Articles by Renay San Miguel

Arlen Parsa is about to get his degree in documentary film from Chicago's Columbia College. Yet he seems to have already graduated cum laude from the unofficial School of Blogs Thanks to his mashup of old-school reporting and new media-fueled advocacy, a major consumer electronics company is reeling from scandal, traditional media is following his ...

Barack Obama has made it as clear as a 1080p high-definition image that he intends to be the Digital President. He used online fundraising, Facebook, text messages and YouTube to get elected, and he has an ambitious agenda that calls on technology to create jobs, clean up the environment and bring transparency to government So why shouldn't the med...

An uproar hit the Web over the weekend when it was discovered an employee at consumer electronics company Belkin had offered to pay people to write positive reviews for his company's products, even if they hadn't tried them. The reviews may have been fake, but the outcry on the Internet over his take on online marketing practices is real and, as it turns out, very loud...

It's a question fit for the asking in Seattle, home to some of the world's software, gaming and e-commerce giants: If technology is supposedly one of the villains threatening the nation's newspaper industry, can technology also ride to the rescue of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer? I'm asking the question because the paper, founded in 1867, may not ...

A story in the Sunday Times of London sent Google's public relations machine into an advanced search for answers. The Times reporters wrote about a new Harvard study that examines the energy impact of Web searches. The story's lead paragraph: "Performing two Google searches from a desktop computer can generate about the same amount of carbon dioxide as boiling a kettle for a cup of tea, according to new research."

The incoming Obama administration wants to clear the air regarding the switchover from analog to digital television, so it has sent a letter to Congress asking for an extension of the Feb. 17 conversion date in order to address "weaknesses" that it says are hurting consumers Neither the government agency distributing the coupons nor the trade assoc...

A television station in San Francisco invites the authors of a new book that's highly critical of TV news, the blogosphere and the "menace of media speed" for a Jan. 3 interview. Then, in a speedy development that turns out to be menacing for the authors, the TV station cancels the invitation, claiming a sudden change in format It was a lie. The st...

Let's say a Slingbox and a set-top digital video recorder meet during a very wild weekend in Vegas. After many drinks and much lascivious talk they decide to get married at 3 a.m. at the First Church of Elvis. Nine months later, you might end up with something like the ViP 922, which is being billed as the world's first "placeshifting" high-definition DVR...

The Chinese government is starting 2009 with a crusade to make the Internet safe for its young population to surf without encountering pornography. While Beijing has previously tried to crack down on obscenity, this time government officials are using some of their harshest language yet, threatening actions against 19 Internet companies -- including China's most popular search engine, Baidu, and Google. Both Baidu and Google also offer blogging services that the government said had been used to distribute obscene content...

I'm writing this on Tuesday evening Pacific Time, Dec. 30, 2008. It will be published early Friday morning, Jan. 2. So right now I can't tell you if I was able to keep my first New Year's resolution: to use the extra "leap second" we all got just before midnight New Year's Eve in a wise, productive and clever fashion The additional tick of the cloc...

Picture yet another Windows vs. Mac ad, with the dweeby PC guy and the ultracool Mac dude engaging in their usual schtick. Now picture a Jimmy Carter-esque peacemaker parachuting into the shot, getting the two to shake hands, and you'll understand the rationale behind HP's new class of MediaSmart home servers HP is touting the Windows and Mac compa...

This story was originally published on Sept. 12, 2008, and is brought to you today as part of our Best of ECT News series. Let's say you're a newspaper reporter, and you got into the business because you love to tell stories. You revel in the conflict and drama to be found in everyday situations, from crime scenes to City Hall -- and if you live i...

The real estate crisis in this country is felt in the workplace. It's impacting our leisure time. It's affecting the way we look at everything Actually ... make that how we look at everything that's in the video we watch on our smartphone screens....

YouTube continues to bring its high-definition video strategy into sharper focus with the announcement late this week of more support for HD videos. And while the new development may not make it any easier to know just where the hell Matt is -- regarding the globetrotting dancer in one of YouTube's most popular videos -- his scenic backgrounds will indeed look much clearer...

Like Tiny Tim, Cindy Lou Who, George Bailey and Hermey the Misfit Elf, I too have some Christmas wishes as this Year from Hell for journalists comes to a merciful end It is my Christmas wish that media company managers stop laying off the most experienced of their news gatherers, whether they work in print, TV, radio or the Web. This nasty economy ...

Sure, it's a survey commissioned by a major tech company, which should trigger "Star Trek"-style alarms in most newsrooms. The headline, though, might draw some journalistic interest considering recent Dow Jones gyrations: "Most Adults Find Internet Access Essential to Daily Life in Today's Economy: Intel Survey." But just to make sure that the wor...

Google is either a major supporter of Net neutrality -- the concept that all Web traffic from all companies should be treated the same -- or is quietly working behind the scenes to set up its own Internet express lane with ISPs. The incoming Obama administration is either a big fan of Net neutrality, or its celebrated technology advisers are backing off their stances that no company's data traffic should get preferential treatment on the Web...

Recent headlines focusing on the Web's dark side and its impact on young people can be enough to frighten parents into shutting down their child's Internet service accounts. The world's top user-generated video Web site has another idea: Give teens and parents more information about the kinds of cyber-behavior they should report when they do bump into it on the Web...

Here are just a handful of the big stories that CNN and other news organizations won't be able to fully cover over the next two to three years: An economic rebound spurred by renewed investments and new developments in technology....

Maybe you've seen more of them during your Christmas shopping jaunts at the neighborhood mall this holiday season than you did last year; people using smartphones while in stores to do Web searches on products, price comparisons, or even to place orders It's a sight that Google hopes will soon be as prevalent as bell-ringing Santas in front of Salv...