The New Yorker Launches Strongbox, an Open-Source Anonymous Tip Tool Built by Aaron Swartz

The timely idea: Let journalists and their sources connect in confidence. The Associated Press might have liked one of these.

Why The Onion Is Awesome for Publishing Details of Its Twitter Hack

Details of hacking attacks are too often kept secret.

News Byte

Whitney Houston’s Funeral to Be Livestreamed

Whitney Houston’s funeral — scheduled for Saturday in New Jersey with 1,500 invited guests, including a smattering of celebrities, expected to attend — will be available for real-time viewing on the Web through the Associated Press’s AP Live Web site, CNN reports. The last livestreamed megacelebrity funeral in recent memory was that of Michael Jackson, who died in July 2009. That Web broadcast spiked Web traffic by 19 percent.

Voices

What Is It With Southwest Airlines, Celebrities and Twitter?

Billie Joe Armstrong, lead singer for the rock band “Green Day,’’ was kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight after he refused a flight attendant’s order to pull up his saggy pants. And then he did what celebrities do when they do dumb things, he tweeted about it.

News.me, the iPad News Aggregator Blessed by Big Publishers, Gets Ready to Launch

The 99-cents-a-week service looks like the kind of thing that could drive the New York Times and the Associated Press batty. Instead, they’ve signed on for a piece of the action.

News Byte

AP to Create Content-Cop Company

The Associated Press Board of Directors today approved the formation of an independent entity, the News Licensing Group, to track and police the online use of content from AP and its members and to make sure the publishers get paid. The new company will build on the licensing, distribution and tracking duties of AP’s existing News Registry, and is expected to launch this summer.

The Atlantic Pretties Up With Photos

Hard to believe it took this long to become a trend, but there you go: Another Web publisher embraces beautiful, screen-hogging photos. Sort of like TV….

News Byte

Associated Press Settles Copyright Case With Obama Poster-Maker Shepard Fairey

Good to get this one cleared up before the 2012 election: The Associated Press has settled its copyright case with artist Shepard Fairey, who used an AP photograph to create the once-famous Obama “Hope” poster in 2008. The case has been worth watching for digital types because it hinges on the concept of “fair use,” but an AP press release notes that “neither side surrenders its view of the law.” The two sides will work together to generate revenue from the poster and related images, and Fairey plans on making more stuff using AP photos, with the news group’s permission.

News Byte

Pay TV Hasn't Gone Away (Yet)

The Associated Press does the math no one else wants to do, and puts some valuable perspective on the “Is cord-cutting real?debate: So far this quarter, pay TV subscriptions are up–but just barely. The AP tallies results from seven of the nine biggest cable, satellite and telco companies, and finds that video subscriptions are up by 55,700, a 0.3 percent increase.

Yahoo Snaps Up Associated Content for $90 Million to Compete With AOL and Demand Media

Yahoo–in a clear attempt to get deep into the social content space and better compete with both AOL and Demand Media–announced the acquisition of Associated Content. Sources close to the situation said the price was $90 million in cash, which is a solid outcome for Associated Content, a start-up that found itself in an increasingly crowded space for cheaper content.