jwi.be

What, if anything, the term ‘hyperlocal’ now means is something that keeps coming up in conversations I have and it strikes me that it’s no longer necessarily defined by a tight geographical area, but instead seems to have evolved to describe more of an attitude than a place.

Often it’s the subject matter that could be termed ‘hyperlocal’ (eg. littering reports) or a story treatment (eg. data maps) but even sites which cover large geographical areas (eg. the city blogs which I look after for Guardian Local) are referred to as ‘hyperlocal’. Can these things be considered ‘hyperlocal in nature, even if that’s not true of their scale or scope?

Faced with a collapse in traffic to thetimes.co.uk, some advertisers have simply abandoned the site. Rob Lynam, head of press trading at the media agency MEC, whose clients include Lloyds Banking Group, Orange, Morrisons and Chanel, says, "We are just not advertising on it. If there's no traffic on there, there's no point in advertising on there." Lynam says he has been told by News International insiders that traffic to The Times site has fallen by 90 per cent since the introduction of charges. "That was the same forecast they were giving us prior to registration and the paywall going up, so whether it's a reflection on reality or not, I don't know.

TBD.com — a Washington-focused experiment in online, hyper-local journalism from the creators of the political news site Politico — launched this morning with much fanfare. In addition to the Politico connection, the arrival of TBD (whose name comes from the abbreviation for “to be determined”) has been eagerly awaited, in part because of the involvement of Jim Brady, the much-admired former executive editor of the Washington Post’s online unit. However, whether the new startup’s blend of local reporting and blog aggregation can win it an audience in the nation’s capital remains to be seen.

het moet wel leuk werken zijn op Apple's Patent Afdeling...

De Amerikaanse krant The New York Times meldt dat de twee bedrijven dicht bij een overeenkomst zijn. Hierdoor zou Verizon voorrang geven aan data van bedrijven die hiervoor willen betalen. Zo zou Google bijvoorbeeld kunnen betalen voor het sneller doorsturen van video's van Youtube.

Als de twee bedrijven inderdaad een dergelijke afspraak willen maken, zou dit een klap zijn voor netneutraliteit in het land. Dit principe stelt dat geen enkele dienst of datatype voorrang zou moeten krijgen op welk netwerk dan ook. De Amerikaanse telecomwaakhond FCC probeerde in het verleden al regels in te voeren waardoor dit principe wettelijk houvast zou krijgen. De organisatie werd echter door de rechter teruggefloten. Nu probeert het met individuele internetaanbieders en telco's afspraken te maken.

The potential security flaw concerns the mobile internet browser Safari, and the way it opens PDF files in Apple's iOS software. The vulnerability arose over the weekend when US-based hackers launched JailbreakMe, a browser-based service that can unlock Apple devices from restrictions imposed by the manufacturer.

The company is establishing a new division, called Condé Nast Restaurants, that will be based in Hong Kong and run by Stuart Nielsen, a regional director of food and beverages for Intercontinental Hotels Group. The venture was spurred by the success of several licensed venues in Moscow, including the Vogue Café.