Should we start expecting a new Taylor Swift song penned about One Direction cutie Harry Styles? It looks like a possibility! Less than 24 hours after Swift performed at the Jingle Ball in Los Angeles on Saturday, she was across the country in New York City, hitting up the Central Park Zoo with the 1D singer.
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Monday, December 3, 2012
Study shows growth in second screen users
NEW YORK (AP) ? Television viewers were once called couch potatoes. Many are becoming more active while watching now, judging by the findings in a new report that illustrates the explosive growth in people who watch TV while connected to social media on smartphones and tablets.
The Nielsen company said that one in three people using Twitter in June sent messages at some point about the content of television shows, an increase of 27 percent from only five months earlier. And that was before the Olympics, which was probably the first big event to illustrate the extent of second screen usage.
"Twitter has become the second screen experience for television," said Deirdre Bannon, vice president of social media at Nielsen.
Social networking is becoming so pervasive that the study found nearly a third of people aged 18-to-24 reported using the sites while in the bathroom.
An estimated 41 percent of tablet owners and 38 percent of smartphone owners used their device while also watching television at least once a day, Nielsen said.
That percentage hasn't changed much; in fact, 40 percent of smartphone owners reported daily dual screen usage a year earlier, Nielsen said. The difference is that far more people own these devices and they are using them for a longer period of time. The company estimated that Americans spent a total of 157.5 billion minutes on mobile devices in July 2012, nearly doubling the 81.8 billion the same month a year earlier.
"There are big and interesting implications," Bannon said. "I think both television networks and advertisers are onto it."
The social media can provide networks with real-time feedback on what they are doing. The performance of moderators at presidential debates this fall was watched more closely than perhaps ever before, because people were instantly taking on Twitter to provide their own critiques.
It also makes for some conflicting information: Twitter buzzed with complaints last summer about NBC's policy of airing many Olympics events from London on tape delay, yet ratings for the prime-time Olympics telecast soared past expectations.
The increase in people watching television and commenting about it online would seem to run counter to another big trend this fall: more people recording programs and watching them at a later hour. Those contrary trends both increase the value of live event programming like awards shows or sporting events.
The Nielsen study also found that 35 percent of people who used tablets while watching TV looked up information online about the program they were watching. A quarter of tablet owners said they researched coupons or deals for products they saw advertised on television
As rapid as the use of social media while on television is growing in the United States, it already lags behind other countries. Nielsen said that 63 percent of people in the Middle East or Africa report using social media while on TV, and 52 percent of people in Latin America.
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News anchor ?regrets? negotiating on air with man holding family hostage
Jose Luiz Datena, host of a popular Brazilian crime show, became part of the unfolding story he was covering when a knife-wielding man holding his own mother and sister hostage demanded to speak with him.
The man had been negotiating with police--who had surrounded his Sao Paulo area home--for more than an hour late last month when he told negotiators he wanted to speak with Datena, host of "Urgent Brazil."
Police agreed, and Datena--who was already on the air--pleaded with the man for 20 minutes to release the women. The man eventually agreed, and the women walked out unharmed.
Datena, though, said he regretted blurring the line between journalist and hostage negotiator.
"I deeply regretted doing that," Datena said, according to CNN. "It is not our role as journalists."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/hostage-live-air-brazil-tv-host-150147614.html
Wyoming police: Two slain before killer takes own life
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) ? The first victim was found in the gutter of a quiet residential street, just as the killer was shedding blood again on the campus of a nearby community college.
Wielding some kind of sharp-edged weapon, he killed a community college instructor before taking his own life in front of a classroom of students.
Police wouldn't speculate on a motive for the murder-suicide and said little about how it all developed Friday at Casper College and in a neighborhood about two miles away. They hinted, however, that the three knew each another.
Casper Police Chief Chris Walsh said an "edged weapon" was used in at least one of the killings. He didn't say more about what type of weapon it was and whether the killer used the same weapon in all of the deaths.
He said he didn't know how many students were in the class or what the topic was. The attacker wasn't believed to be a Casper College student but it appeared he knew the victims, he said.
No names were released.
"We're locating next of kin and working on notification absolutely as fast as we can," Walsh said.
The campus was locked down and class called off for the day. Later, after the lockdown, students who lived on campus trickled back to their dorm rooms.
The violence came as a shock to this typically peaceful prairie city of about 56,000 in east-central Wyoming.
"It was a little bit of a wake-up call," said freshman Nathan Hansen, of Glenrock, a town of 2,500 about 30 miles east of Casper. "It was kind of odd hearing news of that happening here."
Authorities said they didn't believe there was any further threat to the community.
All students and staff were evacuated from the classroom building where the attack occurred just before 9 a.m. MST.
The college sent out a campus-wide alert via text message and email within two minutes of receiving word of the attack at 9:06 a.m., school spokesman Rich Fujita said. The lockdown ended at about 11 a.m. after school officials received word that police were no longer searching for a suspect, Fujita said.
There are fewer classes on Fridays than any other day of the week at Casper College, so only between 1,500 and 2,000 of the college's 5,000 students were there, he added.
"It is particularly painful because of our size," Fujita said of the small, tight-knit campus.
Pearson Morgan, a freshman, was in a math class on the first floor of the science building when his instructor relayed the news in a state of shock.
"My teacher was just so sick, he said, 'You can just leave,'" Morgan said.
Morgan walked outside his classroom to find a female student crying. He then turned to see two or three officers with assault rifles bounding up the stairs. Then, all the classrooms emptied and a crush of students carried him outside, but nobody panicked, Morgan said.
"There was a large group of students behind me," he said. "There was a lot of confusion."
Political science instructor Chris Henrichsen said he was showing the film "Frost/Nixon" to his Wyoming and U.S. government class when he stepped into the hall and was told a homicide had occurred on campus.
Moments later his students started getting messages about the campus lockdown on their phones.
"We locked the door and waited for further instruction," Henrichsen said.
About two miles away, Dave Larsen said he was headed to the gym when he drove past a body in a gutter with two people standing over it, one talking on a cellphone.
Larsen lives about a block from the location of the body, a well-kept middle-class neighborhood of mostly single-story houses.
Walsh said that within minutes of the initial call, there was another report of a traumatic injury about two miles southwest of campus.
The college planned a candlelight vigil and memorial service on Tuesday.
Casper College opened in 1945 as the state's first junior college and moved to its current site 10 years later. Wyoming has only one four-year university, the University of Wyoming in Laramie, which serves more than 13,000 students.
Casper is Wyoming's second-largest city. Wyoming residents refer to it as the "Oil City" because it's a hub for the state's oil industry.
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Associated Press writers Ben Neary in Cheyenne, Matt Volz in Helena, Mont., and Dan Elliott in Denver contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wyo-police-2-slain-killer-takes-own-life-084416300.html
Make Fitness a Family Affair | The Best Life Blog: Fitness, Weight ...
Level with yourself. It?s possible that if your husband or kids didn?t give you a reason to skip the gym, someone or something else would?the holidays, your schedule, or your job, for example. Why we undermine our own efforts can be a complex issue, so I recommend that you try to understand yourself a little better. In other words, know your motivations and how badly you really want to lose the weight or get in shape. Ask yourself a few questions. Are there other reasons (such as stress or emotions) why you go off your healthy program? Do you have a need to please other people at your own expense? Sometimes the answers to these questions can tell you if you really want to do what is necessary to permanently lose weight and live healthfully.
Get an early start. Exercise first thing in the morning. This will remove many of the excuses that can come up during the day, like your son?s soccer practice that ran late or your daughter missing the school bus.
Choose child-friendly workouts. Select an exercise that you enjoy and know you?ll perform regularly. No need to find a sitter?simply exercise while watching your little ones. For example, walk or jog with your child in a stroller or baby jogger. Or try aerobic dancing or a fitness DVD in your living room.
Schedule family workouts. Combine exercise with some good old family bonding. Choose a time on the weekend, and plan a family outing; any activity is fair game, from a family bike ride to a trip to the farm to go apple picking to a game of tag in the yard.
Don?t make excuses. Make regular exercise non-negotiable. Not only will this help you stay on track, but it also sets a good example for your children. They?ll learn that taking care of your health is a priority.
Original article by Bob Greene for TheBestLife.com
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Source: http://members.thebestlife.com/blog/make-fitness-a-family-affair/
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Sunday, December 2, 2012
MacFarlane surprises UCLA class, announces contest
Seth MacFarlane arrives at Variety Power of Comedy at Avalon Hollywood on Saturday, Nov. 17, 2012, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
Seth MacFarlane arrives at Variety Power of Comedy at Avalon Hollywood on Saturday, Nov. 17, 2012, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Oscar host Seth MacFarlane is inviting college students to join him on stage at the Academy Awards.
The "Family Guy" creator made a surprise appearance at UCLA to announce a contest sponsored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and mtvU that will allow winning college students to appear on the Feb. 24 Oscar telecast.
The contest invites students to submit videos on the academy's Facebook page describing how they'll contribute to the future of film. At least six winners will serve as trophy carriers on the Oscar show, replacing the leggy models who usually perform the duties.
MacFarlane spent 40 minutes leading the undergraduate film and television class at UCLA's Westwood campus on Wednesday as part of mtvU's "Stand In" series, which brings celebrities to college classrooms as guest lecturers.
"In re-imagining what we want the Oscar show to be, we wanted everyone appearing on that stage to feel a deep commitment to film and its legacy, and most importantly, its future," said Oscar telecast producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron in a statement. "That was the impetus in creating this special honor for young film students who will inspire a new generation to create the films that will be honored in the future."
The contest is also aimed at drawing younger viewers favored by advertisers to the Oscars' aging TV audience. Like UCLA student Abby Smith, who immediately pulled out her smartphone to share the moment on Facebook when MacFarlane appeared before her class.
"Seth MacFarlane is speaking to my film lecture for the next hour," Smith posted. "I'm having a panic attack."
The 39-year-old entertainer urged the aspiring filmmakers and show-runners in the class to make a "commercially viable student film" before leaving school, adding that "Family Guy" was based on his own student film.
And MacFarlane said "Family Guy" could once again become a film. He said he's already come up with a concept for a feature-length movie and promised "it will happen at some point."
MacFarlane cheekily described the Academy Awards as "a crazy little variety show" and said "all I can do is do what I think is funny and most entertaining."
"The Oscars is a tricky venue," he said. "The (hosts) who have not done well, I would classify them as a noble failure, an honorable failure, because at least they were trying something new... If I can do it without torpedoing my career and getting drummed out of the business... All I can do is my very best."
He paused a beat, and added, "Lame (expletive) answer."
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AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen is on Twitter: www.twitter.com/APSandy.
___
Online:
http://www.facebook.com/TheAcademy/app_436081253118204
Associated Press
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