YouTube a major platform for news – says new Pew report

According to a new report from the Pew Research Center, “YouTube is becoming a major platform for viewing news.”

By far, the incident that sparked the most interest was the Japan earthquake and tsunami. Pew looked at the most popular videos in the “news & politics” section of YouTube over those 15 months and found that 5 percent of the 260 videos related to the Japanese disaster.

Given that 70 percent of YouTube traffic comes from outside the U.S., it’s not surprising that the top three news videos were related to non-U.S. events. After the earthquake/tsunami, the Russian elections and the unrest in the Middle East topped news-related video views, Pew said.

Natural disasters and political upheavals were the most popular news video topics. People did not figure prominently; “No one individual was featured in even 5 percent of the most popular videos studied here-and fully 65 percent did not feature any individual at all,” Pew found. President Obama, however, was featured in 4 percent of the top videos worldwide, in posts that ranged from speeches to campaign ads from opponents.

As Pew noted, the growth of news videos on YouTube has been a help and a hindrance to traditional news outlets…

 

Keep reading: PC Mag – YouTube Becoming ‘Major Platform’ for News

 

 

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New museum exhibit – Indiana Jones and the Adventure of Archaeology

The Chachapoyan Fertility Idol

Indiana Jones and the Adventure of Archaeology, presented by the National Geographic Society, immerses you in the science and history of field archaeology. Walk in the footsteps of beloved film hero Indiana Jones as you embark on this interactive museum adventure.

This unique exhibition features :

  • A vast and exclusive collection of Indiana Jones film props, models, concept art, and set designs from the Lucasfilm Archives
  • An interactive tour of legendary sites that sheds light on historical myths such as the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail
  • A rare chance to see some of the world’s most impressive material remains and real-world artefacts from ancient societies from the collections of the world-renowned Penn Museum and the National Geographic Society archives
  • A handheld multimedia guide that lets you personalize your exhibit experience
  • An interactive quest game that let’s children of all ages test their skills and explore the exhibit content in a fun, innovative way

 

Currently, in Spain but coming to Southern California in October 2012.

 

Learn more  – Indiana Jones and the Adventure of Archaeology – The Exhibit

 

 

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Venture capital investment had its biggest quarter (Q2 2012) of the decade

U.S. venture capitalists put $8.1 billion into 812 deals in the second quarter of 2012, their single largest quarter in more than a decade, according to CB Insights.

It’s clear that factors like the greater American economy and the bumpy tech IPO market don’t necessarily have a direct and/or timely correlation with venture capital spending.

Funding was up 37 percent from the first quarter, and 5 percent from a year ago. Number of deals were up 3 percent from the past quarter, and 4 percent from the past year.

Photo and video start-ups accounted for 29 percent of mobile funding dollars.

 

Keep reading: All Things D – U.S. Venture Capital Has Its Biggest Quarter Since Dot-Com Days

 

 

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The best sports photos of the week – Tough Mudder, Championship Hurdlers, Chinese Gymnastic schools for kids

Eric Futch of the United States prepares for the start of the 400-meter hurdles at the IAAF World Junior Championships on Wednesday, July 11 in Barcelona, Spain.

 

 

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NBC splits with MSNBC – as it’s biased political persona grows

Another driver was MSNBC, the cable channel, which started to take on a politically progressive persona several years ago. As the image of MSNBC changed, the head of MSNBC.com, Charlie Tillinghast, floated a name change.

“Both strategies are fine, but naming them the same thing is brand insanity,” Charlie Tillinghast said to his staff in early 2010.

NBC and Microsoft could not agree on proposed changes that year. But conversations resumed after Comcast acquired a majority stake in NBCUniversal in early 2011. Divorce talks between Comcast and Microsoft started in earnest last winter and were reported by a number of media outlets in the spring. The deal was signed last Friday.

For now, MSNBC.com will automatically redirect browsers to NBCNews.com…At first, the site will retain sections for MSNBC’s political programs like “The Rachel Maddow Show” and “Morning Joe.” But those will be moved onto a new MSNBC.com early next year.

Said John Kelly, “There’s a big opportunity for the MSNBC cable brand to have its own digital destination.”

 

Source: N. Y. Times – Microsoft and NBC Complete Web Divorce

 

 

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Man of Steel – new 2013 Superman movie is an origins story, Christopher Nolan style

If Superman and Batman duked it out, who would win? The question put Man of Steel director Zack Snyder in a tough spot, since The Dark Knight Rises auteur Christopher Nolan is the guy who hired him to make the new Superman movie.

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Snyder and new Superman actor Henry Cavill showed off new Man of Steel footage Saturday that operates on the premise that “this is the first Superman movie,” Snyder said. “We respect the canon and we knew the comic book exists; the movies are their own thing. When we started, we had to act as if no film had been made. We approached it in our head as if we’re making a Superman movie for the first time.”

The clip teased an earnest origins story rooted in the heartland, where young Clark Kent grows up on an American-as-apple-pie farm and displays heroic powers as a child that makes him feel like an outcast. Later, the classic red cape waves heroically in the breeze and Superman soars into the heavens per standard iconography, but there’s also contemporary inflections when Superman mixes it up with military troops that look like they could have been airlifted straight out of Iraq or Afghanistan.

“A lot of times in the past, Superman has been this big blue Boy Scout up on a throne that nobody can really touch.”

 

 

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Forget the BRICs it’s the CIVETS now – the new developing world

The past decade was all about the BRICs, the massive economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China, which kicked off at the beginning of the new century, boomed and are now slowing like the rest of the developed world. Taking their place is a new group of fast-rising economies promising businesses outsized returns.

The next decade could belong to the CIVETS – Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey and South Africa – whose rising middle class, young populations and rapid growth rates make the BRICs look dull in comparison.

Hardly emerging economies anymore – China is the world’s second largest economy and Brazil will take seventh place this year – that their pace would slow down was inevitable.

Now more connected by trade to the developed economies, the BRICs are feeling the same slowdown effects as the developed economies.  And, in the case of China and Brazil, they are also wrestling with the strains of their rapid ascensions. Real estate bubbles, currency control issues and hyper-wage inflation are sending global companies elsewhere for growth.

Brazil is forecast to grow a mere 3% this year. China, while still targeting a strong GDP growth rate of 7-8% in 2012, is well off its double-digit rates of the past decade. Russia, meanwhile, which can’t kick its dependency on oil exports and endured the retrograde re-election of Vladimir Putin, may grind out 3.2% growth this year. India is also slowing, with a GDP target of 6.9% growth in 2012, a sharp decline from its 2010 pace of 9.6%.

The CIVETS, meanwhile, are at the lift-off point…

 

Keep reading – The decade of the CIVETS

 

 

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Scientists figure out why sun overexposure makes our skin sore (a sunburn!)

A group of scientists have figured out (at least in part) why overexposure to UV light makes our skin get sore, red and swollen.

It goes like this:

  • You sit out in the sun too long. (As if you haven’t been told.)
  • Inside your skin cells, that little RNA molecule is damaged by UV-B — and its shape gets altered.
  • Damaged skin cells release altered pieces of RNA.
  • The altered RNA can bind to a receptor in undamaged skin cells and immune cells called peripheral blood mononuclear cells.
  • These cells, as a result, start pumping out chemicals called cytokines that induce inflammation.
  • Redness and swelling follow.

That’s not the end of it, though. Even though there’s a short term ramp-up in immune activity during sunburn, later on the immune system is suppressed for a period of time.

 

Learn more: L.A. Times – Ow, sunburn: Scientists figure out what’s going on in our skin

 

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Warners Bros. releases art for 10 scenes from The Hobbit

 

Warner Bros. has a new app: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Wallpaper Generator to customize desktop and mobile wallpapers, Facebook covers and profile images from “The Scroll” of ten scenes from the film released recently. See it here.

~ The Hobbit Blog

 

All 10 scenes are blended together into one long continuous shot (3,500px wide!) – here they are broken apart:

 

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Listen to the soundtrack for The Dark Knight Rises – free online!

As part of our countdown to the release of The Dark Knight Rises, we have a very special treat for you today. Below you can listen to the film’s Hans Zimmer soundtrack in its entirety, giving you a taste of the atmosphere and action you’re in for come July 20.

Listen to The Dark Knight Rises soundtrack on Empire Online

Zimmer has, of course, worked on all three of Christopher Nolan’s Bat-films, having shared composition duties on Batman Begins and The Dark Knight with James Newton Howard. This time, however, he’s flying solo.

This soundtrack is released by Sony Classical on July 16, and will be available from Amazon and iTunes for your listening-in-posterity pleasure. The Dark Knight Rises hits cinemas on July 20.

 

Source: Empire – The Dark Knight Rises Soundtrack!

 

 

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