Sky News clamps down on Twitter use

Sky News clamps down on Twitter use
Reporters banned from reposting non-company tweets and told to check with the news desk before breaking news stories

Sky News reporters

Sky News has told its journalists not to repost information from any Twitter users who are not an employee of the broadcaster.

An email to staff on Tuesday laid out new social media guidelines for Sky News employees, including a contentious ban on retweeting rival "journalists or people on Twitter".

The new guidelines also warn Sky News journalists to "stick to your own beat" and not to tweet about non-work subjects from their professional accounts.

Sky News has cultivated a reputation for digital innovation and has used Twitter to break news on events including the Arab Spring uprising and England riots. Journalists at the broadcaster expressed shock and dismay at the new guidelines, which they claim are a retrograde step.

The email to staff, which has been seen by MediaGuardian, said: "So, to reiterate, don't tweet when it is not a story to which you have been assigned or a beat which you work.

"Where a story has been Tweeted by a Sky News journalist who is assigned to the story it is fine, desirable in fact, that it is retweeted by other Sky News staff.

"Do not retweet information posted by other journalists or people on Twitter. Such information could be wrong and has not been through the Sky News editorial process."

The email says that the guidelines have been introduced "to ensure that our journalism is joined up across platforms, there is sufficient editorial control of stories reported by Sky News journalists and that the news desks remain the central hub for information going out on all our stories".

The email said: "1. Don't tweet when it's someone else [sic] story. Stick to your own beat. 2. Always pass breaking news lines to the news desk before posting them on social media networks."

It added that "on a number of occasions" those guidelines have been flouted "resulting in us running different information on Twitter other Sky platforms or the news desks learning from Twitter details that should have been first passed on to them".

The guidelines on checking tweets with Sky News news desk do not apply to "verbatim reporting" on Twitter of court cases, parliament or judicial inquiries "to which you have been assigned".

A Sky News spokeswoman said: "Sky News has the same editorial procedures across all their platforms including social media to ensure the news we report is accurate."


Source: Guardian.co.uk

Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime vs Motorola Xoom 2 Media Edition

Paul Briden

We compare the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime to Motorola's 8.2-inch Xoom 2 Media Edition

Published on Dec 9, 2011

We take a look at the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime to see how it stacks up against Motorola’s new Xoom 2 Media Edition.

Form

Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime - 263x180.8x8.3mm, 586g

Motorola Xoom 2 Media Edition - 216x139x9mm, 386g

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime is one good-looking device. The chassis is made from spun aluminium, giving it an interesting texture and the build quality is second to none.

Other elements which are pleasing to the eye include the nicely sized and spaced bezel around the screen, elegantly shaped corners and a svelte 8.3mm thin profile.

Overall it’s very minimalist in style which goes well with the futuristic-looking metallic finish. The attachable keyboard dock is as thin as the main tablet and equally stylish.

Motorola’s new generation of Xoom tablets have had a complete redesign, which is quite striking to behold. Instead of the usual rectangular shape Motorola has echoed the design of its Razr smartphone handset with angular and tapered edges and corners.

Again the bezel space around the screen is a flattering size and aluminium has been used for the construction of the outer shell, though not quite as extensively as on the Asus.

The Xoom 2 Media Edition is extremely light and thin coming in at 386g and 9mm thick – that’s an 8.2-inch tablet which is lighter than many 7-inch tablets.

We think both devices, despite being very different, have fantastic design elements and are very appealing to look at.

However, the Xoom 2 Media Edition is just that bit more eye-catching with some very individual styling.

Winner – Motorola Xoom 2 Media Edition

Display 
The Xoom 2 Media Edition has an unusually sized display at 8.2-inches – the first of its kind. It’s a TFT capacitive touchscreen with multi-touch and made from toughened Gorilla Glass.

The resolution clocks in at 1280x800 pixels giving a pixel density of 184 pixels-per-inch (ppi).

The Transformer Prime has a larger screen at 10.1-inches and uses a Super IPS + LCD technology, which results in a much brighter display.

It’s a capacitive multi-touch screen, again made from reinforced Gorilla Glass, with the same 1280x800 pixel resolution at a lower pixel density than its rival at 149ppi.

The Motorola’s display may be smaller, though not by much, but it’s got a much sharper picture and higher pixel density making it our choice this round.

Winner - Motorola Xoom 2 Media Edition

Storage 
Motorola’s tablet is a little limited on storage space, especially with a name like 'Media Edition.' At 16GB and no card support there's not much to play with here.

So what's a user to do? Simple: use Motorola’s MOTOBLUR cloud service to stream content directly from your home computer, which supposedly works even if you’re miles away (we're talking a different country here), to the slate. 

We understand the logic: everyone needs to flock to the cloud. But what if you're not bothered about the cloud? Surely it'd be better to give consumers the best of both worlds, like Apple does with its iPad and iCloud? 

Apart from the internal storage, the Xoom 2 Media Edition is also packing 1GB of RAM to assist the processor in its duties.

Asus’ Transformer Prime is much more handsomely equipped on internal storage with options for 32GB or 64GB onboard. It also has 1GB of RAM like its opponent but unlike the Motorola it has a card slot with support for microSD up to 32GB.

We have to side with Asus on this one.

Winner - Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime