The name of the new generation

There are many censored blogs in various countries. For example in Iran, Cuba or Venezuela. I can speak about Generación Y. It´s a blog by Yoani Sánchez where she describes her life and her hobbies. Yoani has won prizes about journalism or art as Ortega y Gasset Prizes 2008 or the 25 Best Blogs Time- CNN 2009. She has had problems because she criticized the Cuban government.

For example, she was arrested together with two friends in the last week. She was in the march against the violence when she got arrested. Anyway, she is determined to follow her career: "I will continue writing in my blog", she said after the incident.

The history of TV in the USA

The History of Television in America

Learning English surfing the Net

Do you feel you lost halfl your life trying to learn English and you still don´t feel fluent enough? These lines are for those of you who maybe don´t have so much time to attend private English lessons and who would like to have some extra help. You've got the whole world in your hands - make the most of the Internet from today on and learn English from home. You are not on your own at all. Let me provide you with some links I find particularly useful.

First, El blog para aprender inglés, a diary by a bilingual EFL teacher who decided to teach English to everyone on the web. You can work on different skills (grammar, phonetics, vocabulary...) since lessons of all kind. You can also take part in the forum. Moreover, you can download many audio podcasts and what is more important, Mónica will answer you any question you have when learning English and will give you brilliant advice.

If you are looking for a prestigious site on the web to learn English that is the BBC learning English web service . Some people say there is no better English than the BBC one so this is a fantastic website that includes a blog service providing space for you. If you are studying English this is your site, whatever your language is: it is an international site. You can watch the real BBC news and many podcasts are available for you as well as a great forum to share your comments and questions. Following this trend, a bit farther geographically but as close as the previous on the web, you can try The New York Times blogs.

Many didactic resources are available in the blog aprender ingles online. It includes podcasts from the BBC, videos, translation service, exams, games for everyone and many more things.

Finally, I'd recommend estudia inglés. The important thing about this blog is that it provides you with a number of useful links while learning English for example the best dictionary on slang, social nets to learn English, best grammar books and so on. Related to this blog, you will find the course on learning English based on podcasts in inglés total.

Movie flash

If you like movies and want to know more about anything concerning them, here are some blogs you might like.

Slashfilm is a personal blog which includes information about many kinds of films. It also follows film festivals and has other interesting contents like podcasts, discussions, news and interviews.

Another interesting blog is MTV movies. Here you can find trailers, videos and lots of photos.

The third one one we recommend is Movies About. This is Rebecca Murray's blog. She is a journalist and film critic. You can check here opinions about movies, directors and also interviews. It also has filmographies from many actors.

Tell it

This website offers advertising from agencies very important in the World such as Ogilvy & Mather, Publicis, JWT, DDB, TBWA, Tequila, Proximity, Tribal DDB, McCann Ericsson among other. Great advertising from prestigious brands since 2003 until now.

If you want to know why advertising in the web is important you should visit this blog
It'll help you know what is best in Internet advertising. You can advertise your blog in this space.

If you are a professional in communication and you need some advice and keep up in the world of web communication come to this digital marketing, where you can find “news and expert advice for the digital marketer”

Freedom of the Press and the implications of new technologies

New technologies are changing the panorama of traditional media. The main implications of new technologies regarding the Freedom of the press nowadays are the following:

1 - Terrestrial TV vs. Satellite TV
Terrestrial TV is relatively easy to manage and manipulate but Satellite TV is much more difficult to control as journalistic content can easily be broadcast beyond the control of individual governments.
Satellite broadcaster Al Jazeera, the Arabic language media channel, operates out of Qatar and often presents views and contents problematic to a number of governments in the region.

2 - Web-based publishing (e.g. blogging) vs. Traditional publishing.
Web-based publishing systems can be run using ubiquitous and inexpensive equipment and can operate from anywhere.
To get control over web publications, nations and organizations are using Geolocation software.

3 - Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) vs. Conventional telephony.
Modern VOIP technology can employ sophisticated encryption systems to evade centrlal monitoring systems.

Governments are responding to the challenges posed by new media technologies by deploying increasingly sophisticated technologies of their own. Take for instance the case of China's attempts to impose control through a state run internet service provider that controls access to the Internet.

Anyway, we might say that new technologies are "in favour of" freedom of ideas.

Rocking the web

I’m going to recommend you three music blogs, because I think that you may like these blogs.

If you are a fan of R&B music, you can pop in here.

The second one is about pop music. This blog’s got lots of news, reviews and videos of your favourite singers.

And finally, my best tip for latin music is La Onda Tropical.

The voice on the network

Manuel M. Almeida is known in the blogosphere as “Mangas Verdes”:he began in the world of the weblogs in 2004. He is a journalist, blogger, expert in social networks and digital media. An interesting information on him is that he got the prize for best weblog on technology and the Internet.

Another website which invites to opinion, reflection and communication on journalism is that of Sergio M. Mahugo. Devoted journalist and university teacher, his blog is a tool as support to his lessons. In his weblog, he analyzes the influence of the social media and the civil journalism in the traditional media.

If you are a journalist and you like the world of technology, you can't miss the blog Xataka. It is one of the best technological weblogs at present. It deals with gadgets and the newest electronic devices for everyday users.

Green matters

Based in Portland, Oregon, the environmental blog is a flashy green blog editing posts since 2006. Oriented to any age followers,I'd remark its originality in the way it offers tips, news or even nice T-shirts.

Being an expert on green issues, you'd better visit the website by the American Grist Magazine which also include videos and updated news and events on echology.

Still another USA brains for the earth tip for geeks on nature and technology. A nice discovery !!!
STAY GREEN :=) (Irene Vidal, environmentalist)

HEADLINES: OUR CHOICE

MY COKE AND HASH WITH BRAD
When shooting the film The Inglorious Bastards, actor Brad Pitt showed his knowledge about taking drugs.
The London Paper - (Davinia Galera)

PREGNANCY DRINK WARNING IS "SEXIST"
The evidence for a link between moderate consumption of alcohol and harm to the foetus is not too clear as medical experts say. Telling pregnant women not to drink alcohol could be "sexist".
The Sunday Telegraph - (Carla Lázaro)

LEE CAN SEE THE WOODS FOR THE TEES
Lee Westwood, a former European number one in golf and teacher of Tiger Woods has come back after 16 years.
The Sunday Telegraph - (Manuel Valero)

FREE CASH AT TESCO - FRENZY AS TESCO MACHINE HANDS OUT FREE MONEY
A Tesco cashmachine in West London gave out double the account of money request. £3000 in extra £20 notes were taken before the glitch was spotted.
The London Lite - (Lola Alemany)

DYEING TO BREAK THE RECORD
A total of 500 people gathered at Shanghai University to create a new world record for the largest number of people dyeing their hair together.
The Post - (Diana Granell)

Obama and Zapatero herald "new era" in Spanish-American relations

By: thinkSPAIN , Sunday, April 5, 2009

US President, Barack Obama, today expressed his desire to reinforce the 'solid' bilateral relations between his country and Spain and referred to José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero as his 'friend'.
After five years of cool relations between the two countries, the two leaders, who have met various times this week, at the G-20 conference in London and the NATO summit in Strasbourg, used today's meeting in Prague as the announcement of a beginning of a new era of collaboration between Spain and the USA.
As it was to be expected, the two leaders discussed bilateral realtions, the Middle East, Latin America, the global recession, climate change, renewable energy sources and international terrorism.
The spokesman for the US National Security Council, Mike Hammer, reported that Obama 'showed a keen interest in strengthening relations between the USA and Spain and in renewing the friendship between the two nations'.
During the pre-conference photo session Obama commented that Zapatero understood fully Spain's 'extraordinary influence' in the world and took his responsibility 'very seriously'. US press sources reported that Obama had said 'I'm happy to be able to consider him a friend' and that the meeting had been very 'cordial' and that they 'understood each other well'.
Zapatero, for his part, stated that realtions between Spain and the US were entering a new phase and that his intention was to collaborate with Obama to achieve greater peace and justice in the world, to combat poverty and lay the foundations of a stable future for the generations to come.

Here is an official report by the White House on the talk held by the two presidents.

Main parts of a blog

A blog is formed of different parts that together create the whole site. Here are the main parts and elements of a blog, identify them in yours.

Header: This section normally contains the name and logo of the blog along with a short description.

Posts: When you visit a website you read articles and news, all the information is displayed as single articles some of them larger than others, but in a blog a piece of content is called A POST it is a single entry written by the blogger on his or her blog. Posts are usually categorized by topic or marked according to the time of publication. All posts are stores in the blog archives.

Archives: When you first visit a blog, you might think that there is not much information in it, you can only see a few links a logo, some entries and a menu, but the truth is that all information and posts in a blog are contained in what we know as ARCHIVES . Each time you write a post it is stored in your blog´s archives which are like folder where you can access to previous entries and read them in chronological order, the archive is usually organized by month. This function allows a visitor to quickly jump to a month or year in the past, and view blog articles posted at that time.

Comments: A common website does not allow you to add your comments or your personal opinions but in a blog comments are very important. Not all blogs use comments but every successful blogger needs feedback on their posts. Your readers can write a reaction to each post, often displayed at directly following the blog entry. To leave a comment at the end of each post, click COMMENTS, and type your comment into the box. A great way to learn about a blog is to read its comments.

Categories: Not all blogs have categories but those with this function are easier to read and to navigate. Blogger does not allow you to add categories to your blog but there are many ways to do so, we are going to talk about that later. Categories are like archives where your posts are organized but this time by topic or subject. Categories allow users to explore your blog searching for posts they might like.

Last Posts: Or latest entries display the last updates of a blog.

Permalink: Sometimes when you finish reading a post you can see at the end of each entry that there is a line of information about the person who is posting, the date and the hour and something called PERMALINK well, this stands for permanent link it is a specific URL assigned to each post, each time you click this link you are redirected to the page where the post is.

Presenting a blog

As part of today's task I would like you to search the blogosphere with Technorati and present a blog of your choice to the rest of your classmates next week.

See that Jeff himself commented our visits to his blog! I feel so excited about it!

Try as well to register on LinkedIn. It's a useful business-oriented social networking site with more than 45 million users so it must be worth belonging to it I guess.

Technology: Friend or Foe?

After today's classroom discussion about the pros and cons of the use of new technologies, I asked you to leave a comment in Jeff Lipschultz's blog . His post is quite interesting and I am sure everyone has anything to say on that topic!

I am looking forward to reading your comments.

Disappointment in Spain as Olympic hopes are lost

MADRID - Spain’s Queen Sofia Friday congratulated Rio de Janeiro for having been chosen to host the 2016 Olympics, though Spain was “disappointed” about Madrid having lost the race.

“Congratulations Rio,” the queen told Spanish National Television in Copenhagen, also congratulating Spaniards for the “good job” they had done in promoting Madrid’s candidacy.

Some 6,000 Madrid residents had gathered at the capital’s central Plaza de Oriente square to follow a live broadcast of the presentation of Madrid’s candidacy on two gigantic screens.

They jumped, waving their hands, balloons and colourful plastic hands which symbolized Madrid’s candidacy in the run-up to the IOC vote.

When the choice of Rio de Janeiro was announced, silence fell, and some people started crying.

Mayor Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon had expressed confidence in Madrid’s victory, and preparations had been made for a giant celebration Saturday.

Polls showed that nearly 90 percent of Madrid residents backed the city’s candidacy, and more than 100,000 people demonstrated in favour of it Sunday.

http://blog.taragana.com/sports/2009/10/02/disappointment-in-spain-as-olympic-hopes-are-lost-33669/

Countdown to a new monographic course

The official language school of Alicante is offering this 2009-10 academic year a monographic course that could be of your interest: English for the New Media. The course is aimed at professionals and students who would like to improve, keep up or just brush up their English in a different context, working with a reduced group of colleagues and practising the language from the very first day.

The last decades have seen the rapid transformation of print and analogue broadcast models (press, radio, TV) into digital, networked information. As citizens of the 21st century, we feel the need to adapt ourselves to these changes in the mass media and find thus the way to keep our minds open to the potential new technologies can mean for us.

Learning a language is a lifelong process and you can always continue to improve your proficiency in English. With the growing importance of digital communication and the rise in popularity of social networking tools, the new media can help us update both in English and in the use of all these digital resources produced in English.

Speaking English well involves expressing oneself well in English, beyond just getting the grammar and vocabulary right. Social-networking websites such as Twitter, Facebook and thousands of blogs apart from podcasts, videos and multimedia sites are useful tools to learn about the global world we live in in English.

The contents of each Module (a total of four along the year) will cover aspects such as Google applications, multimedia sites, the main characteristics of the language of the press, TV and cinema matters, the language of politics, editing information in English and discovering websites and resources to learn English through the Internet. Basically the idea is to make the most of your present English in an intensive 30 hour-programmed course: to improve your skills to understand, select and produce information in English in a much more efficient way than you usually do.

To follow this monographic course you need an intermediate/upper-intermediate level. If you feel you can join us, don't think it twice. We're looking forward to meeting you soon!

Lessons will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays (19:10-20:50).

Module 1 will start next Tuesday 6th October.

If you need more information about the monographic course, please do contact me at dolores.alemany@ua.es