Al Gore Invents Internet TV

catdevnull writes "The SF Gate is reporting that former VP Al Gore is launching "Current" a new CableTV-Internet hybrid. From the article: "Current, the name of Gore's enterprise, hopes to do that by airing a shuffle of short news features, some produced by the network but many submitted online by viewers. Current will also air segments every half hour showing TV viewers what Google searchers are tapping into at that moment -- everything from current events to tourist destinations. It's all directed at a generation that thinks nothing of plugging into more than one media outlet at once." "

Obligatory Al Gore Link:

[ImaLamer]

Credit for Internet funding by Vinton Cerf & Robert Kahn:

http://tinyurl.com/65ssc [tinyurl.com]

Re:Did he?

[mondoterrifico]

http://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.htm [snopes.com]
Nope. The internet makes you stupid.

Re:What Al Gore said...

[EvilSS]

Yep he said it. I don't know why people get all worked up about it though. Like "Internets" it was a verbal screw-up that has since become a never-ending running joke.

Re:Did he?

[SydShamino]

No he didn't. That wasn't his choice of words at all. He said he "took the initiative in creating the internet."

Still a poor choice of words, but you are spouting the same falsehoods as you see on TV/Slashdot.

Snopes Article [snopes.com]

And "took the initiative in creating" and "inventing" are most certainly differnt. Nikola Tesla discovered/invented AC power distribution, but George Westinghouse took the initiative in creating the power grid, by providing the money for it. Al Gore's role was more like Westinghouse's, in that he worked to secure funding for the internet and similar projects in the 80s when no one else really cared about them.

Re:What Al Gore said...

[Xoro]

I don't know why people get all worked up about it though.

People get worked up about it because it was used during the 2000 election by right-wing pundits (yes, I mean *you*, Peggy Noonan) to "prove" that Al Gore was a serial liar who couldn't be trusted with the presidency.

So people on the right who get worked up about it do so because they see it as evidence that Gore is a dangerous buffoon who came *this close* to leading the country. People on the left who get worked up about it do so because it confirms for them that Republicans are evil, election-stealing savages.

Still others get worked up because the initial accusations and the long debate that followed seem to suggest that either something is badly wrong with the political system, or possibly that people aren't wearing enough hats.

Take your pick.

The link?

[ImaLamer]

Why not post the link to the Current TV homepage [current.tv]?

It's pretty, and it the layout works with Firefox (unlike some sites [slashdot.org])

Re:What Al Gore said...

[patonw]

If you actually read the quote you'll see he never said he invented the Internet. That accusation is the work of spin doctors. Invention and creation are completely separate things. Invention is the conception of an idea. He never said he hit his head on a toilet and came up with the idea for the Internet out of the blue. What he said in fewer words is that the idea existed, he knew about it, he liked it enough that he actually wanted to see it implemented. He took the initiative to bring a concept to fruition by legislative action. He even opens the quote by saying he was in congress, not in some laboratory. Twisting his words and saying that he claimed to invent the Internet was an attempt to brand him as a liar, exaggerator and lunatic as part of the smear campaign. I'm not an Al Gore fanboy but I cannot believe that people are still buying that crap. I guess tomorrow CNN will run a story about how 90% of americans still believed that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and that they are still there in the hands of insurgents. I am just dumbfounded by how cynical the Republican leadership is and how shamelessly and blantantly they exploit the media, then turn around to say that the liberal media is out to get them.

Re:What Al Gore said...

[Elwood P Dowd]

Ok. Find some of the people you think he should have shared credit with, and see whether they felt that Al Gore's statement was dishonest. (And obviously it's self-serving. It'd be self-serving for him to claim such credit even if he personally invented TCP/IP.)

His mistake was in making his statement too easy to misinterpret. I believe he's admitted as much.

Re:NSF had nothing to do with his funny claim

[Anonymous Coward]

The quote actually does not, except by wild misinterpretation, actually mean what the widespread, if only in jest, humorous interpretation implies it does. The actual quote: "I took the initiative in creating the Internet." this means, from the political perspective, that he encouraged the allocation of funds for the greater development of the protocols and systems that now comprise the systems that are thought of when "Internet" is heard by the majority, into the commercial entity that it now is.

Re:Who cares?

[centipetalforce]

Dumbass: AA came back and now has 53 stations across the country.

Air America Failed?

[ppp]

AA failed miserably because instead of being original they were shallow and vicious copy cats. Most of their junk was a mean spirited parody of some other sucessful show.

Air America now has 51 stations, and reaches millions of viewers. It is also, according to Time magazine, "financially stable."

If your going to compete with the likes of Rush, Hannity, and the right you need to deliver facts and keep the slant off.

I almost spit up my drink over that line. Do you really believe that Rush and Hannity don't have a "slant"? Sounds like you drank the coolade to me.

Re:NSF had nothing to do with his funny claim

[Anonymous Coward]

The exact quote:

"During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet."

'Initiative' means "A beginning or introductory step; an opening move".

Now, 'create' and 'innvent' are synonyms:

create = "To cause to exist; bring into being."
invent = "To produce or contrive (something previously unknown)..."

so, substituting into the original statement:

During my service in the United States Congress, I took the first move in inventing the Internet."

Correction about what Al Gore "Claimed"

[novakane007]

Al Gore never claimed he invented the internet! Let's be clear about this. He said, "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country's economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system."
Which is true, he was a part of a house sub comitte that funded the DARPA research to develop a communications system that would withstand a nuclear attack. What they came up with eventually was adopted by universities and then by the masses. It is now known as the internet. He didn't invent it, nor did he ever claim he did. He was a key figure in it's creation though.

Re:Pointless

[Koiu Lpoi]

I wasn't aware of the total breadth and depth of your post until I realised that, instead of funny, it was rated insightful. Kind of tells you how far slashdot really has gone, huh.

Re:I don't think so

[Lord Kano]

critics might want to actually pay attention to what he's trying to do before criticizing something that has nothing to do with what he is trying.

People may be a bit prejudiced against Mr. Gore because of what he has done in the past [gargaro.com].

LK

Re:is drudge running /. this week?

[ArtStone]

Al Gore was first elected to the US House in 1976 where he "took the initiative to create the Internet".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Gore%23Early_polit ical_career [wikipedia.org]

The Internet was "created" in 1969.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet%23Creation_o f_the_Internet [wikipedia.org]

Next question?