Category Archives: News

News articles about the dark side of “new media”

News, Tech

I don’t understand the HBO-Apple Deal

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Friendship is Magic
Friendship is Magic

Everyone knew HBO would go cable free. It was not complicated math. As soon as the amount of expected (cablefree) subscription revenue was greater than the lost cable revenue from going over the top, HBO would be off to the races. Now, HBO is owned by people who own other channels so if people ditch cable it hurts other revenue. HBO is a lynchpin in peoples decision to get cable. Therefore it is more complicated with more variables but it essentially is just a question of how to make the most money.

The nonsense about HBO getting free marketing from cable companies is just that; nonsense. Game of Thrones generates ten times the marketing that their dumb ads do. They were pretty conservative in waiting so long but the time to go was here and everyone expects the other networks to follow. They are like cows and just follow the herd. Ask the cable installers, kids do not get cable, HBO could not wait much longer. But the Apple deal still makes no sense to me.

No way will he do it
No way will he do it

Apple forked over some cash to be the exclusive HBO Now partner for three months. What does Apple get for their hard earned cash? Are they expecting people to buy apple phones and throw android phones away in these three months? Um no, people who currently have HBO can wait the three months to ditch cable and people without cable obviously don’t want HBO that badly. Are they getting rid of inventory? That is ridiculous. The company has excellent inventory control and I doubt selling a $69 device is that big a deal. And if the big Apple-subscription launch is in June, as well as a new rumored device, why not wait? And I don’t understand the other side of the deal, what does HBO get, besides some cash? Wouldn’t they want everyone to be able to buy HBO Now and not just Apple owners. I don’t get it. Why are they limiting the launch, It feels like I am missing something.

Disney owns Aol who owns TechCrunch who owns....
Disney owns Aol who owns TechCrunch who owns the lovely and talented….

There is going to be a big fight for space on TV or however people are watching shows. Yahoo, Amazon, AOL and everyone else has a lot to gain. Fox, ABC, Disney etc have a lot to lose. Spending 4 billion for Star Wars and millions for the Marvel properties was a good move. Those properties are going to be even more valuable when everyone is in the TV game. Disney is one smart cookie.

Any why does everyone in Silicon Valley refer to shows as content, they are shows.

Gossip, News

Sarah Lane Launchparty

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The Lovely and Talented Sarah Lane
Sarah Lane AKA The Lovely and Talented

The lovely and talented Sarah Lane is cutting the ribbon on a new show via TechCrunch called “Crunch Report.” The debut is set for March 23rd at 4PM Pacific but being that it is not live, the start time seems inconsequential. The show will be daily but it is unconfirmed if Sarah will even be hosting. We do not as yet have sources inside their HQ, we need like a week or two. It was described by an insider as a visual version of the Techcrunch website.

People looking for anything other than news in this post will have to wait. Those days are gone. Not gonna happen. People change, it’s called a metamorphosis, so there is nothing else to say. Keep dreaming. But we are looking forward to her input on the set design.

Why totaldrama became the number one [#1] destination of everyone in Silicon Valley is beyond me, those people have issues. Anyway, there are two types of people in this world, the people tuning in to watch her show debut and the bottom dwelling, scum sucking, backstabing, evil, heartless and worthless a-holes wasting good oxygen. Which are you, grow up and pick a side.

Misc, News

TotalDrama.eu Down!

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Broken News: The web empire of TotalDrama.eu has been taken offline.

Update: The rumour being spread that a team of hackers, based in Vatican City, have taken TotalDrama.eu offline is false. At least that’s what this reporter can glean from Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Meerkat videos.   None of which has shown the purported hacker team (dressed in cassocks) actually hacking.  Fr. Robert Ballecer has been asked his opinion and we will relay it when received.

Further details coming.

News

TWiT to Fire Shannon Morse During Her Honeymoon

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The full scale purge at the TWiT seems to be continuing. During the live stream of Leo Laporte’s The Tech Guy show, less than an hour ago, he showed his Gmail inbox. It shows an email conversation with subject “Re: Shannon” where TWiT CEO Lisa Kentzell seems to be discussing a new co-host for “Coding 101” programme with Robert Ballecer, show’s other co-host.

As it was the case with Amber Macarthur’s show cancellation, Ms Morse is probably going to be the last person to know. Kentzell is most likely waiting for an opportune moment when Shannon is not around to drop the news.

Our best wishes to @snubs in this difficult time.

Update 1:

Unsurprisingly, Shannon Morse is not privy to the conversation about her:

Update 2:

I might be difficult to see from that video, but our forensics team has been able to decode the part of conversation visible on screen:

Oct 10 Robert Ballecer, SJ
RE: Shannon
We've got some runway because I had already altered the schedule to account for Shannon's (honeymoon)

Oct 10 Lisa Kentzell
RE: Shannon
I don't want to lose the audience we have but I think the content needs to be relevant to grow

Oct 10 Robert Ballecer, SJ
RE: Shannon
Lisa & Leo, Understood on all points. 1. Will ask Lou to co-host 2. Will work over the weekend to
News

Setting the Record Straight

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As Leo Laporte continues to escalate the conflict with most every former TWiT host, it is important to take a step back and and set the record straight about what exactly has happened.  And this is exactly what the hosts of the Night Attack show, Brian Brushwood and Justin Robert Young have done last night in the Episode 32 of the programme.

The events unfolded in the following order:

  • Robert Ballecer wanted to invite Brian Brushwood and Justin Robert Young to his TWiT show “Padres Corner”. Lisa Kentzell, the TWiT CEO said “no”, they are not allowed back on the network.
  • Ballecer asked one of the following days and was told “no” again, and to not bring this issue again.
  • At this point there was only one source confirming that they were banned from TWiT.
  • Baratunde Thurston got an invitation to appear on the “flagship” TWiT show, and as Brian and him have always been a good match on that show, a suggestion was made to invite Mr Brushwood. Show’s producer Chad Johnson went to Leo Laporte with this idea and was told that, no, the hosts of Night Attack are not allowed to appear on TWiT shows.
  • Having heard the exact same thing from two different TWiT staffers, during Night Attack 31, the hosts expressed their sadness (butthurt in their own words), that despite their best efforts to maintain a good relation with TWiT, this was the treatment that they were getting.
  • Returning from one of his numerous vacation, this time in London, Leo Laporte hears about the mention and goes into blind rage. He sends a series of messages to Brian and Justin, that we have covered earlier. Judging by the level of rage we can only conclude that he didn’t actually see the Night Attack episode in question but that he was told a much exaggerated version by one of his minions.
  • Night Attack 32 is published that features “The Statement to End All Statements”, which outlines this series of events.
  • Leo Laporte in another fit of rage, orders his staff to erase any trace of Tom Merritt, Brian Brushwood and Justin Robert Young ever having been part of the network.

Here is the clip from the Night Attack 32 where Brian and Justin explain what happened in two minutes,

News

TWiT Trying to Erase History

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Following our disclosure of his stream of rage triggered profanities, it would appear that Leo Laporte has ordered a full scale history rewrite. Shows featuring Tom Merritt, Brian Brushwood and Justin Robert Young are being deleted from every location on the internet under control of TWiT.

This morning, visitors to twit.tv/nsfw page were greeted with a big “access denied” warning, and every attempt to look at the archive of the show on that site failed.

Denied by TWiT

Further investigation showed that the NSFW show was not the only victim of this purge. Frame Rate, Current Geek Weekly, Tech History are also gone from the twit.tv web site. The attempt to erase these people from the internet did not stop there. TWiT staffers were ordered to delete all Youtube uploads of this content as well.

Efforts are under way to restore archives of these shows. Mr. Laporte is probably regretting his decision to release TWiT network content under a Creative Commons license as that makes it impossible for him to take a legal action and prevent the restoration of the show’s archives.

News

The Real Laporte

54 Comments

As it has become his custom, Leo Laporte went to his chatroom to to vent. Early this morning he posted this:

05:18 <~Leo> shoow and JuRY spent an hour on Night Attack last week (while we were on vacation note) slamming me and Lisa
05:18 <~Leo> *shwood
05:19 <~Leo> It was particularly hurtful because we have bent over backwards to accomodate them, and I've never said a word against either

He’s referring to episode 31 of the Night Attack show. It is clear that he has not listened to the episode in question and that he probably got trolled by one of his minions, telling him how they were being “attacked” and “slammed”. Mr, Laporte then goes on to demand an apology:

05:21 <~Leo> and it was particularly hurtful to Lisa - they called her Yoko and other stuff
05:21 <~Leo> shwood seems to be getting a lot of mileage out of it and although we've written to him neither he nor JuRY has apologized.

The investigative team here at Total Drama managed to obtain what exactly it was that Mr. Laporte was writing. Here is his message to Brian Brushwood:

Leo Laporte's conciliatory message

To Justin Robert Young he had similarly kind words:

leo_to_jury

You see how in the chatroom he pretends he was civilized and demanded an apology, while in fact he was spewing insults left and right without even knowing what he was talking about. But that has unfortunately become Mr. Laporte’s modus operandi.

But this is not where the insults stopped. No, Laporte went on to Twitter to tell his half a million followers that Brian Brushwood was “a drunk” and an “asshole” and that he was attacking him and his family. Those “attacks” never happened.

And another public attack on Brian Brushwood:

This just adds to mounting pile of evidence that Leo Laporte is one of the worst kinds of cyber bullies, using his great number of followers to spread lies and baseless accusations without bothering to check any of his facts. And if you point out this, you are being called a “troll” and he will send his army of minions against you.

For the internet to thrive, we need to find a way to stop bullies like Laporte from contaminating the public discourse.

News

New Feature: DVR

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#TotalDrama is proud to announce our latest feature: DVR functionality for the TWiT live stream. Select DVR option from the top menu and you can go over the past couple of days of the live stream, see thumbnail previews of the video, watch it, and download it in convenient 30 minute segments.

Never again miss that super funny moment that you just saw. Uploading clips to YouTube has never been so easy.