CBS and Dish Network Failed to Reach Agreement on New Carriage Deal

My wife's bummed. She watches a lot of TV, and of course CBS has some good prime time programming. She came to me last night and said, "That's a bummer about the CBS blackout." I'm like, "What blackout?" I thought it related to Charlie Rose's firing from CBS, heh. Don't know why we'd lose access to the entire network because of that perv, lol.

At Deadline, "CBS & Its Stations Go Dark On Dish Network As Deal Deadline Passes."

CBS & Its Stations Go Dark On Dish Network As Deal Deadline Passes https://t.co/48ad1RKEEF pic.twitter.com/O1PXuu6i7m

— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) November 21, 2017

I'm going to watch football today, and CBS has the Chargers on this afternoon, so I'll miss that. Oh well. I'm only now returning to watching pro football, since it looks like the league's going to crack down on the anti-flag protests. The consumer boycotts have definitely had an impact.

Satellite Phones Running Short in Puerto Rico

This is interesting.

At USA Today, "Puerto Rico's cell service is basically nonexistent. So this is happening."

Puerto Rico's cell service is basically nonexistent. So this is happening https://t.co/Vesqx3oYKD via @USATODAY

— Blue Alert (@BlueAlertUs) September 30, 2017

Amazon Web Services Crashing

My proprietary Pearson education REVEL webpage was down for a while yesterday, which sucked because it was exam day.

Don't know if it was related to the Amazon cloud service crash, but not good either way. (And my school's email web application is down at this moment. Again, don't know if it's related, but hundreds of websites were affected by the crash.)

At the Chicago Tribune, "Amazon Web Services goes down, taking swaths of internet with it..."

The Right to Disconnect

I don't ever "disconnect." I might not check my emails for a while, but I'm always available.

It's not that big of a deal to me.

But see the Washington Post, "French employees can legally ignore work emails outside of office hours":

French employees can legally ignore work emails outside of office hours https://t.co/pJA1eOGpxI

— Katie Zavadski (@katiezavadski) January 1, 2017

I've always thought that if you need to shut off when you leave the office, then you must not really like what you do. https://t.co/31QTfxGuOr

— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) January 1, 2017

That 10 p.m. email from your boss? It's your right to ignore it.

That Saturday ping from a colleague with “just one quick question?” A response on Monday should suffice.

If you're in France, that is.

French workers rang in a new year at midnight — as well as a “right to disconnect” law that grants employees in the country the legal right to ignore work emails outside of typical working hours, according to the Guardian.

The new employment law requires French companies with more than 50 employees to begin drawing up policies with their workers about limiting work-related technology usage outside the office, the newspaper reported.

The motivation behind the legislation is to stem work-related stress that increasingly leaks into people's personal time — and hopefully prevent employee burnout, French officials said.

“Employees physically leave the office, but they do not leave their work. They remain attached by a kind of electronic leash, like a dog,” Benoit Hamon, Socialist member of Parliament and former French education minister, told the BBC in May. “The texts, the messages, the emails: They colonize the life of the individual to the point where he or she eventually breaks down.”

France has had a 35-hour workweek since 2000, but the policy came under scrutiny recently given France's near-record-high unemployment rate.

The “right to disconnect” provision was packaged with new and controversial reforms introduced last year that were designed to relax some of the country's strict labor regulations. The amendment regarding ignoring work emails was included by French Labor Minister Myriam El Khomri, who reportedly was inspired by similar policies at Orange, a French telecommunications company.

“There are risks that need to be anticipated, and one of the biggest risks is the balance of a private life and professional life behind this permanent connectivity,” Orange Director General Bruno Mettling told Europe1 radio in February. “Professionals who find the right balance between private and work life perform far better in their job than those who arrive shattered.”

Well, I don't think your life's going to be "shattered" by checking your email, and as a professor, I know that a lot of the emails are from students. So I check it throughout the day. It's no big deal.

In any case, keep reading.

'Text Neck'

Mobile technology is hazardous to your health.

At CNN, "There is an epidemic and it is called 'text neck'."

Hey, I'm guilty too.

But then, I read a lot of books, usually reclining in a lounger or lying in bed. In other words, what people have been doing forever. I doubt all the new wireless and mobile technology is helpful for the intellectual development of young people. They need to read more. And I mean old fashioned books, newspapers, and magazines. "Long reads" as folks like to say.

PREVIOUSLY: "Texting Makes You Selfish."

Texting Makes You Selfish

And less trusting.

All the screen-time is said to effectively rewire your cognitive and emotional processes, especially among the young.


At the Washington Post, "Texting has made us less trusting, more selfish":

Virtual distance is a game-changer when it comes to human relations. When technology is used as an agent for relationships, in some cases it can be beneficial. However when technology is used purposelessly as a default it doesn’t just squeeze out sophisticated interpersonal interactions, it changes the nature of what’s left.

Purposeful use of technology can support children’s learning but when technology becomes either a substitute or a proxy for relationships, language development in children can be held back. Communication becomes the transfer of impersonal information instead of the sharing of a passion. This can have an impact on language development for kids, but it can have affects on other aspects of our lives.

Taking a risk and having a go at that tricky math problem seems more difficult when a child is on their own than when with a friend. More so sticking with a difficult task (a real gym-buddy is more effective than an app).

These kinds of skills – self discipline, ethical understanding and interpersonal communication, as well as social ability, and critical thinking (among others) – are what UNESCO calls “transversal competencies.” And they can be impaired through virtual distance.

When the ripple effects of actions and inactions seem to go no further than the screen, empathy and collaborative skills can be difficult to develop. For example, children seem to have trouble looking into other people’s eyes and are less able to hold conversations.

As connectivity increases, connectedness can lose out...

More.

Google's Eric Schmidt Claims the 'Internet Will Disappear'

Well, we're almost constantly connected to the net as it is. Conceptually, it's just a matter of rejiggering our understanding of things.

In any case, at London's Daily Mail, "Google's Eric Schmidt claims the 'internet will disappear' as everything in our life gets connected."

WaPo's Got It Going On!

From David Carr, at NYT (via Mediagazer), "Washington Post Regains Its Place at the Table."

Even the New York Times has to marvel at the way the WaPo has been killing it in recent months: http://t.co/YIg9rKYhaZ

— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) October 6, 2014

Apple iPhones to Come Out With Bigger Screens

This is great. I really love my iPhone.

At WSJ, "New Models, Expected in Second Half, Won't Include Curved Displays" (at Google):

Facing competition from rivals offering smartphones with bigger screens, Apple Inc. AAPL -1.82%  is planning larger displays on a pair of iPhones due for release this year, people familiar with the situation said.

The people said Apple plans an iPhone model with a screen larger than 4½ inches measured diagonally, and a second version with a display bigger than 5 inches. Until now, Apple's largest phone has been the 4-inch display on the iPhone 5.

Both new models are expected to feature metal casings similar to what is used on the current iPhone 5S, with Apple expected to scrap the plastic exterior used in the iPhone 5C, these people said.

The phones, expected in the second half, won't include a curved display, a feature recently introduced by rivals including Samsung Electronics Co. 005930.SE +0.62%  , the people said. They cautioned that Apple's plans weren't final and that the company could change course.

The smaller of the two models is further along in development, and is being prepared for mass production, the people said. The larger-screen version is still in preliminary development, they said.

pple declined to comment.

The plans for larger iPhones come as Apple is losing market share to rivals who offer bigger screens. Those models have proved popular as more people use the handsets to play games, watch video or surf the Web. Samsung's 5-inch Galaxy S4 and 5.7-inch Galaxy Note 3 are among its best-selling models.

Bigger screens are particularly popular in China, an important market for Apple's growth, where Chinese manufacturers offer smartphones with larger screens at a lower price than the iPhone. Apple this month started offering iPhones through the country's largest carrier, China Mobile Ltd. 0941.HK -1.10%

"Apple definitely needs a larger-screen smartphone soon, particularly to address the demand in the emerging markets," said Canalys analyst Jessica Kwee. Canalys estimated that nearly one-fourth of smartphones shipped world-wide in the third quarter, about 60 million phones, had displays that were 5 inches or larger.

Appeals Court Rejects FCC Rules on Net Neutrality

At WSJ, "Court Tosses FCC's 'Net Neutrality' Rules: Decision Clears Way for New Fees on Web's Heavy Bandwidth Users":

Though the FCC said it might appeal, the ruling for now means Internet-service providers are free to experiment with new types of pricing arrangements, such as charging content companies like Google Inc. or Netflix higher fees to deliver Internet traffic faster. Or, they could choose to degrade the quality of certain online content unless its creators were willing to pay up.

And a must read piece at Gigaom, "What you need to know about the court decision that just struck down net neutrality."