Content Generator

Calls Begin For Washington Post To End Content-Sharing Agreement With Pete ... - Firedoglake (blog)

titled “Support grows for tackling nation’s debt.” Its premise was that Congress was poised to impanel a budget deficit commission to examine the nation’s long-term debt and provide recommendations, citing analysis from the Concord Coalition and the Peterson-Pew Commission on Budget Reform. The byline included the words “The Fiscal Times,” and at the bottom of the article appeared this disclaimer: This article was produced by the Fiscal Times, an independent digital news publication reporting on fiscal, budgetary, health-care and international economics issues. Fiscal Times staff writer Adam Graham-Silverman contributed to this report.

Nowhere in that brief does it mention that the Fiscal Times is headed by Pete Peterson, the billionaire hedge fund manager and former Nixon Commerce Secretary who has been bankrolling a decades-long campaign to slash safety net programs like Social Security and Medicare (Incidentally, Peterson also funds both the Concord Coalition and the Peterson-Pew Commission on Budget Reform, the think tanks cited in the article). The Fiscal Times is his latest venture, which will produce articles about fiscal issues and essentially lease them to newspapers. The Washington Post recently entered into a content sharing agreement to run Fiscal Times stories on their news page. So a man dedicated to fraying the nation’s social safety net now has real estate on one of the nation’s most prominent newspapers, and if this initial story is any indication, will use it to push a deficit-mania agenda as a means to subvert legislative procedure and create momentum for major cutbacks. It’s essentially a buyout of a national news section.

Dozens of prominent economists have now written a letter to the Washington Post’s ombudsman, protesting the use of Fiscal Times stories in the news section and calling for an end to the content sharing agreement. The effort has been spearheaded by Nancy Altman, author of the book The Battle for Social Security , who has spent her career working on economic security issues. She drafted the letter, which you can find below. In an interview with FDL News, Altman explained her problems with the Washington Post using a Pete Peterson-funded outlet as a content generator.

“What immediately comes to mind is the scandal a few years back when I recall that it came to light that the Bush administration was circulating stories and video that were being run by news outlets as straight news stories,” Altman said. “Obviously, those issuing press releases love for their words to be printed unchanged. The Fiscal Times is not an independent news source, but an entity funded by Peterson, a man with a clear point of view and an agenda.” The letter is part of a larger effort to rebut the Peterson Foundation’s money and influence with pushback from multiple angles. As the letter notes, over 40 organizations, including the AFL-CIO, AFSCME, Common Cause, NAACP, National Organization for Women and SEIU, have objected to the deficit commission which the Fiscal Times article and Peterson’s organizations in general have promoted. The commission would consist of equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans and would have its recommendations automatically acted upon by Congress with an up-or-down vote, without the ability to amend them. The Conrad-Gregg Commission, devised by the chairman and the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, would make that up-or-down vote a super-majority in both the House and the Senate, which would actually make it harder to pass the recommendations than regular legislation. However, it would clearly outsource the functions of the legislative branch to an unelected committee, and critics fear that the Peterson noise machine would lead to major entitlement cutbacks rather than a balanced way of dealing with long-term deficits.

Full Story: Calls Begin For Washington Post To End Content-Sharing Agreement With Pete ... - Firedoglake (blog)

Possible Dragon Age Expansion On The Way - GamerCrave.com

.  An early product listing may have revealed that even more expansion content is on the way.

However, this content won’t be a measly DLC add-on.  Eurogamer.cz reports that an online retailer listed a product called Dragon Age: The Awakening, which follows the events of the original game.  The content is said to include a new character / origin story and separate campaign.  The new content will also raise the level cap, add new monsters and equipment, and take around 15 hours to complete.  Seems small when compared to the original game (considering that one can easily break the 80 hour mark in a single play), but most full retail action titles clock in well under that.

Naturally, this story is entirely speculative, as the original story doesn’t report where the details associated with the expansion originate.  What’s more, the original story is entirely in Czech, so we’re all at the mercy of Google Translate to get an account of the report.  Either way, Bioware’s made it clear that they plan to support Dragon Age with content as long as players want to have it, so a full expansion wouldn’t be too out of order.

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Full Story: Possible Dragon Age Expansion On The Way - GamerCrave.com

Playboy Q3 net loss at $1.1 million - Media News International

--> Chicago : Playboy Enterprises, Inc. (PEI) (NYSE:PLA, PLAA) has reported a net loss for the third quarter ended September 30, 2009 of $1.1 million, or $0.03 per basic and diluted share, which included a restructuring charge of $0.5 million, or $0.01 per basic and diluted share.  This compares to a net loss of $6.2 million, or $0.19 per basic and diluted share, in the 2008 third quarter, which included $6.3 million in restructuring charges and provisions for reserves.  Third quarter 2009 revenues declined to $56.0 million from $70.4 million in the prior year quarter.

Segment income for the 2009 third quarter totaled $2.7 million, down by $0.9 million from the previous year.  Improved results in the company’s media operations were offset by lower Licensing profits and increased Corporate expense.

PEI Chief Executive Officer Scott Flanders said: “The Playboy brand is an amazing asset that is unique in its global range, flexibility and demographic appeal.  My goal is to better manage the power of this brand to accelerate the growth of our licensing business, create new momentum in our media businesses and develop a more efficient business model.   “In Licensing, we expect to see year-over-year profit growth in the fourth quarter, despite the continued weak economy.  Increased fragrance sales through our Coty partnership, the launch of consumer products in selected new territories globally and the planned year-end opening of a new entertainment venue in Cancún, Mexico, should help benefit fourth quarter results,” Flanders said.

“On the media side, we believe that industry trends will contribute to lower fourth quarter results.  Although the improved third quarter results demonstrate the significant strides we have made in reducing the cost structure of our mature media businesses, more is needed.  Playboy magazine will remain the flagship of this company, and a powerful content generator, but it needs to operate more efficiently.  We already announced that we will lower the magazine’s rate base effective with the January/February 2010 issue, and we are looking at other opportunities to improve profitability.  Entertaining our readers and supporting our advertisers will remain a critical focus, and we expect to expand the reach of our integrated print and digital offerings, using social networks, new mobile partnerships and interactive games to create new revenue streams.  We also are looking at ways to reposition the Playboy TV network for future growth,” Flanders said.   “Like other companies, we confront a changing media landscape and a weak global economy,” Flanders said. “But we also face challenges that are unique to our small size and lack of scale.  I believe that we need to focus on the things that we do well, like creating content, while handling other functions through partnerships or outsourcing agreements that will provide the economies of scale and expertise we need to operate more efficiently. The outsourcing of magazine circulation and e-commerce were the first in a series of steps needed to accomplish that goal.  More work lies ahead.”  The Entertainment Group reported third quarter 2009 segment income of $2.3 million, a 37% increase from the $1.7 million reported in the same period last year, primarily reflecting cost-savings initiatives.  Lower domestic and international TV revenues were primarily responsible for the decline in third quarter 2009 revenues to $24.4 million from $27.3 million in the prior year.

Full Story: Playboy Q3 net loss at $1.1 million - Media News International

Forza Motorsport 3 Review: Definitively Maybe [Review] - Zergwatch

Turn 10 ups its driving game with Forza Motorsport 3 , the self-proclaimed “definitive” racer of this generation, a sim that strives to let the more casual racing fan into the fold with a series of options that are noob-friendly. Sure, it has pretty much everything one would expect from a serious driving game, ensuring that the passionate Forza community who prefers the sim side of things is catered to. Forza 3 offers over 400 real world cars, more than 100 tracks on which to race them and impressive physics modeling that simulates some of the world’s most coveted rides. And while players can enjoy Forza 3 with a traditional progression, starting small, improving their skills and purchasing better and faster cars, almost everything is available to you from the start. Now that we’ve kicked Forza 3’s tires—and peeled out with them—would we recommend you get behind the wheel? Loved From Arcade To Sim: Look, I’m kind of a driving game lightweight, not the type who would label myself a fan of simulations of almost any sort. I don’t have a passion for cars, don’t own a driving wheel controller and almost always play using a camera that follows behind the car. Thankfully, catering to my sim phobia, I was given the option from the beginning to play Forza Motorsport 3 according to my preference, effectively putting the game into arcade mode. This toggled on a number of driving assists, including auto-braking, full suggested driving and braking lines, traction control and an inconsequential damage model. Easy. However, as time went on, I became comfortable with Forza 3’s handling, learning how to brake on my own, eventually becoming disgusted with my reliance on driving lines and automatic anti-lock braking hand-holding. After just a few hours, I’d turned off many of those assists, then more later on, letting me swim near the deeper end of driving simulation. For serious sim fans, the option to turn on manual shifting (with clutch!) and tire wear is easily accessed from many menus, letting you play the game as you wish. Bring That Corner Back: One of the most helpful features in Forza Motorsport 3, the option to rewind a race a few seconds at a time, letting one correct one’s mistakes, was also the one instrumental to me learning how to drive properly. Had I not had the opportunity to attempt a problematic corner again and again and again, without having to revisit the entire race, I’d have quickly lost the desire to compete. Rewind is a wonderful feature, a welcome addition to a simulation driving game that eases the frustration of that one botched chicane. Granted, rewind can’t be used in multiplayer games, so drivers can’t rely on it to fix every little mistake in Forza 3. Power Leveling & Sweet Loot Drops: “Just one more race,” I’d find myself saying while playing through Forza 3’s rich single-player career mode. The constant allure of leveling your driver via the accumulation of experience points and the free cars gifted to you as you progress makes for a surprisingly addictive experience. Action RPG-like almost. Season-long race events interspersed with hundreds of shorter driving challenges ensures that there’s plenty of variety, letting the player experience new tracks, new cars or simply become more familiar with the vehicle of their choice. There’s some nice variety here, even if you’ll revisit many tracks over the course of 220 available events. The View From The Inside: Normally, I wouldn’t have experienced Forza 3’s wonderful in-car cockpit view, playing as I normally do. But after having done so to secure one of the game’s achievements, I find myself opting for the cockpit view over everything else, feeling like I had a better feel for the road, an option made more palatable by the beautifully modeled interiors of each car. Simple, Classic, Beautiful: The presentation here is top notch, with clean, crisp, well-designed menus making it easy to navigate Forza Motorsport 3’s many modes and a livery of hundreds of cars. With the exception of a few exclusions—I would always assume I could tune, repaint or upgrade my car from the My Cars section—getting around (in the menus) is easy. Oh, right. The cars look stunning too, with plenty of options to take photos of each or just generally lust over them. Quick Upgrade: Apologies for belaboring the point, but being somewhat behind the curve on how transmissions, differentials and other car upgrades work can make upgrading a car from stock to A-class race competitive is a little beyond me. Fortunately for the car un-enthusiast like me, the Quick Upgrade option, available when entering races, makes getting your car up to spec a one button affair. Of course, if you want to delve deeper into how brakes, wheel widths and intakes improve the various aspects of your car, Forza 3 lets you do that too. Me? I like pressing the A button and watching credits disappear. Let’s Shop: One of Forza Motorsports 3’s biggest innovations is the addition of a virtual storefront, letting players sell cars, designs, vinyls, tuning set ups and more. Since I’m not much of a content generator myself, i rely on the idle time of others to help me customize and expand my car library. Buying and bidding on items is easy and intuitive, thanks to the well designed storefront. Categories for each, including Turn 10 picks and popular downloads, help the cream rise, making sure you can marvel at the excruciating work others put into their creations. Hated Wait… You Lost Me At Tuning: Given Forza Motorsport 3’s easing into the simulation space—auto upgrades, driving assists, free cars!—I was a little disappointed to not see the same attention paid to the games tuning portions. Yes, these sections are simple to muck with, offering mostly clear explanations of what each tuning characteristic does, and Turn 10 offers a handy benchmarking option, but I was hoping for some suggested tuning options. Fortunately, the community appears to be picking up the slack. As you might have gathered, I am not the driving sim authority capable of deeming whether Forza Motorsport 3 is the “definitive” racing game of this generation. What I can tell you is that the game, including its single-player Season Play mode and its ample online multiplayer modes, are incredibly fun to play, whether you prefer to keep the accelerator jammed or watch telemetry data tell you just how mangled your 10,000 credit tire upgrade has become over the course of a 34 lap endurance race. This is a beautiful, broad package, one that was surprising in its most personally important aspect—how fun Forza 3 was to play. It may or may not be definitive, but Forza 3 is a must have for the Xbox 360 owning driving enthusiast. And maybe even the casual Sunday driver. Forza Motorsport 3 was developed by Turn 10 Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360 on October 27. Retails for $59.99 USD. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Played through three seasons of career mode, played multiple online multiplayer races of each type. Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ .

Full Story: Forza Motorsport 3 Review: Definitively Maybe [Review] - Zergwatch

Media 140: The dos and don'ts of social media - guardian.co.uk

Homewares firm Habitat this summer provoked Twitter outrage when it used the #iranelection hashtag - which would normally alert users of the micro-blogging site to a message about the elections in Iran - to try to drum up interest in its wares.

After apologising for the ruse, the company blamed it on an "over-enthusiatic intern". But how should brands use Twitter? And why is it so hard for them to understand the new medium? George Nimeh, managing director of marketing firm Iris Digital, said: "Twitter is challenging for brands, because it is made for talks and chats, and their public relation language is very different. If they want to use Twitter, they have to learn to act different and sound human.

Ciaran Norris, the head of social media marketing at global media network Mindshare, said: "The growth in Twitter has been exponential. It is a media zone. Twitter turns the ladder sideways - it made it so much easier to communicate with each other and with brands and to spread news.

"To understand what is going on, search is really important. In fact, the Google homepage is the homepage of your brand, because people use Google as a browser, now." There are some tools to help you learn what people are saying about your brand: • Cymfony is very good to search what people say about your brand.

Full Story: Media 140: The dos and don'ts of social media - guardian.co.uk