There’s a great scene in the movie The Right Stuff where the original Mercury astronauts are checking out the capsule for their first trips to space. They’re horrified to discover that the German scientists in charge of the program see the astronauts as nothing more than living props.
There is no window, the scientists explain. There’s no emergency hatch or even controls for the astronauts to use. It’s all automated. “We want a window,” the astronauts demand.
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In the February 27 issue of National Review, Reihan Salam and Patrick Ruffini argue that Hollywood lobbyists have been more successful than they deserve to be, especially by nearly passing the Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA). Most of their article’s main points are unobjectionable: SOPA was problematic; the Internet is a wondrous development that should not be overregulated; Hollywood has received unseemly financial favors from various levels of government; and copyright law has been needlessly expanded at the hands of the entertainment industry.
Salam and Ruffini are also correct that the Web has thrown numerous established businesses, from brick-and-mortar retailers to newspapers to the U.S. Postal Service, into turmoil, forcing them to confront highly efficient online competition. They are right, too, that the government should let the market work its magic in these cases. But they are wrong to include the threat Hollywood faces from Internet piracy in this trend.
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AP - Piece by piece, in backpacks and carry-on bags, American aid contractor Alan Gross made sure laptops, smartphones, hard drives and networking equipment were secreted into Cuba. The most sensitive item, according to official trip reports, was the last one: a specialized mobile phone chip that experts say is often used by the Pentagon and the CIA to make satellite signals virtually impossible to track.
The news that Eastman Kodak is preparing to file for bankruptcy, after being the leading photographic company in the world for more than a hundred years, truly marks the end of an era.
The skills required to use the cameras and chemicals required by the photography of the mid-19th century were far beyond those of most people — until a man named George Eastman created a company called Kodak, which made cameras that ordinary people could use.
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AP - Social media companies have "friended" the 2012 presidential contest at a level almost unimaginable just four years ago, hosting debates and sponsoring presidential town halls while remaining indispensable tools for candidates looking to connect with voters in the digital sphere.
AP - So much for 140 characters or less. A president, it seems, gets to respond to a tweet on his own terms.
AP - So much for 140 characters or less. A president, it seems, gets to respond to a tweet on his own terms.
AP - So much for 140 characters or less. A president, it seems, gets to respond to a tweet on his own terms.
AP - So much for 140 characters or less. A president, it seems, gets to respond to a tweet on his own terms.
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