I break tablet reading distances into three main categories—Bed, Knee, and Breakfast—and define the categories by generic use case:

• Bed (Close to face): Reading a novel on your stomach, lying in bed with the iPad propped up on a pillow.
• Knee (Medium distance from face): Sitting on the couch or perhaps the Eurostar on your way to Paris, the iPad on your knee, catching up on Instapaper.

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2011 is the year we Connect. No longer will web video be trapped on desktops or laptops. CES in January will be the starting bell in a massive race to the flatscreen. Google TV will make the most noise, and consumers will find that more and more devices will come with GTV chips from intel already on board. But don’t think that means Google wins – (more…)

How is this possible? It shouldn’t be, according to the networks, who are suing FilmOn and founder Alki David. They’re also suing ivi.TV, which is doing something similar with feeds from Seattle TV stations.

Both FilmOn and ivi are arguing that they’re within their rights based on an interpretation of FCC rules that allow “secondary transmissions” of broadcast signals.

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The publisher may be right in the middle of introducing fees for its own online newspapers, but it is putting on ice Rupert Murdoch’s grander ambition of creating a pay-for digital news service comprising content from the entire UK news industry. At the same time, sources familiar with the company’s plans say similar efforts in the U.S. have been put on a slower track, but not being canceled. (more…)

This is not about “social media” it is about identity, about connecting an idea to other people. When I grew up, most everyone I knew had creative ideas for videos, music, art, businesses, etc. And those ideas were born and died inside our own heads. Even for those we acted on, they existed for a brief moment, within a very tiny group of people. (more…)

[Twitter] certainly is affecting the news business dramatically:

• As a source of stories. One of the millions of just-in-time stringers twittering away may witness a revolution at any second;
• As a backchannel for other media, replacing the dial-in line used for TV and radio;
• As a traffic source;
• As a source to check stories. Traditional journalists can tap into their Twitter network faster than using their Rolodex or speed dial.

via Bernard Lunn for ReadWriteWeb, The Real-Time Web Is Not Hype: We Are All Traders Now.