TheSwedish Supreme Court has ruled that if a TV channel inserts ads into a movie without the explicit permission of the filmmaker, that’s a copyright violation.
“Even when a commercial is placed in between scenes… it interrupts the interplay between the film’s scenes as planned by the director,” the court stated.
For most films, the ruling is a non-event because the contract for broadcasting includes permission to insert ads.
I’m giving two presentations on Saturday at a Washington state high school, where I’ve been told the firewall will block my access not only to YouTube but to news sites like the Seattle PI and Times. So I thought I’d check into laptop data plans: surprise, they’re all* priced (basically) at the same exorbitant rate: 5GB throughout is $60 a month; all “smaller” rates are $40 per month and are 40 or 50 MB. I suppose that’s where they are arguing that they aren’t colluding?
* AT&T, Nextel/Sprint, Verizon. T-Mobile doesn’t offer this. Screenshots below the fold.
The eyebrow-raising part isn’t just the apparent price collusion: it’s the order-of-magnitude difference in some European prices, coupled with Europe’s much faster data networks.
Let’s compare, shall we, with Vodaphone UK: £15 a month (aka about $7.50 $30.00) for 3 GB usage when bundled. And it gets better (or worse, you choose). Speeds in the UK? “download speeds up to 7.2Mbps.” Speeds in the US? AT&T doesn’t tell you:
TiVo owners (we’re now in that circle, since our ReplayTV died) listen up: you will soon be able to watch YouTube content on your TV, via your TiVo. Oh, boy – cute cat parade!
AppleTV incorporated YouTube content in January, but Mac and iPod owners are still S.O.L. when it comes to Amazon’s UnBox (although TiVo folks can watch UnBox rentals). This is what happens in a world without standards, folks: corporations fight over a small pie, rather than competing on merit for parts of a much larger pie. C’est la vie, unfortunately. It merely postpones the inevitable, as the typewriter, railroad and telephone firms learned a hundred or so years ago.
Institutions of higher education face many challenges; one is to provide a learning environment that acknowledges the unique skills and interests of the Net Generation. This paper explores these challenges within the context of computer-mediated communication (CMC) instruction. Specifically, the paper explores the use of social web technologies – blogs and podcasts – as methods of student learning and assessment.
Podcasting and blogs facilitate online communication in a community network; both combine old and new communication methods to rapidly and inexpensively deliver words, text and audio via the Internet. Most reports of the use of these technologies in an educational setting focus on teacher-centered communication, specifically, podcasts of lectures. However, these technologies can also be used as an alternative, experiential and innovative method for active student learning. The paper provides a framework to help others create similar learning opportunities; it identifies pitfalls and best practices; and it provides a set of recommended tools.
