bits and pieces

WAL-MART PLANS TO MARKET DIGITAL HEALTH RECORDS SYSTEM
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Steve Lohr]
Wal-Mart Stores is striding into the market for electronic health records, seeking to bring the technology into the mainstream for physicians in small offices, where most of America's doctors practice medicine. Wal-Mart's move comes as the Obama administration is trying to jump-start the adoption of digital medical records with $19 billion of incentives in the economic stimulus package. The company plans to team its Sam's Club division with Dell for computers and eClinicalWorks, a fast-growing private company, for software. Wal-Mart says its package deal of hardware, software, installation, maintenance and training will make the technology more accessible and affordable, undercutting rival health information technology suppliers by as much as half.
http://benton.org/node/23139
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NEW JOB FOR THE MAN WHO EXPOSED COMCAST'S P2P THROTTLING
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Nate Anderson]
Robb Topolski, the man who helped to bring to light Comcast's throttling of P2P uploads, has a new job: Chief Technologist of the Open Technology Initiative at the New America Foundation. OTI is the New America unit headed by Sascha Meinrath. The move is significant because Topolski now serves in an official capacity with three of the main DC groups fighting for network openness and white spaces, New America, Free Press, and Public Knowledge. (He was already advising the latter two groups.) That combination of jobs should make Topolski an even more influential voice on network management issues in DC.
http://benton.org/node/23136
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SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER SAYS WORKERS TOLD JOBS WILL END
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Robert MacMillan]
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has told employees they might lose their jobs as soon as next week after a deadline for Hearst Corp to sell the newspaper passed on Monday. Hearst, which also may close the San Francisco Chronicle if the paper cannot cut costs, has not yet decided what to do with the Seattle paper. "These options exist: 1) Seek buyer. If no buyer, then 2) Go digital, or 3) Close. No decision has been made," Hearst spokesman Paul Luthringer told the paper.
http://benton.org/node/23117
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CANADA REJECTS CUTBACKS ON US SERIES BUYS
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Etan Vlessing]
The Canadian government has rejected a proposal by the country's television regulator to curb domestic broadcasters' spending on U.S. series. Domestic broadcasters contend that they require the profits generated by airing U.S. series to subsidize the production of expensive homegrown dramas. Canadian independent producers, unions and guilds favor the CRTC's proposal for a so-called 1:1 ratio on Canadian and non-Canadian program expenditures as a welcome measure to promote homegrown series production.