Toxic game consoles?

In our most recent Uncover story, Nintendo and Microsoft are put under the microscope by Greenpeace for toxic chemicals used in manufacturing their game consoles.

Eighteen leading electronics companies were ranked on a 10-point scale, with Nintendo being the first and only company to score zero.

The creators of Mario and Luigi provided no information to consumers on the substances it uses in manufacturing or on its plans to cut hazardous materials. Those aren’t the Mario Brothers I grew up with! And my folks thought playing the cutting-edge game Pitfall on Intellivision was bad for my health.

With all the recent recalls of toys with lead in them, do holiday shoppers really need any extra worries at this point when shopping for the gamers in their family?

Anyhow, the chemical culprits to be aware of are a vinyl known as PVC as well as fire retardants that can be a hazard when released into the environment.

Of course, your children could be a hazard when released into the environment this holiday season if they don’t get their Xbox or Wii from Santa.

-FRANCIS SMITH, Special Publications Assistant Editor

Local IT industry up in arms over new taxes

As of Monday morning, legislators agreed to levy a 6% tax rate on “computer support services, data center support, custom programming, consulting and disaster recovery services.”

I know, that’s not news to you.

What is, is this: the state’s IT industry (along with small local businesses and workers) is angrily asking, “What gives?”

After all, “The IT industry is ... helping to maintain the competitiveness of Maryland’s businesses.” So says Roger Cochetti, a director at the Computing Technology Industry Association.

Roger keeps going, telling InformationWeek:

"Just at the time that most cities, states, provinces, and countries around the world are encouraging the computer industry to locate there, the Maryland Assembly and Governor chose to discourage the computer industry from locating and providing services in the 'Free State," he said.

Cochetti said the tax could encourage Maryland IT users to outsource computer services.... He called the move one of the "least informed and most harmful actions ever undertaken by the Maryland State government."

Do you think that more companies will keep IT in-house to avoid paying these taxes to local outside vendors? Or outsource operations? Would you?

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

Beyond Web 2.0

Whew!

This is the first chance I've had to post since I returned from the Internet conference in Chicago last night. The three days flew by in a whirlwind of search engine optimization and unique visitors. I was disappointed to leave the Windy City so quickly; it was an exciting and beautiful place.

Back to the conference. Yesterday I learned there was Web beyond 2.0 (think social networking sites and wikis). In fact, there are plans for a Web 3.0 that puts data at front and center (instead of documents). My mind was blown.

Other highlights include debating the merits of widgets, sharing our ideas for forums, aggregation and more.

Before we get to any of that, though, we have to put The Daily Record's site through a usability test. And with this test, there'll be sharing of answers.

1. Is our text legible?

2. Are our menu categories easy-to-use?

3. Is the task flow efficient?

What do you all think? I could give you my answers, but I guarantee that your opinions reign supreme.

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

Microsoft: "Google not ahead of us"

From Japan today, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer claimed that Google wasn't ahead of Microsoft in any way - oh, except online searches.

The AP reports that Ballmer said "Google is not ahead of us. In the area of search specifically, Google would lead."

Ballmer's in Japan to tout the Windows Live package (no longer in beta as of Tuesday), which combines e-mail, instant messaging, blogging and photo-sharing. Sound familiar, Blogger readers?

In fact, on Monday Google announced Android, a software package for mobile devices - bypassing the PC (or Mac).

Ballmer's response, to the AP?

Ballmer said it was difficult to comment on Google's mobile plans because they were still "just words on paper" that had yet to begin.

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

Over-hauling technology

Thousands of web sites (or more), formerly hosted by Baltimore-based Alabanza, have been down for almost three days - and the frustrated clients are holding Alabanza's new owner, Massachusetts-based NaviSite, responsible.

Over the weekend, NaviSite physically moved the servers from the Baltimore data center (think tractor-trailers) to a new home.

Unfortunately, many of Alabanza's clients (who lease the servers from the company to power their Web sites) say they weren't informed this was happening. And when complications arose, the situation worsened.

One client I spoke with this morning said she had 60 sites affected; she knows others who have thousands of sites, many still inaccessible right now.

These clients are converging online, sharing their stories and passing on tidbits on forums.

For its part, NaviSite writes on its Web site:

“We've run into a number of unexpected issues during the migration process. Ultimately, it is taking us longer to move [Alabanza clients] to this new environment than we had anticipated.

“As of 10 a.m. Monday morning, we believe we are down to a couple of gating issues that, when completed, will have the significant majority of you up and running by 1 p.m. EST today and close to 100% of the environment up by this evening.”

Are any of those affected able to share their experiences?

What kind of disruption has this caused your business?

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

On the agenda: freedom for cable?

Reports are swirling today, suggesting that the FCC will change the rules that keep apartment-dwellers from choosing their own cable providers.

The change, which would allow residents in apartment buildings to choose providers similarly to how cell phone service operates, is on the agenda for today's hearing.

NYT quotes Kevin J. Martin, chairman of the commission: "Exclusive contracts have been one of the most significant barriers to competition."

Mr. Martin has also pressed the cable companies to offer so-called "a la carte" plans that would permit subscribers to buy individual channels, or groups of channels, at lower rates than they now pay. Here's what cable operators say about prices at present (PDF).

Are your choices for cable service limited, like mine are? I have only one choice in my building: Comcast, which is notorious for terrible customer service.

Would you be interested in an a la carte plan? If so, which channels would you want?

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

Networking for paralegals

It seems like the Great-Courtroom-in-the-Ether is quickly becoming crowded. But the latest online legal venture just might receive a unanimous affirmation, at least from the paralegal industry.

I'm referring to MyParalegalSpace, the newest venture by paralegal - and new media entrepreneur - Jeannie Johnston, creator of Paralegal Gateway. Johnston's first creation, born in 2001, serves largely as an information portal.

Not so for MyParalegalSpace, Johnston tells Law Crossing:

"I wanted to have the members put a face to the name and become less quick to get hostile ... I had a vision of [our site] to be more personable. [MyParalegalSpace] creates more of a community feel."

And that community has grown to almost 400 members (all verified as paralegals) in just two months.

Johnston goes on to comment that one of her goals is to help paralegals progress in their careers.

Will MyParalegalSpace accomplish this? Among paralegals, is networking a significant advantage?

What are some other ideas for industry-specific social networking portals?

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

Verizon gets message on users’ right to choose

Reversing an earlier decision, Verizon Wireless announced today that it will allow NARAL Pro-Choice America to send text messages to Verizon customers who sign up on the advocacy group’s Web site for the messaging service.

The New York Times reported this morning that the telecommunications company had a policy against carrying messages from any group that promotes an agenda or distributes content that, in Verizon’s opinion, can be seen as “controversial or unsavory” to its users. The “unsavory” issue in this case was abortion itself, not necessarily NARAL’s pro-choice position.

Verizon’s ban sparked a debate about the rights of a private company to effectively censor certain messages. In response, NARAL launched a Web campaign today where people can sign a form letter asking Verizon to “end this ill-advised policy and reassure its customers that they can receive the legal information in the form they have asked.”

Now, according to the Associated Press, Verizon has “reviewed the decision and determined it was an incorrect interpretation of a dusty internal policy.”

What do you think? Is Verizon putting itself at risk by carrying advocacy messages from a third party, or are they simply supporting free speech?

-LIZ FARMER, Legal Affairs Writer

Canton company brings MySpace ads to cell phones

The hearts of MySpace users were surely aflutter yesterday with the creation of a new scaled-down version of MySpace for mobile phones - and, oh yeah, it's FREE.

Of course, you do have to subject yourself to a few ads, but, hey, it's better than paying the previous $3/month. That's 36 whole dollars a year.

A Canton-based company, Millennial Media, is responsible for streamlining the ads that support the service, The Sun reports.

I do have to outright disagree with Fox Interactive Media VP John Smelzer:

"We believe that everybody who's accessing the Internet from a PC will access the Internet from a mobile device. ... It will become a mainstream activity."

Hold up.

No offense to the power of the Web, but mobile device-browsing a "mainstream" activity? For mainstream America? I don't know about that. Somehow I can't picture my grandparents (or parents) - who use a PC to connect to the 'net - ever surfing from a cell phone.

Am I way off base?

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

No girl power at comp sci class

On Monday nights, it's 17 vs. 2 in my computer applications class at Montgomery College. If you count Bill, 18 vs. 2.

I'm taking a night class to learn Adobe Flash, a computer program that creates flash animations for the web. (When you see a message on your computer that asks you to install Macromedia Flash Player, you're trying to view a file that I am learning how to create). I'm learning along with one other girl and 17 guys; Bill Humphrey is our teacher.

I expected a gender gap, but not this wide - after all, my class isn't advanced computer programming, it's an instructional course on a program that's becoming increasingly widespread.

According to a recent AP story, however, the programs themselves might be at the root of the discrepancy: new research suggests that they aren't designed with female thought processes in mind.

What this class has taught me in just two weeks is that those processes truly are different.

Right down to naming our files, I've taken a completely different approach to my exercises than my male counterparts. (I'm sure they enjoy glancing over at my screen to see short animations of dancing teddy bears and the like, but I could do without the World of Warcraft on theirs, so we're even.)

Seriously, though - should we be working towards a middle ground, or are separate programs for separate genders worth considering?

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

What’s up with the stem cell money?

Reporter Karen Buckelew reports today that more than four months after the Maryland Stem Cell Research Commission announced recipients of its first $15 million in grants, the group still has not cut checks to any of the 24 winning projects.

Late paperwork from scientists and internal bureaucratic delays at universities are the main reasons.

Several commission members were angry. One, Suzanne Ostrand-Rosenberg, a professor of biological science at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, had a suggestion.

“If people don’t get all their paperwork in in six months, this offer is no longer open,” she said.

What do you think of her idea? What else should be done?

-TOM LINTHICUM, Executive Editor

Film or digital? A photographer’s perspective

Any professional photographer who has been in the game more than 10 years is going to have a soft spot in his heart for film.

If anyone would have told me back in 1990 that a decade later I would be spending more time in front of a computer than behind the camera, I would have laughed. The transition hasn’t been overnight, but technology has definitely taken over the industry.

But as a recent Kodak survey brought to light, two-thirds of professional photographers continue to use film for special projects, even though they shoot digital out of necessity.

I have to admit digital photography has become almost 100 percent of what I shoot in my professional career. That’s because, for the most part, digital has surpassed film in image and reproduction quality, and nobody in the industry wants to deal with film anymore. Photo labs have been going out of business and most camera stores don’t carry darkroom chemicals now.

The truth is we live in a very “need it now” society and for that it seems we are willing to sacrifice a little bit of artistry.

I’ve heard people say that digital photography has made amateurs better and professionals worse. Anyone can take a decent photo these days because the camera does most of the work, and all the knowledge once needed to take a great photo without seeing an instant outcome is thrown out the door. Most pros I know (like the ones Kodak surveyed) still shoot some film for more personal and creative projects as a way of staying sharp.

Even still with all the bits, bytes, and bucks involved in the modern digital photography era, there is still nothing like the sight of a perfectly exposed transparency on the light table or the smell of fixer in the darkroom as your black and white masterpiece slowly appears under the safe light.

What about it, photographers?

-MAXIMILIAN FRANZ, Staff Photographer

TimesSelect: R.I.P.

The New York Times on Wednesday pulled the plug on its TimesSelect Web subscription program, returning parts of the online Times to entirely free status.

Although the pending action was widely reported — including in our own On the Record blog on Aug. 11 — the move came exactly two years to the day after the Times began charging $7.95 a month, or $49.95 a year, for online access to its columnists, its editorials and op-ed pieces, and its archives. Print subscribers to the Times, and some students and educators, were given free access. Paid Web site subscribers will get a prorated refund.

According to the Times’ own story of the switch:

"The Times will also make available its archives from 1987 to the present without charge, as well as those from 1851 to 1922, which are in the public domain. There will be charges for some material from the period 1923 to 1986, and some will be free."

This leaves the Wall Street Journal as the only major newspaper in the country to charge for access to most of its Web site. And Rupert Murdoch, the soon-to-be new owner of Dow Jones & Co., the publisher of the Journal, has talked openly about allowing the online Journal to be freely available. Yet some Dow Jones executives, including CEO Richard F. Zannino, think WSJ.com should be kept at least a partially paid site, according to an article in Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal.

Meanwhile, the Times has instituted a new service, MyTimes, which allows users to create their own personalized web pages on the Times’ site – with content from outside the Times’ domain. Seems like The Powers That Be at NYT have embraced the concept of aggregation.

It’s a brave new world.

-PAUL SAMUEL, Associate Editor

Office killers? Cheap alternatives to Microsoft

Still running Microsoft Office 2003? ’95? Or, maybe even working off of the Works programs that came pre-installed on the machine because it would cost too much to upgrade everyone’s machine?

Microsoft’s suite of productivity programs has long held the lion’s share of the marketplace even though upgrades can cost hundreds of dollars. But, if you’re looking for a low-cost, or even free, alternative, the time has never been better. A growing number of companies, including IBM and Google, are releasing free products in an effort to wean people off of Microsoft Office.

Tuesday alone saw the release of two new, would-be Office killers. First up is Google’s Presentation, a take on the popular Microsoft PowerPoint, which joined the Document and Spreadsheet programs of the search giant. And, IBM rolled out Lotus Symphony, a free suite of programs drawing on the venerable Lotus name.

Additionally, OpenOffice, another free, open source suite of office programs, released a major upgrade this week. Or, you can always get Sun’s Star Office, which used to run for $70 or so, for free as part of Google’s “Pack” of essential software.

What’s your favorite freebie software?

-BEN MOOK, Assistant Business Editor

HD Radio - what’s the big deal?

I see where iBiquity CEO Bob Struble, flush with success over his company’s alliance with Apple Inc.’s ubiquitous iTunes software, is predicting the end of analog radio.

Analog radio is what most of us still call radio.

“Five years from now, people won’t walk into a Best Buy and say, ‘I want to buy a HD Radio,’” Struble said. “They’ll just say, ‘I want a radio.’ This will be the standard, it will be everywhere.”

Really? Is this a prescient prediction or a wildly optimistic dream? What do you think?

-TOM LINTHICUM, Executive Editor

Ever heard of TMZ?

I was working at a marketing firm last year when my boss rushed out of his office, clutching an industry magazine. "Have any of you ever heard of TMZ.com?" he breathed. Almost everyone shook their heads.

A few of us, looking very guilty, raised our hands.

I take comfort in the fact that I wasn't alone: more than 9 million unique visitors feast on the celebrity-news site, which has more than 120 million monthly page views, according to comScore Media Metrix.

Yes, 120 MILLION page views. Every 30 days.

And TMZ's about to get even more eyeballs: Monday marks the premiere of “TMZ TV,” the brand's foray into on-air entertainment news.

A lot of industry folk are calling it “groundbreaking:” an online success story that is hoping to spin off a (even more lucrative) TV component.

But Harvey Levin, the former-lawyer-turned-celebrity-reporter who runs the site, claims he isn't aiming to be a pioneer.

From the AP story:

The program has a good shot at making it, said Bill Carroll, an expert in syndication for Katz Television.

"In a million years, I never would have believed that the national conversation would have been Paris, Britney and Lindsay," Carroll said. "No organization is better at covering that than TMZ. If they can take the tongue-in-cheek sensibility that the Web site has and translate it to broadcast, I'd be very surprised if it's not a success."

Who's willing to fess up: any of you have a guilty-pleasure site like TMZ at the top of your "favorites" list?

To our lawyer readers: ever thought about going the Harvey Levin route?

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

All the good villainy - gone

One group’s suffering at the hands of technology seems to have transpired in relative silence: ‘80s movie villains.

Where have all the great villains gone? Into a world of lameness – that’s where. And technology is to blame. So is the state of Maryland.

Since October 1996, the state of Maryland has issued only electronic versions of its General Obligation Bonds. That might be a fine thing for the average investor, but what about Hans Gruber? Alan Rickman’s classic villain from 1988’s “Die Hard” wanted nothing more than to live the American dream – steal hundreds of millions of dollars in bearer bonds from a massive international corporation.

Though he ultimately failed, even dreaming the dream is now impossible in our high-tech world. There are no stacks of bond certificates locked away in a vault, so no need for an intricate siege and robbery. All you need to pull off that heist today are a cell phone with a Web browser, a Wi-Fi signal from a corner coffee shop and a bank account number.

It’s nice to steal millions over a macchiato, but it doesn’t do much for cinema villainy.

I won’t even get into Lethal Weapon 2 and a car trunk full of gold South African Kruggerands. Again, why move that much gold when all you need is an Internet connection?

I guess there’s just no room in this cold, heartless, modern world for great ‘80s movie villains.

Who else out there has a favorite act of villainy now rendered moot by technology?

-JOE BACCHUS, Web Specialist

Score one for online video

In a start-of-the-season buzzer-beater, the NFL announced this week that its despised 45-second cap on online video will be relaxed for its broadcast rights holders - Fox, CBS, ESPN and NBC.

To sum up for readers unaware of the dispute: In June, the NFL instituted a rule that prohibited the media from posting more than 45 seconds of video per day that is shot at team facilities or features team personnel. Critics say the move was designed to force fans to visit NFL.com to get the goods.

The Sports Business Journal reported Tuesday that the TV networks "argued that their rights fees - averaging more than $3B a year over the life of the contracts... should buy them more latitude for online video than an unaffiliated media outlet."

Still in play: Exactly how much video the rights holders will be allowed to post, and whether affiliate stations will reap the benefits of their parent networks.

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

Wi-Fi for none?

Looks like residents of San Francisco and Chicago won't be getting citywide wireless Internet anytime soon.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported this morning that EarthLink backed out of its proposed contract, just one day after Chicago's plan fell apart. Earthlink and AT&T were both contenders in Chicago.

Philadelphia signed Earthlink to provide its citywide network, an initiative that began in 2005 and is just now coming to fruition (about half the 135 sq. mile area is covered to date). Anyone who's recently visited the City of Brotherly Love know how it's working?

How strong's the signal in Annapolis now that the state capital has free public WiFi?

And is a citywide wireless network truly a feasible, good idea?

-JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

Sign of The Times?

The New York Post, ever vigilant to the goings-on at its cross-town rival, the New York Times, reports that the Times is giving up on its two-year-old TimesSelect service, in which it charged a fee to online readers for access to its Op-Ed columnists and other content, such as editorials and its archives.

This arrangement deprived readers who went to the daily and Sunday Times on the Web for news stories of the pleasure of reading such columnists as Maureen Dowd, Frank Rich, Thomas L. Friedman, David Brooks and other opinion-givers. Only those who were willing to pay $7.95 a month, or $49.95 a year, had access to these writers.

Although the announcement hasn’t been made officially, the return to totally free Times content on the Internet awaits the resolution of software issues associated with making the switch from pay-per-view, the Post reported, citing an unidentified source.

If it happens, this is good news! Not having free access to Times’ editorials and columnists was like inviting readers to a meal, but not serving the dessert and coffee. The meal was, if anything, incomplete.

The reason for the Times giving up on TimesSelect, according to the Post, appears to have less to do with internal grumbling — some columnists were unhappy with the arrangement, complaining that it limited their Web readership — than with economics. The number of paid TimesSelect subscribers dropped to just over 221,000 in June, from more than 224,000 in April, the Post said.

-PAUL D. SAMUEL, Daily Record Associate Editor