Mediagazer: Simple.tv to launch its DVR for cord cutters in Europe in early 2014 (Janko Roettgers/Gigaom)

3:50 PM ET, December 12, 2013

Top News:

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:

Martha Stewart to ax 100 staffers — The June 2011 issue of Martha Stewart Living — Merry Christmas — you're fired! — Slumping Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia is expected to fire up to 100 people on Thursday, in a massive downsizing that is expected to hit the flagship magazine particularly hard.

Discussion: FOLIO, Adweek, USA Today, AdAge, Poynter, FishbowlNY, @mike_rondon, @alexweprin, @norabarak and New York Magazine

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

Aereo Won't Oppose Supreme Court Battle — The digital streaming company responds to broadcasters' attempts to interest the high court in a battle that could reshape the TV industry. — In papers filed at the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday, Aereo says it is ready for the high court to review its legality.

Discussion: TechCrunch, Variety and @eriqgardner

Dan Levine / Reuters:

Cablevision says broadcasters overreaching in Aereo case — Cablevision Systems Corp said on Thursday that broadcast networks are seeking a “radical” legal ruling that would spell trouble for cloud-based content services and threaten Cablevision's ability to offer DVR recording to its customers.

Discussion: Broadcasting & Cable, Variety, Consumerist and Engadget

Hamish McKenzie / PandoDaily:
The new television: How is NimbleTV different from Aereo?

Discussion: CNET and Ars Technica

Alexis C. Madrigal / The Atlantic Online:

2013: The Year ‘the Stream’ Crested — The Stream is fun and fast, but don't you miss the sense of an ending? — The Stream has been the organizing metaphor for the web for the past several years. In May 2009, a high-ranking editor of TechCrunch identified and summarized this grand shift …

Discussion: @ezraklein, @grahamdavida, @wfrick, @biglittlethings, @sameier12, @nytimesbits, @doingitwrong, @ayjay, @julesdwit, @alexismadrigal, @coryhaik, @mariemorelli and @dkiesow

James Bennet / The Atlantic Online:

Writers need a better term for “long-form”, which no longer signals quality — Against ‘Long-Form Journalism’ — I have had it with long-form journalism. By which I mean—don't get me wrong—I'm fed up with the term long-form itself, a label that the people who create …

Discussion: @paulvieira and @barryap1

Yoree Koh / Digits:

Twitter MoPub Opens Up Native Advertising — Twitter pulled the covers back on how it plans to make money off mobile apps besides its own. The strategy: take its native advertising playbook to the wider mobile world. — MoPub - a Twitter-owned mobile-advertising exchange …

Discussion: MoPub, TechCrunch, Adweek, MediaPost, Bloomberg, @scottthurm, blog.twitter.com and Venture Capital Dispatch

Marisa Guthrie / Hollywood Reporter:

Ann Curry's Options Dwindle as $12 Million NBC News Contract Nears Window — UPDATED: The former “Today” host is testing the waters as her NBC deal ends, but a high-profile gig at a place like Al Jazeera could prove elusive. — What will Ann Curry do next?

Discussion: TVNewser, FishbowlNY, @brianstelter and The Huffington Post

Janko Roettgers / Gigaom:

Simple.tv to launch its DVR for cord cutters in Europe in early 2014 — Bay Area-based digital video startup Simple.tv is looking to launch its DVR for cord cutters in the U.K. in March of 2014, and target continental Europe soon after. Simple.tv CEO Mark Ely told me during an interview Wednesday …

Sam Kirkland / Poynter:

Do mobile-friendly redesigns run the risk of frustrating desktop users? — Pardon my contrarianism, but I don't do most of my web browsing via mobile on the toilet or in bed yet. I do most of my web browsing on a computer — a machine with a keyboard, mouse and no multi-touch display.

Discussion: @mattwaite, @laurenrabaino, @mattwaite, @a_l and @albertocairo

Allan Kozinn / New York Times:

European Copyright Laws Lead to Rare Music Releases — Thanks to a provision in the European Union's new copyright law, fans of some musicians who made recordings in the 1960s are likely to be treated, for the foreseeable future, to annual batches of previously unissued material.

Discussion: Plagiarism Today, @stevemarinucci and @davidhepworth

Businessweek:

Modern Farmer Combines Serious Coverage With LambCam, Hits Jackpot — As mainstream media outlets struggle to balance a commitment to serious journalism with the public's seemingly insatiable appetite for cute animals, Modern Farmer and ModernFarmer.com are in an enviable position.

Discussion: @jakeswearingen, @bw and @niemanlab

Alastair Reid / Journalism.co.uk:

Infogr.am to launch video creation tool for data visualisations — The team behind a free tool to create infographics revealed a prototype of the new software at LeWeb Paris conference yesterday, with a release planned for the new year — Credit: By Jorge Franganillo on Flickr. Some rights reserved.

Discussion: The Next Web