I had just started writing a blog entry on the state of the union address (which deals mostly with the widespread discomfort, or suffering – if I can use that word, of the American people), when I came across news of a new biography written about Pope John Paul II.   After reading the news article, I tried to go back to writing about politics and the economy, but just couldn’t avoid giving a short commentary instead on the new book "Why he is a Saint: The True story of John Paul II"

Four year olds like to make play houses from just about anything, If it looks like a “hut” or “hideout”, even better.  My son is no exception.  Last night we conducted our nightly routine of building a house on the bed constructed of pillows.   The procedure then involved (as usual) camping-out in the “hut”, for story time.

The battle over carriage fees was previously deferred by the addition of supplemental cable properties, such as FX, Fox Sports, and Fox News. This strategy has become less feasible in recent years, as many providers have reached their limits on the sheer number of channels. This puts the industry back at the position of networks demanding extra cash infusions from providers, and many fear this episode will be repeated ad nauseam. Though financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, it was generally considered a victory for Fox, and Time Warner subscribers will likely see their rates go up as a result.

This will probably also draw additional scrutiny from politicians and regulators, who weighed in on the Fox vs. Time Warner spat. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass), said he would request the FCC "to intervene and mandate continued carriage and arbitration." FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski then weighed in, saying "Companies shouldn’t force cable-watching football fans to scramble for other means of TV delivery on New Year’s weekend."

image courtesy of screenrant.com

The duel of Fox Broadcasting Company and Time Warner Cable seemed like a Quixotic struggle to rule obsolescence, until an 11th hour deal staved off disaster. The agreement reached in the late hours of Jan 1 prevented Time Warner Cable subscribers from losing all Fox shows, ending a protracted dispute over carriage fees. The disagreement began with negotiations for a new contract, with the old one expiring as the ball dropped on 2009. Fox demanded a rate of $1 a month per subscriber, for each of its TV networks.Time Warner responded with an offer of no more than 30 cents. An act of brinkmanship ensued, where the two mammoth corporations launched dueling PR campaigns about who would be responsible if roughly 4 million homes lost the ability to watch Fox programming.

AdMob won't provide exact revenue figures, but claim they're approaching $100 million this year. That's a drop in the bucket for Google, but they're counting on the acquisition to post a rapid growth rate. This has attracted attention from the FCC, whose antitrust officials have asked Google for additional information on the deal. Google is already the largest Internet advertiser, and this deal would give them ownership of the company many feel is at the forefront of cell phone advertising. Now federal authorities wonder if the company has become too big for the good of the business. "The fear is Google and AdMob together will flatten the mobile advertising landscape," says The Business Insider, though Google insists the deal is purely calculated for extra revenue, and group product manager Paul Feng says "the rapidly growing mobile advertising space is highly competitive with more than a dozen mobile ad networks."

Four years ago, Omar Hamoui was just a grad student trying to add a project to his resume. Now he's $750 million richer, and his advertising network AdMob has been labeled by many as "Google's secret weapon."
Hamoui was a student at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School when he launched the network; a husband and father in his late 20s, burdened with financial hardship and an uncertain future. Now 32, he is a cell phone advertising pioneer, and his distribution system is a watershed. His deceptively simple concept established a method for advertisers to reach customers across multiple cell phone platforms and networks. The trick was creating a way for AdMob to circumvent the strict content controls that wireless carriers placed upon their networks, managing all data and images that customers saw. Hamoui's trick was the creation of "walled gardens," which allowed independent programmers to create for-profit applications, targeted for consumption by cell phone subscribers. Growth was slow at first, but that changed when Apple launched the iPhone.

Many analysts speculate that a carbon emissions permit "price signal" of 25-30 euros are needed to spur investment in clean tech. This psychological barrier is unlikely to be reached soon. The existing glut in carbon emissions permits already serves to keep prices low, and now the failure to extend Europe’s emissions-trading plan to the rest of the world has further diminished the permits value. Worse yet, there's a fresh batch of permits set to be issued in February, and a market with weak demand.

Some representatives were pleased with the outcome of the Copenhagen Summit, but carbon emissions investors were not. The failure to reach a binding international agreement on emissions sent prices down 10 percent, their worst decline in almost a year. Many European energy businesses reported dissatisfaction with the accord, including Royal Dutch Shell and Eon. Werner Schnappauf, managing director of German industrial association BDI, said German manufacturers would now likely move their facilities to countries with less stringent pollution policies. “The result for our companies is that the creation of a [global] competitive level playing field has receded.”

It has become abundantly clear over the last few months that the internet is going through an awkward adolescent phase complete with acne and growing pains. With questions of net neutrality and a movement from free to subscription based on the horizon, it's not surprising that the blogosphere would start to get in on the action.

The White House released the official portrait of the presidential family today, and guess who the photographer was... None other than our favorite down-on-her-luck pro, Annie Leibovitz.

I was laughing along to John Stewart this morning, over my coffee and a bagel, when what does he bring up but social networking. And whooooo, you might ask, has joined this online phenomenon now? Why none other than the former Bush administration.

Neil Hartman, a South African photographer is being held without charge in Namibia. Hartman was arrested while attempting to photograph the clubbing of baby seals in Henties Bay reports AFP.

Today the senate decided to cut $1.75 billion set aside in the defense budget to build seven new F-22’s … and Goose died all over again. Granted, Top Gun was long before the time of the 22’s but hey.