A Writer's Guide to Fiction (Writer's Compass)

Elizabeth Lyon

	A Writer's Guide to Fiction (Writer's Compass)
	Published: 01 June, 2004
	Our price: List price: As of: August 08th, 2008 09:28:20 PM
	Author: Elizabeth Lyon

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A Writer's Guide to Fiction (Writer's Compass)

Movie Theaters Stave Off Extinction

A new study suggests people won't go to the movies as often in the event of a recession. Still, this summer is shaping up to be the second consecutive record-breaking summer at the box office -- what gives? Apparently, it takes more than an economic downturn to stop people from going to the movies -- it takes box office bombs.<br style="clear: both;"/> <a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v2:abe029f4cc0439f12b1b881cc39482cc:tIARVgRJiXqwNhqILrYjBjY53CBbWY4XzOkUjwt3cBUT1dkK8M%2F%2FSYZi0661aMhrDn5ZBNMU1%2Fb4qAi80PTQZ7PgA0Vzv5xVLptx943Dgco%3D'><img border='0' title='Add to Reddit' alt='Add to Reddit' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/reddit.png'/></a> <a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v2:50673bd2460f80c8eabfae17b9664a14:KmD6qJCV4xCci7luP4wxw%2Bg3%2Bc5Qc3fTuQHSO5OSZDtWtycSC5HFpIsTSbgKrbdjzjOZUlGVCgOC5a7%2BZI33SBbEY4ZgXI7WusIF2iPrrb4%3D'><img border='0' title='Add to Yahoo My Web' alt='Add to Yahoo My Web' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/yahoo.png'/></a> <a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v2:b591252ee2ea23eb453def5e2380dc18:VpXxqhb29ADKvbwQtqHFDm89iUTAhoUSLZiUykzu0K977XpRWMN1LkVc%2FFuPdmj8e9pRbXi4YmXv6uBouHp26nMqPEXpemF7aD%2B7GheJbtQ%3D'><img border='0' title='Add to Google' alt='Add to Google' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/google.png'/></a> <br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=23046e6074d994291d13bae9ba9e75e3" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=23046e6074d994291d13bae9ba9e75e3" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=FiHDEK"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=FiHDEK" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=3yoIxk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=3yoIxk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=MU1pwk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=MU1pwk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=KF2ycK"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=KF2ycK" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/wired/techbiz/~4/358793204" height="1" width="1"/>

Doing Something About the Weather, Financially at Least

<div class="content_sharing"> <strong>News from Portfolio.com</strong><br/> <a href="http://www.portfolio.com/?TID=wiredpartner"><img src="http://www.wired.com/images/article/full/2008/03/logo_portfolio.jpg" class="portfolio_img"></a><br clear="all"/> <div class="content_sharing_txt"> <p><strong>Also on Portfolio</strong></p>  <p><a href="http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/top-5/2008/08/06/Time-Warner-Earnings/?TID=wiredpartner"> Good Show by Time Warner, but AOL Drags</a></p>  <p><a href="http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/daily-brief/2008/08/06/money-talks-on-this-phone/?TID=wiredpartner"> Money Talks on This iPhone</a></p>  <p><a href="http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/the-hollywood-deal/2008/08/06/can-ben-stiller-cap-off-paramounts-summer/?TID=wiredpartner"> Can Ben Stiller Cap Off Paramount's Summer?</a></p> </div> <div class="content_sharing_sub"><a href="https://w1.buysub.com/pubs/N3/FOL/self_fol_control_TVL.jsp?cds_page_id=39267&cds_mag_code=FOL&id=1205777661443&lsid=80771311187037701&vid=2&cds_response_key=I8CNAAA9&cds_mag_code=FOL">Subscribe to Portfolio magazine</a></div> </div> <p>In past years, Pete Fisch used to cross his fingers, hoping it wouldn't rain during the annual golf tournament he manages in North Carolina. In 2005, it poured, costing the tournament tens of thousands of dollars in reduced ticket and concession sales. In 2006, the rain gods held off—and then last year, Fisch simply sat back and let come what may.</p> <p>That's because a new online service called WeatherBill enabled him to purchase a contract that paid off in case of heavy rain—hedging away his exposure to the weather.</p> <p>As it turned out, it did rain heavily last year. Fisch's tournament received a payout of close to $15,000 from WeatherBill. "We still took a loss of around $25,000 to $35,000, but it's better than the $50,000 we would have lost," Fisch says.</p> <p>As businesses <a href="http://www.portfolio.com/interactive-features/2008/08/Stormy-Weather">contemplate losing massive amounts of money</a> from events like droughts and hurricanes, WeatherBill hopes to carve out a market in the growing field of weather-related risk-management products, offering what are essentially weather futures contracts to companies with an internet-era twist. The contracts pay off automatically without any kind of claims process based on objective weather measurements like the inches of rain a given area receives.</p> <p>The company is the brainchild of David Friedberg, who had previously been the business product manager for Google's AdWords and a founding member of the company's corporate-development group, where he led the search giant's acquisitions of companies like Picasa, Urchin Software, and dMarc. Friedberg left Google to launch WeatherBill in 2006.</p> <p>The potential market for weather coverage is huge, since as much as 70 percent of American businesses are impacted by weather in some way. While the risks for companies like agricultural firms are obvious, businesses from movie theaters—which see ticket sales slump on sunny days—to transportation companies and clothing manufacturers are affected by the weather. It's estimated that $2 trillion to $3 trillion of the United States' nearly $14 trillion G.D.P. is weather-sensitive.</p> <p>Businesses have long bought insurance against weather-related damages; more recently, they have been able to buy weather futures contracts on exchanges like the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, but the offerings are largely linked to temperature and are unwieldy and expensive for smaller companies.</p> <p>WeatherBill takes a different approach, borrowing from AdWords' sophisticated, real-time auction engine for pricing keywords. Just as AdWords integrates the latest market changes on a continuous basis, the WeatherBill pricing engine correlates up-to-the-minute weather forecasts with trend data to assess a company's overall risk. Then it spits out a price based on all those factors, with all of this happening in a tenth of a second, and contracts can be purchased right up to the last minute since the latest weather information automatically gets incorporated into the pricing engine.</p> <p>"For weather coverage to be useful, you have to customize it," Friedberg says. "It's not like car insurance—you're a male between 20 and 40 in San Francisco, here's your price for car insurance."</p> <p>The end result is that more types of weather contracts are available and more businesses can afford it. When Fisch's golf tournament bought its rain contract in 2007, the cost was just under $1,000, according to Fisch.</p> <p>Like a typical insurance business model, WeatherBill's strategy is to sell against enough weather eventualities so that the events will essentially balance each other out. Insuring a soybean grower in Iowa against drought might be a money loser, for instance. But if the soybean grower is offset by the state's car washes, which do big business in dry weather, the risk is diversified. Not every customer has a precise counterpart, but a large mix of customers creates a diversified portfolio that, in turn, can bring down prices.</p> <p>"Our business has all sides of risk—we've got customers wanting rain, drought, heat waves, frost, no frost. We even have people who want hurricanes," says Friedberg.</p> <p>Since last year's launch, Friedberg says WeatherBill has signed policies with hundreds of customers, hedged hundreds of millions of dollars of risk, and brought in revenue "in the millions." A major deal was struck with Priceline recently, allowing the travel company to insure its users against rain on their vacations for no extra cost. (Priceline will refund the cost of a customer's trip if it rains heavily on more than half the days of their trip.) And the United States Tennis Association has announced it's buying a weather contract to hedge against weather-related losses at this year's U.S. Open, although it hasn't released details.</p> <p>The Commodities Futures Trading Commission, which regulates weather derivatives, currently limits WeatherBill's customers to accredited investors with a minimum net worth of $1 million as a way of limiting the influence of speculators. But Friedberg hopes to persuade the C.F.T.C. to change that requirement soon and eventually offer policies directly to individuals wishing to protect weddings, travel plans, and other events. As with businesses, premiums would shrink as more customers are integrated into the algorithm and the risk is balanced out.</p> <p>And Friedberg says that global warming and the volatile weather of the last few years set the right conditions for his business.</p> <p>"Citrus farmers will call us and say, 'We had four frost events last year. It was nuts. My crop was diminished by 15 to 20 percent,'" Friedberg says. "A lot of ski resorts were shut for much of 2006 and 2007 in the Northeast because it was really warm. They called us the next year. Our customers are definitely aware of climate change and its impact."</p><br style="clear: both;"/> <a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v2:55bf36d326caa713ec06c24ada370ff7:d%2F8VJHci57nZvRExzxB%2BN4DLb%2FnnbBDWGOXbYA90hs9WmEkqk94jiUNS5RIBV8YTcFUPbttk0p3agLY1iLdIyoWaac9YY7EV13Djhcbm5HE%3D'><img border='0' title='Add to Reddit' alt='Add to Reddit' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/reddit.png'/></a> <a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v2:fadca0e238853c0a4d41b82a9be5f2ee:evLLBNP6TsyetCR3FwcB6dy7yRFv26hdY%2BRWePZMcA%2FDX9bcDgPL5qq%2FXQFGOX2Ip5MMNBgGCST1TaHA3iBnobxYtWFFTi%2FE6s0OoJKNDPQ%3D'><img border='0' title='Add to Yahoo My Web' alt='Add to Yahoo My Web' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/yahoo.png'/></a> <a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v2:158c92bfad4cff86a858dfc77ccecb9c:nhEVDf15iPXGBs%2FfPpmRVCn20KyT%2FR03oBGSJND9lKa2dUGKZAM4UUVICsY7yaJ%2FY%2BIfFge%2B0UEr2ItAS1orWTj8%2BBSF4VBpou%2FeQ22HV08%3D'><img border='0' title='Add to Google' alt='Add to Google' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/google.png'/></a> <br style="clear: both;"/> <a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=77867dcabdf16c56b601ea865f77d6c0"><img alt="" style="border: 0;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=77867dcabdf16c56b601ea865f77d6c0"/></a> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=77867dcabdf16c56b601ea865f77d6c0" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=ljwhVK"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=ljwhVK" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=lERKIk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=lERKIk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=eXdcek"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=eXdcek" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=LkdY6K"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=LkdY6K" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/wired/techbiz/~4/358602974" height="1" width="1"/>

Could a Little Indecency Save Network TV?

Network TV's viewer base is dwindling, thanks to fierce competition both from the internet and cable TV. And while the major broadcast networks must comply with the FCC's rigid decency standards, cable channels have healthy ratings thanks to a large supply of racey content.<br style="clear: both;"/> <a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v2:8b5d0495a0dc365b3dd466c75711cbab:Qrs%2F7hG6b2hmDvyWX42%2B%2FkibyoLZ7%2Ffno8ktXz6rTKB0j72%2BC33begSqt8JdCJiScSCpU1g3qoZ9RuckIDZdAtKJIv4VEq%2F5jV6J4m%2ForyY%3D'><img border='0' title='Add to Reddit' alt='Add to Reddit' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/reddit.png'/></a> <a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v2:68c491c1ebb139daef0f325140d6e884:lAQbs7BRqjPb86Mgte428FS6Qyc8XvHi2J28EQhugTKd508VcInm1%2BTJGutQIisvjqUFXqbOvD6%2B6YShZoUfPEMN43axANFzNXt1LD2JU%2Bc%3D'><img border='0' title='Add to Yahoo My Web' alt='Add to Yahoo My Web' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/yahoo.png'/></a> <a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v2:07f9c31a624dd6a5d116e4d5b90549f4:JddKSA4AAdr55GQQG3rfLZeFmaLTx7GFxPhTUE9R6CsjUTbMMiaXEsXQ8T1zyGurwSzeLewl3bRplyIkIz4%2FmZTBsQkhfq0UAZQhBhhyYLs%3D'><img border='0' title='Add to Google' alt='Add to Google' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/google.png'/></a> <br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=07ac3e84253966e3348b9ecd51348ce6" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=07ac3e84253966e3348b9ecd51348ce6" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=52CoYK"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=52CoYK" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=ik6olk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=ik6olk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=Yv6MHk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=Yv6MHk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=9j6HTK"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=9j6HTK" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/wired/techbiz/~4/357795868" height="1" width="1"/>

Revised Yahoo Vote Reveals More Disdain for Board

A revised count of last Friday's Yahoo shareholder vote reveal significantly greater disdain for CEO Jerry Yang and chairman Roy Bostock. The changes show that 200 million votes opposing Yang Bostock and another director, Ron Burkle, were improperly registered as supportive at the company's annual meeting last week. They are still re-elected, however.<br style="clear: both;"/> <a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v2:188f30413da046c644963ebf8b63e673:CTARxiibViuS8ZUZz3zuza2rb%2BrWXjDyOoWiFUKU5XrjFRoamS48jb1lHFDe%2BCWQZzhBzwjNsSpUckrQKCrl3gSdrwsoYN%2B0DpANOiQSDBw%3D'><img border='0' title='Add to Reddit' alt='Add to Reddit' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/reddit.png'/></a> <a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v2:4d486692b5649cd773873d5ee3fb1f47:W1v8G1LiGxdePzpCN0Jcs%2BIy9PskIZsks6x7%2F%2Bs8l9s4sbu54IIeifWcRnP98i2QjJCx2qzcpauKGE1W52%2BRCNhFpOl4cO4nLuJznfMFO%2FA%3D'><img border='0' title='Add to Yahoo My Web' alt='Add to Yahoo My Web' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/yahoo.png'/></a> <a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v2:7e576a62f5eb5835ccae3542c596a5b6:lXbrlYw05WdnMxwHRTLBxbmpA%2BZTHD7WueoHQVckU03XE5nde1fkbgtNZjhuDa5W5C3nzphCB3xCh%2BE%2Fk3MfSchAZgvctglQAmDYw1sKgUg%3D'><img border='0' title='Add to Google' alt='Add to Google' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/google.png'/></a> <br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=fcf79606d0046e53b5a3154af7b3805f" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=fcf79606d0046e53b5a3154af7b3805f" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=HTajGK"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=HTajGK" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=yZtIJk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=yZtIJk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=vqmTFk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=vqmTFk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=MEC7kK"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=MEC7kK" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/wired/techbiz/~4/357483354" height="1" width="1"/>

Time Warner 2Q net drops 26%; AOL Drags, Film and TV Boosts

Time Warner's Q2 falls 26% on declining subscriber fees from AOL lower ad revenue in its publishing division. Revenue rose at its film, cable and networks segments. The company also took legal and tax steps that make it possible to split AOL and sell it in parts.<br style="clear: both;"/> <a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v2:ced66835dc95ddf83f979ee25b614a89:Xg6S%2FA4q6pIt2wSFXu7ipcPSeKeDAVU4McHDT9Mgm6hGvlnD5I%2BeOl%2BabFTJTGepGZAk31w8Gqr58lkcpKmA3gHDGy%2B6jl6QQB4%2FKmi03os%3D'><img border='0' title='Add to Reddit' alt='Add to Reddit' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/reddit.png'/></a> <a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v2:a049d7fa7be67f0ca6c642955490afe2:DkP4IWgJtkn39Qfy370r0moKfOKOQHrhg6FGNJlEMFV%2BZwx3On1fHNApI1slyUXB3HXONRSa9wUZhLN1m8qYhcPqaLhfyIFXZm4YtABucPM%3D'><img border='0' title='Add to Yahoo My Web' alt='Add to Yahoo My Web' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/yahoo.png'/></a> <a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v2:7d505aab46716e662866196c74021944:HSAzRyxxhHFlpHojnYL6oXB0pNLIvnXZtHgVSaLtk9AkLC5%2BBLc7SzYLgN1UGyv0F35Jhd9vIAAYQaYkj8bo9U5xnTbeXOBt2aAXN8XN0XA%3D'><img border='0' title='Add to Google' alt='Add to Google' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/google.png'/></a> <br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=4bed8900ba1d789799cb87d6347d2f05" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=4bed8900ba1d789799cb87d6347d2f05" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=ZtRAGK"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=ZtRAGK" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=Hbafgk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=Hbafgk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=MzTbvk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=MzTbvk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=GSY7BK"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=GSY7BK" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/wired/techbiz/~4/357342144" height="1" width="1"/>

Mr. Know-It-All: Cyberextortion, Your Kid's Cell Phone, Online Degrees

<p><strong>The small company I own was recently contacted by a hacker in the former Soviet Union. He claims to have found a security flaw in our e-commerce site and wants a "consulting fee" of $1,500 for not posting the vulnerability online. What to do?</strong></p> <p>There is no honor among cyberextortionists, so bowing to your tormentor's demands will only cause you grief. If you cough up the cash, what's to stop the scoundrel from publishing the weakness anyway? Or, for that matter, from telling his shady pals about your willingness to play ball? Paying will likely cause the bribe requests to mushroom — today it's one sleazebag asking for $1,500; tomorrow it'll be a dozen demanding 10 grand apiece.</p> <p>The good news is that even if you choose to ignore the threat, your site likely won't be harmed at all. The FBI maintains that the majority of such criminals are bluffers, with no real knowledge of their targets' systems. That assertion is supported by a 2004 Carnegie Mellon University survey that found cyberextortionists made good on just 18 percent of their threats.</p> <p>OK, so that still leaves you with a 1-in-5 chance of catastrophe. If you'd rather not gamble on those odds, hire a private firm to perform a security audit. The process will likely cost more than $1,500, but it should identify any gaping holes (or lack thereof) in your site's defenses.</p> <p>If you decide to report the matter to the authorities, don't expect any miracles: Minor fraudsters from behind the erstwhile Iron Curtain aren't exactly a priority for the Feds. Still, it can't hurt to file a report. Even the tiniest scraps of intelligence can sometimes lead to unexpected busts: The cops caught Son of Sam because of a parking ticket.</p> <p> <strong>My 10-year-old daughter has been begging for a cell phone. Will I make her a social pariah if I don't give in?</strong></p> <p>Kids can be cruel, and your daughter might be razzed at school for being the only fourth grader without a cellie. But if your reluctance is solely due to financial considerations, don't cave. Instead, explain to your daughter the importance of living on a budget and the need to focus on family essentials in lieu of frills. </p> <p>But if you're rebuffing your daughter's pleas only on principle, some personal reflection is in order. "Maybe dad is concerned about the sophistication the phone might bring into her life, about how she'll have the ability to communicate with people outside his control," says Shelley Pasnik, director of the Center for Children & Technology. There's a fine line between protecting and smothering.</p> <p>As is usually the case in resolving father-daughter tiffs, a heart-to-heart conversation can work wonders. Have your daughter outline exactly why she wants the cell phone and how she plans to use it, and make clear what your expectations and fears are.</p> <p>If you come away feeling that she's genuinely not ready for the responsibility, stick to your late-adopting guns. There may be school-yard fallout, but your daughter will survive. Mr. Know-It-All was teased mercilessly for not owning a Boba Fett action figure, and he turned out just fine.</p> <p> <div id="embed"> <div id="pic"><img src="http://www.wired.com/images/article/magazine/1608/st_kia2_f.jpg" alt="" /> <div id="caption"><em>Illustration: Christoph Niemann</em></div> </div> </div> <strong>Am I obligated to tell potential employers that I received my bachelor's degree through a university's online program?</strong><br/><br/></p> <p>Schools don't necessarily make the distinction, so there's no reason you should go out of your way to do so, either. "On transcripts, we don't designate when a class is online or face-to-face," says Ray Schroeder, director of the Office of Technology-Enhanced Learning at the University of Illinois at Springfield.</p> <p>While you needn't mention your degree's lineage on your résumé, you are compelled to reveal the truth if asked during a job interview. And if that happens, respond with pride. Your interlocutor may mistakenly equate today's online degrees with the seedy correspondence courses of yore. Seize the opportunity to disabuse them of their prejudice. You might say, for example, that earning a degree through a reputable university's "distance learning" initiative requires more self-discipline than going the traditional route — while on-campus students were blowing daddy's money on Jägermeister and trips to Cancún, you were presumably holding down a job, correct?</p> <p><em>Need help navigating life in the 21st century? Email us at </em><a href="mailto:mrknowitall@wiredmag.com">mrknowitall@wiredmag.com</a>.</p><br style="clear: both;"/> <a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v2:9dd103283d0714521f10d078fe756f9d:5IcGUG%2F2Feeu7Yl5FDnZo17viMwfZ7LBslJkXL23xlxwEwsyL7CEQ6Dktq%2FzjxzmZLclsd%2BHzpomhIlSYp3%2FL9QZHWQq%2BV116Pi3QdfQAbA%3D'><img border='0' title='Add to Reddit' alt='Add to Reddit' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/reddit.png'/></a> <a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v2:b7d9b72d1e1212ba75bcbcd35f98762c:%2FXUFwKsZiGM4HXBxC6QL8H4xVM6npwTtY%2F2ZcJE%2FBjp5ykgNWTHfPQW0tCy7vT3hlw3%2FMvkpa619ujQOVvCoLmoZ%2F5%2FUziJuvmOo54gNuf8%3D'><img border='0' title='Add to Yahoo My Web' alt='Add to Yahoo My Web' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/yahoo.png'/></a> <a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v2:dc858af34ae31646bc27ae3bf1640113:MODwvJH80R9%2FEI0oQ%2BWq1eNeKF7x%2BCnHZdmYmbqFPcx%2B5cWsYpTTG1HgZ%2BA9pBDu0hvr8iH5HMx7QO6bvrtd2Rxc6O4XFw1Ofi6yrMo37pE%3D'><img border='0' title='Add to Google' alt='Add to Google' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/google.png'/></a> <br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=d66ce3327837f574669d5d1394d1b233" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=d66ce3327837f574669d5d1394d1b233" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=GZhJkK"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=GZhJkK" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=alRR6k"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=alRR6k" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=9Z8eek"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=9Z8eek" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=5HJ5wK"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=5HJ5wK" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/wired/techbiz/~4/357041174" height="1" width="1"/>

Sony Buys Out Bertelsmann's Sony BMG Stake for $1.2 Billion

The second largest record label in the world now belongs only to Sony. The Japanese company bought out German partner Bertelsmann Media Group's 50 percent stake in Sony BMG for $1.2 billion, giving it a chance to experiment with new business models -- possibly including having its artists promote Sony products.<br style="clear: both;"/> <a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v2:d40f47f6875a73526885732e485b8e22:9UbgomGpuADN7pkohdJ3Gfbc6lfvxbBkxjGR3uPd5YRD446ILAa7lzY3BAb7xvjmv3sdlB4g3aXPmjDUTvsqiv%2B53v%2Fmleqdi9u3rw2hI6k%3D'><img border='0' title='Add to Reddit' alt='Add to Reddit' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/reddit.png'/></a> <a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v2:752c8c43d231bdf654e0b1adedeea9c7:mzhVYGhgo8WWRign5zLNFPLhRBly2iZVhrbps7lTApFnTcpWXAugFCiJcGZfn0njlynsznGMnFrgR0lpRlgA8Vkc5yNFHZZnsZjLaSXDGRI%3D'><img border='0' title='Add to Yahoo My Web' alt='Add to Yahoo My Web' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/yahoo.png'/></a> <a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v2:432bc615a05576fb508c9eab1878b1b6:DyNHcLZEkvj9f8%2BGPGppDQB%2FLprqWSfYLoJWBvlC53XQYCrfQ34E77pxRbPQZjMgQ9rkB3G01WFRv%2FZM8BS4jaOT92zmuH5JB76WiAIgGN0%3D'><img border='0' title='Add to Google' alt='Add to Google' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/google.png'/></a> <br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=9d6711f12475d43b6bb41de4df28b657" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=9d6711f12475d43b6bb41de4df28b657" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=GHU2gK"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=GHU2gK" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=6iinVk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=6iinVk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=Opxdok"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=Opxdok" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=xQeCsK"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=xQeCsK" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/wired/techbiz/~4/356461997" height="1" width="1"/>

Sony to Buy Bertelsmann's Sony BMG Stake for $1.2 Billion

Bertelsmann sells its 50% stake in Sony BMG to Sony in a $1.2 billion deal giving the Japanese company full ownership of the joint venture whose roster of artists include Alicia Keys and Leona Lewis.<br style="clear: both;"/> <a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v2:830451bce06266f53bab6c332e6a526a:vDj9l%2B%2Fgeb188bHPZAv6Ycua5jsoMocdXpw6ZWlPphAQFnIhEwuCRYxZLZdDMR3wb%2FQOUiz2DIGB2sN1NB6jozYzmJLCdd2j9ORFN2Qlmgw%3D'><img border='0' title='Add to Reddit' alt='Add to Reddit' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/reddit.png'/></a> <a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v2:337500e0cd3aa51d0f42112d0f23df7d:nXTtukkwFHdb2rJ4N6%2F%2FIJiTZIhKK4R4J7Yf0DHmMrqvs%2FaMFtDl1dIV7DOTe6X8DQpoO%2Ffj7UhTklXohN5u7b8h2uVN7Oka6uO1D%2BS72mI%3D'><img border='0' title='Add to Yahoo My Web' alt='Add to Yahoo My Web' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/yahoo.png'/></a> <a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v2:c575a60f83a638241bc7d3e66b9d7341:HFbcJAqYEOVlcRqFkj60FeohnCkXQZXm9oYxaqc%2BJXKhYjPFjTOHANPsdZvYGz4WdrFTensJDD7r0cwGWvcTOiyz7uQxuSYCAmVVhD60xHg%3D'><img border='0' title='Add to Google' alt='Add to Google' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/google.png'/></a> <br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=7a621aad13686a2d77d28449feed2994" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=7a621aad13686a2d77d28449feed2994" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=W7YfpK"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=W7YfpK" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=wsdl1k"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=wsdl1k" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=NBj4pk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=NBj4pk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=JEMbLK"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=JEMbLK" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/wired/techbiz/~4/356373392" height="1" width="1"/>

Clive Thompson on Real-World Social Networks vs. Facebook 'Friends'

<p><strong>Benjamin Waber</strong> has a grim piece of news for managers and CEOs: You're out of the loop.</p> <p>Waber, a PhD student in MIT's Human Dynamics Group, studies the way groups interact socially — based on who's talking to whom. But unlike most social scientists, who simply ask people about their behavior, Waber and his colleagues measure it. They outfit employees with special badges that work with base stations to log all conversations between employees, including location and duration. With this data, Waber's team can plot exactly how information flows inside a firm.</p> <p>Almost every time he analyzes a group, Waber discovers that the super-connector — the crucial person who routes news among team members — isn't the manager. "The manager is almost always peripheral," Waber says. "It's some random guy." And that person is usually overworked and overstressed. He isn't given enough support to fulfill his role, because nobody in the firm knows he's <em>doing</em> it in the first place. If you study the org chart, the higher-ups are in control. But if you study reality, those same managers barely know what's going on.</p> <p>This type of research has evolved into a new field called reality mining. By tracking people using location-aware devices like mobile phones or electronic badges, scientists are revolutionizing our understanding of how social networks function.</p> <p>Of course, we <em>think</em> we know how they work. We've all become addicted to some combination of email and LinkedIn and Facebook and blogs, and at the click of a button we can pinpoint our online friends, right? But once you step away from your computer, Waber and other reality miners have found, the real world often works in ways that are quite different from the virtual one.</p> <p>On the Web, the best way to solve a problem is to engage an extensive network; the person who provides information, advice, or answers is often someone you know only vaguely — a weak link.</p> <p>In the face-to-face world, though, Waber says, groups are more productive when the team members know each other well, sharing extremely strong links. That's because face-to-face teamwork requires intimacy, he says, and "when you're among friends you can really capitalize on preexisting protocols" — nods, grunts, in-jokes — for talking and listening.</p> <p>Reality mining can also spot when a group is in a groove. Sandy Pentland, the MIT professor who heads up the lab where Waber works, has discovered that highly creative teams socialize in a "pulsing star" pattern: They fan out to gather information, then regroup. "People explore during the day," Pentland says, "and then later get very tight and inbred, with everybody talking to everybody."</p> <p>If you have enough data about commonplace conversations, you can even predict when those conversations are going to take place. Working with Pentland, Nathan Eagle tracked the physical interactions of 100 MIT students over an academic year, using their cell phones. After a few months, Eagle could deduce likely future meetings with impressive accuracy. "So if we know that," he says, "why not design our calendars to sync up?"</p> <p>But this isn't just about understanding reality. It's about tweaking it. When Waber examines company-wide communications, he can spot inefficiencies — two employees who don't know each other. Introduce them over coffee and — <em>presto</em>! — the office metabolism accelerates. The technical term for this is tightening a network, and Waber is trying it out at several firms around the world.</p> <p>The scary part of reality mining, as everyone involved readily admits, is that it's a potential privacy nightmare. Do you really want your boss gathering this much data about your daily activities? Or imagine this stuff in the hands of direct-marketing types. Or law enforcement.</p> <p>Still, the benefits might outweigh the risks, particularly at the public-policy level. Mining companies is cool; mining countries could yield lifesaving info. Eagle is currently analyzing 12 billion anonymized calls placed during one month in the UK. With that much data, he hopes to better understand human mixing patterns, which could help predict the spread of disease outbreaks, social trends, and other hidden phenomena.</p> <p>We've learned to map our virtual lives. Now it's time to map the real ones, too.</p> <p><em>Email</em> <a href="mailto:clive@clivethompson.net">clive@clivethompson.net</a>.</p><br style="clear: both;"/> <a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v2:dfdb51a132b082d97614330de2414302:O2%2Bg2a061%2B%2BwytQhwItzF7l%2FSYTc879Ys1Nrb3jTEZ22M3leyOhpEwm61drOdl%2BHQrZ0%2BfNHZ230hlYpkvLhjwcKSiFzpGrSaP80qdTU%2FN0%3D'><img border='0' title='Add to Reddit' alt='Add to Reddit' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/reddit.png'/></a> <a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v2:afa88ff92a709eeed98b38adc5d48839:PcRRy%2BthkhfspDHuuPzDrtb88ve8gvXoTwpmV3T2Ovgo0iSs1K1TsB65agk%2FgKPd%2BJthRLO5nmH3S7MEM8UpSHGnY%2BV61JLpENhUjesmwLA%3D'><img border='0' title='Add to Yahoo My Web' alt='Add to Yahoo My Web' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/yahoo.png'/></a> <a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v2:a7800e262cc54ffa05c28efbe2173f31:2%2Fq3Q%2Fan3Jw4%2BGQ3br1%2BA3StzS%2FtAmj4rbhHovoyx2ACtFsWQq%2FablQ%2FhWbWGATB34chCLqWitoyji%2BdUlidzTXBNPZZhBNKXoxHfC3AGKo%3D'><img border='0' title='Add to Google' alt='Add to Google' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/google.png'/></a> <br style="clear: both;"/> <a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=68f181a83de93d24d06c78d0da140c5c"><img alt="" style="border: 0;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=68f181a83de93d24d06c78d0da140c5c"/></a> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=68f181a83de93d24d06c78d0da140c5c" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=pYtYUK"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=pYtYUK" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=nTCebk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=nTCebk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=e3ylTk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=e3ylTk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=inGzdK"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=inGzdK" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/wired/techbiz/~4/356808181" height="1" width="1"/>

15th Anniversary: Absinthe Goes From Banned Drug to Legal Liquor

<p> <strong>In the 20,000 years or so</strong> that humans have been getting piss-drunk, no spirit has earned a worse rap than absinthe. Said to turn mild-mannered imbibers into raving maniacs, it was banned in the US and much of Europe in the early 1900s. (Remember Van Gogh's ear incident? Some scholars blame the green fairy.) The chemical culprit was thujone, a toxic compound found in the crushed flowers and leaves of absinthe's key ingredient, wormwood. Or so we thought. </p> <p> Three years ago, <cite>Wired</cite> sent me to meet Ted Breaux, a chemist and microbiologist who had <a href="http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.11/absinthe.html">reverse engineered the liquor's recipe</a> and discovered that there was barely any thujone present (<a href="http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.11/">November 2005</a>). During harvest and distillation, he explained, its concentration was reduced to a minuscule five parts per million. </p> <p> Breaux's research — finally published this spring in the <cite><a href="http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/sample.cgi/jafcau/2008/56/i09/pdf/jf703568f.pdf">Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry</a></cite> (.pdf) — and that <cite>Wired</cite> story have helped change absinthe's image from drug to drink. The US has been slowly peeling away its ban, and in March, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau approved the sale of absinthes that were "thujone free" (containing less than 10 parts per million). </p> <p> To date, there are four brands on US shelves: Lucid (Breaux's formula), Kuebler, Green Moon, and St. George Absinthe Verte. "The US is lucky in that its first absinthes are high-quality products, distilled from whole herbs," Breaux says. "In the European market, 80 to 90 percent is industrial junk." </p> <p> Under the Jade label, Breaux is making his own absinthes in France and trying to get them green-lighted for sale in the US. "Even at this point, gaining that approval seems to involve more luck than anything," he says. Luck, and a little chemistry. </p><br style="clear: both;"/> <a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v2:def83b76f0e4cc0dd2638f9a7ad09a0e:yuD%2FUVpF%2BAV5UottHRmmI%2Fw9a52VA8l0qVSNjZNbQ3boIy7BAjyDNh49FEAVJQ%2F5f0xQvJjHxkGmkHH0CFO6TIgKAl6Ha7%2FF3v40%2BYOKsOc%3D'><img border='0' title='Add to Reddit' alt='Add to Reddit' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/reddit.png'/></a> <a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v2:3030f077cf8060a69d4a08cd071dea48:Lp%2BYtRIa3jjFM8jviMDzOFznI99i9PwDsn3RfDkFajAd1YUgI16bnkIFsOwZ4vHOs9V8C%2FNSMC2rWpWavDKzLDRb3IEFb6eOI%2FcM546pOL4%3D'><img border='0' title='Add to Yahoo My Web' alt='Add to Yahoo My Web' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/yahoo.png'/></a> <a style='font-size: 10px; color: maroon;' href='http://www.pheedo.com/hostedMorselClick.php?hfmm=v2:90245a0e8a88da4c4a5f8530fc2f3350:N5RCvlL%2BCaawRIMkiSokIJXa2tWGA8qUDgQz5LGfM6hhglDqzCQWp%2FDmFLUyfeJGUTVkuVH7%2Febe1PpXPVAY0pz6PPT6u9vwkv4j4LJ6QZY%3D'><img border='0' title='Add to Google' alt='Add to Google' src='http://www.pheedo.com/images/mm/google.png'/></a> <br style="clear: both;"/> <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=4c202a7516ed916f1374e3a8d9477f22" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=4c202a7516ed916f1374e3a8d9477f22" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=9LYMlK"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=9LYMlK" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=KyfGXk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=KyfGXk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=s8ZIfk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=s8ZIfk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?a=4agB7K"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/wired/techbiz?i=4agB7K" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/wired/techbiz/~4/355990981" height="1" width="1"/>

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