Foxnews.com goes old (elementary) school with 'pants on fire' jab at Obama

A few years ago, Mediaweek ran a story on the online news category in which we labeled Foxnews.com as a "right leaning" site—and we heard about it. Basically, the argument from the Fox PR team was that while you can safely call our prime-time lineup conservative (O’Reilly, Hannity), Foxnews.com is a straight news site. And after thinking about it, and spending some more time on the site, we agreed that they had a point. I’m not so sure we can agree to that anymore.

Facebook debate: 'Like' vs. 'Become a Fan'

You probably noticed that Facebook has changed its "Become a Fan" option on fan pages to simply "Like." From this point on, bands, artists and Mediaweek will be "liked" instead of "fan-ed." Another way of looking at it: People who signed up as "fans" of, say, Mediaweek, would have those votes automatically changed to "like" by the heavy hand of Facebook. ("I am a fan of Mediaweek" sure sounds more definitive to me than "I like Mediaweek.") Am I missing something here? I've mapped out a few pros and cons for the switch to "Like."
  PROS:
  a) It's shorter. "Like" is two fewer words than "Become a Fan."
  b) It's simpler. "Liking" something is more basic than "becoming" something.
  c) It's more romantic. You "like" the girl sitting across from you in fifth grade. You don't "Become a fan" of her.
  d) It's clearer. "Become a Fan" could theoretically be mistaken for transforming yourself into an spinning blade that creates wind.
  CONS:
  a) It's blander. I dig "desire," "dig" and "love" quite a bit more than "like."
  b) It's overused. "Like" is something a fifth-grade girl says a lot. "Like, you know, like, I like, like, that guy over there."
  c) It's more wishy-washy. "Liking" something doesn't mean you're a "fan" of it. I like the Muppets. Am I a fan? Nope.
  d) It's a verb. You can be a "fan" of something, but you can't be a "like" of something. (I learned that one in fifth grade, I think.)
  I probably just ruined this for you. But I have decent points, don't I?

—Posted by Will Levith

Living the Fantasy, part 3: the right music

You're probably picturing me sitting in a dank basement, type-type-typing away, adjusting my fantasy team, adding and dropping players, in pitch-black silence, mice skittering hither and thither. This is just not the case. What, do you think I'm a full-time blogger?
  I like to have an active fantasy experience, and one of the requirements is a decent soundtrack to go along with all the serious brainpower that goes into aligning my team in that winning order. (I actually lost this past week's matchup to my future cousin-in-law. You beat me fair and square, Ruff.)
  So, after the jump, check out five required tunes for your fantasy-baseball-league iPod.

—Posted by Will Levith

Nah, we won't pay to write about the iPad

The idea that the iPad will bring back the paywall for traditional media is a tantalizing one, but one organization went a little overboard when it tried to test that idea with the press. We Media, a digital strategy firm, asked us to pay a $50 registration fee to cover a gathering of media folks it's assembling to further gab about Apple's much-hyped tablet. When we demurred, We Media promptly backed down (saying the fee was only meant to offset luncheon expenses). Sorry, guys—the iPad might change a lot, but it won't change the fact that you can't charge people to write about you.

—Posted by Lucia Moses

Living the Fantasy, part 2: To drop or not to drop, that is the question

During many, many a fantasy baseball season, I've made the fatal error of dropping good players too quickly—i.e., at the beginning of the season, before they hit their fantasy-value stride. In recent years, Rockies closer Huston Street, Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter and then-Orioles closer George Sherrill come to mind. (You see? They had an effect on me.) Then I'm forced to watch as their star is born prior to the All-Star break on an opposing, more savvy fantasy owner's team. It's the ultimate "screw you."
  A little primer: Each team, whether you're playing in head-to-head, mixed, NL-only or cumulative-stat fantasy leagues, has the option of dropping and adding players who are either excelling or declining at a rapid rate over the season. For example, several seasons ago, the ESPN producer in our league had a lot riding on pitcher Jesus Colome, who was then a fairly sought-after prospect. He turned out, very quickly, to be a total fantasy dud, and the producer promptly "dropped" Colome and picked up another player to replace him. 

Living the Fantasy, part 1: Fantasy sports and the mainstream media

As I've mentioned, I'm a fantasy-sports fanatic. Once baseball season starts and our online fantasy draft goes down, it's full speed ahead for me. I'm dropping and picking up players, talking miles of smack and usually losing with the best of them. (I tend to rank around the bottom of the pack.)
  But even with my less-than-successful fantasy street cred, I want to take you on a fantastic voyage into a world you might not know much about. Each week, I'll give you a primer on what you need to know to be a fantasy superstar. This week: fantasy sports and the mainstream media. Read on after the jump.

—Posted by Will Levith

Bebo's cooked, but it did have a nice run

AOL is finally putting Bebo out to pasture, marking the end of one of the Web's worst acquisitions— $850 million for a social-networking property that is roughly one-tenth the size of Facebook. Oops. Truthfully, the new regime at AOL never had much faith or interest in Bebo—the damage had already been done, in part costing former top executives Ron Grant and Randy Falco. What's lost amid AOL's staggering waste of cash is that Bebo, while never a global phenomenon, at one point was one of the most vibrant incubators of original Web series. And it's a shame it's disappearing. When it comes to Web programming, failure has been the norm. But Bebo had a string of creative successes that combined the best of video's sight, sound and motion with social networking and community. The teen/young-adult-skewing site, which was always much bigger in the U.K. And Australia, had a nice run with lonelygirl15 successor KateModern, which at one point averaged 1.5 million views per episode. The underappreciated Bebo also launched the Real World-esque reality series The Gap Year, as well as The Secret World of Sam King, a branded-entertainment vehicle which was set in the mailroom of Universal Music. Bebo's teen-blogger drama Sofia's Diary even ran for a few seasons on British TV. How many other Web shows have made it that far?

—Posted by Mike Shields

Chapter 2: The iPad arrives, mirth ensues

The iPad arrived 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 3, weighing 1.5 pounds in splendid packaging. My husband brought it upstairs to show me as he carefully took a penknife to split the shrink-wrap. He unwrapped it and then and held it. Then he let me hold it. It felt good. I don't care what anyone says. The iPad is a game changer. As the Apple people have said, it's all about the experience and the experience is natural. I see the iPad as a wonderful personal entertainment device because of the bigger, crisper screen. ABC's player is amazing. For magazines and newspapers, this will be a boon. We went ahead and coughed up the exorbitant $5 for the Time magazine issue with Steve Jobs, his holiness, on the cover. I can't wait for publications like Architectural Digest to get their App up. Time made it easy to flip through the pages and skim stories. I loved the way you could view more pictures than you would in print by simply flipping through them: the story on Matisse sold me as I viewed several of his paintings. OK, so the numbers of users aren't there yet (just a few hundred thousand), but the possibilities for advertising seems much more natural, engaging and less intrusive than pop-ups and blinking banners on Web sites. Toyota had a full-page ad with embedded video. As you flipped through Time, ads would take up the whole screen —slightly akin to outdoor ads. The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times also got it right. You can really scan the paper as you would in print -something I've missed from Web sites. Newspapers should rushing their apps to Apple. Not every print purveyor on the iPad got the interface right. Dwell's was too much "turn the page." It was difficult to immerse. The publication didn't take advantage of links to enhance content. My only disappointment with the actual device is the virtual keyboard. It's faster than the iPhone, but not fast enough for this 90-word per minute touch typist. I'll have to get either a bluetooth keyboard or a keyboard doc. And then I'll decide if I can give up my MacAir. My husband has already ordered the 3G version. Soon there will be two.

—Posted by Katy Bachman

Fantasy baseball, how I've missed you so

A-ha! You thought you were going to come here to MediaFreak and read some expert entry about how to manage your mixed-league, NL-only or head-to-head fantasy baseball team. Alas, that's not what I'm writing about.
  I'm simply putting it out there that fantasy baseball and the drafting process is like none other out there—and is a time investment no simple-minded man should partake in. In my league, for example, there is a Sociology Ph.D., an Emmy-winning ESPN producer and a labor lawyer—you know what I am (I hope). This is not child's play; it's an all-out war of wills, minds and baseball lineups, which will consume our lives for the next several months on a daily—yes, I said, daily—basis. After all, unlike most fantasy sports (with the possible exception of basketball), the amount of tinkering one has to do to make a fantasy baseball lineup work on a weekly basis is unbelievable. It's a meticulous process only the most sure-handed of individuals can take part in. Think of fantasy-baseball players like heart surgeons (one false move and, well … you get the point).
  And then there's the strategy. Whom should you take in the first round of the draft and if you get the first pick? (Albert Pujols usually goes first, and Hanley "HanRam" Ramirez usually follows.) If you are stuck with the last pick (as my girlfriend's cousin was this year), how should you use that to your advantage? Should you have an auto or live draft (auto means the computer picks your team; live means you're actually online to draft your players)? Whom should you take in the later rounds? Rookies? Pitchers? Closers? Catchers? All or none of the above? It's a real mind-suck if you think about it. And to say that I was good at statistics in high school would be like saying a fish can ride a bicycle. So, I'm already down one major fantasy skill.
  But year in and year out, no fail, fantasy baseball—we do our league via Yahoo!, but many others use CBS Sports or ESPN or the scads of other online hosts for their leagues—is something that makes me happy even when the day is sucking hardcore. Maybe it's the secret community aspect of it—or the dream realized of actually "owning" an all-star team. Or maybe it's carried over from my days of baseball-card collecting. Who knows?
  Point being, if you're not a fantasy baseballer, you're missing out.

—Posted by Will Levith

Confessions of a Mac early-adopter widow

You've heard of a computer widow? Well, I'm an early-adopter widow. When it comes to having the latest electronic technology—as long as it's Apple—my husband knows no equal. We currently own two Apple TVs (we'd much rather give money to Steve Jobs than Comcast), two laptops (including a Macbook Air), my professional Mac with Intel tower, iPhones, iPods, Bluetooth headsets and mouses. We even have all the packaging. For my husband, unwrapping a new Mac product is half the thrill. (It also helps when we upgrade and sell the older version on eBay.) Not only does my husband have everything Mac, he even reads the Mac boards. In bed. Sigh. Perhaps the biggest event for him is when Jobs gets on stage. Since he can't watch at work, my husband watches on the "holy handset," his name for the iPhone. In bed. Sigh. Now, there is an up side to all of this. Since I work at home, I never have to fix my computer. Or install new software. Or figure out anything except to learn which button to push. It works. It's magic. Everyone's happy. It's a perfect marriage. No surprise, my husband was among the several million to jump online and order the iPad. He isn't even waiting for the 3G version, which won't be out until a month later. "I want to play with it; I can always put it on eBay when the 3G comes out," he reasons. It will arrive April 3. How do I know this? We were sitting with the Next Day Blinds sales guy figuring out a day when they can install new blinds in our bedroom. When the sales guy asked if April 3 might work, my husband immediately said, "Done. I'm not going anywhere that day." Next installment: My husband gets his iPad.

—Posted by Katy Bachman