Grumpy Editor

Pew Research finds cell phone users are a snappy bunch

Forget the phone calls, taking pictures leads the modus operandi by cell phone users, according to a survey by Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, notes Grumpy Editor.

A lofty 82 percent of folks with cell phones utilize the units to snap photos, finds Pew, which also tallies 85 percent of American adults own the wireless devices.

"Cell phones have become a portal for an ever-growing list of activities," researchers point out.

 

Cell phone use to access the Internet has more than doubled since 2009, they add.

Aside from phone calls, here are activities of cell phone users, as compiled in the Pew survey:

Percent       Used for

82         Picture taking

80         Sending or receiving text messages

56         Accessing the Internet

50         Sending or receiving email

44         Recording video

43         Downloading apps

31          Searching for health or medical information online

29         Checking bank account activity/online banking

NBC bags $1 billion in Olympic Games TV/digital ad sales

With the Olympic Games from London officially getting under way tomorrow, NBC will be live-streaming every competition --- 3,500 hours, 302 events in 32 sports --- on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Olympics app for mobile devices and tablets, notes Grumpy Editor. 

That’s a major tech change from the 2008 Olympics. 

It’ll be difficult not to spot an Olympics event on television. 

NBC is calling in all the troops for full coverage. 

The NBC Network, MSNBC, CNBC, NBC Sports Network, Bravo and Telemundo plus two specialty channels will be on scene. 

Along with that giant effort, NBCUniversal, now controlled by Comcast Corp., has sold more than $1 billion in national television and digital advertising linked to the Olympics. 

That’s $150 million more than the 2008 Olympics coverage from Beijing. 

Yet, the event is expected to be a money loser for NBCUniversal.

The Los Angeles Times today points out NBCUniversal nearly a decade ago agreed to pay $1.18 billion for television rights to the London games.

 NBCUniversal, it adds, is spending at least $100 million for staffing (with nearly 3,400 people working on Olympics coverage) and equipment to televise the events. 

 

Marines urinating on militants' bodies stirs media, D.C.

The video, making the rounds yesterday showing four combat-equipped U.S. Marines urinating on three dead Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, triggered much broadcast and print coverage along with immediate condemnations from the Obama administration and some Pentagon brass --- but “shocked” media, some military and politicians overlooked a main element, reminds Grumpy Editor. 

Unlike wars of the past, U.S. military forces in Afghanistan are in contact with terrorists who are not part of an organized army.

The deceased enemy fighters were not part of a regular army.  The hostiles did not wear uniforms, held no rank, wore no stripes or bars or stars or other military insignia, did not possess serial numbers or “dog tags,” and didn’t report to captains, majors, colonels or generals.

Some in Washington and others also have forgotten military history.  U.S. Marines during World War II on Iwo Jima, for example, used flamethrowers to flush out and kill uniformed enemy troops in a declared war.

Media and Washington did not frown on that action.

Negative reaction to the videoed Afghanistan incident illustrated “the cowardly world we live in,” stated coast-to-coast talk show host Michael Savage yesterday, in questioning why Washington was not supporting the Marines.

Some callers --- including former military personnel --- to Savage’s program said the Marines should be given medals rather than face talk of harsh legal action.

The Marine Corps issued a statement immediately after learning of the video, saying a full investigation was under way.

The New York Times reported Pentagon officials said the video was made between last March and September when a Marine battalion was deployed to Helmand Province, a strategic Taliban heartland and a center of the opium poppy trade.

Officials said the video likely was made in the northern part of the province where the battalion had operated, The Times said, adding “seven out of some 1,000 Marines in the battalion were killed during the seven-month deployment.”

 

Air New Zealand ‘happy’ pre-flight video gains attention

With airline passengers fretting a bit more these days in the wake of Southwest Airlines’ problem Friday with a 737 fuselage rupture, one gets the feeling of happier flight times ahead after viewing Air New Zealand’s pre-flight safety video, observes Grumpy Editor.

It's entertaining as well as educational, especially for first-time air passengers.

With a disco feel, fitness legend Richard Simmons leads a happy crowd of energetic dancers in an aircraft.

To viewers/passengers Simmons announces, “In the next three minutes we’re going to work hard, work out and get you fit to fly.”

Various safety steps range from stretching to store luggage in an overhead locker or under a seat to buckling seat belts.

It’s the most-viewed YouTube in New Zealand and Australia where Air New Zealand is a household name.

View it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iaTEgoezNQ

Meanwhile, with Southwest Airlines, more inspections of its Boeing 737-300 fleet continue after cracks were found in several jets following one in which part of the skin ripped away at 36,000 feet.

No happy video with that incident, however.