Mediagazer: Four years in the making, Vdio finally opens up to Rdio subscribers in the US and UK (Janko Roettgers/GigaOM)

4:50 PM ET, April 3, 2013

Top News:

A Leave of Presence — Thank you. Forty-six years ago on April 3, 1967, I became the film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times. Some of you have read my reviews and columns and even written to me since that time. Others were introduced to my film criticism through the television show …

Mark Caro / Chicago Tribune:

Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert cuts workload after cancer recurrence — Roger Ebert announced late Tuesday night that he is stepping back from some duties as the Chicago Sun-Times' film critic after a recurrence of cancer. — Calling the move a “leave of presence,” Ebert wrote on his online journal …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Daily Mail and JIMROMENESKO.COM

Bill Carter / New York Times:

Leno Blesses ‘Tonight Show’ Succession Plan — “The Tonight Show” will begin a new era in February when Jimmy Fallon succeeds Jay Leno as host of the most storied and successful program in late-night television. — NBC plans to announce on Wednesday its plan to install Mr. Fallon …

Emily Yahr / Washington Post: It's official: Jimmy Fallon to replace Jay Leno on ‘The Tonight Show’

Electronic Frontier Foundation:

Are You A Teenager Who Reads News Online? According to the Justice Department, You May Be a Criminal — During his first term, President Barack Obama declared October 2009 to be “National Information Literacy Awareness Month,” emphasizing that, for students, learning to navigate the online world …

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM

Philip Bump / The Atlantic Wire: It's a Crime for 12-Year-Olds to Read The New York Times Online

Mike Isaac / AllThingsD:

With New Weather Channel Deal, Twitter Aims to Make It Rain for Brands — Forecast: Cloudy, with a chance of promoted tweets. — Aiming to attract more big-brand ad dollars, Twitter and the Weather Company have a new deal to create custom content around weather-related Twitter activity.

Discussion: Mashable

Dara Kerr / CNET:
Twitter adds more ‘Cards’ for app and photo gallery embeds

Discussion: Twitter Developers, GigaOM, TechCrunch, 9to5Google, memeburn, Mashable, VatorNews, Digits, SlashGear, The Slanted, GigaOM, Engadget and The Verge

Jamal Osman / The Daily Beast:

Fake Somali Pirates Scam Western Journalists — Time magazine, Danish filmmakers among the outlets apparently fooled by Kenyan actors pretending to be Somali pirates. … The story begins in the slums of Eastleigh, a sprawling suburb of Nairobi in Kenya and home to a huge Somali community.

Discussion: Channel 4, @anonomia, @robcrilly, @_shamkk, @jeffjohnroberts, @jamalmosman and @emerbeamer

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Politico Puts Web Show On Hold To Retool As Washington Post Staffs Up Video — Politico has quietly placed its thrice-weekly web show “Politico Live” on hold while retooling the format, perhaps to a weekly show featuring its marquee writers, according to newsroom sources.

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Times Internet Is Bringing Business Insider To India, Adding To Its Gawker Media Partnership — Today, Times Internet, the digital arm of Times of India, is announcing a strategic partnership with Business Insider, the online business news site founded by Henry Blodget, for the launch of Business Insider India.

Discussion: MediaNama and Poynter

Leslie Meredith / TechNewsDaily:

Instagram and Vine Shake Up News Industry — News as we know it is poised to change, and it's in the hands of smartphone users. — On March 31, the New York Times ran a photo of New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez taken by sports photographer Nick Laham — on his iPhone and edited in Instagram.

Discussion: 10,000 Words

Reuters:

Google to sell second-gen Nexus 7 tablet from July: sources — (Reuters) - Google Inc will launch a new version of its Nexus 7 tablet powered by Qualcomm Inc's Snapdragon processor around July, two sources told Reuters, as the software giant pushes deeper into the cut-price mobile hardware market.

Discussion: TechCrunch, AppleInsider, GigaOM, BGR, Droid Life, CNET, TechSpot, ZDNet, Unwired View, HEXUS.net Latest Content, VentureBeat, Pocket-lint, 9to5Google, Ubergizmo, WebProNews, Electronista, The Verge, Engadget, The Next Web and Mashable

Janko Roettgers / GigaOM:

Four years in the making, Vdio finally opens up to Rdio subscribers in the US and UK — Vdio, the premium video service founded by Skype co-founder Janus Friis, emerged from private beta Tuesday night with an offering that looks more like Vudu or iTunes than Netflix.

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, VentureBeat, Fast Company, Home Media Magazine, CNET, TechCrunch, MacRumors, TechSpot, Pocket-lint, Engadget, The Next Web, Mashable, @christinachaey and The Verge

Editors Weblog:

Australian startup Newsmodo allows freelancers to name price for their reporting — After more than a decade-long career, Australian broadcast journalist Rakhal Ebeli realized his responsibilities had changed. He was no longer only chasing his own stories but also collecting those of others.

Michael Wolff / Guardian:

This tipping-point for paywalls does not fix newspapers' larger crisis — Not even the smartest metered model can make up for paltry digital ad revenues and a failure to recruit younger readers — To the surprise of many digital evangelizers and old-media doubters, newspaper paywalls turn out to work.

Discussion: Felix Salmon

Ken Doctor / Nieman Journalism Lab:

The newsonomics of the Orange County Register's contrarian paywall — Get your hot dogs. Get your beer. Get your newspaper. Step right up. — As Opening Day comes to the Big A in Anaheim on Tuesday, you can now expect to hear that barker's call in Orange County.

Discussion: paidContent

Mathew Ingram / paidContent:
The Orange County Register's new owners want to reinvent newspapers from the ground up

Discussion: GigaOM, Kirk LaPointe's … and eMedia Vitals, Thanks:@mathewi

Sarah Kessler / Fast Company:

A Personalized News App At Its Simplest: No Articles, Just Data — INSTEAD OF TRACKING HEADLINES, NUMBEEZ TRACKS NUMBERS. HERE'S WHY THAT MIGHT NOT BE AS ABSURD AS IT SOUNDS. — When Mark Zuckerberg says he wants to build a “personalized newspaper,” he's talking about photos, conversations between friends, music and news articles.

Brent Lang / The Wrap:

Netflix's ‘House of Cards’ Getting DVD, Blu-ray Release — “House of Cards” may be upending the way viewers watch television by releasing all of its episodes in one binge-friendly gulp, but Netflix's series will have a rather conventional afterlife. — The glossy, 13-episode political thriller …

Discussion: Cinema Blend Television, Home Media Magazine, Pocket-lint and The Verge

Tom McGeveran / Capital New York:

Extra! Print newspaper reports politicians' arrest before it happens — Arrested: Independent Democrat Malcolm Smith, Republicans Dan Halloran, Jay Savino and Vince Tabone — In the predawn hours of this morning, as the yellow trucks carrying today's editions of the New York Post …

Discussion: Daily Download, Capital New York, Politicker and New York Post

Josh Luger / Business Insider:

Inside Andrew Sullivan's Attempt To Turn The Digital Media Business Model On Its Head — This January, noted blogger Andrew Sullivan left his perch at The Daily Beast to embark upon a highly visible and seemingly risky enterprise. He took his blog, The Dish, independent and decided …

Discussion: The Dish