Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Edition
Bloomberg For a Third Term!
By Liza Porteus Viana (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 12:10:00 PM
Filed under: Democrats, Republicans,
Breaking News, Ballot Measures, Michael
Bloomberg I'm doing a little happy dance
this evening.
New York City Mayor Michael
Bloomberg has in fact decided to try to
reverse the term-limits law so he can seek
a third term next year and help the city
emerge from financial turmoil, AP is now
reporting. The New York Times is
sourcing three people close the mayor as
confirming the move.
Bloomberg made the decision over the
weekend and will announce it Thursday, a
person close to the mayor told AP. This
person said the Bloomberg has been
wrestling with the decision for the past
couple of months, particularly because the
mayor has long supported the term limit.
He will have to revise the 15-year-old law
to try to stay in office. That law has been
upheld twice by voters, once in 1993 and
again in 1996.
But Gotham in the middle of a financial
meltdown, we need strong leadership
(something obviously lacking in
Washington right now) - and we'll take it
where we can get it. Bloomberg reportedly
is going to cite the credit and market crisis
as the reason he - a tested financial
manager - will stay on and guide the city
Depends On What the Meaning of 'Split' Is
By Christopher Weber (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 12:29:00 PM
Filed under: Barack Obama, John
McCain, 2008 President, Humor, Media,
through the storm, AP says.Some groups,
like Common Cause New York, are
accusing Bloomberg of trying to subvert
the will of voters. Bloomberg could go the
ballot-box route and ask that a referendum
be put on November's ballot. That would
alleviate some concerns. Or, he could just
go the route of pushing through a City
Council bill.
Viral Video My laugh of the day comes
courtesy of Fox News (imagine that). To
prove what a "battleground state"
Pennsylvania is, the "reporter" asks
everyone in a diner to raise their hands if
they're voting for McCain. Crickets, some
08/09/08 - 01/10/08
Bloomberg is the founder of a multi-
billion dollar financial firm and a former
Wall Street trader, and has guided this city
and its economy steadily for the past eight
years. This would be the absolute worst
time to bring in a newbie.
Since the financial crisis reached its
peak, Bloomberg has been on the phone
with the heads of struggling firms like
Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers, and
with top federal regulators. The Times
reports that even though the mayor is
going over the heads of some of his aides,
the business community - which includes
the likes of financier Steven Rattner and
News Corp patriarch Rupert Murdoch - is
rejoicing at the prospect of another term.
Billionaire term-limits advocate and
cosmetics heir Ron Lauder told The New
York Post that even he supports a one-time
extension law change that would allow
Bloomberg to run again.
"Because of the unprecedented times, this
is welcome news. To me, Mayor
Bloomberg's brilliance in the financial
sector, particularly Wall Street, would be
invaluable," Lauder said. "If it wasn't for
the fact of what's happening today in the
world, particularly Wall Street, it would be
a different story. But we need
[Bloomberg's] expertise in New York."
What do you think?
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tumbleweed. Then he says raise em if
you're voting for Obama. Every hand in
the place goes up. At which point the Fox
stooge turns to the camera and with a
straight face says, "See, it's split." You can
hear the patrons in the background scoffing
LibertyNewsprint.com U.S.
Let Us Pray ... to Obama?
By Mo Rocca (Political Machine)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 6:10:00 AM
Filed under: Barack Obama, Religion,
2008 President The video below is flying
around the internet, so you may already
have seen it. Watch, then read on:
It is not produced by the Obama
campaign. The description on YouTube
makes clear that this was produced by
volunteers, and without public school
support. And yet ...
... it is eerie. What on earth are children
doing praying to a political candidate? I'm
not sure what bothers me most: Is it their
glassy-eyed stares? Is it their Children of
the Corn-fed good looks? Their hypnotized
vibrato-less tones? (Note: the adorable
opening soloist is not doing her own
singing. She's lip-synching the voice of a
homely young Chinese girl.)
Rest assured, if these children are ever
successfully de-programmed, they will
come to hate their parents. (And you
thought the Yearning for Zion kids were in
trouble?)
As I wrote in a recent post on Sarah
Palin, elevating a candidate to the status of
a religious figure is not just preposterous.
It's dangerous. (Elevating them at all is
dangerous.) Right now the candidates are
on best behavior for us. That's because
they want us to believe they deserve the
at him.
Pennsylvania has long been considered a
tight race but today six different
polls(including Fox's own) show Obama
may be pulling ahead in the Keystone
State.
keys to this (earthly) kingdom. Because
with those keys comes barely imaginable
power over us. It's our job to be as cold-
eyed, dispassionate and skeptical as
possible during these final 40+ days. After
that we pretty much have to live with our
decision.
Yes, Barack Obama has traveled a long
way against some tough odds. That doesn't
make him Moses. Yes, Sarah Palin
courageously decided to birth a child with
Down's Syndrome. That doesn't make her
Mary. If we insist on treating these people
like saints, only one thing is guaranteed:
we will be disappointed.
So let's save the spirituals for after
they've actually done something --
anything.(Sheesh, Eisenhower defeated
Hitler before he became President and I
don't think anyone ever prayed to him.) In
the video above, Obama has apparently
skipped beatification and gone right to
canonization. (If only Mother Teresa had
consulted with David Axelrod.)
The only special treatment we should
give them? Judge them guilty until proven
innocent.
Finally, if you're going to spiritualize
something secular, do it right:
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2 Politico* Tech Tips*
Happy Fake Election Day, Early Voters! Obama Cribs Bailout Idea
By Ken Layne (Political Machine)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 6:53:00 AM
Filed under: Breaking News, Iraq,
from House GOP
Economy, 2008 President, Ken Layne's
Outrage, Sarah Palin The real, American
election day may still be five long weeks
away, but millions of nutty voters are
"voting early" because they just can't sit
down and wait it out like the rest of us.
In more than 30 states, citizens are
ignoring their duty to show up on
November 4 and try to fill out a ballot or
screw up some touch-screen computer, all
because of laziness. Why go to all that
trouble when you can just mail in a ballot,
today?
Because the campaigns are still working
hard, raising money and running insane
teevee commercials, that's why. And our
politicians will keep up the good work
until Halloween and beyond. Americans
owe it to the Founding Fathers to at least
pretend to pay attention.
According to the Boston Globe,"The
very notion of Election Day, when
Americans gather in school gyms,
community centers, and fire stations to
pick a president, is slowly giving way to
drawn-out election windows -- weeks-long
periods when voters, at their leisure, can
cast ballots at designated spots or send
them by mail."
There's that word again: Leisure.
In a time of terrible economic crisis,
endless war and permanent national
decline, you'd think Americans might
consider something beyond their own
leisure.
Bill Clinton Stars in McCain Ad
By Christopher Weber (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 8:18:00 AM
Filed under: Ads, John McCain,
Economy, 2008 President, Bill Clinton Not
by choice, of course, and totally out of
context, but I doubt Bubba will raise a
stink. He's happy any time he can help
McCain win. The ad is called "Rein"
because of all the "reining in" of Fannie
Flash Is Under Development for the iPhone [IPhone]
By Adam Pash (Lifehacker)
Think again. This nation of lazy slobs
would rather spend the next five weeks on
a scum-encrusted sofa eating Hot Cheetos
and watching pornography on a flat-screen
than caring about our country.
Liberals make the usual excuses: "Oh,
the old people should get to vote from
home, so they don't have to go outside
where the criminals will rob them." Last
time I checked, there were old people in
Iraq, too. And unless they're cutting off
their own fingers and mailing them to the
polling place to be marked in purple ink,
you can bet there's no "early voting" over
there, where we took the fight so they
wouldn't send their severed fingers over
Mae and Freddie Mac that economics ninja
John McCain allegedly did. Unfortunately
he was thwarted at every turn by the
Democrats. And now look at the mess
we're in. Thanks a lot, Dems.
Bill Clinton knows who is responsible.
PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: "I think
the responsibility that the Democrats have
may rest more in resisting any efforts by
Republicans in the Congress or by me
when I was President to put some
Adobe is actively developing a Flash
player for the iPhone according to web site
here.
Election Day is November 4. If you don't
like it, there's a country right by Sarah
Palin's house that you might want to
consider. It's called Canada.
Ken Layne is the managing editor of
Wonkette. He will cast his vote on
November 4, because he actually cares
what happens to America.
Should America count the votes of "early
voters"? No, that's absurd. Yes, people just
don't know any better. Maybe count 1/3 of
the vote? Vote
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standards and tighten up a little on Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac."
ANNCR: You're right, Mr. President. It
didn't have to happen.
JOHN MCCAIN: I'm John McCain and I
approve this message.
(from Halperin)
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Flash Magazine—now all they're waiting
for is the "okay" from Apple.
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
By Mark Impomeni (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 2:30:00 PM
Filed under: Republicans, Barack Obama,
Economy, 2008 President Sen. Barack
Obama today proposed a specific idea to
help solve the financial bailout impasse
gripping Washington. Obama came out
behind a plan to more than double the limit
on deposits insured by the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation (FDIC) from the
current $100,000 to $250,000. The idea is
to bolster confidence in bank customers
that their savings are safe and to prevent
future bank runs like the one that hit
Washington Mutual last week just before it
collapsed. It is an idea that has potential to
win some more votes for the beleaguered
bailout package that failed its first test in
the House yesterday. Sen. Obama surely
hopes to gain credit for proposing it and
perhaps for rescuing the bailout package.
Except that the FDIC limit increase is not
Sen. Obama's idea. It's a feature of the surprise of the Senators who actually
House Republicans' alternative bailout plan worked on the bill. Earlier this year, while
that Sen. Obama criticized at last Friday's traveling in the Middle East, Obama
White House meeting. That criticism lead claimed credit for serving on the Banking
to the meeting degenerating into a partisan Committee in the Senate when he does not.
shouting match, as Democrats, led by Sen. And just last week, Sen. Obama claimed a
Obama, used Treasury Secretary Hank key role in crafting the economic stimulus
Paul son's notes on the Republican plan to package passed in January; a claim the
attack the Republican leaders present at the Washington Post called, "a big stretch."
meeting. Now Sen. Obama is seeking to claim the
Sen. Obama has a history of claiming Republicans' FDIC insurance limit increase
credit for other people's ideas and as his own. But Obama also claims that it
exaggerating his role or influence on is Republican policies that have caused the
legislation. Members of his own party have
bristled at his tendency to include himself
financial troubles on Wall Street. It seems
that Sen. Obama was against Republican
for praise over issues in which he has little ideas for fixing the nation's economy
input. During the Democratic primary, the before he was for them.
Washington Post published a story Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs|
detailing how Sen. Obama claimed in 2006 Comments
that he was a central player in an
immigration compromise, to the great
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
The Real McCain
By Denise Williams (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 10:17:00 AM
Filed under: John McCain, Investigations,
Media Cliff Schecter, the author of The
Real McCain: Why Conservatives Don't
Trust Him and Why Independents
Shouldn't was one of the first to shine a
light on why John McCain is not a good
choice for President of the United States.
Cliff's research into the different
personalities of this presidential hopeful
first brought into the blogosphere and then
the mainstream media (who knew, but
didn't talk) anecdotes about McCain's hot
temper - his treatment of colleagues and
his wives - including the now infamous
and sourced account of his calling wife
Cindy a very bad name in a fit of pique.
You now hear media questioning
McCain's temperment as a concern about
his ability be Commander-in-Chief. Cliff
was one of the first to raise that alarm.
Schecter also gave us the low-down on
McCain's flip-flop on the "agents of
intolerance" that plagued his quest for the
presidency in 2000.
Vero Beach, February 19, 2007. The
senior senator from Arizona was back in
the saddle in pursuit of an office that
would make even his four-star admiral
forebears proud. He was in south Florida,
but not at all was he there for the beaches.
He was there to work the evangelical
leadership--religious broadcasters--at a
private meeting during the National
Religious Broadcasters Convention. Seems
he had a few fences to mend with the
keepers of the Lord's public airwaves. In
their honor, McCain rolled out one of his
John McCain, Economic Disaster; Pass it On
By Tommy Christopher (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 8:00:00 AM
Filed under: Republicans, John McCain,
Economy, 2008 President For anyone who
hasn't been paying attention, John McCain
might seem to be some kind of economic
whiz kid who just can't get Warshington to
bend to his superior judgment and pass
some gosh-darn regulations. Although
recent polls suggest that more and more
best signature lines, the sound bite suited
to any occasion for a deft politician: "What
I have found out in my life, is that every
time I have done something for political
reasons and not the right reasons, I have
paid a heavy price for it--a big price."
Cliff will join me on Unusable Signal on
Blog Talk Radio tonight at 9:15 PM EDT.
Join us and call in with any questions you
might have for him. Click here for the
Unusable Signal show page.
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Americans are getting the message, Brave
New Films has put together a nice little
reminder that McCain is a self-assessed
novice on the economy, and a forceful
opponent of government regulation of
businesses.
The film cuts together pre- and post-
crisis footage of McCain, and the contrast
is stark. You would think McCain would
try to smooth out the turbulence of his
pivot somewhat, knowing that, in the age
of Youtube, at least some kind of segue is
McCain Statement on
Bailout Failure
By Dave (Political Machine)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 1:59:00 PM
Filed under: John McCain, Breaking
News, Economy, 2008 President The
Corner: We are in the greatest financial
crisis of our lifetimes.
Congressional inaction has put every
American and the entire economy at the
gravest risk. Yesterday the country and the
world looked to Washington for
leadership, and Congress once again came
up empty-handed.
I am disappointed at the lack of resolve
and bipartisan good will among members
of both parties to fix this problem.
Bipartisanship is a tough thing; never more
so when you're trying to take necessary but
publicly unpopular action. But inaction is
not an option. Ugh, sigh. Excuse me while
I bang my head against the desk.
BANGBANGBANGBANG.
OK, I'm a little calmer now. 35 days
before an election. On a day when the
public was expressing its overwhelming
contempt for congress and the attempt here
to giveaway $700 billion dollars of
taxpayer money to Wall Street banks. A
move that has never been promised to
ultimately fix the problem.
McCain keeps pounding on this mealy
mouthed mushy moderate crap that even
most of his own party and 40% of the
Democrats can't handle.
Does he wonder why he keeps going
down in the polls? As Rush said today,
bipartisanship is not hard. All you have to
in order.
The filmmaker, Robert Greenwald, will
be my guest Thursday at 10pm on
do is sell your principles down the river.
And keep in mind that McCain's poll
numbers were never higher than when he
and Palin were pushing their message that
was very partisan.
Yes, I do believe that inaction is not an
option here. But inaction is better than bad
stupid, throwing-money-down-the-drain
and not solving the problem action. God
bless the House Republicans and the 95
Democrats who couldn't swallow this plan.
It's up to the Senate tomorrow.
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Unusable Signal, so you'll have a chance to
ask him about the film yourselves.
Tommy Christopher co-hosts " Unusable
Signal",on BlogTalkRadio, Tues through
Thurs at 10pm, and Fri, and Sat at 11pm.
(Eastern) Click here for the Unusable
Signal homepage.
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Politico* Business* 3
Play It Again, John
By David Knowles (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 4:56:00 AM
Filed under: John McCain, Economy,
2008 President
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Goldman Sachs (GS)
acquiring $50 billion in
bank assets, shares rise
By Brent Archer (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 6:20:00 AM
Filed under: Major movement, Good
news, Industry, Goldman Sachs Group
(GS), Options, Technical Analysis
Goldman Sachs(NYSE: GS- option chain)
shares are rising today as the markets
bounce back from yesterday's bloodbath
and the company announces that is is
looking to buy up to $50 billion in assets
as a way to become a major player in the
banking industry now that it is a bank
holding company. If you think that the
stock won't fall by too much in the coming
months, then now could be a good time to
look at a bullish hedged trade on GS.
GS opened this morning at $126.89. So
far today the stock has hit a low of $124.50
and a high of $129.00. As of 12:45, GS is
trading at $127.38, up $6.68 (5.5%). The
chart for GS looks bearish and S&P gives
GS a 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking.
For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I
would consider a November bull-put credit
spread below the $50 range. A bull-put
credit spread is an options position that
combines the purchase and sale of put
options to hedge risk in case the stock
doesn't do what you think but still leverage
nice returns. For this particular trade, we
will make a 6.4% return in just eight weeks
as long as GS is above $50 at November
expiration. Goldman would have to fall by
more than 60% before we would start to
lose money. Learn more about this type of
trade here.
Continue reading Goldman Sachs (GS)
acquiring $50 billion in bank assets, shares
rise Permalink| Email this| Comments
4 Business* Movies*
Closing Bell: Stocks rebound as Pearlstein: Lack of rescue
Uncle Sam comes to rescue, package threatens global
maybe; ANF, HUN, INTC all up
By Jon Ogg (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 9:15:00 AM
Filed under: After the bell, Intel (INTC),
Market matters, Abercrombie and Fitch
(ANF), CMGI Inc (CMGI) Volatility is
becoming the market's new name. Much of
yesterday's 700+ point drop in the DJIA
was largely erased as the DJIA was up
more than 400 points for most of the last
hour today. The markets weren't driven by
a bailout package. It was the BELIEF that
a new passage would get passed by the
weekend. Consumer confidence did come
in stronger than expected, although the
Conference Board noted that the data cut
off date was September 23, before the last
round of malaise hit.
Here were today's unofficial closing bell
levels:
DJIA 10,862.61 (+497.16; +4.80%)
NASDAQ 2,082.33 (+98.60; +4.97%)
S&P500 1,163.93 (+57.54; +5.20%)
10YR T-NOTE 3.827% (+0.195)
52-WEEK LOWS
TOP UPGRADES, many moved here.
TOP DOWNGRADES
Abercrombie & Fitch Co.(NYSE: ANF)
rose after an analyst upgrade this morning.
The young adult clothing company was
raised to an "Outperform" at FBR. With
shares on a year low and having sold off
nearly 60% and a P/E ratio of well under
10.0, that brought some interest from Wall
Street. Shares were up over 11% at $39.70
in today's final minutes.
Huntsman Corp.(NYSE: HUN) was one
monster mover today. A judge ruled that
Motorola ramps up Android team to 350 employees
By Brian White (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 8:20:00 AM
Filed under: Products and services,
Google (GOOG), Motorola (MOT)
Motorola Corp.(NYSE: MOT) is
apparently planning on a rather large piece
of its wireless business being wrapped
around Google Inc.'s (NASDAQ: GOOG)
the private equity firms that walked away
could not claim the material adverse
change. Shares were up a whopping 70%
at $12.59 in today's final minutes.
Intel Corporation(NASDAQ: INTC) rose
on a call out of Piper Jaffray as one of
several key technology upgrades. The firm
raised its Neutral rating to a Buy rating
with a $22.00 price target. Shares were up
6% at $18.36 in the final minutes of the
trading day.
CMGI Inc.(NASDAQ: CMGI) is now
ModusLink Global Solutions, Inc.
(NASDAQ: MLNK). Shares actually rose
over 12% to $10.00 by the final minutes of
the trading day.
Conexant Systems Inc.(NASDAQ:
CNXT) rose sharply after the
communications chip company raised its
guidance to EPS of $0.24 to $0.26 vs.
$0.15 estimates. Imagine a chip company
raising guidance in today's climate. Shares
were up 42% at $4.10 in the final trading
minutes today on more than 5-times
volume. Permalink| Email this| Comments
Android operating system. The wireless
company already has 50 employees
working on Android development and will
be boosting that number to 350 before
long. Since Motorola is one of the larger
members of the Open Handset Alliance
(OHA), the open-source software
movement meant to support all things
Android, this comes as no surprise.
financial system
By Joseph Lazzaro
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 11:10:00 AM
Filed under: International markets,
Forecasts, Politics, Financial Crisis
Washington Post business columnist
Steven Pearlstein does not mince words:
too many people just don't get it.
Moreover, yours truly is not one to
alarm, and typically views 'sweeping and
dramatic statements' with a journalist's
skepticism and a scholar's critical review.
But when the best economists you talk
to, and business executives, and others in
financial and investment circles, start
reaching the same conclusion, from
decidedly different vantage points, the
dramatic statement begins to take on more
weight, becoming more compelling.
'The reality of the facts on the ground'
Further, as Pearlstein incisively points
out, there are reasons why a considerable
portion of the American people are not
'getting it' regarding how serious the
current situation is. Politicians are more
concerned about ideology, partisan
posturing, and teaching people a lesson --
Jann Blogs from Vegas with Marie Osmond!
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 3:41:00 PM
ET's own Jann Carl blogs from the busy
set of Marie Osmond's new Nutrisystem
commercial in Las Vegas! How does
Perhaps Motorola wants some revenue
from software development for the mobile
space instead of selling profit-challenged
hardware? The company has had a rough
time of things recently, but after spinning
off its handset division soon, Motorola
wireless hardware and software may be on
the path to re-inventing themselves.
But can Google's vaunted wireless
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
if you can believe that they could be so
irresponsible (my astonishment added, not
Pearlstein's). Financiers have been very
slow to admit to greed, arrogance, and
incompetence. And foreign government
leaders still view the financial crisis as 'an
American problem.'
But none of the above changes what
Pearlstein, and what my closest economist
colleagues (David H. Wang, Richard
Felson, Peter Dawson, M. Chandler, and
Glen Langan) all argue is "the reality of
the facts on the ground," to borrow a
phrase from Israel's former Prime Minister
and Defense Minister Ariel Sharon.
Namely, that a massive, global
deleveraging is taking place, and that
absent a systemic rescue/intervention by
the U.S. Government, in conjunction with
interventions by other governments around
the world, the world risks the bursting of a
credit bubble that threatens to bring down
the global financial system.
Continue reading Pearlstein: Lack of
rescue package threatens global financial
system Permalink| Email this| Comments
Marie juggle a live Vegas show with
brother Donny, commercial shoots, a
thriving doll empire and eight kids? And
where's that Nutrisystem caramel popcorn
anyway?
platform challenge the entrenched iPhone,
Windows Mobile and Symbian space?
Together, those three platforms control a
huge swath of the smartphone market.
Nokia Corp.(NYSE: NOK), which now
owns all of Symbian, has the lion's share of
smartphone software sales globally. The
newer iPhone 3G has launched in dozens
of countries and continues to sell very
Transparency
at last
By Gary E. Sattler (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 9:50:00 AM
Filed under: Good news, Rants and raves,
Financial Crisis If there's one great
advantage to the failed $700 billion bailout
bill, it is this: America has just been given
one undeniable opportunity to see which
side of the fence the bear squats on. In
other words, we can now see exactly who
is serving whom.
A majority of Republicans voted against
the bailout bill. A majority of Democrats
voted for it. So, who's kidding who? Who
is serving their constituents? By all
accounts that I've heard and read,
Republican representatives are saying that
they voted the bill down because their
constituents were split on the matter 50/50.
Fifty percent said no, the other fifty
percent said hell no! Yes, we know this
could hurt us a bit, but delaying the
inevitable would hurt worse.
Your best investment today, in my
humble opinion, is to go to Congress.org to
review exactly how your personal
representatives in government voted on the
$700 billion bailout package. Then, armed
with the facts, support the candidates who
took your position on the most important
piece of fiscal legislation brought to the
floor in our lifetimes.
Pardon me Washington, but your slip is
showing . . . Read| Permalink| Email this|
Comments
well. Let's not count out Windows Mobile.
Even Google may find it hard to take large
pieces of market share away from these
players. But at least Motorola is only
placing a small bet here on Android's
success. Three hundred fifty employees
isn't too many, is it? Read| Permalink|
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Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Apple staying mum on Potential Boeing 787 order
iPhone App Store missteps delay for Japan ends sad
By Brian White (BloggingStocks)
September for investors
Submitted at 9/30/2008 8:50:00 AM
Filed under: Products and services,
Competitive strategy, Apple Inc (AAPL)
After getting overloaded with economic
bailout reading over the weekend,
something techie floated to the top of the
pile that caught my attention. It seems that
Apple, Inc.(NASDAQ: AAPL) is rejecting
quite a few submissions to its App Store,
where aspiring iPhone application
developers send their programs so that
iPhone customers can buy them.
The only problem is that Apple is not
telling rejected (and dejected) application
developers why their programs are not
being approved. Also, the non-disclosure
agreement the company is sending out
prevents these developers from talking
about their rejected iPhone app situations.
Is this Apple being its usual self:
controlling, closed and mum? The
company really (really) knows how to
design something the consumer wants and
markets its sleek goods in a way other
companies just can't figure out. But in
addition to that, it retains a tight control on
the entire ecosystem in which its products
exist.
Perhaps it's the best form of quality
control -- but it's not freedom. And
developers want freedom, or, at the least,
communication. Apple seems to be
extremely tight-lipped, which is odd but
not surprising.
On another Apple-control-freak note,
Apple is now restricting reviews of iPhone
Until fear is checked, credit freeze up will not ease
By Joseph Lazzaro
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 6:50:00 AM
Filed under: International markets,
Forecasts, Politics, Recession, Financial
Crisis The U.S. Congress' rejection of the
$700 billion rescue bill generated a
predictable response from private banks
late Monday night. The cost of borrowing
rates surged the most on record as banks
Apps to people who have paid for them. It
seems that the Wisdom of Crowds
argument, which says that putting people
in control leads to wisdom, isn't working
here. Of course, there is also the vocal
minority which can't be pleased by
anything and trashes everything that
doesn't fit a preconceived notion. Apple is
turning on the quiet switch in this situation
as well. So here's my proposal for a new
motto: Apple: Think Different (but don't
communicate it). Read| Permalink| Email
this| Comments
were increasingly reluctant to lend to one
another.
The London Interbank Offered Rate, or
LIBOR, rose an astounding 431 basis
points to 6.88% Monday night, Bloomberg
News reported Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Euro Interbank Offered
Rate rose to a record 5.05%, reflecting
cash hoarding, rising fear, and a
breakdown in normal trading.
Economist David H. Wang told
By Joseph Lazzaro
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 10:15:00 AM
Filed under: Forecasts, Industry, Boeing
Co (BA) What a September.
The Yankees fade during the stretch and
don't make the play-offs. And Yankee
Stadium, The House That Ruth Built, has
closed, forever. Meanwhile, the stock
market frequently looks like it wants to
close.
Well, at least Boeing(NYSE: BA) is
doing well. No, wait, Boeing too is closed,
temporarily, due to a strike.
And now there's word that Boeing will
reassess its 787 Dreamliner delivery
schedule for the Japanese market once the
ongoing strike ends, Reuters reported
Tuesday.
Analysts fear that a failure of Boeing and
the International Association of Machinists
and Aerospace Workers to reach an
agreement that has idled 27,000 machines
Usher to Launch Lingerie Line
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 12:02:00 PM
Usher got intimate at Paris' Fashion
Week! The hip-hop artist was seen at the
Marlies Dekkers' runway show Sunday
night getting some inspiration for his own
lingerie line.
BloggingStocks he expects overnight
interest rates to remain abnormally high
until the U.S. Congress passes a rescue
bill, or U.S. and international leaders find
another mechanism to get bad assets out of
the financial system.
"There's plenty of liquidity in the system.
The problem is no one is lending to one
another, and that's fear, basically. Until we
implement policies to reduce and eliminate
fear, the fear problem is going to grow and
Business* Tech* Movies*
could further push-back the 787's delivery
timetable. The IAM strike began
September 6. Boeing has already delayed
delivery of its next-generation 787 airplane
by 18 months. Boeing's shares rose $1.52
to $56.99 Tuesday afternoon amid a
broader market rally.
Not a September Sinatra would sing
about
"I guess this September was meant to be a
month with all bad news, because it
certainly seems that way," Stock Analyst
C. Leonard Bauer said. "Boeing was one of
the few bright spots on a pretty dismal
domestic economic landscape. Great new
products, solid orders, a good future for the
company and the stock. But then
management and the union can't agree on
compensation. Pretty sad."
Continue reading Potential Boeing 787
order delay for Japan ends sad September
for investors Permalink| Email this|
Comments
"You may have heard that I might be
launching a lingerie line for men and
woman," he told Women Wear Daily.
"Comfort and intimacy is very important."
Usher features some of his intimate
designs in his new music video for his
song "Trading Places."
there will be more bank failures and other
failures," Wang said. "There is no end in
sight for this crisis until the psychology
has been changed."
Continue reading Until fear is checked,
credit freeze up will not ease Read|
Permalink| Email this| Comments
5
Hollywood And
RealNetworks Head To
Court Over DVD Ripping
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 8:48:00 AM
As was widely expected when
RealNetworks announced plans to release
some DVD ripping software, the lawsuits
are now flying. RealNetworks rushed to
court to ask for a declaratory judgment,
though the MPAA admitted it had its own
lawsuit ready to go as well. Real getting to
the courthouse faster may mean slightly
more favorable jurisdiction for the
company. In the meantime, it seems like
the MPAA is facing a huge uphill battle
here, as Real's software includes its own
DRM, so it's hardly a case of allowing
widespread copying. Plus, making personal
backups is allowed under copyright law.
The real issue is where two conflicting
parts of the law collide: the right to make
personal backups and the DMCA's
prohibition on circumventing DRM. Real
claims that since it adds its own layer of
DRM, the studios' DRM is not
circumvented. That may make the most
sense from the standpoint of the lawsuit,
but it still seems like a strong case could be
made by simply focusing on how people
have a right to make personal backups. Of
course, this lawsuit is something of a
marketing stunt. There are better DVD
rippers out there that are available for free,
so it's difficult to see Real ever getting very
far with this product, no matter what
happens with the lawsuit.
Permalink| Comments| Email This Story
Janet Jackson Released
from Montreal Hospital
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 11:14:00 AM
ET confirms that Janet Jackson has been
released from the Royal Victoria Hospital
in Montreal.
Rebecca Burns of the medical center tells
ET that Janet was taken to the hospital last
night and was discharged after two hours.
The 42-year-old superstar suddenly fell
ill before a scheduled concert and was
rushed to a hospital earlier in the day
during a soundcheck, according to her rep.
6 Business* Biz Buzz Tech*
Car Biz: Dark days in Detroit
and beyond
By Michael Rainey (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 7:20:00 AM
Filed under: Ford Motor (F), General
Motors (GM), Columns, Recession
This is part of a weekly series about the
car business. The auto industry plays an
important role in the global economy, and
record-high oil prices and a global
slowdown have contributed to a crisis in
the sector. This column will highlight
some of the interesting stories that emerge
as that crisis plays out.
September car sales reports are due this
week, and no one in the auto industry is
looking forward to the monthly numbers,
especially no one in Detroit.
Expectations are that car sales will be
lower once again. According to analysts
quoted at Bloomberg, sales at General
Motors(NYSE: GM) and Ford(NYSE: F)
will be down over 20%, while sales at
Chrysler will be down over 30% from last
year. Japanese producers also are expected
to see lower sales, with the Japanese Big
Three Toyota(NYSE: TM), Honda(NYSE:
HMC) and Nissan(NASDAQ: NSANY) all
Bailout Nation
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 9/28/2008 8:30:00 AM
Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson may
not have gotten everything he wanted from
legislation putting a huge bailout into
place, but it’s likely he got far more than
he could’ve expected when the plan looked
destined to be a casualty of partisan
warfare.
Put aside the details for a moment and
focus on the bailout’s core logistical
problem. It’s safe bet to say nobody in
Congress understands the financial
markets. It’s an equally safe bet to say that
Paulson, in his Master of the Universe
heart, doesn’t truly understand Congress.
Traditionally, that’s not exactly the
recipe for a productive weekend on Capitol
Hill, especially when election-year
wrangling and partisan bluster is factored
in.
down in the 20% range.
The industry is sliding down toward the
magic number of one million cars sold in
the U.S. for the month. The last time fewer
than a million cars were sold in a month
was February 1993.
Continue reading Car Biz: Dark days in
Detroit and beyond Permalink| Email this|
Comments
Yet in the plan, as it stood "frozen"
Sunday night by Congressional leaders
with specific guidelines to be filled in by
Treasury, crafts a rescue that will let the
federal government acquire toxic assets--
mortgages and other loans--from troubled
financial institutions ranging from banks to
credit unions to pension funds.
Along the way to approving the plan,
Capitol Hill leaders managed to win key
points that limit executive compensation
and can claws back bonuses paid based on
promised gains that later turn out to be
false or inaccurate. Congress also gets
oversight into how the money is spent and
a promise that taxpayers will get stakes in
the companies rescued so some
reimbursement could be possible.
Those provisions satisfy Congress’
broader goal: making itself look tough and
Wall Street look bad.
Congress will begin voting on the plan
Informing the public or fanning
the flames?
By Sheldon Liber (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 7:50:00 AM
Filed under: Other issues, Rants and
raves, Politics, Headline news, Recession
Are we fanning the flames or informing
the public? Perhaps we are doing both, but
I think that sometimes we make matters
worse by writing about a dire situation or
making it sound more dire than it is just to
grab some attention.
In my view, it's fine to have a headline
that reads"ABC Bank downgraded by
Doui, Cheatum & Howh," yet it may be
too provocative to use something
like"ABC Bank looks like toast after
downgrade, would you risk it?"
Many of our readers have commented
lately that we are doing the latter. When
we post something edgy, are we promoting
debate or just scaring folks?
Its one thing to post "Investors are
concerned" and still another to write
"Investors can't to the door fast enough."
It seems to me that anyone in a position
of leadership or the public eye should be a
voice of reason. We should try to write
Monday.
For Paulson, well, welcome to
Washington—where everything important
must be left to early-morning
brinksmanship and finger-pointing, even as
some large banks remain shaky and global
worries intensify.
He may be the highest-ranking
government official to understand what’s
going on in the markets and the level on
danger facing the U.S. and global
economies. Keep in mind, Congress was
apparently consulting with Warren Buffett
by phone in the final stages of the
negotiations Saturday night. The one
investment Buffett has chosen to make
amidst all this chaos is in Goldman Sachs,
a firm very much built in the image of its
former chief, Paulson.
Paulson got his bailout. But he’ll only
get half the $700 billion he was asking for
upfront, with the last $100 billion of that
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
objectively and not sensationalize things.
Unfortunately, the media is often guided
by the old adage -- Dog bites man is not a
story, man bites dog is.
Continue reading Informing the public or
fanning the flames? Permalink| Email this|
Comments
subject to review. The other $350 billion
will be available unless Congress moves
directly to stop it. Paulson also doesn’t get
the unfettered power to use the loot as he
sees fit.
According to House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi’s draft/victory lap memo outlining
the deal, the Bush-Paulson bailout plan
will be subject to a strong oversight board
appointed by Congress; a GAO presence at
Treasury to oversee the program and
conduct audits to ensure strong internal
controls; an independent Inspector General
to monitor the Treasury Secretary's
decisions; transparency -- requiring posting
of transactions online -- to help jumpstart
private sector demand; and meaningful
judicial review of the Treasury Secretary's
actions.
All this may become too much for
Paulson to stomach (he’s the last person in
Federal government who needs a monitor
The Pirate Bay
Threatens To Sue Over
Copyright Violations
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 2:01:00 AM
The folks who run The Pirate Bay sure do
seem to have quite a bit of fun. The latest
is that, in response to a report from
Swedish book publishers about how they
scraped TPB's results for a period of time
and noticed that 85% of Sweden's best
sellers could be found on the site, the folks
from TPB are threatening to sue the
publishers for copyright infringement.
Hypocritical? Yes. But, clearly, the TPB
guys are merely making the point of just
how silly copyright laws are. The TPB
guys aren't big believers in copyright,
obviously, so any such lawsuit isn't so
much hypocritical as it is pointing out the
absurdities of such a system to those who
seem to think that copyright systems make
perfect sense.
Permalink| Comments| Email This Story
to make sure his internal controls are
strong) and it may hang up some deals that
need to be done quickly.
The bottom line: Congress has
formalized a plan that underpins a shaky
financial sector and doesn’t smell like a rip
-off to taxpayers. The goal was to provide
the idea--in a crucial election year and to
our creditors overseas--that this is the last
financial breakdown America will see for a
long time.
That, of course, is not true. For now,
though, it’ll have to be enough.
Related Links
Play Ball
Incentives for Inflation
Larry Summers
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Warren's World
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 9/28/2008 12:30:00 PM
The Snowball, the first authorized
biography of Warren Buffett, has been one
of the most eagerly anticipated business
books of the year. Published on Monday,
the book is particularly timely because of
Buffett's role in the credit crisis now
roiling Wall Street.
A team of Portfolio.com writers, starting
today with finance blogger Felix Salmon,
are reviewing the book in sections over the
next five days, and will be commenting on
each other's reviews. Readers are invited to
add their thoughts in the Comments
section.
W arren Buffett is a great value
investor—which means that he's a lucky
value investor, something he himself
readily admits. He found himself in the
right place at the right time, blessed with a
skill set and self-confidence which allowed
him to become the richest man in the
world, a title of which he was very proud.
But Buffett didn't reach those heady
heights just by investing his money wisely.
He needed more money than just his own,
and he was good at finding O.P.M. (other
people's money) in many different places.
Sometimes he would raise it by
persuading people to give him their money
to invest on their behalf. Sometimes he
would borrow it—although that kind of
leverage, debt finance, has never been
particularly appealing to Buffett.
Instead, Buffett's biggest source of
O.P.M. came from the most leveraged
industry the world has ever invented:
insurance.
One of the central ironies of insurance is
that an industry predicated on safety has at
its heart so much risk. Insurance premiums
are essentially interest-free loans from the
insured to the insurer, carrying an
unknown maturity and an unknown
principal amount.
With most loans, you have to pay back
only the amount you borrowed; with
insurance premiums, you might pay back
hundreds of times that sum, if you (or,
more to the point, the insured) are
particularly unlucky.
When an investor buys an insurance
company, then, he turns it into something
of a race against time. He takes in
premiums, and then invests them in the
market, with the hope that his investment
returns will be so great that by the time the
claims come in, the premiums will more
than cover them. If his investment returns
are big enough, he can bring down the
price of the insurance he's selling, thereby
selling even more of it and having ever
more money to invest.
It's a dangerous game, and it's prone to
blowing up—as most investment
companies do, sooner or later. Sometimes
they're wiped out by a natural catastrophe,
like a hurricane, where many large claims
suddenly appear at once. At other times,
the catastrophe is financial: A.I.G.
Financial Products, for instance, brought
down not only itself but also its parent by
insuring complex debt instruments against
default.
Buffett, like A.I.G.F.P., plays large-
stakes games in the financial markets. In
2007, he took in an astonishing $4.5 billion
by selling long-dated stock-index put
options. He got a huge amount of money to
play with, probably forever—but if certain
indices perform very badly over the next
11 to 19 years, then he could find himself
with a truly monster obligation down the
road.
Indeed, when academic types talk about
the proverbial Capital Decimation
Partners—a hedge fund that looks as if it's
getting strong but not excessive returns,
and then one day implodes—the model
they generally use is one where the fund
does nothing but sell puts.
Obviously, Buffett does many things
other than selling puts. His businesses are
diversified across many different
industries. But there's one thing they all
have in common: they throw off
substantial amounts of cash, which Buffett
can then reinvest.
Author Alice Schroeder calls this the
"snowball": you put money into a
company, which generates more money,
which you add to the snowball, generating
more money still. Any time you take
money out of the snowball, you're denying
yourself much more than that sum in future
gains. Buffett likes to say that when he lost
$2,000 buying a gas station in the early
1950s, he really lost the $6 billion that
money would otherwise have become.
But big simple ideas like these are not
easy to find amidst the suffocating mass of
detail in Schroeder's book. Like many
biographies, it starts off with something
eye-catching and juicy before jumping
back to ancestors and heritage; Schroeder
decided that her centerpiece for Part One
of the book would be a scene at Sun Valley
in 1999 where Buffett confronted the tech
titans with their bubblicious stocks.
Buffett's talk at Sun Valley was quite
simple. He said, basically, that tech stocks
were overpriced. Many other people were
saying that, too, and most people, even at
Sun Valley, knew it, in their hearts, to be
true. Why did Schroeder decide to lead
with this talk, rather than any of Buffett's
decisions in and around his life's great
achievement, Berkshire Hathaway? It's far
from clear. And it's a most frustrating
chapter to read, too: because you never
know quite why Schroeder is leading with
this, or that the whole point of the chapter
is nothing but a speech, you keep on
picking up on detail which sounds like
foreshadowing but isn't.
Why, for instance, does Schroeder spend
the first two pages of the chapter talking
about Buffett's flight in to Sun Valley?
How can you read a passage like this and
not think that it's serving some kind of
purpose?
Sometime later, the G-IV crossed the
Snake River Plain and approached the
Sawtooth Mountains, a vast Cretaceous
upheaval of dark and ancient granite
mounds baking in the summer sun. It
sailed through the bright clear air into the
Wood River Valley, descending to eight
thousand feet, where it started to buck on
the mountain wave of turbulence thrown
into the sky by the brown foothills beneath.
Buffett read on, unperturbed, as the plane
rocked and his family jerked about in their
seats...
I was convinced we were about to have a
bloody plane crash; instead, the plane is
uneventfully met at the airport by Herb
Allen's Sun Valley minions, and nothing is
ever heard about it again. The same thing
happens when Schroeder starts talking
pointedly about the "very, very attractive"
babysitters laid on by Allen—but again,
nothing comes of it. All we get is a speech,
decorated by flowers which, Schroeder
says, Buffett doesn't even notice: "scarlet
petunias and blue sage"; "pastel lupines
and sapphire delphiniums towering over
poppies and Indian paintbrush, crisp blue
salvia and veronica nestled among the
stonecrop and hens-and-chicks."
In other words, this is a book which
doesn't just make it hard to make out the
forest for the trees; it makes it hard to
make out the trees for the texture of their
bark and the exact shape and number of
their branches.
I have no idea why Schroeder felt the
need to lard the book with so much
pointless detail, but if the first two parts of
the book are any indication, it might be
because she's so hesitant about inserting
her own analysis or ideas about the bigger
picture.
In general I'm a fan of the show-don't-tell
school of writing, but this is a very smart
woman who has spent five years intimately
involved with Buffett, his friends, his
family, and his business partners. We
could be forgiven for wanting to know
what she thinks of him.
Yet for a woman who's happy to spend
two pages on a completely irrelevant plane
journey, Schroeder seems to be very good
at completely missing some of the big
issues. For instance, Buffett had one thing
in common with the technology gurus to
whom he gave his speech at Sun Valley,
and which he doesn't have in common with
the founders of most other companies: he
never pays dividends.
This decision makes valuing Berkshire
Hathaway stock more difficult than it
needs to be. Remember that according to
financial theory, the value of a stock is just
the net present value of all future
dividends.
While tech companies that don't pay
dividends are very common, industrial
companies with strong cash flows and
strong profits almost always pay dividends.
Berkshire Hathaway, which has only ever
paid one dividend in its entire
existence—10 cents, in 1967—is far the
biggest exception, and yet Schroeder
doesn't seem to spend much time exploring
this issue.
Buffett's no-dividends decision means
that anybody who's made a lot of money
from investing in Berkshire Hathaway
stock falls into one of two camps. Either
they sold their stock—a betrayal of
everything Buffett stands for—or else
they're sitting only on paper gains. And
remember that Buffett's most cherished
shareholders are the ones holding one or
two or maybe three A shares worth well
Biz Buzz 7
over $100,000 apiece. They can't sell 3
percent of their stockholding to get a little
income: that's a necessary consequence of
having shares with such enormous face
value.
Schroeder gives Buffett's dividend policy
just one paragraph, among her hundreds of
pages. And there, she treats it as something
which is clearly and obviously correct:
Feeling flush during what would turn out
to be a brief moment of financial
success—"we were selling out of Rayon
linings for a few months and making a lot
of money"—Buffett had let himself get
talked into a ten-cent-per-share dividend.
The firm's lawyers had argued that
Berkshire was doing so well that it might
be accused of unjustifiably retaining
earnings. Either while daydreaming or
simply in a moment of weakness, Buffett
went along with the distibution; a dime a
share sounded measly; it somehow took
him 24 hours to realize the fallacy of their
argument. By then it was too late and his
uncharacteristic agreeableness had
showered on the partners and shareholders
$101,733 that he knew he could have
turned into millions someday. He would
never make a mistake like that again.
But of course it's not as simple as that. If
Buffett implemented a dividend, he could
set up a check-the-box option where it was
automatically reinvested into the
company—a "scrip dividend," it's called in
Britain, which essentially involves paying
the dividend in equity rather than cash.
Investors could then easily keep all their
money invested in Berkshire Hathaway,
just as they do now—but they'd also have
the option of taking some cash money out
now and then, which might be very
welcome.
Instead, Warren knows best: No matter
what their domestic financial position, his
shareholders should entrust him not only
with their initial investment but also with
all of the profits which accrue from that
investment.
This is consistent with Buffett's own
lifestyle. He takes a modest salary and
keeps the vast majority of his wealth in
Berkshire stock where it won't ever be
spent, just used as an incredibly valuable
scorecard in the world's-richest-man
stakes.
WARREN'S page 12
8 Biz Buzz
A.I.G.'s House of Cards
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 9/29/2008 6:00:00 AM
N o one shone a light into the black hole.
When the insurance giant American
International Group nearly collapsed two
weeks ago only to be saved in a
government bailout, regulators,
shareholders, and federal investigators
could point a finger at the chief culprit: a
brash and secretive unit that caused more
than $18 billion in losses for the company
The unit, A.I.G. Financial Products, was
run like a hedge fund out of London and
Wilton, Connecticut. Specializing in
derivatives, or complex financial contracts
that were tied to assets like mortgages or
commodities, A.I.G. Financial Products
generated billions of dollars in profits over
the years.
But in recent years executives of the
parent company rarely questioned or
sought to rein in the unit, former
executives say. Martin Sullivan, who was
ousted as chief executive of A.I.G. in June,
had even eliminated a twice-a-month
meeting to assess the work of the unit,
according to a person formerly close to the
company. "He wasn't really interested in
the business," this person said.
The Wild Card
A.I.G. Financial Products "had a cult
status" within the company.
Indeed, one of the few leashes on the
financial products unit was removed when
Hank Greenberg resigned as chief
executive of A.I.G. in 2005, amid pressure
from Eliot Spitzer, then the New York
attorney general, and the Securities and
Exchange Commission, this person said.
A.I.G. Financial Products was "the black
hole of A.I.G.," said David Havens, a
credit analyst with UBS. "It's pretty
apparent that no one really understood this
stuff."
A.I.G. declined to comment for this
article.
On a December conference call, A.I.G.
Financial Products executives told
investors that a write-off of all its credit
derivatives rated single-A or below would
produce a loss of only $421 million. "This
is not anywhere near anything we think is
going to happen," said the unit's chief
executive at the time, Joseph Cassano.
"There are some morbid questions we get
about what happens if the world rolls off
its axis and the world goes to hell in a
handbasket."
Just months later, A.I.G.'s world would
go to hell in a handbasket. The New York-
based company reported in March that the
unit had losses of $11.1 billion. That
disclosure ultimately led to Sullivan's
ouster. Investigations into whether the
company had overstated the value of its
mortgage-related derivatives soon
followed. Its ratings were cut and its stock
price slid toward zero. On September 16,
the Federal Reserve jumped in to bail out
A.I.G. with an $85 billion loan.
So how did one member of the A.I.G.
family turn so quickly from favorite son to
wild child?
It could do so because in recent years it
was left alone, while it was regarded with
awe and trepidation inside the company.
A.I.G. is a conservative global
conglomerate whose core business is
selling fairly boring insurance policies to
business and individuals.
But the financial-products unit, staffed
by quants with doctorates, was in the
vanguard of the explosion in credit
derivatives, competing with Wall Street
and global banks in innovation and for
clients.
"The image was always that they thought
they were better than the insurance
operations—that they were like investment
bankers," a senior former A.I.G. insurance
executive said
Randall K. C. Kau, a former senior
executive at A.I.G. Financial Products,
acknowledged, "Within A.I.G., F.P. had a
cult status."
Yet the executive who built this leader in
"Frankenfinance" had no background in
quantitative finance. Cassano, a tough-
talking native of Brooklyn, resigned as
chief executive of A.I.G. Financial
Products in March after the company
surprised investors by disclosing losses at
the unit.
Cassano was a protégé of A.I.G
Financial Products' first leader, Howard
Sosin. Both men joined the insurance
company from Drexel Burnham Lambert,
the Wall Street firm that grew into a junk-
bond powerhouse thanks to Michael
Milken. Drexel collapsed in 1990.
Three years earlier, A.I.G. Financial
Products was created as a joint venture
between Greenberg and Sosin.
Known as the "Dr. Strangelove of
Derivatives," Sosin was regarded as a
quantitative genius. He wrote scholarly
articles on derivatives and briefly taught at
Columbia Business School. Indeed, his
inventive wizardry extends beyond the
world of finance. He has registered
numerous patents, one for a golf club that
accommodates a golfer's special swinging
style.
In his new job at A.I.G. Financial
Products, Sosin was given an unusual deal:
a 20 percent stake in the unit and 20
percent of its profits.
Under Sosin, the unit dived into the
nascent world of derivatives. It later
branched out into energy, currencies, and
commodities, and bought assets from cattle
to the London City Airport.
But the fast-dealing culture caught
Greenberg's wary eye. By the early 1990s,
Greenberg, who ruled the company with an
iron fist, had grown so concerned about the
unit's derivatives dealings that he formed a
secret "shadow team" of traders to mimic
A.I.G. Financial Product's trades,
according to a former company executive.
Greenberg "was uncomfortable with the
results," this executive said. "He thought
they were taking too many risks."
The C.E.O. ordered Sosin to dial it back,
but Sosin refused. He left the company in
mid-1993 and sued A.I.G. He later
received a payout of over $180 million
from A.I.G.
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
"Under Hank, F.P. was always on its
toes," Kau, the former Financial Products
executive said. Greenberg "didn't have a
derivatives background, but he was always
vigilant about reading the reports."
In 2005, Greenberg left the company he
had built and ran for 40 years following
scrutiny by regulators over its accounting
practices.
Recently, the usually reclusive Sosin
posted a "mortgage rescue plan" on the
Anderson Cooper 360 website that subtly
pointed the finger at Cassano for A.I.G.'s
woes.
Sosin wrote that when he ran A.I.G.
Financial Products, "there were large
profits, no material losses, and no credit
default swaps or other credit derivatives
(the primary source of A.I.G.'s recent
failing)."
The Wild Card
Greenberg had grown so concerned
about the unit's derivatives dealings that he
formed a secret "shadow team" of traders
to mimic its trades.
In the late 1990s, under Cassano, A.I.G.
Financial Products ramped up its business
of selling credit default swaps, which are
insurance-like contracts for big investors
with debt obligations—and which lie at the
heart of its recent woes. Its main clients
were European banks.
"The nature of the program changed,"
said a person close to Greenberg, adding
that over six months in mid-2005, A.I.G.
Financial Products expanded dramatically
into writing swaps to cover debt that was
backed by mortgages.
Credit default swaps are insurance-like
contracts that insulate a customer against
the chances that the debt obligations they
cover might not be paid. The unit typically
sold the swaps to big institutional investors
that issued or held collateralized debt
obligations. Many C.D.O.'s were backed
by mortgages. Through its swaps, A.I.G.
guaranteed some $440 billion in
obligations.
In August 2007, as the mortgage crisis
was in full bloom, Cassano told investors
on a conference call that for the swaps
portfolio, "it is hard for us with, and
without being flippant, to even see a
scenario within any kind of realm of
reason that would see us losing $1 in any
of those transactions."
Cassano, however, was not the only one
charged with watching the books at A.I.G.
Financial Products.
Under Greenberg, the unit acquired new
internal watchdogs. Two special oversight
committees—a Complex Structured
Finance Transaction Committee and a
Transaction Review Committee—had been
set up in the aftermath of two accounting
scandals stemming from A.I.G. Financial
Products' work. The committees were
created as part of a $126 million settlement
that A.I.G. Financial Products reached with
the Justice Department and the Securities
and Exchange Commission that year over
its sale of financial products to Brightpoint
and PNC Financial Services Group that
had allowed those two companies to
artificially dress up their books.
The committees appear not to have
understood the risks and exposures at
A.I.G. Financial Products.
Yet there had been warnings. Bernard
Connolly, the chief global strategist for
Banque A.I.G., the European bank that
handled A.I.G. Financial Products'
derivatives deals, cautioned in 2007 about
the coming mortgage crisis and credit
collapse, and its effect on derivatives.
Sorting out the mess now falls to
William Dooley, the top A.I.G. insurance
executive who replaced Cassano, and
Edward Liddy, the former head of Allstate
who now runs A.I.G.
A.I.G.'S page 10
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
A.I.G.'s House of Cards
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 9/28/2008 11:00:00 AM
N o one shone a light into the black hole.
When the insurance giant American
International Group nearly collapsed two
weeks ago only to be saved in a
government bailout, regulators,
shareholders, and federal investigators
could point a finger at the chief culprit: a
brash and secretive unit that caused more
than $18 billion in losses for the company
The unit, A.I.G. Financial Products, was
run like a hedge fund out of London and
Wilton, Connecticut. Specializing in
derivatives, or complex financial contracts
that were tied to assets like mortgages or
commodities, A.I.G. Financial Products
generated billions of dollars in profits over
the years.
But in recent years executives of the
parent company rarely questioned or
sought to rein in the unit, former
executives say. Martin Sullivan, who was
ousted as chief executive of A.I.G. in June,
had even eliminated a twice-a-month
meeting to assess the work of the unit,
according to a person formerly close to the
company. "He wasn't really interested in
the business," this person said.
The Wild Card
A.I.G. Financial Products "had a cult
status" within the company.
Indeed, one of the few leashes on the
financial products unit was removed when
Hank Greenberg resigned as chief
executive of A.I.G. in 2005, amid pressure
from Eliot Spitzer, then the New York
attorney general, and the Securities and
Exchange Commission, this person said.
A.I.G. Financial Products was "the black
hole of A.I.G.," said David Havens, a
credit analyst with UBS. "It's pretty
apparent that no one really understood this
stuff."
A.I.G. declined to comment for this
article.
On a December conference call, A.I.G.
Financial Products executives told
investors that a write-off of all its credit
derivatives rated single-A or below would
produce a loss of only $421 million. "This
is not anywhere near anything we think is
going to happen," said the unit's chief
executive at the time, Joseph Cassano.
"There are some morbid questions we get
about what happens if the world rolls off
its axis and the world goes to hell in a
handbasket."
Just months later, A.I.G.'s world would
go to hell in a handbasket. The New York-
based company reported in March that the
unit had losses of $11.1 billion. That
disclosure ultimately led to Sullivan's
ouster. Investigations into whether the
company had overstated the value of its
mortgage-related derivatives soon
followed. Its ratings were cut and its stock
price slid toward zero. On September 16,
the Federal Reserve jumped in to bail out
A.I.G. with an $85 billion loan.
So how did one member of the A.I.G.
family turn so quickly from favorite son to
wild child?
It could do so because in recent years it
was left alone, while it was regarded with
awe and trepidation inside the company.
A.I.G. is a conservative global
conglomerate whose core business is
selling fairly boring insurance policies to
business and individuals.
But the financial-products unit, staffed
by quants with doctorates, was in the
vanguard of the explosion in credit
derivatives, competing with Wall Street
and global banks in innovation and for
clients.
"The image was always that they thought
they were better than the insurance
operations—that they were like investment
bankers," a senior former A.I.G. insurance
executive said
Randall K. C. Kau, a former senior
executive at A.I.G. Financial Products,
acknowledged, "Within A.I.G., F.P. had a
cult status."
Yet the executive who built this leader in
"Frankenfinance" had no background in
quantitative finance. Cassano, a tough-
talking native of Brooklyn, resigned as
chief executive of A.I.G. Financial
Products in March after the company
surprised investors by disclosing losses at
the unit.
Cassano was a protégé of A.I.G
Financial Products' first leader, Howard
Sosin. Both men joined the insurance
company from Drexel Burnham Lambert,
the Wall Street firm that grew into a junk-
bond powerhouse thanks to Michael
Milken. Drexel collapsed in 1990.
Three years earlier, A.I.G. Financial
Products was created as a joint venture
between Greenberg and Sosin.
Known as the "Dr. Strangelove of
Derivatives," Sosin was regarded as a
quantitative genius. He wrote scholarly
articles on derivatives and briefly taught at
Columbia Business School. Indeed, his
inventive wizardry extends beyond the
world of finance. He has registered
numerous patents, one for a golf club that
accommodates a golfer's special swinging
style.
In his new job at A.I.G. Financial
Products, Sosin was given an unusual deal:
a 20 percent stake in the unit and 20
percent of its profits.
Under Sosin, the unit dived into the
nascent world of derivatives. It later
branched out into energy, currencies, and
commodities, and bought assets from cattle
to the London City Airport.
But the fast-dealing culture caught
Greenberg's wary eye. By the early 1990s,
Greenberg, who ruled the company with an
iron fist, had grown so concerned about the
unit's derivatives dealings that he formed a
secret "shadow team" of traders to mimic
A.I.G. Financial Product's trades,
according to a former company executive.
Greenberg "was uncomfortable with the
results," this executive said. "He thought
they were taking too many risks."
The C.E.O. ordered Sosin to dial it back,
but Sosin refused. He left the company in
mid-1993 and sued A.I.G. He later
received a payout of over $180 million
from A.I.G.
"Under Hank, F.P. was always on its
toes," Kau, the former Financial Products
executive said. Greenberg "didn't have a
derivatives background, but he was always
vigilant about reading the reports."
In 2005, Greenberg left the company he
had built and ran for 40 years following
scrutiny by regulators over its accounting
practices.
Recently, the usually reclusive Sosin
posted a "mortgage rescue plan" on the
Anderson Cooper 360 website that subtly
pointed the finger at Cassano for A.I.G.'s
woes.
Sosin wrote that when he ran A.I.G.
Financial Products, "there were large
profits, no material losses, and no credit
default swaps or other credit derivatives
(the primary source of A.I.G.'s recent
failing)."
The Wild Card
Greenberg had grown so concerned
about the unit's derivatives dealings that he
formed a secret "shadow team" of traders
to mimic its trades.
In the late 1990s, under Cassano, A.I.G.
Financial Products ramped up its business
of selling credit default swaps, which are
insurance-like contracts for big investors
with debt obligations—and which lie at the
heart of its recent woes. Its main clients
were European banks.
"The nature of the program changed,"
said a person close to Greenberg, adding
that over six months in mid-2005, A.I.G.
Biz Buzz 9
Financial Products expanded dramatically
into writing swaps to cover debt that was
backed by mortgages.
Credit default swaps are insurance-like
contracts that insulate a customer against
the chances that the debt obligations they
cover might not be paid. The unit typically
sold the swaps to big institutional investors
that issued or held collateralized debt
obligations. Many C.D.O.'s were backed
by mortgages. Through its swaps, A.I.G.
guaranteed some $440 billion in
obligations.
In August 2007, as the mortgage crisis
was in full bloom, Cassano told investors
on a conference call that for the swaps
portfolio, "it is hard for us with, and
without being flippant, to even see a
scenario within any kind of realm of
reason that would see us losing $1 in any
of those transactions."
Cassano, however, was not the only one
charged with watching the books at A.I.G.
Financial Products.
Under Greenberg, the unit acquired new
internal watchdogs. Two special oversight
committees—a Complex Structured
Finance Transaction Committee and a
Transaction Review Committee—had been
set up in the aftermath of two accounting
scandals stemming from A.I.G. Financial
Products' work. The committees were
created as part of a $126 million settlement
that A.I.G. Financial Products reached with
the Justice Department and the Securities
and Exchange Commission that year over
its sale of financial products to Brightpoint
and PNC Financial Services Group that
had allowed those two companies to
artificially dress up their books.
The committees appear not to have
understood the risks and exposures at
A.I.G. Financial Products.
Yet there had been warnings. Bernard
Connolly, the chief global strategist for
Banque A.I.G., the European bank that
handled A.I.G. Financial Products'
derivatives deals, cautioned in 2007 about
the coming mortgage crisis and credit
collapse, and its effect on derivatives.
Sorting out the mess now falls to
William Dooley, the top A.I.G. insurance
executive who replaced Cassano, and
Edward Liddy, the former head of Allstate
who now runs A.I.G.
A.I.G.'S page 10
10 Biz Buzz Tech*
Lighten Up!
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 9:00:00 PM
A n out-of-work Lehman Brothers broker,
a laid-off Ford autoworker, and a broke
A.I.G. executive walk into a bar…and they
probably don't want to hear a joke.
There's not much to laugh about in these
tough economic times, with companies
failing and jobs vanishing. But humor
consultants, citing decades of research, say
levity is exactly what's necessary.
Encouraging employees to have fun can
boost morale, foster creativity, reduce
absenteeism, and increase profits.
"Companies where humor is part of the
culture have a competitive advantage,"
says John Morreall, a humor consultant in
Williamsburg, Virginia, whose clients
include Corning, I.B.M., and Cargill.
A classic example is Southwest Airlines,
whose zany founder Herb Kelleher is
known for wearing Easter-bunny suits and
jumping out of overhead bins. Flight
attendants often break into song, and the
corporate headquarters has a volleyball
court.
"They've done well, even when other
airlines are struggling," says Morreall, who
is also a religion professor at the College
of William and Mary.
But is it possible to teach
lightheartedness, especially when things
seem as dire as they seem today? Can
companies mandate fun? Humor is
subjective, after all; what cracks up Ed in
engineering won't necessarily amuse Mary
in marketing.
"It's not about teaching people how to tell
jokes or be wacky," says Edward
Dunkelblau, a humor consultant in
Northbrook, Illinois, whose clients include
United Airlines, Allstate, and Accenture.
"It's about teaching them to be playful and
find enjoyment in their jobs—no matter
how difficult the times may be."
A.I.G.'S
continued from page 8
With hundreds of shadowy subsidiaries,
some in offshore tax havens, A.I.G.
Financial Products is a tangled web.
Unraveling it may raise questions over
how or whether it used reinsurance—a
business that has gotten American
International Group (and Greenberg) in
Dunkelblau, a clinical psychologist, says
he tells "humor impaired" executives who
seek his counsel that something as simple
as keeping a Slinky on their desk can make
them more approachable and send a signal
to employees that it's okay to have fun at
work. "They are amazed at how many
people pick these things up and play with
them," he says.
He also encourages overly serious
managers to keep humor journals of things
they find amusing and to share those things
with others: "The idea is that they don't
have to be funny, but they have to
recognize what is funny."
Humor consultants say corporate clients
typically call on them during stressful
times—following layoffs, amid a buyout,
or perhaps after the introduction of a new
computer system. Fees range from $500
for a speech to $50,000 for several months
of assessment and intervention.
Playwood Systems, a family-owned
playground-equipment maker in
Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, hired a humor
consultant last year simply because it
wanted its culture to reflect its product.
"You could walk around the building and it
was so serious; you'd have no idea what
we did," says Kevin Cook, Playwood's
director of sales and marketing.
Over six months, Playwood's
management worked with ChartHouse
Learning of Burnsville, Minnesota, to
encourage a more open and fun workplace.
Cook says the office was redecorated using
lively colors; employees were encouraged
to use bulletin boards in public areas to
post pictures of themselves doing what
they loved when they weren't working.
Department heads also dreamed up
events like "Jimmy Buffett days," playing
the singer's music while serving key lime
pie. If a department reaches a sales goal,
everyone makes an afternoon run to a
nearby ice-cream parlor. "The idea is that
trouble in the past.
To be sure, Greenberg created A.I.G.'s
Frankenfinance monster. But some
analysts believe that he would not have
allowed it to run amok.
"Had Hank Greenberg still been running
the company," Mr. Havens of UBS said, "I
we can be serious about work but not so
serious about ourselves," says Cook.
Executives, however, should be serious
about humor, consultants say. Some say
they won't work for a company if
management doesn't agree to lead by
example.
"Humor flows downhill like everything
else," said Bob Mankoff, cartoon editor for
the New Yorker(which, like Condé Nast
Portfolio, is published by Condé Nast). An
experimental psychologist by training,
Mankoff conducts humor seminars at
Fortune 500 companies as a sideline.
Mankoff said his approach is to ask a
company's executives about what they see
as problem areas—such as communication
or micromanagement—before he addresses
the troops. In his presentation, Mankoff
draws cartoons on the subject and asks
employees to write captions. (We've
gathered some of Mankoff's cartoons are in
a slideshow.)
"Frustration and anger create tunnel
vision, but laughter is a broadening
emotion that opens up creative and
problem-solving channels," Mankoff says.
Patricia Clerico-Parham of Cisco
Systems says Mankoff's presentation there
last year helped "defuse tension in a
competitive environment where there's not
much downtime." His talk was "an
important reminder that it's okay to have
fun, and brainstorming is not about
blaming," she adds.
Not all humor consultants are effective,
of course. Some are frustrated comedians
whose shtick would get them booed out of
some clubs, according to companies that
have hired them.
Take the humor consultant who wore a
red rubber clown nose while speaking to a
regional gathering of State Farm
employees. Spokeswoman Carolyn Fujioka
says he was "pretty lame and he provided
no revelations."
think it's pretty safe to say the situation
wouldn't even be close to what is now."
Related Links
A.I.G.'s House of Cards
A.I.Goodbye
Hank in the Middle
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
A consultant who served up platitudes
like "humor is a life-giving liquid" and
"humor occurs at the speed of trust" to
management trainees at McDonald's also
was not well received. The company
official who booked the guy angrily hung
up on this reporter when asked about the
experience.
Humor consultants who help employees
discover how to have fun get better
reviews than those who speechify or do
stand-up routines.
Ann Fry, a psychotherapist turned humor
consultant in New York City, said she uses
role-playing exercises to help employees
come up with humorous ways to deal with
difficult situations. She has advised people
at Shell Oil and Genzyme, among other
companies.
One client, Tim Warneke, senior director
of King Pharmaceuticals in Cary, North
Carolina, says these sessions not only help
employees learn how to "bring fun to
work" but also coaches them on what is
appropriate humor. "She gives feedback on
what is and isn't going to fly," he says.
Of course, not everyone has the same
sense of humor. Geography, gender, and
status in the company may influence what
people consider funny. Generally,
consultants say that teasing or belittling
humor is destructive, while humor that
captures the absurdity or irony of situations
promotes camaraderie.
"Humor will always exist as a coping
mechanism," Mankoff says. "The trick for
companies is to harness it so it's
constructive, not subversive."Related
Links
No WiFi in the Sky
Flight Risk
Superjumbo Flight Delay
A.I.G.'S
continued from page 9
With hundreds of shadowy subsidiaries,
some in offshore tax havens, A.I.G.
Financial Products is a tangled web.
Unraveling it may raise questions over
how or whether it used reinsurance—a
business that has gotten American
International Group (and Greenberg) in
trouble in the past.
To be sure, Greenberg created A.I.G.'s
Frankenfinance monster. But some
analysts believe that he would not have
allowed it to run amok.
"Had Hank Greenberg still been running
the company," Mr. Havens of UBS said, "I
think it's pretty safe to say the situation
wouldn't even be close to what is now."
Related Links
A.I.G.'s House of Cards
A.I.Goodbye
Hank in the Middle
Washington State
Sues Company For
Fake Error Messages
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 11:54:00 AM
For years, questionable "software" firms
would buy up ads that pretended to look
like computer warning messages telling
you that your computer was at risk. Then
there were scamming companies that
would include a web-based "test" of your
computer to see if it was at risk -- and, of
course, it always found that you were. The
scam is just to get you to download (and
buy) their software which rarely does
anything (and most of the time you don't
need it). The FTC had cracked down on
these companies a while back, but it
appears at least some are still in business.
Washington state is now suing a software
company that apparently did something
similar sending messages to computer
users claiming "CRITICAL ERROR!" and
demanding that they download the
company's product immediately to repair
the problem. Of course, there was almost
never an actual problem... but the software
cost $40.
Permalink| Comments| Email This Story
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
The Final Push
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 9/29/2008 8:30:00 AM
Now what?
The House, in a 228-205 vote, rejected a
bill that would have been the most
aggressive and ambitious government
intervention in the financial markets since
the New Deal. It is a political defeat to the
Democratic and Republican leadership in
the House and especially to President Bush
and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson,
who had pushed aggressively for the
measure. Both presidential candidates had
also backed the bill.
The defeat stunned investors as well.
Stocks plunged, with the Dow Jones
industrial average falling 777.68 points, its
steepest point drop ever. The S&P 500 fell
8.8 percent, its worst day since the market
crash of 1987. The Nasdaq composite
index plummeted more than 9 percent.
Bloomberg News calculated that the stock
market lost more than $1 trillion today. As
a headline on MarketWatch.com put it:
House to Wall Street: Drop Dead.
A "no" vote on the plan to buy troubled
mortgages and mortgage-tied securities
from financial institutions leaves
Washington in a very tight corner. There
was no Plan B to combat the credit crisis.
House leaders, meanwhile, are "trying
frantically to turn some 'no' votes into 'yes'
votes by pointing to the damage being
done on Wall Street" in a bid to get a
second vote, the New York Times reports.
The bill, should it get a second chance in
the House and pass, is expected to have an
easier time in the Senate. The Jewish
holidays this week complicate efforts to
Worldwide Bank Clearance Sale
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 9/29/2008 4:30:00 AM
The banking industry continues to teeter
even as U.S. lawmakers prepare to vote on
a bill to buy troubled financial assets.
The banking operations of Wachovia, the
nation's fourth-largest bank, which has
been hammered by its mortgage exposure
in California and Florida, will be acquired
by Citigroup. The role of the Federal
Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Treasury
Department indicate that it was a sale
revive the legislation.
Citing the collapses of Washington
Mutual and Wachovia, Paulson said this
afternoon: "This is too important to simply
let fail."
Getting a swing of a dozen votes is not
an impossible goal by any means. Still,
since opponents, on both the Republican
right and Democratic left, rejected the bill
either on ideological grounds or on fear of
losing reelection, it is unclear what
changes could be made to persuade them
to support the measure in a second vote.
If Congress fails to act before the
election recess, what can we expect? There
may just be more of the patchwork actions
that have defined the government's
response to the crisis to date. The latest
came today with the sale of Wachovia's
banking operations to Citigroup, in a deal
orchestrated by the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corp. and the Treasury
Department.
The larger fear is that paralysis will again
grip the credit markets, dragging the
slowing economy deeper into a recession.
"If we defeat this bill today, it will be a
very bad day for the financial sector of the
economy," Representative Barney Frank,
the Democrat chairman of the House
Financial Services Committee, had warned
before debate began on the House floor
today.
Yet Rob Cox, for one, says on
Breakingviews.com that while the investor
freak-out is understandable, Financial
Armageddon may not be upon us.
He points to the government-orchestrated
deals for Washington Mutual and
Wachovia, as well as investments by
overseen, if not forced, by regulators. Last
week, regulators seized Washington
Mutual and sold the bulk of the business to
J.P. Morgan Chase.
Under the deal, Citi will pay Wachovia
$2.16 billion in stock and assume
Wachovia senior and subordinated debt,
totaling approximately $53 billion. As a
result of the acquisition, Citi is cutting its
quarterly dividend to 16 cents per share
and is selling $10 billion in stock to raise
capital. The deal does not include the A.G.
Edwards brokerage unit or the Evergreen
Warren Buffett in Goldman Sachs and
Mitsubishi UFJ in Morgan Stanley as
evidence that "there are willing buyers
alongside government mechanisms that
can be employed to effectuate financial
rescue."
There will be pain, he acknowledges, but
without the asset-relief program, "the long-
term result could be a beneficial
restatement of sound market principle."
After the no vote, finger-pointing started
on Capitol Hill.
A number of Republicans cited remarks
during the debate by House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi that blamed the Bush administration
for the financial crisis. "We could have
gotten it if it were not for this partisan
speech that Speaker Pelosi gave," said the
House minority leader, John Boehner,
according to Politico.com.
At a news conference, Frank expressed
amazement that Republicans would
respond to the speaker's words by "putting
feeling over country." To those
Republicans who felt insulted, he said, he
volunteered to go speak to them with
"uncharacteristic niceness."
Before the House vote, the markets were
already on edge. Earlier, Asian and
European markets were roiled by a series
of bank rescues in Europe.
To steady credit markets, the Federal
Reserve and other central banks announced
another coordinated effort to improve
dollar liquidity this morning. The Fed will
more than double its swap lines with the
European Central Bank and other central
banks, to $620 billion.
After the vote, the White House said the
president would meet with his economic
investment operations.
The sale came the same day that fresh
tremors shook Europe's financial system.
The British government, which
nationalized Northern Rock a year ago, has
seized control of lender Bradford &
Bingley. The governments of Belgium, the
Netherlands, and Luxembourg gave a $16
billion lifeline to Fortis. The German
government has backed a loan to Hypo.
Iceland, meanwhile, nationalized its third-
largest bank.
Shares of Dexia tumbled in Paris trading
team this afternoon to plan what to do
now.
Here are some highlights of the bill:
• The $700 billion would be doled out in
stages, starting with $250 billion. Another
$100 billion can be spent on the discretion
of the president. Congress could make a
decision on the remaining $350 billion.
The program extends until the end of 2009.
• Banks and others that participate in the
plan would issue warrants for common or
preferred shares to the government. The
idea is that taxpayers will reap the gains. If
there are any.
• The hot political bullet is the
compensation limit. Executives at
companies that sell troubled assets to the
government cannot get huge severance
packages as long as the Treasury has a
stake in the company. The impact of this
seems to be minimal because it would not
affect existing employment contracts.
• There will be oversight of the
program—from a bipartisan congressional
panel and the heads of a number of
government agencies, including the
Federal Reserve and the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
• The Federal Reserve gets the authority
to pay interest on reserves held at the
central bank by financial institutions,
giving it greater power over short-term
interest rates.
Related Links
Hit the Panic Button
Welcome to the Impasse
Don't Blame Canada
after a report said that the French-Belgian
bank may need to be rescued as well.
"The precarious global environment
means the weakest links in Europe are now
falling," Mamoun Tazi, an analyst with
MF Global Securities Ltd. in London, told
Bloomberg News.
The sale of Wachovia caps a similar
shakeout in U.S. banking. The New York
Time s notes how a deal will further
consolidate the banking industry into just a
few banks.
"A sale to either Wells Fargo or Citigroup
Biz Buzz Tech* 11
Senate Wants To Send
US Copyright Cops
To Foreign Countries
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 3:22:00 AM
With the ProIP bill moving forward and
trade representatives hard at work on an
ACTA treaty to force customs agents to
search for copyright violations at the
border, Against Monopoly points out that
Senators Max Baucus and Orrin Hatch
have introduced a new bill having to do
with intellectual property overseas. The
bill would have the US Trade
Representative draw up piracy "Priority
Watch List," allowing the White House
take actions against countries that don't get
in line, including placing officials at
foreign embassies with the sole purpose of
enforcing US IP rights. Yup, that's correct.
The US may soon be sending copyright
cops to other countries. This actually
seems like a repeat of a bill introduced last
year, but it still should worry other
countries -- especially when the US has a
history of creating such priority watch lists
of IP offenders in the past -- and that list is
usually laughable, in that it accuses
countries that have much stricter copyright
laws than the US itself.
Permalink| Comments| Email This Story
would further concentrate Americans' bank
deposits in the hands of just three banks:
Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase, and
whichever bank acquires Wachovia would
control more than 30 percent of the
industry's deposits."
Related Links
Charlotte's Web
Bankers Speed Date
Saving Wall Street From Itself
12 Biz Buzz Tech*
WARREN'S
continued from page 7
It's worth noting that somehow he's
persuaded the compilers of such lists that
all of that stock should be assigned to him,
even after he gave most of it away to the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and
other charities. Buffett is one man who
really can both give his money away and
keep it, at the same time.
But not everybody is like Buffett, as this
book makes abundantly clear. Buffett was
making thousands of dollars on paper
rounds before he even got to high school, a
huge sum, in the early 1940s. He bought
his first stock in sixth grade.
He never concentrated half as much on
his studies as he did on making money.
While his peers were socializing, he was
very much the precocious businessman,
even in his early teens. And, of course, he
was extremely smart, blessed with a
prodigious and photographic memory, and
had both an aptitude and willingness to
read thousands of pages of financial
reports for fun—even on his honeymoon.
Clearly, Buffett was always an extreme
outlier. But the ultra-close-up nature of this
book makes that hard to get into any
perspective, and the only fun that the prose
offers is the fact that it occasionally veers
away from its one-thing-after-another
chronology into infelicities and self-
contradictions. What, for instance, does
this mean?
In private, Munger tended to lecture
either himself or his audience, making
conversations with him like sitting in the
YouTube Hot Spots Shows Publishers When
Their Viewers Jump Ship
By Jason Kincaid (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 1:06:22 PM
YouTube has launched a new feature as
part of its Insight tool for content creators
that allows members to visually examine
exactly where in their videos their viewers
gain and lose interest. The new feature,
called Hot Spots, displays the dropoff data
in a dynamic graph that can be viewed
alongside the original video.
To determine which points in a video are
“hot”, Hot Spots compares each video to
other videos of similar length on YouTube
- if people are leaving more quickly than
back of a runaway stagecoach.
And surely "lessened", here, should be
"lengthened:"
[Buffet's mother] Leila formed a much
healthier relationship with her youngest
child, Bertie, as the intervals between her
rages lessened.
Or consider this: On page 137, in 1950,
while a student at Columbia University,
Buffett buys 350 shares of Geico. On page
165, in 1951 (you can see how this book
grows to over 900 pages), Buffett's still
buying Geico—as much as he can—in
order to achieve his ambition of eventually
owning 175 shares.
But the real problem with this book is
that Schroeder never gets inside Buffett;
never explains what he's thinking, instead
making do with simply telling us what he's
doing. Consider that first investment in
Geico:
Geico seemed to Warren a no-lose
proposition. That Monday, less than 48
hours after he arrived back in New York,
Warren dumped stocks worth three-
quarters of his growing portfolio and used
the cash to buy 350 shares of Geico. It was
an extraordinary move for the normally
cautious young man.
Schroeder proceeds to give us a potted
analysis of why Buffett thought Geico was
cheap. What she never even attempts to
explain is the much bigger question of why
Buffett was so eager to place so many of
his eggs in one basket. It's a typical
omission: Whenever we need her to
average at a given time, you’ll know you
have some tweaking to do. The site also
tracks rewind and fast forward data, so you
can see if viewers are repeatedly watching
a certain segment.
There are a number of obvious
applications for the new feature: publishers
can objectively determine which segments
explain what's really going on, she goes
AWOL.
Maybe things will improve in the later
parts of the book, after Buffett sets up shop
on his own—I'm only up to the end of Part
Two, where Buffett has graduated from
college, taken a stockbroking job with his
father, and married a girl in the wake of
what seems for all the world to be the most
romance-free courtship of all time. Not
that Schroeder is willing to hazard
anything much on that front, either.
If you're obsessed with Everything
Buffett, I'm sure you've gone out and
started devouring this book already, and it
doesn't matter what I say. But if you're
someone who doesn't own shares in
Berkshire Hathaway, or if you have only a
passing interest in the man, I'm sure there
are more productive uses of your time than
plowing your way through 900 pages of
Schroeder's uninspiring prose.
For starters, you could try reading past
issues of Buffett's legendary letter to
shareholders, which accompanies every
Berkshire Hathaway annual report. It's
much more interesting, and much better
written, than just about anything in this
book.Related Links
Mortgage Woes Spread to Quality
Lender
Rites of Spring
Buffett Family Reunion
of the video are the most appealing, and
edit their content accordingly. Advertisers
can use multiple YouTube videos to run
different versions of an ad to see which
ones are the most effective. Other users
will likely find more creative applications -
I wouldn’t be surprised to see a comedian
test out a stream of jokes to see which ones
bomb.
You can read more about the
announcement here.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because
it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Memo to America
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 9:00:00 AM
"This is like the advice you get from the
doctor who says you should quit smoking.
You know he's right. But if you don't,
you're not going to die tomorrow, and
you're not going to die next week. But at
some time, it's probably going to get you."
That was Robert Brusca, chief economist
at Fact and Opinion Economics in New
York, explaining to the Associated Press
why a good portion of America isn't on
board with the $700 billion bailout plan
that failed to pass the House vote
yesterday.
It's an apt analogy. Americans
understand the significance of the
consequences of this credit crisis. They
know they aren't immune to it—their bank
could go under (if it hasn't already), they
might not be able to get a loan to pay for
college or a new car, they could lose their
jobs or a good chunk of their retirement
money. They might suffer financially for
years to come.
But until they get that lung scan back
that says "cancer," they are likely to keep
right on puffing away.
If the Senate fails to revive this bailout
bill, and if Congress recesses in defeat
until after the next President is sworn into
office, what might happen to the economy
and to the credit markets?
In short, it's ugly.
This much we know: More banks will
fail, and lending will continue to be
squeezed. If consumers can't get loans, the
housing downturn will persist and personal
spending, which is the backbone of the
economy, will slow to a crawl.
But overnight lending is also the way
many companies subsist, by using it to
meet payroll and other operational
obligations. The financial pain will quickly
spread to the corporate sector, which will
directly impact employment and economic
growth. The unemployment rate is
expected to surge from 6.1 percent today to
7.5 percent or higher next year.
Chief executives in virtually every sector
of the economy are fearful. Microsoft chief
executive Steve Ballmer can predict how
the crisis will impact the software giant, as
corporate and consumer spending begins to
slow. "I think one has to anticipate that no
company is immune to these issues," he
told Reuters.
Others are already feeling it. "Our sales
have been impacted as our customers have
been hurting for liquidity," Office Depot
chief executive Steve Odland told
Bloomberg. "The global economy is at
stake here. The ripple effect has been far
and wide and action needs to be taken.''
Indeed, a new survey of retail C.F.O.'s
by BDO Seidman shows that 37 percent
plan to reduce their planned inventory
purchases in 2008, and 36 percent say they
have closed or will close stores this year.
So consumer and business lending dries
up, spending stops, and the lights go out at
many corporate headquarters. Felix
Salmon cites a laundry list of likely
consequences to the failure of a bailout
bill, ending with this one: We will have the
Great Depression of the 2010s.
Scary? Yes. Possible? Yes. Certain? No.
Even if this Congress fails to act, the
Federal Reserve could continue pumping
liquidity into the markets and orchestrating
bank buyouts, as they did with the
Washington Mutual and Wachovia
acquisitions.
The coming months would certainly be
painful ones, but the markets would look
forward to a new administration and a new
Congress to start over with potential
solutions in January. What can't be fixed
now might still be fixed later.
Everyone knows they have to quit
smoking. It's just a question of when.
Related Links
How Bad Could Things Get?
HBO Hopes to Make the Unthinkable
Totally Watchable
Fly the Unfriendly Skies
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Digging Out
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 4:30:00 AM
I t may just be a temporary bounce, but
investors appear to believe that
Washington can salvage a plan to buy back
troubled mortgage assets despite rejection
by the House on Monday.
Stocks surged in their strongest rally
since 2002, making up more than half the
losses that came on Monday. The Dow
Jones industrial average rose 485.21
points, or 4.68 percent, while the Standard
& Poor’s 500-stock index rose 5.27
percent. Many battered financial stocks
rose sharply. Still, the S&P 500 was down
9 percent for the quarter, which ended
today.
Today's gains came amid indications that
the Senate would move ahead with a vote
on a plan. The New York Times reports
that House Democrats were discussed the
plan in telephone conference calls, despite
the recess for Rosh Hashanah. Stocks were
also helped by word of possible changes in
mark-to-market accounting rules.
The Senate is expected to take up the
$700 billion financial bailout bill on
Wednesday, despite the stunning "no" vote
in the House. Republicans in the Senate
Bailout Bullies
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 1:30:00 PM
So who’s to blame for this mess we’re in?
After the Bush-Paulson bailout failed to
pass the House of Representatives
Monday, fingers were pointed by
Republicans at a speech made by House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi in advance of the
vote. She opened her remarks by pointing
to "the costs of the Bush Administration’s
failed economic policies," something
Republicans claimed was meant to turn the
vote into a partisan event. Either way, she
failed to bring in the Democratic vote.
Meanwhile, many Democrats were
blaming Republicans, since more of them
voted against the measure than they did
(133 Reps to 94 Dems voted "no"). Fingers
were pointed at G.O.P. Minority Leader
John Boehner, who called the bill "a crap
sandwich" before the vote.
Other culprits included Barney Frank,
have been more enthusiastic in their
support of the proposal than House
Republicans.
Politico.com says, "Leading House
Democrats believe that a strong Senate
vote—coupled with turmoil in financial
markets—will create enough pressure for
the House to relent."
Yet as Matt Cooper spells out on
Portfolio.com, "in the coming days, it's
hard to see those House Republicans
reversing their votes." Few options remain,
Cooper says.
And there are just six weeks until the
election.
President Bush again urged lawmakers to
pass a bailout bill. "We are in a urgent
situation," he said in a statement this
morning, warning that the economic
effects of failing to act "will be painful and
lasting."
More signs of the growing grip of the
credit crisis emerged today.
The cost of short-term bank loans to
other banks surged overnight. The global
benchmark, the Libor, or the London
Interbank Offered Rate, jumped 431 basis
points, to a record high of 6.88 percent
today.
"The money markets have completely
Chairman of the Financial Services
Committee, who helped negotiate the
compromise plan that failed. Hank
Paulson, the Treasury Secretary, could also
be blamed, for first presenting a plan that
wasn’t ready for prime-time.
Naturally, with all the fuss that John
McCain made last week about the financial
meltdown and suspending his campaign
and whatnot, he has also been fingered in
the failure of yesterday’s vote, and some
Democrats accused McCain of
encouraging House Republicans to rebel
when he flew into Washington last week.
So we asked our readers on whom they’d
lay the blame for the current stasis in the
bailout plan bailout: Pelosi, Boehner,
Frank, Paulson, or McCain. 339 of them
weighed in.
Until this morning, McCain was the clear
winner, holding at a solid one-third of the
votes, with the rest of them trailing off
from there. But as the day wore on and into
broken down, with no trading taking place
at all," Christoph Rieger, a fixed- income
strategist at Dresdner Kleinwort in
Frankfurt, told Bloomberg News. "Central
banks are the only providers of cash to the
market, no one else is lending."
The credit freeze has spurred speculation
that the Federal Reserve and other leading
central banks may now have to also cut
interest rates as part of their effort to free
up liquidity.
And another big European bank had to
be rescued today. The French and Belgian
governments have provided a $9 billion
lifeline to Dexia.
Even Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's chief
executive, spoke of the crisis' impact
today, saying that "no company is
immune."
"Financial issues are going to affect both
business spending and consumer
spending," Ballmer said in Olso, Norway,
Reuters reported.
Related Links
How to Get the House Republicans On
Board
For Sale by Uncle Sam
When it Rains, it Pours
the evening, Pelosi drew closer, and by the
time we closed our poll today at 3 p.m. ET,
our readers had identified Pelosi has the
one to blame, eeking out McCain with
34.22 percent of the vote to his 31.27
percent. Boehner followed, with 17.4
percent; Paulson was the pick among 11.5
percent; and Frank was selected by just 5.6
percent of poll-takers.
John McCain
106 31.27%
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi 116
34.22% Minority Leader John Boehner
59 17.40% Hank Paulson
39 11.50% Barney Frank
19 5.60%
Related Links
Let Boehner Write It, or Have the Fed
Go Solo
What Was Paulson Begging For?
Paulson and Palin, McCain's gaffe,
Bernanke's Silence
Biz Buzz Tech* Tech Tips*
Dozier Continues To Go
After Ronald Riley
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 5:59:00 AM
A few weeks ago, we wrote about the
bizarre and troubling lawsuit filed by John
Dozier against Ronald J. Riley. Riley, of
course, is a well-known pro-patent system
supporter who has generally made a
nuisance of himself in the comments.
Whenever he stops by here, it's usually to
personally insult me (and, in some cases,
my family) and to spew what usually
amounts to lies or totally unsubstantiated
comments about the patent system. In
other words, this is not someone I'm likely
to defend. Yet, Dozier's lawsuit is very
troublesome. It basically highlights all
sorts of questionable things that Riley has
done to establish his "reputation" as a
patent expert -- but then the actual lawsuit
is on trademark issues. The background on
Riley, while amusing and interesting to us,
has absolutely nothing to do with the
lawsuit at hand. Dozier seems to merely be
dragging Riley's name through the mud.
Why? Well, it appears that Riley insulted
Dozier (similar to the way that Riley
insults us) and even went so far as to put
up some websites making fun of Dozier.
Dozier, of course, isn't known for taking
criticism well, so apparently, he decided to
go after Riley on very questionable
trademark claims, while also dragging his
name through the mud (which very well
might be deserved -- but if it's got nothing
to do with the lawsuit...)
Dozier's still at it, with a blog post
describing the latest details of what's been
happening, where he repeatedly references
our original post (which slams Dozier's
lawsuit as being highly questionable).
Dozier falsely suggests that Techdirt has
Stainless Is Like a Safari Version of Chrome [Web
Browsers]
By Adam Pash (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 6:00:00 AM
Stainless is a free browser demo for OS X
based on WebKit and the multi-process
ideology behind Google Chrome. It's
13
somehow changed its opinion of his
lawsuit. He says that a comment defending
Riley on Techdirt was shown by
commenters to likely have been Riley
himself, but that's not true. I know the IP
addresses that Riley uses. And, I know
who the person is who "defended" Riley
and it is not Riley. It is another regular
commenter who knows Riley and supports
Riley (and trashes us all the time), but it's
not Riley himself. Dozier also suggests
that Riley posted an article in a different
forum pretending to be someone else,
though there's evidence that that's not true
either ( edited to avoid confusion).
What's much more troubling is Dozier's
claims that he's been able to convince
various webhosts to take down Riley's
websites. As much as we may find Riley to
be an insulting pest, we would never
suggest he doesn't have the right to speak
his mind. Dozier claims that any new
webhost that hosts Riley's websites will be
accused of "aiding and abetting",
"conspiracy", and "contributory trademark
infringement" claims. Dozier must realize
that such claims are a clear abuse of
trademark law. The webhosts are quite
clearly protected under section 230 of the
CDA and are not responsible for the
content hosted on those sites. Dozier, as a
self-professed "internet law expert" should
know this, suggesting that his claims to
various webhosts are misleading. Once
again, we're probably the last people on
earth to ever want to defend Ronald Riley -
- but Dozier's campaign against him is
equally as abusive as anything Riley has
done.
Permalink| Comments| Email This Story
young and a little feature-light, but until
Google officially releases Chrome for the
Mac, it could be a nice alternative to the
rough-around-the-edges CrossOver
Chromium.
14 Tech* Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper

Startups Best Positioned To Weather A Downturn

By Mark Hendrickson (TechCrunch) • Rearden Commerce- $100M
• Ausra- $97.8M
Submitted at 9/30/2008 4:16:14 PM
• CDNetworks- $96.5M
Now that Congress has failed to bail out • Move Networks- $91.3M
Wall Street, the country (and world, to a • Spot Runner- $91M
lesser extent) has begun bracing itself for • Tesla Motors- $85M
nuclear winter. The technology sector is no • Big Fish Games- $83.3M
exception, even if the Silicon Valley tends • Realtime Worlds- $81M
to fancy itself as immune to broader • Adconion Media Group- $80M
economic turmoil. • The Active Network- $80M
As Fred Wilson points out, startups • HelioVolt- $77M
fortunate enough to enjoy venture capital • Youku- $77M
will fare the best during these hard times. • Datapipe- $75M
So we compiled a list of all the technology • Trion World Network- $70M
startups that have raised at least $25 • Arcadian Networks- $70M
million over the past two years, according • Vantage Media- $70M
to CrunchBase. The ~160 startups to • A123Systems- $70M
stockpile that much capital recently are • Boston Power- $68.6M
listed below. • Infinia- $66.5M
Facebook tops the list with $455 million • LinkedIn- $65.8M
raised over the last two years (the bulk of • Fisker- $65M
its total $496M). Clean tech comes in • Brightcove- $64.4M
highly as well with Nanosolar having • SilkRoad technology- $64M
raised $300 million, eSolar $140 million, • Coremetrics- $60M
and SulfurCell $134 million. • ReachLocal- $55.2M
Of course, to know truly how well- • Veoh- $55M
prepared these startups are for the next few • Federated Media- $54.5M
years, we’d have to see other figures like • Slacker- $53.5M
burn rates, revenue and head counts, not all • RockYou- $52.5M
of which are publicly known. • 51.com- $51M
Nevertheless, their recent funding rounds • HealthCentral- $50M
provide a good guideline. • ChannelAdvisor- $50M
Have we missed any relevant companies • Blowtorch- $50M
or funding rounds? Submit them to • Dayjet- $50M
CrunchBase and we’ll update this list. • GarageGames- $50M
• Facebook- $455M • Revolution Money- $50M
• ZeniMax- $310M • Slide- $50M
• Nanosolar- $300M • Strands- $49M
• OverSee- $210M • obopay- $49M
• OANDA- $200M • JumpTap- $48M
• Kayak- $196M • ice- $47M
• GridPoint- $167M • Greenplum- $46M
• Plastic Logic- $150M • Internet Mall- $45M
• eSolar- $140M • Clear- $44.4M
• Demand Media- $135M • Jingle Networks- $43M
• SulfurCell- $134M • Avail Media- $42M
• Modu- $120M • Metaweb Technologies- $42M
• United Mobile- $115M • BitTorrent- $42M
• Zhaopin- $110M • Amobee- $42M
• Ning- $104M • Enforta- $40M
• Glam Media- $104M • Undertone Networks- $40M
• hulu- $100M • Turbine- $40M
• 9You- $100M • Pure Digital Technologies- $40M
• Specificmedia- $100M • Trilliant- $40M
• SpinVox- $100M • SiBEAM- $40M
• GodTube- $30M BabySpotLatino.com:
• 56.com- $30M
• Zazzle- $30M “Latino Babies and Social
• Metacafe- $30M
• Batanga- $30M
Networking Unaffected by
• VideoJug- $30M Financial Markets”
• Eyeblaster- $30M
• badoo- $30M By John Biggs (TechCrunch)
• Viagogo- $30M Submitted at 9/30/2008 11:54:46 AM
• IGA Worldwide- $30M
• Leapfrog on-line- $30M With one of the most fascinating PR
• MobiTV- $30M headlines I’ve seen this year we find
• MOLI- $29.6M ourselves smack in the middle of the
• Automattic- $29.5M perfect Web 2.0 storm: Latinos, babies,
• Intacct- $29M and social networks. Introducing Babyspot
• Genius- $29M Latino, a social network for parents of
• LiveOps- $28M Latino babies or babies of Latino parents.
• RadioFrame- $28M Add in the words “Twitter” and “API” and
• PGP Corporation- $27.3M you’ve got a grand slam.
• Milestone Systems- $27M Don’t get me wrong, this a noble goal. It
• Teneros- $40M • Palo Alto Networks- $27M brings a new voice to baby care to a
• SearchMe- $39.6M • Tideway- $27M market traditionally under-served by
• fabrik- $39.2M • BlackArrow- $26.8M standard social networks. The site debuted
• Zynga- $39M • ChoiceStream- $26.5M on a Spanish-language talk show featuring
• Turn- $38.5M • Ruckus- $26M cute little shavers capering like cupids and
• LifeLock- $37.9M • ContextWeb- $26M the site will include educational material
• Digg- $37.2M • Solarflare- $26M on baby health and pregnancy along with
• GreatCall- $36.6M • Quantcast- $25.7M the standard BabySpot features like photo
• Segway- $35M • Become- $25.5M sharing and group creation.
• hi5- $35M • Mimeo- $25M My main question is how that headline (”
• Bestofmedia Group- $35M • Reunion- $25M Latino Babies and Social Networking
• Yodlee- $35M • Gemini- $25M Unaffected by Financial Markets -
• Angie’s List- $35M • PharmaNation- $25M BabySpotLatino.com Debuts with Great
• Lehigh Technologies- $34.5M • InMage Systems- $25M Success on Univision’s Despierta
• Sermo- $34.5M • Aurora Biofuels- $25M America“) made it past some PR flak’s
• ooma- $34M • Nimbuzz- $25M absolute bull sensor. Connecting the
• meebo- $34M • Firefly Energy- $25M launch of a Latino baby site with the
• Dailymotion- $34M • Yelp- $25M economic collapse of the free world is
• Clearspring- $33.5M • Meraki- $25M probably not the image young mothers
• XunLight- $33M • Dash- $25M from here to Jalisco want to conjure up
• Cuil- $33M • Retail Convergence- $25M while dandling junior on their knees.
• Seatwave- $33M • Trulia- $25M Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over
• Dilithium Networks- $33M • SpringSource- $25M the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
• Waterfront Media- $33M • Zecco- $25M
• Mzinga- $32.5M • Koolanoo Group- $25M
• Vanu- $32M • Verimatrix- $25M
• Vuze- $32M • Optaros- $25M
• PicScout- $32M • Visible World- $25M
• Pando- $31.9M • Splunk- $25M
• Etsy- $31.3M • DeviceVM- $25M
• BuzzNet- $31M Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile
• Global Roaming- $30.5M Gadgets and Applications, Delivered
• NebuAd- $30.2M Daily.
• MFG- $30M
• Zillow- $30M
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Misunderstanding The Problems Of The
Patent System
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 7:21:03 AM
Earlier this year, Alex Iskold wrote up a
piece on why the economics of "free" was
somehow bad. That didn't make much
sense and we tried to explain why. Now
he's written another article trying to
explain why the patent system is in crisis,
and it seems equally as confused. We
absolutely agree that the patent system has
some serious, serious problems -- but it's
not for the reasons Iskold describes. First,
he claims that the patent system used to
work -- when historical evidence suggests
otherwise. Almost every look at the patent
system over history has found little to no
evidence that it increased innovation. From
Fritz Machlup to Eric Schiff to the more
recent research of Scherer and Weisburst
and others have consistently found little
evidence that patents increase innovation.
Iskold, oddly, suggests that the reason
why we're seeing open source rise up and
an open sharing of ideas proliferate is
somehow because of the patent system's
failures (despite the fact that both became
more prevalent and common long before
software was considered patentable), and
warns that this is somehow dangerous,
because: "What happens when a big
company copies a startup? What happens
when dozens of startups copy each other?"
Of course, that's what most people
consider competition, and we tend to think
it's a good thing in a capitalist society. It's
what actually drives innovation, as pretty
Welcome To Bizarro World - Google Takes A Leap Back To 2001
By Jason Kincaid (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 5:49:28 PM
As part of its 10th birthday celebration,
Google has opened the doors to an
antiquated version of its search engine that
dates back to 2001. The portal has all the
trimmings from the old site, including the
much all of economic history has shown. If
someone copies you, you continue to
innovate and beat them to the market. If
you really understand your market better,
then you can out-innovate them. And,
despite continuous worries about "big
companies" copying startups, history
shows that it's not quite so easy. If the
startup is successful, it's not so easy to just
copy, because the startup has built up a
reputation, which isn't so easy to copy.
Witness how Netflix outran Blockbuster,
despite Blockbuster copying Netflix.
Witness how Google outran both Yahoo
and Microsoft. Witness how Microsoft
outran IBM.
It's not so easy to just "copy." And just
copying isn't enough to actually gain
marketshare.
From here, Iskold's column skids off the
rails completely. It claims that the real
problem of the patent system is the time
between filing the patent and when the
patent is granted, because that allows
plenty of other companies to copy your
patent and beat you to the market. That's so
wrong it's difficult to know where to start.
First, patents aren't published until 18
months after being filed. So, no matter
what, you have an 18 month headstart.
And if we're talking about software firms,
that seems like a pretty damn big headstart.
Furthermore, there's very little evidence of
startups or even larger companies in the
software space scouring patent applications
to "steal ideas" from others. No, they tend
to focus on what the market is actually
goofy logo (complete with exclamation
point), a missing “I’m Feeling Lucky”
button, and the not-so-modest claim of
having indexed 1,326,920,000 web pages.
It’s cool to see things the way they were
(though they haven’t changed all that
much), but the real fun lies in running a
few searches. Google’s blog post offers a
asking for. And, in fact, there's ample
evidence that many software firms actively
forbid employees from looking at patents,
as doing so may open them up to treble
damages for "willful infringement."
Iskold seems to think that this patent
scanning is what leads to tons of "me too"
startups -- but the truth usually has
absolutely nothing to do with the patent
system. It's because multiple people
recognize the same or similar markets, and
over time are likely to attack it in similar
ways. Again, that's competition -- and it's a
good thing.
Oddly, towards the end, Iskold finally
admits what he calls "the biggest irony in
this patent debacle": it actually benefits
consumers. That's not "irony." That's
correct. Competition benefits the customer.
That's how it's supposed to work. So what's
the problem?
Well, according to Iskold, this isn't
sustainable: "To not have patents at all
means that at the end of the day big
companies will always absorb all the best
innovation for free." But, again, as we
already pointed out, that's simply not true.
Sometimes big companies win, but quite
often, they do not. Big companies are slow
and lumbering. Small companies are faster
and more nimble and can often out
innovate the slow companies with legacy
issues. Competition is a good thing, Alex.
Don't fear it.
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few examples: The iPod referred to a
Document Processing System, and
StumbleUpon Set For
Resurgence With Web
Toolbar, Partner Program
By Jason Kincaid (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 9:00:02 PM
Recommendation engine StumbleUpon
has been facing some tough times lately:
earlier this month we reported that eBay
was looking to sell the startup less than 18
months after acquiring it (the company
refuses to comment). And its traffic has
been showing signs of stagnation (though
the number of registered users to steadily
rise). But tonight, the site is launching a
new feature that may very well turn things
around: a long awaited install-free web
toolbar.
StumbleUpon has long been hindered by
the fact that it requires a browser plugin
that users have to download and install.
Such plugins create a large barrier to entry,
as they are time consuming and tend to be
associated with malware. These problems
are magnified by the fact that
StumbleUpon’s purpose isn’t immediately
obvious - many users have to actually try it
out before they understand what it does
(for the uninitiated, it uses an algorithm
based on your preferences and other users
to direct you to websites that you’ll find
interesting).
The service’s web-based browser
toolbar, which launches tonight,
overcomes these issues by replicating
much of StumbleUpon’s functionality
without requiring an install. To access the
web toolbar, you simply visit the revamped
StumbleUpon homepage and click on one
of the recommended links. The toolbar sits
conveniently at the top of the browser
window in its own frame, with a prominent
YouTube gets zero hits.
And most humbling: a search for
TechCrunch yields a single link to a now-
defunct learning website.
Because so much of the web has changed
since 2001, Google is also including links
to the Internet Archive Wayback Machine,
which includes cached copies of pages
Tech* 15
“Stumble” button sitting aside a set of stars
for rating the sites you come across. The
service uses cookies to persistently keep
track of your actions across multiple
sessions (you can import this data to the
toolbar if you ever choose to install it).
To coincide with tonight’s
announcement, StumbleUpon is
introducing a partner program for sites that
will take advantage of the web toolbar. At
launch, The Huffington Post and
HowStuffWorks will include widgets
alongside their articles that will allow users
to launch a StumbleUpon browser toolbar
that is restricted to their sites (a toolbar
launched at Huffington Post would only
stumble across Huffington Post articles).
The program will likely be a big success,
as it allows partner sites to increase their
page views by introducing users to new
content, while helping StumbleUpon reach
a broader audience.
StumbleUpon will still have some
obstacles to overcome - the purpose of the
web toolbar won’t be immediately obvious
to new users, especially those who reach it
from partner sites like The Huffington
Post. But the burden of the browser plugin
has finally been lifted, and I wouldn’t be
surprised if these additions prompt
impressive growth numbers in the coming
months.
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over
the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
from that time period. Google says that the
site will remain open for one month - after
that, it’s history.
Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile
Gadgets and Applications, Delivered
Daily.
16 Tech*
Flash Seems To Be Coming To The
iPhone. But Is That A Good Thing?
By Jason Kincaid (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 12:43:55 PM
When the iPhone was first released, there
was an abundance of speculation over
whether the phone’s lack of Flash support
would cripple its browser and give us
something less than “the real web” that
Apple had promised. At the time, Steve
Jobs explained that the full version of
Flash wouldn’t run well on the iPhone (the
iPhone runs on an ARM11 chip, which
doesn’t play nice with Flash), but that
Adobe’s Mobile Flash was lacking in
functionality - he wanted a product in the
middle before Apple would consider
putting Flash on the iPhone.
Today at the Flash On The Beach
(FOTB) conference, Adobe has confirmed
that such an application is in development
(it had previously been speculated to exist,
but there was no official word from either
company Adobe previously annouced it
had a version working on an emulator).
Adobe Sr. Director of Engineering Paul
Betlem made the announcement, stating
“My team is working on Flash on the
iPhone, but it’s a closed platform.”
Betlem’s insistence that the iPhone is a
closed platform is meant to infer that
Adobe isn’t ultimately in control of
Google Stock Falls $200 As Market Closes
By Michael Arrington (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 1:38:37 PM
Apparently more than a few traders had
heart palpitations today. As the market
closed, Google’s share price appeared to
fall apart, falling to $200 from an opening
price of $396. At least that’s what the
Nasdaq ticker showed.
That was $62 billion in market cap that
was zapped away in the last four minutes
before the fiscal quarter ended and the
markets closed, and it was automatically
reported by Google Finance and other sites
whether or not Flash will ever make an
apperance. This may be strictly true, but
it’s unlikely that Adobe would begin work
on the iPhone plugin in the first place if it
didn’t have a reasonable expectation that
Apple would include it, once it met Jobs’
expectations.
So it sounds like Flash is on the way. But
do we really want it?
These days, most of us use Flash
primarily to view videos on sites like Hulu,
(the comments here on MarketWatch’s
uncorrected article show how freaked out
some people were).
And the “drop” came as the markets
surged on news that the bailout was still in
play and mark-to-market rules were
suspended (allowing banks to stay
solvent). So what happened?
“It was a data glitch, which is extremely
rare” said one hedge fund guy I know.
“But yeah, for a second we freaked out.” In
after hours trading Google is back to
normal, trading at $407.
Update: From Briefing.com (still trying
YouTube, and CNN. Flash on the iPhone
may give us access to all of these sites
(assuming its CPU can handle video), but
I’d rather see native applications for each
of these media hubs similar to what
YouTube has created. Flash is notoriously
CPU-intensive, which is the last thing the
iPhone needs with its already lackluster
battery life - native apps would allow for
H.264 video playback on the phone’s
Quicktime player that would probably
require only a fraction of the CPU cycles.
Other issues with Flash crop up on more
standard websites. Flash-based sites can be
fun and innovative, but they also tend to be
inefficient and unnecessarily difficult to
navigate (see the Chipotle homepage for a
good example). Finally, there’s the
concern over Flash-based advertisements,
which can be incredibly intrusive.
These issues aside, Flash still plays an
integral role on the web, and there’s
nothing more frustrating than getting
denied trying to watch a Flash-only video
clip. Apple should include Flash if only for
completeness’ sake, while trying to give
web developers an incentive to use it
sparingly on their mobile sites.
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over
the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
to figure out if any actual trades occurred,
everyone says no so far):
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Even Light Users Would
Look For Alternatives If Their
ISP Uses Broadband Caps
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 10:09:00 AM
Longtime readers know that I'm no fan of
metered broadband or it's half-sibling
"broadband caps." They're not the worst
thing in the world, but they set in place the
wrong incentives, making an internet
connection a lot less valuable. There are
certainly those who disagree, but we've
lived in worlds with metered internet
access and phone systems before, and it
leads to decreased overall usage -- and
that's not a good thing. It acts as
disincentive to creating the next great
internet service that could be a boon to the
economy.
Customers recognize this implicitly.
They hate the idea of any sort of mental
transaction cost associated with "watching"
their bandwidth usage -- especially since
they have no clue how much bandwidth
they really use. A recent study highlights
this pretty clearly. 83% had no idea how
much bandwidth they use -- with many not
even having an idea of how much data one
gigabyte represented. 81% of those
surveyed stated they were against the caps,
and 51% said they'd look for alternative
providers if their ISPs implemented such a
cap. Interestingly, even light users were
against such plans. That seems to go
against what ISPs tell everyone, claiming
Google trades after 3:57 pm under
investigation by Nasdaq; trades were
“potentially erroneous” - Bloomberg
(404.14 -39.57)
Update 2: Ok, we’re hearing that some
trades DID go through at the crazy prices,
and they will almost certainly be undone.
Update 3: NASDAQ has posted an
official statement, and is canceling all of
the erroneous trades:
Pursuant to Rule 11890(b) NASDAQ, on
its own motion, has determined to cancel
all trades in security Google Inc Cl - A
“GOOG” at or above $425.29 and at or
that light users would be able to get
cheaper access. Yet, those light users
recognize that it would more likely end up
with them keeping the same price, but with
more limits.
Now, some will be quick to respond that
of course people surveyed will hate
broadband caps. It's like asking people if
they want to get less for the same price.
But the key point here is how many people
would look for alternative providers,
combined with the fact that, for most users,
there really aren't many choices. Once
again, this highlights the key problem with
US broadband: there's almost no real
competition. You have the duopoly of the
telcos and cablecos, and not much else that
represents real competition. Most of the
biggest providers (Comcast, AT&T, Time
Warner Cable) have made it clear that they
intend to cap broadband. The only really
big holdout is Verizon, who is betting that
its FiOS offering won't require similar
caps. But FiOS is still limited in its
footprint, and it will be worth watching
what happens over time. So while there are
plenty of skirmishes about things like net
neutrality and broadband caps, don't lose
site of the real issue: the lack of significant
competition for broadband in most
markets.
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below $400.52 that were executed in
NASDAQ between 15:57:00 and 16:02:00
ET. In addition, NASDAQ will be
adjusting the NASDAQ Official Closing
Cross (NOCP)and all trades executed in
the cross to $400.52. This decision cannot
be appealed. MarketWatch has coordinated
this decision to break trades with other
UTP Exchanges. NASDAQ will be
canceling trades on the participant’s
behalf.
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over
the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Video Game Execs Freak
Out Over Used Game Sales
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 4:43:04 AM
You would think that after years and
years of evidence that a second-hand,
"used" market for products increases the
value of the original products that
executives who create the original products
would know better than to complain about
resales or demand a cut of the profits -- but
apparently you'd be wrong. Reader
Lucretious writes in to let us know that the
audio director of Bungie Studios, a
Microsoft subsidiary and the makers of
Halo among other things, is out
complaining about how the second-hand
market for video games has a huge
detrimental effect on the industry, claiming
that the game makers deserve a cut of all
of those sales.
Except that's not just wrong, from a
common sense standpoint, it's wrong from
an economic stand point and a legal
standpoint. It's almost impossible to come
up with a rationale where it actually does
make sense. First, on the legal front, the
first sale doctrine is well established.
When it comes to copyright products, once
you've sold something, you really have
Now You Can Buy Computers Pre-Loaded With Movies
By Don Reisinger (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 11:17:24 AM
In a move that could start a new wave in
PC sales, Dell and Paramount Pictures
today announced that they have signed a
joint venture that will see “Iron Man”
come pre-loaded on Dell computers for
anyone who wishes to order the unit.
So far, the details of the deal are a bit
disappointing. Paramount is the only studio
sold it, and the buyer has every right to
resell it -- just as they do with things like a
chair or a house -- without owing the
original creator another dime. Second,
from an economic standpoint, plenty of
studies have shown the importance of an
active second-hand market. First, for
buyers of the initial product, the fact that
they can resell it is part of the value they
put in the price. Wipe out (or heavily tax)
the second-hand market, and you decrease
the amount people are willing to pay for
the initial product. Thus, you actually
shrink the market for your product. There's
also a lot more research in terms of
signalling and market adoption that show
that a second-hand market is important.
Finally, from a common sense standpoint:
you sold the game, you no longer have
control over what people do with it. That's
how transactions work. Would the folks at
Bungie like it if we suddenly started telling
them how they could spend the money we
gave them for games? No? Then they
shouldn't complain about what people do
with their games.
Permalink| Comments| Email This Story
that has signed on and “Iron Man” is the
only film being offered. Dell claims that
more titles will eventually be offered
during the purchase process, but for now, it
looks like Dell and the studios have a “wait
and see” attitude to decide if they want to
move forward with a broader strategy.
“Iron Man” will be offered on Dell’s
Inspiron, Studio, and XPS models and can
be added as an option during the
purchasing process. Much like the DVD,
Gnip 2.0 Launches, With A
Business Model
By Michael Arrington (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 9:54:48 PM
Gnip, the guys that are helping move data
around from one social network to the
next, launched v 2.0 of the service tonight.
The new version of the service allows
data consumers (services like Plaxo that
take data from other services, like Twitter,
Friendfeed, Digg, Delicious, etc.) to have
data from requested users pushed to them.
It’s no longer“Hey, TechCrunch just
tweeted. Go query the API to get the data.”
Now it’s“TechCrunch just tweeted - here’s
the data.” Data consumers are no longer
required to build pollers for any of the
publishers pushing data into Gnip, they
just give Gnip an endpoint and they push
the data to them in real time.
Data consumers can get complete public
data streams for Twitter, Digg, Delicious,
Six Apart and others without ever visiting
those sites or accessing their individual
APIs, subject only to the terms of service
of those services. And this data can be
the film pre-installed on Dell computers
will run you $20 and feature the bonus
gathered via a REST-based PI or the newly
launched XMPP support.
Gnip also added a number of filter
options to allow data consumers the ability
to create rules based queries based on tags,
keywords, etc.
Gnip’s business model is freemium - lots
of data for free and commercial data
consumers pay when they go over certain
thresholds (non commercial use is free).
The model is based on the number of users
and the number of filters tracked.
Basically, any time a service is tracking
more than 10,000 people and/or rules for a
certain data provider, they’ll start paying at
a rate of $0.01 per user or rule per month,
with a maximum payment of $1,000 per
month for each data provider tracked. For
now billing is turned off and the service
remains completely free. Thirty to sixty
days from now, people will start to pay.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because
it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
footage contained on the DVD. More
importantly, you can burn the movie onto a
DVD, but there’s one catch: you can only
do that once.
The option to add “Iron Man” to Dell
computers is available now.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because
it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Tech* 17
Amherst Study: 1% Of
Entering Freshmen Have
Landlines; 99% Have
Facebook Accounts
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 12:21:00 AM
Here's an interesting little factoid pointed
out by Clive Thompson that, while not
surprising, does quickly indicate some
major shifts on college campuses from just
a few years ago. A report from Amherst on
the technology used by entering freshmen
in the class of 2012 found that only 1%
have a landline phone, while 99% have
Facebook accounts. Also, students arriving
on campus registered, on average, more
than one electronic device per student on
the university's network. And, it would
appear that the concept of the desktop
computer is pretty much dead among
students. Only 14 out of 438 students
brought one.
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What Kind Of Filtering
System Thinks W3C Is
A Porn Site?
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 2:06:00 PM
We've all heard stories of various online
filters that block perfectly legitimate sites
as being "porn" or something else
objectionable, but sometimes there are
such extreme cases that it makes you
wonder what people are thinking.
Apparently, some ISPs are using a filtering
system that believes the W3C site should
be blocked as porn. W3C, of course, is the
body that manages standards for the web.
It was founded, and still run, by the creator
of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee.
Any filtering system that classifies the
W3C as porn doesn't deserve to be in the
filtering business. Hell, they barely deserve
to be on the web at all.
Permalink| Comments| Email This Story
18 Tech* Gadgets*
Microsoft’s Ballmer
Bearish on Business
Buying
By John Biggs (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 12:03:12 PM
Microsoft CEO Steve “Sweat” Ballmer
said that the financial crisis will“sap
consumer and business spending,” leading
to a downturn in Microsoft’s revenue. He
explained that no company will be immune
to the crisis although analysts predict an 8
percent rise in revenue this quarter. Get the
Microsoft Stock Quote widget and many
other great free widgets at Widgetbox!
Read more…
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over
the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Microvision's PicoP-based pocket projector revamped for CEATEC
By Darren Murph (Engadget)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 2:19:00 PM
Filed under: Displays, Home
Entertainment Now that pico projectors are
actually headed to end users, we're seeing a
number of companies hop in the fast lane
to production. Take Microvision for
instance -- these guys were taking their
Gears of War 2 canvasses special- Netflix API open to all: let the
edition Zune developing begin
By Paul Miller (Engadget)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 4:01:00 PM
Filed under: Gaming, Portable Audio,
Portable Video
Microsoft couldn't let the gory, highly-
anticipated launch of Gears of War
2(chainsaw duels! Rhhhahaararggg!) pass
without bloodying a Zune or three in the
process, Halo 3-style. Specifically,
Microsoft has laser-etched that pesky little
"Crimson Omen" onto a glossy black Zune
120, pre-loaded the device with 244 pieces
of "Gears of War" media -- the soundtrack,
concept art, behind-the-scenes vids and so
sweet time by introducing the PicoP
beamer back at CES, and now we're
looking at a freshly revamped version that
has already begun shipping to OEMs for
"evaluation and end-user testing."
Reportedly, the device shown at CEATEC
featured a "thinner, smaller and brighter
PicoP engine and several image quality
enhancements" over the unit displayed at
forth, nothing you won't be able to find
elsewhere -- and squeezed it all into some
"collectible" Gears packaging, featuring
our testosterone-addled protagonist
pondering the meaning of life. The whole
kit will run you $280, with pre-orders at
Walmart.com and Amazon.com (and a
whole mess of Canadian shops) starting at
3AM PT / 6AM ET. It'll start shipping on
November 7th. And still can't sync to your
Xbox. Close-ups after the break.
Continue reading Gears of War 2
canvasses special-edition Zune Permalink|
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CES, and it officially boasted a WVGA
resolution that could be blown up to 100-
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
By Darren Murph (Engadget) use. In other words, it's kosher if a bright
Submitted at 9/30/2008 12:55:00 PM
developer out there somewhere feels like
"creating an iPhone app to sell for $0.99
Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment (Netflix's words, not ours)." On the
Good news, developers of the world -- technical side, the API includes a REST
the Netflix API will be open to all starting API, Javascript API and ATOM feeds, and
tomorrow. As of October 1st, absolutely it also uses OAuth standard security "to
anyone can self-signup by visiting the read allow the subscriber to control which
link, and while details are a tad sketchy at applications can access the service on his
the moment, it sounds like this could hold or her behalf." It's time to get creative,
some serious promise. The API itself folks. Read| Permalink| Email this|
allows access to data for 100,000 movie Comments
and TV episode titles, is completely free
and (most importantly) allows commercial
inches in size. Unfortunately, we're still
waiting to hear how long it'll be before this
one slips into consumers' hands, but we've
a feeling it'll be sooner rather than later.
[Via AboutProjectors] Read| Permalink|
Email this| Comments
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Laptop makers and GSM
Association team on Mobile
Broadband branding plan
By Nilay Patel (Engadget)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 1:42:00 PM
Filed under: Laptops, Wireless Laptops
with built-in WWAN modems aren't
anything new, but there's a hodgepodge of
hardware and services available -- a
situation the GSM Association is trying to
simplify with the new Mobile Broadband
standardization initiative. Sure, it's mostly
an excuse to get another sticker on your
gear, but companies like Microsoft, Dell,
Lenovo, ASUS, Toshiba, Qualcomm and a
bunch of carriers are on board to ensure
that Mobile Broadband-certified machines
will be ready and able to connect in some
91 countries around the world -- and what's
more, they're committed to spending a cool
billion dollars in the next year promoting
MB as a "compelling alternative" to WiFi
JVC Everio concept HD camcorder up close at CEATEC
By Joshua Fruhlinger (Engadget)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 4:31:00 PM
Filed under: Digital Cameras
While JVC Victor hasn't promised us a
review unit just yet (cmon, we're still
begging here), we did get a chance to get
Media server concept from Toshiba doubles as mega D&D die
By Stephanie Patterson (Engadget)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 5:26:00 PM
Filed under: Desktops, Home
Entertainment
Here's another mouth-watering concept
on display at CEATEC today: Toshiba's
Sharp's AQUOS LC-65XS1U-S and LC-52XS1U-S HDTVs get priced
By Darren Murph (Engadget)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 12:03:00 PM
Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home
Entertainment
Here it is, the moment you've all been
and WiMAX. That should be an interesting
dilemma for the carriers that also run
hotspot networks, but we've got a feeling
everyone's happy as long as the sub fees
keep rolling in. Read| Permalink| Email
this| Comments
up close with its SDHC concept camcorder
today at CEATEC. Designed for the more
sophisticated user (as opposed to family
users, they tell us), the camera will shoot
both high-quality HD video and stills,
something they say has yet to be done in a
device. The upcoming Everio is slated for
Media Server -- not to be confused with
some kind of nefarious explosive device
from an early episode of Doctor Who. It
uses NFC to download files from your cell
phone, which in turn can be displayed on a
TV via WirelessHD. But best of all, it's
shiny and looks nothing like some of the
waiting for. Pricing for Sharp's sexiest,
freshest and altogether loveliest HDTVs
has arrived. As stated at CEATEC in
Japan, the 65-inch LC-65XS1U-S will sell
for a whopping ¥1.28 million ($12,225),
while the 52-inch LC-52XS1U-S goes for
Microsoft ships red wireless Xbox 360
controller for the holidays
By Darren Murph (Engadget)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 3:32:00 PM
Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals
Here's an interesting one. That red /
black Xbox 360 controller that was
showcased back in July is now available to
any ole consumer in the US, Canada, Latin
America New Zealand and Asia, and it
comes bundled with a Play & Charge Kit
and red rechargeable battery for $64.99.
For whatever reason, Microsoft's totally
missing a golden opportunity to cash in on
the holiday shopping season by reserving
the green counterpart as some "
promotional item." C'mon guys, is it really
that hard to understand how irresistible a
release in the first half of 2009 at an
mundane media servers we've seen in the
past, which is reason enough for us to want
¥980,000 ($9,243). We'd expect those
red and green gamepad tandem would be
in late December?
[Via IGN] Read| Permalink| Email this|
Comments
undisclosed price, but JVC promises the
unit is, indeed, coming. In the meantime,
we'll have to make do with these new shots
in the gallery below.
Gallery: Everio HD Camcorder concept
Permalink| Email this| Comments
one, or perhaps a pair to make 2d12. Here's
hoping it gets past the concept stage.
Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments
figures to be a touch lower whenever they
come stateside, but rest assured, you'll be
breaking into the piggy bank if either of
these is to be your next set. Read|
Permalink| Email this| Comments
Gadgets* Movies* 19
KDDI au concept
phones explained and
pictured
By Joshua Fruhlinger (Engadget)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 5:06:00 PM
Filed under: Cellphones
We got the low-down (well, at much of a
low-down as one can get from thematic
designers) on KDDI's latest au concept
phones here at CEATEC, and the themes
are -- are you sitting down? -- space and
soup atomic elements. No, we didn't make
that up. If you're still with us, hit the break
for some pictures and explanations.
Continue reading KDDI au concept
phones explained and pictured Permalink|
Email this| Comments
Janet Jackson
Postpones Two
Concerts Due to Illness
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 4:14:00 PM
The dates will be rescheduled.
She may be out of the hospital, but Janet
Jackson's recovery from an unknown
illness is forcing her to postpone two dates
on her "Rock Witchu" tour.
Janet's concerts in Boston (Oct. 1) and
Philadelphia (Oct. 2) will be rescheduled,
the star's rep tells ET. The tour will resume
in Greensboro, NC, this Saturday, Oct. 4.
On Monday, the 42-year-old singer
suddenly fell ill before a scheduled concert
in Montreal and was rushed to a hospital
earlier in the day during a soundcheck.
Info on the rescheduled concert dates will
be released as soon as possible.
20 Gadgets* Web 2.0 Web Apps*
T-Mobile G1 spotted
in the wild
By Darren Murph (Engadget)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 2:38:00 PM
Filed under: Cellphones
Ah yes, the natural progression of a
release. First comes the hands-on at the
introduction, then comes the leaked user
manual, then comes the pre-order fiasco--
now, it's time for those always titillating in
the wild shots. The box and handset are
nothing out of the ordinary / surprising
(respectively), but at least you now know
that bona fide unboxing images are just
around the bend. Read| Permalink| Email
this| Comments
Is the Enterprise Ready
for Microblogging
By Aaron Strout and Joe Cascio
Although experts in the social media
Submitted at 9/30/2008 10:02:34 AM
By Guest
space Writer
have been(Mashable!)
talking about how
Zoho launches its own app store
businesses might adopt microblogging
tools like Twitter and Plurk, only recently
have we started to see a series of new
By Caroline McCarthy
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 10:54:00 AM
Productivity application start-up Zoho is
in a tough position: it has to compete with
Google Apps. That hasn't stopped the
company from pushing forward and trying
25+ Resources for Carpooling
By Sean P. Aune (Mashable!)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 2:32:29 PM
From gas prices to the environment and
being able to use the carpool lane, there are
many reasons to start carpooling. The
question is, how do you easily find people
that happen to be driving to the same
destination as you? Luckily, as with
almost everything in this day and age,
there are Web apps to help you with this
very query.
For a double whammy of savings, make
sure to check out our list, Check Gas
Prices Online: 11 Handy Tools to find the
cheapest gas for you and your carpooling
buddies to split. General
Avego.com- Avego is a service
accessible via the iPhone or an average cell
phone that allows you to get rides at a
moment’s notice. The service uses GPS to
allow drivers and riders to find each other.
Via the GPS function you get exact
directions indicating where to pick up and
drop people off, and also get a running
tally of how much the ride costs. After the
ride is over, both the driver and passenger
can rate one another.
CarpoolConnect.com- Offers up
international carpooling opportunities for
people mainly in the USA, Canada and
Europe.
CarpoolWorld.com- CarpoolWorld has
been around since 2000, and continues to
provide matching services for those
looking for drivers and passengers. Also
offers the ability to set up carpool groups
for your company, club, sports team or just
about anything else you can think of.
DivideTheRide.com- A carpooling site
designed to get your children around to
their activities. One person starts it, they
invite people they trust, and then a
calendar is created. Reminders are sent via
email and text message.
new stuff.
Case in point: Zoho's Marketplace,
which launched Tuesday. Through the
Marketplace, Zoho users can make a buck
or two off of applications that they built
with Zoho Creator, the company's drag-
and-drop application development tool.
If you've made an application in Creator,
eRideShare.com- Assists you in finding
rides for daily carpooling, cross-country
travel, running errands, or even to special
events & club meetings.
GishiGo.com- A ride sharing system that
charges $.99 for creating a post as either a
driver or passenger, and allows you to post
reviews of the experience after it’s over.
GoLoco.org- A social network style
carpooling site that makes sure everyone
pays their share of the expenses. Each mile
of a proposed trip is calculated at $.50,
then split between the number of people
and then GoLoco receives a 10% share of
the transaction.
GooseNetworks.com- A service focusing
on corporate websites to allow your
employees to find people they can share
rides with, providing them with public
transit schedules, and more.
iCarpool.com- Assists you with finding
carpooling partners for work, long distance
trips, events and more. Works for members
in Australia, Canada, Europe and the USA.
NuRide.com- NuRide offers sponsored
carpooling. Set up your ride, confirm that
it actually occurred, and you can earn
points towards rewards such as gift cards,
discounts and more. All members must
belong to a company or organization so as
to remove some of the anonymity.
PickupPal.com- Sign up for carpooling
for work, long trips, to events and more.
Focuses heavily on reducing your carbon
footprint on the Earth.
Pooln.com- A car pooling site with a
social networking structure. Give it a try
by entering the zip code where you live
and the one for your office to see if there
are any members who match up with your
needs.
RideAmigos.com- Use the RideAmigo’s
RideMatcher system to enter your trip or
commute, and find people with a matching
schedule that you can share a ride with.
you can list it for sale in the Marketplace
and charge a fee, if you want. Zoho doesn't
take a commission from the sale of
applications, but if you use Creator (or any
other Zoho app) more than its personal-use
plan permits, you'll have to cough up a
subscription fee. This goes for app creators
as well--if a lot of people are using your
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
The service also shows the environmental
impact reduction of the people sharing a
ride. Also offers a corporate version, which
restricts results to people within your
company.
RidePro- A white label solution for
companies and cities looking to set up their
own carpooling site.
RoadSharing.com- Enter the route for
your proposed road trip and find people to
share the ride with and split the costs. Has
lots of international members, and it’s easy
to spot who has the vehicle and who is
looking for one.
TrafficBulldog.org- Billed as a
commuter advocacy site, TrafficBulldog
offers up news and suggestions on
reducing traffic congestion via carpooling
and other suggestions.
Zimride.com- Zimride offers carpooling
for just about any distance you can think of
in the USA. They have a Facebook
application and have already built an app
to be released to work with Android.
Region Specific
511.org- The San Francisco based
511.org site provides a ride share area
where you can find other commuters to
pool with in the Bay area. Carpoolers get
free bridge tolls during peak hours, and if
you start a Vanpool, you can receive up to
$900 in gas cards.
Car-Pooling.com- Offers carpool
matching for France, Germany, Italy,
Spain and the United Kingdom.
applications, you'll have to pay too.
Zoho isn't trying to create a get-rich-
quick scheme here. "There are many
applications out there that are not available
off the shelf but are needed in a particular
use case or situation," an explanation from
the company read, "but there is not enough
(of a) market for vendors to offer such
Carpool.ca- Canadians get their own
carpooling site with Carpool.ca. Find
rides, read up on carpooling etiquette, and
other general tips.
CarpoolMatchNW.org- A carpool site
focusing on Oregon and SW Washington.
Carshare.com- Carshare is a directory of
carpooling services for the UK that you
can look up by region or by just looking
for ones that serve the entire country.
Liftshare.org- Focuses mainly on
carpooling in the UK, but also offers up
the chance to find walking and biking
buddies.
MyRideSmart.com- Carpool matching
service specific to the Atlana, GA area of
the United States.
RideArrangers- In operation since 1975,
RideArrangers is a program in Denver, CO
focused on matching up people for
carpools.
RideFinders.org- RideFinders is specific
to the St. Louis area and provides an
interesting incentive in the form of up to
six free taxi rides a year. These can be
used in case you have unforeseen
circumstances that keep you from meeting
up with your ride.
TheCarpool.com.au- Set up carpooling
for work, school and trips for people all
across Australia.
---
Related Articles at Mashable | All That's
New on the Web:
Zimride Launches Carpooling Network
for Facebook
PickupPal Pushes Green with Carpools
to Concerts
Zilok Pushes Green Lifestyle with US
Launch: Video Interview
Edenbee or Not to Be? Climate Change
Social Network Steps In To Help
GREEN LIVING TOOLBOX: 80+
Green Sites
situated software, as the need could be
specific to a use case or an
individual/business."
In conjunction with the release of its
Marketplace, Zoho also launched Version
3.0 of Creator.
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
ENTERPRISE
continued from page 20
vendors cropping up in the enterprise
microblogging space. This has been due in
part to businesses needing to figure out
how Twitter can benefit the enterprise. The
fact that the mainstream press has started
covering this topic has also helped to push
things along (see Businessweek’s CEO
Guide to Microblogging if you need
proof).
Given the recent focus on business
microblogging and the emergence of some
new players like Yammer and
Utterli(Formerly Utterz, Utterli has been
around for a little over a year but just
rebranded and is now becoming more
enterprise-centric), it felt like as good a
time as any to write a post about the
business value of microsharing within the
enterprise. Included in this post will be
considerations for implementing
microblogging and a few of the relevant
players in the space.
Just to level set, it probably doesn’t hurt
to define what microblogging is. For
anyone that uses Twitter, Plurk, Identi.ca
or any of the multiple other microblogging
tools, microblogging is in some ways like
instant messaging or text messaging but
instead of it taking place one to one, it’s
often one to many or many to many. I
could take this entire post explaining what
it is, but friend and Commoncraft founder,
Lee LeFever, has done a fantastic job in
his quick Twitter in Plain English video.
I’d also like to clarify that this post is
focused on businesses using microblogging
within their organization vs. having a
corporate presence in the public
(like@comcastcares on Twitter). How
corporations are using microblogging
publicly is an equally relevant topic,
however, numerous posts have already
covered this phenomena. Business Value
One of the lessons we learned from Web
1.0 (and the subsequent bubble) was the
fact that startups that create technologies in
search of a problem fail, even when VCs
are stupid enough to throw wads of cash at
them. This time around, most companies
don’t get funded unless they are solving a
business problem or at least offering up a
technology that can enhance existing
business processes. To that end, here are a
few ways companies can tap into the
power of microblogging:
Emergency Broadcast System: First and
foremost, any company needs a way to
reach all of its employees quickly and
efficiently. E-mail is obviously one way to
do this but increasingly, it’s hard to
separate the wheat from the chaff. With
many folks receiving hundreds of e-mails a
day, it can take minutes if not hours before
we get to an e-mail from the CEO.
Knowledge Management: Here’s where
things get interesting. One of the biggest
failings of many companies is the fact that
they trap their intellectual property in
Powerpoints, spreadsheets and Word
documents and store them on shared drives
and e-mail inboxes. Once the creator of
that content walks out the door, the odds of
their years of work finding its way into
anyone else’s life are slim. As companies
start uploading more and more content
onto wikis, or central file repositories,
these files can be linked to and indexed by
conversational tools like microblogs.
Training: Any company that has gone on
a hiring binge quickly realizes how painful
it is to train new employees. If a formal
training program exists, the materials are
often outdated almost as soon as they are
created. By identifying a few key
influencers and allowing new employees to
see their daily “streaming,” information
and best practices can be shared more
easily and in real time with little burden on
the “trainer.”
Expert Identification: Another area that
many larger companies fall down is in
making their resident experts easily
findable. If you can see your company’s
employees talking (possibly segmented by
business unit or group within an
organization), it wouldn’t take long to
figure out who knows what about whom.
Seeing the Connectors: Good companies
spend a lot of time on succession planning.
Unfortunately, most companies don’t have
a good handle on who the true connectors
are within their organization. By analyzing
conversations and watching the
conversations of employees, senior
managers can easily identify who these
connectors are and then ensure these
employees compensation and titles match
their internal value AND start to add
additional connectors if too much
information is flowing through any one
individual.
Inclusion of External Stakeholders: Back
in the early 2000’s, extranets were all the
rage. There would finally be a way for
companies to include partners, investors
and even certain customers in their daily
conversations. Portals obviously began to
fill this roll to a degree but none were ever
truly conversational. Enter enterprise
microblogging with the ability to include
these aforementioned stakeholders in the
mix. Key Considerations
Enterprises considering microblogging as
an internal function will have some
common requirements. Here is our take on
several areas that corporations tend to look
at when they are considering a new
technology:
Single Sign-On (SSO): A growing
problem in the social media world right
now is identity proliferation. With some
notable exceptions that accept OpenID,
most sites still require you to create yet
another account in their system (or identity
domain). In most enterprises, a fair amount
of effort has already been expended on
establishing single sign-on through the
intranets’ LDAP registry. It would be
highly desirable to leverage this capability
to enroll employees in the microblogging
system. So, an enterprise microblogging
solution must have flexibility in adapting
to existing ID and sign-on registries.
Reliability: Initially, microblogging may
seem like a non-essential, nice-to-have
kind of tool, but our bet is that most
businesses will find it very quickly
becomes indispensable for keeping
important lines of communication open.
People, on their own, will invent many
different uses for such a simple tool, as
they have with Twitter. In a large
corporation with geographically distributed
sites, it would be best to have a solution
that allows each campus to run its own
server and not be dependent on a remote
centralized service. These distributed
servers would exchange data to unify the
system as a whole. See Distribution below.
Analytics: Businesses will eventually
want to analyze the traffic on their
microblogging sites. They’ll want to know
who follows who, who posts the most and
to who and most importantly, a feature I’d
love to have in Twitter, the ability to see
and search all my posts and other posts
selectively for important information, just
like we can search our G-mail accounts
now.
Security: This will probably be of
paramount concern at least initially in most
businesses. Most corporations are very
aware of keeping internal communications
safe from prying outside eyes. An
enterprise microblogging solution must
provide for fine-grained authorization and
trustworthy security of communications.
Management, through the IT department
will want to be able to restrict who can see
certain posts.
Scalability: The word Enterprise covers a
huge spectrum of organizations. An
enterprise microblogging solution should
be scalable from less than 100 users to tens
or even hundreds of thousands of users,
spread across the globe. The ability to
distribute and federate many local servers
on the corporate intranet will help to
satisfy this need.
Groups: Enterprises comprise many
different groups within their walls. Not just
departments, but project teams, ad hoc
working groups, common interests, etc. An
enterprise microblogging solution must
provide for the easy definition of groups or
tags, where any employee user can belong
to many groups.
Distribution: This requirement has been
touched on already, but it should be
mentioned again because of its importance
to other requirements. It refers to the
ability of the enterprise microblogging
solution to be decentralized, spread out
across wide geographic areas, and hence to
become fault tolerant, so the failure of any
one node does not cause a failure of the
whole system.
Interoperability: Clearly a distributable
enterprise microblogging solution would
require its various nodes to federate and
interoperate, but a corporation wishing to
allow interaction with its customer base
outside its walls would require a solution
that interoperates with other microblogging
solutions that may exist, yet allows only
some posts to be seen outside the corporate
firewall. Current Players
Until recently, most vendors in the
community or social media space have
either focused on delivering microblogging
tools to the public while software providers
that focused on the enterprise tools busied
themselves with delivering better wikis
and other collaboration tools. Not
anymore. A slew of startups (and one or
two more tenured companies) have now
turned their attention to the less sexy but
immediately more profitable enterprise
microblogging space. Below you will find
a list of some of the major players in this
space along with a quick description, pros
and cons of each. If we’ve missed a player,
21
please feel free to add to the comments and
we’ll strongly consider adding them into
this post:
Yammer(from TradeVibes) Yammer is a
tool for making companies and
organizations more productive through the
exchange of short frequent answers to one
simple question: “What are you working
on?”
PROS: Easy to turn on and screens out
folks outside of the corporate domain.
These guys have obviously learned a thing
or two from where some of the existing
microblogging tools fall down.
CONS: No single sign-on functionality
(at least not that we could see). Tricky to
add other “partners/contractors” that don’t
have e-mail addresses matching the
corporate domain. Hosted by outside
company, can’t be deployed inside the
firewall.
Laconi.ca(from Wikipedia) An open
source microblogging tool written in PHP
that implements the OpenMicroBlogging
standard. Laconica was created as an open
source, distributed alternative to Twitter,
and was originally used by the identi.ca
microblogging service.
PROS: Built on opensource software so
it’s completely customizable. It also
integrates with well-known Twitter client,
Twhirl giving power users the ability to
manage external and internal facing
microblogging activity in a seemless
fashion. It is based on the Open
Microblogging protocol specification, so
other implementations are possible.
CONS: As is the case with any
opensource application, its greatest asset
(flexibility) is also its biggest weakness
(not super user-friendly out of the box).
Scaling, federation and interoperation have
yet to be seriously tested.
Utterli(from Utterli.com) Utterli helps
you create and follow discussions with
friends or new people with similar
interests. You can create or join a
discussion from any mobile phone or
computer. Utters are cool because they can
be audio, video, pictures and text, and it’s
really easy to post to your other online
profile pages.
PROS: Utterli’s two biggest strengths are
easily its multi-media and mobile
capabilities. It’s fairly easy to create a
“group” on the fly and coming soon will be
ENTERPRISE page 23
22 Web 2.0 Movies*
How to Connect Your Email Address to Your OpenID Account
By Doriano "Paisano" Carta
(Mashable!)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 3:52:04 PM
OpenID is an excellent solution for
establishing a single identity for all your
online accounts, but many people haven’t
even tried it yet. For some, the concept of
using a URL address for a login ID instead
of the traditional email address is still
completely foreign.
However, Email to ID could be what the
doctor ordered and what these creatures of
habits need. It could also be what OpenID
needs in order to expedite wide-spread
acceptance as the single sign on identity
standard. You can now link your email
address (or several of them) to your
OpenID and then use that email address
(any of them) to log into any online service
that supports it! The beauty rests in the
simplicity of it all. Best of all, it’s all free
and easy to do.
First, a little background information on
this process
Email to ID is based on the EAUT(Email
Address to URL Translation) protocol that
allows standard email addresses to be
transformed into URLs for services like
OpenID. As far as concerns regarding
security and who controls everything,
EAUT was designed to work in a
distributed fashion, so that there isn’t a
single authority in charge of everything.
Each email service controls how email
addresses at their domain are resolved into
URLs.
Even though EAUT is designed to be
decentralized, it will take time for email
providers to add support. In these cases, a
fallback service can be used which can
translate ANY email address to a URL.
Relying parties can use any fallback
service they wish, but Email to ID is
recommended. The need for a fallback
service will decrease as more email
providers support EAUT natively.
Why a fallback service like Email to ID?
Emailtoid was designed as a technology
prototype to act as a temporary solution to
Romance Revealed on the Set of 'Private Practice'
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 4:00:00 PM
The stars of 'Private Practice' open up to
a usability problem in OpenID. Email to
ID always defers to the email providers
first and only falls back to the local
resolution service if the email provider
does not support email-to-OpenID
resolution.
What’s important for Email to ID’s long-
term Success?
There are a couple of things that need to
happen in order for Email to ID to become
a normal part of our online experience.
First, OpenID needs to formally and
officially support the EAUT protocol .
Second, all email providers need to get on
board and support OpenID and EAUT. It’s
not only good for their members but for
them as well so it’s really a no-brainer.
The same is true for all online services and
their stance regarding OpenID support -
ET about the romances and finances of the
second season premiere. ET went behind-
the-scenes with Kate Walsh, Tim Daly and
Amy Brenneman for a sneak peek of what
the more services that embrace OpenID,
the better for us all.
How to do it
Here’s how easy it is to connect your
email address with your OpenID account.
It literally takes a couple of minutes. When
completed we will show you how to use it
with a site that supports EAUT such as
Magnolia.
1. First, you’ll need an OpenID account.
You might already have one because many
services like AIM and LiveJournal include
an OpenID for members. You can check
here. If you don’t already own one then
just create one from any of the official
OpenID providers on that page. Popular
providers include ClaimID, myOpenID,
myVidoop, myID.net and VeriSign’s
Personal Identity Provider.
this season will bring!
In addition to the new romantic
relationships, Addison (Walsh) discovers
in the first episode that Naomi ( Audra
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
2. Go to Email to ID and add your
OpenID account along with the email
address you want to associate with it. You
can add multiple addresses if you want.
You’ll receive an email with an access key
you can enter to complete the connection
or you can simply click the link in the
email. Either way works fine.
That’s it, really. It’s that easy. Enter the
email address and OpenID account and
they’ll be connected. You can just as easily
disconnect them or add another email
address or change the OpenID provider
should you want to do so. It’s very flexible
and puts you in control.
How to use your new email to ID
account on a service
Now that you’ve linked your email
address with your OpenID account, you
McDonald) is hiding the financial woes of
the practice.
But things are looking up on the side of
love – last season's super-cute Kevin the
can use your familiar email address on any
site that supports it. In this example, we’ll
use the popular social bookmarking
service, Magnolia.
1. Go to the Magnolia sign in page and
enter your email address in the OpenID
box instead of the usual OpenID URL.
2. You’ll be redirected to a confirmation
page on your OpenID provider’s site. Click
continue to complete the transaction.
3. That’s it. You’re done. No need to
enter tedious profile information or even a
password. Just create the screen name you
want and the email address and you’re
done with the sign-up process in a fraction
of the time that it usually takes. Email to
ID and OpenID handles all of the dirty
work for you.
Final thoughts
You’ve just gotten a glimpse of what
could very well be the future of online
registration thanks to the OpenID single
sign on identity system along with the
Email to ID URL translation based on the
EAUT protocol. As mentioned earlier, in
order for this much improved process to
become a common standard and available
everywhere online more services need to
support OpenID and EAUT. The good
news is that increasing new services are in
fact supporting OpenID. To keep up with
all of the new additions to this list go to the
OpenID Directory or subscribe to its RSS
feed which updates constantly.
---
Related Articles at Mashable | All That's
New on the Web:
The Daily Poll: How Often Do You Use
OpenID to Login?
Another Victory For OpenID: Yahoo
Announces Support
Blogger’s OpenID Support Now Official
Wikispaces Adds OpenID Suport
Blogger Beta Gets OpenID Support
Wetpaint Adds OpenID Support
Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, IBM and
Verisign Join OpenID Foundation
Cop ( David Sutcliffe) is returning to the
show and Violet (Brenneman) finally finds
romance!
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Bloombla Puts Your Life Story in Line
With the World’s (The Startup Review)
By Paul Glazowski (Mashable!)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 12:05:35 PM
Company Name:
Bloombla 20-word Description:
Bloombla is connecting the world
together by things you’ve done in your life.
It’s a fun and addictive way of sharing
your experiences and seeing how they fit
with the rest of the world. CEO’s Pitch:
Bloombla is all about you, your life, your
stories and everyone around you. We let
our users share their stories with friends,
get connected with others around the world
who have shared your experiences, view
their stories and tell your own. Users can
browse friends profiles, read of their
adventures and learn things they never
knew about them before. Our search
allows you to find people who have not
only done something you may be
interested in but also read their thoughts.
It could be about a product they purchased,
a place they’ve been to, an event they
attended and the list goes on. Every
Bloom becomes a rich source of useful
information. The possibilities are endless.
Mashable’s Take:
I have to admit, the first thing that sprang
to mind when I saw Bloombla was the face
of TV staple Jon Stewart and universal
acronym “NAMBLA,” a term parodied on
The Daily Show for many years. Whether
fortunate or unfortunate, Bloombla has no
correlation to this bit of humor. But no
matter, the service is pretty interesting all
the same.
It’s hard to pin Bloombla as something
specific. You might call it a Twitter clone,
or some sort of Digg-like system. Or you
Netflix to Roll Out API Tomorrow
By Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins
(Mashable!)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 7:07:44 PM
We just recieved word from multiple
sources that Netflix is planning on rolling
out an API tomorrow that allows access to
the company’s database of over 100,000
movies. This is to include the ratings data
can call it a new-age story telling service.
Or all those things in one.
Twitter is fairly generic in that you can
basically do what you wish with an
account, provided that you keep to a 140-
character per message limit. Digg,
meanwhile, is sort of a groupthink linking
engine. It’s very much about promoting
topics, whatever those topics might be. It’s
also grown into quite a noisy environment
for armchair commenters everywhere.
(You decide whether that’s good or bad.)
Bloombla is a kind of blend of the three,
except that it also maintains some measure
of independence, too. Does it sound
convoluted? It’s very simple, actually. In
short, you describe what you’ve done,
whatever it might be. Did you attend a
concert somewhere? Let the membership
know. Traveled somewhere exciting? Say
so. Your options are endless, really. And,
if other users have done the same, they can
make note of it by clicking the “done it!”
button. Also, comments can be made on an
individual activity page, giving Bloombla a
sort of organized view of the lives of
multiple users. The more members
participate in the conversation, the more
fruitful and interactive the Bloombla forum
becomes.
Of course, the engine is only so
powerful, and cannot intelligently
distinguish what it is you’ve written and a
(which is, apparently, up to over two
billion ratings on file increasing at the rate
of two million movie ratings per day).
The API will be free and open to
commercial use, so if you decided to make
an Android or iPhone app, you’re more
than welcome to sell it. The API will come
in three flavors: RESTful, Javascript and
ATOM, with standard OAuth security.
similar mention made, say, a week or a
month earlier, a la the Digg duplicate
feature. Yet it is still a more elegant design
than the activity stream of your average
Twitter roll. Again, organized is perhaps
the best way to phrase it. (It should be said
that a search feature allows you to find talk
items that you want to engage with.)
Now, you might not want to adopt
Bloombla if you’re set in your ways on
Twitter. Habits are a hard thing to break,
after all, and there’s no reason to make the
jump if you’re happy where you are. But if
you happen to be searching for something
different, something where you can get
closer with those you know (there’s a
quick way to bring your friends from
Facebook into the fold) and even some
people you haven’t met but maybe have
had similar experiences as your own (and
vice versa), Bloombla is an exceptional
new service to try out.
It does takes some basic learning. For
instance, you’re advised to write your
“blooms” in the three spaces provided in
the main message bar. This can seem
strange. But so it goes. On the whole, I
consider Bloombla a solid debut, and one
of those inventions that finds itself a
decent-sized niche in the ever-widening
world of microblogging.
Editor’s Note: This post is part of an
ongoing series at Mashable - The Startup
Review, Sponsored by Sun Microsystems
Startup Essentials. If you would like to
have your startup considered for inclusion,
please see the details here.
Sponsored By: Sun Startup Essentials
The developer site currently requires
authentication, but is going to be live
tomorrow morning. All API specs and
documentation should be available there.
Once the specs are live, we’ll take a look at
them in depth and report back any
interesting details and opportunities we
see.
---
ENTERPRISE
continued from page 21
enterprise-friendly SSO and security
capabilities. Stay tuned for more on this
front.
CONS: The least “Twitter-like” out of
any of the existing enterprise
microbloggers. We’re not completely sure
that’s actually a weakness.
Existing enterprise players like Jive,
Awareness, Mzinga* and Drupal
PROS: These guys are in the business of
working with enterprises and catering to
their needs. Don’t be surprised to see some
of these players (if they aren’t thinking
about it already) jump into this game in the
next 3-6 months. If and when they do, they
will be forces to be reckoned with.
CONS: While none of the existing
community providers are actively touting
an enterprise microblogging tool, it
wouldn’t be a stretch for any of them to
create one based on existing tools. The fact
that they haven’t created one yet does put
them at a slight disadvantage on the
learning curve. Will They or Won’t They
As the corporate adoption of
microblogging tools like Twitter continues
to increase, it’s only a matter of time
before companies decide that there is
something there worth exploring. Well-
known startups like Mahalo have a 50%
adoption rate of Yammer. Companies like
IBM are using similar functionality on
their Facebook-like internal communities.
With so many potential benefits, why
wouldn’t a company want to give this a
try?
About the authors:
Related Articles at Mashable | All That's
New on the Web:
Netflix Hack for DRM-Free Movie
Downloads
Netflix Streaming Doesn’t Work on
Macs. That’s Bad.
Amazon to Acquire Netflix?
Netflix To Lift Limits For Online
Viewing
Web 2.0 23
AARON: As Vice President of Social
Media at Mzinga, Aaron Strout focuses on
creating business value for Mzinga through
viral marketing channels, including blogs,
podcasts, twitter, and speaking
engagements.
JOE: Joe Cascio is an independent
software developer turned “social media
enthusiast.” Joe is also the chief developer
of an experimental social media identity
site called SociaLogic.org. His “biggest”
current interest, however, is Distributed
Microblogging (i.e., Twitter). Joe
maintains a blog as JoeCascio.net and you
can follow him on Twitter here.
*In full disclosure, I work for Mzinga as
the VP of Social Media.
---
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Mashups Event
Pownce: Publicly Share Files via
Lifestreams (Why Not?)
Call for Video Submissions for
Enterprise 2.0 LaunchPad - Deadline is
Tomorrow!
Google Earth Enterprise Version Update
Released
Enterprise Microsharing Matrix:
Yammer and 14 Rivals Compared
Seesmic Acquires Twhirl, for Desktop
Video Microblogging
The Daily Poll: Google Apps Enterprise
TrustedOpinion Funded & Integrating
Netflix Direct Recommendations
Netflix is a Pain in the A** for the Post
Office
In WSJ Interview, Netflix CEO Charts
Diversification Of Digital Downloads
24 Web 2.0 Web Apps* Movies*
Ad-Supported Music Service We7 Signs Kyte videostreamer leaves
The Orchard beta, enters business
By Paul Glazowski (Mashable!)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 9:12:38 AM
Peter Gabriel and other backers of the
free-streaming, ad-supported, as well as
paid-for download service We7 already
convinced Sony BMG, Warner Music
Group and EMI to provide some of their
respective catalogues to the effort. Now
the service has signed The Orchard, an
international distributor with connections
to more than 14,000 artists and over 1.3
million tracks.
The way in which tracks are being issued
through We7 is not certain. Immediate
availability of content is definitely not
proving to be the case at present, as a quick
search for material listed among The
Orchard’s repertoire of artists shows a
great number of absences. The same goes
for the major companies noted earlier.
But if We7 co-founder and CEO Steve
Purdham’s assessment of additions soon to
be made is any indication, the service’s full
launch is expected occur “in the coming
ZooToo Offers “Social Pet-working” for Pet Lovers
By Doriano "Paisano" Carta
(Mashable!)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 10:57:53 AM
ZooToo calls itself a “social pet-working”
service that connects pet-lovers all over. It
is a unique site, that’s for sure. Once you
sign up you add your pets to your profile. I
was impressed by the vast variety of
animal types and breeds they provided
during this process. Here are my two pets:
There are a great deal of useful features
and services on the site. For example,
when you enter your zip code ZooToo will
be able to show you a map of all the pet
related services in your area. This includes
local vets, animal shelters, Animal rescue
centers, groomers and many more. The
other great thing about this feature is that
they are all rated by other ZooToo
months,” ensuring that the future will look
richer than today. Probably, anyway. The
wait will either be treacherous or
easygoing, depending on one’s current
assessment of the We7 business model.
Seeing as how We7 offers music rights
holders the ability to offer streaming music
as well as free (ad-supported) and paid-for
downloads, one might think it to be
striving to be a come-one-come-all type
venue. Whatever fashion the consumer
wants their music, in other words. But the
availability of content is far from thorough,
and the somewhat strange juxtaposition of
paid and ad-supported downloads might
make for an uneven experience.
Then again, if it is payment for songs
that you wish to avoid, We7 can provide
for such demand. Granted, the amount of
popular content needs to be dramatically
increased if We7 is to have any chance at
amassing a substantial audience, but if one
is to take the company’s abovementioned
statement into account, that objective will
eventually be realized.
members.
You can also find all kinds of useful pet
products that are also rated by the ZooToo
community. The products are searchable
and arranged according to type of animal.
There’s a Craigslist type of classified
section for more pet-related products.
One of the best things about the site is
the way that it engages the community to
get involved with good causes such as
Animal Shelter makeovers. They’re
gearing up for their second annual event
that will helped out about 20 shelters last
time around.
The social networking part of the site
comes into play with the member profiles
and groups feature. You can make friends
with local pet-lovers according to your zip
code. You can even search for people who
like the same kind of pets that you do. For
When all is said and done, if we’re to
draw any comparisons with the most recent
free music newsmaker ( MySpace), We7
will be something that resembles the social
network’s opposite. Meaning music will be
the primary attention getter, with friendly
features tagging alongside.
---
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WOW: CBS Acquires Last.fm for $280
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Last.fm Partners with The
Orchard…Mashable Readers Fall Asleep
SellaBand Signs New Partners for
Worldwide Concert Tour
Zune.net Goes Live, Wants To Make
Music Social
CDBaby, Snocap to Sell Music on
MySpace
example, you can find fellow Poodle
lovers who live close by. As for the groups
feature, you can join a group for just about
every kind of animal lover there is. These
areas are helpful for pet related events,
parties or fundraiser that you might want to
conduct.
The Answers area provides a healthy
amount of information for any pet question
or concern you might have. It’s like a
Yahoo Answers for animals. It’s a great
way to learn more about your pets and how
to take better care of them. You can also
answer questions and become known as
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
By Rafe Needleman
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 11:42:00 AM
Videostreaming service Kyte on Tuesday
announced that its Mobile Producer app is
officially out of beta and now available on
many Symbian Series 60 phones, not just
the Nokia N95.
There are a few live streaming services
on the Web, but Kyte is taking a different
business approach than consumer-focused
products like uStream. The focus for the
company is to sell its services to
professional content producers, such as its
existing users like The Pussycat Dolls, 50
Cent, The Huffington Post, and Spin
Magazine.
Given the cost of bandwidth and the
the resident expert on the subject because
there’s a rating system for all Q&A
activities.
Speaking of rating systems, every
member of ZooToo earns points for things
they do on the site and in their own local
community for pets. You earn more bonus
points with everything you do online and
offline for animals which is a nice way to
encourage people to get more involved.
At first, I thought this was a silly idea -
social pet-working? However, once I
signed up and started using the service I
soon discovered that despite the cuteness
and cleverness, they are serious about
helping pets and pet-owners. It’s actually a
smart way to connect pet owners with
services that cater to the needs of animals.
potentially large market for professional
live content, I believe this is a much
smarter strategy than going for the
consumer (technically speaking, the "onesy
-twosy" market).
To support pro users, Kyte is layering
features like an offline capability (the
phone records when you're not in cellular
coverage area) as well as the feature that
lets you delay posting an online clip to
your audience until after an editor has a
chance to review it.
Coming later to the Kyte platform is
support for third-party advertising
platforms (DART is next), as well as an
analytics function so producers can tell
who's watching what and when.
See also: Brightcove, Maven, Ooyala
Kim Kardashian
Eliminated from
'Dancing with the Stars'
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 10:00:00 PM
Voters say buh-bye to the reality star.
Their rumba lacked thunder! America
sent Kim Kardashian and Mark Ballas
packing on Tuesday night's "Dancing with
the Stars" results show.
With her parting words, Kim paid
homage to her father, Robert Kardashian,
who passed away five years ago. She said
she felt like she'd made him proud. And
Mark praised his father, too, saying he was
glad pops Corky Ballas was still in the
running after narrowly escaping
elimination with partner Cloris Leachman
in the bottom two.
Musical guest Jessica Simpson got the
crowd stomping their feet with a couple of
rollicking country tunes, and viewers were
also treated to a fabulous dance routine
from the choreographer behind some of
Britney Spears and*NSYNC's friskiest
dance numbers.
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Mzinga Builds White Tootsville Launches a New
Label Social Networks for Virtual World for Children
Companies (video) and Tweens
By Doriano "Paisano" Carta
(Mashable!)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 8:14:41 PM
Mzinga has been around for over eight
years so they’re by no means a startup.
They’ve been building white label social
networks for companies such as ABC,
ESPN, Amex and other big time players
without much fanfare or media coverage.
They’ve enabled businesses to add the
social media tools that we use every day
inside their protective firewall.
If you go to mzinga’s site you’ll see the
numbers behind their success which are
staggering. They have over 14,000
communities, more than 1 billion page
requests every month from 27 million
users in 160 countries worldwide. All
impressive stats but the real measure of
success is the quality of their clientele.
They have a list of who’s who that
continue to use their services internally as
well as externally. However, because they
rebrand most of these solutions to
customize projects for their customers, the
general public never knows who really did
the fancy work. Fortunately, though, word
of mouth spreads quickly from insiders so
they generate the bulk of their work that
way.
One of mzinga’s most popular solutions
for companies is adding social media tools
such as message forums and chat rooms
that allow employees to brainshare and
exchange ideas that are wasted otherwise.
Adobe exec confirms Flash for iPhone, says Apple will decide when
By Ben Wilson (Webware.com)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 1:37:00 PM
Our friend Jens Chr Brynildsen, a Flash
expert who maintains a number of
resources for the standard including Flash
Magazine, has reportedly confirmed with
Adobe Systems' senior director of
engineering, Paul Betlem, that Flash is
Most of the time, businesses without these
tools never harvest this goldmine of
information and lose out on some excellent
data that could have lead the way to greater
success. Mzinga prides itself on providing
social tools that enable companies to
communicate better internally amongst
themselves as well as externally with their
customers and partners.
We sat down and spoke with mzinga at
the SummerMash event in Boston. You
can check it out via the embed below, or
grab the MP4.
Never Miss an Episode!
Get the Mashable Conversations podcast
here(video feed).
---
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its Way!
SummerMash Boston
SummerMash Boston was Better Than
Baked Beans and Cream Pie
Is the Enterprise Ready for
Microblogging Tools like Twitter?
coming to the iPhone. However, Betlem
says that "Apple calls the shots as to when
it'll be available."
Brynildsen got the confirmation at an
Adobe Town Hall meeting session. He
reports:
"Upon a direct question from the
audience, Paul Betlem for the first time
publicly confirmed that Adobe is actively
By Doriano "Paisano" Carta
(Mashable!)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 1:30:27 PM
Tootsville is a new virtual world for
children ages 6-14 that’s very similar to
Disney’s online cash cows ToonTown and
ClubPenguin (which they purchased
for$700 million).
The reference to Disney is important to
note because monetization is obviously
extremely important to Tootsville. This is
evident by the fact that kids cannot really
do many of the fun things the site has to
offer without their parents ponying up
some money on a monthly or annual basis.
These premium accounts range from
$5.95 per month up to $57.98 annually.
Here are some of the things your kids
CAN’T do unless you upgrade to a
premium account: Walk on 2 legs, Dress
up your toot, buy clothes or furniture,
decorite your house, attend special events,
collect pivitz, play premium games and
safe chat with friends. I know, then what
CAN they do? The answer: not a whole lot
really.
Speaking of money, since the characters
in Tootsville are a bunch of colorful
elephants, the currency they use is in the
form of peanuts. Kids get a bunch of
peanuts if their parents subscribe to the
more expensive premiere plans, naturally.
This is important because this is what they
use to buy objects such as clothes for their
elephant or furniture for thier house. Some
might say this is a good way to teach
children the value of money and how to
developing a Flash Player for Apple's
popular phone. He said (not direct quote)
'My team is working on Flash on the
iPhone, but it's a closed platform.' He
noted that Apple makes all the decisions,
so in other words, the ball is in Apple's
yard at this time. If Apple says yes, Adobe
will have the player available in a very
short time."
spend wisely.
On the positive side of things, the site is
full of bright colorful worlds and loaded
with activities (some are even free!). Kids
can easily chat with other “toots” and
checkout places together. The good news
is that there are ways for kids to earn
peanuts by doing certain things. For
example, by going to the water fountain
(see image above) and making a wish you
quickly make 19 peanuts.
Tootsville’s goal is to mix educational
lessons with entertainment as displayed
throughout the site. The Tootering program
is scheduled for release for spring 2009
and the Teacher’s Pet Program will
emphasize the fun in learning, at home,
and in the classroom.
If you’re a parent with children that
enjoy playing online, then safe sites like
Tootsville and the ones from Disney
provide a service that’ll provide fun for
kids and peace of mind for parents. When
you look at things that way, then the small
cost of membership is well worth it.
In mid-June, Adobe's CEO said that
company already has Flash running on an
iPhone emulator (presumably the same
emulator included with Apple's iPhone
SDK).
As we've pointed out several times, Flash
performance and usage is abysmal on
current mobile devices that support
playback. Mobile device processors--
Web 2.0 Web Apps* 25
Report: Clearspring
acquires bookmarking
service AddThis
By Caroline McCarthy
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 11:56:00 AM
Kara Swisher at AllThingsD reported
Tuesday that widget-maker Clearspring
has acquired a start-up called AddThis for
an undisclosed price.
Swisher referred to AddThis as "the top
bookmarking and content-sharing tool on
the Web," a claim that's a bit arguable
since it's based on AddThis' own metrics.
But basically, AddThis is a company that
makes little buttons that publishers can put
on their blog posts, articles, or what-have-
you to aggregate the ubiquitous
bookmarking services into one. It pulls in
the Yahoo-owned Delicious, Google,
Microsoft's Live Bookmarks, Firefox, Furl,
and a bunch of others.
The company already has its buttons on
Web sites from Fox, ABC, WebMD,
TechCrunch, Entertainment Weekly,
Glamour, and CBS, which publishes
CNET News.
What's in it for Clearspring--especially
since AddThis doesn't generate revenue?
Executives told AllThingsD that having
those buttons distributed all over the Web
will be valuable for analytics and (in one
way or another) ad revenue.
including the iPhone's--simply aren't fast
enough to handle most Flash-laden sites.
Flash Lite, the scaled-down standard
designed specifically for mobile devices, is
even too much for most devices, and isn't
widely used.
Note: This post originally appeared on
iPhone Atlas.
26 Web 2.0 Web Apps* Movies*
AOL Dusts Off AIM for Mac StumbleUpon 2.0: Good-bye, software
with a Visual Refresh and a toolbar
Beta Tag
By Paul Glazowski (Mashable!)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 12:56:45 PM
This week’s release of AIM for Mac 1.0
Beta might strike some as strange, given
the fact that it’s 2008 and Mac OS X users
have had years to grow accustomed to
things like Apple’s iChat client and third-
party creations like Adium, both of which
have support for the protocol. But AOL
insists that it is “one of the most requested
applications from our users.” Because AIM
for iPhone has been a popular download,
apparently.
To be frank, there isn’t anything
thoroughly impressive about this release -
at least not in the way of outstanding
features. While the company offers a
Windows-friendly client that provides
things like VoIP and video chat, as with
many other messaging services on the
Web, including Skype, users of AIM for
Mac 1.0 Beta will have to remain satisfied
with file transfers, AIM groups and AIM
Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen Unite
for Barack Obama
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 5:03:00 PM
They'll play a benefit for the Democratic
presidential hopeful.
It’s a rock history first! Billy and the
Boss together in concert -- all to benefit
Barack Obama's presidential campaign.
The epic team-up is set for Oct. 16 at
NYC's Hammerstein Ballroom, and
Obama will be there rocking out to Joel
Google's stock plummets to $249 due to 'erroneous orders'
By Harrison Hoffman
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 4:10:00 PM
Google's stock dropped to $249 towards
the end of trading on Tuesday due to
"erroneous orders."(Credit: Yahoo
Blast groups and connections to AOL
mailboxes and so forth (Just to note,
personal experience has routinely shown
the inability to successfully transfer files
via AIM.).
If nothing else, AIM for Mac 1.0 Beta
can simply be thought of as an option for
those Mac users searching for AOL
branding and find its heavily aged and
underdeveloped predecessor, AIM 4.7 for
Macintosh, too old and too tired and not
thematically sufficient to run with other
Tiger- and Leopard-level applications with
at least some semblance of visual
congruity.
and Springsteen's endless hits with the rest
of the crowd, says the Associated Press.
Which begs the question: How much
does it cost to see this legendary pairing?
According to the AP, tickets run between
$500 and $10,000. Pricey, but then, it's
perhaps the only chance you'll ever get to
play air guitar to "Big Shot" and "Born in
the USA" live on the same night.
Finance)
As if this week wasn't already stressful
enough on Wall Street, at the end of
Tuesday trading, Google's stock dropped
over 200 points to $249, due to what the
Nasdaq is calling "erroneous orders." The
share price has since rebounded to $415 in
By Josh Lowensohn
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 9:00:00 PM
On Tuesday night StumbleUpon is
changing the way users interact with the
service, ditching the need for a software-
based browser toolbar in place of a small
frame that loads on top of the Web site
you're on. Users with the toolbar installed
will still be getting the same experience,
but the idea is that anyone can begin
stumbling without having to install
anything.
To get the Web toolbar to show up in the
first place, users must now begin their
stumbling experience from the
StumbleUpon home page. The site is now
broken up into categories. Once you've
clicked on a link the experience begins,
with the persistent toolbar following you
from site to site and keeping track of your
ratings to provide you with new stumbles.
Earlier this week, StumbleUpon founder
Garrett Camp told me this was an idea that
had been kicked around the office for years
--six in fact, and the only reason it hadn't
happened sooner is that Camp and others
felt it would diminish the number of
people who were populating the service
with rated content. That number is still
staggering, with more than 35,000 new
URLs submitted every day by 6 million
registered users. Camp hopes this new
install and registration-free solution will
make those numbers even larger, and
improve some of the uptake as people get
to try the service without that first hurdle.
StumbleUpon's new home page will
serve as a starting point to various bits of
media, and exploring it no longer requires
a software toolbar. (Click to
enlarge.)(Credit: StumbleUpon)
after-hours trading. According to a
comment from the Nasdaq to Reuters,
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
In addition to its exploratory angle,
StumbleUpon is introducing a new partner
program. Sites that have StumbleUpon
installed will be able to offer their users a
new "Stumble This" button with a counter
on it. When a user clicks this it adds to the
number, which can help promote it for
other StumbleUpon members. It's also got
an option right underneath the counter that
lets users jump to another piece of related
content, something Camp says should
drive traffic to other existing posts. It's
worth noting this is different from the
previously existing StumbleThru feature,
which would do this randomly.
The partner program is launching on four
sites Tuesday night, including political
blogging network The Huffington Post,
HowStuffWorks, Rolling Stone online, and
National Geographic. Of the four, Rolling
Stone and National Geographic are the
most interesting, as users will be able to
explore the photo archives with the
service's recommendation engine. Like
service Photoree, which we checked out
"Transactions at or above $425.29 and at
or below $400.52, that were executed
between 3:57 p.m. and 4:02 p.m. EST,
would be wiped out." That means that
those who may have cashed in on this error
are going to be out of luck.
Even though the situation is being
back in August, this can be a fun and
engaging experience.
Camp says there are 10 other
partnerships in the works, including
several for video and music content.
Eventually the system will be open for
anyone to place it on their blog, although
Camp says the system needs to be fine-
tuned before it's ready for that.
The future of StumbleUpon
When I asked Camp for comment on the
rumored sale of StumbleUpon from parent
company eBay, he said he "couldn't talk
about any rumors." However, what's
interesting is that this new system could be
ported over to eBay, or any other product
site, which is something many were
expecting when the company was acquired
last year. "This does open us up," he said.
"We're a lot more media focused, and this
would allow us to do product discovery."
Presumably with such a system in place
you could jump around the site and
discover new products while rating them at
the same time--something the auction site
does not currently provide. Camp says
StumbleUpon might one day provide that,
but for now he says that realm has already
been covered pretty well by search.
"(We're) more interested in doing media
stuff. There's a greater need for discovery
than products right now."
The new StumbleUpon.com should be
available right now. Camp says user
profiles, reviews, and friends lists will get
updated to match the new style in the
coming weeks.
The new toolbar doesn't require a
download, although it'll disappear if you
go to another site without using the
stumble or rating buttons.(Credit:
StumbleUpon)
rectified, this incident has certainly caused
even more uneasiness in already shaken
investors.
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Getting philosophical about
Facebook's new hub
By Caroline McCarthy
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 7:00:00 AM
(Credit: Facebook)
Along with its nifty new iPhone
application, Facebook on Monday night
unveiled a new home page. No, not the
moderately infamous "redesign" of its
member pages--this is a new look for the
page that you see when you navigate to
Facebook.com without being logged in. It's
what you'll see if you're not yet a member.
There's a pretty new blue gradient
background, sure, and it makes the whole
page look a little bit less stuffy. But more
importantly, there's a map of the world
with little Facebook "head" icons scattered
about the globe connected by hash mark
lines.
The term "social utility," one of founder
Mark Zuckerberg's preferred phrases, is
gone from the home page, replaced by the
more Zen-like description of the social
network: "Facebook helps you connect and
share with the people in your life."
The map is significant. Facebook wants
to be a global power, arguably in a way
that not even Google is--look at the
difficulty that Page, Brin, & co. have had
dealing with regional rivals like China's
Baidu. At the South by Southwest
Interactive Festival in March, Zuckerberg
talked about how young people in war-torn
regions of the Middle East were using
Facebook to communicate and broaden
their horizons.
More than half of Facebook's 100-
million-plus users are outside the United
States now, which means that the social
network may be well on its way toward
achieving global domination over its
regional rivals.
On a more speculative note, the fact that
this new, map-adorned home page was
released in conjunction with a new iPhone
application is interesting. The iPhone 3G is
GPS-enabled, and some have speculated
that real-time location sharing of some sort
may be on the way for Facebook.
There are a handful of start-ups that
already have location-aware services, and
consumers have been reluctant to adopt
them; Loopt, Whrrl, and Brightkite haven't
exploded the way some expected they
would after they released iPhone 3G
applications.
If Facebook made a move in the space,
though, things could be different. Because,
goodness knows, millions of Facebook
users don't seem to have any qualms about
sharing everything else about themselves
on the Web.
Dress up your Facebook
profile with PageRage
By Josh Lowensohn
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 11:41:00 AM
In case you're one of the millions of
people who are sick of Facebook's new
design, and want to change the way it
looks, there's a simple solution called
PageRage. It won't tweak things to look
like they did before, but it will let you to
do one of the things Facebook has never
allowed--theme your profile.
Like competitor MySpace has allowed
for years, PageRage lets you customize
both the background and design elements
on your profile. There are a handful of pre-
sets to choose from, all of which you can
browse right from the company's Facebook
application. To install them you simply
click a button and it will apply the skin.
The one caveat of the service is that
others must have the extension installed in
order to see your special profile. It's also
browser specific, so if you have it installed
in Firefox but not Internet Explorer you
won't be able to see the layout you've
AOL brings AIM for Mac back from the
dead
By Josh Lowensohn
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 2:41:00 PM
AOL on Monday quietly released a brand
-new version of its instant-messenger
application for Mac users. Called " AIM
for Mac beta 1," it's a replacement for
version 4.7, which has remained untouched
since February 2004.
Back then gas was a little over $1.50 a
gallon.
Unlike the changes in oil prices, those
four years have amounted to little more
than what was offered in previous
iterations of the program, or Apple's iChat
application which comes pre-installed in
every Mac computer. In the new version
users can change emoticon sets and tweak
background chat wallpapers--all things that
you can't do with the current version of
picked. However, changes made in either
browser will be reflected in both since the
information is stored on PageRage's
servers.
For now, you're limited to making edits
on your profile. In the future, the company
plans to let its users customize other
people's profile themes, although not for
everyone else to see. Parent company
Yontoo also makes a handy browser add-
on called Sanity Switch that can turn off a
user's MySpace profile customizations
with a single click, making noisy, or
otherwise obnoxious, social-networking
profiles a little more bearable.
PageRage's Facebook profile skins are
quite classy, although you'll need a special
browser plug-in installed to see
them.(Credit: Yontoo Technology)
iChat. There's also tabbed browsing and
contact search which the previous version
did not have. Otherwise, it's largely
playing catch-up to the PC version, which
has received the most attention and is
currently on version 6.8.
Web Apps* Movies* 27
Justin Timberlake
Announces All-Star
Charity Concert
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 5:01:00 PM
Mega-recording artist Justin Timberlake
has just announced the power-packed line
up of stars who will join him on stage for
the Justin Timberlake and Friends event
benefitting the Shriners Hospitals for
Children. And he delivers an all-star line-
up!
Timberlake has invited some of the
hottest names in music: the Jonas Brothers,
Rihanna, Will.i.am, Adam Levine(of
Maroon 5), 50 Cent, Boyz II Men, Esmee
Denters, and Leona Lewis will all be
performing at the charity show on the
Planet Hollywood Resort stage.
The Justin Timberlake and Friends
benefit takes place on Oct. 17 at the Planet
Hollywood Resort Theatre for the
Performing Arts in Las Vegas. Tickets for
the momentous occasion range in price
from $75 to $250 at can be purchased
online at Ticketmaster.
Also worth noting is how much the
market has changed since the latest Mac
release. iChat and third-party applications
like Adium, Digsby, and Pidgin have the
upper hand with compatibility for other
protocols. AIM for Mac is currently
limited to AOL and Yahoo contacts, while
the others support things like Jabber, ICQ,
and XMPP. In a more frequently
fragmented market, with newcomers like
Facebook and Google, these open
platforms simply end up being more
appealing.
[via Macrumors and Ars]
AIM for Mac looks quite similar to
iChat, although without the audio and
video logos to let you know who is ready
for media chatting.(Credit: AOL Inc.)
28 Web Apps* TV*
MySpace about to lose out to
Facebook in U.S.?
By Caroline McCarthy
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 2:12:00 PM
The team at Pingdom, a firm that focuses
primarily on uptime and performance, has
posted a new blog entry estimating that
Facebook will overtake MySpace as the
top social network in the U.S. within a
month or two. That's largely because,
according to the same numbers, Facebook
has doubled in size in the past year.
Several months ago, traffic firm
ComScore noted that Facebook--a year ago
far smaller than the News Corp.-owned
MySpace--was starting to pass its rival in
worldwide traffic. But in the U.S., which
still has the big ad dollars, MySpace
remained bigger.
New Fox comedy from Pineapple Express director
By Angie Argabrite (TV Squad)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 7:25:00 AM
Filed under: Industry, Reality-Free
Since when is David Gordon Green a
comedic director? I mean, sure the guy did
Pineapple Express-- and it was funny, but
have you ever caught any of his previous
movies, like All the Real Girls, Undertow
or Snow Angels? All of them have their
merit (my personal fave is All the Real
Girls, starring Zooey Deschanel and the
There's something to note, though:
Pingdom used Google Trends to make its
assessment. Google Trends traffic data is
one of only many sources of statistics out
there, and it's collected primarily from
people who have installed the Google
toolbar. Numbers from Compete.com, for
example, show that MySpace is still ahead.
Even according to Pingdom's numbers,
MySpace doesn't appear to be shrinking.
The performance firm thinks that could be
due to a number of factors: that MySpace
is continuing to recruit new users to
replace those who may have left for
Facebook, that people are using both social
networks, or that Facebook is recruiting
members who haven't been prior users of
either site.
undersung Paul Schneider), but there's
really nothing in them that would hint that
Green, who wrote and directed them all,
had a comedic bone in his body. But
apparently, not only is he a writer-director
of funny movies now, but he's also a writer
of animated sitcoms.
Or at least one -- the Hollywood
Reporter's got word that Fox has picked up
Good Vibes, which he's writing, about a
"crazy group of high school students living
in a Southern California coastal
What's On Tonight: NCIS,
90210, The Shield, The IT
Crowd, Favreau
By Bob Sassone (TV Squad)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 9:02:00 AM
Filed under: Programming, What To
Watch Tonight, Reality-Free
• At 8, ABC has a new Opportunity
Knocks, then a new Dancing with the Stars
and the special Half The Size.
• CBS has a new NCIS, followed by new
episodes of The Mentalist and Without A
Trace.
• NBC has a new Biggest Loser at 8,
followed by a new Law and Order: SVU.
• FOX has two new episodes of House
and Fringe.
• There's a new 90210 on The CW at 8,
then a new Privileged.
• TCM has Lassie Come Home at 8, then
Meet John Doe.
• Also at 8: ESPN has two new episodes
of The World Series of Poker.
• At 9, PBS has a new P.O.V.
• Food Network has a new episode of
Food Detectives at 9.
• At 10, A&E has a new episode of The
Cleaner.
• FX has a new episode of The Shield at
10.
• MTV has the series premiere of Paris
Hilton's My New BFF at 10.
• Bravo has a new Rachel Zoe Show at
10.
• Travel Channel has a new Bizarre Foods
community." Huh? Green was born in
Arkansas, raised in Texas and went to
college in North Carolina. Where's he
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
with Andrew Zimmern.
• IFC has a new episode of The IT
Crowd.
Check your local TV listings for more.
After the jump, the late night talk show
listings.
Continue reading What's On Tonight:
NCIS, 90210, The Shield, The IT Crowd,
Favreau
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
coming up with the inspiration to write
about high schoolers in the OC? And
where's this new comedy stuff coming
from? Guess the guy's expanding his
repertoire. If the series shows the comic
chops of Pineapple, I wouldn't complain.
I'm just a little puzzled, is all. What do you
think?
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
TNT making
more cop dramas
By Kelly Woo (TV Squad)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 10:04:00 AM
Filed under: Other Drama Shows,
Industry, The Closer, Pickups and
Renewals, Reality-Free After the success
of The Closer, you can't blame TNT for
going with a proven formula.
The cable network is close to
greenlighting two police drama pilots, a
project from Jerry Bruckheimer about
young undercover officers and Bunker Hill
starring Donnie Wahlberg (which actually
already received an a pilot order).
TNT's certainly been a busy little bee,
stacking up new series left and right.
Besides these two pilots, they've got Time
Heals, starring Jada Pinkett Smith as a
hospital nursing director; Night and Day,
with William Fichtner playing an agent for
the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms; and Men of a Certain Age, a
dramedy featuring Ray Romano, Scott
Bakula and Andre Braugher.
Continue reading TNT making more cop
dramas
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
House: Adverse Events
By Jay Black (TV Squad)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 3:25:00 PM
Filed under: OpEd, House, Episode
Reviews, Reality-Free
(S05E03)"You know, people hate people
who have theories about people..."
Ah, House, the more you change, the
more you stay the same. Whether it be a
new boss, a possible fling with Cameron, a
new husband for your ex-wife, a cure for
your limp, the loss of your best friend, or
Jodie Foster's dad from Contact, you
always get right... up... to... the precipice of
The Philanthropist will be set (and filmed) in England
By Bob Sassone (TV Squad)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 11:03:00 AM
Filed under: Other Drama Shows,
Industry, Programming, Reality-Free
Here's something I didn't know: it's
cheaper to film in England and Africa than
it is to film in Hollywood.
NBC has announced that their new
midseason drama The Philanthropist(a real
pain to spell, by the way) won't be filmed
actual change... before you revert back to
the same old misanthrope we all know and
love.
Here's the thing, though: House might
not change, but darned if the writers aren't
geniuses at shaking up the supporting cast
around him. Love it or hate it, tonight's
episode was the solidification of the new
direction we're headed in this season. So,
what do you think of Lucas?
Continue reading House: Adverse Events
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
in the U.S. at all. Instead, the production
will save money by setting the show and
filming the show in London, with some
Stephen Colbert is a comic
(literally!)
By Angie Argabrite (TV Squad)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 12:01:00 PM
Filed under: Industry, Celebrities, Reality
-Free
Stephen Colbert is my hero. And now it's
like he's a superhero -- or a good friend of
a superhero, and isn't that close enough?
The L.A. Times reports that Colbert joins
Spider-Man in an upcoming story arc in
the Amazing Spider-man.
He's already been featured in Marvel
comics; his short presidential run was
filming also being done in Africa and the
Czech Republic. Executive producer and
writer David Eick, however, will stay in
Los Angeles. The first episode will be
directed by Peter Horton.
Continue reading The Philanthropist will
be set (and filmed) in England
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
referenced in some of their books (and
how much better a Prez would Colbert be
than the present Commander-in-Chief,
btw?). I gotta say, though, that as much as
I love Colbert (and I really, really do), I
don't think this is going to entice me to go
out and buy the comic book. But I'm glad
that Stephen's getting the added exposure.
Hey, Marvel -- if you really want me to
buy your books, I've got two words for
you: Tek Jansen.
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
TV* 29
You know who ruined
the Seinfeld finale?
The liberal media!
By Bob Sassone (TV Squad)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 8:02:00 AM
Filed under: Celebrities, Reality-Free I
read Bill O'Reilly's new book, A Bold
Fresh Piece of Humanity, over the
weekend. The title comes from something
a nun called him when he was a kid.
Besides finding out how much of a great
guy he is (I found this out from O'Reilly,
not from friends or associates), I also
found out why the series finale of Seinfeld
was so bad. It was the liberal media's fault.
That's right, the FOX News host says
that Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David are so
cynical that they "tanked the final episode
on purpose." They wanted to go out on
such a low note that they made purposely
made the last episode bad.
Continue reading You know who ruined
the Seinfeld finale? The liberal media!
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
30 TV* Movies* Tech Tips*
What we don't see on Survivor - VIDEOS
By Jackie Schnoop (TV Squad)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 1:04:00 PM
Filed under: OpEd, Survivor I've been a
Survivor fan since the first season of the
show. Now, that was back before
widespread broadband internet connections
and the official show website mainly had
the bios, recaps and some photos. But now
it has content there, especially videos,
which catch us up on all the things we miss
in the 40-odd minutes we see weekly on
the television.
In last week's double episode it looks
like more show ended up on the editing
floor than it did on the show. And I'm here
The Shield: Game Face
By Jonathan Toomey (TV Squad)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 4:02:00 PM
Filed under: OpEd, The Shield, Episode
Reviews, Reality-Free
( S07E05)"Putting Pezuela away is a
down payment on me being able to live
with myself." - Vic
Vic Mackey expressing regret? Wha?!?
If that isn't a sign of the end, I don't know
what is. Correct me if I'm wrong, but up
to share some of that with you!
Continue reading What we don't see on
Survivor - VIDEOS
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
until now, I don't think we've ever heard
Vic say he felt bad about what he'd done.
At least not say it and mean it. Sure, he's
expressed distaste for some of his actions
and more often than not he spouts the "I
did what had to be done" rhetoric, but now
he's finally starting to realize that this is it.
Continue reading The Shield: Game Face
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
Dancing With The Stars: Week 2 Results
By Brett Love (TV Squad)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 5:05:00 PM
Filed under: Celebrities, Dancing With
The Stars, Episode Reviews
( S07E05) It's time for the second week
eliminations. The early week eliminations
are always interesting times because, more
often than not, the results are a little
screwy. I'm reminded of past seasons that
saw Jerry Springer, Billy Ray Cyrus, and
New Sharon Stone Court
Documents
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 4:10:00 PM
ET has obtained new court documents
related to Sharon Stone's custody battle
with her ex-husband, Philip Bronstein,
over their 8-year-old son.
In the documents, a judge writes, “the
testimony of Father, Mother and Dr. Lee
indicated that Mother appears to overreact
to many medical issues involving [the
child].” As an example, the court wrote
that Sharon believed that her son suffered
from a spinal illness when there was “no
evidence to support this allegation.” The
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Master P, to name a few, all hanging on far
longer than their dancing abilities
warranted. Would we see something
similar tonight? The results, and a quick
rundown of the results show performances,
are after the jump.
Continue reading Dancing With The
Stars: Week 2 Results
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
court also noted that Sharon wanted to get
Botox injections for her son to deal with
foot odor, while his father suggested
wearing socks with shoes and using foot
deodorant.
The court also wrote that “unless
Mother’s schedule is accommodated and
her demands are met, she has simply
refused to participate in the counseling
processes designed entirely to help her son.
Such conduct on the part of any parent,
especially a parent of a child with special
needs, is unacceptable and does not serve
the child’s best interest.”
New Audio: The
Heather Locklear
911 Call
(ETonline - Breaking News)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 5:05:00 PM
Locklear pictured above in her police
mugshot.
Just in: ET has obtained audio of the 911
call made by a concerned citizen who
allegedly witnessed Heather Locklear
driving erratically Saturday afternoon just
prior to her DUI arrest. Click here to listen
to the call.
A spokesperson for the California
Highway Patrol confirmed to ET that the
911 caller observed a woman, alleged to be
Locklear, acting strangely and driving
poorly as she left a parking lot in
Montecito, California -- an upscale town
adjacent to Santa Barbara.
Locklear was booked at 7 p.m. Saturday
on suspicion of driving under the influence
of a controlled substance and was later
released from custody.
DIY iPhone or iPod
Touch Paper Clip
Stand [IPhone]
By Adam Pash (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 4:00:00 AM
Reader envador details how to make a
sturdy iPhone or iPod touch stand out of a
simple paper clip. Disappointed with the
lack of support from methods like the
previously mentioned business card stand
or dollar bill stand, envador set out to
make a stand that would stand up in the
face of extreme jostling. The result is the
simple and solid stand you see in the
video. He was even so kind as to provide a
PDF with measurements to help you build
your own. iPhone Paper Clip Stand[Dean
and Ying's Blog via]
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Remember the Milk's Co-Founder on the Future of Task Management
[Exclusive Lifehacker Interview]
By Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 3:00:00 AM
Web-based task manager Remember the
Milk is one of our Lifehacker readers'
favorites, and for good reason. The web-
centered service has expanded since its
inception in 2005 to work with tons of
platforms, apps, and interfaces, yet it's
remained focused on doing what it does
best—telling you what needs to happen
next, no matter where you are. We wanted
to learn more about how Remember the
Milk was born, gets upgraded, and where it
wants to go in the future, so we traded a
few cross-continental emails with Emily
Boyd, one of the webapp's co-founders, in
Sydney, Australia. Read on to hear Boyd's
answers to our burning questions about
RTM. Thanks to Jason F. for the photo
illustration!
Lifehacker: Can you tell us the origin
story of Remember the Milk? Was it a
coffee-fueled, late-night frustration with to
-do lists, or was it an idea that grew over
time?
Emily Boyd: Remember the Milk (RTM)
originated because we were hopelessly
disorganized and fed up with constantly
forgetting things, including the milk. This
was 2004, so we saw Gmail launch, and
thought that AJAX apps were the most
awesome thing ever (though the term
"AJAX" hadn't been invented yet, so
maybe we were like, "Man, that app using
the XMLHttpRequest object for
asynchronous communication is the most
awesome thing ever"). So, we decided to
build a web app to help us remember stuff.
RTM was originally intended as
something for just the two of us [myself
and co-conspirator Omar Kilani], but we
decided to put it on the Interwebs in case
others found it useful too. We launched in
October 2005, and it kind of just grew
from there!
Lifehacker: What particular niche were
you trying to fill in the realm of to-do lists
and task management? Did you learn from
the failings or restrictions of other apps?
Emily Boyd: The biggest thing for us
was simply being able to access and
manage your tasks from anywhere. It's no
good having your tasks stuck on a single
computer (or piece of paper you forgot to
bring with you) if the urge to add a task or
review your list strikes you when you're
out running errands, at home, at work, on a
bus, or wherever. Plus, Notepad can't send
reminders.
The idea of an online to-do list wasn't
new (I think pretty much everything was
done in Web 1.0) but we were inspired by
Gmail to create an AJAX app. Nothing
ruins productivity zen like page loads.
Lifehacker: RTM hooks into a lot of
different webapps and offers up access
from all kinds of platforms. What process
does your team go through in deciding
whether to embrace and write code to
support some new thing that comes along,
rather than working on core
improvements?
Emily Boyd: It's tough! We try our best
to juggle both, but it can be especially
tricky with a small team. Sometimes user
expectations are a factor (right now there's
a lot of demand for something that starts
with an "i" and ends with a "Phone"), but
we try to balance things out and make sure
there's something for everyone. :)
Lifehacker: A lot of people are probably
wondering what RTM's long-term revenue
model is, aside from paid Pro accounts.
Can you fill us in?
Emily Boyd: We actually didn't even
have a business model until a year ago,
when we figured out that working full-
time, unpaid on RTM and spending all our
money on hosting infrastructure for a
growing service wasn't, like, the most
sustainable idea ever. Whoops.
We're pretty happy with the Pro account
model, as it allows us to keep the service
sustainable and mostly free. We're even
growing our team a little bit (beyond the
original two people and a stuffed monkey),
so we're excited about that.
Lifehacker: RTM's iPhone interface won
it a design award from Apple, which is no
small feat. Can we guess that an actual
App Store application is in the works?
Emily Boyd: I'd say that would be a
pretty good guess... we're huge iPhone
fans. :)
Lifehacker: There have been quite a few
cool interfaces, widgets, and other utilities
designed by third parties to integrate RTM
into Linux/Mac/Windows desktops, or set
up interactions with other apps. To what
extent do you work with, or at least hear
from, the coders of these apps?
Emily Boyd: It's awesome to see the
stuff that people come up with using the
RTM API. We blog about some of the cool
things we hear about and think that RTM
users would find especially useful, and
feature some on the site too.
We have a Google Group for API
discussion, and there are a bunch of nice
folks on there who help out others if they
get stuck on any of the tricky bits of API
coding. We work individually with
developers as well, but a lot of the time,
people just take the API and run with it.
Lifehacker: With the recent releases of
Chrome, the Android phone OS, and the
wider adoption of Gears, some are
suggesting that the idea of "the Web as
Desktop" is becoming a lot more real. You
were one of the enthusiastic early adopters
of Gears, so we'd ask your take on where
Tech Tips* 31
you think desktop and web apps are
headed?
Emily Boyd: Gears is awesome! We're
obviously very passionate about web apps
at RTM, so the launch of Gears was kind
of like, "Ha! One less reason people can
use to cling to desktop apps."
Web apps inherently have some big
advantages over their desktop counterparts
(being, you know, web-based and
accessible from anywhere for one) but it's
those reasons like lack of offline access
that have held web apps back a little bit in
the past.
Greater focus on JS performance (ala
Chrome) and very JS-capable browsers on
phones (Android and iPhone) also help in
getting closer to that "Web as Desktop"
reality. I'm not sure we'll see web apps
completely replacing desktop ones, as not
every type of app gains an advantage being
web-based. Then again, I don't think many
people would have imagined using apps
like spreadsheets online even 5 years ago.
So who knows!
Lifehacker: What other technologies, or
changes in technology, are you hoping
come around that would make RTM more
useful, and expand it to a wider audience?
Emily Boyd: I wish I knew what was
coming... we could start coding for it
already. :)
It'll be cool to see further innovation in
mobile devices; I think that anything that
gives people more Internet connectivity
without being tied to a computer provides
pretty exciting opportunities for web
services. RTM anywhere!
Lifehacker: Can you run us through your
typical work day, and how RTM fits into
it? Do you follow a GTD-like
methodology, create multiple lists, use
extensive tagging ...?
Emily Boyd: The day has to start with
coffee; RTM is powered by caffeine. Once
coffee is acquired, I hit my feeds in Google
Reader (including Lifehacker, of course),
check my email, and review my day's tasks
in RTM before getting to work on, well,
RTM (is that meta?).
I'm a tasks freak, but I don't follow any
particular methodology. Actually, I'm a bit
REMEMBER page 32
32 Tech Tips*
How to Customize Your iPod with
iPodWizard [IPod]
By Adam Pash (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 9:00:00 AM
If you're happy enough with the features
your iPod offers out of the box that you
don't want to install a custom firmware like
Rockbox, but you'd still like to add a little
personal flair to Apple's cookie-cutter
look, you're in luck. Freeware application
iPodWizard customizes the look and feel
of your iPod's interface while still using a
customized version of your iPod's default
firmware on the device. That means you
still get the same iPod software that you
already know and love, but you can skin it
to look however you want. Let's take a
closer look at how to customize your iPod
with iPodWizard. What You'll Get
Before you put in the effort, it's always
nice to see what you're working toward.
Below I've rounded up some of my
favorite custom themes, all of which you
can install using iPodWizard. Beautifully
Black
iPod OS X
Northern Lights
Install Custom Themes
First, download and install the latest
version of iPodWizard from the
GetiPodWizard web site(as of this writing,
the latest version is 1.3). This version of
iPodWizard works with every iPod on the
market except second and third generation
nanos, the iPod classic, and the iPod touch.
That means that if you've got a first
through 5.5 gen iPod or first gen nano,
you're ready to go with iPodWizard.
The iPodWizard Wiki already has a great
tutorial detailing the process of installing
new themes, so I won't go into a lot of
detail. I will, however, share a few extra
tips that would have helped me when I
followed their tutorial.
First of all, since iPodWizard patches the
firmware that's already on your device, you
need to be able to tell iPodWizard where to
find your firmware on your computer.
Finding and downloading the latest
firmware can be a pain, but if you know
where to look, it should already be on your
computer. To find it, go to Start -> Run
and paste the following into the run
b o x : % a p p d a t a % \ A p p l e
Computer\iTunes\iPod Software Updates
That should take you to the directory that
holds your latest installed firmware
update—it's the file that ends in.ipsw. (If
that doesn't work, try navigating to a
similar folder manually.)
You can find themes on the iPodWizard
Theme forum. It's a bit of a mess to look
through, but if you pick your iPod type and
sort the thread by number of views—like I
did for 5th generation iPod themes—you
can find a lot of the best themes really
quickly.
Once you've got a theme you want to
install and you've got your firmware
handy, installing is a breeze. Just fire up
iPodWizard, select iPodSoftwareFile from
the Edit Mode drop-down, and select Open
iPSW. Next, go to the Pictures tab, click
the Load All button, and point iPodWizard
at the folder containing the images of your
theme. If your theme swaps layout and
fonts, you'll need to perform similar
operations on the layout and font tabs.
Once you've swapped the files you want
to use with the defaults, just click the
Write to iPod button. Disconnect your iPod
(make sure to eject it properly first), and it
should automatically reboot. When it does,
your iPod's sporting a whole new look.
I'm relatively new to theming with
iPodWizard, so if you're an old hand with
this customization app, share you expertise
in the comments.
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
REMEMBER
continued from page 31
embarrassed to admit that I haven't read one feature that would make RTM perfect"
the Getting Things Done book yet! — the only problem is that it's a different
My RTM setup is something of a hybrid: feature for each person!
I use lists for higher level organization There are over 10,000 posts on the RTM
(separating work from personal, etc), tag Ideas forum, with lots of awesome
extensively to break down my lists, and feedback, but unfortunately we just can't
use locations to provide context. I also implement everything. Even if we could
have a bunch of Smart Lists that allow me add so many features, the end result would
to filter my tasks in different ways. For most likely be a monstrosity that wouldn't
instance, I have a Smart List that shows make anybody happy! It can be tough to
my errands that don't have due dates; I make feature decisions, knowing that it's
make myself review that one periodically, impossible to achieve universal user
even though it's full of "tasks that suck". If happiness (but it never hurts to try).
only RTM could do your tasks for you... The best part of doing my job? Getting to
Lifehacker: What are the hardest, and work each day on something I love
best, parts of your job? (awww). No seriously, it's a lot of fun, and
Emily Boyd: Hmm, tricky. The hardest I love working on something that people
part is probably deciding which features to (hopefully!) find useful in their daily lives.
implement, and trying to make everybody
happy. We get a lot of requests for "the
Task Manager Extension 2.0 Beefs
Up Windows Task Manager
[Featured Windows Download]
By Jason Fitzpatrick (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 1:30:00 AM
Windows only: Free program Task
Manager Extension 2.0 adds tons of
functionality to the built-in Windows task
manager. The extension beefs up the right-
click menu with 14 menu entries instead of
the default four. If you've ever needed
more from your task manager than the
basic End Process and Set Priority options
available, Task Manager Extension 2.0
packs on options like additional process
details, viewing dependencies, and finding
files in use. Using the Find File/Module
machine. For more information about
tool is extremely useful for ferreting out a processes and how to tame them, check out
file that Windows won't allow you to
Kevin's excellent guide to mastering the
delete. A small word of caution when task manager. Task Manager Extension 2.0
using Task Manager Extension: it allows
is a free download for Windows only. Task
you to shut down processes that the default Manager Extension 2.0[via gHacks]
Windows task manager would normally
restrict you from touching. Shut down a
core process and you can crash your
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
iTuny Adds iTunes Controls to Launchy
[Featured Windows Download]
By Adam Pash (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 5:00:00 AM
Windows only: iTuny is a free plug-in for
popular application launcher Launchy that
controls music playback and so much
more. Once installed, iTuny adds several
actions to Launchy that allow you to play,
pause, stop, or advance playback, which
alone is a nice start. iTuny doesn't stop
there, though; you can also rate songs,
show track info, set the volume, search
your library, create new playlists, display
album art, post to Twitter, and more. iTuny
also integrates with previously mentioned
Snarl to display notifications when you
invoke iTuny commands via Launchy. The
installation and setup are a little confusing,
so keep reading for a closer look at how it
works.
First, to install iTuny, run iTunes
Control.exe from the unzipped download (I
grabbed the latest version from this post).
You're given the option to choose where
iTuny installs (though the installer doesn't
exactly explained that to you); I chose
Launchy Utilities for both location options.
Once you've done that, iTuny is
Better Gmail 2 Gets LabelLinks4Gmail Plus
Updates [Lifehacker Code Update]
By Gina Trapani (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 8:30:03 AM
All platforms with Firefox: Just uploaded
the latest version of the Better Gmail 2
Firefox extension, which has several
updates and one neat addition. Here's
what's new:
• New! The LabelLinks4Gmail user script
is now available on the Sidebar tab. As
Adam described, LabelLinks4Gmail lets
you associate more than one label parent
with child labels.
• Updated! The GmailAgenda user script
has been updated. It's called "Show
officially installed and ready to go.
However, if you want to use some of the
advanced features—like Snarl or Twitter
support—you need to run the iTuny
config. To do so, just invoke the iTunes
Config command in Launchy.
To enable Snarl support, just tick the
Snarl checkbox. If you want to post to
Twitter or Pownce—which updates with a
"Listening: Song - Artist (Album)"
message—just enter your username and
Agenda" in Better Gmail 2's General tab. It
now works with Gmail Apps as well as
vanilla Gmail accounts.
• Updated AND New! The Redesigned
password for the service of your choice.
iTuny may be a touch confusing to get
up and running (be sure to take a look at
the README that comes with the
download to get a better understanding of
what commands are at your disposal), but
if you're a Launchy lover and iTunes is
your default music player, the iTuny plug-
in is a must have. Launchy and iTunes
together[Fast thinking]
skin has been updated, and there is now a
Redesigned-friendly version of
Folders4Gmail which replaces the green
plus sign with a slick little triangle with a
dark background that looks much better
coupled with Redesigned. Choose
"Folders4Gmail (for Redesigned skin)" in
the Sidebar tab to use the style and script
in conjunction.
Download Better Gmail 2 version 0.7
here or use Firefox's Find Updates feature.
(I've submitted the new version to Mozilla
Add-ons; approval is pending.) Better
Gmail 2 Firefox Extension for New Gmail
Tech Tips* Google* 33
Three Steps to Landing the Perfect
Apartment [Apartments]
By Adam Pash (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 2:00:00 AM
If you're convinced that renting makes
more sense than buying, home design
weblog Apartment Therapy suggests three
stellar tips to land the perfect apartment.
The key to their plan: preparedness. The
post suggests bringing a printed-out credit
report, an already filled-out application,
and a rental resume with references along
to every apartment you visit. In most cases
the landlord may still run their own credit comments. If you're more interested in
report and require you to fill out a separate actually finding the perfect place, check
application, but you'll have all the info you out our guide to apartment hunting. How
need on hand and your preparation will to: Land That Perfect Apartment: Three
make you stand out among other potential Easy Steps[Apartment Therapy]
renters. Share your tips for securing the
apartment of your dreams in the
How to Watch Videos Submitting your
on Hulu from
Anywhere [How To] content to
By Adam Pash (Lifehacker) Google
Submitted at 9/30/2008 7:00:00 AM By A Googler
Hulu may be one of the five best sites to Submitted at 9/26/2008 4:26:45 PM
watch TV online, but if you're sitting at a
We've talked a lot about our mission to
computer outside the US, you're locked out
of the fun. The quick, straightforward
video above details how to access Hulu
organize the world's information and make
it readily available to all, but we haven't
spent as much time as we could helping
videos from anywhere using previously
mentioned Hotspot Shield to create a quick
proxy that makes Hulu think you're
others understand how they can participate
in this endeavor. Last week we took two
browsing from the US. The video focuses steps to address this: we updated the
Submit Your Content site and we launched
on Hulu, but the method should work for
pretty much any US-only site. Access our Content Central blog. The goal of both
of these resources is to inform and help the
Hulu.com From Anywhere
many organizations that distribute various
types of content via Google Web Search,
Maps, Product Search, Book Search,
YouTube, iGoogle and more.
So whether you're a plumber, a map data
provider, a local government, a major
media company or a museum, we have a
wealth of information available to help you
reach your audience through Google.
Comments are open on the blog -- we look
forward to hearing from you.
Posted by Patrick Jabal, Director,
Content Partnerships
34 Google* Food*
The next Internet
By Karen
Submitted at 9/25/2008 4:36:19 PM
The Internet has had an enormous impact
on people's lives around the world in the
ten years since Google's founding. It has
changed politics, entertainment, culture,
business, health care, the environment and
just about every other topic you can think
of. Which got us to thinking, what's going
to happen in the next ten years? How will
this phenomenal technology evolve, how
will we adapt, and (more importantly) how
will it adapt to us? We asked ten of our top
experts this very question, and during
September (our 10th anniversary month)
we are presenting their responses. As
computer scientist Alan Kay has famously
observed, the best way to predict the future
is to invent it, so we will be doing our best
to make good on our experts' words every
day. - Karen Wickre and Alan Eagle, series
editors
Historically, the Internet has been all
about connectivity between computers and
among people. The World Wide Web
opened enormous opportunities and
motivations for the injection of content
into the Internet, and search engines, such
as Google's, provided a way for people to
find the right content for their interests. Of
course, the Internet continues to develop:
new devices will find their way onto the
net and new ways to access it will evolve.
In the next decade, around 70% of the
human population will have fixed or
mobile access to the Internet at
increasingly high speeds, up to gigabits per
second. We can reliably expect that mobile
devices will become a major component of
the Internet, as will appliances and sensors
of all kinds. Many of the things on the
Internet, whether mobile or fixed, will
know where they are, both geographically
Apple and Sausage Pie
By Elise
Submitted at 9/13/2008 4:09:30 PM
From the recipe archive
With apple season in full swing, and
cooler weather on the way, here's a
casserole pie that combines sweet Italian
sausage with Granny Smith apples, and a
and logically. As you enter a hotel room,
your mobile will be told its precise
location including room number. When
you turn your laptop on, it will learn this
information as well--either from the
mobile or from the room itself. It will be
normal for devices, when activated, to
discover what other devices are in the
neighborhood, so your mobile will
discover that it has a high resolution
display available in what was once called a
television set. If you wish, your mobile
will remember where you have been and
will keep track of RFID-labeled objects
such as your briefcase, car keys and
glasses. "Where are my glasses?" you will
ask. "You were last within RFID reach of
them while in the living room," your
mobile or laptop will say.
The Internet will transform the video
medium as well. From its largely
programmed, scheduled and streamed
delivery today, video will become an
interactive medium in which the choice of
content and advertising will be under
consumer control. Product placement will
become an opportunity for viewers to click
on items of interest in the field of view to
learn more about them including but not
limited to commercial information.
Hyperlinks will associate the racing scene
in Star Wars I with the chariot race in Ben
Hur. Conventional videoconferencing will
be augmented by remotely controlled
robots with an ability to move around,
focus cameras and microphones, and
perhaps even directly interact with the
local environment under user control.
The Internet will also become more
closely integrated with other parts of our
daily lives, and it will change them
accordingly. Power distribution grids, for
example, will become a part of the
Internet's information universe. We will be
mix of cheeses. Our neighbor Pat (the
wonderful neighbor who has been teaching
me all about organic gardening) brought
able to track and manage electrical power
demand and our automobiles will
participate in the generation as well as the
consumption of electricity. By sharing
information through the Internet about
energy-consuming and energy-producing
devices and systems, we will be able to
make them more efficient.
A box of washing machine soap will
become part of a service as Internet-
enabled washing machines are managed by
Web-based services that can configure and
activate your washing machine. Scientific
measurements and experimental results
will be blogged and automatically entered
into common data archives to facilitate the
distribution, sharing and reproduction of
experimental results. One might even
imagine that scientific instruments could
generate their own data blogs.
These are but a few examples of the way
in which the Internet will continue to
surround and serve us in the future. The
flexibility we have seen in the Internet is a
consequence of one simple observation:
the Internet is essentially a software
artifact. As we have learned in the past
several decades, software is an endless
frontier. There is no limit to what can be
programmed. If we can imagine it, there's a
good chance it can be programmed. The
Internet of the future will be suffused with
software, information, data archives, and
populated with devices, appliances, and
people who are interacting with and
through this rich fabric.
And Google will be there, helping to
make sense of it all, helping to organize
and make everything accessible and useful.
Posted by Vint Cerf, Chief Internet
Evangelist
over this delicious casserole for a block
party recently. What a hit!
Continue reading "Apple and Sausage
Pie" »
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Google Toolbar 5 now
available in Firefox
By Karen
Submitted at 9/27/2008 12:16:39 PM
A few months ago we launched several
new features for Google Toolbar in
Internet Explorer. Since then, we've
received many emails asking us when we
plan to support all our new features in
Firefox.
Guess what: Starting today, you can
download the latest version of Google
Toolbar for Firefox, available in 29
languages. This new version is the first
Toolbar launched out of our St. Petersburg,
Russia office. It includes all the Toolbar
features you know and love, such as
Search, Bookmarks and Translate. When
you install it, you can try out some of our
newest features.
We don't like to play favorites among
Toolbar's features, but it's hard not be
wowed by Autofill. You can create several
profiles with personal or business
information including different addresses,
email addresses and credit card details. So
anytime you want to fill an online form,
just click on Autofill and the right
information will appear in the form
automatically. All your information is
safely stored only in your own computer,
with your credit card numbers encrypted
and protected by a password.
We also love Google Gadgets in Toolbar.
Gadgets bring information from your
favorite websites closer to you. For
example, you can add the YouTube gadget
to your Toolbar. When you want to have a
quick break from work, click on the
YouTube icon and search or view videos
in a box that pops down from the Toolbar,
without leaving the web page you are on.
Close that box when you're done with it (or
when your manager starts walking towards
your cube). You can find the YouTube
gadget and thousands of others in our
gallery.
We look forward to get your feedback, or
to hear your stories about the exciting
ways you are using Toolbar's features. We
hope that you enjoy the new Google
Toolbar as much as our team enjoyed
building it!
If you're interested in learning more
about Google Toolbar, visit us at
http://tools.google.com/firefox/toolbar/FT5
or check out our video:
Posted by Vladislav Kaznacheev, Head,
St. Petersburg Engineering Office, and
Igor Bazarny, Software Engineer, Toolbar
team
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Your YouTube video: Hot or Not?
By A Googler
Submitted at 9/30/2008 12:12:37 PM
YouTube Insight has helped millions of
you learn more about your YouTube
videos and figure out when, where, and
why your videos are popular. But what if
you could learn not just which of your
videos are hot on the site, but which
specific parts of those videos are hotter
than others? What if you could know
exactly when viewers tend to leave your
videos, or which scenes within a video
they watch again and again?
This information is now available to all
YouTube video uploaders with an
innovative new feature for Insight called
"Hot Spots." The Hot Spots tab in Insight
plays your video alongside a graph that
shows the ups-and-downs of viewership at
different moments within the video. We
determine "hot" and "cold" spots by
comparing your video's abandonment rate
at that moment to other videos on
YouTube of the same length, and
incorporating data about rewinds and fast-
forwards. So what does that mean? Well,
when the graph goes up, your video is hot:
few viewers are leaving, and many are
even rewinding on the control bar to see
that sequence again. When the graph goes
down, your content's gone cold: many
viewers are moving to another part of the
video or leaving the video entirely.
Here's an example of Hot Spots in
action:
You can see that many viewers are not
impressed with the dance moves of
Michael Rucker, Associate Product
Marketing Manager at YouTube; they're
Online safety tips from Google and AARP
By A Googler
Submitted at 9/29/2008 9:25:45 AM
Now more than ever before, older
Americans are logging on and surfing the
web to stay in touch with family and
friends, read websites and blogs, share
photos, watch videos, and run online
businesses. Like all Internet users, they're
sometimes faced with unsafe activity
online, such as viruses and malware, and
they're looking for resources to learn how
to keep their information on the web safe,
leaving the video at a faster than average
rate almost immediately after the video
begins. But the longer the video goes on,
the more people tend to stay, generating a
hot spot at the end of the video. Better late
than never -- kudos, Rucker!
We think you'll find Hot Spots useful in
several ways. For example, users can
figure out which scenes in their videos are
the "hottest" and edit those videos, or
include well-timed annotations, to keep
their audience more engaged. Partners
might similarly create better content -- like
more exciting promotional trailers -- for
use on and off YouTube, and advertisers
and agencies can study the effectiveness of
private, and under their control.
So we teamed up with AARP to launch a
new video series that provides AARP
members with helpful, easy-to-understand
tips on how to stay safe online. It includes
pointers on how to set privacy controls in
online photo-sharing sites, configure
firewalls to protect your computer, select
safe and secure passwords for your online
accounts, shop safely online, and avoid
phishing scams. You can find the videos
on AARP's online safety page, as well as
on our Privacy Channel on YouTube.
their creative, to make sure they keep
viewers' attention throughout an ad. Now
that Insight shows what parts of videos
viewers are watching and skipping,
creators no longer have to play guessing
games. YouTube, the world's largest focus
group, provides them with answers. You
can find this new feature under the "Hot
Spots" tab within the Insight Dashboard.
As with all of Insight's features, we learn
about the most creative examples from
you. We can't wait to see what you come
up with next.
Posted by Tracy Chan and Nick Jakobi,
Product Managers, YouTube Team
Here's a look at the first video, Safe
Starts:
Our team gave a sneak peek of the
videos from our booth at the annual AARP
member event, Life@50+, earlier this
month. We received lots of great feedback
from AARP members. Even the most
computer-savvy members found the videos
helpful, and most folks who stopped by
were eager to share them with friends and
family members who are just getting
started online.
Check out the rest of the online safety
What would you ask
Senators McCain and
Obama?
By Karen
Submitted at 9/26/2008 4:16:57 PM
Millions of Americans will be tuning in
tonight for the first Presidential debate
between Senator Obama and Senator
McCain. Historically, the debates are led
by a moderator from a prestigious news
organization, asking questions to each
candidate and leaving time for a rebuttal
from the other. Tonight is no different,
with the well-respected Jim Lehrer from
PBS serving as the debate moderator.
While tonight's event will be exciting,
many have argued that we should consider
new ways for the candidates to debate.
Technology has enabled a historic number
of voters to learn from and participate in
the election process -- something that was
well illustrated by the CNN/YouTube
debates.
While we're not officially part of the
Commission of Presidential Debates, a few
days ago we launched Google Moderator.
It's a free tool which enables communities
to submit and vote on questions for
debates, presentations and events. This
way, the best and most representative
questions rise to the top.
One of the featured series on Google
video series. We hope the tips in these
videos raise awareness among Internet
users of all ages about how to stay safe
online.
Update (12:06 p.m.): Nancy LeaMonde,
AARP's Executive VP of Social Impact,
just posted tips from the video series on
AARP's blog.
Posted by Shuman Ghosemajumder,
Business Product Manager for Trust and
Safety
Google* 35
Moderator is U.S. Presidential Debates
2008 which, at the time of this writing, has
730 people already contributing 230
questions that have over 11,000 votes. Top
questions submitted so far include:
• Many Americans feel it's unfair to
saddle taxpayers with the bailout of
irresponsible Wall Street firms. What
caused this mess and what is a fair solution
which benefits the average American, not
the executives who got us here in the first
place? - Suggested by Doug H, Los
Angeles, CA
• What will be your single, top priority
for your first 100 days in office? -
Suggested by Shira, Pensacola, FL
• What will you do to reduce the size or
increase the efficiency of the US
government?- Suggested by Dave M,
Philadelphia, PA
Do these questions represent your
concerns? What would you ask the
Presidential candidates? Who knows,
maybe NBC legend Tom Brokaw will have
a look at what you're asking before he
moderates the next Presidential debate on
October 7th in Nashville!
Posted by Katie Jacobs Stanton,
Elections and Moderator teams
2001: A
search
odyssey
By Karen
Submitted at 9/30/2008 4:00:07 PM
Now that we're a decade old, we figured
we're long overdue for some spring
cleaning. We started digging around our
basement and found all kinds of junk: old
Swedish fish, pigeon poop, Klingon
translation books. Amazingly enough,
2001: page 36
36 Google* Auto* Food*
The ONE News YouTube
Election Debate in New
Zealand
By A Googler
Submitted at 9/30/2008 9:59:16 AM
Over the course of the long U.S.
Presidential election campaign, millions of
people have checked out the candidates'
YouTube Channels on our You Choose '08
platform, and communicated directly with
all those running for President. Thousands
more submitted questions for candidates in
the CNN/YouTube debates, participated in
our You Choose '08 Spotlight, or made
videos for the Democratic and Republican
conventions. Outside the U.S., YouTube
has also become an important part of
leveling the political playing field. A
couple of weeks ago, for instance, the 2008
New Zealand general elections were
2001:
continued from page 35
hidden in a corner beneath Larry's and
Sergey's original lab coats, we found a
vintage search index in mint condition. We
dusted it off and took it for a spin,
gobsmacked to see how different the web
was in early 2001. " iPod" did not refer to
a music player, " youtube" was nonsense,
and if you were looking for " Michael
Phelps," chances are you meant the
scientist, not the swimmer. " Wikipedia"
was brand new. Remember " hanging
chads"? (And speaking of that election-
specific reference -- if you're a U.S.
citizen, it's not too late: please register to
vote.)
Chicken Breasts with Mushroom Sage Sauce
By Elise
Submitted at 9/9/2008 2:54:01 AM
You know what the best thing is about
boneless, skinless chicken breasts? They
called, with Kiwis going to the polls in
early November.
Now, we're thrilled to announce the ONE
News YouTube Election Debate between
Helen Clark and John Key, a history-
making initiative with New Zealand's
public broadcaster, TVNZ. This marks the
first time the head of a national
government and a challenger will face
YouTube video questions in an official live
TV debate. The debate will be broadcast
live on TV ONE on October 14.
If you're a Kiwi, head on over to the
YouTube New Zealand blog for details on
how to submit your own questions.
Posted by Steve Grove, YouTube News
& Politics
We had so much fun searching that we
wanted to put this old index online for
everyone to play with. We thought it'd be
even cooler if we could actually see the
full versions of the old web pages, so we
worked with the Internet Archive to link to
their cache of these pages from 2001. Step
into the time machine and try a 2001
Google search.
For more information on this search,
please read our FAQ.
Posted by Shirin Oskooi, Product
Manager
cook up in about nothing flat. Great for
midweek meals when you are just rushing
to get something on the table. Chicken
breasts also take to sauces well, including
this cream-based sauce loaded with
Our position on California's No
on 8 campaign
By Karen
Submitted at 9/26/2008 3:24:11 PM
As an Internet company, Google is an
active participant in policy debates
surrounding information access,
technology and energy. Because our
company has a great diversity of people
and opinions -- Democrats and
Republicans, conservatives and liberals, all
religions and no religion, straight and gay -
- we do not generally take a position on
issues outside of our field, especially not
social issues. So when Proposition 8
appeared on the California ballot, it was an
unlikely question for Google to take an
official company position on.
However, while there are many
Ten years and counting
By A Googler
Submitted at 9/29/2008 11:19:55 AM
The Google doodle tradition started a
long time ago (in summer 1999, in fact)
when Larry and Sergey put a stick figure
on the homepage to signify that they were
out of the office at Burning Man. Nothing
against stick figures, but our logo designs
have become rather more varied since
then. Today you'll see a special design that
commemorates our 10th birthday. We've
mushrooms. What are your favorite sauces
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
objections to this proposition -- further
government encroachment on personal
lives, ambiguously written text -- it is the
chilling and discriminatory effect of the
proposition on many of our employees that
brings Google to publicly oppose
Proposition 8. While we respect the
strongly-held beliefs that people have on
both sides of this argument, we see this
fundamentally as an issue of equality. We
hope that California voters will vote no on
Proposition 8 -- we should not eliminate
anyone's fundamental rights, whatever
their sexuality, to marry the person they
love.
Posted by Sergey Brin, Co-founder &
President, Technology
incorporated a little bit of history by using
the original Google logo from 1998. And
since everyone keeps asking what we'd
like for our birthday (besides cake and
party hats) -- the first thing we thought of
was a nice new server rack.
Update: Added image.
Posted by Marissa Mayer, VP Search
Products & User Experience, and Dennis
Hwang, Webmaster
for chicken breasts? Let us know in the
comments.
Continue reading "Chicken Breasts with
Mushroom Sage Sauce" »
Ford reminds world
that it didn't "willfully"
violate wiper patent
By Sam Abuelsamid (Autoblog)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 11:00:00 AM
Filed under: Etc., Government/Legal,
Chrysler, LLC., Ford
Click to enlarge
Engineer Bob Kearns had been granted a
patent for a design of intermittent
windshield wipers in 1967, two years
before Ford introduced them in production.
Unfortunately for Kearns, Ford had
"developed" its own system rather than
licensing Kearns' design. Needless to say,
litigation ensued and it took until 1995 for
the U.S. Supreme Court to finally rule
against Ford and Chrysler and award
Kearns $30 million. That story has now
been turned into a major motion picture
being released this week called Flash of
Genius, and Ford wants you to know that
the facts of the matter are much less
dramatic than what the movie portrays.
While reminding people that the facts
have been dramatized, Ford also mentions
that a jury ruled it did not "willfully"
infringe on Kearns' patent. That's not to
say Ford and Chrysler didn't infringe -
juries ruled that they did. It just wasn't
"willful." Did Kearns ultimately win?
That's hard to say considering how his life
turned out, but he was vindicated. On the
other hand, many owners of older English
cars would argue that Joseph Lucas
invented the intermittent windshield wiper,
although again not willfully.
[Source: Ford]
Continue reading Ford reminds world
that it didn't "willfully" violate wiper
patent Permalink| Email this| Comments
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
SEMA Preview: Automotive X-Prize
Performance West goes recommends EPA adopt
smaller with F-150 Striker R MGEe rating
By Chris Shunk (Autoblog)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 9:56:00 AM
Filed under: SEMA, Trucks/Pickups,
Ford
If the super-tuned F-350 Striker diesel
dually doesn't float your boat, the specialty
tuners at Performance West will have a tire
shredder of smaller proportions for you at
SEMA next month. The F-150 Striker R
will be unleashed on attendees of the Las
Vegas tuner spectacular with Shelby
GT500KR-inspired styling similar to its
big brother and a power story all its own.
Our friend Mike Levine from
Pickuptrucks.com gave us the low-down
on the Striker R's power numbers, and
they're pretty impressive. It gains
motivation from Ford's 5.4L V8 mated to a
massive 2.4L Kenne Bell Blowzilla
supercharger and intercooler, giving it a
healthy 500 ponies. Other power enhancers
include a cold air intake, Boost-a-Pump,
Optimizer II electronic engine
management system and a Corsa Cat-Back
exhaust.
The Sriker R will be kept pinned to the
pavement with a Bell Tech suspension
package, and the rear differential will
receive a Striker R alloy cover. Stopping
force for this powerful pickup comes via
15-inch Big Bite cross-drilled rotors. A
vehicle isn't SEMA-worthy without great-
looking wheels and tires, and Performance
West went to Pirelli for the proper
equipment - stylish 22-inch alloy wheels
and Scorpion Zero Asimmetrico ultra-high
-performance tires.
In our humble opinion, the GT500KR
treatment translates better to the F-150
than the F-350, as the Striker R
incorporates big upper and lower front air
dams and two imposing hood scoops to
keep the air flowing. No GT500KR look-
alike would be worth its weight in spit
without dual racing stripes, and the Striker
R uses the Badass Blue variety with
contrasting silver paint directly from the
Shelby Mustang concept.
[Source: Pickuptrucks.com] Read|
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By Jeremy Korzeniewski (Autoblog)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 11:25:00 AM
Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative,
Contests, Government/Legal, Green,
Chevrolet, GM
Click above to view high-res gallery of
the 2011 Chevy Volt
Now that the California Air Resources
Board (CARB) has an agreement with
General Motors regarding how to measure
the fuel mileage of the 2011 Chevy Volt,
our attention turns to the EPA, which now
has to decide what official mileage rating
will appear on the new car's window
sticker and how to determine what that
number will be. The first recommendation
comes from the Automotive X-Prize, the
foundation of which will award $10
million from Progressive Insurance to the
winner of its competition to design a
production-viable car that people would
want to drive that gets 100 MPGe or more.
What's with that little 'e' after the familiar
miles per gallon? Basically, the X-Prize
crew wants to convert all units of energy to
a figure that's equivalent to the power from
a gallon of gas. That way, a car's
powerplant - regardless of where it gets
that energy from - earns a rating that can
be easily compared with everything else.
So, EPA, the ball's in your court... still.
Psst - GM, maybe you should enter the
Volt in the X-Prize competition. Just a
thought.
Gallery: 2011 Chevy Volt - Live Reveal
[Source: Automotive X-Prize via
AutoblogGreen]
Continue reading Automotive X-Prize
recommends EPA adopt MGEe rating
Permalink| Email this| Comments
Auto* 37
BMW Concept
X1 arrives
early on web
By Dan Roth (Autoblog)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 4:31:00 PM
Filed under: Concept Cars, Paris Motor
Show, Crossovers/CUVs, BMW
Click above for gallery of the BMW
Concept X1
If the BMW X3 isn't ugly or space-
inefficient enough for you, here's the
Concept X1, which is a lightly veiled
version of the production soft ute you'll see
in BMW dealers shortly. Yeech. We can't
fathom how it's going to be that much
different than the X3, seeing as BMWs
famliy tree among 1 and 3 series vehicles
is starting to look as inbred as English
Aristocracy, but we're going to go way out
on a limb and suggest that it's a little
tighter in most dimensions while sharing
powertrains. Styling-wise, as long as you
ignore anything forward of the A-pillar,
you'll be okay. It's largely standard BMW
fare, just scaled down. We're not quite sure
what happened up front - it's bad. From the
visage that's evocative of the 7 series to the
oddly shaped wheel arches, it just doesn't
come together, and the way the proboscis
sticks out when viewing the X1's profile
borders on disturbing. The most amazing
thing: people will fall all over themselves
to buy it. It'll definitely drive like a BMW,
a redeeming trait, but we'd much rather see
a 135 shooting brake.
Gallery: BMW X1 Concept
[Source: Bimmerpost] Permalink| Email
this| Comments
38 Auto*
Toyota develops new rear
window airbag for small cars
By Chris Shunk (Autoblog)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 8:57:00 AM
Filed under: Safety, Toyota
Safety technology has improved by leaps
and bounds over the last few decades, and
just about every automaker now knows
how to score a five star rating from the
National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration. Toyota is looking to keep
the stars coming by developing a new rear
window airbag that will be standard
equipment on its upcoming iQ micro car.
A quick glance at micro-vehicles like the
iQ shows that there is very little space
between the back seat and the rear
window, which means there won't be as
VIDEO: Corvette ZR1 goes autocrossing
By Chris Shunk (Autoblog)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 12:29:00 PM
Filed under: Videos, Supercars, Chevrolet
Click above to view video after the jump
The Corvette ZR1 is the fastest, most
ridiculously cool production Corvette ever
produced. After taking the ZR1 for several
hot laps of the Lutzring in Milford, we'd go
as far as to say it's one of the fastest
much metal to absorb the impact of a rear
collision. With Toyota's new rear window
airbag, the rear air bag is ejected from the
roof lining during a fender bender. Toyota
says it will help protect the heads and
necks back seat passengers, which is all the
more important in smaller vehicles like the
iQ. In addition to this new bag, Toyota
wants to improve its safety reputation by
making side curtain and shield airbags
standard for all of itsmodels.
[Source: Toyota]
Continue reading Toyota develops new
rear window airbag for small cars Read|
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vehicles we've ever driven. Journalists
aren't the only ones who have driven the
ZR1 either, as a select few General Motors
employees get to drive the 638-hp supercar
as their daily driver. One GM worker by
the name of Karen took the ZR1 to an
autocross event in Ohio and put the
supercharged LS9 Corvette through the
cone gauntlet. Hit the jump to see and hear
the ZR1 zip through the course.
Enthusiast designs four-door
Ferrari PanaQuattroMeraPorte
By Dan Roth (Autoblog)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 10:26:00 AM
Filed under: Supercars, Ferrari, Rendered
Speculation
Click above for high-res gallery of
Krasnov Igor's four-door Ferrari
Since everyone else is getting in on the
four-door supercar game, Ferrari might as
well give one of its cars the taffy pull
treatment. Rather than wait for one of the
design houses classically associated with
the Prancing Horse to apply masterstrokes
of design, Russian enthusiast Krasnov Igor
came up with his own quad portal
thoroughbred. We're not thrilled with the
Unfortunately, the camera operator didn't
zoom in on the Vette or follow it very well,
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
results, but we'll bestow an A for effort.
Looking like a Scaglietti that got tossed in
the blender with an Elise's roof and a
Lamborghini tail, the wheelbase and
proportions just don't look quite right.
Perhaps the Lambo tail is a nod to the car's
intended role as a competitor to the
L a m b o r g h i n i
Urus/Estoque/whatevertheywannacallit,
but we're thinking that car's styling will be
far more cohesive. Thanks for the tip,
Greg!
Gallery: Krasnov Igor's four-door Ferrari
[Source Cardesign.ru] Read| Permalink|
Email this| Comments
but it's worth your :58 to watch if only to
listen to the ZR1 come off the line. Thanks
for the tip, Mark!
Gallery: First Drive: 2009 Corvette ZR1
[Source: VetteTube]
Continue reading VIDEO: Corvette ZR1
goes autocrossing Read| Permalink| Email
this| Comments
Spy Shots: Porsche
Panamera suddenly
not so bad
By Jonathon Ramsey (Autoblog)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 11:58:00 AM
Filed under: Spy Photos, Sedans/Saloons,
Sports/GTs, Porsche
Click above for gallery of reader-
submitted Panamera spy shots
We know when it happened, we just
don't know why it happened. Autoblog
reader Joshua Silverman sent in some
cellphone pictures of a Panamera he drove
by in Denver, Colorado. And all of a
sudden -- like the Grinch's heart growing
three sizes -- we liked it. Or at least, we got
it.
Just to make sure, we had a look at the
last set of Panamera spy shots, the ones
that this very blogger lambasted as "still
ugly," and, well, we kinda liked those, too.
We could see possibilities. When the car is
given the S and Turbo treatment, we could
even imagine, incredibly, beauty. Have a
look at the photos below for yourself, and
tell us if we should take a bow for
discovering the vision, or take a nap.
Thanks for the tip, Joshua!
Gallery: Spy Shots: Porsche Panamera
Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
PigTones offering Yoda, Terminator
and Stewie nav voices
By Jeremy Korzeniewski (Autoblog)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 12:56:00 PM
Filed under: Gadgets, Tech, Celebrities,
Humor
"Left at the next exit you will turn," or so
we imagine none other than Jedi Master
Yoda telling us as we attempt to pilot our
land speeders toward some unknown
destination. You can now download Yoda
as the voice of your TomTom or Garmin
GPS unit courtesy of a company named
PigTones and a fee of $12.97. Not a Star
Wars fan? Well, you should be (at least of
Pistachio White Chocolate Chip Cookies
By Garrett McCord
Submitted at 9/16/2008 6:32:40 AM
Guest author Garrett McCord of Vanilla
Garlic brought 2 dozen of these cookies
over today. We inhaled them. ~Elise
Almost all of the pistachios grown in
America are produced right here in
California (were a lucky state, we are). Its
a surprisingly labor intensive crop that
requires a lot of attention for yields that
can greatly differ from year to year. Still,
the crop is relatively new to the U.S.; up
the original trilogy). There's always the
Terminator. On second thought, who wants
to be told to make a legal U-turn by the
governor of California? That leaves Stewie
from The Family Guy. He's the
megolomaniacal infant that's hell bent on
killing his mother, Lois. There are others
to choose from too, some raunchier than
others. Click here for the full list. Thanks
for the tip, yash!
[Source: PIGtones via The Earth Times]
Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments
until 1976, almost all of the pistachios
were imported from Iran until President
Carter placed an embargo on the country.
It was then California farmers started to
plant the first pistachio trees here in
America. Nowadays we can get pistachios
from any local market and use their rich,
mellow flavors as we please.
This cookie makes delicious use of
pistachios, pairing them with white
chocolate (or dark, should you so prefer).
The original recipe came from an article in
the Sacramento Bee by way of Jane
Spy Shots: Saab 9-4X, almost naked
By Jonathon Ramsey (Autoblog)
Submitted at 9/30/2008 9:29:00 AM
Filed under: Spy Photos,
Crossovers/CUVs, Saab The Saab 9-4X
has been caught in these new spy shots
without the Keith Haring tape job it was
wearing the last time we saw it. Features
like the converging window lines on the
side, the rear lights, and the Saab grille,
give away its lineage. From the side,
especially from the A-pillar back, you
could be forgiven for confusing the Saab
with a lot of other CUVs, while lines that
are quite distinctive on the smaller 9-3 and
9-5 look to have been stretched into rather
bland expanses on the 9-4X. It's still early,
so we look forward to seeing the fully Saab
-ified retail version. If Saab's managing
director is to be believed, what won't be
Sweet and Sour Chicken
By Jaden Hair
Submitted at 9/25/2008 4:12:08 PM
Please welcome guest author Jaden Hair
of Steamy Kitchen who brings us another
great Chinese-American classic, Sweet and
Sour Chicken. ~Elise
When Elise asked me to be a guest writer
for Simply Recipes, we decided to take
Chinese favorites and make them better,
lighter and easier to cook at home. So, I
grabbed a take-out menu from the local
Chinese restaurant and I will be working
my way around those recipes for you.
If there's one thing that I detest, it's
greasy fried food covered in goopy
Dewey, a wife of a local pistachio farmer.
After a bit of tweaking I finally got them to
come out the way I prefer them. I prefer
bland is one of the engine choices: a diesel
with 250 hp and 406 lb-ft. That's the kind
of quirky we can get behind.
[Source: Left Lane News] Read|
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Chinese take-out sauce. Okay, so
sometimes I like that stuff, but it usually
those cravings come at 3 o'clock a.m.
during a certain time of the month.
using a brick of white chocolate and
chopping it into chunks for a more rustic
look, but white chocolate chips will do just
fine. I also reduced the butter a bit and
used kosher salt which gives a nice spark
of contrast to the sweetness. Very chewy
and amazingly good, I promise these
cookies are keepers.
Continue reading "Pistachio White
Chocolate Chip Cookies" »
Auto* Food* Religion* 39
Plea for journalism
fundamentals
(updated)
Let’s just get right to it. This Los Angeles
By Mollie
Times piece about the religious views of
But, I digress.
This recipe for Sweet and Sour Chicken
doesn't deep fry, but instead uses a method
for creating a delicate, smooth and
succulent chicken that goes perfectly with
a lighter sweet and sour sauce. The secret
is in the chicken marinade, specifically
using egg white and cornstarch, which
creates a super-light coating all around the
chicken. It won't be a crunchy, deep fried
coating, but I think it's a nice alternative,
both texture-wise and weight-wise!
Continue reading "Sweet and Sour
Chicken" »
PLEA
continued from page 39
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is pretty much
worthless.
Considering that I am a journalist, I’m
somewhat sad to report that I believe
nothing I read or watch when it comes to
coverage of Palin. I have seen way too
high an error rate, way too much in the
way of unsourced allegations presented as
fact, way too much seething anger, even
about issues that have nothing to do with
religion.
But let’s look at this Los Angeles Times
piece, one of the many recent examples of
PLEA page 40
40
PLEA
continued from page 39
this phenomenon. Here’s the headline:
Palin treads carefully between
fundamentalist beliefs and public policy
Which would be a fine headline. If
PALIN WERE A FUNDAMENTALIST.
She’s not. Here’s what the Associated
Press Stylebook says about using the word
fundamentalist:
fundamentalist The word gained usage in
an early 20th century fundamentalist-
modernist controversy within
Protestantism. In recent years, however,
fundamentalist has to a large extent taken
on pejorative connotations except when
applied to groups that stress strict, literal
interpretations of Scripture and separation
from other Christians. In general, do not
use fundamentalist unless a group applies
the word to itself.
We get it. You hate her. She makes you
kuh-razy. But don’t stop following basic
journalism practices just because you’re
enraged by a popular conservative female
in power.
I wrote before that the headline would be
fine if Palin were a fundamentalist. But
even if she were (which, again for the slow
readers at the LA Times, she is not) the
term is not to be used because it has
become pejorative. For how long has it
been pejorative? Many, many decades. Get
with the times. In the 1910s and 1920s, the
term referred to a Christian who believed
in the “fundamentals” of the faith — the
Virgin Birth of Christ, his sinless life, his
atoning death, his bodily resurrection and
his second coming in the clouds of glory.
But since that time, the term has become
an insult. Everyone knows this. And just
because you want to insult the governor of
Alaska doesn’t mean that it’s appropriate
to do so on the news pages.
Sigh.
So should we even go past the headline?
It doesn’t exactly get better. The story
begins with a claim (from a political
opponent who runs a blog called
Progressive Alaska) about Palin that isn’t
backed up by any independent source.
Needless to say, there’s no context. It’s
hard to even see how the claim is relevant.
The claim is that Palin is, no, no, no,
everyone shield their eyes, a particularly
unacceptable creationist. I know. Can you
believe it? The horror. You know, it’s clear
that the mainstream media is biased against
the views held by a strong plurality of
Americans, but telling readers that 48
percent of Americans believe God created
humans in their present form (compared
with the 13 percent who believe in strict
evolution and 30 percent who believe in
theistic evolution) wouldn’t scare people
as much, would it.
Reporter Steve Braun then repeats a
number of discredited claims about Palin,
such as this:
Though in her race for governor she
called for faith-based “intelligent design”
to be taught along with evolution in
Alaska’s schools, Gov. Palin has not
sought to require it, state educators say.
Actually, she said that if the topic came
up, teachers shouldn’t be afraid to discuss
it. She further clarified her remarks to
make sure her views were known. But why
bother including that? Incidentally, more
than twice as many Americans think that
creationism should be taught alongside
evolution as Americans who think it
should just be evolution. Not, again, that
you’d know that from mainstream media
coverage. Braun concedes that she has
governed in a manner completely different
than his lede would imply, neither pushing
for special legislative sessions to change
abortion laws nor challenging a court
ruling permitting health insurance for same
-sex partners of state workers.
But . . . but . . . what do you make of this:
Her aides say Palin’s caution at the
intersection of religion and governance is a
studied effort to share her beliefs without
forcing them on Alaska.
“She’s obviously an intensively religious
person,” said Bill McAllister, Palin’s chief
spokesman as governor. “She understands
that she’s the governor and not preacher in
chief. Religion informs her decisions, but
she is not out to impose her views on
Alaska.”
Isn’t it funny how the quote from Bill
McAllister in no way supports the claim
Braun makes in the set-up paragraph? I’ve
noticed a lot of that in Palin stories.
And then here we go again:
[John] Stein said Palin displayed only
hints of her fundamentalist Assembly of
God upbringing when he first backed her
for a nonpartisan run for Wasilla City
Council in the early 1990s.
Again, “fundamentalist” doesn’t actually
mean “church whose religious views stray
from the Book of Common Prayer.” It
doesn’t mean “rubes who actually believe
the Bible.”
Considering that Palin is the most
popular governor in America, it’s funny
how every story I read about her
predominantly quotes her political
opponents. It’s like that 80 percent of
Alaskans who favor her are just more or
less invisible. To that end, Braun quotes
more from Stein, who, again, she defeated.
There’s this:
But since taking office in December
2006, Palin has made no moves to impose
the teaching of creationism or “intelligent
design,” the modern version of creationist
thought, in Alaska schools.
Yes, the vociferous opponents of
intelligent design call it “the modern
version of creationist thought.” But
proponents of intelligent design, such as
agnostic David Berlinski, have explained
why such a caricature is inaccurate. And
should the Los Angeles Times be taking a
side on this issue in a news story? No, of
course not.
Okay, Braun, did you say
“fundamentalist” enough? Did you
marginalize Palin enough? Do you have
anything else to say?
Although she now worships in traditional
fundamentalist churches in Wasilla and
Juneau, Palin’s formative years in
Pentecostal churches have been a target for
some bloggers and Democratic opponents.
Feel better now? The thing I don’t get
about stories like this is that they aren’t
really informative. Sure, they tell us what
people who don’t like Palin think about
her. But what about some thoughtful and
fair discussions of Palin’s religious views?
They are certainly newsworthy. Have we
ever had a member of a Bible church on a
national ticket? Have we ever had someone
with a Pentecostal background?
If you’re looking for a thoughtful
analysis of Palin’s religious views and how
they affect public policy, you should read
Terry Eastland’s piece in the most recent
The Weekly Standard. Even though
Eastland and the Standard are
conservative, most of the piece is just
descriptive, such as this:
Of these four churches, two—Wasilla
Assembly of God and Juneau Christian
Center—are members of the Assemblies of
God. Founded in 1914, the Assemblies of
God is the largest Pentecostal
denomination in the country.
Pentecostalism—which takes its name
from the day of Pentecost when, according
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
to the Book of Acts, the Holy Spirit
descended upon the Apostles—is a
movement that began in 1901 and is best
known for its emphasis on the gifts of the
Spirit, including speaking in tongues. The
other two churches are freestanding
congregations. The Church on the Rock is
“charismatic,” a term usually applied to
more recent forms of Pentecostalism, while
Wasilla Bible, the Palins’ present church,
is neither Pentecostal nor charismatic.
Reporters ask whether Palin has ever
spoken in tongues. Her spokeswoman has
said that Palin doesn’t consider herself a
Pentecostal. A friend of Palin’s told the
New York Times that her family left
Wasilla Assembly of God for Wasilla
Bible in part because the latter’s ministry
was “less extreme.” Exactly what Palin
may have found “extreme” at Wasilla
Assembly of God is unclear. In any case,
Palin retains an evident affection for
Wasilla Assembly of God, as does the
church for her.
It’s so odd that the mainstream media
piece on Palin used scare words and
unsourced allegations while the ostensibly
biased piece just explains basic facts in a
straightforward manner and notes when
information on a topic isn’t known. The
piece goes through various religious angles
in Palin’s political life and looks at what’s
potentially disconcerting and what’s not.
After noting the much discussed prayer
about Iraq, Eastland writes:
Palin wasn’t telling the students that the
Iraq war is “God’s plan.” Instead she was
asking them to pray that the war would in
fact be a “task from God.” Beliefnet’s
Steve Waldman, defending Palin, wrote
that such a prayer is “a totally appropriate
desire for a Christian—and for a Christian
politician. . . . Where it gets problematic is
when [Christian politicians] feel God is
directing them to take particular steps or
claim divine endorsement for their
actions.”
Palin may have entered that problematic
area when she asked the students to pray
for the building of the Alaska natural gas
pipeline: “God’s will has to be done in
unifying people and companies to get that
gasline built. So pray for that.” Did Palin
mean here to say that “unifying people and
companies to get that gasline built” was
indeed God’s will? Or was this simply a
case of misspeaking?
Amazingly, Eastland didn’t use the word
“fundamentalist” once.
Note: Please keep comments limited to
media coverage. Not your personal views
of people who believe in creation. Not
your personal views of creation. Not your
personal views of Palin. Discussion media
coverage.
Here’s a second note, from tmatt:
Let’s be clear what MZ is saying. She is
talking about the AP Stylebook and what
these words actually mean. This has been a
major theme here at GetReligion since day
one. Click here to see some of that.
The best evidence is that Palin is an
“evangelical” in the context of US
religious history, not a “fundamentalist” as
that movement defined itself. That is why
the AP Stylebook says that the F-word
should not be used in this kind of context,
as an unsupported slur. To say that some
one believes the Bible or believes that it is
“literally true,” whatever that means, is not
enough to label that person a
“fundamentalist.” If the person is a
Protestant, it probably is safe to say they
are an “evangelical.”
Now, historically speaking, you can’t be
a Pentecostal Christian — some of whom
are not Trinitarian believers — and a
fundamentalist. These movements actually
clash on a regular basis. Ask any reporter
currently covering some battles within the
Southern Baptist Convention.
It is true that many newspapers have,
even AP reporters have, misused the F-
word in violation of their own stylebook.
That’s the point of MZ’s post.
The stylebook does not address the
blurring of definitions between creationism
and evolution, but it should. Historically,
the word Creationism referred to people
who accepted a seven-, 24-hour day
version of the biblical creation story.
Now, the word seems to apply to anyone
who believes that God played any
discernible role in creation — even
through a gradual, change-over-time,
common descent method of creation. The
key is whether this person rejects the
philosophical view that the process was
random and without purpose. You would
think that this position would be called
“theistic evolution,” but it is not. The
Materialist interpretations of the Darwinian
mechanism are what the late Pope John
Paul II spoke out against, while noting that
PLEA page 42
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Grasping Demons
By Mark Stricherz
Submitted at 9/28/2008 10:52:11 PM
Another controversial preacher is making
news. His name is Thomas Muthee, a
Kenyan pastor who has preached at Gov.
Sarah Palin’s former Assembly of God
church in Wasilla, AK and claims to have
cast out demons. Both Newsweek’s On
Faith blog and The Christian Science
Monitor ran stories about Muthee, and the
two were entirely different in subject
matter if not quality.
In his story for On Faith, David Waters
described the controversy, such as it is. He
noted that in 2005 Muthee used the term
witchcraft while delivering a public
intercessory prayer at Palin’s church; and
that in 2006 Palin gave credit to Muthee
for her victorious gubernatorial election:
Turns out, Muthee began his ministry
with a witch hunt against a Kenyan woman
he accused of causing car accidents
through demonic spells, according to the
Christian Science Monitor, which first
reported the story in 1999. Muthee
publicly declared the woman “a witch
responsible for the town’s ills, and order
her to offer her up her soul for salvation or
leave Kiambu . . . The woman fled.”
This past June, in a speech at Wasilla
AOG, Palin gave credit to Muthee for her
2006 election victory. In another now-
famous YouTube video, Palin says, “As I
was mayor and Pastor Muthee was here
and he was praying over me . . . He said
‘Lord make a way and let her do this next
step.’ And that’s exactly what happened.”
As far as I know, Waters described the
remarks of Muthee and Palin accurately
and fairly. What I do know is that Waters’
later conclusion gets religion. Waters
compares the hubbub over Muthee with
that of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright:
Keith Olbermann, MSNBC’s designated
derider and host of Countdown, was all
over Palin’s witch hunter connection last
Friday: “The Palin’s preacher problem:
The minister who laid hands on her at the
Wasilla Assembly of God in 2005, the one
she credits with helping make her a
governor, it turns out he makes Jeremiah
Wright look like Father Flanagan of Boys
Town,” Olbermann said in his opening.
Here we go again. People who were in a
lather about Wright’s sermons know as
little about African American church
rhetoric and black liberation theology as
people who are in a state about Muthee’s
sermons know about Pentecostal church
rhetoric and “spiritual warfare.”
Waters makes an unappreciated point:
For all of the controversy about the Rev.
Wright’s sermons, and to a much lesser
extent those of Muthee, the MSM rarely
shed light about their underlying theology.
Roughly speaking, the coverage was the
equivalent of CNN’s motto— All Politics,
All the Time.
Getting religion is not the problem of
The Christian Science Monitor’s story.
Reporter Jane Lampman did an excellent
job treating as a serious subject matter the
casting out of demons, of which Muthee is
a practitioner. Consider her lede:
Can the ‘spiritual DNA’ of a community
be altered?” That’s the question posed in a
Christian video called “Transformations.”
Kenyan pastor Thomas Muthee is
convinced that it can be. In 1988, he and
his wife, Margaret, were “called by God to
Kiambu,” a notorious, violence-ridden
suburb of Nairobi and a “ministry
graveyard” for churches for years. They
began six months of fervent prayer and
research.
Pondering the message of Eph.6:12 (“For
we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but
against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this
world. . .”), they prayed to identify the
source of Kiambu’s spiritual oppression,
Mr. Muthee says. Their answer: the spirit
of witchcraft.
Their research into the community
revealed that a woman called “Mama Jane”
ran a “divination clinic” frequented by the
town’s most powerful people.
After months of prayer, Muthee held a
crusade that “brought about 200 people to
Christ.” Their church in the basement of a
grocery store was dubbed “The Prayer
Cave,” as members set up round-the-clock
Religion* 41
intercession. Mama Jane counterattacked,
he says, but eventually “the demonic
influence - the ‘principality’ over Kiambu -
was broken,” and she left town.
The atmosphere changed dramatically:
Bars closed, the crime rate dropped, people
began to move to the area, and the
economy took an upturn. The church now
has 5,000 members, he says, and 400
members meet to pray daily at 6 a.m.
Lampman might have been tempted to
dismiss Muthee’s efforts. Instead, she
explained the larger religious context in
which it occurs; the controversy about it;
and its theological basis. I particularly
liked the quote below for its insight:
Russell Spittler, provost at Fuller
Theological Seminary, in Pasadena, Calif.,
suggests that the practices flourish most
among Pentecostals. “Pentecostals
approach Scripture literally, so they see the
world populated with demons. It is not a
far step to start naming them, assigning
them territories, devising prayer strategies.
For Pentecostals, ‘spiritual warfare’ is not
a metaphor - it’s reality.”
The weakness of Lampman’s story,
however, was that it did not get journalism
sufficiently.
Lampman takes at face value the claims
of spiritual warfare’s proponents without
seeking to verify or question them. For
example, did the efforts of one California
pastor really renew the town or was it
something else? and what do academics
have to say about such claims? At a
minimum, Lampman should have been
more honest empirically, noting that a
subject said such and such rather than
conveying the impression that such and
such was fact.
Top-notch journalism would only
improve the fascinating nature of the story.
Can religious people really drive out
demons? As the CST story shows,
religious leaders have to be as much at the
top of their game as do journalists.
Bookmark to:
42 Religion*
Parsing the Pulpit Freedom stories
By tmatt
Submitted at 9/29/2008 6:01:55 PM
So, “ Pulpit Freedom Sunday” has come
and gone and we have some initial
mainstream press reports.
So far, the event seems to have been a
mixed bag — much as I predicted last
week. Let’s walk through several pieces of
the Los Angeles Times report, starting at
the top:
Pastor Luke Emrich prepared his sermon
this week knowing his remarks could
invite an investigation by the Internal
Revenue Service. But that was the whole
point, so Emrich forged ahead with his
message: Thou shalt vote according to the
Scriptures.
“I’m telling you straight up, I would
choose life,” Emrich told about 100
worshippers Sunday at New Life Church, a
nondenominational evangelical
congregation about 40 miles from
Milwaukee. “I would cast a vote for John
McCain and Sarah Palin.. . . But friends,
it’s your choice to make, it’s not my
choice. I won’t be in the voting booth with
you.”
Latter, we read this description of
another sermon linked to the Alliance
Defense Fund:
Pastor Jody Hice of Bethlehem Baptist
Church in Bethlehem, Ga., said in an
interview Sunday that his sermon
compared Democrat Barack Obama and
Republican John McCain on abortion and
gay marriage and concluded that McCain
“holds more to a biblical world view.” He
said he urged the Southern Baptist
congregation to vote for McCain.
“The basic thrust was this was not a
matter of endorsing, it’s a First
Amendment issue,” Hice said. “To say the
church can’t deal with moral and societal
issues if it enters into the political arena is
just wrong, it’s unconstitutional.”
At that point, the newspaper calls in an
outside expert to evalute the situation and
we read:
Because the pastors were speaking in
their official capacity as clergy, the
sermons are clear violations of IRS rules,
said Robert Tuttle, a professor of law and
religion at George Washington University.
But even if the IRS rises to the bait and a
legal fight ensues, Tuttle said there’s
“virtually no chance” courts will strike
down the prohibition.
“The government is allowed, as long as it
has a reasonable basis for doing it, to treat
political and nonpolitical speech
differently, and that’s essentially what it’s
done here,” Tuttle said.
Do you see the problem? The expert
seems to have assumed that the two pastors
said the same thing.
Unless there are additional remarks
missing from this story, Emrich offered a
personal endorsement and then explicitly
said that he could not tell the faithful how
to vote. This is a wink-wink strategy that
has been used for years on the left and
right. In fact, I wrote about a famous case
on the left just the other day. Meanwhile,
the Georgia pastors seems to have tackled
the IRS law head on — in clear violation.
However, there is no evidence that the
Los Angeles Times team realized that it
was dealing with two different sermons
containing — yes, it is nuanced —
different messages.
Over at the Washington Post, the Pulpit
Initiative story opened with yet another
approach to this issue.
Defying a federal law that prohibits U.S.
clergy from endorsing political candidates
from the pulpit, an evangelical Christian
minister told his congregation Sunday that
voting for Sen. Barack Obama would be
evidence of “severe moral schizophrenia.”
The Rev. Ron Johnson Jr. told
worshipers that the Democratic
presidential nominee’s positions on
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
abortion and gay partnerships exist “in
direct opposition to God’s truth as He has
revealed it in the Scriptures.” Johnson
showed slides contrasting the candidates’
views but stopped short of endorsing
Obama’s Republican opponent, Sen. John
McCain.
In this case, the pastor proclaimed moral
judgment on a politician — but did not
endorse the politician’s opponent. This is
interesting, since it is very common for
pastors — again, left and right — to attack
the beliefs and policies of politicians by
name. This happened in sermons related to
the Iraq war, for example. That’s free
speech about a moral issue. The key is
when someone openly endorses a
candidate in the name of the religious
organization and tells the faithful to vote in
a particular way.
Now, it is true that the 1954 amendment
to the tax code, as the Post notes, states
that nonprofit, tax-exempt entities may not
“participate in, or intervene in. . . any
political campaign on behalf of any
candidate for public office.” Part of what
the ADF is testing is the meaning of the
word “intervene,” which could affect
behavior broader than open, corporate
endorsements. That’s the key, you see, and
that would affect a wide variety of
behaviors that have taken place in the past
on the left as well as the right.
Right now, the press is focusing on
voices on the right, with counter thrusts
from people who are very worried about
these activities on the right. I am still not
seeing signs that the reporters understand
that there are a variety of messages being
delivered here and some of them violate
the law, as currently written. It is not clear
that they all do.
Meanwhile, it’s clear that there are some
people on the right who are currently in big
trouble for using strategies that have also
been used on the left. Here’s hoping that
some reporters start comparing apples with
apples and oranges with oranges. Again,
let’s all say our mantra: Religious liberty is
messy, but it beats all the alternatives.
Bookmark to:
PLEA
continued from page 40
there are multiple interpretations of
Darwinian theory.
What MZ is calling for is a better use, by
journalists, of these important words —
which have historical meanings. Use
neutral language. Describe people’s
actions, without speculating on what they
mean. Allow them to label themselves, the
way you do other religious believers.
MZ is taking a side on the
JOURNALISTIC issue, based on history
and journalistic principles. When
newspapers — such as the Los Angeles
Times in this case — violate basic
journalistic principles, it begins to feel like
an editorial attack on a certain group or
class of people.
The bottom line: It’s bad, inaccurate,
journalism. And, as an agnostic Jewish
friend of mine once said, any industry that
spends a lot of its time mocking, or at best
ignoring, the most cherished beliefs of
roughly 30 to 40 percent of its potential
audience is not an industry that is serious
about its own survival. Is the goal to
produce smaller and smaller niche
publications after killing mainstream
journalism?
Thus, please discuss the journalism
issues. Period.
Bookmark to:
Abortion in a
strangely
faithless Russia
By tmatt
From time to time, readers on the left side
ABORTION page 44
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Building an image
By Mollie
Submitted at 9/28/2008 6:06:29 PM
Dubai, the largest city in the United Arab
Emirates, has long been known as an
influential port city. But it’s a huge tourist
destination as well. The city is constantly
building, allegedly claiming 15-25 percent
of the world’s cranes. It has the tallest man
-made structure, the only 7-star hotel,
massive man-made islands in the shape of
a palm tree. Half the time I see pictures of
Dubai, I’m unsure if what I’m seeing is
real or computer generated.
Reuters had an interesting report this
week about how the huge tourist industry
is creating a culture clash with the city’s
permanent population. Here’s how it
begins:
Sex on the beach or drunken trysts may
not raise eyebrows in many cities, but a
recent case in Dubai has exposed a
growing cultural divide between native
Muslims and Western residents seeking
fun in the sun.
The story of a British pair facing possible
jail terms on charges of having drunken
sex on the beach made headlines around
the world, but in Dubai, reports are
frequent of hapless foreigners falling foul
of local laws that strictly control drinking
and ban homosexuality or kissing in
public.
Um, correct me if I’m wrong, but public
sex on beaches actually raises eyebrows
most anywhere, right? I have been on
many beaches in my day and I’m pretty
sure public sex was a major no-no on them
all. As in, you would get arrested if caught.
Have laws in the West changed without me
knowing?
Certainly a discussion of traditional
Muslim life versus wild, crazy, drunken
tourist life is in order. But I think the
reporters may have oversold us on the lede.
Still, the article is really interesting.
Expatriates comprise 90 percent of the
population in Dubai and nationals say that
their identity is under threat. Dubai has
worked hard to build its image as a
cosmopolitan and modern city. Nationals
receive free housing, education and
healthcare and rulers redistribute oil wealth
in return for political loyalty, according to
the article.
The story paints a very black and white
picture. Westerners are crazed and the
Muslim population is law-abiding. It may
be convenient to set the story up that way,
but it’s not very nuanced. To that end,
readers may also want to check out
Michael Slackman’s piece in the New
York Times about the religious climate for
young Muslims in Dubai:
In his old life in Cairo, Rami Galal knew
his place and his fate: to become a
maintenance man in a hotel, just like his
father. But here, in glittering, manic Dubai,
he is confronting the unsettling freedom to
make his own choices.
Here Mr. Galal, 24, drinks beer almost
every night and considers a young Russian
prostitute his girlfriend. But he also makes
it to work every morning, not something he
could say when he lived back in Egypt.
Everything is up to him, everything: what
meals he eats, whether he goes to the
mosque or a bar, who his friends are.
The story uses Galal and other men
working in Dubai to show the differences
between the vibrant city and their home
cultures. Here’s the crux of the story:
Dubai is, in some ways, a vision of what
the rest of the Arab world could become —
if it offered comparable economic
opportunity, insistence on following the
law and tolerance for cultural diversity. In
this environment, religion is not something
young men turn to because it fills a void or
because they are bowing to a collective
demand. That, in turn, creates an
atmosphere that is open not only to those
inclined to a less observant way of life, but
also to those who are more religious. In
Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Algeria, a man
with a long beard is often treated as an
Islamist — and sometimes denied work.
Not here in Dubai.
“Here, I can practice my religion in a
natural and free way because it is a Muslim
country and I can also achieve my
ambition at work,” said Ahmed Kassab,
30, an electrical engineer from Zagazig
Egypt, who wears a long dark beard and
has a prayer mark on his forehead. “People
here judge the person based on
productivity more than what he looks like.
It’s different in Egypt, of course.”
I’m not sure if the implication is that
young men only turn to religion in other
places because “it fills a void” or because
they are “bowing to a collective demand.”
I get the point, but such declarative
statements should be better sourced.
Still, Slackman’s piece is fascinating. I
particularly like the way he compares the
experiences of Muslim expatriates who
have lived in the West and in Dubai. In
both places they have freedom, but the
difference is the surrounding culture. Well
worth a read.
Bookmark to:
Religion* Food* 43
Simple Cooked
Tomato Salsa
By Elise
Submitted at 9/21/2008 2:49:14 PM
My friend Arturo taught me how to make
this simple salsa the other day. He calls it
"Salsa Fresca", which he says is what this
salsa is called where he's from in Mexico.
What we in the states usually call salsa
fresca, a chunky salsa with chopped fresh
tomatoes, onions and chiles, is something
completely different. Looking for similar
recipes in some of Diana Kennedy's books
I find several references to "salsa de
jitomate" or simply, "tomato salsa", and
none for salsa fresca. But that's not
surprising. The names for dishes, and even
ingredients, can vary widely, depending on
where you are in the country.
Fortunately, the salsa is more simple than
its name's etymology. And likely you've
had it before, if you've ever stepped inside
a taqueria. There you usually have a choice
of salsas, one smooth, red, and hot, the
other made with chopped fresh tomatoes,
onions, and chiles. This would be the first,
the smooth, red and hot one. It's great for
dipping tortilla chips, or over quesadillas.
Continue reading "Simple Cooked
Tomato Salsa" »
44 Food* Religion*
ABORTION
continued from page 42
of the cultural aisle get upset with the
GetReligionistas because of the amount of
space we dedicate to abortion and other
“Culture of Life” issues.
We don’t hide the fact that we all back
traditional church doctrines on these
matters, which is not the same thing as
saying that we fit neatly into either
political party. However, confessing the
fact that you are a pro-lifer is just about all
you have to do these days to be labeled a
right-winger.
Anyway, it is impossible to talk about
media bias research in the late 20th century
and beyond without focusing on coverage
of abortion(and now, issues if marriage
and family). As recent elections have
demonstrated, these cultural and moral
issues are also linked to divisions between
the two parties — ragged divisions, but
divisions nonetheless — that often are
linked to religious beliefs and practice.
If you talk about abortion and the news,
you almost always end up talking about
religion and the news.
Thus, as an Eastern Orthodox Christian, I
was very interested in that recent Los
Angeles Times piece that ran under the
double-stacked headline, “Abortion foes
begin to make their case in Russia—
Doctors and politicians are quietly
struggling to change the nation’s casual
attitude toward the procedure.”
In many ways, it is a stunning piece —
full of the kind of candor, nuance and
moral confusion that surrounds abortion in
real life, yet rarely makes it into news
coverage. Abortion was part of the fabric
of life in the old Soviet Union and much of
that numbed culture remains. Yet there are
Garlic Chicken with White Wine Sauce
By Elise
Submitted at 9/26/2008 12:16:12 AM
A Simply Recipes reader, Ms. Annie M,
sent us a garlic chicken recipe she found
on Epicurious that looked so good we
couldn't wait to try it. (Annie, by the way,
knows how mortified I am by typos and
thoughtfully points them out to me
whenever she finds them on the site.) The
recipe is basically chicken pieces and a lot
of garlic cloves that have been browned in
olive oil and braised in white wine with
moral ghosts in the culture as well that
reveal themselves in strange ways. Here is
the top of the report:
Abortionist Marina Chechneva
remembers the old-style Russian
gynecologists who worked in state
hospitals and churned out back-to-back
abortions like Soviet factory workers. She
remembers the women who “used to use
abortion as a kind of vacation, because in
the U.S.S.R., they got three days off from
work.”
These days, Chechneva is writing
magazine articles about fetus development
in hope of raising public opposition to
abortion. After years of handling fetuses,
she explains, she has come to feel a
responsibility toward the unborn children.
“They should realize that what they’re
doing is already a murder,” she said.
A fledgling antiabortion movement is
beginning to stir in Russia. Driven by a
growing discussion of abortion as a moral
issue and, most of all, by a government
worried about demographics, doctors and
politicians are quietly struggling to lower
what is believed to be one of the world’s
highest abortion rates.
Read on. In effect, abortion is still a
means of birth control. Yet now, the
government wants to see more births — to
prevent the demographic suicide that is
affecting so much of Western and Easter
Europe and surrounding cultures.
Yet how do you talk about morality in
the new Russia? Well, how about a
religious frame of reference? Can the
“conveyor belt” of abortion — an image
from the story — judged as sinful?
The decision to choose abortion
herbs. The catch is the garlic. We used 40
unpeeled cloves. Lest the sheer volume of
garlic scare you off of this recipe, let me
shouldn’t be so casual, according to
Russian lawmakers.
“The spiritual position,” said Natalia
Karpovich, a leader of the State Duma
committee focused on family, women and
children, “should be that this is murder and
the woman who does this commits a sin.
Still, I want to stress it’s a woman’s
choice.”
Karpovich is among Russian lawmakers
who’ve pushed for media messages casting
abortion in a less neutral light. She also
supports new measures meant to encourage
childbirth by paying out cash bonuses and
opening new
day-care centers across the country.
“Like on packs of cigarettes or bottles of
alcohol, advertisements for abortion
services should be obligated to warn about
the consequences,” she said. “That they
may result in infertility, that some bad
changes may happen in
the female organism.”
So there are spiritual questions. But there
seems to be a major voice missing, some
major voice in Russian history, culture,
literature and thought. The word Tradition
— with a large “T” as in ancient church
fathers— factors into this.
Now, I am not arguing that this voice is
as powerful as it once was or that, in a post
-Soviet world, it has regain strength and,
tragically, integrity in all that it does. But
how can one write a story about this topic
without mentioning the Russian Orthodox
faith and tradition? Read the story. Did I
miss something?
Bookmark to:
reassure you that the browning and
braising mellows out the garlic
significantly, so it ends up tasting a lot like
roasted garlic. Leaving the peels on the
garlic is traditional in Mexican cooking, I
imagine it may be in Spanish cooking as
well? Not sure. But the peels do have
flavor, much like the shells of shrimp. You
don't eat them, but when the dish is done,
the garlic just slips out of them. Absolutely
delicious recipe, thank you Annie!
Continue reading "Garlic Chicken with
White Wine Sauce" »
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Twitter: Where the Party Is
By Elise describe without just diving in and signing
Submitted at 9/16/2008 7:39:07 PM
up (which is free by the way.) It's a service
that lets you post 140 character updates
Pssst... hey, did you hear about the party about yourself and broadcast them to
going on over at Twitter? It's huge. anyone who might be following you on the
Hundreds of the most fun, interesting, service. It also lets you follow the public
informative, and playful food bloggers are updates of anyone you want. The end
hanging out on this social networking result is that, if you follow enough people,
website, yakking away about almost stepping into Twitter is like stepping into a
everything, food and non-food related. party, with just the people you want to be
Ever want a peek into the lives behind the there. (See this New York Times article;
pretty pictures and recipes of your favorite Twitter coverage starts page 2.)
food bloggers? This is the place to be. ( Continue reading "Twitter: Where the
Simply Recipes is there too.) Party Is" »
So what's Twitter? It's a little hard to
Ch-ch-ch-changes at
GetReligion ’08
By tmatt
Submitted at 9/30/2008 4:17:07 PM
The other day, while I was meeting with a
bunch of Godbeat pros at the Religion
Newswriters Association ( here and here
for pieces of that), it hit me (ouch) that
GetReligion is creeping up on the fifth
anniversary of the day when Doug
LeBlanc clicked “publish” and put the
original test site online.
Then we posted the official first salvo in
the form of a on Feb. 1, 2004, letter to the
readers entitled “ What we do, why we do
it.” I think that this essay is still worth
reading, if you want to know what this site
is all about. Here’s the opening of that:
Day after day, millions of Americans
who frequent pews see ghosts when they
pick up their newspapers or turn on
television news. They read stories that are
important to their lives, yet they seem to
catch fleeting glimpses of other characters
or other plots between the lines. There
seem to be other ideas or influences hiding
CH-CH-CH-CHANGES page 46
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Newman’s exodus to . . . what, exactly?
By Douglas LeBlanc
Submitted at 9/30/2008 10:29:02 AM
Actor Paul Newman did not need steady
film roles to stay in the spotlight. Choose
your favorite Newman: unpretentious
neighbor in Westport, Conn.; octogenarian
race-car driver; entrepreneur and
philanthropist; political activist and
financial supporter of The Nation. One
chapter has proven more difficult to flesh
out: When and why did he become
interested in Unitarian Universalism, and
what did it mean to him?
Those questions come our way through
reader Robert Johnson, who submitted this
story idea to GetReligion:
The death 26 Sept of actor Paul Newman
has not received much coverage overall,
but there’s a major ghost in the little
coverage there is: Newman was a
Unitarian Universalist. No one is exploring
the role that his faith plays in the
Newman’s Own practice of distributing all
profits to charity.
This is another important story about
Unitarian Universalism following on the
shooting in the Knoxville church in August
(which has also slipped from the public
radar).
I realize the theology and politics of Get
Religion are conservative, but if you mean
what you say about covering ghosts, the
ghost in the Paul Newman’s obituary is a
pretty major one to address.
There’s little in the Web-accessible
record to establish that Newman’s interest
in Unitarian Universalism was the subject
of any reporting. It did not turn up in this
passage from a Time cover story,
published in 1982 when Newman starred
in The Verdict:
He was the second son of Arthur S.
Newman, a prosperous Jewish partner in a
sporting-goods store, and Theresa Fetzer, a
Hungarian-descended Catholic. By the
time Paul and his brother Arthur, now 58, a
film production manager living in Lake
Arrowhead, Calif., were children, Theresa
was a Christian Scientist. Paul’s exposure
to that faith did not make any lasting
impression (he has followed no religion as
an adult, but calls himself a Jew, “because
it’s more of a challenge”).
The Unitarian Universalist Association
of Congregations lists Newman among
several other famous UUs(including
Christopher Reeve, Pete Seeger and Kurt
Vonnegut). A UUA-distributed songbook,
Singing for the Green, includes this verse,
set to the tune of “Give Me That Old-Time
Religion”:
Well, it don’t take much acumen to
rejoice in being human,
Especially when you know Paul
Newman is a Unitarian too.
What’s surprising is that Newman’s
beliefs were not mentioned in multiple
settings in which it would have been
appropriate: John Nichols’ witty tribute for
The Nation, the official obituary (as it’s
identified by the Westport News), a public
statement by Newman’s five daughters, or
the fine collection of local tributes
published by the Westport News(including
this, this, this and especially this story by
Brian Lockhart (with contributions from
other writers).
Lockhart’s story includes this wonderful
story about Newman’s effort to help Ned
Lamont Jr. in his bid for the U.S. Senate:
Newman was one of Lamont’s early
supporters and made phone calls and
commercials for the upstart candidate.
“At first he just wanted to voice his
private support,” Lamont said. “He had
been public on behalf of a number of
candidates . . . and he remembered that a
Wall Street Journal columnist had been so
outraged they suggested boycotting
Newman’s salad dressing.”
Lamont said a week later Newman
changed his mind.
“He called back and said, ‘What the hell,
let’s do it,’” Lamont said, recalling how
Newman wrote his own robo-call script.
“It was the funniest thing,” Lamont said.
“He then called around the state just to test
it out and pretended he was a ‘robo call.’
He called me back up a day or so later and
said, ‘Ned, two people hung up, I got two
answering machines, and the fifth person
yelled to his wife — ‘It’s some quack
pretending to be Paul Newman.’”
Here’s hoping that Newman’s funeral
will be open to journalists, and that it will
shed further light on what he believed.
Image: From the trailer for Exodus, via
Wikimedia Commons.
Bookmark to:
Religion* Food* 45
Chicken
Enchiladas
Verdes
By Elise
Submitted at 9/8/2008 6:01:19 PM
The tomatillos in my garden are all
ripening at once. Have you ever cooked
with tomatillos? They look like little
lanterns, with their green papery husks.
Sometimes people mistake them for green
tomatoes (doesn't help that their Spanish
name is "tomate verde"); they are related to
tomatoes (same family, different genus),
but the taste is quite different. They are
used to make the distinctive Mexican salsa
verde or green salsa. In this chicken
enchiladas recipe, the sauce is made with
boiled tomatillos (you could also roast
them), serrano chile peppers, and sour
cream. The filling is made with shredded
meat from chicken thighs; the deeper
flavor of the dark meat holds up much
better to the chile and tomatillo sauce than
chicken breasts. I made these for dinner
tonight and even the kid, my young
nephew, went for seconds. Not a smidgen
of sauce was left on any of our plates.
Continue reading "Chicken Enchiladas
Verdes" »
46 Food*
CH-CH-CH-
continued from page 44
there.
One minute they are there. The next they
are gone. There are ghosts in there, hiding
in the ink and the pixels. Something is
missing in the basic facts or perhaps most
of the key facts are there, yet some are
twisted. Perhaps there are sins of omission,
rather than commission.
A lot of these ghosts are, well, holy
ghosts. They are facts and stories and faces
linked to the power of religious faith. Now
you see them. Now you don’t. In fact, a
whole lot of the time you don’t get to see
them. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t
there.
We’re still here, coming up on 4,000
posts and 45,000 comments later. We’re
still trying to praise the good, in
mainstream religion-news coverage,
dissect the bad and spot the ghosts.
Readers will want to know that
GetReligion is about to go through another
round of changes, in terms of the bylines
that you will be seeing.
First of all, I am oh so pleased to say that
the Rt. Rev. Douglas LeBlanc (yes, the
title is honorary) is returning to active
duty, as he nears the end of a large-scale
writing project — a book on tithing, title
still to be determined, for Thomas Nelson
that will be part of that mega-publisher’s
“Ancient Practices Series.” The powers
Quick Beef Stir-Fry with Bell Peppers
By Elise
Submitted at 9/22/2008 7:41:29 AM
Sometime in the mid-80s I gave my
father a subscription to Gourmet Magazine
for Christmas. I think this goes down in
family history as the most appreciated gift
ever given to him by one of his kids. He
continued to subscribe to Gourmet for at
that be are talking about a Feb. 12, 2010,
publishing date. Doug will be writing a
couple of times a week covering the corner
of the news world he knows and loves best
— magazines and online publications.
You will also see a new byline, that of
Elizabeth Eisenstadt-Evans. I will let her
introduce herself to you tomorrow as she
fills in some of the details of her work as
both a journalist and as an ordained
Anglican minister. The official tmatt tag
for her is “EEE.” I think that “EZEE”
would be a bit much.
What you need to know that she has
published a load of columns with the
Philadelphia Inquirer and you may have
seen her byline at the Washington Post’s
“On Faith” site, Publisher’s Weekly,
Christianity Today or elsewhere. She also
has media experience at the local level in
and around Lancaster, Pa.
Eisenstadt-Evans currently calls
Glenmoore, Pa., home, where she is busy
working as a freelance writer. Elizabeth’s
undergraduate degree is in English, from
Kirkland College in Clinton, N.Y., and she
has master’s degrees from Princeton
Theological Seminary and Rosemont (Pa.)
College.
At the same time, one of our regular
writers will depart.
Mark Stricherz has taken a full-time job
least 15 years. Over the last few years,
mostly to get ideas for this site, dad has
been skimming through decades old issues
that he still has in stashes all over the
house. Here's a recipe he came across last
week that was surprisingly good,
considering how simple the ingredients,
and how quickly and easy it was to cook.
The original recipe called for chuck, we
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
working for the online edition of the
Washington Times, which makes him an
active staff member at a major publication
that we cover day after day. We wish him
all the best and, I cannot emphasize this
too much, I expect that we will point
GetReligion readers towards his excellent
commentary work at his own blog from
time to time. Please click here to head over
to New Catholic Politics and see what he is
up to and why.
Meanwhile, the Divine Ms. MZ
Hemingway, young master Daniel “out in
the Heartland” Pulliam and I will continue
doing our thing in pretty much the same
fashion as always, although Daniel is
really swamped in law school right now
and his byline will appear a bit less often.
We are all busy people, but GetReligion
is something that we take very seriously,
because we really think that mainstream
journalists need to “get” religion if they
want to understand how the real world
works. You, the readers, are a crucial part
of this because you keep us on our toes and
you help us spot the good, the bad and
even the ugly in the media that you
consume.
Oh, and please help us look for ghosts.
Bookmark to:
thin, and cut across the grain, you could
easily use chuck. I also added sliced onions
to the peppers because well, steak and
onions are just plain good.
Continue reading "Quick Beef Stir-Fry
with Bell Peppers" »
used top sirloin, which made the beef strips
very tender, but because the strips are so
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper Religion* Food* 47

Getting Appalachians
By Mark Stricherz
Submitted at 10/1/2008 2:15:02 AM

Not so long ago, in the days when the

country’s financial system was not falling
down a cliff, Barack Obama was said to
have a problem with white Appalachians.
He couldn’t connect with them; he didn’t
speak their language; he had denigrated
them. Why?
Some writers had speculated about the
reasons. Yet Peter Boyer of The New
Yorker must be one of the few reporters
who has done in-depth reporting on the
issue. And his latest story deserves a wide
audience, not least for its emphasis on the
importance of religion to Appalachians,
especially those who live in the swing state
of Virginia.
Perhaps the story’s chief virtue are the
quotes that Boyer got from his interview
subjects. Here is David (“Mudcat”)
Saunders, a Democratic strategist, about
the hurdles that Obama faces this Grilled Wild Salmon with Preserved
November:
If Obama loses Virginia, Saunders says,
it will be because he didn’t succeed in
Lemon Relish
breaking down cultural barriers. Obama’s By Elise should be cooked the day you get it. Now,
famous remark, made at a fund-raiser in Submitted at 9/13/2008 5:16:42 PM
according to my favorite grilling experts,
San Francisco, that rural voters are bitter, Andrew Scholss and David Joachim (
which causes them to cling to religion and My father walked through the door the Mastering the Grill, excellent book, must
guns, lingers in the heartland. “I don’t pray other day with half of a fresh whole wild have if you are into grilling), wild salmon
because of resentment—I pray because it example, this one ain’t bad) about the both sides of the Civil War. In “ Born salmon, announcing to me that he would is great to grill whole, and easier to do so
makes my life better,” Saunders says. “I Scotch-Irish or Scots-Irish, yet this was the Fighting,” his 2004 book about the Scots- like me to grill it. Sure dad! When than farmed salmon, because it tends to be
don’t have a gun because of first time that I have read a writer note Irish influence in American life, Webb someone presents truly fresh fish to you, thinner, easier to cook through without
resentment—I’ve got a gun because I’ve their religious denomination. summarized the culture’s core ethos: there really isn't a "save it for another day" getting dried out on the edges.
always had one. I don’t ever remember not To take another example, Boyer nicely Fight. Sing. Drink. Pray. option. The thing to do is to keep it chilled Continue reading "Grilled Wild Salmon
having a gun of some kind.” summarized Sen. Jim Webb’s depiction of The story had only two real errors in my and cook it as soon as you can. Save for with Preserved Lemon Relish" »
Although Saunders worked for John his people: view. One was nominal (and not related to tomorrow? Fuggetaboutit. Fresh fish
Edwards in the primary, his on-the-record Webb has been thinking and writing religion). Virginia Polytechnic University,
quote was candid for a Democratic about such people for forty years. When he the school that former Gov. Mark Warner
strategist, especially a few months before a turned to writing after serving as a Marine helped persuade the Atlantic Coast
presidential election. Boyer did a good job infantry officer in Vietnam, he became Conference to admit in its conference, is
not only identifying Saunders as a fine obsessed with the American cultural better known as Virginia Tech University.
interview subject, but also letting his divide, and the fact that his people, the The other was an omission of fact: John
subject speak. Scots-Irish, stood so firmly on one side. McCain is Scots-Irish on his dad’s side.
Another virtue of the story were Boyer’s The descendants of the Ulster warrior clans Might not that fact contribute to Obama’s
summaries of Appalachian life. Sprinkled that settled the Appalachian frontier were a problem? (Admittedly, Obama fared
throughout the story are interesting proud, ornery lot, deeply patriotic and poorly against Hillary Clinton with this
references to religion; Boyer notes, for always ready for a fight. They invented group of voters.)
example, that most of the original Scotch- country music, fostered the form of But that is a quibble. This story got
Irish settlers were Calvinists. I have read democracy named for their kinsman religion.
several long magazine articles (for Andrew Jackson, and supplied generals on Bookmark to:
48 Religion*
Where does 007 kneel?
By dpulliam
Submitted at 9/28/2008 9:45:37 PM
Religion is not the first topic that comes
to mind for James Bond, the MI6 agent
portrayed in dozens of movies, numerous
print productions, more than a handful of
video games and who knows how many
parodies. I know the next Bond film
Quantum of Solace is scheduled for
released in November, but this weekend
isn’t too early to take a light-hearted look
at the possible religious faith of this
womanizing, fearless secret agent thanks in
large part to The Times’ Faith Central
blog.
Libby Purves, a Times columnist,
novelist and radio broadcaster, asks the
question that most people probably think
when they consider whether Bond ever
knelt at church: “Does James Bond have
faith in anything but himself?”
However, Purves brings out some of the
cultural influences shaping the Bond
character and describes the character’s
worldview in a manner that brings out
some of the morality behind the Bond
movies (which is a much better
conversation starter than “Who is your
favorite Bond girl or actor?”):
Ian Fleming gave Bond a Scottish father
Andrew Bond, which for this blogger
indicates 007 was a protestant of some
description. Fleming himself was brought
up in the non-conformist tradition and
from time to time worried about the moral
effect Bond was having.. . ..
The apparent lack of moral framework in
the novels caused some reviewers to label
them “anti-Christian” but Kingsley Amis
put it well when he rebutted those
RELIGIOUS
continued from page 48
not run the Danish cartoons about the
prophet Muhammad.
Oliphant wasn’t surprised that it didn’t
run in print. “Many publications are too
timid” to run some of his work, he said,
but “the Web is giving us more of a solid
venue.”
What’s weird is that The Post has
different standards for its print and online
editions. I have absolutely no problem with
this cartoon running in print or online, but
why in the world is it not okay to defame
accusations.
“I should have thought that a fairly
orthodox moral system, vague perhaps but
none the less recognizable through
accumulation, pervades all Bond’s
adventures. Some things are regarded as
good: loyalty, fortitude, a sense of
responsibility, a readiness to regard one’s
safety, even one’s life, as less
important than the major interests of one’s
organization and one’s country. Other
things are regarded as bad: tyranny,
readiness to inflict pain on the weak or
or perpetuate racial, religious or ethnic
stereotypes in print but it’s totally
awesome to defame or perpetuate racial,
religious or ethnic stereotypes online?
The cartoon is still proudly up on the
Washington Post site. It’s not like it ran
one early morning via the automatic feed
and then was quickly removed when the
editors realized it violated policy.
The website’s executive editor says that
the paper is all for showing as many
cartoons as possible online and allowing
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
helpless, the unscrupulous pursuit of
money or power. These distinctions aren’t
excitingly novel, but they are important,
and as humanist and/or Christian as the
average reader would want. They
constitute quite enough in the way of an
ethical frame of reference, assuming
anybody needs or looks for or ought to
have one in adventure fiction at all.” (From
The James Bond Dossier 1965)
I doubt any future movies will give us a
sense for Bond’s religious faith. Some
actions movies, like the 1999 gangster
movie The Boondock Saints draw religion
right into the central plot and design of the
movie with intense religious imagery and
spiritualism. Others seem on the surface to
be more humanistic such as the Bond films
or perhaps Mission Impossible(though I
could be forgetting something, and I never
saw MI3).
The gangster movie Pulp Fiction is rather
famous for the fabricated quotation derived
from various Bible passages by the
contract killer Jules Winnfield (played by
Samuel L. Jackson). The main theme of
Religious caricature double
this past summer’s blockbuster The Dark
Knight was goodness triumphing over evil,
moral choices, the corruption of the
standard?
public’s virtues and (false?) redemption. By Mollie God and St. Peter at the Pearly Gates.
Which movie best portrays the real Submitted at 9/30/2008 3:24:23 PM
Of course, I think offense is what
world: one that merely pretends that Oliphant was going for. What Howell
human drama plays out in a world without Just as Young Man Pulliam said last neglected to mention in her lengthy
higher powers or one that recognizes that week, Deborah Howell devoted her most column was that Oliphant was so ignorant
religion plays a real role in people’s lives. recent ombudsman column to the of Palin’s religious views that he didn’t
Perhaps this is something movie reviewers controversy over Pat Oliphant’s anti- even know that she is no longer
should highlight more often? Pentecostal cartoon that was published on Pentecostal. Yes, she was Pentecostal or, at
Photo of Ian Fleming’s image of James WashingtonPost.com. Howell had noted in least, attended a congregation with
Bond used under a fair use license. an earlier column that readers were right to Pentecostal roots. No, there is no evidence
Bookmark to: complain over the cartoon. This weekend, she ever had the “gift of tongues.” But
she ran a lengthier piece about political what do facts matter when we’re
cartooning in general. journalists talking about Palin, eh?
More than 750 readers from around the Much of the article deals with the fact
country — more than I heard from about that most political cartoonists are liberal
the readers to express their own opposition the financial crisis — told me they were and the politics of cartooning, which is
to them. Which doesn’t quite explain why mightily offended. Many were interesting but mostly tangential to this
they didn’t run those Mohammed cartoons Pentecostals, whose worship can include post. She also discussed the fact that the
last year. Seems like that would have been speaking in tongues; complaints also came Palin cartoon did not appear in print, just
the consistent thing to do. And it looks like from mainline Christians and from Charles online through an automatic feed:
the Buddhist from Colorado is making the Martin, a Buddhist in Boulder, Colo., who I showed it to several Post editors. While
same point. He’s asked Howell to explain said “it offends me.” it was clever in some ways, most editors
the discrepancy. Hopefully she’ll get back McCain and Palin are certainly fair — including me — would not have run it.
to him and enlighten us all. game, but most of those offended by the The Post has a policy against defaming or
Bookmark to: cartoon felt it mocked all Pentecostals. perpetuating racial, religious or ethnic
Most cartoonists don’t go out of their way stereotypes. That was why The Post did
to lambaste religion. But the pope is a
frequent editorial cartoon character, as are
RELIGIOUS page 48