Web Waylays Cable Porn Profits

Posted on Aug 6, 2011

Internet porn causes pay-per-view sales to fall; a new chip will make HIV testing easy, affordable and readily available; meanwhile, mobile phones become more essential than toilets in the developed world. These discoveries and more, below.

On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that have found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies.

The links below open in a new window. Newer ones are on top.

TV Porn Sales Plummet
Cable and satellite companies watch pay-per-view revenues fall as consumers turn to the Web.

Can a $1 Plastic Chip Really Diagnose HIV?
Diagnosing HIV may have just gotten a lot easier, faster, and cheaper.

Battle of the Mormon Wannabes
The two Republicans with the best chance of beating Obama in 2012 happen to be rich, business-friendly, perfectly coiffed cousins from rival Mormon clans. No wonder there’s no love lost between Jon Huntsman and Mitt Romney.

How YouTube Wins in the Great Unbundling of Cable TV
YouTube wants to be one of several new providers of ‘Premium’ Bundles of Video.

Car Brain Saves Drivers
Computerized car systems are doing a better job avoiding common low-speed crashes than human ones.

The hard truth about getting old
Sixty isn’t the new 40, and 80 isn’t the new 60. I know it. You know it. So why do we buy into it?

Anders Breivik’s twisted time machine
With so much speculation surrounding the issue, what were the real motives behind Breivik’s attacks?

Mobile Subscriptions Outnumber Toilets
When it comes to betting the farm on mobile media, the math don’t lie.

Facial recognition identifies your social security number
A picture of your face is all it takes for Alessandro Acquisti at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) to access a wealth of personal information.

Big Sugar Daddy on Campus
Apparently, the latest way for college students to pay for their tuition is to set up an arrangement with a sugar daddy.

More Below the Ad

New and Improved Comments

We are launching a major overhaul of our comments section.

In addition to more robust spam filtering and moderation, new features include the ability to rate other comments, sort how they are displayed and respond directly via e-mail or in a thread.

Unfortunately, commenters will lose their existing Truthdig identities. It's a pain, we know, but on the plus side you will now be able to log in with a plethora of options, including Google, Twitter, Facebook and Disqus accounts.

Before launching this system we spent months in discussion with our top commenters. We listened to the feedback and we hope you like what we've come up with.

Please direct any problems or concerns to us via our contact page.