Bitcoin Magazine | Decent Launches Global Media Distribution Platform Bitcoin Magazine This blockchain initiative endeavors to disrupt the legacy world of media distribution by allowing artists more freedom and control over the ownership and distribution of their content, all without compromising on security. It represents a potential ... |
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Decent Launches Global Media Distribution Platform - Bitcoin Magazine
MEDIA ALERT: PcVue, Inc. presents Trusted & Unified Monitoring and Control in Building Management Systems at the IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting
WOBURN, Mass., June 30, 2017 -- ARC Informatique, the publisher of PcVue Solutions for Building Management Systems (BMS), and its worldwide affiliates in the ARC Group, are involved in a collaborative project known as Facility Using smart Secured Energy & Information Technology (Fuse-IT). Fuse-IT is addressing the need of sustainable, reliable, user-friendly, efficient and secure BMS in the context of critical intelligent facilities. The primary focus of this project is to provide a Smart Building and Security Management System that addresses the often incompatible objectives of the Facilities Manager and the Security Manager for critical sites. Such a system will improve the energy-efficiency of the building while strengthening its security.
WHAT: The FUSE-IT project will be presented as part of the Trusted monitoring and intelligent consumption data management for smart buildings panel at the IEEE Power and Energy General meeting. http://www.pes-gm.org/2017
The IEEE PES GM attracts professionals from every segment of the electric power industry. It features a comprehensive technical program with paper presentations, poster and panel sessions, a number of technical tours, a student program and companion activities. This years theme is energizing a more secure, resilient, and adaptable grid.
Ed Nugent, COO of PcVue Inc., will participate on the panel. He will present the research and development performed by ARC Group in support of the FUSE-IT project. The complete abstract is shown below.
Intelligent buildings have to tackle the challenges of smarter energy management, enhanced automation and connectivity. Facing environmental policies and cost-reduction objectives, building managers are asking for adequate solutions to predict, monitor, control, command, and optimize energy consumption, in the context of all the energy transactions and service provision opportunities. The trend toward smart building is enabled by the growing integration of Information Technology and Operational Technology. An unwanted consequence of this is the growing exposure to cyber-attacks. Legacy automation systems have been traditionally thought secured by isolation and physical protection. Now, they are exposed to fast-expanding cyber-threats, targeting their availability, integrity and confidentiality. A joint initiative, gathering engineers and researchers from energy, automation, information and communication technology, and security backgrounds, is working to deliver the innovative intelligent building system architecture and a set of advanced technological capabilities to solve the dilemma of efficiency and security in intelligent buildings.
WHEN: IEEE PES GM: JULY 16-20, 2017; PANEL SESSION: JULY 19, 1:00PM-5:00PM
WHERE: SHERATON GRAND CHICAGO HOTEL CHICAGO, IL
Register here: https://pesgm.ieeepesreg.com
About PcVue
PcVue is a provider of advanced HMI/SCADA software solutions in North America. For more than 30 years, PcVue and its affiliate ARC Informatique have been developing, marketing and supporting innovative component-based solutions used by VAR's, OEM's and System Integrators for BMS and SCADA applications in energy, manufacturing, infrastructure and utilities. Headquartered in Woburn, Massachusetts and backed by ARC Informatique's global reach, PcVue automation solutions are used by Fortune 500 and multinational corporations around the world. http://www.pcvuesolutions.com.
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Donald Trumps revolting tweets about Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski Thursday make me think we might be witnessing a new version of a very old story about someone using the power of the gods to destroy his enemies, only to be figuratively destroyed by that same power because of his sins.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, I wrote often about Donald Trumps media mastery and the way he used it to shred his opponents. I marveled at the way he thrived in this transitional media era, which baffled so many other politicians and media operatives.
Just as American society is moving from a TV culture to a social media one, so was Trump able to skillfully use both media to his political ends. He could shift in a commercial minute from owning a cable TV interview with his improvisational talk skills, to blasting away on Twitter in the snarky tone of the dominant discourse there. How could a 70-year-old find such a pitch-perfect social media voice?
I believe those media skills not only played a huge role getting him elected, but also in revolutionizing political media at least for the short term.
I wondered, though, once he was in office, if those media skills could be used for governing.
After seeing Thursdays revolting tweets and the widespread outrage in response to them, I am certain Trump has lost control of the fire, and it is only a matter of time before his presidency is consumed by it.
Tweets like the ones he wrote about MSNBCs Brzezinski, coupled with a dozen or so he has written about other women in media and politics, offer an unfiltered look at the darkness and misogyny in his heart. Who could possibly want a man who tweets such things as the nations leader? These are well beyond mean. These are tweets intended to inflict real pain. Is this the person we want representing us to the world?
I have read all the psycho-histories of Richard Nixon. I thought they were pretty dark and sick. But they are not even a warm-up for what these tweets seem to be saying about the mind of the man holding all that power in the White House today.
What might be even more astounding is that Trump is taking the time to watch and tweet such things about a cable TV show and its hosts when millions of Americans are holding their breath wondering if they are about to lose their health care thanks to events taking place in Washington.
Id call it a Greek tragedy if there was any depth of character to the man playing with the fire of social media in this story. But it is still an archetypal tale.
I have to admit I felt some some empathy for Nixon after his fall. I think I understand the toll being a self-made man took on his psyche.
But I promise you this: After tweets like the ones today from Trump, I will feel no pity, weep no tears as the fire of social media that he once harnessed turns on him and takes its toll on his presidency.
twitter.com/davidzurawik
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Mika tweets show Trump has lost control of the social media fire - Baltimore Sun (blog)
Chinese censors have taken the unprecedented step of shutting down three major live streaming services, including one owned by Sina Weibo, the Twitter-like social media giant with 300 million users in both text and video format.
The action came ahead of a major Communist Party meeting that will have some significant changes in top leadership positions later this year. But media experts said the reason for this decision may be much bigger than the immediate political need and include the party's concerns about videos proving to be a stronger social media voice than text.
More bandwidth has given people more access to video, said Nick Admussen, Cornell University's assistant professor of Chinese literature. "I understand why they [Chinese officials] feel that this is something that they need to manage because more people are using it, and videos can travel more quickly, he said.
Two other companies affected by the latest round of restrictions include Phoenix Televisions ifeng.com and AcFun, who were ordered to undergo rectification and help create a cleaner cyberspace.
Explaining the reason behind the shutdown, the government said the video platforms were operating without licenses and showing content that violated the standards laid down by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.
"It is not uncommon in China for companies to violate rules that they dont think will be enforced and be able to get away with it for a long time," said Scott Kennedy, Director, Project on Chinese Business & Political Economy at the Center for Strategic & International Studies.
"{A] Lot of it is about actual inappropriate sexual content, not inappropriate political content. What basically they are looking at is content and looking for people who are behaving like television stations even though they are not," said Jacob Cooke, CEO of Web Presence in China, a Beijing based consultancy.
Media control
All television, radio and newspaper media is state controlled in China. But a section of live streaming platforms, which are run independently, had began to rob state TV of a big chunk of audience both because they reported real time events without waiting for clearances from high officials and they showed salacious and sexually provocative content. Authorities have a reason to fear they might emerge as independent TV far beyond government control even if they did not show much political news, analysts said.
Users of Chinese live streaming facilities constitute a virtual world of 325 million people. A significant number of people make videos, mostly with their phone cameras recording real life events or organizing special shoots before uploading them to some 200 portals.
The government decision still leaves a large section of live streaming services operational. They include major players like Huya, Panda.tv, Yinke, YY Live, Douyu and Huajiao. But Beijing's move will force these platforms, which often test the patience of censors with sexually and otherwise provocative content, to tone down their programming and cut out political discussion, analysts said.
This will likely mean a smaller audience seeking and running after TRPs resulting in the business death spiral for several platforms, analyst said. One such portal, Guangquan, which was once valued at $70 million, collapsed recently because of intense competition and high operating costs.
What went wrong
Industry watchers are debating how social media companies, which are known to be closely connected to the Communist party, went wrong and ended up being on the other side of the red line.
"I do think they are connected pretty deeply with the State, and that doesn't mean you can't have a squabble inside the family or different sides. It probably means that the authority will win out in one way or the other," Admussen said.
He said clearly, the government felt these companies were not doing enough to comply with government standards. "Media should have the surname of the party. They are just one family," Admussen said.
But the government may also lose quite a lot if it curtails the freedom of live streaming companies and social media outlets like WeChat and Weibo beyond a certain extent. Social media has become the eyes and ears of the authorities, telling them what is going on in this giant sized country, analyst said.
"Authorities also rely on WeChat and Weibo to take the pulse of public opinion on hot-button issues, and they cant do that if they totally kill off the platforms liveliness and drive away users," said Christopher Cairns, a scholar at Cornell University.
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China Applies Brakes on Live Streaming - Voice of America
Mr. Moore added that the company would be more comfortable arguing its case to British regulators over questions of its control over parts of the media industry than on whether it should pass the fit and proper test.
In a statement, 21st Century Fox welcomed the fit and proper decision, but said it was disappointed the British government still had reservations about its potential influence over the local media industry. It said that its takeover of Sky may now happen by June 2018.
The company has until July 14 to respond before the government formally refers the deal to Britains competition authority.
Almost immediately after it was announced in December, the proposed deal prompted concerns. Mr. Murdoch has long coveted total ownership of Sky, a satellite broadcaster he founded in the early 1990s. But the media mogul is a divisive figure in Britain, and a previous bid for Sky was withdrawn amid the hacking scandal that engulfed his British newspaper division.
Two politically independent regulators in Britain the Office of Communications, or Ofcom; and the Competition and Markets Authority began reviewing the proposed takeover, and attention quickly focused on whether the deal would limit consumer choice and whether 21st Century Fox executives met British broadcasting standards.
The Competition and Markets Authority said in its report that a merged company would control a significant part of Britains media landscape, including television, newspaper and online outlets. In response, Fox had made concessions to counter those concerns, though the British government in its separate decision said the remedies did not go far enough.
Karen Bradley, the culture minister, said Thursday that the investigation into the proposed deal had raised questions about whether the takeover would give members of the Murdoch family too much influence.
From a report issued by the Office of Communications in Britain.
The transaction may increase members of the Murdoch Family Trusts ability to influence the overall news agenda and their ability to influence the political process, Ms. Bradley said in a statement.
British officials did not hold back in their criticism of the sexual harassment scandal at Fox News, which led to the ouster of Roger Ailes, the former chairman of the network; Bill OReilly, the former Fox News anchor; and several other employees. In its ruling, Ofcom found that the scandal at Fox News had been extremely serious and disturbing, according to its report published on Thursday.
It seems clear that there were significant failings of the corporate culture at Fox News, Ofcom said in the report. Foxs response to the claims has been mixed. Some allegations were handled swiftly. But Fox was slower to deal with Bill OReilly, its star anchor.
The regulator zeroed in on the case of Mr. OReilly, noting that 21st Century Fox was aware of multiple cases that had led to settlements when it renewed its contract with him in February.
It pointed to a statement made by Fox on April 18 the day before Mr. OReilly was fired and a clarifying comment this month, saying it remained concerned that board members regarded Mr. OReillys settling cases personally as somehow a point in his favor.
Ofcom also chastised the company for the language it used to describe employee misconduct, saying that it tended to downplay the harm caused and was unnecessarily pejorative. In one example, Ofcom pointed to a May meeting with Fox, in which it described the continuum as going from appalling sexual harassment to regular dirty old man talk. (Fox later told Ofcom that the phrase was not intended to diminish the allegations.)
Mr. Ailes, who died last month, and Mr. OReilly repeatedly denied the allegations against them.
But despite scolding 21st Century Fox, Ofcom determined that the company was a fit and proper holder of British broadcasting rights. The regulator said it had found no evidence that the issues at Fox News had extended through 21st Century Fox, nor that any of the companys executives were aware of the misconduct before they were informed of it in July 2016, when Mr. Ailes was ousted.
Ofcom said it would review its position if new information became available.
One lawyer for some of the employees making sexual and racial harassment allegations rejected Ofcoms findings, saying that 21st Century Fox executives had known about the harassment before that date.
Fox has represented to Ofcom that no executive director was aware of any allegations of sexual and racial harassment at Fox News prior to July 2016, Douglas Wigdor, a lawyer representing several current and former Fox News employees who made sexual and racial harassment complaints against the network, said in an email. I can assure you that the veracity of that statement will be probed in our current litigations.
The extended review into 21st Century Foxs offer comes at a difficult time for the British government, which must eventually decide whether to approve or reject the takeover.
Prime Minister Theresa May was unable to win a majority in parliamentary elections this month, and politicians in Britain are focused on the beginning of negotiations to leave the European Union, leaving little time to consider the proposed takeover. Opposition lawmakers, and some inside Mrs. Mays Conservative Party, have balked at the deal.
21st Century Foxs attempt to buy Sky is part of the companys efforts to keep pace with digital rivals like Netflix and Amazon, which have used their streaming services to win over consumers increasingly accustomed to watching movies and television shows on mobile devices.
The acquisition of Sky, experts say, would give 21st Century Fox not only a pan-European satellite network and rights to content including English Premier League broadcasts, but also control of Now TV, Skys online streaming service.
Follow Mark Scott on Twitter @markscott82.
A version of this article appears in print on June 30, 2017, on Page B1 of the New York edition with the headline: Murdochs Big Prize Slips Away Again.
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Setback for Murdoch in $15 Billion Sky Takeover - New York Times