United States

Yahoo on Thursday announced the debut of Livestand, a publishing platform that aims to deliver personalised content to mobile devices. The New York Times reported on Sunday, the platform, a digital newsstand, will offer a continuous stream of programming based on users’ interests. Yahoo plans to push the platform across multiple formats, including tablets, smartphones, and Web browsers, according...

Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has urged Florida’s new Governor, Rick Scott, to explain his handling of the media since he has been brought into office on January 4, 2011. RSF is worried that his media policy has been skirting with press freedoms. For example, during his post-inauguration ceremony, on the 22nd Floor of The Capitol, Scott carefully “cherry-picked”...

AOL Inc will buy Arianna Huffington's influential website for $315 million, looking to the high-profile liberal pundit to rescue it from the dustbin of Internet history. The move, announced Monday, comes at a hefty premium. AOL is estimated to be paying 32 times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for The Huffington Post, said Benchmark Co analyst Clayton Moran. Similar...

Rupert Murdoch on Wednesday pushed the send button on The Daily, a news application designed for the iPad that he hopes will position his News Corporation front and center in the digital newsstand of the future, the New York Times has reported. The Daily is published as an app for iPads. Subscribers pay by the week or the year. The Daily will be a first of its kind for tablet computers: a general...

News Corp will launch its long-awaited digital newspaper created for Apple Inc's iPad on February 2, two weeks after the two companies were widely expected to introduce the new product, Reuters has reported. News Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch and Apple Vice President of Internet Services Eddy Cue will introduce the Daily, a digital newspaper for tablet devices, at the Solomon Guggenheim Museum in...

The Washington Post uses Facecbook to the hilt, according to prominent Internet communications firm Bivings Group that tracked how newspapers use the social networking site to best connect with audience. Ranking No. 1 and 2, respectively were The Washington Post and The Chicago Tribune. The Post was cited not just for its very high fan-to-circulation ratio, design features and use of Twitter app...

Math-loving traders are using powerful computers to speed-read news reports, editorials, company Web sites, blog posts and even Twitter messages — and then letting the machines decide what it all means for the markets. The development goes far beyond standard digital fare like most-read and e-mailed lists, says a New York Times report. In some cases, the computers are actually parsing writers’...

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), a US government agency with independent status, voted to adopt an ineffective set of Net Neutrality rules last week after more than a year of negotiations with the various parties concerned, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The five-member commission’s two Democrats voted with its chairman, Julius Genachowski...

Online advertising in the US is expected to exceed newspaper advertising in 2010. For the year, online ad spending is expected to rise about 14 per cent to $25.8 billion, while print advertising spending in newspapers is expected to decline about 8 percent to $22.8 billion. Research firm eMarketer includes everything from Google and eBay to the New York Times in its online advertising category...

PolitiFact editors and reporters have chosen "government takeover of health care" as the 2010 Lie of the Year. Uttered by dozens of politicians and pundits in the US, it played an important role in shaping public opinion about the health care plan and was a significant factor in the Democrats' shellacking in the November elections. Readers of PolitiFact, the St Petersburg Times' independent...