by Craig Silverman Published May 24, 2012 8:44 am Over the course of 16 years spent working in product management for Adobe, Kevin Connor often heard customers ask if there was any way to determine whether an image had been altered using Photoshop. “We would get calls pretty frequently (and as time went on, more frequently) from people asking, ‘Are there ways to detect this?’ ” said Connor, who was vice president of product management for Photoshop when left the company last year. Connor is now working with noted digital image forensics expert Dr. Hany Farid on a startup to provide tools to help sniff out altered images. Their company, Fourandsix, will roll out its first detection product later this year. (It’s currently in beta ... Continue reading →
Jim Parsons has skipped the "I'M GAY!" magazine cover approach to coming out: Far down in a New York Times Wednesday was the subtle mention that the two-time Emmy winner has been in a same-sex relationship for a decade. The blink-and-you'll miss it aside appeared in a story about Parsons' starring stint in the Broadway production of "Harvey." Discussing Parsons' small role in the play "The Normal Heart" -- about gay men dying of AIDS -- the story noted: "'The Normal Heart' resonated with him on a few levels: Mr. Parsons is gay and in a 10-year relationship, and working with an ensemble again onstage was like nourishment, he said." Parsons played young gay activist Tommy Boatrwright in the play. While this may be the ... Continue reading →
by Mallary Jean Tenore Published Aug. 22, 2007 10:16 am Updated Mar. 3, 2011 7:03 pm Jacob Harris, a senior software engineer for The New York Times, says Twitter is “the right kind of stupid.” He’s responding to those who have called Twitter a pointless, overrated or simply stupid site. Harris says sites like this can help news organizations figure out how to present, consume and interact with the news. At its most basic level, Twitter is a networking tool that helps users keep abreast of what friends, or strangers, are doing. For news organizations, it is a resource for publishing work, communicating with other journalists and finding story ideas. “I feel that the next big things will be found by some tinkerer putting a ... Continue reading →
Hi. I'm Chaya, and I am a Chassidic Jewish woman. I am also a media professional with a degree in Women's Studies from a large, very liberal university (magna cum laude, baby!). In the past few days, I've been reading the backlash against "the asifa," a recent mass meeting of religious Jewish men meant to draw a few boundaries around Internet use in our homes (meaning religious Jewish homes; not your house). Whenever religious Jews make a stink about some cultural issue, the media moves in on it with a bizarre kind of vengeance. Like yesterday, Katie J.M. Baker published an article on Jezebel about the event, in which she actually compared Jewish men to ants! See: "While men in traditional Orthodox garb filed into ... Continue reading →
by Julie Moos Published May 23, 2012 11:23 am CJOnline | Twitter Staffers at WIBW in Topeka, Kan., subdued a “disgruntled man” this morning, who stabbed a few people at the TV station. Morning news co-anchor Amanda Lanum tweeted events as they unfolded, as did other staffers. Their tweets say the man had a knife and stabbed a few people, but no one was seriously injured. A selection of their tweets: Emergency responders on scene of stabbing report about 925 am Wed at WIBW television studios at 631 SW Commerce Place. twitter.com/Philreports/st… — Phil Anderson (@Philreports) May 23, 2012 This was the scene as staff tackled man. A couple of people were stabbed. Like I said, everyone okay. ow.ly/i/E5zg — Amanda_Lanum (@Amanda_Lanum) May 23, 2012 ... Continue reading →
McClatchy to begin ‘robust test’ of pay model McClatchy vice president of news Anders Gyllenhaal tells employees that “after more than a year of experiments and analysis on pay models, McClatchy newspapers will begin a robust test of a pay plan that looks like the right balance for our websites.” He writes: We’ve learned that many light online users are unlikely to become subscribers — but that our loyal print and online customers are willing to sign up in exchange for a multi-media subscription that would include the print edition, web, smart phones and the e-edition. Above all, we found that the impact of placing a clear value on our content is among the most important messages we can send as part of this transition. ... Continue reading →
by Andrew Beaujon Published May 23, 2012 7:49 am Updated May 23, 2012 7:55 am Fairleigh Dickinson University People who watch no news at all can answer more questions about international current events than people who watch cable news, a survey by Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind finds. NPR and Sunday morning political talk shows are the most informative news outlets, while exposure to partisan sources, such as Fox News and MSNBC, has a negative impact on people’s current events knowledge. People who watch MSNBC and CNN exclusively can answer more questions about domestic events than people who watch no news at all. People who only watch Fox did much worse. NPR listeners answered more questions correctly than people in any other category. The largest effect ... Continue reading →
