Among all the reports of job cuts at the BBC and approval for ads on BBCNews.com, also comes news that the Beeb is dropping its plans for ultra-local TV services on satellite. The idea had been controversial from the start, with local newspapers worried that the BBC would eat into their markets. The voice of local newspapers and websites, the Newspaper Society, welcomed the decision. But any rejoicing might be

Are cellphones the platform of the future? They are, according to Eric Schwartz of Foneshow. Talking at an ONA panel on the future of publishing, Schwartz went al evangelical about mobiles. He argues cellphones are the future because there are more cellphones than toasters on the planet – 2.7bn mobiles worldwide. Cellphones outsold iPods 20 to 1 in the US, says Schwartz. To do news, you have to be a

At a session of video games at the ONA 2007 conference, Marc Prensky, made a plea to the journalists in the room to change how games are viewed. His argument is that games are a powerful learning tool and they have developed at an amazing rate -we’ve gone from Pong to Halo 3 in 35 years. As Prensky pointed out adults – parents, teachers – are ignorant and scared of

Among all the coverage of the BBC job cuts, there is also news on the issue of advertising on BBCNews.com. Slipped into the bottom of the MediaGuardian story on the cuts is a small paragraph: The BBC deputy director general, Mark Byford, also confirmed that the BBC Trust has given approval for advertisements on BBC.com There was an air of inevitability about this. BBC Worldwide has been trying to push

CBC held a debate on the future of the future of news, ahead of the ONA conference in Toronto. This clip from NowPublic.com’s Len Brody gives a flavour of the discussion: The sound quality could be better. It was shot on a Nokia N95 and I was a few rows back from the podium

I’m in Toronto this week for the annual conference of the Online News Association. Ahead of the start of the sessions on Thursday, CBC is hosting a debate on The Future of the Future of News on October 17. On the panel are Andrew Keen (Cult of the Amateur), Len Brody (NowPublic) and Rahaf Harfoush (Wikinomics researcher). As well as the debate, I’m proud to say that one of my

News staff at the BBC are gearing up for a tough week, with wide-ranging job cuts expected to be announced on Wednesday. That’s when BBC director general, Mark Thompson, meets the BBC Trust to gain final approval for his plan to save 3% a year and plug an estimated £2bn funding gap. There has been acres of coverage in the media about the expected cuts. As the fateful day draws

Barely a year after it first appeared, Star P.M. from The Toronto Staris bowing out. Star P.M. was a downloadable PDF, intended as an afternoon edition of the newspaper. According to Toronto Star editor-in-chief Fred Kuntz, it is scrapping the PDF because of technology advances. Instead, Star P.M. will be “replaced by two more powerful products, offering greater flexibility, interactivity and value”, namely the new mobile.thestar.com service, and improvements to

The BBC announced plans to put pre-roll ads on its broadband news video a few months back. For a few weeks, all the ads were for other BBC programmes. But now, the first commercial ads have appeared on the video. A commercial for Delta Airlines is on video about Bush’s comments on the Armenian genocide bill and on video of a school shooting in the US, as well as several

Off topic: I have just received the download link for Radiohead’s new album, In Rainbows. The 48.8MB zip file downloaded in just over a minute. Radiohead primed fans for the release in an e-mail on Tuesday, saying the codes would be sent out Wednesday morning UK time. My e-mail arrived at 6.39 am UK time, which was 10.39 pm in my timezone. Ahead of today’s release, there has been some