Public Intelligence Blog – Page 2144 – The truth at any cost lowers all other costs — curated by former US spy Robert David Steele.

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October 19, 2013

Are tablets the salvation of the newspaper industry? Google’s chief economist thinks they may be. In a speech he recently gave in Milan, Hal Varian points to the ways consumers’ usage of tablets differs from that of other devices. Writer Will Conley summarizes:

“Varian said tablets are the most newspaper-like electronic medium due to their status as ‘leisure time’ reading devices. Citing a Pew Foundation study, Varian pointed out that tablets are the preferred electronic news reading medium for mornings and evenings—during which readers spend the most time absorbing the news—beating out both desktop and smartphones for those periods. Ad revenue depends on the amount of time spent reading the news, he said, and therefore the proliferation of tablets will help the online newspaper industry to gain a new foothold for the first time in 40 years.”

Varian believes tablets might even prompt users to devote more time to reading news, restoring the “analytic depth” that has been eroding along with our attention spans. It’s a nice vision. Unfortunately, an article at Gigaom that came out on the same day as Conley’s piece takes a contradictory stance. Gigaom contributor Jon Lund explains “Why Tablet Magazines are a Failure.” (I think we can extrapolate his points to periodicals in general.)

Continue reading “Stephen E. Arnold: Tables and News — or Tables and Decision-Support?”

2013/10/192013/10/19

SchwartzReport: NSA Has Not Foiled a SINGLE Terrorist Plot + NSA Meta-RECAP

Corruption, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, IO Impotency, Military, Officers Call

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Here is what I believe is a correct assessment concerning the creation of the national security state in which we live today. Absurd amounts of money have been spent, and civil liberties abridged to an unprecedented degree, on the basis of a threat consisting of little gangs. It is transparently disproportionate, there has to be something underneath that.! I believe it results from a long-term strategic assessment of what is going to happen with climate change. Since 1991 I have been following and publishing stories on this trend. It's very clear, on the basis of the scientific research in the open literature, that it is going to cause massive disruption, and social disorder. I am sure there are lots of other studies that are classified that say the same thing, perhaps in greater detail, and with a security perspective not usually found in open research literature

NSA Spying Did Not Result In a SINGLE Foiled Terrorist Plot
WashingtonsBlog

Entire article with links below the line.

Continue reading “SchwartzReport: NSA Has Not Foiled a SINGLE Terrorist Plot + NSA Meta-RECAP”

2013/10/192013/10/19

Rob Sentse: The Battle for the Information Domain

Advanced Cyber/IO

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The Battle for the Information Domain

By Major Rob Sentse[1] Bachelor. Infantry, Royal Netherlands Army
and Major Arno Storm, Bachelor. Infantry, Royal Netherlands Army

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
–Maya Angelou (American Poet, b.1928)

(This publication has been written on our personal title and does not refl ect the opinion of the Royal Netherlands Army.)

PDF (7 Pages): IOJ Feb 2010__Rob Sentse Battle for the Information Domain

Phi Beta Iota: Includes very well done graphics.

Who’s Who in Peace Intelligence: Rob Sentse

2013/10/18

SmartPlanet: On Demand Public Transit App in Helsinki

Advanced Cyber/IO

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Public transit goes on-demand in Helsinki

By Tyler Falk | October 17, 2013

Sure, there are many cities around the world where you can hail a taxi or hitch a ride in a private car using a smartphone with apps like Uber and Lyft.

But Helsinki is taking that idea to the next level with on-demand public transit.

The capital city of Finland has an on-demand minibus service run by the city’s transit agency. Kutsuplus, as the service is called, lets you choose where you want to be picked up by the bus and if you want a private trip (like using Uber) or a shared ride. If you decide to share a ride, an algorithm will determine the best route for getting you to your destination and picking up others, but you’re only charged as if you’re the only passenger. The minibuses can accommodate up to nine passengers.

The cost of the service is 3.50 euros, plus 0.60 euros per kilometer. That’s more than a bus but less than a taxi, but as Wired points out, the point of it isn’t to replace either form of transit.

Despite its on-demand nature, Kutsuplus isn’t designed to put cabs out of business. Rather, it’s supposed to make it easier for motorists to switch to public transit. According to Kari Rissanen, a Program Director at the Helsinki Regional Transport Authority, Kutsuplus makes transit more attractive for those whose commutes would require multiple changes of buses or trains.

Kutsuplus is currently running as a pilot program with 10 minibuses. According to Wired, the could soon grow to 100.

2013/10/182013/10/18

4th Media: Deeply Troubling Headlines

Cultural Intelligence, Peace Intelligence

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Americans Have Lost Virtually All of Our Constitutional Rights : “War against US”

Body Count: Global Avoidable Mortality Since 1950

Israeli Strike on Iran Coming?

Lie as Culture: West Toxic Lie On Syria Exposed

The Speculative Endgame: The Government “Shutdown” and “Debt Default”, A Multibillion Bonanza for Wall Street

Good News:

Brazil and China’s Unstoppable March through Latin America

People of Ireland Begin Criminal Proceedings against Banks

2013/10/182013/10/18

Paul Craig Roberts: Americans Selling Body Parts for Income

01 Poverty, 03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 11 Society, Civil Society

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Bloomberg News — Americans Sell Body Parts For Income

The American economic crisis of the 21st century is becoming worse. Wall Street and the multinational US corporations have offshored millions of US jobs that provided middle class incomes. Americans who lost these jobs have experienced dramatic reductions in their incomes and access to medical care. They have used up their savings and now have to sell parts of their bodies for money. This crisis will worsen as the American economic collapse proceeds. Income and wealth are concentrated in the hands of a few oligarchs, with 400 families having as much wealth as 150,000,000 Americans. Bloomberg is wrong about “the four-year-old economic expansion.” The alleged recovery is a product of statistical manipulation, as John Williams (shadowstats.com) has made clear.

Bodies Double as Cash Machines With U.S. Income Lagging: Economy

By Victoria Stilwell

Bloomberg News, Oct 15, 2013

Hair, breast milk and eggs are doubling as automated teller machines for some cash-strapped Americans such as April Hare. Out of work for more than two years and facing eviction from her home, Hare recalled Louisa May Alcott’s 19th-century novel and took to her computer.

“I was just trying to find ways to make money, and I remembered Jo from ‘Little Women,’ and she sold her hair,” the 35-year-old from Atlanta said. “I’ve always had lots of hair, but this is the first time I’ve actually had the idea to sell it because I’m in a really tight jam right now.”

The mother of two posted pictures of her 18-inch auburn mane on www.buyandsellhair.com, asking at least $1,000 and receiving responses within hours. Hare, who also considered selling her breast milk, joins others exploring unconventional ways to make ends meet as the four-year-old economic expansion struggles to invigorate the labor market and stimulate incomes.

In all but two quarters since the beginning of 2011, “hair,” “eggs,” or “kidney” have been among the top four autofill results for the Google search query, “I want to sell my…,” according to Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist at New York-based ConvergEx Group, which provides brokerage and trading-related services for institutional investors. While Americans can legally sell hair, breast milk and eggs, the sale and purchase of a kidney in the U.S. is against the law.

“The fact that people even explore it indicates that there are still a lot of people worried about their financial outlook,” said Colas, who tracks off-the-grid economic indicators. “This is very much unlike every other recovery that we’ve had. It’s going to be a slow-grinding, very frustrating recovery.”

Read full article.

2013/10/18