Morning Media Summary
Tech:
New Privacy Laws in India and China Could Make IT Outsourcing Ugly:
“Think privacy issues are a pain when they affect consumers? Get ready for the grandfather of all corporate computing headaches. Big privacy-law changes in India and China are about to turn data-processing outsourcing into a hurdle-leaping, paperwork-generating mess.”
How Drudge Has Stayed on Top:
“For most big news Web sites, about 60 percent of the traffic is homegrown, people who come directly to the site by dint of a bookmark or typing in www.latimes.com or www.huffingtonpost.com. The other critical 40 percent comes by referrals, the links that are the source of drive-by traffic, new readers and heat-seekers on a particular story.”
Google’s Eric Schmidt: Smartphones Should ‘Remember Everything’ (Video):
“Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt sat down on Sunday with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria for a segment on “Fareed Zakaria GPS” to talk innovation, Android tablets versus Apple’s iPad, and the future of technology.”
Global Warming / Environment / Energy:
A warm welcome in Brussels:
“The solar plane HB-SIA arrived last night at 21:39 in Brussels and the team’s first european flight is a great success.”
Insurance / Gambling:
SD: Deadwood casino group may seek changes in law:
“Rather than fight the addition of games resembling slot machines in video lottery establishments across the state, the organization representing casinos in Deadwood may explore ways to expand and enhance their own games, the group’s president said Wednesday.”
Health / Safety:
FoodPolitik: Food activists’ circular firing squads:
“Washington is full of self-interested political characters, and it’s always amusing to watch ambitious schemers with common enemies harm each other instead. Inside the beltway, this is called a “circular firing squad.””
HHS approves 200 more new healthcare reform waivers:
“The Obama administration approved 204 new waivers to Democrats’ healthcare reform law over the past month, bringing the total to 1,372.”
Scientists find “master switch” gene for obesity:
“Scientists have found that a gene linked to diabetes and cholesterol is a “master switch” that controls other genes found in fat in the body, and say it should help in the search for treatments for obesity-related diseases.”
Economics:
Geithner Predicts Double-Dip if Congress Fails to Lift Debt Ceiling:
“Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said if Congress fails to lift the debt ceiling and the U.S. defaults on its obligations “this abrupt contraction would likely push us into a double dip recession,” painting the most explicitly dire prediction to date of the consequences of inaction.”
Legal:
The Strauss-Kahn Charges:
“The arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn on charges of sexually assaulting a hotel cleaning woman in New York City is a personal humiliation for the French politician, but it is also a black mark on the International Monetary Fund that chose to overlook his previous sexual behavior. It will be fascinating to see how the grandees of French and international financial politics handle this one.”
Labor:
Actor joins in union rally:
“Actor Danny Glover joined workers Saturday at a rally in East Stroudsburg, where members of the Service Employees International Union have been battling to keep Pocono Medical Center an open union shop.”
Transportation/ Land Use:
California’s high-speed train wreck:
“California’s much-vaunted high-speed rail project is, to put it bluntly, a train wreck. Intended to demonstrate the state’s commitment to sustainable, cutting-edge transportation systems, and to show that the U.S. can build rail networks as sophisticated as those in Europe and Asia, it is instead a monument to the ways poor planning, mismanagement and political interference can screw up major public works. For anti-government conservatives, it is also a powerful argument for scrapping President Obama’s national rail plans, rescinding federal funding and canceling the project before any more money is wasted on it.”