The Pulitzer Prizes in journalism, which honor the work of American newspapers appearing in print, have been expanded to include many organizations that publish only on the Internet, the Pulitzer Prize Board announced today.

The Board has decided to allow entries made up entirely of online content to be submitted in all 14 Pulitzer journalism categories.

While this is an important milestone for online media, the Pulitzer board notes that “all entered material — whether online or in print — should come from United States newspapers or news organizations that publish at least weekly, that are ‘primarily dedicated to original news reporting and coverage of ongoing stories,’ and that ‘adhere to the highest journalistic principles.'”

In other words – most new media journalists will be out of the running for Pulitzers.

Here’s Pulitzer’s explanation:

Consistent with its historic focus on daily and weekly newspapers, the Board will continue to exclude entries from printed magazines and broadcast media and their respective Web sites.

Is Pulitzer is a day late and a dollar short with this announcement?

When the news of the day is that the publisher of the Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun and Los Angeles Times is declaring bankruptcy, does it make sense to define the future of your organization around traditional newspapers?

Traditional geographic boundaries and organizational structures don’t define or limit media as they once did. The most important stories of 2009 could be broken by the Chicago Tribune and the LA Times – but they are more likely to break in the world of new media. 

You’re not going to get a Pulitzer anytime soon for your blog, your podcast or your video podcast.

But that doesn’t make what you do less relevant. It makes the Pulitzer prize less relevant.

Barron’s reports that the future of Microsoft’s Zune media player is in Danger:

The company will unveil (at the Consumer Electronics Show January 7) a new device combining the features of the company’s Zune music player and its Danger Sidekick handhelds, combined with…. “some motion enhancement features” using an accelerometer.

That would be consistent with other recent reports that Microsoft is readying a combined Zune/Danger device; CNBC reported in November that the company plans to unveil a Zune-based phone code-named Pink; that follows previous reports that Microsoft was a working on a project known as “Project Pink,” or “the pink and purple project” to do something similar.

Microsoft acquired mobile platform developer Danger in April of this year, and people have been speculating about the purchase since then. According to Microsoft’s Danger website, the goal of the Danger platform is to “be the industry’s preferred Java mobile Internet platform.”

Given Microsoft’s history, a likely move for them would be to create a Zune Danger Phone, an alternative to the iPhone designed to be a robust client for Exchange and the company’s other enterprise applications, in addition to being a Zune.

Zune Phone Concept Image: Zunescene

Chicago-based Tribune Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today. The publisher of the Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun and Los Angeles Times cited a $13 billion debt load and a “perfect storm” of declining advertising revenue in a worsening economy, which led to today’s filing.

The company hopes to keep its newspapers and television and radio stations in operation while restructuring goes on.

Tribune was bought in late 2007 by commercial real estate mogul Sam Zell for $8.2 billion, in a transaction that took the company private, but added to the company’s existing $5 billion debt. The company sold Newsday to Cablevision for $650 million, and is looking for buyers for some of its other assets, like the LA Times.

Tribune Co. also owns Wrigley Field and the Chicago Cubs baseball team, which are not included in the bankruptcy filing, but are up for sale.

The news of Tribune Co’s bankruptcy filing comes on the heels of news earlier today that the venerable New York Times would use its headquarters building as collateral for a $250 million loan. Traditional newspapers and magazines are suffering in the wake of changes in the way readers get their news. The Christian Science Monitor recently announced the end of its daily paper edition. PC Magazine likewise announced it is suspending its print edition in the wake of Ziff Davis’ bankruptcy filing.

Want a safe job in journalism?

Work in television.

The Committee To Protect Journalists reports that, for the first time, more online journalists are jailed worldwide today than journalists working in any other medium.

In its annual census of imprisoned journalists, the Committee found that 45 percent of all media workers jailed worldwide are bloggers, Web-based reporters, or online editors.

At least 56 online journalists are jailed worldwide, according to CPJ’s census, a tally that surpasses the number of print journalists for the first time. The number of imprisoned online journalists has steadily increased since CPJ recorded the first jailed Internet writer in its 1997 census. Print reporters, editors, and photographers make up the next largest professional category, with 53 cases in 2008. Television and radio journalists and documentary filmmakers constitute the rest.

CPJ’s survey found 125 journalists in all behind bars on December 1, a decrease of two from the 2007 tally. China continued to be world’s worst jailer of journalists, a dishonor it has held for 10 consecutive years. Cuba, Burma, Eritrea, and Uzbekistan round out the top five jailers from among the 29 nations that imprison journalists. Each of the top five nations has persistently placed among the world’s worst in detaining journalists.

“Online journalism has changed the media landscape and the way we communicate with each other,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. “But the power and influence of this new generation of online journalists has captured the attention of repressive governments around the world, and they have accelerated their counterattack.”

Audioengine has introduced a high-end wireless adapter for iPods and iPhones, the Audioengine W2. 

The AW2 uses uncompressed CD-quality transmission technology with no network setup, software, or computer required. The system lets you wirelessly send you music, at up to CD-quality, to a hi-fi system.

The Audioengine W2 (AW2) Premium Wireless Adapter for iPod is priced at US $169.

AW2 Features

• Use your iPod for total wireless music control
• Quick setup, Receiver included
• Super-compact size, no batteries needed
• No separate remote or base station needed
• Uncompressed CD-quality digital transmission
• No dropouts, static or interference
• Wi-Fi technology beats Bluetooth and FM
• HOP feature works with up to 8 receivers

Specifications

• Wi-Fi frequency band: 2.4-2.4835GHz
• THD+N (A-weighted): <0.03%
• Latency: <20mSec
• Range (typical): 30ft (9 meters)
• Audio frequency response: 20Hz to 22Khz (+/-1.5db)
• Output voltage: 830mV
• Channel separation: 65dB
• Dimensions (each): 100x30x10mm

TechVideoBlog has measured the HD qualities of the various video services now offering HD video sharing, and it looks like YouTube and Facebook are now the leaders. 

Here are the specs they measured, along with links to example videos:

• Youtube HD: 1280×720 – 2mbit/s H264 – full framerate – 44hz stereo 254kbit/s AAC audio
• Facebook HD: 1280×720 – 2.5mbit/s H264 – full framerate – 44hz 146kbit/s AAC stereo audio
• SmugMug HD: 640×360 – 1.4mbit/s H264 – full framerate – 48hz AAC stereo audio
• Sevenload HD: 1280×720 – 1.8mbit/s H264 – full framerate – 48hz 96kbit/s AAC stereo audio
• Vimeo HD: 1280×720 – 1.7mbit/s VP6 – full framerate – 44hz 128kbit/s mp3 stereo audio
• Dailymotion HD: 1280×720 – 1.3mbit/s VP6 – full framerate – 44hz 96kbit/s mp3 stereo audio

This highlights how quickly things are changing in the world of video sharing. A week ago, many were turning to Vimeo because of its support for higher quality video.

We’ve mentioned President-elect Barack Obama‘s use of YouTube previously – but it’s worth noting again that he’s using YouTube in a revolutionary way. 

In his latest video, he outlines his plan for the immediate future of the United States, focusing on 5 key points:

1. ENERGY: “[W]e will launch a massive effort to make public buildings more energy-efficient. Our government now pays the highest energy bill in the world. We need to change that. We need to upgrade our federal buildings by replacing old heating systems and installing efficient light bulbs. That won’t just save you, the American taxpayer, billions of dollars each year. It will put people back to work.”
2. ROADS AND BRIDGES: “[W]e will create millions of jobs by making the single largest new investment in our national infrastructure since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s. We’ll invest your precious tax dollars in new and smarter ways, and we’ll set a simple rule – use it or lose it. If a state doesn’t act quickly to invest in roads and bridges in their communities, they’ll lose the money.”
3. SCHOOLS: “[M]y economic recovery plan will launch the most sweeping effort to modernize and upgrade school buildings that this country has ever seen. We will repair broken schools, make them energy-efficient, and put new computers in our classrooms. Because to help our children compete in a 21st century economy, we need to send them to 21st century schools.”
4. BROADBAND: “As we renew our schools and highways, we’ll also renew our information superhighway. It is unacceptable that the United States ranks 15th in the world in broadband adoption. Here, in the country that invented the internet, every child should have the chance to get online, and they’ll get that chance when I’m President – because that’s how we’ll strengthen America’s competitiveness in the world.”
5. ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORDS: “In addition to connecting our libraries and schools to the internet, we must also ensure that our hospitals are connected to each other through the internet. That is why the economic recovery plan I’m proposing will help modernize our health care system – and that won’t just save jobs, it will save lives. We will make sure that every doctor’s office and hospital in this country is using cutting edge technology and electronic medical records so that we can cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help save billions of dollars each year.”

While Obama has discussed much of this before, it’s amazing to see the President to be outlining his plans with new media.

via Politico

It looks like everybody’s going HD.

Facebook has announced that it will now support HD video:

Since we launched video last year, more than 45 million videos have been uploaded to Facebook with approximately 100,000 new videos added each day. Starting today, you’ll be able to upload higher quality videos to Facebook and also embed your Facebook videos on other websites.

Higher quality video means we’ll be supporting higher resolutions—as much as 1280 by 720 pixels (720p)—which means crisper quality than was previously possible on Facebook. Plus, we’ve upgraded our audio, too.

YouTube hasn’t announced it yet – but some videos at the site started showing up in HD earlier this week.

Today there were a lot of big tech stories that, on the surface, seem unrelated:

• Verizon is rolling out a Blackberry Storm OS update;
• S&P Cuts Motorola’s rating to junk;
• AT&T hopes to have their own uber-phone OS;
• Dell is charging a $150 premium for Windows XP;
• The Kindle may be getting pwned by the Sony Reader, which is getting pwned by an iPhone app; and
• Obama rocks the iPod, not the Zune.

Maybe these stories are completely unrelated – but it seems that there’s a common theme: everybody’s trying to be Apple at their game, and failing.

Is anybody gaining ground against Apple at anything right now?

Turns out the Zunegate hype about Obama being a Zune fan may have been unwarranted.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Obama’s officially an iPod fan:

Yesterday the Philadelphia City Paper ignited a controversy over the question, with a blog entry that included the innocuous detail that the President-elect was working out while listening to the Microsoft (not Apple!) music player.

But today a spokesman puts the vicious rumor to rest. “Not true, the President-elect uses an iPod,” he says.

Will it end there?

Or could the official story just be a cover up?