Mediagazer: Virgin claims to cross final frontier with TV that taps the internet (Richard Rogers/Guardian)

1:15 PM ET, December 5, 2010

Top News:

Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:

Like It or Not, WikiLeaks is a Media Entity — The past week has seen plenty of ink spilled — virtual and otherwise — about WikiLeaks and its mercurial front-man, Julian Assange, and the pressure they have come under from the U.S. government and companies such as Amazon and PayPal …

Discussion: Mediaite, Jay Rosen, The Huffington Post, The Wire, Bloomberg, New York Times, FP Passport, broadstuff, Gothamist, Scripting News, Salon, Newsroom Law Blog and News: News blog, Thanks:hblodget

Arthur S. Brisbane / New York Times:

What if the Secrets Stayed Secret? — I READ the Monday New York Times with what can only be described as a sinking feeling. — Here on display, based on yet another WikiLeaks release, was the breathtaking disclosure of American diplomats' highly sensitive internal communications about friends and enemies.

Discussion: Mediaite, CJR, CNBC and Gothamist

Misha Glenny / T Magazine:

The Gift of Information — Julian Assange and WikiLeaks have been jettisoned to fame or notoriety (choose your noun, please) not because of a passing political battle but for reasons much deeper: the desire to possess, distribute and devour information. Ever since the release in July …

Peter Preston / Guardian:

Richard Branson's Project app launched without a lifeboat — The Virgin boss says his iPad magazine will have to sink or swim on its own merits - at a time when some venerable web publications are sinking — Richard Branson is a master of publicity (including self-publicity).

Richard Rogers / Guardian:

Virgin claims to cross final frontier with TV that taps the internet — Richard Branson unveils set-top box that puts him a terabyte ahead in online television race — Every few years comes a development in the technology that brings moving pictures into our homes invariably accompanied …

Andy Plesser / Beet.TV:

Yahoo's Big Video Plans: New Business Show, Scripted Entertainment and News Verticals — NEW YORK — Yahoo will significantly increase its original video offering in 2011 with a new business show on Yahoo Finance, scripted entertainment programming and with news video in a number of vertical areas …

Discussion: AdPulp and SAI

Alan English / The Augusta Chronicle:

Chronicle is launching subscriptions for digital access — Free for a limited time. — Digital access to The Augusta Chronicle's news stories - also available in a nifty iPad format in the coming weeks - is moving from being completely free to a subscription-based model.

Discussion: paidContent, WebNewser, Poynter and Mixed Media

Will Richmond / VideoNuze:

With Widevine Acquisition, Google is Poised to Go Hollywood — Just as the week is wrapping up, Google has announced its acquisition of Widevine, a provider of digital content protection and video optimization technologies. Widevine was a private company that had raised over $50 million to date.

Discussion: MediaPost and TechCrunch

James Rainey / Los Angeles Times:

On the Media: Is Perez Hilton's conversion for real? — Only time will tell if the snarky blogger, who built a career by being mean-spirited, is a changed man. — There he was on national television, the self-styled “Queen of Mean.” Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton sat bolt upright in an almost-conservative jacket and tie.

Discussion: The Big Picture

Rick Edmonds / Poynter Online:

Mary Meeker's math: Old media captures $50 billion in advertising that should go to Internet — Besides Veterans' Day, Thanksgiving and Black Friday, I mark November as the occasion for analyst Mary Meeker's voluminous and always provocative report on the state of the Internet.

Beet.TV:

Roku Readies Pay-Per-View System for Small Publishers — While Netflix, the MLB.com and Amazon have sophisticated payment systems in place on the Roku platform, smaller publishers have few options to generate subscription or pay-per-view payments. — Beginning early next year …

Discussion: GigaOM

Dylan Stableford / The Wrap:

Viacom Files Appeal in $1B Copyright Suit Against Google, YouTube — As promised, Viacom filed an appeal in its $1 billion copyright case against Google and YouTube on Friday, asking a federal appeals court in New York on Friday to reverse a lower court's decision that sided with the search giant.

Discussion: Company Town, Multichannel, paidContent, MediaPost and Inside TV

Virginia Heffernan / New York Times:

Music by Numbers — In 1997, when Garry Kasparov, the great Russian chess champion, resigned the sixth and final game of his match with Deep Blue, the I.B.M. computer, he crumpled. He couldn't conceal his despair. No opponent had ever beaten him in a match before, and this one didn't even have a heartbeat.

via:gillianmae