Odd – UK Times Online says Pearson’s for sale to a private equity firm:

Pearson shares reached their highest level for five years yesterday, as hopes of a takeover of the media conglomerate rose after a rival educational publisher was sold for more than expected.

The “rival publisher” was Wolters Kluwer’s European education busines, which was bought by Bridgepoint.  The article continues:

Pearson, which owns the world’s biggest education business as well as the Financial Times, declined to comment yesterday, although the company is understood not to have received any bid approaches.

However, one source close to the company said: “As private equity gets more comfortable with education assets, it becomes possible that they would be willing to approach the whole group.”

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article1560896.ece 

Strange that private equity firms would be so interested in publishers.  To be honest I’m still a bit fuzzy on what exactly a private equity firm does, other than buy companies and flip them for a profit.

Also interesting (and unfortunate) to see that even educational materials (textbooks, multimedia, etc) are being seen as an investment in someone’s portfolio, rather than a resource that can actaully benefit someone’s life.

Interesting – Chris Ware has animated a section of This American Life on Showtime. I’m a big fan of Chris Ware’s work and this is the first time I’ve seen his work animated.

Somehow the fluid animation matches his iconic, nearly abstract style, and the melancholy ending is reminiscent of Jimmy Corrigan and Acme Novelty Library.

Plus, y’know, I like cartoons.

Chris Ware animation of This American Life

Found via Drawn, the animation blog.

We may be switching over from Comcast cable to Verizon DSL. A quick Google search revealed the following comment from a Linux engineer:

The two companies (Verizon and Comcast) have radically different philosophies. The phone company, while very polite on the phone, clearly believes that the customer is a boob who is incapable of plugging a telephone into a wall jack. On the other hand, the cable company acts as though it believes that if the customer is given enough cable, he will hang himself … and good riddance to him. Below are my experiences at my location in suburban Maryland. Your mileage may differ.

http://brneurosci.org/dslvscablemodem.html

Then again, this writer also has mollusc pictures and an essay on DNA/protein multiple sequence editor for Unix/X11 , so the link above may be a bit too geeky for low-end users.

Eastern Shore provides a more “low-tech” voice, but gives a vote of confidence for DSL:

I’m very happy with my Verizon DSL service and I’ve recommended it to family and friends. The cost isn’t much more than dial-up service and it’s so much better. The speed is wonderful – music, video and all websites load fast.

Another benefit is that I can talk on the phone and be on the Internet at the same time! DSL doesn’t tie up your phone line like dial-up access does.

http://www.easternshorevisitor.com/easternshoreinternet.html

Scot’s Newsletter brings in the cost factor, which was the major decision maker to switch:

I think you can tell from the tenor of this review up until this point that Verizon in the emotional favorite. I would rather do business with Verizon. This company is far more customer focused than Comcast is.

What’s more, Comcast High-Speed Internet costs $45.95 in most areas, and that’s assuming you have Comcast cable TV too. Cable Internet-only customers are forced to pay Comcast an outrageous $57.95 a month. That’s a lot of money for this service, and I can’t recommend at $58 a month.

http://www.scotsnewsletter.com/56.htm

I’ve been surprised that DSL doesn’t tie up the phone – on the other hand, you have to install DSL “filters” (see below) before you can actually use the DSL. Looks like this is part of what I’ll be doing this weekend.

It’ll be interesting to see how this turns out. On the one hand I’ve never had a problem with Comcast; on the other hand, if I can save money to get the same level of service (or better customer service, judging by the links above) I’m all for taking a weekend to switch providers.

Comcast is hosting the final Spider-man 3 trailer at its own URL:

www.spiderman3oncomcast.com

More Venom-y goodness, fancier acrobatics during the Sandman fight, and longer dramatic shots.  Also more confirmation of the MAJOR plot spoilers posted to Aint It Cool News.

I especially like the creepy shot of a joyous Topher Grace with Venom’s sharp teeth, and one eyebrow pulled up by a strand of symbiote:

Also a great shot of Venom in action, grinning and projecting a web of black fluid:

Can’t wait for May 4th.

 Has Thomson Learning found a buyer? 

Media group Bertelsmann has teamed up with private equity partners to consider a bid for college textbook publisher Thomson Learning, which Thomson Corporation of Canada is touting for an estimated $5bn (£2.5bn).

Insiders told the Financial Times that the media group had teamed up with three private equity groups to bid for Thomson Learning. The company is one of the first targets Bertelsmann has identified for a investment joint venture designed to secure Europe’s largest media group a foothold in new sectors and boost its presence in the US and Asia.

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17727624/

Stay tuned…