The Verge Hires Writer Who Quit CNET in Protest

Greg Sandoval, the CNET senior writer who resigned in protest when the site’s parent company, CBS, interfered with its editorial coverage last month, has been hired by The Verge, the Web site that first revealed the full extent of CBS’s involvement.

Mr. Sandoval will be a senior reporter for The Verge when he starts in a couple of weeks. He said in a blog post that he had received a “written guarantee from management that nobody from the business side of the company will ever have any authority over my stories.” The post, which he will publish Monday, also said, “Long before I arrived, The Verge committed itself to editorial independence.”

The Verge, a technology-oriented Web site, is a little more than a year old. It is owned by Vox Media, the parent of the sports network SB Nation and the new gaming site Polgon, and edited by Joshua Topolsky and the other writers who migrated en masse from AOL’s Engadget in 2011.

Mr. Topolsky, the editor in chief of The Verge, said of Mr. Sandoval: “When we started talking about what he could do here, I think we both felt there was a huge opportunity for growth as well as experimentation in what he does as a reporter. He’s obsessed with getting the news â€" the real news â€" and I find that kind of energy infectious.”

Mr. Sandoval’s move was prompted by CBS’s decision to prohibit the staff of CNET â€" the longtime sponsor of the annual Best of CES Awards at the International Consumer Electronics Show â€" from giving the “Best of Show” award to an innovative product it deemed illegal. CBS is battling in court with Dish Network over the legality of the product, called the Hopper, a digital video recorder that allows users to automatically skip all the ads on prime-time network television shows.

CBS required the CNET staff to exclude the Hopper from competition and vote for a new award winner, the Razer Edge gaming tablet. The company would not let CNET disclose what had happened. But Mr. Topolsky found out and wrote about the second vote on The Verge a few days later, provoking widespread criticism of CBS by journalists and academics.

Mr. Sandoval announced his resignation via Twitter on Jan. 14, less than an hour after The Verge published its report.

CBS sought to portray its involveent as a one-time incident. In a recent statement, the company said: “CNET is not going to give an award or any other validation to a product which CBS is challenging as illegal, other networks believe to be illegal and one court has already found to violate the copyright act in its application. Beyond that, CNET will cover every other product and service on the planet.”

Last week, the organizer of the Consumer Electronics Show cut its ties with CNET and reinstated the Hopper as the winner of the Best in Show award.

Stuart Elliott\'s Live Blog of Super Bowl Commercials

The Times’s staff will offer live analysis and commentary for the big game between the Giants and the New England Patriots, the broadcast, the commercials and the halftime show. And readers will have a chance to react to the ads as well as post other observations in our live-chat board.

Which G.O.P. House Members Might Support Immigration Reform

Last Monday, a bipartisan group of eight senators agreed to a set of overarching principals for immigration reform. On Tuesday, President Obama traveled to Las Vegas to outline his own proposals. Mr. Obama’s speech was followed by reports that a bipartisan group of representatives in the House were hashing out their its set of measures.

Lawmakers have tried this before, of course. Efforts to overhaul the immigration system fell apart during George W. Bush’s administration and in 2010.

But prospects for the latest effort are onsidered improved. Mitt Romney’s dismal performance with Hispanic voters in November gave Republican legislators “a new appreciation” for change, as Senator John McCain, a Republican from Arizona who is one of the eight senators in the bipartisan group, has said.

That may be true for many politicians seeking to win national and statewide elections in places where the Hispanic share of the electorate has increased significantly. But the main hurdle is expected to be in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, where a different set of political incentives apply.

Most Republicans in the House come! not only from very conservative districts but also from overwhelmingly white districts.

Source: United States Census Bureau

In the 232 Congressional districts represented by Republicans, the average Hispanic share of each district is 11 percent (the 200 Congressional districts held by Democrats are, on average, 23 percent Hispanic). Just 40 of the 232 Republicans in the House come from districts that are more than 20 percent Hispani, and just 16 from districts that are at least one-third Hispanic. At the other end of the spectrum, 142 districts represented by Republicans are less than 10 percent Hispanic.

In all, 84 percent of House Republicans represent districts that are 20 percent or less Hispanic.

Of course, Republicans without a large bloc of Hispanic constituents could still back changes to immigration law, and vice versa. But if Speaker John A. Boehner abides by the Hastert rule â€" which says that a bill should only be brought to a vote if the majority of the majority supports it â€" then House legislation overhauling the nation’s immigration system will have to rely on a substantial number of Republicans who represent mostly white districts.

If any legislation cannot clear that hurdle and win a majority of the majority, its best hope may be to follow the path of the Hurricane Sandy relief bill and the vote on the deal on the so-called fiscal cliff. In both cases, Mr. Boehner allowed a vote without a majority of his caucus supporting the legislation. Both bills passed with a majority of Democratic votes and supported by a minority of Republicans.

Which Republicans might feel compelled to back an immigration overhaul One place to look would be the Republican-held districts with the largest Hispanic communities.

Source: United States Census Bureau

Again, there is no guarantee that Republicans with a greater share of Hispanic constituents will necessarily favor reform. But three of the four Republicans in the House already negotiating an immigration bill with Democrats â€" Representatives John Carter and Sam Johnson, both of Texas, and Mario Diaz-Balart, of Florida â€" come from districts that are more Hispanic than the average Republican-held Congressional district.

The fourth Republican negotiator in the House, Raúl R. Labrador, represents Idaho’s First Congressional District, which â€" at 10 percent Hispanic â€" is just below the average for Republicans. Mr. Diaz-Balart represents Florida’s 25th Congressional District, which is 70 percent Hispanic. Mr. Carter represents Texas’s 31st District, which is roughly a quarter Hispanic. And Mr. Johnson represents Texas’s T! hird Dist! rict, which is 15 percent Hispanic.

Pepsi\'s Next Coke Parody Involves Pepsi Next

One of the two combatants in the cola-wars battle that is to be waged on Sunday night during Super Bowl XLVII is trying to get an early jump on the other.

The PepsiCo Beverages division of PepsiCo and the Coca-Cola Company are to face off during the CBS broadcast of the game with commercials for three soft-drink brands. PepsiCo Beverages is to promote Pepsi-Cola, the sponsor of the halftime show, and Pepsi Next, while Coca-Cola will pitch its flagship Coca-Cola brand.

At 9 a.m. on Sunday, about nine and a half hours before kickoff, PepsiCo Beverages plans to unleash a comical video clip for Pepsi Next that tweaks the commercial planned during the game for Coca-Cola.

The Pepsi Next video will not run during the Super Bowl. Instead, it will be < href="http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/2064614b20/next-sb-chase">available for viewing on Funny or Die, the Web site known for humorous videos; the Pepsi Next Web site, pepsinext.com; and YouTube.

The video for Pepsi Next features characters dressed like cowboys, showgirls and motorcycle toughs â€" the types of characters who are to appear in the Coca-Cola Super Bowl spot. In the video, they all try to get cans of Pepsi Next out of a vending machine during a break in the filming of their Coca-Cola commercial while ignoring a Coca-Cola machine nearby.

In the Coca-Cola Super Bowl spot, which is to appear during the first quarter of the game, three groups of cowboys, showgirls and motorcycle toughs (called “badlanders” in the commercial) race across a desert to be the first to find a cold Coke.

Viewers are invited to vote for their favorite group on a Web site, coke! chase.com, and the winner of the vote is to be announced in a Coca-Cola commercial scheduled to run after the game ends. (As of Saturday night, it appears that the showgirls and cowboys are neck and neck on cokechase.com.)

The commercial is to be the first part of a Coca-Cola campaign that will run after the Super Bowl and introduce additional characters as well as continue to tell stories about the cowboys, showgirls and badlanders.

The mocking plot of the Pepsi Next video clip is completely different from the plot of the commercial for Pepsi Next that is to appear during the first or second quarter of the Super Bowl. In the commercial, parents who come home unexpectedly to find their son hosting a wild party are distracted by cans of Pepsi Next, which is billed as offering real cola taste with 60 percent less sugar than Pepsi-Cola.

The video is intended to be “a playful and disruptive way” to draw attention to the Pepsi Next brand, Angelique Krembs, vice president for marketing fr the Pepsi trademark at PepsiCo Beverages, said in a phone interview on Saturday night from New Orleans, where she was to attend the game.

Funny or Die has produced other humorous videos for Pepsi Next, she said, in connection with the Super Bowl commercial for the brand, and the video “is an extra little poke” at Coke.

For years, PepsiCo mocked Coca-Cola products in commercials for Pepsi-Cola. More recently, the company has assigned that task to other brands like Pepsi Max, which ran a commercial in the Super Bowl last year that made fun of Coke Zero.

Asked if she was worried that Coca-Cola might retaliate against the video before the game, Ms. Krembs replied, laughing, “Unless they’ve got a great-tasting product with 60 percent less sugar, I’d like to see what they have to say.”

Pepsi\'s Next Coke Parody Involves Pepsi Next

One of the two combatants in the cola-wars battle that is to be waged on Sunday night during Super Bowl XLVII is trying to get an early jump on the other.

The PepsiCo Beverages division of PepsiCo and the Coca-Cola Company are to face off during the CBS broadcast of the game with commercials for three soft-drink brands. PepsiCo Beverages is to promote Pepsi-Cola, the sponsor of the halftime show, and Pepsi Next, while Coca-Cola will pitch its flagship Coca-Cola brand.

At 9 a.m. on Sunday, about nine and a half hours before kickoff, PepsiCo Beverages plans to unleash a comical video clip for Pepsi Next that tweaks the commercial planned during the game for Coca-Cola.

The Pepsi Next video will not run during the Super Bowl. Instead, it will be < href="http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/2064614b20/next-sb-chase">available for viewing on Funny or Die, the Web site known for humorous videos; the Pepsi Next Web site, pepsinext.com; and YouTube.

The video for Pepsi Next features characters dressed like cowboys, showgirls and motorcycle toughs â€" the types of characters who are to appear in the Coca-Cola Super Bowl spot. In the video, they all try to get cans of Pepsi Next out of a vending machine during a break in the filming of their Coca-Cola commercial while ignoring a Coca-Cola machine nearby.

In the Coca-Cola Super Bowl spot, which is to appear during the first quarter of the game, three groups of cowboys, showgirls and motorcycle toughs (called “badlanders” in the commercial) race across a desert to be the first to find a cold Coke.

Viewers are invited to vote for their favorite group on a Web site, coke! chase.com, and the winner of the vote is to be announced in a Coca-Cola commercial scheduled to run after the game ends. (As of Saturday night, it appears that the showgirls and cowboys are neck and neck on cokechase.com.)

The commercial is to be the first part of a Coca-Cola campaign that will run after the Super Bowl and introduce additional characters as well as continue to tell stories about the cowboys, showgirls and badlanders.

The mocking plot of the Pepsi Next video clip is completely different from the plot of the commercial for Pepsi Next that is to appear during the first or second quarter of the Super Bowl. In the commercial, parents who come home unexpectedly to find their son hosting a wild party are distracted by cans of Pepsi Next, which is billed as offering real cola taste with 60 percent less sugar than Pepsi-Cola.

The video is intended to be “a playful and disruptive way” to draw attention to the Pepsi Next brand, Angelique Krembs, vice president for marketing fr the Pepsi trademark at PepsiCo Beverages, said in a phone interview on Saturday night from New Orleans, where she was to attend the game.

Funny or Die has produced other humorous videos for Pepsi Next, she said, in connection with the Super Bowl commercial for the brand, and the video “is an extra little poke” at Coke.

For years, PepsiCo mocked Coca-Cola products in commercials for Pepsi-Cola. More recently, the company has assigned that task to other brands like Pepsi Max, which ran a commercial in the Super Bowl last year that made fun of Coke Zero.

Asked if she was worried that Coca-Cola might retaliate against the video before the game, Ms. Krembs replied, laughing, “Unless they’ve got a great-tasting product with 60 percent less sugar, I’d like to see what they have to say.”