Brian Gongol
Counter-protest propaganda swamps pro-reform Twitter messages in Russia
It's suspected that a botnet is being used to drive the counter-protest propaganda
HP gives up on WebOS
WebOS is the operating system developed to drive Palm's line of smartphones and (potentially) other devices. HP bought out Palm, acquiring WebOS in the process. Now they've given up. The contrary forces of Apple's iOS and Android are too strong. It's not a bad operating system -- but without a strong backer, it's probably going to wither and die off.
Cedar Rapids AM radio station picks up an FM translator channel
A number of major-market AM radio stations have taken to simulcasting on FM in order to pick up the audience they would otherwise lose due to AM's poor signal quality in or around metal buildings -- or just the pure listener inertia that causes FM listeners to forget that there's an AM band as well. WSB in Atlanta does it. WBBM in Chicago does it. WTOP in Washington, DC is only available on FM. But it's interesting to discover that a smaller-market station (in this case, KGYM-AM in Cedar Rapids) is going to simulcast on a small FM signal into nearby Iowa City. The odd thing that's happening in radio right now is that lots of listeners have grown up with FM music stations but are leaving those stations for online alternatives like Pandora. At the same time, the stations that deliver the largest proportion of local content are usually the AM news, sports, and talk stations that many of those FM-addicted listeners have neglected. Much of the future of successful local radio could lie with speech-formatted stations moving to the FM dial as music radio declines in popularity.
