Hasta La Gadget!

It would appear that the news of CNET’s official kicking of DISH’s Hopper technology from their “Best Of CES” list on orders from parent company CBS has cost them their spot as the official partner running the awards program. CNET has been the official CES partner in charge of selecting the Best of CES awards for several years but will, according to the press release from CES today, no longer be a part of the program from this point forward. The events that lead up to this situation involve CBS – the parent company of CNET at the moment – and their litigation against DISH, and it’s not pretty.

The original selection for best of show for CES 2013 by the staff at CNET was DISH’s Hopper with Sling Whole-Home HD DVR. When they announced this, CBS essentially swatted them down, telling them that they’d have to re-select the best because of an ongoing legal battle between CBS and DISH. The staff re-selected the best of show as the Razer Edge gaming tablet and that was that. Except that wasn’t that, and a massive fallout began to unfold.

In addition to bad blood and some jobs being self-terminated due to “journalistic integrity”, essentially, the largest result appears to be the Consumer Electronica Association taking back sole control of the CES awards. The CEA runs CES, if you did not know, and CEA President and CEO Gary Shapiro has let loose some harsh words for the likes of CBS and CNET, including, but not limited to: “We are shocked that the ‘Tiffany’ network which is known for its high journalistic standards would bar all its reporters from favorably describing classes of technology the network does not like.”

This set of words included in the note released today also brought forth the fact that the CEA will soon be looking for new help. The CEA has announced that they’ll be issuing a request for proposal (RFP) aimed at identifying a new partner to run the Best of CES awards program from this point forward.

This request is joined by assurances that “CES has enjoyed a long and productive partnership with CNET and the Best of CES awards” but that “the new review policy will have a negative impact on our brand should we continue the awards relationship as currently constructed.” This is of course in reference to the CBS edict that no reviews will be posted by CNET if they include products or technology currently included in litigation involving the company.

What do you think about this whole situation? Are you on one side of the argument or the other, or do you simply not know where you stand on everything at once?

[via CES]

CEA seeks new Best of CES partner amid DISH debacle is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

By Jason McLure

LITTLETON, N.H., Jan 30 (Reuters) – New England’s once mighty fishing industry suffered a blow on Wednesday after a council voted to cut cod fishing quotas by more than 50 percent this year amidst sharply declining North Atlantic stocks of the bottom-feeder.

At a meeting in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the New England Fishery Management Council voted to slash the legal harvest of cod in the Gulf of Maine by 77 percent to 1,550 metric tons for the fishing season beginning May 1, said Pat Fiorelli, a spokeswoman for the council.

“It’s really grim,” said Fiorelli. “These stocks are in real decline and questions were raised about whether they’ll ever come back.”

It also cut the quota for cod caught on Georges Bank, an area stretching east of Cape Cod, by 55 percent to 2,002 metric tons. The new quotas will be in effect until 2016.

The limits highlight the disappearance of a fish species that helped draw settlers to North America from Europe 500 years ago.

This year’s quotas are equivalent to about 6 percent of the landings of Georges Bank and Gulf of Maine cod in 1981. Researchers at the University of New Hampshire estimate that cod stocks have declined by about 90 percent in the last 50 years due to overfishing and other changes to marine ecosystems.

In September the Commerce Department issued a disaster declaration for the fishery, a move that set the stage for emergency relief funding from Congress.

A total of $150 million in relief for the New England and two other fishing areas was included in an early version of the Hurricane Sandy relief bill that passed earlier this month, but was removed from the final version of the law.

“There are a lot of scared fishermen figuring out what their future is going to look like and a lot of people scared about what the ecosystem looks like,” said Ben Martens, director of the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association, which represents 35 fishermen.

The council considered and rejected a motion to close the fisheries completely in order to give the fish populations a better chance to recover, though that did little to cheer the industry, said Martens. Fishermen who made 100 trips to sea last year will likely make between 15 and 30 this year, he said.

“We’ve got a lot of guys who have been working very hard to create businesses that are solvent and this cut is going to be really hard on them,” Martens said. (Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Eric Walsh)

Read More…
More on fish

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. — Google is giving people a way to virtually hike the Grand Canyon.

The search giant released images Thursday that map the most popular trails at the park’s South Rim and other walkways.

Read More…
More on Arizona

“The Wonder Years” turns 25 today (January 31) and to celebrate the milestone anniversary, we’re looking back at some very famous faces who got their start on the classic series.

Long before he was romancing Carrie Bradshaw on “Sex and the City,” John Corbett was with Karen Arnold (Olivia d’Abo) on “The Wonder Years” and three years before she swept the nation with the phrase “as if!” in “Clueless,” Alicia Silverstone was playing Kevin Arnold’s (Fred Savage) dream girl.

Click through the slideshow below to watch Corbett, Silverstone and more famous faces who got their start on “The Wonder Years.”

Read More…
More on Video

When watching your child’s hockey game, it’s easy to get so wrapped up in the action that you fly into a rage, stomp onto the ice and yell at the ref. Actually, no, that’s only happened once (that we’re aware of), but nobody in Hoffman Estates, Illinois is taking any chances. In an effort to encourage good sportsmanship amongst hockey moms and dads, their local rink posted a sign reminding them to let kids be, well, kids.

Canadian lawyer Warren Kinsella tweeted a photo of the notice:

I want to put this in every rink in Canada. twitter.com/kinsellawarren…

— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) January 24, 2013

Read More…

Share this:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Tumblr
• LinkedIn
• More

• Reddit
• Pinterest
• Pocket
• Email