by Larry Elkin

There was something refreshing in the political scene Wednesday when congressional sponsors ran away, as fast as they could, from two ill-considered bills that sought to stamp out Internet piracy by more or less stamping out the Internet.

It was fun to watch politicians on both sides of the aisle scurry together in search of cover.

by Bill Batson

I recently pulled a Rip Van Winkle. I did not touch a computer keyboard or cell phone from 2007 until 2011. As a resident of a village in the region of the world depicted in Washington Irving’s immortal short story, I embrace my kindred spirit Van Winkle. Skipping five years of technology in the 21st century isn’t so different than Rip Van Winkle’s 18 year hiatus during the 1700’s.

by Larry Elkin

When a hotel investment firm decided a 10-block stretch of Miami Beach needed a name, the easy part was coming up with SoBe 10, to catch a little of the cachet of South Beach. The hard part was getting the name to catch on.

The ratings are in on the ratings company’s planned IPO. The NYT likes Nielsen’s prospects, the WSJ not so much.

Here’s an up to date scorecard — and what Van Morrison might have to say about it all.

Is online video the “shrimp fried rice” of television?

Google TV combines two commonly used consumer technologies into a can’t miss new product.

Just the same way AT&T’s Picturephone combined TV and the telephone almost 50 years ago. As Sarah Palin might say, “how’s that working out for you?”

Maybe someone should tell Gannett’s BattleCreekEnquirer.com that McCain lost, Sarah quit as Alaska Governor and what a difference a year can make. Literally.

Twitter, RSS feeds and Facebook make life easier for public relations people to get the word out about their clients. Now, if they would only use it the *write* way…

In George Orwell’s 1984, Big Brother sought to control what you read and what you thought. Who wouldathunk Amazon’s Kindle would have the power to do the same?

Hyperbole alert: Will Google’s investment in AltaRock Energy turn Nevada into beachfront property?