Couldn’t Help But Notice (011007)

From the NY Times, in an article on hijacked computers (may require free registration):

the consensus among scientists is that botnet programs are present on about 11 percent of the more than 650 million computers attached to the Internet.

_______________________________________

Why were the music moguls so paranoid about online music? It turns out that it’s saving their skins:

Album sales in the United States - on CD and through legal downloads - fell by 4.9% in 2006, according to research company Nielsen Soundscan.
But the growth of digital music, especially the purchasing of individual songs, meant music sales rose by 19.4% overall, compared to the previous year.

Digital single-track sales were up by two-thirds, while twice as many digital albums were sold as in 2005.

_______________________________________

Rumors of the cable news race tightening appear to be somewhat on target:

The 2006 cable primetime ranker is out, and Fox News Channel is the only cable news in the top 20. FNC is #8, behind Nick at Nite and ahead of FX. The channel averaged 1,404,000 viewers in primetime in 2006.

CNN came in #26, averaging 752,000 primetime viewers. MSNBC is ranked #35, averaging 382,000 viewers.

This link from last year about 2005 results, in a post primarily about revenue, indicates that CNN had 753,000 primetime viewers and Fox 1,707,000; there was no mention of MSNBC, and no indication of viewership rankings (rankings in the post are for revenue generated). Given the distance that still exists between #1 and #2, I think it’s fair to describe 2006 as butt-whipping by Fox — just not quite as severe.

_______________________________________

Too Much Information Dept.:

Unisys Demands Cash For Helping Delta Air Lines Ship Dead Bodies
Computer giant asks bankruptcy court to order payment for a system that tracks corpses transported on Delta’s aircraft