It was also one of big tobacco's last victories in its long campaign to keep the media at bay.

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Because it's so hot right now, Apple is able to take a go-it-alone approach to product releases, summoning the world's tech media to the Bay Area for press conferences that focus only on its new products and bottom line.

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That's the goal of a project under development by Microsoft 's (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) Media Presence Research Group at the Bay Area Research Center in San Francisco.

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As the Indian population of places like California's Bay Area has grown, American media firms have reimported channels developed for foreigners.

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Virgin Media and other ISPs have also blocked access to The Pirate Bay following court orders from the music industry trade body the BPI.

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Ultimately, the bigger story here is how the public, fans and media have turned on Favre after his untouchable status in Green Bay all those years.

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The sixth annual Monaco Media Forum opened on November 9, 2011 at the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel on a flat note.

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Fredericks notes that Boston police are likely now going through a similar process, collecting every piece of digital media available from transit and nearly 600 closed circuit television cameras covering the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority alone.

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And at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) held in Los Angeles earlier this month, Payton Hills of the Cleveland Browns, Clay Matthews of the Green Bay Packers, and Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens took the stage during an Electronic Arts media briefing to introduce the Madden 12 video game.

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