Month: July 2012

The Rise of the “Connected Viewer”

Television’s solitary screen is being supplemented by multi-screen interactivity. Half of all adult cell owners (52%) have used their phones recently for engagement, diversion, or interaction with other people while watching TV. The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project measured the prevalence of these multi-screen viewing experiences by asking the 88% of American adults who are cell owners whether they had used their phone to engage in several different activities while watching television in the 30 days preceding an April 2012 survey.

The Rise of the “Connected Viewer”

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E~Z Initiative

  • Ensuring a Safe-Harbour for Innovations & Innovator
  • Promulgating Best-Practices in Sustainability Worldwide
  • Simplifying the Global Protocols of Brokerage & Exchange
  • Linking Sustainable Solutions Directly to Customer- Nations
  • Eliminating Unwarranted Profiteering & Usury in Exchange
  • Facilitating Partnerships for Truly Sustainable Development
  • Enabling all Stakeholders to Participate in Energy Commerce
  • Ushering a New Energy Economy into the Global Mainstream

E~Z Initiative

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Blackwater illegally paid millions in taxpayer money

Between 2004 and 2009, millions of dollars in taxpayer monies could have been saved had the International Republican Institute — a bipartisan, nonprofit organization chaired by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) — used their federal funding more efficiently. Instead, however, the IRI handed over massive sums of money to the Blackwater security group so that they could send armed guards to Iraq.

While Blackwater’s presence overseas has not gone unnoticed, the latest report shows that contract were made without the IRI considering any competitors’ bids and in the end cost millions of extra dollars, all the while funding the same agency proved responsible for the massacre of Iraqi civilians.

The unclassified report, dated June 2012, describes how the IRI used $103.7 million in federal grants during fiscal years 2004-2010 to conduct democracy-building programs throughout Iraq. In only a few pages, CPA Clarke Leiper, PLLC, explains — along with the guidance of the Office of Inspector General — how millions of dollars was mismanaged by making payments to Blackwater without seeking outside bids.

Blackwater illegally paid millions in taxpayer money

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How much Hispanics matter in 2012 — in one chart

Republicans have a Hispanic problem.

Unless they can find ways to begin convincing the nation’s fastest growing population — Hispanics accounted for half of all the growth of the U.S. population over the last decade — that the GOP is a potential political home for them, they won’t remain a credible national party in 2016, 2020 and beyond.

Some within their party understand this. Take Florida Sen. Marco Rubio who is pushing a Republican “Dream Act” designed to show the Hispanic community that the entirety of the party is not lined up against them. And even former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who took a hardline stance against illegal immigration in the presidential primary, is starting to moderate his positions.

Resurgent Republic, a conservative-aligned, polling conglomerate has produced a snappy infographic that details everything you need to know about the Hispanic vote including the fascinating chart below that allows you to experiment with how much of the 2012 electorate will be Hispanic, how much of it Republicans will win and what that means for the outcome of the contest.

How much Hispanics matter in 2012 — in one chart

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CREW and Others Call for Increased Disclosure of Political Spending by Insurance Companies

WASHINGTON - July 16 - Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and other organizations called on the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), the regulatory organization for the insurance industry, to require insurance companies to disclose all political spending from corporate funds. 

Recent revelations, including the discovery that the insurance giant Aetna contributed more than $7 million to the American Action Network and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, have underscored efforts by companies to illicitly influence the 2012 elections.

CREW and Others Call for Increased Disclosure of Political Spending by Insurance Companies

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Anonymous supports Green Peace, hacks oil companies

In what the loosely-tied hacker group Anonymous calls #OpSaveTheArctic, over 1,000 email credentials and Hash checks of email passwords from five major international oil giants were released. The companies targeted included Exxon Mobil Corporation, Shell Petrochemical Corp., and BP Global; as well as the Russian based Gazprom Corporation and Rosneft Petroleum Corp.

The data dumped on anonymous text post website Pastebin includes 317 emails and their unsalted MD5 hashed passwords from a hack on Exxon mobil from June. Added July 13th: a further 724 emails and hashed passwords from BP, Gazprom, and Rosneft, and 26 emails with clear-text passwords from Shell Petroleum. Also listed: all of the internal mail system information, detailing routers, operating system type, database details and server hardware vendor. Further detailing of the type of data gained is available at the DC/Nova/Maryland network security blog site NovaInfoSeco.com.

Anonymous supports Green Peace, hacks oil companies

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YouTube study shows the future: citizen-filmed news

This week a study has been released by Pew Research Center surrounding YouTube’s viewership over a period of 15 months and have found citizens, not news organizations, to be holding the gold metal for most viewed videos. While it remains clear that non-web-based television is still the top gun as far as video-based news goes, YouTube’s viewership loves everyday Joe-made news clips more than they like news corporations’ take on everyday goings-on around the world. Is it possible that one day we’ll rely on individuals on the scene at big events rather than a news van to pick up and report on happenings in real time?

YouTube study shows the future: citizen-filmed news

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