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• Today's News Briefs Section •

• the SMART Inventors of Radio-WITEL 1890-2017 - ®™©

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• COMING: Who invented the mobile telephone -WiTEL 887?

• 102- 'We need all' to save net neutrality, says John Oliver
HBO's John Oliver addresses citizens to help save Net Neutrality. He isn't about to let the net neutrality rules be erased without a fight.
•••• In 2014, a 20-minute net neutrality segment on his HBO show "Last Week Tonight With John Oliver" went viral. It helped trigger an outpouring of public comments that led the Federal Communications Commission to enact tough regulations protecting the free flow of online content.
•••• Current FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is now moving to dismantle the tough legal oversight behind those rules -- which prohibit broadband companies from blocking websites, slowing connection speeds and charging for faster delivery of certain content -- Oliver took to the airwaves again urging Internet users to tell the agency to leave net neutrality alone. He encourages people to voice displeasure to the FCC.
••••"Every Internet group needs to come together like you successfully did three years ago … gamers; YouTube celebrities; Instagram models; Tom from MySpace, if you're still alive. We need all of you," Oliver said.
•••• In 2015 with more than 4 million people weighing in through public comments, the FCC went all in and overhauled the way it regulates broadband Internet by reclassifying it as a more heavily regulated telecommunications service, similar to rules applied to public utilities.
Several telecom companies including AT&T challenged the ruling in court, but in June 2016, a federal appeals court upheld Net Neutrality in full backing the principal of net neutralitiy.
••••This time as further encouragement, Oliver's team created a quicker way to navigate in the FCC website. Rather than searching for the specific page that solicits public comment on this topic, people can go to gofccyourself.com and click the "express" link on the right side to express their views.
••••In his segment, Oliver tried to rally support by portraying Internet service providers as eager to block competitors' content. And he described Pai as a dangerous public official who has said he wanted to take "a weed whacker" to telecommunications regulations and vowed that tough net neutrality rules' "days are numbered."
•••• Pai -- who has served on the FCC since 2012 and was appointed this year by President Trump to head the commission -- has argued that the FCC's decision in 2015 to subject broadband providers to the same utility-like oversight as conventional phone companies went against the light-touch regulatory approach that fueled the Internet's growth.
•••• He said the oversight imposed by the FCC's Democratic majority by a 3-2 party-line vote was a political move, urged by then-President Obama, that "put the federal government in control of the Internet" and chilled broadband investment.
• Click More tviStory 102-s90- John Oliver addresses citizens to help save net neutrality
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• 106- Federal Appeals Court Rejects Net Neutrality Review Request

Last month, May 1, 2017, a federal appeals court rejected a request to review its decision upholding the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality regulations.
•••• The victory for net neutrality supporters comes just days after FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced that he is starting proceedings to repeal the rules, and could set the stage for a Supreme Court showdown.
•••• In its denial for what's called an en banc review, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals cited FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's plans to repeal the net neutrality rules.
•••• "En banc review would be particularly unwarranted at this point in light of the uncertainty surrounding the fate of the FCC's Order," the decision reads. "The agency will soon consider adopting a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would replace the existing rule with a markedly different one."
•••"In that light, the en banc court could find itself examining, and pronouncing on, the validity of a rule that the agency had already slated for replacement."
•••• Conservatives and industry advocates oppose the rules because they reclassified broadband as a telecommunications service rather than an information service -- a shift that moved the industry under the FCC's jurisdiction and opened it up to tougher regulations.
•••Last week, Pai unveiled a proposal to get rid of the reclassification, and on May 18, the commission voted on starting the proceedings by soliciting comments from the public.
•••Pai said in a statement on Monday that he did not see the decision as a setback to his mission to undo the rules and that the outcome is "not surprising."
•••"Their opinion is important going forward, however, because it makes clear that the FCC has the authority to classify broadband Internet access service as an information service, as I have proposed to do," he said.
•••The next step for net neutrality opponents may be to appeal their case to the Supreme Court. If they're successful, the battle over internet regulation will be playing out simultaneously in the courtroom, at the FCC and in Congress.
•••Some congressional Republicans are hoping they can persuade Democrats to come to the table to find a legislative fix that would put an end to the uncertainty surrounding the issue.
• Click More tviStory 106-s90- Federal Appeals Court Rejects Net Neutrality Review Request

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• 115- Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF), May 14-1 - By Gary Sunkin
•••••The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, a program of Society for Science & the Public, and the world's largest international pre-collage science competition is taking place in Los Angeles from May 14-19, 2017. Students are selected selected from 425 affiliate fairs in 78 countries.
•••••Approximately 1,700 winners of local, regional, state, and national competitions participate in this week-long celebration of science, technology, engineering, and math. At the event, these young innovators share ideas, showcase cutting-edge research, and compete for more than USD 4 million in awards and scholarships.
• Rewarding Scientific Discovery and Innovation
••••At Intel ISEF, awards are based on students' abilities to tackle challenging scientific questions, use authentic research practices, and create solutions for the problems of tomorrow.
• Awards include:
• The Gordon E. Moore Award
This "best of the best" honor and a prize of USD 75,000 is awarded to the top Best of Category winner for outstanding and innovative research, as well as the potential impact of the work.
• The Intel Foundation Young Scientists Award
Two Gordon E. Moore Award runners-up, selected from the Best of Category winners, are awarded USD 50,000 each.
• The Dudley R. Herschbach SIYSS Award
Three finalists are selected to receive all-expenses-paid trips to attend the Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar (SIYSS), including attendance at the Nobel Prize ceremonies in Sweden. Recipients must be 18 years old prior to the Nobel ceremony in December.
• Intel ISEF Best of Category Awards
Best of Category projects, selected from the competition's 17 categories, receive USD 5,000 awards from the Intel Foundation. USD 1,000 grants are awarded to the winners' schools and the affiliated fairs they represent. Best of Category winners become eligible for the Gordon E. Moore and Intel Foundation Young Scientist Awards.
• Intel ISEF Grand Awards
The Intel Foundation provides Grand Awards for1st place with a $3,000 cash award; 2nd place $1,500; 3rd place $1,000; and 4th place $500.00
• Click More tviStory 115-s90- Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF)
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• 115- Festival de Cannes, May 17 - 28
The 70th annual Cannes Film Festival is scheduled to be held from 17 to 28 May 2017. Spanish film director and screenwriter Pedro Almodóvar has been selected as the President of the Jury for the festival with Italian actress Monica Bellucci hosting the opening and closing ceremonies.
•••• Roman Polansky joins Cannes film festival lineup. The director's latest thriller will premiere at the festival. The announcement arrives as the film-maker's lawyer continues to battle for the Oscar winner's return to the US after he fled in 1977. Last month, Polanski was denied the promise of "special treatment" if he came back to the US. Polansky has spent the last 40 years in Europe.
•••• The Rosemary's Baby director's new thriller Based on a True Story will play out of competition. It stars Eva Green as a mysterious woman who tries to insert herself into the life of a famous author, played by Polanski's off-screen wife Emmanuelle Seigner.
•••••••• Polanski's last film Venus in Fur also received its premiere at the Cannes film festival and won him the Cesar for best director. Last year's festival saw controversy for director.
• Click More tviStory 115-s90- Cannes Film Festival-Roman Polansky
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• FCC Chairman unveils plan to scrap Obama-era internet rules The nation's top telecommunications regulator unveiled a plan Wednesday to dismantle the tough net neutrality rules which the FCC put in place in 2015, that prohibit broadband providers from giving or selling access to speedy internet, essentially a "fast lane," to certain internet services over others. The Rules were adopted over the objections of major Internet service providers. The 2015 rules reclassified internet service and tightly regulated providers as if they were utilities.
•••• Ajit Pai, a Republican appointed by President Trump to chair the Federal Communications Commission, has been an outspoken opponent of the rules because they subject broadband providers to the same utility-like oversight as conventional phone companies
•••• AT&T, other telecom companies and industry trade groups sued to block the rules, arguing the FCC exceeded its authority in approving the regulations.

•••• •In June 2016, a federal appeals court upheld the regulations. Said ruling could make it difficult for the FCC to reverse the net neutrality rules.
•••• Pai said that he had sent a proposal to his fellow commissioners that would repeal that regulatory oversight as well as the agency's vague general conduct standard, which sought to protect Internet users from future unreasonably discriminatory practices.
•••• The Republican-controlled agency is expected to vote next month to open a formal process to repeal the rules, seeking public comment on how to ensure net neutrality without what Pai called "the overhang of heavy-handed regulation."
•••• One option could be for broadband providers to include net neutrality promises in their terms of service, subjecting them to enforcement action by the Federal Trade Commission if they reneged. Pai did not provide any specific ideas Wednesday, although he has met in recent weeks with telecom and Internet companies seeking input.
•••• His decision to start a rule-making process, which would last for several months, is likely to trigger a repeat of the outpouring of public comments and debate that engulfed the FCC in 2014 when the agency considered the net neutrality regulations.
•••• Democrats, consumer advocates and public interest groups blasted Pai's move, saying it threatened to give big broadband providers too much power over the Internet.
•••• But Pai said a "light-touch regulatory framework" had allowed the Internet to become "the greatest free-market success story in history." The FCC needs to return to that approach, he said, instead of a politically inspired Democratic power grab that "put the federal government in control of the Internet."
•••• Democratic Senator Edward Markey predicted Pai's plan to overturn the rules would face a "tsunami of resistance.
• Click More tviStory 102-s90- FCC Chair plans to revrese to Revesre 2015 adopted Net Neutrality Rule
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• 115- MIP TV, Cannes, France
PARIS-- Paul Telegdy, President of the Alternative and Reality Group at NBC, and Meredith Ahr, President of Universal Television Alternative Studio, will deliver a joint keynote at MIPTV 2017.
••••The global entertainment content market, MIPTV takes place in Cannes, France, from 3-6 April 2017.
••••Telegdy and Ahr will discuss the NBC network and studio's current and upcoming slate of programming and examine the evolution of free-to-air broadcast TV in an age of fragmented audiences and on-demand viewing. They will talk about the changes brought about by social media disruption, and their desire to innovate and update all aspects of development, production and programming that will be key in reaching global viewers.
•••• A former BBC Worldwide executive, Paul Telegdy was promoted to the newly created position of President, Alternative and Reality Group, NBC Entertainment in June 2016. He oversees NBC's unscripted series and specials programming, including such major franchises as "The Voice," "America's Got Talent," "American Ninja Warrior," "Little Big Shots," the Golden Globe Awards show, and "Running Wild with Bear Grylls."  Upcoming series, which are produced by Universal Television Alternative Studio, include the recently announced "World of Dance," executive produced by Jennifer Lopez, who sits on the judges' panel, and "Common Sense," executive produced by Stephen Lambert.
•••• Meredith Ahr , who reports to Telegdy, was named President in June 2016 of the newly created Universal Television Alternative Studio, an initiative that supplies shows to NBC as well as other broadcast and cable networks. The studio's most recent hit, "The Wall"-- hosted by Chris Hardwick and executive produced by SpringHill Entertainment and Glassman Media &emdash; was recently commissioned for 20 additional episodes.  The studio also successfully launched "Better Late Than Never," starring Henry Winkler and William Shatner, which has been picked up for a second season and will soon debut the first season of the dance competition "World of Dance." 
•••• From 2012-2106, Ahr was EVP, Alternative Programming at NBC Entertainment, where she oversaw all alternative series for both NBC and Universal Television. She was also responsible for creative oversight of Universal Television's roster of reality producers and first-look talent deals to bolster the studio's slate of productions in the unscripted arena.
•••• Their joint Media Mastermind Keynote will take place in the Palais des Festivals' Grand Auditorium on Monday 3 April at 5:20pm.
• Click More tviStory 115-s90- MIP TV, Cannes France
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• 115-MIPDoc2017
PARIS - MIPDoc, the leading factual content screenings and conference, will mark its 20th anniversary with a rich line-up of world premiere screenings and keynotes from some of the documentary genre's global heavyweights.
•••• Organised by Reed MIDEM, MIPDoc takes place in Cannes, France, on 1-2 April 2017, ahead of the world's entertainment content market MIPTV, which runs 3-6 April.
•••• MIPDoc will this year put coproduction more than ever to the fore through a series of premium events and unique opportunities to discover new projects for commissioning and coproduction, including the MIPDoc International Pitch; the Matchmaking sessions* with some of the most influential buyers and commissioners; and a keynote super-panel entitled "Factual Titans Speak International Coproduction" (Saturday 1 April at 5:15pm in the Grand Theatre).
•••• Speakers confirmed for the latter are Ralf Rueckauer, Vice President ZDFE.factual (Germany); Kyle Murdoch, Managing Director, NHNZ (New Zealand); Pamela Aguilar , Senior Director, Programming and Development, PBS (USA); Yuan Tian, Head of International Coproduction, CCTV9 (China); Hélène Ganichaud, Deputy Director, ARTE (France), and Jens Monath, Commissioning Editor TerraX, ZDF (Germany).
•••• Just as MIPTV has built a reputation for hosting major world TV premieres, MIPDoc is a key launchpad for premium international titles. This year's edition features two World Premiere Screenings of major international coproductions. On Saturday, "Big Pacific," a blue-chip exploration of the Earth's biggest ocean and its inhabitants is presented by ZDF Enterprises; and on Sunday, "Tokyo Phoenix: The Rise of Modern Japan," a look at how the Japanese capital has rebuilt itself after catastrophic events to become a vibrant megalopolis, will be showcased by NHK and CC&C.
• Click More tviStory 115-s90- MIPdoc, Cannes France
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• 115- NAB Show, April 22-27, Las Vegas

About NAB Show
NAB Show, held April 22-27, 2017 in Las Vegas, is the world's largest convention encompassing The M.E.T. Effect, the convergence of media, entertainment and technology. With 103,000 attendees from 166 countries and 1,700+ exhibitors, NAB Show is the ultimate marketplace for solutions that transcend traditional broadcasting and embrace content delivery to new screens in new ways. From creation to consumption, across multiple platforms and countless nationalities, NAB Show is where global visionaries convene to bring content to life in new and exciting ways. For complete details, visit www.nabshow.com.

About NAB
The National Association of Broadcasters is the premier advocacy association for America's broadcasters. NAB advances radio and television interests in legislative, regulatory and public affairs. Through advocacy, education and innovation, NAB enables broadcasters to best serve their communities, strengthen their businesses and seize new opportunities in the digital age. Learn more at www.nab.org.
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• The AFCI Locations Show and Global Production & Finance Conference
••••is a 3 day event being held from 6th April to 8th April, 2017, at the Marriott Burbank Airport & Convention Center, in Burbank, USA.
••••This three-day conference brings together hundreds of global production VIPs from independent filmmaker to industry veterans to media to film commissioners, while showcasing an unbeatable display of incentives, production locations, and business and support services etc. in the Travel & Tourism industry.
••••The exhibitors gathering here in The AFCI Locations Show are presenting a wide range of products and services such asCinematic Equipment and Resources, Convention and Visitor's Bureaus, Film and Television Studios, Film-friendly Locations, Financial Support and Incentive Brokers, Guilds and Associations, Hotels and Resorts, Industry Publications, New Media, Production Support Companies, Travel Support and more.
••••The second part, the AFCI Global Production & Finance Conference offers insights into co-production, new incentives / tax reliefs and changes in the film financing landscape, and is curated by Lightsource Asia Media Group.
••••Opening Remarks speakers were Kevin Clark, Exective Director AFCI; Rick Ambros, Partner, Lightsource Asia Media Group; and Robert Cain, Partner- Lightsource Asia Media Group.
• Click More tviStory 115-s90- AFCI Locations Show
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• 108- $peedollars®™©, The Digital Pay Game
•••• The NBS Speedollar concept ®™© of monetary exchange between the sellers of Goods, Products, and Services was perfected in the mid-60s in Pasadena, California. The monetary exchange was the Signet Credit Card System that issued the first Signet Credit Cards.
•••• In today's world the name$Speed$$ ®™© is now referred to as: credit card, a TAT Agreement, a mobile dollar exchange, ClearXchange, Venmo, or Zelle, said K. Stubblefield spokesman for www.speedollars.com.
•••• As millennials 'Venmo' each other money online tools and apps could someday overtake cash and checks as the primary way individuals pay each other.
•••• These systems will get a lift later this year when a coalition of the nation's biggest banks roll out Zelle, a mobile and online money-transfer network that will let any customer of nearly every U.S. bank send money to customers of any other bank using only a phone number or email address.
•••• Online and mobile peer-to-peer or p2p payment systems have grown rapidly over the last few years, and that is expected to continue. In a report published this month, finance industry research firm Aite Group estimated that Americans made about $147 billion in digital p2p transfers last year, up from $100 billion the year before.
•••• Later this year, a company owned by some of the nation's largest banks, will release Zelle, a payment system built to compete with Venmo and others.
•••• Zelle traces it roots back to 2011, when Bank of America, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase set out to build a system -- initially called ClearXchange -- that would allow their customers to send money to each other using only phone numbers and email addresses. Before, customers could only transfer money to friends and family by entering account and routing numbers -- information customers often didn't know and might be concerned about sharing.
•••• The biggest players in the market are still the banks, though they didn't do great job of explaining that ClearXchange would allow customers to send money to customers of other banks. And part of the problem was that every bank has its own name for its ClearXchange-powered p2p system, including Chase QuickPay, Wells Fargo SurePay and Capital One P2P Payments.
•••• Facebook and Google, too, allow users to send money to friends. Google has Google Wallet, which started as a mobile wallet app but became a p2p payment tool in 2015, and Facebook users have been able to send money through Facebook Messenger since 2015. •••••Though Venmo and other non-bank payment systems are still a small part of the p2p market, banks hope, to make digital p2p payments more mainstream, but want to make sure they keep their place in the financial order and keep their customers.
•••• Venmo is arguably the biggest name in peer-to-peer transfers and like like Google, Uber is in the process of becoming a verb -- as in "Venmo me."
•••• Founded in 2009, the company was acquired in 2012 by payment services provider Braintree, which was acquired the following year by online payments giant PayPal -- which offers p2p payments under its own name too.
•••The $peedollar$ concept of the 60s, is now the tool millenials use as the primary way to transfer money and pay each other.
• Click More tviStory 108-s90- $peedollars

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• 115- The latest technology at the OFC By Gary Sunkin
•••• A dynamic global gathering taking place at the Los Angeles Convention Center on March 19 - 23.
•••• The Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exhibition (OFC) is the largest global conference and exhibition for optical communications and networking professionals. For over 40 years, OFC has drawn attendees from all corners of the globe to meet and greet, teach and learn, make connections and move business forward.
•••• OFC attracts the biggest names in the field, offers key networking and partnering opportunities, and provides insights and inspiration on the major trends and technology advances affecting the industry. From technical presentations to the latest market trends and predictions.
•••• Some of the panelists at the "Hyperscale data centers: Inside and out" were Rafik Ward, SVP of Glodal Marketing. Ward is responsidle for Product Management, Strategic Management, Strategic Marketing, and Corporate Communication Functions since joining the company in 2003; Dr. Ryohei Urata, Sr. Staff Tech Lead,Google; Dr, Bardia Pezeshki President & CEO Kaiam; Glenn Wellbrock, Director Optical Transport Network, Architecture design and planning, Verizon.
•••• During the "Hyperscale Data Centers: Inside and Out" panel discussion, Ryohei Urata from Google was asked whether OSFP (octal small form factor pluggable) or QSFP-DD (quad small form factor pluggable double density) was going to lead in the intra-data center market. Ryohei outlined his vision of putting long-haul coherent optics in a client-side pluggable for speeds beyond 400G. This would allow Google to use the same module for inter- and intra-data center distances while also giving it the ability to use coherent optics within the data center.
•••• Google would expect the switch manufacturers to upgrade to the new form factor, which would eliminate the need for backward-compatibility with QSFP28.
•••• Google strongly favors the OSFP form factor. However, Ovum believes that placing coherent optics and a DSP within an OSFP module would be a huge challenge and require substantial R&D investments. Managing the power and heat within the module alone would be extremely difficult.
•••• The industry has been trying for years, unsuccessfully, to place long-haul optics into a client-size pluggable. To help the industry move forward, Google might need to assist with NRE (non-recurring engineering) funding.
•••• The last day of the 2017 OFC Conference and Exhibition offered another full day of technical sessions, the second Poster Session and the Postdeadline Papers Session. In the Exhibition, the Expo Theaters featured the concluding two panels for Market Watch, one product showcase and five show floor programs.
• Click More tviStory 115-s90- Optical Fiber Communication Conference
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• 102-Snapchat IPO Pops
"Snap's IPO is a historic multiplier for our city's tech sector," Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said. "It has great potential to power new dreams, create more opportunity and drive innovation in what is already one of the world's largest tech hubs."
•••• Snapchat allows users' messages and photos to disappear seconds after they're displayed. Most of the 158 millions of people who use Snapchat each day are younger than 35.
•••• Snap Inc shares closed at $24.48 in their first day of trading, a 44% jump. Shares were priced at $17, they opened up on the New York stock exchange at 24.00, the price at which new shareholders could opt to sell and prospective shareholders cold choose to buy.
• Employees at Snap are celebrating
Snap Inc.'s employees helped turn the Venice start-up into a $37-billion public company. Now, the question is, will they do the same on their own.
•••• The region's tech community is hoping the wealth bestowed to hundreds of Snap Inc. employees by the third-largest initial public offering in California history spurs them to become entrepreneurs and investors in their own right. Snap employees already are having conversations with venture capitalists to help line up possible future funding.
•••• Workers peeling off after an IPO or an acquisition is a common phenomenon. Some people prefer returning to a smallere operation where bureaucracy doesn't stifle their bold ideas. Others view their new fortune both as a calling card that boosts up their reputation and a safety net that hedges against the financial risks of entrepreneurship.
•••• Employees at Snap are now sitting on billions of dollars' worth of shares. But more than half of the company's employees joined in the last 18 months, and most of the stock in their pay package doesn't arrive until their third and fourth years of employment. That's a very powerful incentive to stick around. In addition, Snap went public at an early stage, and its co-founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy, hold an outsized vision for the company's potential. Those factors could lead people to believe the fortune waiting ahead of them at Snap is hard to beat.
•••• Also, there are other reasons to stay longer. Snap's employees are valuable because they've seen what it takes to take a company public. Learning the basics of operating in a public company will make them even more valuable.
•••• For many there is going to be desire to stay with that mothership for a little while, but over time, maybe three years out, a lot more will go out on their own."
•••• Leaving however comes with risks, though. Companies generally don't welcome back people who want to return down the road. And most start-ups don't turn into billion-dollar businesses.
• Click More tviStory 102-s90- Snaphat IPO
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• 101- The Envelope Please!
•••• PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accountancy firm that has overseen the counting of the Oscars ballots for 83 years, has apologized for the most spectacular blunder in the history of the starry ceremony -- when the award for best film was mistakenly presented to La La Land instead of the actual winner Moonlight.
•••• The envelopes were locked in a safe until the day of the ceremony, when the accountants travelled separately to the theatre under security protection, each with a complete set of results. Each carried their briefcase of envelopes to the stage, standing stage right and stage left, ready to hand them to the presenters seconds before they walked on stage. They were confident nothing could go wrong &endash; until the night when it did, and the world was watching.
•••• The company promised to investigate the error after Warren Beatty, who was presenting the best picture award with "Bonnie and Clyde" co-star Faye Dunaway, ended up with the wrong envelope. As seen by millions of viewers, Beatty opened the envelope, he paused, as if not quite sure what he was seeing, but then passed it to Dunaway, who announced "La La Land!" What followed was unprecedented in Oscar history.
•••• Chaos duly reigned on stage as La La Land's cast and crew grappled with the turn of fortunes. As the audience applauded, open-mouthed, host Jimmy Kimmel tried to explain what had happened, before Warren Beatty took to the mic, sheepishly grinning through the madness.
•••• "There's a mistake."La-La Land producer Horowitz gently pushed Beatty out of the way to gesture to the cast and crew of Moonlight and say, "Moonlight, you guys won best picture". 'This is not a joke, Moonlight has won Best Picture'
•••• The exact procedure for dealing with such a mistake was unknown because such errors had never been made in the Oscars' 88-year history.
•••• Attention will focus on a provision intended to make the system failsafe: there are duplicate envelopes of the complete set of results, held in the wings in case anything should go wrong with a presenter or an envelope. The key question will be whether the duplicate of the best actress award, which had just been announced, was handed to Beatty in the wings as he walked out to announce best picture.
•••• The snafu was the talk of the town on social media and the Governor's ball that followed the awards.
• Click More tviStory 101-s90- 89th Oscars, "The Envelope Please"
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• 101-Oscars No Shows, 1960 - 2016
• Hollywood stars who snubbed the Academy Awards
Not everyone in Hollywood enjoys the gala event. Over the years, a handful of Hollywood A-listers have refused to attend the ceremony, and some who've sidestepped the show did so when they were up for awards of their own.
•••• From Katharine Hepburn to Will Smith, here are Hollywood stars who snubbed the Oscars.
•••• 2016 - Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith called for a boycott of the Academy Awards ceremony upon learning that the nominations, for the second year in a row, featured no actors of color. The actress and her superstar husband, Will Smith, were soon joined in the boycott by other Hollywood heavyweights including Oscar-winning directors Spike Lee and Michael Moore, while other stars -- including Oscar winners George Clooney and Lupita Nyong'o -- spoke out in support.
•••• 2003 - Peter O' Toole - In 2003, Peter O' Toole became the first actor to ever refuse an honorary Oscar. Maybe he did so out of pride. The legendary "Lawrence of Arabia" star, who'd been nominated eight times throughout his nearly 50-year career and lost every single time, wrote to the Academy, explaining, "I am still in the game and might win the lovely bugger outright. Would the Academy please defer the honor until I am 80?"
•••• The Academy responded by telling him stars like Paul Newman and Henry Fonda were given Honorary Oscars and went on to actually win one shortly after. O'Toole was sold, and happily showed up to accept his award.
•••• 2002 - Woody Allen though he's been nominated several times throughout his decades-long career, has never shown up to receive an Academy Award, explaining, "I have no regard for that kind of ceremony. I just don't think they know what they're doing. When you see who wins those things -- or who doesn't win them -- you can see how meaningless this Oscar thing is."
•••• Allen did make one appearance on the Oscars stage. In 2002, just six months after the September 11 attacks, the director presented a montage of films made in his beloved New York City.
•••• 1987 - Paul Newman was nominated six times from 1961 until 1982, and although he attended the ceremony many times, he never took home an award.
•••• Newman was nominated a seventh time in 1987 for "The Color Of Money." All bets were on him, but by that point, the actor was over it, and decided ahead of time he wouldn't attend the ceremony. "It's like chasing a beautiful woman for 80 years. Finally, she relents and you say, 'I'm terribly sorry. I'm tired,'" Newman explained.
•••• 1981 - John Gielgud, British actor, charmed audiences as the unflappable, acid-tongued butler Hobson in 1981's "Arthur," but the actor didn't bother showing up to the ceremony to accept his award when his name was called.
•• Gielgud, who throughout his eight-decade career nabbed two Oscars, three Tonys, an Emmy and a Grammy (among other honors) -- once said of awards shows, "I really detest all the mutual congratulation baloney and the invidious comparisons which they evoke.""
•••• 1974 - Katharine Hepburn holds a Hollywood record for being nominated 12 times and winning four Oscars over her long career, but she never attended the ceremony to hear her name called. "As for me, prizes are nothing," she once said. "My prize is my work." Hepburn made exactly one appearance at the Academy Awards in 1974 to present the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award to producer and friend Lawrence Weingarten. "I'm living proof that a person can wait 41 years to be unselfish," she quipped.
•••• 1973 - Marlon Brando caused a ruckus when he boycotted the ceremony in 1973 to call attention to Hollywood's misrepresentation of Native Americans. Brando, who won Best Actor honors that year for his performance in "The Godfather," had Native American civil rights activist Sacheen Littlefeather approach the podium to decline his award and give a protest speech on his behalf.
•••• 1970 - George C. Scott was the first actor to refuse to accept an Oscar. The legendary actor, who was nominated in 1970 for his gripping portrayal of Gen. George S. Patton in "Patton," telegraphed the Academy months before the ceremony to let them know he didn't want the award. On the night of the ceremony, presenter Goldie Hawn opened the envelope and cried, "Oh my God! The winner is George C. Scott," but the actor, true to his word, was home on his farm in upstate New York.
•••• Scott said of the Oscars, "The ceremonies are a two-hour meat parade, a public display with contrived suspense for economic reasons." Oops!
•••• 1960 - Elizabeth Taylor, screen legend, was a frequent Oscar nominee, nabbing her first award for her role as a high-class escort in 1960's "Butterfield 8." Six years later, Taylor was poised to win again for her riveting performance opposite husband Richard Burton, who was also nominated, for "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" However, Burton had already lost four times at the Oscars and would almost certainly lose again, so both husband and wife boycotted the ceremony in protest -- though Taylor made up an excuse about Burton being afraid to fly back to the states from Paris. Taylor did win again and never issued a statement thanking the Academy.
• Click More tviStory 101-s90- Ocars No Shows, 1960 - 2016
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• 106- Electronic Vs Digital Signatures
Is an electronic signature legally binding? Is there a difference between electronic and digital signatures? And how do you know who is actually the signer?
••••In  litigation you may have to respond to a subpoena to produce all relevant documents, in the custody or control of you, your attorneys and third-party agents. If the documents no longer exist or are unavailable, there may be little you can do.
••••The where when and why were the records are deleted is a big deal. The destruction, alteration or failure to preserve evidence is known as "spoliation," which is also a criminal offense.
••••Unlike the low-tech, but highly efficient, paper shredder, deleted computer files are not always irretrievable and sometimes can be found on the hard drive, backup tapes on Internet-based storage and backup systems such as iCloud, Google Drive or Dropbox.
••••An electronic signature is any electronic symbol used with an intent to sign a document. Under the federal E-Sign Act and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, the parties to an agreement must express an intent and agree to execute the agreement electronically, which often takes the form of separate correspondence or language within the agreement indicating such an intent. 
••••An e-signature, like any signature, though, can be challenged by a party who claims that it is not his or her signature or that consent was not given. This is where digital signatures come in. They are generated by software applications and provide greater surety to both the person signing a document and the one receiving it. 
••••Last year, to eliminate any confusion over electronic versus digital signatures, California adopted Assembly Bill 2296 clarifying the standards of what constitutes a digital signature.
••••Under the bill, digital signatures use software to generate a signature that is unique to the person using it, must be capable of verification (such as by collecting the email and Internet protocol address of the signer) and are linked to the executed document in such a way that if it is changed the digital signature is invalidated.
••••Digital signatures are akin to "electronic fingerprints" and create a coded digital message that securely links the signer with the document being signed and verifies the chain of custody of the document.
••••A valid contract can be created using electronic signatures that do not meet the stringent criteria of a digital signature, but the risk of having the validity of a signature challenged is dramatically reduced by using digital signatures. Digital signatures are, in essence, the Internet equivalent of a notary -- but without the fancy stamp.
• Click More tviStory 106-s90- Electronic Vs. digital signatures
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• 102- FCC's latest spectrum auction nets $7 billion for US Treasury
The second major forward phase of the broadcast incentive spectrum auction by US telecoms and broadcast regulator the FCC has come to a close.
••••The FCC is carrying out an incentive auction of unused analogue TV spectrum, left over from the digital TV transition. The hope is to free up more spectrum for 4G/5G and advanced wireless services, like mobile video.
••••The two-sided auction for the spectrum was meant to pay broadcasters a fair value for their assets before selling them to the highest-bidding mobile carriers.
••••After months of action, bids from spectrum hunters have totalled $19.63 billion for 70 MHz of spectrum sold by broadcasters in an earlier, reverse auction phase.
••••Now follows a smaller assignment phase that could bring some extra funds as bidders aim for more specific frequencies in markets. But with the auction largely complete, the US Treasury will get about $7 billion for deficit reduction.
••••Once the assignment phase ends (in two to three weeks), the FCC will reveal complete bid winners from the auction. Broadcasters from the reverse auction are free to talk about the winnings publicly, while forward participants must remain silent for now.
••••Those broadcasters that chose not to participate will have their spectrum 'repacked' into other bands to protect their signals from neighbouring interference and ensure uninterrupted TV service. The FCC has proposed setting aside up to two UHF channels in every US TV market for Wi-Fi and other unlicensed wireless services as well, but this so-called 'vacant channel' effort has been controversial, as it takes valuable real estate away from low-power TV stations (LPTVs) looking to find new homes after the agency's repacking, broadcasters have argued.
• Click More tviStory 102-s90- FCC's latest spectrum auction nets $7 billion for US Treasury

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