Media

The lovely thing about advertising is that most of it is forgettable.

Which makes the task of remembering the very good and the very bad at the end of the year much, much easier.

The best, most certainly, is barely even a contest. As the spittle flew in court between Apple and Samsung, the latter had some very clever ad people produce ads that, at last, began not only to improve Samsung's own image, but also to dent Apple's.

Indeed, from the Super Bowl onward, Samsung relentlessly pressed Apple on its cultism, its allegedly sheep-like following and its, … Read more

In the aftermath of the tragedy in Newtown, outrage is turning into political and social action. In a "Demand a Plan" ad in The New York Times, a number of technology industry executives and other leaders called on President Obama and Congress to come up with a plan to end gun violence.

In a blog post, one of the signatories of the ad, venture capitalist Fred Wilson, wrote that tech industry leaders are working to mount a "sustained social media and regular media campaign to pressure our leaders to do something about the gun safety problem in … Read more

Sometimes it's what you say. Sometimes it's how you say it.

What really matters is that what you said captured a moment, crystallized a trend, got under the skin, or tickled a funny bone. For present purposes, it all adds up to the best quotes of the year, from across the tech sector.

The year 2012 brought us the futuristic Google Glass and an irate Ira Glass, messed-up maps and a picture-perfect Mars mission, Windows 8 and Apple-Samsung hate. All that and more are captured below in a few well-chosen words. You'll be pleased to note, we … Read more

As "Start-Ups: Silicon Valley" staggers toward an uncertain future, it's easy to wonder that the protagonists are in a similar position.

This evening's penultimate episode began with lots of dynamic speak from these partying entrepreneurs. There was talk of the coding/entrepreneurship axis, which sounds like a very dangerous alliance indeed.

But, within seconds, we had David (gay, relatively sane) visit Sarah (blonde lifecaster) in order to find out what had happened in the last episode.

No, he clearly hadn't watched it. So here he learned that Sarah had a fight with Hermione (Brit, blonde, … Read more

The backlash over announced changes to Instagram's terms of service has led National Geographic to suspend its posting activity on the photo-sharing app.

The Facebook-owned app ignited a storm of protest with the announcement earlier this week that it was claiming perpetual rights to sell users' photographs without payment or notification. Under the new policy, Facebook claimed the perpetual right to license all public Instagram photos to companies or any other organization, including for advertising purposes, effectively transforming the Web site into the world's largest stock photo agency.

National Geographic, a magazine long respected for presenting high-quality photographs … Read more

It's been a hellish year.

I have experienced more disappointments than Kate Middleton in a Motel 6. I have even been told by a gnome that everything in the garden wasn't rosy.

But I never thought it would come to this: I heard a rumor that Bravo TV was going to cancel "Start-Ups: Silicon Valley."

Should your obsession with gazelle documentaries have kept you away from this opus, it involves six supposed tech entrepreneurs who go to a lot of parties and occasionally kiss each other and dance around with strap-ons.

Yes, all while trying to … Read more

Penguin has become the latest book publisher to settle federal charges of e-book price-fixing, leaving only Apple and Macmillan to fight the Justice Department allegations.

In an antitrust lawsuit filed in April, federal prosecutors accused Apple and five book publishers of conspiring to artificially hike prices. The same day, the Justice Department announced it had reached settlements with three publishers but said Apple and the other two publishers had opted to fight the charges. Lagardere SCA's Hachette Book Group, News Corp.'s HarperCollins Publishers, and Simon & Schuster (owned by CBS, which publishes CNET) agreed to settle.

Penguin added … Read more

This story will move only those who have a heart.

The remainder -- well, perhaps they man the judicial system in Cameroon.

Jean-Claude Roger Mbede, 32, wanted to express his love by text. He sent this: "I am very much in love with you."

The only problem is that Mbede lives in Cameroon. There, as the Associated Press reports, homosexual conduct is illegal. And Mbede sent the text to another man.

The police arrested him on suspicion of homosexuality. His phone, to them, confirmed it.

So he was sent to jail for three years in 2011.

Reason appeared … Read more

Indie hardware hacker and engineer Limor "Ladyada" Fried was named today as Entrepreneur Magazine's Entrepreneur of the Year.

The founder of Adafruit Industries was chosen among thousands of nominations the magazine received. She was the only female finalist when the nominations were whittled down to five for the main category in the early fall.

Fried's company has humble beginnings and has grown into a sprawling educational resource and one-stop shop for electronics hobbyists, do-it-yourselfers, and experienced hackers alike. Remarkably, in a highly competitive marketplace where businesses closely guard code, schematics, and most everything they can, Adafruit … Read more