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Jan 5, 2010

Roadshow's "million-dollar" jade collection sells for much less

Remember Antiques Roadshow's first million-dollar appraisal, filmed last June? You may have seen it in the season premiere last night. Owner Jinx Taylor was stunned when appraiser James Callahan said her Chinese jade collection from the Qianlong era could bring up to $1 million at auction. But Taylor sold the pieces in October and they didn't bring nearly that much, according to the Maine Antique Digest. Instead, Taylor got $494,615 for the collection. She also consigned to the same sale about 30 other items she had not brought to the Roadshow; seven of those brought in another $350,523.

FCC chairman's Facebook account hijacked by spammers

FCC Chair Julius Genachowski's Facebook account was briefly taken over late last month by spam-spewing malware, the New York Times tech blog Bits reveals. On Dec. 31, Genachowski appeared to send Facebook friends a message saying, “Adam got me started making money with this.” Attached was a link to a nonexistent website. Facebook suspended the account, as per its policy. No comment from the FCC. Facebook said it takes security "very seriously" and has devoted "significant resources toward helping our users protect their accounts."

Nonprofit Metropolis news site to cover Philly area

Another nonprofit news site has come online, says the Philebrity blog. Metropolis covers the Philadelphia region. According to the site, it's "dedicated to the notion that the time has come to stop worrying about the future of local journalism and to start creating it." It's a project of Tom Ferrick, a former columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer and now an instructor at Bryn Mawr College. No word on funding.

Hawaii PBS to launch unique statewide student news network

PBS Hawaii will "break national ground" with its new multimedia statewide middle- and high-school student news network, reports the Star Bulletin in Honolulu. The effort is dubbed "Hiki No," meaning "can do" in Hawaiian. Station President and CEO Leslie Wilcox said in a blog post that the project has been in the planning stages for two years. Students will meet in a virtual newsroom and their reports will be shown on the web and Hawaii PBS, Wilcox said. At the helm is Susan Yim, a 20-year newspaper and nonprofit veteran. CPB contributed $200,000 toward the effort.

More teachers using digital and streaming media, study finds

The number of K-12 teachers using digital media is up 7 percent from last year, according to a PBS-funded ongoing study by Grunwald Associates. The research and consulting firm has been tracking educators' media use for PBS since 2002. Other findings: Of those teachers using digital media in the classrom, 80 percent are frequent or regular users. Seventy-two percent say they stream or download content from the Internet, up from 65 percent in 2008. And PBS content and websites are the top choice for pre-K educators.