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LONDON - Hugh Grant traveled to Brussels to meet with European Union regulators this week to continue his push for media ownership restrictions.

Amid the phone hacking scandal, the actor has called for restrictions on British tabloids newspapers and such media moguls as News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch.

On Tuesday, Grant met with the EU's media regulator, Neelie Kroes, to share his views. "Europe in our dreams would help us to restrict...the amount of a certain media that you could own," Reuters late Tuesday quoted him as saying after the meeting. "Otherwise you have these big corporations dictating our public life."

Reuters also quoted him as saying that he would like to see rules restricting the market share that a single media company could control, but expressed doubt that the British government would pursue such a limit. He didn't specify a market share limit he would like to be targeted.

EU rules don't specifically regulate media market share as the common European market's competition rules cover all industries.

Grant's comments came as the Leveson Inquiry in the U.K. continues to explore media ethics and possible new regulations. They also came after U.K. media regulator Ofcom recently said it opposes absolute ownership limits, but suggested a review of media plurality every four or five years.

Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com

Twitter: @georgszalai

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Hugh Grant Urges EU to Consider Media Ownership Limits

Syracuse, NY (PRWEB) June 27, 2012

Air Innovations (AI) environmental control systems business supports numerous industries with extremely demanding requirements for temperature and humidity control, filtration and pressurization as well as those with unique packaging and installation considerations. The award-winning companys expertise was recently highlighted in three trade magazines:

Air Innovations customized environmental control solutions for cleanrooms at a federal laboratory were featured in the June issue of Controlled Environments magazine. "Customized Cleanroom Applications Meet Today's Environmental Challenges," was written by AI President and CEO Michael Wetzel, P.E.

AIs clienta government facility that develops and operates unmanned scientific spacecraft for Earth observation, astronomy, and space physics missionsrequired close-tolerance temperature and humidity control, filtration and pressurization that had to be configured for six different applications.

Challenges that confronted Air Innovations included maintaining cleanrooms to 0.1 inches of positive pressure, using cooling media that ranged from a 15-ton direct expansion cooling unit for humidity control to a 3.5-ton chilled water system for personnel comfort, and matching environmental control systems design parameters to the laboratorys space and programming restrictions. Other features AI incorporated were high static pressure fans to provide airflow through long runs of ductwork, proportional-integral-derivative controllers to precisely adjust process control setpoints, and re-heaters for tighter temperature control.

All of AI's equipment was non-outgassing so it would not interfere with lenses and other apparatus being built in the laboratory.

For the aerospace industry, Air Innovations has designed and manufactured the environmental controls used in the manufacturing of satellites, an airborne laser and a portable air conditioning system for transporting rockets to the launch pad. An in-depth look at the type of environmental controls Air Innovations created for a client that launches military materiel into outer space can be viewed in Ready for Launch, which also was written by Wetzel and appeared in the May issue of Aerospace Manufacturing and Design magazine.

From the pharmaceutical industry's point of view, perfecting the timing and precision of moisturizing and drying procedures can eliminate or at least drastically reduce coating problems. How Air Innovations mitigated inefficiencies in one clients tablet coating department is explained by Wetzel on PharmaManufacturing.com in "Environmental Control for Fluid Bed Machines."

Air Innovations (AI), established in 1986, is a leader in specialty air conditioning, refrigeration and environmental control solutions for end users and original equipment manufacturers around the world. The companys systems are standard solutions or custom designs that feature close tolerance control of temperature (to +/-0.01C), humidity control (to +/-0.5% stability), filtration and pressurization, and can be configured into a variety of packaged spaces. AIs capabilities range from concept development to prototyping, from sample runs to mass production.

The company also manufactures its own brands of environmental control products that are used by: fine wine collectors (Wine Guardian); supermarket florists (Floratech); hospitals (IsolationAir); and, homeowner health care (HEPAiRx). AIs capabilities range from concept development through prototyping to mass production.

The rest is here:
Air Innovations’ Environmental Control Projects Featured in Trade Media

News Corp. is contemplating what once was unthinkable splitting its entertainment and publishing operations into separate companies. The company Tuesday confirmed that it was considering a breakup of the $52-billion global media conglomerate.

The lucrative film and television operations including the 20th Century Fox film studio, the top-rated Fox broadcast network and the profitable Fox News Channel would form one company. News Corp.'s newspapers, HarperCollins book publishing assets and education businesses would comprise a second publicly traded company.

Wall Street has agitated for years for News Corp. to shed its slow-growth newspaper holdings, which include the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, the Times of London, the British Sun tabloid and papers in Australia. But Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch, who built his powerful media empire from a single newspaper in Australia, long had resisted the idea.

Investors welcomed the news of a possible spinoff, driving News Corp. shares up 8.3% in trading Tuesday to $21.76.

No final decision has been reached, according to a person familiar with the discussions. The Wall Street Journal first reported the possible restructuring, a concept that has been debated internally. The Journal said Murdoch recently warmed to the idea.

"That is a very significant move of historic type," said Claire Enders, a British media analyst who has followed News Corp. for at least two decades.

The shift comes after nearly a year of turmoil following revelations that reporters for Murdoch's News of the World tabloid in London had hacked into voice mail messages left for a missing 13-year-old girl, who was later found slain.

Allegations of widespread illegal phone hacking led News Corp. to close down the News of the World tabloid and abandon a $12-billion bid to acquire all outstanding shares in the profitable satellite TV provider British Sky Broadcasting it doesn't already own. Numerous former company executives have been arrested in connection with an investigation by Scotland Yard, including Rebekah Brooks, the former head of the company's News International unit.

The damage has reached the Murdoch family. The 81-year-old media baron was criticized in a report from a parliamentary committee as being unfit to run an international company. Murdoch's youngest son, James, resigned as chairman of BSkyB this spring, ahead of the damning parliamentary report.

The scandal also has taken a financial toll on the company, which has incurred some $167 million in legal fees and civil settlements paid to victims of the phone hacking.

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Media giant News Corp. considering breakup

26-06-2012 14:00 Zynga is expected to unveil a lineup of games to be released over the next several months when it holds its "Unleashed" event Tuesday. Shayni Raice reports live from the Zynga event.

Original post:
Zynga to Announce New Games, Playground - Video

Chesterfield County Public Schools now has a policy that establishes guidelines for the use of social networking sites by school division employees.

The School Board voted 3-0 Tuesday night to approve the new policy one of 17 new or revised policies adopted at the meeting making Chesterfield the first of central Virginia's four largest school divisions to have a specific social networking policy.

Board Chairwoman Patricia M. Carpenter and Vice Chairman David S. Wyman were absent.

School Board Attorney Kimberly Smith said during an afternoon work session that the division has worked on the policy for months because "social networking is an issue of great concern across the country."

Richmond Public Schools is also devising a policy to address the use of social networking, while the school systems in Henrico and Hanover counties incorporate the topic into already-established policies.

Chesterfield's new policy is a guide for how employees should establish social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter for educational purposes as well as how employees should use their personal social networking sites.

Smith said there was great discussion as the policy was being crafted about balancing free speech and freedom of expression while protecting students at the same time.

According to the policy, if a site is started for educational purposes then it must contain a clear statement of purpose and outcomes as well as a code of conduct for all site participants.

Also, the employee is responsible for applying appropriate security settings, allowing only approved participants access and to "diligently monitor" the site for inappropriate content.

The policy also states that the school system "does not recommend that any employee establish an online social networking relationship with a currently enrolled (student) on his or her personal social networking site(s)."

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Chesterfield schools adopt social networking policy