Digital Commercial Content

Starting in the mid 1990s today most traditional media can also be found online. The overwhelming majority of bigger newspapers and periodicals, but also radio and TV stations now complement their classic media formats with digital programming. For the most part they transform existing analogue information in digital form, with some additional features.

Especially the big media conglomerates, having realized the economic potential of the Internet, have started to get into the business of digital content. Not surprisingly their engagement in the virtual sphere has not brought much new concerning their programming. They offer entertainment, music, sports and some news channels. One of the reasons for this development might be, that the big commercial media companies are able to re-use already existing programming from their other ventures. Examples are Viacom's MTV Network, which now has a twin online or Time Warner's CNN, which on the Web is called CNN Interactive. Considering business economic factors this move suggests itself as hardly any further resources are needed and the already existing programming can be put in the Internet at little extra cost. Also, regarding the undeniable success of their traditional content in terms of revenue generation the digital reproduction of their classic programming concept seems to be an obvious step.

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The 19th Century: Machine-Assisted Manufacturing

Eli Whitney's proposal for a simplification and standardization of component parts marked a further milestone in the advance of the automation of work processes. In 1797 he suggested the manufacture of muskets with completely interchangeable parts. As opposed to the older method under which each gun was the individual product of a highly skilled gunsmith and each part hand-fitted, his method permitted large production runs of parts that were readily fitted to other parts without adjustment and could relatively easy be performed by machines.

By the middle of the 19th century the general concepts of division of labor, assembly of standardized parts and machine-assisted manufacture were well established. On both sides of the Atlantic large factories were in operation, which used specialized machines to improve costs, quality and quantity of their products.

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Misawa Air Base

Latitude: 40.771, Longitude: 141.3776

Misawa Air Base is located in Misawa City, on the shores of Lake Ogawara in northeastern Honshu, Japan's main island. The Department of Defense presence at Misawa includes more than 15,000 military and civilian personnel and family members, including 4500 military personnel. The installation has experienced significant growth and development over the past ten years. From Misawa the NSA monitors Russian and other regional communications satellites.

The Misawa Passive Radio Frequency (RF) space surveillance site tracks satellites using RF signal emmisions to compute angle of arrival observations. This site provides coverage of geosynchronous satellites utilizing the Deep Space Tracking System (DSTS).

http://www.fas.org/spp/military/program/nssrm/initiatives/misawa.htm

http://www.fas.org/spp/military/program/nssrm...
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Comsat

The Communications Satellite Cooperation provides international communications solutions via the global, 17-satellite INTELSAT system and 4-satellite INMARSAT satellite systems. Calls are beamed up to the satellite and back down to Earth, where special gateway land earth stations re-route them through the appropriate local or international telephone network.

COMSAT operates Earth Stations in each part of the world to route calls efficiently within each ocean region. Earth Stations are located in Santa Paula, California; Southbury, Connecticut; Ankara, Turkey; and Kuantan, Malaysia.

http://www.comsat.com/default.htm

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