Live streamed royal wedding reigns on the Web

By JAKE COYLE
AP Entertainment Writer

Published: Friday, April 29, 2011 at 5:19 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, April 29, 2011 at 5:19 p.m.

NEW YORK - Prince William and Kate Middleton may have had a traditional wedding, but the Internet traffic that accompanied the ceremony was something very new for the royal family.

Millions followed the affair in live streams on their computers, all the while commenting on social media sites. Among the many outlets webcasting the event was the royal family itself, whose YouTube page offered live video and tweets from Clarence House, the prince's official residence.

Akamai Technologies Inc., which delivers about 20 percent of the world's Internet traffic, said that global page views for the roughly 100 news portals for which it delivers content peaked at nearly 5.4 million a minute Friday morning. That was good enough for the sixth largest amount of traffic ever, but well shy of the record of 10.4 million page views a minute set last June 24 during the 2010 World Cup.

Still, those numbers were very high considering that the wedding was so ubiquitous on TV and that it occurred (unlike the World Cup record day) when many people in North American and the United Kingdom were not at work, where computer-viewing is often a necessity. Friday was a national holiday for the U.K., and the ceremony took place early morning in the U.S.

There was some evidence, though, that the wedding may have been live-streamed in record numbers. Because it was streamed on so many outlets, a total figure was hard to come by. Akamai said that based on the approximately 25 broadcasters for which it delivered streams, the highest viewer count exceeded that of the World Cup traffic it supported.

Livestream, which partnered with The Associated Press, UK Press Association, CBS and Entertainment Tonight for its live stream, said it surpassed its own record with, at one point, more than 300,000 concurrent live streams.

Yahoo said it experienced its largest traffic for a live video event, surpassing its audience for Michael Jackson's funeral by 21 percent.

The royal wedding was streamed by, among others, CNN.com, NBC's "Today Show" website and Fox (by way of Hulu). ABC streamed its coverage on Hulu and on Yahoo. CBS, PBS and ET also streamed the event on Ustream. E! streamed its coverage on Facebook.

Facebook said that more than 6.8 million people globally commented on the wedding through public status updates within the past 24 hours, as of Friday afternoon. On the social media site in the U.K., David Beckham's arrival prompted one of the largest surges in discussion with 9,000 mentions of his name in 20 minutes.

All the traffic caused some problems.

Web performance site AlertSite monitored 15 sites during the wedding. It found that while YouTube's homepage had 100 percent availability, the Royal wedding channel had 74 percent availability and slower response time. The highest amount of response time, of the sites surveyed by AlertSite, came from AccessHollywood.com, ABCNews.com and BBC.com.

The BBC said in a statement that it was "experiencing some technical issues with BBC Online due to the sheer weight of traffic which may cause the site to be slower than normal in some cases."

The wedding day online audience was a culmination of rising Web traffic. There were 2.1 million tweets about the wedding over the last week. Google said that in the month of April, searches for "royal wedding" increased 90 percent. On April 25, searches on Google for "Kate Middleton" overtook those for "Lady Gaga." And on eBay, some 3,000 items related to the wedding were sold in April.

http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20110429/APA/1104291167/-1/news

I chose this particular story because I feel that it's of interest to the most people. The royal wedding has been highly advertised and so this was a great story that involved this but still pertained to my beat, technology. News values in this story include: Cultural Proximity - The wedding is a big deal to people because it is a large part of someones culture. Everyone likes royalty even if it isn't their own. Reference to Elite Nations: This story refers to the U.K. which is, of course, an elite nation. Reference to Elite Persons: This story refers to royalty, which is the most elite of everyone. Continuity: The stories on this subject have been building and building up to the time of the wedding. This lead works because it includes the details necessary to inform the reader of what they are about to read. A follow up story would of course be how popular videos of the wedding are, how many views, etc.

TVA seeks public input on land use

http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20110426/NEWS/110429856/0/APA


1) I chose this story because I know of a lot of people, including myself, that use the land that TVA owns to hike and enjoy other outdoor activities.

2) News values: Proximity- this is happening right here in the Shoals area. Immediacy- they have to figure out what to do with the land and buildings in May. Impact- this will have an effect of thsoe that use this land for recreational activities and those that live in this area. If the land is sold to the private sector, then we might see construction in this area instead of nature.


3)The Tennessee Valley Authority is more than an electricity-generating utility, which was made plain Monday night as agency representatives gathered public comments for a new Natural Resource Plan. I don't really like this lead, it seems to beat around the bush at the beginning. It tells what has happened, but does not hold interest.

4) A follow up story would be what TVA has decided to do. Questions I had were, what are some of the plans? How likely is it that they will sell off the land?

In Easter Message, Pope urges Diplomacy in Libya

Pope Benedict XVI gave his Easter message at St. Peter's Bascilla to over 100,000 people, directing his urge toward Libya to reach a diplomatic solution over warfare. Also he strongly encouraged European countries to open their doors to refugees from the Middle Eastern countries that are in states of unrest. The rest of the article gives details to what the Catholic Church did for celebrating Easter, and talked about the pope later speaking to Gypsies outside the bascilla.

The lead seems straightfoward with what the topic is, but one could be interested to see the pope's in hte lead and get his view on the war in Libya.

News values in this would include prominence because it involve Pope Benedict XVI and emotions as it leaves readers touched by the compassion of the pope for Libyans and other peoples around the world. http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20110424/API/1104240922

Catching Cheaters

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2011-04-05-dcschools05_st_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip
I chose this story because it is awful that teachers are being the ones caught cheating rather than just the students.
This story is about cheating on standardized test, and how to catch cheaters. This article says that educators are being found changing student's test scores, and gives examples of what tampering with the test will look like.
The lead for this story answers all five W's.
The news values for this story are impact and conflict.

Who's Next Skrillex

 http://whatsnext.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/21/whos-next-skrillex/


1. I chose this story because i like some of this guys work and i like some techno. I haven't personally listened to his remixes before. But i do like this guys style but he does throw a lot of dubstep into his stuff though. He has remixed a lot of hits and made them bigger in the Rave/Dance world at a very young age.

2. It would have to do with Novelty and Prominence. I mean knowing who this guy is going to remix next is not life changing. Or maybe to some it may be.

3. Follow up maybe just a catch up in a year or so but nothing immediate.

4. The lead is actually interesting because i had forgotten who he was myself. It is effective in at least wondering what the article is about. But its not definite unless you know exactly who he is.

Never Ending Tremors

Over the past few months, the world has experienced an increase in earthquakes. Although the quakes seem to be steadily continuing, the amount of magnitude each one packs is random. Some feel as if these quakes are bringing the end of our age, while others show that this is a reoccurring event like thunderstorms. These quakes are packing more increased magnitudes in certain areas that send tremors through out the globe, affecting more than one area. In certain cases, the most recent and publicized quake occurred off the coast of Japan, bringing a tsunami aftershock that nearly cleared the northern part of the country. There is little precaution our globe can take against earthquakes and we can find truth in knowing that they are never going to cease.
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/04/10/living-age-giant-quakes/

Hot pink-toenailed boy in J. Crew ad sparks controversy

This issue is truely bizzare to me. This article is about a recent J.Crew add that features J.Crew president, Jenna Lyons, painting her five-year-old son's toe nails. Innocent enough right? It sparked a HUGE and ridiculous debate among conservatives accusing J.Crew of promoting transgender child raising.

1. I chose this story because I think it is truly ridiculous that this add even got this much attention. In the video with the story, someone says "what year is this?" reacting to how crazy the conservative reaction is. The video also addresses the story of a mom who let her little boy dress up as Daphne from Scooby Doo for Halloween. People accused her of making her son gay. Jenna Lyons is getting the same reaction. The article also talks about how if the roles had been reversed and it was a young girl playing in the mud with trucks, no one would have even cared; which raises another issue in itself.

2. The news values in this story would be novelty and prominence because it has to do with a famous fashion lable.

3. The only questions left unanswered would be follow up from Jenna Lyons, who declined to comment on the issue.

4. I think the lead is very effective. It gets your attention with mentioning the prominent lable J.Crew right off the bat and with the word "transgender"-- a sure attention grabber.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110413/ts_yblog_thelookout/hot-pink-toenailed-boy-in-j-crew-ad-sparks-controversy

De Lima Sees Violation of Anti-Child Abuse Law by Willie's Show

A Philippine TV game show called 'Willing Willie' and the host, Willie Revillame, were put under criticizing pressure from Secretary Leila de Lima from the Department of Justice for showing a six-year-old boy do a type of dirty dancing for a chance to win money, violating the Anti-Child Abuse Law. Critics complain that Revillame may have forced the boy into dancing in striptease styles while the boy was crying because of dancing in front of a huge basketball player. Revillame has some defense to this by stating that there are several shows that are similar to his that have done the same kind of things and have gone without complaint and the boy's father admitted that the boy had danced like that in school performances. The show was pulled off the air and Revillame is taking a leave of absence.

The lead is just basic as it tells what is going on and who is involved. Perhaps one would have to be a little more familiar with the show or the host to feel compelled to read it.

In some case the story has the value of prominence as it does deal with a TV host in the Philippines, and emotional values as readers can be upset to just hear the idea of a child abuse, but the story also seems immediate as the situation is still under investigation.

I would like to get to the bottom of this case and know the whole truth. I want to know what was Revillame's motive, did the boy say that he felt pressured to dance and what was it about the basketball player that made him cry.
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=675747&publicationSubCategoryId=63

'Idol' accused of weight bias; show denies claim

This story caught my attention by the very headline. A scandal from a show as big as American Idol would be a huge story if it were truly the case. The story is about a girl who made a complaint about being denied a front row seat during an American Idol filming on the grounds of her weight. The fact of the matter is that she was part of a group who were all promised really good seats, and hers just happened to be a few rows farther away from the stage.

The lead is a basic summary lead that answers Who, What, Where, and Why. The When gets answered during the story. News values include Prominence, Novelty, Conflict, Emotion, and Immediacy.

Alabama budget cuts to close 3 satellite crime labs http://blog.al.com/wire/2011/04/alabama_budget_cuts_to_close_3.html

I chose this particular story because it shows how budget cuts are even affecting solving crimes. It is sad when you have to cut programs that are heping keep society safe.

News values include: impact- this is affecting how crimes are solved and how quickly criminals are taken off the streets. immediacy: this is going to happen this year. Proximity: one of the crime labs that is closing is the one in Florence, which I believe to be the one on campus.

The lead works in this story. It tells what, when, why, and the relative where (Alabama).

Some questions that are left unanswered are, how frequently were these specific labs used? This question would help clear up any uncertainty of safety and crime-solving. Also, what technilogy was available in these specific facilities? Were there any pieces of technology that other labs did not have? What will happen with all that equipment?

Gingrich Foundation Recognizes Girl Scouts of the USA

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 2 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- In honor of Women's History Month, the Gingrich Foundation has selected Girl Scouts of the USA as its Charity of the Month for March.

Girl Scouts of the USA has become a premier leadership experience for young women since its founding in March 1912 when founder Juliette "Daisy" Gordon Low saw the need to mentor and encourage girls to embrace their talents and make their mark on the world.

Today, 2.3 million girls in the United States, from kindergarten to high school, participate in Girl Scouting, composing part of a worldwide family of 10 million Girl Scouts and Girl Guides across 145 countries. Girl Scouts of the USA has a total of 3.2 million members, including adult volunteers.

"Our family has been actively involved in the Girl Scouting program for many years," said Callista Gingrich, President of the Gingrich Foundation. "Girl Scouts of the USA provides an opportunity for girls to develop courage, confidence, and character. We are pleased to recognize the Girl Scouts of the USA as Charity of the Month and encourage others to join us in supporting their valuable efforts."

"We greatly appreciate the support of the Gingrich Foundation," says Timothy Higdon, Chief of External Affairs of Girl Scouts of the USA. "Support for Girl Scouts provides tremendous opportunities for girls to reach their leadership potential making the country and world a better place. We are grateful to the Gingrich family and Foundation for supporting Girl Scouts and choosing our work as the Charity of the Month."

Girl Scouting underscores the importance of respect and responsibility - of honing a girl's courage, strength, and honesty. Girl Scouts of the USA places a strong emphasis on academics, encouraging young girls to develop an early appreciation for academic excellence and lifelong learning.

The Gingrich Foundation is a domestic non-profit corporation founded by Callista and Newt Gingrich to support charitable purposes.

This story includes: emotions and information
Who: the Gingrich Foundation
What: has selected Girl Scouts of the USA as its Charity of the Month for March.
When: March 2 "Woman's History Month."
Where: n/a
Why: Girl Scouts of the USA has become a premier leadership experience for young women since its founding in March 1912