, Josh's gut feeling is correct and terribly timely.
Ustream starts a nonprofit program to back citizen journalists
Livestreaming is increasingly crucial to journalism -- in some cases, it's the only way to get around government censorship of TV broadcasts. With that in mind, Ustream is launching Ustream for Change. The nonprofit program helps citizen journalists and educators by supplying no-cost access to ad-free streaming, promotional efforts and tech support. The initiative is already supporting Spilno.tv and UkrStream.tv as they cover anti-government protests in the Ukraine; groups wanting to make an impact through live video can apply to join the program today.
Twitter tool tells journalists what's BREAKING!
We've known for sometime that Twitter is looking to make a move in the news game, but what that would look like was still unclear. Today, the blue bird's intentions are starting to look a bit more concrete, with the announcement of Dataminr for News, a tool that pinpoints and alerts journalists of breaking news before every Joe with a dot com is tweeting about it. The tool, created in partnership with NY startup Dataminr, uses machine-learning algorithms to identify big and reliable stories and alert journalists via email, mobile alerts and other means. It will also provide detailed information about the origins and sources behind the information. According to The Verge, CNN has used Dataminr tools for months and is already seeing some payoff: It claims to produce at least two stories a day sourced from the service. The new initiative feeds into the "me first" media culture that has seen hoaxes rise to the top of Twitter as quickly as real breaking news stories. However, Dataminr claims that its algorithms cut through the bull shit by looking beyond the first tweet to find "corroborating sources on the ground" among other factors. According to TechCrunch, Dataminr CEO Ted Bailey said Dataminr for News will become available to all journalists for an undisclosed price later this year.
Chicago Sun-Times fires photography staff, tells journalists to use iPhones
Last Thursday my former hometown's newspaper, The Chicago Sun-Times, sadly laid off its entire 28-person full-time photography staff in an attempt to cut costs in an industry that has been seeing a steady decline in subscription numbers and ad revenue as physical newspapers struggle in a digital age. The Sun-Times' contention is that digital video will soon become more important to readers of newspapers instead of photography, so the paper is spending its resources in that area from now on. In a statement, the Sun-Times said: "The Sun-Times business is changing rapidly and our audiences are consistently seeking more video content with their news. We have made great progress in meeting this demand and are focused on bolstering our reporting capabilities with video and other multimedia elements. The Chicago Sun-Times continues to evolve with our digitally savvy customers, and as a result, we have had to restructure the way we manage multimedia, including photography, across the network." Whether or not you agree with the paper's move is one thing (I don't), but the thing all of my fellow journalists agree with is that it's a misguided decision that just 24 hours after the layoffs, the Sun-Times announced to its remaining staff that they will receive training on "iPhone photography basics." The news was reported via a post on Chicago media critic Robert Feder's Facebook page: "Sun-Times reporters begin mandatory training today on 'iPhone photography basics' following elimination of the paper's entire photography staff. 'In the coming days and weeks, we'll be working with all editorial employees to train and outfit you as much as possible to produce the content we need,' managing editor Craig Newman tells staffers in a memo." Forget the fact that most print journalists are not photographers; that most people who write for a living don't have a great understanding about lighting, composition, the rule of thirds or other tenets of photography. Even if they did, it's ridiculous to think that an iPhone (even the latest iPhone 5) is anywhere near as good as your basic DSLR. The technology in the iPhone's camera -- while it may be okay for point-and-shoot pics of your friends at a birthday party -- is in no way equipped to handle photojournalism. Where's the telephoto lens? Where's the high-powered flash? And most of all, where's the speed? The iPhone 5's camera is fine if all your subjects are standing still and already properly lit, but trying to take a photograph of a moving subject (as you often do in photojournalism) is a pain because the camera takes so long to focus. Worse, if the cameraman is moving, the iPhone's camera doesn't have near enough stability control to make your images look presentable. And though the iPhone's camera is pretty sweet for something inside a phone, it doesn't have the processing power of a dedicated DSLR, so taking rapid photos in succession isn't something that can be done with great clarity or accuracy. I love that I have a camera in my pocket at all times, but that camera is not the best-suited one for photojournalism. If the Chicago Sun-Times thinks it is, then it will probably never have a Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph again.
Ask Massively: The moving goalposts of MMO reviews
Last week, Massively streamteamer Richie Procopio sat down to play Elder Scrolls Online at a press demo. Like most such "all-day" media events, the press demo was approximately four hours long -- four hours for Richie to see as much as he could and take notes to transform into articles worth reading. "It must be so hard to write an MMO article based on four hours of gameplay," remarked a reader named Dularr. It is and it isn't. Four hours is more than enough time to grok the basics. Of course, if you're expecting a detailed endgame critique after four hours, you're in for disappointment.
Ask Massively: Why tpyos matter
Whenever you sit down to read an article -- let's say it's an article about MMOs on your favorite MMO blog -- the author has a hidden persuasive advantage. Readers are inclined to believe what they read unless they have a compelling reason not to because believing is easier than not believing. In fact, humans have a hard time mentally readjusting if they hear a lie about a topic before they hear the truth, especially when the lie confirms comforting pre-existing beliefs. And like it or not, we grant a measure of authority to published articles, to what we see in print from people we presume are professionals. But even a lowly games writer squanders that "authoritativeness bonus" when he can't even be arsed to press the darn spellcheck button.
Ask Massively: Reviewing and re-reviewing MMOs
Back in September, Star Trek Online Producer Daniel Stahl gave an interview that proposed to tell game journalists how to do their jobs. That's only fair; we're always telling developers how to do their jobs, right? Stahl told [a]listdaily, "The whole game rating business doesn't necessarily do a great justice to MMOs. MMOs are designed to grow over time and get better with every major release. It might be better if sites like Metacritic could find a way to rate MMOs by releases instead of just the initial day one . . . There are plenty of MMOs that have made huge strides since day one and some that have even gotten worse. Until then, we will continue to offer the game for free and ask for people to try it out and decide for themselves." Quipped Massively reader Matthew12, "If only there were MMO gaming blogs and websites that keep up to date with the MMOs and their updates... oh wait; there are."
Ask Massively: Missives from the Massively yacht
So here we are, lounging on the deck of our yacht, sipping cool drinks out of fake coconuts while lifeguard cosplayers -- they're cosplayers, right guys? -- gently wave palm leaves at us. Later, of course, we'll dock somewhere and whip out our laptops and dash off some posts about video games before we get back to enjoying the titillating payoffs we earn as members of the gaming journalism front lines. Hopefully you've guessed that Massively doesn't have a yacht. We don't even have an office. The Massively yacht is a mythical destination, a running joke that's only mildly funny and then only to the people who work here, since only we know what we're paid, how insanely strict the Joystiq network is about accepting items on the spectrum between gifts and bribes, and how that strictness both hurts and helps us and you. That's something worth talking about in light of the Eurogamer debacle.
Newsweek goes all-digital, will cease print publishing at end of 2012
Newsweek Magazine is almost 80 years old, but the print edition isn't going to get much older. The magazine's December 31 issue will be the final one in paper-and-ink format. After that, Newsweek will be all-digital and change its name to Newsweek Global. Newsweek Global will be available for reading in web browsers and on the iPad and other tablets. Newsweek merged with The Daily Beast in 2010, and some Newsweek content will appear on The Daily Beast website. Editor-in-Chief Tina Brown wrote: "Exiting print is an extremely difficult moment for all of us who love the romance of print and the unique weekly camaraderie of those hectic hours before the close on Friday night. But as we head for the 80th anniversary of Newsweek next year we must sustain the journalism that gives the magazine its purpose and embrace the all-digital future." For now, Time Magazine is the standard-bearer among the few major US news magazines still being printed (US News and World Report ceased print publication in 2011). Former Time Inc. interactive editor/NYT public editor Daniel Okrent told Columbia J-school students in 1999 that they would see the death of print in their professional lifetimes (in the process, describing an intriguing tablet-style reader device featuring finger-swipe page turns and "a cellular hookup to a satellite-connected database" for downloading new content); it looks like Okrent's forecast continues on target. Not everything is perfect on the digital publishing side either, however. E-newspaper The Daily, started by Rupert Murdoch last year, has seen a rocky birth, with iPad and other tablet editions available on a paid subscription basis. The toolsets for digital publishers are improving steadily, with Adobe, Mag+ and Aquafadas (among many others) providing comprehensive solutions. Newsweek already has an iPad app available, with in-app purchases for each issue.
BBC News Channel conducts live video interview over smartphone, goes where satellites can't (update with video)
We usually associate smartphones in news reporting with citizen journalism, not full-time journalists. However, a confluence of events has just led to the BBC's Nick Garnett becoming a pioneer for mobile broadcasting on the professional level. When a shortage of satellite trucks prevented Garnett from getting the usual video feed for the BBC News Channel, he successfully arranged the British network's first live video interview piped through a smartphone. The key, Garnett says, was Dejero's Live+ iPhone app: while live streaming apps are already commonplace, Dejero's let him merge the 3G and WiFi connections together, getting enough bandwidth to make a TV-worthy broadcast in a country where LTE is still very new. Combined with some very ad hoc staging and help from the BBC's technical teams, the coordination resulted in a surprisingly smooth interview about flooding in northeastern England with relatively few hints of the extra-tiny recording equipment involved. It's unlikely that broadcast crews will reach to their pockets for live coverage solutions before anything else, but the BBC is actively testing Dejero and other apps that could make smartphones as much a part of the field reporting arsenal as a camcorder and an eye for a good story. As we can't embed the clip, check the source link to see it for yourself. Update: We've now managed to embed the clip after the break.
WSJ: Google set to acquire Frommer's from Wiley, add trusted travel reviews
Just one year after its Zagat acquisition, Google has made a move on another trusted lifestyle brand. John Wiley & Sons Inc., the current owner of the Frommer's network of travel sites and guide books, confirmed the Mountain View acquisition, with a closing expected shortly. According to The Wall Street Journal, Google hasn't made a call concerning Frommer's printed guidebooks, which don't necessarily fall in line with the company's otherwise online-only model. It's also unclear whether or not the new content arm will fall under Zagat's leadership, though a department executive did comment on the acquisition in an interview, saying that Google planned to keep Frommer's on its current path for the time being. Neither company was able to confirm pricing for the buyout, which could help Google boost its reviews portfolio, backing user-submitted travel content with professional credibility. Full details are at the source link below. Update: As it turns out, Google will reportedly be keeping the print staff on board, moving the team to its NYC offices. Online editors are less fortunate, however, with layoffs having already begun.
