Weekend Digest: The Ryan Mallett Edition

For our weekend business and political readers:

TV PREVIEW: ONE-ON-ONE WITH SENATOR-ELECT TOM COTTON
On this week’s edition of Talk Business & Politics, Senator-elect Tom Cotton joins us from Washington, D.C.

The first-term Republican Congressman is now set to be the state’s junior senator. What did he think of the historic Election cycle? What committee assignments is he angling for? And do developments on the Keystone Pipeline and immigration reform sit well with him? An exclusive one-on-one with Tom Cotton in our program.

State Sen. Jonathan Dismang also makes an appearance. He survived a potential leadership challenge earlier in the week. Now, the session business is at hand. A new Governor, new colleagues – could they also lead to a new Private Option? What other challenges await the GOP controlled state legislature?

Plus, we’ll wrap up news from this week and yesteryear: Gov. Beebe and pardons; the death of a business and political leader; and the Clinton Library celebrates a decade.

Tune in to Talk Business & Politics Sunday morning at 9 a.m. on KATV Ch. 7.

THE WWII ACTRESS WHO INVENTED WIFI
The patent number was US2292387.

i100 posts, “The patent was designed to retain control of torpedoes without enemy craft discovering what frequency they were on.”

But the technology – which has its roots in pianos that played music from perforated paper rolls – was shunned by the U.S. government until the Cuban missile crisis.

Many years later still and the same principle, known as spread-spectrum broadcasting, can be found in wifi networks, smartphones and GPS.

Shockingly what famous actress and her husband held the patent, and when and how did the actress finally get the patent developed?

Connect here for the surprising story.

HAVE A COKE AND A STARTUP
Why would major brands like Coca-Cola be looking to get into a startup incubator?

TC reports, “Coke isn’t doing it for pure investment purposes necessarily, but because they believe lean startups can give them the creativity, agility and speed to market they lack.”

Startups also put a fresh set of eyes on a problem. And even a company like Coke with more than 700,000 employees spread across nearly 200 countries needs that once in a while.

One Coke official told TC his company is working on a model “to provide funds ranging from $1 to $1 million, along with the resources of his company to help experienced entrepreneurs from around the world with cool ideas get off the ground.”

…it’s not a simple matter because often times large brands, no matter how good their intentions, don’t mix well with small startups, so it’s not as easy as saying you are going to provide some money. It takes work and commitment to experimentation to build a program like this and let it blossom without being overly controlling.

For the full story and details on the first groups chosen, go to this link.

THE TAYLOR SWIFT AND SPOTIFY BATTLE
A “heated disagreement” between Taylor Swift and the streaming-music service Spotify has been major music industry news since the beginning of the month. It’s all about “the battle over profits” or lack of them from the Swift camp.

Taylor Swift has been paid less than $500,000 in the past 12 months for domestic streaming of her songs, Scott Borchetta, the CEO of Taylor Swift’s record label, the independent Nashville-based Big Machine, told TIME Wednesday.

On Nov. 3, Swift pulled her entire catalog from the streaming service, which claims over 50 million users, more than 10 million of whom have paid subscriptions. No artist today can match Swift’s popularity: her new album 1989 has sold nearly 1.7 million copies nationwide in its first two weeks on sale, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

“According to Borchetta, the actual amount his label has received in return for domestic streams of Swift’s music — $496,044 — is drastically smaller than the amount Spotify has suggested the artist receives,” Time reports.

For more on this battle-royal and Spotify’s response, follow this link.

WHAT’S THE BEST DATE TO BUY YOUR CHRISTMAS GIFTS?
Surprisingly, The Wall Street Journal says it isn’t Black Friday.

For all the hype, Black Friday isn’t the day to find the best deals, according to new data from Adobe Systems Inc., which has collected information on one trillion visits to 4,500 retailing websites since 2008.

What’s more, those who shopped on Black Friday were more likely to find items out of stock.

For the real scoop on the season’s lowest prices, go to this link.

CAN GOP SENATE KEEP ITS MAJORITY ADVANTAGE IN 2016?
Republican Senator Roger Wicker from Mississippi is in charge of making sure that happens.

Wicker was elected as head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, but his job is not going to be easy.

To win his post as head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Wicker had to convince his Republican colleagues to back him over Dean Heller, a Nevada Senator who’s pitch to the caucus focused on his experience running in an increasingly competitive purple state. With 24 seats to defend and several in purple states like Colorado and Florida, the 2016 map heavily favors Democrats. To win, Republicans will have to broaden their appeal in places with demographics more like Nevada than Mississippi.

For more on the little-known Wicker and his task ahead, follow this link.

LIBERAL AND CENTRIST DEMOCRATS SQUARE OFF ON STRATEGY
Jonathan Martin with The New York Times examines the post-election debate taking place among Democrats in Congress.

The Democrats’ widespread losses last week have revived a debate inside the party about its fundamental identity, a long-running feud between center and left that has taken on new urgency in the aftermath of a disastrous election and in a time of deeply felt economic anxiety.

The discussion is taking place in post-election meetings, conference calls and dueling memos from liberals and moderates. But it will soon grow louder, shaping the actions of congressional Democrats in President Obama’s final two years and, more notably, defining the party’s presidential primaries in 2016.

“The debate will ultimately play out in a battle for the soul of the Clinton campaign,” said Matt Bennett, a senior official at Third Way, the centrist political group.

Read the full analysis at this link.

CLINTON LIBRARY ANNIVERSARY DRAWS NATIONAL ATTENTION
It doesn’t seem possible that a decade ago the Clinton Presidential Center in downtown Little Rock opened with much fanfare.

A huge 10th anniversary celebration of that opening began in earnest this past Friday.

The events, including panel discussions about the Clinton administration, a picnic dinner for 1,300 guests (complete with vegan and beef barbecue), a community concert with Nick Jonas, exclusive after-parties and a private dinner with major donors, will inevitably amount to an unofficial pep rally ahead of Mrs. Clinton’s presumptive 2016 presidential campaign.

But what are the committee organizers urging attendees to stay focused on?

Click here for the complete story from The New York Times.

THE LIBERAL MEDIA IS NOT READY FOR HILLARY
POLITICO reports, “She has no viable opponent, so progressive outlets are trying to create one.”

Elizabeth Warren says she’s not running. Kirsten Gillibrand and Amy Klobuchar have said the same. Even Martin O’Malley has refused to take shots at Hillary Clinton.

Absent a strong challenge to Clinton from the left so far, progressive media outlets are trying to fill the void — propping up Warren, the Massachusetts senator, Jim Webb, the former Virginia senator who has made noise about running for president, and outgoing Maryland Gov. O’Malley, the only one laying any groundwork toward a run. Even Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who styles himself a “Democratic socialist,” is getting some play in an effort to avoid a coronation.

POLITICO says, “The anti-Clinton drumbeat in progressive outlets picked up quickly as soon as the midterms were over.”

For more on who these ‘”progressive outlets” are promoting, click on this link.

RYAN MALLETT’S PATH TO THE TEXANS’ STARTING QB
Former Arkansas Razorbacks quarterback Ryan Mallett will make his NFL debut as the starting QB for the Houston Texans this Sunday.

The Houston Chronicle has an in-depth feature on Mallett’s childhood and development into an elite athlete.

In the fourth grade, Ryan served as a ball boy for a high school football team coached by his father in Lincoln, Ark. Rain fell during the first game of the season. As a hurried referee called for a new ball, Ryan became overexcited. He was supposed to softly toss the request underhand. He reared back and fired a spiral. The ref was drilled in the back of the head. As his hat sailed, his legs stumbled.

“I’ve never seen a bullet come out of there so fast. I mean, it was just smoking,” Jim said. “Ryan looked at me and he just had this look like, ‘Oh, I am dead.’ And I said, ‘No, you’re OK.’ I looked at the officials and (they) were in tears.”

Access the full story at this link.

IS THE NETFLIX SPOILER RUINING THE SHOW FOR YOU?
You know the teaser that gives away important details about that show you are going to watch.

Huffington Post reports Netflix has created an entire site that gives away major plot twists of some popular and classic movies and TV shows.

We’re talking major. You know that part in the second season of “House of Cards” that you didn’t see coming? Yeah, that’s in there. The really sad ending of “Old Yeller?” That’s in there too. Spoilers from “Rocky,” “Breaking Bad,” “The Hunger Games” and “Good Morning Vietnam” are also included.

Netflix’s “Living With Spoilers” site, which also includes a flow chart that identifies what kind of spoiler you are, is part of a promotion the company is running just as the fall TV season kicks off.

For the whole “revealing” story go to this link, and as Huffington Post says, “…don’t say you weren’t warned.”

$2 BILLION SMITHSONIAN CAMPUS RENOVATION PROPOSED
The Washington Post reports, “The Smithsonian unveiled a $2 billion plan Thursday that would re-imagine the area surrounding its iconic Castle by creating new entrances and connecting underground galleries in what has been described as the biggest project considered for the Mall in more than a century.”

In the works for two years, the idea is still a long way from fruition. The National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts, the government agencies with design oversight, must approve the proposal for it to go forward. Construction is not expected to begin for five to seven years and could take as long as 20 years to complete.

For details on the massive renovation proposal, click here.