#sugarstring

Journalism, Independent and Not

Last week, I read an interesting article about how smart hardware can allow users to browse anonymously and thus foil snooping from governments. I found it on what looked like a nifty new technology site called SugarString.

Oddly enough, while the article mentioned the need for privacy for folks like Chinese dissidents, it didn’t address the fact that Americans might want the same kind of protection.

There’s a reason for that, although not a very savory one. At the bottom of the piece, there was a graphic saying “Presented by Verizon” followed by some teeny type that said “This article was written by an author contracted by Verizon.”

As the DailyDot pointed out last Tuesday, Verizon not only backs the site, but also sets its coverage agenda.

¿Podrán mantener su #IndependenciaEditorial las propiedades de medios de #AOL? - #latism #Internet #Verizon

No fue hace tanto tiempo cuando Verizon intentó entrar en el mundo de los contenidos periodísticos digitales (incluyendo video) con Sugarstring.com a finales del año pasado pero no pudo; el sitio tenía prohibiciones sobre ciertos temas como la neutralidad de red (Verizon ha estado en contra de ella). Entonces, ¿qué va a hacer Verizon con las propiedadades de medios de AOL si su compra de US$…

Name: Josh

Time and Date of Exact Moment: 11:14 PM and it’s March 31, 2015

Last Thing I Googled: Mo Henry the negative cutter

Nickname: The Elephant Man, and on a totally unrelated note a lot of people call me Dad.

Gender: Genderfluid DMAB

Sexual Orientation: Pansexual mostly hetero-romantic

Height: 5’5″

Favorite Color: Black or Red

One Place That Makes You Happy: The Jackson County, NC airstrip parking lot (where there is just about no light pollution and you can see a gazillion stars)

What are you wearing: Black jeans, black socks, grey shirt,

Last Book You Read: Last book i read from was the DSM-V, last book I finished was when i reread Vonnegut’s “Welcome to the monkey house” collection of shoort stories.

I tag:Helene-dion, originalmcpotato, her-feet-wake-the-flowers

thar's a noo artikle ha dunben wrote uhn www.giterdonenews.com calt

Verizon’s New Tech News Site Has A Strange Name And An Even Stranger Rule: No Reporting On Net Neutrality Or US Surveillance

New Post has been published on http://www.brianbrown.net/2014/10/28/verizons-new-tech-news-site-has-a-strange-name-and-an-even-stranger-rule-no-reporting-on-net-neutrality-or-us-surveillance/

Verizon’s New Tech News Site Has A Strange Name And An Even Stranger Rule: No Reporting On Net Neutrality Or US Surveillance

Verizon WirelessVerizon’s new tech news site is stranger than its old ad. See Also

Verizon Wireless has recently launched its own tech news site called SugarString. From the looks of the site, it’s pretty clear that SugarString is still in its early days. The oldest story was published just 12 days ago, and its layout seems to be in beta.  With backing from the largest US telecommunications provider — its parent company, Verizon Communications, did $120 billion in sales last year — there’s no question SugarString could one day become a major player in the tech news space. Its “About” page, in fact, shows its ambition to become the new next thing, stating, “SugarString publishes thoughtful tech-focused stories that track humanity’s climb towards the new next.” But whatever those “thoughtful tech-focused stories” might be, one thing is clear: SugarString won’t be covering any news related to net neutrality or US surveillance issues. According to The Daily Dot’s Patrick Howell O’Neill, SugarString writers are banned from writing about any of those topics. O’Neill says he discovered the rules last week after receiving a recruiting email from its Editor in Chief Cole Stryker. O’Neill declined the offer, as did some other reporters who spoke to him about it. “Other reporters, who asked not to be named, have confirmed that they have received the same recruiting pitch with the same rules: No articles about surveillance or net neutrality,” O’Neill says. It’s not too hard to figure out why Verizon is so vehemently denying any coverage of two of the most important and controversial issues in today’s tech.  Verizon is one of the strongest opponents of net neutrality, the idea of keeping the internet equal and not charging differently by the user or site. It’s also one of the companies that Edward Snowden mentioned as being part of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) government surveillance program.  To be fair, O’Neill says SugarString writers are allowed to write about non-US related surveillance issues, like the Chinese government’s spying programs. Still, it’s hard to see anyone taking SugarString seriously without balanced coverage on such a sensitive issue. We’ve reached out to Verizon for comment and will update when we hear back.

Link to this story: 

thar's a noo artikle ha dunben wrote uhn www.giterdonenews.com calt

Verizon’s New Tech News Site Has A Strange Name And An Even Stranger Rule: No Reporting On Net Neutrality Or US Surveillance

Whoa, just realised we were blogged about some weeks ago on SugarString.

This part was a nice original bit of writing, summing up why the idea of libraries in games can be interesting:

These folks are interested in how different digital artists have portrayed a setting that would otherwise be ignored. There’s not a lot of action happening in video game libraries, as compared to dungeons, lava pits, starships, or other typical video game settings. They’re usually used as places to relax or learn some arcane trivia within the game.

So, it’s interesting to see designers put a lot of thought into library design, even though they aren’t typically the most memorable places in a game. Focusing on libraries is admittedly a fascinating glimpse into something that would otherwise be an afterthought.

I think that there are libraries that aren’t just afterthoughts, and it’s a pleasure to come across them and to share them!

The last part of the article, linking to other similar blogs, was totally a copy & paste job, though. But thanks for featuring us!