Now that I have firmly polluted this site with that Nokia drek horror, something to cleanse the palate…
Cleansing the Viral Palate-Hurt-Johnny Cash
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Author Archives: admin
Invasion of the Web2.0 Zombies !
Nokia Web2.0 Horror! Found on TechCrunch, one of the most terrible viral videos I have seen. Perhaps the strategy is to get a lot of people commenting on just how horrific viral can go with this Nokia spot. Then again, I think I just got PWN3D !
In the destructive element immerse-psychedelic pyrotechnics !
GONZO
The Life of Hunter S. Thompson. / By Jann S. Wenner and Corey Seymour
I am taking this moment to riff on Joe Klein’s review of the recently published biography of Hunter S. Thompson. ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ is a book that had a profound effect on the direction of my life. I spent one summer in the early 80′s living in that book due to the fact that there were no drugs to be had on the barren coast of New Hampshire at the time.
In many respects, the time could not be more timely for such a memorial to the giant of journalism. We are living in a period of great crisis for the media, a time of cynicism in which the need for visionaries who are not shills for global big corporate, who have the guts to steer through the difficult and dangerous waters of ‘truth’ and ‘freedom’.
Bigs words, spoken by this author, a tiny voice in the great wilderness, my words being the sounds of broken claws scrabbling about the rocks, unheard and distant, relevant, none the less….
Link to New York Times Book Review
Goodbye Kyoto, Hello Bali !
The final UN Report on Climate Change is about ready to be released, and it’s a biggie ! United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which just recently won the Nobel Peace Prize for it’s work:
““You look to a synthesis report to provide clarity, to clarify what was obscure in previous reports,” said Michael Oppenheimer, a climate scientist at Princeton University. “Now, how can we take these findings and formulate a policy response that’s quick enough and big enough?”
“VALENCIA, Spain, Nov. 16 — In its final and most powerful report, a United Nations panel of scientists meeting here describes the mounting risks of climate change in language that is both more specific and forceful than its previous assessments, according to scientists here.”
This report is going to go down in history in a big way, and the world is holding it’s breath…
“The report carries heightened significance because it is the last word from the influential global climate panel before world leaders meet in Bali, Indonesia, next month to begin to discuss a global climate change treaty that will replace the Kyoto protocol, which expires in 2012. It is also the first report from the panel since it was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October — an honor that many scientists here said emboldened them to stand more forcefully behind their positions.”
New York Times Link
Martha Stewart’s New Online AdNetwork
Martha Stewart is getting into the online ad network game. Bring the cache of Martha Stewart and related traffic from the MSLO publishing network, this could be a very successful strategy for blogs and websites whose content is narrow, deep and reflect a simpatico style and taste with MSLO.
“Advertise with Martha’s Circle!
Martha’s Circle — a collection of exceptional lifestyle sites and blogs handpicked by our editors — is the most reliable and efficient way to extend your campaign and interact with passionate, quality-minded consumers in a niche environment they trust and treasure.
We have direct relationships with each site and blog, so your campaign is guaranteed great placement, right in the middle of the most relevant content and communities. You can focus your buy around one or more of our four content areas: food, kids, home, and entertaining. And instead of dealing with dozens of web publishers and bloggers, you’ll work directly with an MSLO sales representative.”
Seen on TechCrunch
Daft Punk – Viral on Viral, Virally !
Recently Vimeo, a site that is a user based video hosting site has created the ability to create simple, fast and fun Tumbl blogs.
“A tumblelog is a variation of a blog, that favors short-form, mixed-media posts over the longer editorial posts frequently associated with blogging. Common post formats found on tumblelogs include links, photos, quotes, dialogues, and video. Unlike blogs, this format is frequently used to share the author’s creations, discoveries, or experiences without providing a commentary.” from Wikipedia
Daft Punk found on a Tumlbr blog
Blogging, Dictators and Democracy…
Who controls information, what does it mean, and how does that relate to the media of blogs.
New York Times reaches out to the blogosphere, or the blogoshtan and asks for news during marshal law and the news blackout of Pakistan.
“With opposition protests blocked by the authorities in Pakistan, NYTimes.com is asking readers in Pakistan to help us report on events in the country by sending us eyewitness accounts of protests in photographs, video or text.”
Gen. Pervez Musharraf, president of Pakistan:
“I must remove my uniform and there should be a civilian government,’’ Musharraf told state-run Pakistan Television today. “Elections must be held as soon as possible, by Feb. 15 at the latest.’’
Benazir Bhutto, leader of the main opposition party, called it “yet another vague announcement. We want him to hang up his uniform by November 15.”
President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia:
“Demand and you will receive. You demanded early elections. Here they are: early elections. Come and decide who you want to vote for.
“I do not want to be the president of a country that limits mass media and that declares emergency rule,” he added. “I can only rule the country if I have a renewed mandate from the people.”
Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Myanmar’s stifled democracy movement:
“In the interest of the nation, I stand ready to cooperate with the government in order to make this process of dialogue a success and welcome the necessary good offices’ role of the United Nations to help facilitate our efforts in this regard.”
HushMail – Not so Hush – Ouch !
Privacy takes another hit. HushMail is a product that allows users to encrypt their email and trust that their correspondence is private. I have had a paid HushMail account for a couple of years now, and even when I messed up on changing my password, I was not able to get access to my HushMail account. Of course, I was using the downloaded javascript based applet, not to the new improved HushMail where the java applet resides on the HushMail servers out of Canada. From Wired, a well research article:
“Our policy is that we only release user information under court order from a court of British Columbia.
(http://www.hushmail.com/help-faqs#courtorder)
When a US agency requires information, they have to work in co- operation with Canadian authorities. While I’m not legal counsel, I believe that most of this is handled through the Mutual Legal Assistance (MLAT) process. From our perspective, the end result is always a Canadian court order. We comply fully with Canadian court orders, so long as they apply to specifically identified accounts as opposed to broad data collection.” Link
“The court revelation demonstrates a privacy risk in a relatively-new, simple webmail offering by Hushmail, which the company acknowledges is less secure than its signature product.”
Google mobile-It’s all about China
Google mobile strategy steals a march on rivals – China Financial Times 11.06.07
“Google vaulted past Microsoft yesterday by unveiling a long-awaited mobile strategy in a bid to speed up the use of the internet on mobile phones.
The plan, involving a new software platform for mobile handsets and a broad international alliance of more than 30 handset makers and communications companies, could prove a disruptive force to the economics of the mobile industry in the long-term, according to analysts.
Google’s success in drawing a wide group of mobile industry players to its technology marks a sharp contrast with Microsoft, which has tried for years to win support for a mobile version of its Windows operating system.”
It’s all about China – The USA and Europe are starting to take a back seat to the dazzling size of the Mobile Market in China.
Google Wireless Again
It’s official. ‘Android’ will be Google’s face in the wireless world. At least I will be able to save on calls to 411.
“At the core, Google is betting that easier consumer access to Internet services from their mobile phones will lead consumers to use its services more—which has been the case with Web access on the personal computer. The open model echoes Google’s announcement last week of OpenSocial technical specifications to be used by social networking sites and software developers creating applications for them.” Wall Street Journal
“Among the handset makers that signed on to Google’s initiative were Taiwan’s HTC Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. and Motorola Inc. Operator partners include Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Mobile, Sprint Nextel Corp., and Japan’s NTT DoCoMo Inc.”
Impressive line-up of companies.
Google Wireless: GPhone or Google Phone ?
Everyone has been waiting for this announcement, it comes as no surprise that Google is entering the wireless fray. Link.
From what I have read from the NYTimes article, it appears Google’s strategy is going to be brilliant, as usual. Rather than competing in the crazy wireless space, they are going to be building ‘open source’ software to offer ‘an optimized wireless Internet experience’. Google’s phone software is named Android.
“We are not building a GPhone; we are enabling 1,000 people to build a GPhone,” said Andy Rubin, Google’s director of mobile platforms, who led the effort to develop the software.
Android: The antidote for the ‘walled gardens’ of cell phone access to the Internet.
T-Mobile claims to own the rights for the use of magenta !
Would you like to join RECLAIM MAGENTA!?
The German telecom company T-Mobile is claiming the color magenta! We have to stop them! T-Mobile started sueing Dutch companies which use magenta in print and commercial campaigns. They already sued Compello and they are urging “Slam FM” and “100% NL” to quit using magenta as well! T-Mobile claims to own the rights for the use of magenta! They claim to have the rights registered at OAMI which is completely bonkers, in this way they claim to own the rights of Magenta over whole Europe! Everyone should be allowed to use magenta anywhere, anytime! It’s part of the colorspectrum and the colorspectrum should always be free! Its time to smack some sense into T-Mobile! Here we can start off with a petition for reclaiming Magenta.
Kasper Kuijpers Link to public group
So I got this in my private email on the creative network Behance, which I have been a member of since they launched over the summer. Since I follow IP, copyright and patent issues on TechDirt and Slashdot, I am fascinated by the notion that corporations are attempting to copyright, patent and trademark everything under the sun. This is the first I have heard that they are claiming IP rights over colors.