The Oklahoma Full Auto Shoot

Fun for the whole family?

Link to Goggle video (via Zoli's blog).

A Beauty Redirect, eh?

What a great Roger Ailes, FOX News, Repubican, Carlyle Group redirect on the issue of a UAE related company on tap to manage American Ports.

Link to Media Matters.

Lipton on iTunes?

Yup. Word has it that Bravo has done a deal to make "Inside The Actors Studio" available for download via the iTunes store. Anyone seeing a trend here? :-)

Link to the AppleBlog

Great Volkswagon Ad

for the new GTI.

Link.

Who needs discounted oil...

Won't someone PLEASE think of the shareholders!

Link to Citgo investigation.

R.I.P. "The Incredible Mr. Limpet"

Sure his roles in "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken", "Mayberry RFD" (Barney Fife) and even "Three's Company" (Mr. Furley) were great... but I loved him as "The Incredible Mr. Limpet"... I will miss him.

Link to BoingBoing.

Morrissey, Public Enemy?

I always thought the most subversive lyric he penned was "hang the D.J.", apparently the FBI and British Intelligence thought so to :-)

Link to AlterNet.

Kudos to inventor of the CCD chip

And to think that the real reason the CCD (the "Charged Couple Device" found in all consumer video cameras and digital cameras) was invented was to provide the CIA and the NSA with real time satellite imagery from space... and it was co-invented by a Canadian:

"Willard Boyle, a Canadian scientist who helped invent a light-sensitive chip, accepted a prestigious engineering award in the U.S. on Tuesday. Boyle and George Smith will share the $500,000 US award for the invention of the "Charge-Coupled Device (CCD), a light-sensitive component at the heart of digital cameras and other widely used imaging technologies," the U.S. National Academy of Engineering said. Some of the best-known applications of the invention are in consumer electronics, such as digital cameras, video cameras, and scanners."

Link to CBC story.

Open Source Telecom

Here's a great post from Om Malik on current trends in Open Source Telecom.
"Ouch" if you're an incumbent.

Link to GigaOm.

Analyst opinion on Apple

An interesting analyst note on Apple's forthcoming products. Well worth a quick read of this one page doc.

The RIM-NTP Media Circus

Judge James Spencer.

Mark Evans has a great press round up on the RIM / NTP patent lawsuit and the expected announcment tomorrow from a Richmond VA court house. Link.

WiFi's "Bad Vibes" at Lakehead University

I really feel sorry for Lakehead University President, Fred Gilbert.
By banning WiFi on campus because of potential health risks to students he's exposed himself to the wrath of geeks and techno-bloggers worldwide.
("won't someone PLEASE think of the children!" ;-)

It's Tin Foil Hat time Fred...

Link to BoingBoing. Link to WiFi Networking News.

MacBook Pro

The new dual core 2GHz MacBook Pro's are now shipping.
All is revealed here.

Mentos + Diet Pepsi = Crazy Explosive?

In my humble opinion, this guy should be wearing Scuba goggles :-)

Link to Google video (via "Dead Parrot Society").

Great '60's & '70's Live Music

Check out "Wolfgang’s Vault", a repository of all kinds of materials from the Bill Graham collection. Vault Radio continuously streams rare live recordings from the sixties and seventies. Some great vintage recordings of Elvis Costello, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Bruce Springsteen, CCR… the list goes on and on. Very cool!

Link to Vault Radio.

and for those of you with Apple Airport Express devices, check out Airfoil from Rouge Amoeba, a great piece of software that let's you send audio from any Mac OS X application (Safari, Firefox, Quicktime Player, etc.) directly to your Airport Express.

Endangered Species?

The Dick Cheney hunting incident has revealed that he indeed shot at an endagened species -- a moderate Texas Republican.

Mobile Plans?

Ideas, thoughts and speculation on Apple's Mobile Mojo.

UPDATE: and on a related note, from InfoWorld's Ephraim Schwartz article "Apple follows the money" (via the "All About Mobile Life" blog):

* I quickly realized that Apple’s consumer strategy is not unlike IBM’s enterprise strategy; both see their future as facilitators, by which I mean each wants to be the premier middleware vendor for its marketplace.

* In essence, Apple is saying, “All of that consumer electronics gear is unimportant. Get the equipment you want at the best price. We’ll take care of the hard stuff that makes using it worthwhile.”

* If Apple can convince consumers that the Mac is the link that allows them to easily access all of their electronic gadgets, they will have pulled off quite a coup. By blending high tech and consumer electronics like nobody else, Apple reduces vendors like Hitachi, Samsung, and Sony to mere hardware shadows, waiting to be commoditized.

* Like IBM, Apple appears to understand that in a world of cheap labor and commoditized products, service becomes the competitive differentiator.

Link to his InfoWorld article.

Great tips on writing

... from Elmore Leonard, courtesy of Merlin at 43 Folders.

Link.

Word of God - copyright 2006.

I've had this one laying around for a while... from the Times OnLine (UK):
"THE Vatican has been accused of trying to cash in on the Pope’s words after it decided to impose strict copyright on all papal pronouncements."
... blessed be the decision makers on this one :-)

Link to Doc Searls.

Joseph Campbell on Love

Seems like the perfect day to post this again (22 min video).

Small is the New Big?

"Hallelujah! Testify! Say it again Brother!" :-)

Link to Jeff Jarvis' BuzzMachine here .

Ottawa's Iotum

Check out this video from DEMO 2006 of Ottawa based Iotum:

"iotum™ is the world's first platform to intelligently filter, rank and prioritize calls based on their relevance to you. Using your contextual information and preferences, iotum™ knows who’s calling, whether you want to take the call, and which phone you want to use. You get the calls you want, where you want – and next time your phone rings, thanks to iotum™ you’ll know it’s totally, completely, always, simply relevant."

Link to DEMO 2006 video.

Me as a Simpsons Character!

This site is way cool :-)

Link to "SimpsonsMaker" via Lisa Rein.

Neil Young film by Jonathan Demme

"A new documentary from director Jonathan Demme captures an intense live performance by Neil Young. But equally intense were the circumstances surrounding the Nashville concert, which took place months after Young underwent life-threatening surgery."

This is a REALLY great interview... Neil is both introspective and funny, well worth the 40 minutes.

Link to NPR radio program "Fresh Air" and it's Real audio stream.

Link to a 40MB MP3 audio file I created that you can download and throw on your iPod/iTunes or just listen to on your computer.

UPDATE: I'm pretty sure this is the procedure that Neil referenced in treating his aneurysm.

Video iPod Rumor

Lordy, I hope this is true :-)
I'm not buying a Video iPod until it has a decent sized 16 x 9 widescreen aspect ratio.

Link to ThinkSecret.

What's it Worth?

These guys offer up:
"Free, Instant Valuations and Data on 60,000,000 Homes"
(US only)

I call this kind of application "Data Porn" for middle aged people :-)
Keep an eye on these guys.

Link to Zillow.

UPDATE: Jeff Jarvis from BuzzMachine chimes in here.

Your Brain on SuperBowl Ads

The results are in, here and here.
Via Xeni at BoingBoing.

MacGuyer returns!

Check out the Master Card / MacGuyer Super Bowl ad.
Link to video.

UPDATE: Google Video is hosting all the Super Bowl Ads here.

Bubble? What Bubble?

Interesting data on the California Real Estate market.

Link via Paul Kerodsky.

SONY: Threat Models and Business Models

Professor Ed Felton writes:

"Alex and I are working on an academic paper, “Lessons from the Sony CD DRM Episode”, which will analyze several not-yet-discussed aspects of the XCP and MediaMax CD copy protection technologies, and will try to put the Sony CD episode in context and draw lessons for the future."

Link to Felton's blog; "Freedom to Tinker".

End of the internet?

"The nation's largest telephone and cable companies are crafting an alarming set of strategies that would transform the free, open and nondiscriminatory Internet of today to a privately run and branded service that would charge a fee for virtually everything we do online."

I mean, is there anyone out there who actually thought this WASN'T going to happen?
1) give something away for free
2) get people hooked
3) then start charging for it

Link to MeFi post.

Rumors

This idea has been floating around for a while now... Google crams 100 grand worth of servers and WiFi gear into a Shipping Container sized mobile appliance and plunks them down in dense population centers all over the earth.

SmartMobs reports:

"A leading content provider, who did not wish to be named, told Times Online: "We are in discussions with Google to provide content for their alternative internet service, to be distributed through their Google Cube product. As far as I'm aware they have been conducting negotiations with a number of other players in our marketplace to provide quality content to their users."
However, industry insiders fear that the development of a network of Google Cubes powered over a Google-owned internet network will greatly increase the power that Google wields over online publishers and internet users.

Should Google successfully launch an alternative network, it is is theoretically possible for them to block out competitor websites and only allow users to access websites that have paid Google to be shown to their users."

... but what if Google doesn't "block out" competitor websites?


Link to SmartMobs.

Malcolm Gladwell on Profiling

"Malcolm Gladwell has penned an interesting New Yorker article wherein he uses pit bull breeding as an analogy for profiling criminals and terrorists. His article has some important implications for the employment of data mining technology in profiling."

Link to SmartMobs.

RC Flying on Steroids

I could make some mean paper gliders in High School but this... is insane.

Link to video via Engadget.

Tim's carries Wendy's

"Tim Hortons carried the day at Wendy's International Inc. — again in the fourth quarter — as consumers on both sides of the border ate more doughnuts and fewer hamburgers.

Tim's contribution was recognized by the Dublin, Ohio hamburger chain Friday, a far cry from the early days when U.S. analysts questioned whether Canadian-style doughnuts would ever sell in the United States."


Dr. Atkin's must be rolling in his grave.

Link to the CBC.

Great Katrina comment

Great Katrina comment about commercial and media realities, via Jeff Jarvis' BuzzMachine.

Science Project

Here's a cool video of my friend Keith's Science Project.
His Mom and Dad only helped a little and I was the unpaid, outside, "pneumatics" consultant :-)

Apple Tablet: The patent saga continues

Another Apple Tablet patent shows up at the USTPO

Link via Engadget.

Eleanor Rigby

Check out this amazing performance by Stanley Jordan.
Via Google video.

Vroom Vroom!

If it made me work any faster I'd order one tomorrow!

Link via BoingBoing.

Joseph Campbell on Love

This is about 22 mins in length but well worth it:



NOTE: If playback is a bit jerky or slow just hit the pause button and watch the progress of the download status bar. Once the video finishes loading hit the play button for smooth viewing.

Why Digital Media is for real...

"The Economic Times (Via Agencyfaqs.com): A great interview with Brian Fetherstonhaugh, digital evangelist and chairman & CEO of OgilvyOne Worldwide, on the debate between digital media and traditional media. While marketers are increasingly realising the potential of the digital media, there is no all out adoption."

Link to ContentSutra.