Cable

So patent application stories are always a bit dicey, no one knows if the company is actually going to follow through. But occasionally something so creepy comes along that the usual patent application caveats are thrown out the window. Verizon has filed a patent to that takes the tech behind the Xbox Kinect and others like it a skeevy step further. Instead of helping you rock out to that Zumba routine, the cameras and mics connected to this invention could record could what's happening in a living room and program ads accordingly.

Last week, on the eve of Jeff Zucker's appointment as president worldwide for CNN, I wrote about his potential to be a wise and winning choice for a very tough and important job. I had the chance Sunday to further discuss Zucker and what he means to the future of TV news with former NBC newsman Fred Francis, who worked for Zucker at the network, and Frank Sesno, the former Washington bureau chief for CNN who is now at George Washington University....

The following is compiled from local police reports. Our policy is to include descriptions when there is enough information to make identification possible. If you have any information about these crimes, call the Wilkens Police Station at 410-887-0872. Southwestern Boulevard, 4300 block, between Nov. 16, 6 p.m., and Nov. 17, 5 a.m. Copper cable stolen from Winkler's Welding. Rear siding pried off. Washington Boulevard, 3300 block, Nov. 17, 1:03 a.m. Man cut during altercation at Borderline Bar. Assailant arrested and charged with first-degree assault.

Outside of Barack Obama, one of Tuesday's biggest winners was CNN, which not only presented the best journalism but also finished first among cable channels in viewers. According to Nielsen's Fast Ratings, CNN was seen by an average audience of 8.8 million total viewers from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. election night. It also had audiences of 4.4 million adults ages 25 to 54 and 2.7 million viewers between the ages of 18 and 34. That topped perennial ratings winner Fox News, which had an audience of 8.7 million total viewers, with 3.5 million and 1.2 million in the key demos.

Epic is probably too strong a word, but Wednesday night's Orioles-Yankees battle was another great playoff game. And once again, TBS delivered a telecast worthy of it in almost every way. Just as the images from Monday's victory for the O's at Camden Yards viscerally connected viewers to the joy in downtown Baltimore, Wednesday's made you feel the pain in the Bronx deep in your gut. Those images of the Yankees fans dancing and high-fiving late in...

Al Jazeera English will premiere a thought-provoking and hard-hitting documentary about Baltimore tonight, but viewers here won't be able to see it on cable TV. That's outrageous, ignorant and maddening. That's the conclusion I came to last week while reporting a Sunday story on the documentary and the bleak picture of Baltimore it would be presenting to a potential audience of 260 million homes elsewhere in the world. Read that story here . But that lack of access to Al Jazeera English on cable TV also makes me wonder what kind of sheep we are as media consumers -- and what kind of mice we have as media critics that cable companies can get away with not offering this option even as they they offer a sea of channels devoted to shopping and reruns of lame network shows from previous decades.

UPDATES with reaction to the film from Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's office... Using digitalmedia once again to end run the cable TV industry, Al Jazeera English posted its latest documentary, "Baltimore: Anatomy of an American City," online Tuesday morning. The film will premiere on the channel at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, with multiple plays throughout the week. I believe it's outrageous that cable TV operators have kept the channel off its systems in cities like Baltimore, despite stellar coverage of major stories in the Middle East and endorsements ranging from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the leading academic experts and authors on global media.

The HuffingtonPost this morning launched their live Internet video channel and it's rocking. The hosts are using Google Hangouts to hold live chats with talking heads, and collected Tweets and video recordings from their audience. This is the future -- and it's gunning for cable news' various chatterbox formats, which range from hard news to celebrity chat. The audience isn't just watching. We're engaging, too, with posting comments and Tweets and Facebook updates through the site.

Grout used to protect steel support cables in the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, which carries Interstate 95 over the Potomac River, may be contaminated with an excessive level of chloride, a corroding substance known to accelerate rusting. The Federal Highway Administration warned 21 states — including Maryland — that as many as three dozen bridges were built with possibly defective grout manufactured in Ohio between November 2002 and March 2010. Chloride-contaminated grout was blamed in the collapse of a pedestrian walkway at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. in 2000, injuring more than 100 fans.

Talk about two political careers going in opposite directions. Last Sunday, I wrote about the top Sunday morning public affairs shows like "Meet the Press"  falling in love with Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and booking him every chance they get. I missed the debut that day of a sorry little 30-minute piece of political propaganda called "Politics Unplugged" -- the product of former governor Bob Ehrlich and his wife, Kendel, buying time Sunday...