They are boldly predicting that within the next five years, all but four major daily papers will have completely left the printed newspaper market.  That’s right, only four!  Those making the cut are The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today.  The Center also found it worthy to point out that two of these dailies already charge for online content, and that would be the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.  USA Today is planning to start charging within the next year.  As of now the Washington Post plans to still keep its online content free.

The issue at hand, is really a wide question.  What will happen if all content is really only available online?

For a lot of us, the idea that the printed newspaper is going the way of the dodo has already been long accepted. The increased online focus of many papers offers real time news and constant breaking updates, but the  lingering questions remain about what the loss of print papers will mean for the news itself.  Will online journalism, if it is the only medium, replace in depth investigative journalism?  For that we have to wait and see.

The Bell Tolls For Newspapers? Think Tank Says The Day Is Almost Here is a post from: The Inquisitr

USA Today and Facebook will join forces in 2012 to launch the 24th annual Super Bowl Ad Meter. For the first time, consumers everywhere can help in deciding the winner for the Ad Meter.

USA Today first created the Super Bowl Ad Meter in 1989 after noticing an increasing trend in consumer interest in Super Bowl ads. The Ad Meter tracks the second-by-second responses of a panel of viewers to ads during the Super Bowl and ranks them from best to worst. Ad Meter results have long been the industry-leading tool used to measure public opinion surrounding Super Bowl ads.

Stressing their role for the Ad Meter, Mike Hoefflinger, director of global business marketing at Facebook, said:

“The creation of the USA Today – Facebook Super Bowl Ad Meter is going to give millions of people the ability to not only interact with the various Super Bowl commercials, but to rate the ads and share with their friends on Facebook. Making the Ad Meter social brings it to an entirely new level and we’re proud to be a part of it.”

David Payne, senior vice president and chief digital officer of Gannett Co., Inc., said about the Ad Meter:

“The impact and influence of Ad Meter over the years has been astounding.  Through this partnership with Facebook we’re giving consumers a voice with the opportunity to rate and share the ads with their friends. Social media is changing the face of consumer engagement and this partnership more than ever, puts the consumer at the center of the conversation around advertising’s biggest annual event.”

So, starting next year, the Ad Meter will be rebranded as USA Today – Facebook Super Bowl Ad Meter. Rating the ads will also take place through an app that will be hosted on Facebook and USAToday.com. The app will allow consumers to view the ads both online and via mobile, rate the ads and share them with their friends.

With Facebook’s involvement, it would be safe to say that the Ad Meter will be truly representative of a wider audience’s sentiment.

USA Today to Rebrand its Super Bowl Ad Meter with Facebook is a post from: The Inquisitr

We are staring to get into the meet of the CFB season. The best game of week six should be the Michigan showdown between the Spartans and the Wolverines. A loss drops one of them out of the poll, and propels the other to a Bowl game. This game also features QB Denard Robinson who has to be the early favorite for the Heisman. With that being said here is a look at the Coaches Poll:

1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Oregon
4. Boise State
5. TCU
6. Nebraska
7. Oklahoma
8. Auburn
9. LSU
10. Utah
11. Arizona
12. Florida
13. Arkansas
14. Miami
15. Iowa
16. Michigan State
17. Michigan
18. Stanford
19. Wisconsin
20. South Carolina
21. Oklahoma State
22. Missouri
23. Nevada
24. FSU
25. Northwestern

So this week the coaches say good bye to Penn State and Texas, and welcome in Florida State and Northwestern. Compared to the AP poll,  the polls are starting to stabilize a bit. Air Force makes the AP poll at 25, but other wise the coaches and the writers are starting to agree on which teams are ranked and where each one should be ranked.

It still looks like Alabama and Ohio State are headed for a BCS show down, but do not count out Oregon is ranked third in both polls. They could find themselves in the big game this year taking on the Crimson Tide.

Related Links:

• The Business of College Football
• Joshua Lobdell.com

USA Today Coaches Poll for Week Six is a post from: The Inquisitr

Yet another squash game match up week, that no one found particularly entertaining. I cover this sport for a living and found myself disgusted by the laughable match ups offered to us by College Football this week. I also happen to know Terry Foster, of the Detroit News, tuned out college football this week and if he is not a sports writing professional none of us are. So Alabama but a hurting on Arkansas, in the only game of week four that had any real significance. For Michigan and Michigan State I think we have yet to see exactly what kind of teams they are. They remain ranked, but they feel like pretenders.

With that being said here is the USA Today’s Coaches Top 25 poll:

1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Boise State
4. Oregon
5. TCU
6. Nebraska
7. Florida
8. Oklahoma
9. Wisconsin
10. LSU
11. Auburn
12. Utah
13. Stanford
14. Arizona
15. Arkansas
16. Texas
17. Miami
18. Iowa
19. Michigan
20. Penn State
21. Michigan State
22. South Carolina
23. Missouri
24. Oklahoma State
25. Nevada

So the poll welcomes in Nevada, and says goodbye to West Virginia. There are a few differences between this poll and the AP poll. The AP poll has Stanford 9th, they of course still have USC ranked 18th, but hey what can we really say about that. The AP Poll also has North Carolina State ranked 23rd. The other major difference is USA Today has Texas at 16 while the AP poll has them at 21.

All in all these are pretty consistent polls, and they show us who the big players are in the current CFB season.

USA Today Coaches Poll heading into week five is a post from: The Inquisitr

It is weekends like the one we just had that make me not be a bigger College football fan. I don’t like squash games, and while I believe that any team can win a game on any given Saturday (or Sunday), that doesn’t seem to be the case in College Football. Weak non conference schedules just annoy the crap out of me, and in the BCS age they seem to be a bigger determent to a school’s program. If strength of schedule is a big factor for the BCS, making a weak non conference schedule doesn’t make much sense to me. In the case of Boise State who does nothing but win, it is a further slap in the face.

So here is the USA Today Coaches Poll for Week Four:

1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Boise State
4. Texas
5. TCU
6. Oregon
7. Nebraska
8. Florida
9. Oklahoma
10. Wisconsin
11. Arkansas
12. LSU
13. Utah
14. Auburn
15. South Carolina
16. Arizona
17. Stanford
18. Iowa
19. Miami
20. Penn State
21. West Virginia
22. Michigan
23. Michigan State
24. Missouri
25. Oklahoma State

Ok so Houston and Cal get bounced and Michigan State and Oklahoma State enter. For the second straight week no Oregon State and that is very bad news for the BCS title hopes of Boise State. It also seems to underscore the fact that we need a playoff system or at the very least a BCS schedule that doesn’t pit to smaller schools against one another.

USA Today Coaches Poll heading into week four is a post from: The Inquisitr

While it is still very early, and many will say College Poll mean nothing in September. However, I think we are starting to see some trends. First and foremost it looks like Alabama and Ohio State are separating themselves from the pack. Also given the Virginia Tech loss, and their bouncing out of this poll, it seems that Boise State’s hopes of a National Title have been dimmed. I still think they have a good chance if they can beat Oregon State. Before we go any further here is the poll:

1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Boise State
4. Texas
5. TCU
6. Oregon
7. Florida
8. Nebraska
9. Oklahoma
10. Iowa
11. Wisconsin
12. LSU
13. Arkansas
14. Utah
15. Auburn
16. South Carolina
17. Miami
18. Arizona
19. Stanford
20. Penn State
21. West Virginia
22. Michigan
23. Houston
24. Cal
25. Missouri

So the Coaches say good bye to Florida State, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Georgia, and BYU. They welcome in Stanford, Michigan, Houston, Cal, and Missouri.

For Michigan fans we have been here before, last year this team was 4-0 before Big Ten play began. This year it looks like they can get to 5 or 6 wins before the meat of the Big Ten schedule begins. Michigan Coach Rich Rodriquez needs 7-10 wins to keep his job and it looks like QB Denard Robinson will get him to that level. We also have to count Robinson as the early Heisman Trophy leader.

I am a little surprised to see Miami at 17 with a 1-1 record. At the moment they are the highest ranked team with a loss. The only other top 25 team with a loss this week is Penn State who lost to Alabama last week.

Related Links:

• The Business of College Football
• MTR College Sports

USA Today Coaches Poll heading into Week Three is a post from: The Inquisitr

After week one of the 2010 CFB season the 59 Division one coaches have voted on a new USA today CFB poll. There is little change as only one of the new top 25 suffered a loss (Virginia Tech Hokies) and of course teh Florida Gators tumble a few spots due to some struggles against the Miami (Ohio) Redhawks.  Pittsburgh, North Carolina, and Oregon State all fell from teh top 25 with losses. They were replaced by Arizona, BYU, and South Carolina.

After spending much of the pre-season studying how these polls are put together, it seems to me that the USA Today Coaches Poll is the most accurate. It will be how I evaluate the College Football season moving forward. With that said here is your new USA Today/Coaches Poll Top 25:

1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Boise State
4. Texas
5. TCU
6. Florida
7. Nebraska
8. Oregon
9. Iowa
10. Oklahoma
11. Wisconsin
12. Miami (FLA)
13. Virginia Tech
14. Penn State
15. Arkansas
16. LSU
17. Georgia Tech
18. Florida State
19. Georgia
20. Auburn
21. Utah
22. West Virginia
23. Arizona
24. BYU
25. South Carolina

Of course with a convincing win over the Hokies many are counting Boise State in the National Title fight. However it seems they will still have to get past Oregon State to make themselves legitimate. Many sports fans argue against polls before teh season is half over, and truth be told they have a small point. A programs rank should be based on the entire season, but what we would write about each week if it were not for the polls.

USA Today Coaches poll shows little change after week one is a post from: The Inquisitr

Marriott says it’s seen a 25 percent drop in newspaper demand by guests. “I visit more than 250 hotels a year, and more often than not, I’m stepping over unclaimed newspapers as I walk down the hallway,” says CEO J.W. Marriott, Jr.

Starting this month, you’ll be asked at check-in whether you want to receive the paper outside your door in the morning. You can opt to get USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, a local paper, or nothing at all.

Marriott says it was the first major hotel company to start offering automatic paper delivery about 25 years ago.

Marriott Scaling Back Free Newspaper Service is a post from: The Inquisitr

In September 2007 I uploaded a demonstration video of new features at Digg to YouTube; at the time the video appeared on the Digg blog and couldn’t be embedded, and we wanted it for the story. I can’t recall whether Digg pitched the story to me (or the site I was writing for at the time) or we simply picked the story up off the Digg blog, but either way we gave publicity to Digg at a time they wanted it, and they’ve never once objected.

So imagine my surprise to find that USA Today has claimed copyright over the video!

The very generous USA Today (a unit of Gannett) is allowing me to keep the video up, but now has full access to all stats from the video and gets to serve ads against it.

Now unless Digg has been acquired by Gannett, I’m stating the obvious here that this is a grade A joke. Whether the fault lies with YouTube’s content identification program, or with USA Today itself is a moot point: the content is an original video from Digg, voiced over by Digg staff, consisting of nothing more than pictures of features on Digg! If it is subject to a proper DMCA notice from USA Today, it would also constitute a false declaration under law as well.

Here’s the email from YouTube, and the video follows.

Dear nichenet,

Your video “New Digg demo” has been identified by YouTube’s Content Identification programme as containing copyrighted content which USA Today claims is theirs.

Your video “New Digg demo” is still available because USA Today does not object to this content appearing on YouTube at this time. As long as USA Today has a claim on your video, they will receive public statistics about your video, such as number of views. Viewers may also see advertising on your video’s page.

Claim Details:

Copyright owner: USA Today
Content claimed: Some or all of the visual content
Policy: Allow this content to remain on YouTube.

Place advertisements on this video’s watch page.

Applies to these locations:
Everywhere
USA Today claimed this content as a part of the YouTube Content Identification programme. YouTube allows partners to review YouTube videos for content to which they own the rights. Partners may use our automated video/audio matching system to identify their content, or they may manually review videos.

If you believe that this claim was made in error, or that you are otherwise authorised to use the content at issue, you can dispute this claim with USA Today and view other options in the Video-ID Matches section of your YouTube account. Please note that YouTube does not mediate copyright disputes between content owners. Learn more about video-identification disputes.

Sincerely,
The YouTube Content Identification Team

USA Today Claiming Copyright over Digg Demonstration Video is a post from: The Inquisitr