July 2008
52 posts
Can Congress tweet? Should bloggers care? →
I have a new article up on Ars Technica about how House rules prohibit members of Congress from using YouTube, Twitter, uStream, Qik, etc. to communicate with their constituents. These are simply outdated rules, but as Congress considers how to amend them, the blogosphere needs to make sure they get it right. Do me a solid and Digg the story.
Can Congress tweet? Should bloggers care?
Continuing my campaign to bring attention to congressional web use rules, I have an article up at Ars Technica today. Bottom line:
Although the partisan tensions have now subsided a bit, the greater problem persists. Culberson’s use of video-sharing and microblogging technology continues to violate House rules. So do Speaker Pelosi’s YouTube channel, Digg profile, Flickr page, and Facebook...
First It Was Song Downloads. Now It’s Organic... →
Peter Sunde, a Pirate Bay founder … said his site does not collect statistics about downloads because of privacy concerns, but generally, he said, the volume of e-book downloads had increased.
Although the article doesn’t mention it, I’ve got to believe the Kindle will drive this phenomenon. The publishers response? DRM.
Google and Comcast, sitting in a tree...
Tom Hazlett’s latest column in the FT tries to make us all pay more attention to the Clearwire deal. Even those of us here at the TLF have been remiss in following the venture. As Tom points out, the fact that open-spectrum and net-neutrality stalwarts such as Google and Intel are in bed with Comcast and Sprint tells us a lot. He writes:
Municipal Wi-Fi Adieu. When local government networks...
Is McCain Planning a Thursday Surprise? →
Sen. Barack Obama’s planned speech in Berlin is expected to lead the political news on Thursday, but there are some indications Sen. John McCain’s campaign might be planning a surprise announcement.
First, he cancels his press availability on Wednesday.
Then, he cancels a previously unannounced trip to an off-shore oil rig in Louisiana.
And now he abruptly changes his schedule to...
The new episode of the podcast is up. In this...
NYT: Conservative Thinkers Think Again →
Indeed, to Ms. McArdle, the possibility of a Republican defeat holds a certain romantic appeal. “Younger people are kind of excited about being in the wilderness,” she said, evoking the pre-Reagan years when Republican thinkers plotted their revolution at nonprofit organizations and in bars instead of in the Executive Office Building and congressional majority offices. The longer you’re in power,...
WatchAirplane eightball ying-yang glasses mailbox open mailbox.
“No matter who you are, or where you live, or how much money you make … you...”
– FCC Commisioner Michael “FDR” Copps
“Had terrible travel problems last night back from Boston but did not Twitter...”
– Jonathan Coulton
Reading Device Enlisted to Help French Papers →
“A recent global survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers showed that readers, on average, were willing to pay only 47 percent of the cover price of a magazine for the equivalent publication in electronic form.”
The medium is not the message
Over on the Open House Project blog, John Wonderlich ponders what would sensible web-use rules for members or Congress look like. As I’ve noted here recently, both the House and Senate are looking to update the types of restrictions they place on how their members may use internet technologies. John writes:
The question now before the Franking Commission is how to update what Pelosi and...
“The only thing I’m concerned about is that if you post some video, you don’t see...”
– Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.) explaining why members of Congress shouldn’t be allowed to post videos to new media sites unless they’re sanitized of ads.
I still can’t get over the fact that this...
Cocktails for OS X iPhone →
Very cool iPhone app that makes it super easy to access over 1,500 cocktail recipes based on name, base liquor, flavor, and other criteria. You can also tweet what you’re drinking. Check out the demo video.
Your precious coffee policy →
I love the Zellig-like Jacob Grier, but he’s totally wrong on Murkygate:
Anyway, there’s three things to take away from this. One, don’t be a dick on the internet. Two, trust your barista. Three, pay a visit to Murky.
I agree the guy was a bit of a dick, but I would have seen red, too. “Trust your barista?” I’ll trust ‘em to suggest a better drink and steer me in...
The Trollope Method
I recently read “How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing,” by Paul J. Silvia and have now just finished a gentleman’s read of “Autobiography of Anthony Trollope.” The former is modern-day implementation of a system developed by the latter that has so far has worked wonders for me.
Trollope’s method consisted of writing on a...
Memo to Congress: We can handle new media
As Cord noted here a week ago, a letter from Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.) suggesting changes to Congress’s rules governing how members may post videos to the Internet stirred a firestorm of commentary that culminated in a letter from Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a New York Times article, an NPR story, and a petition effort from the Sunlight Foundation that can be found at...
Will Little Havana Go Blue? →
From the NYT Magazine on Sunday comes this article echoing an article I wrote three years ago arguing that Cubans are, and have always been, New Deal Democrats, vote Republican only because of Cuba policy and the embargo, and that as the older generation of exiles dies out, South Florida politics would shift to more liberal. Here’s former Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez, who is challengin Rep....
“I am learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon,...”
– John McCain in an interview with the NYT.
WatchMom at Eastern Market. Photos are here.
Whatever Martin says, the FCC's 'Internet Policy...
According to the Associated Press, FCC Chairman Kevin Matin will circulate an order recommending enforcement action against Comcast “for violating agency principles that guarantee customers open access to the Internet.” Reports the AP,
Mr. Martin’s order would require Comcast to stop its practice of blocking, provide details to the commission on the extent and manner in which the...
WatchHow Not To Use The Drive Through ATM.
NYT: Goodbye, Fake Steve Jobs →
The most interesting thing to come out of news that the Fake Steve Jobs blog is shutting down:
Mr. Lyons built on the appeal of his blog to publish a novel, “Options: The Secret Life of Steve Jobs,” and sold the movie rights to production house Media Rights Capital.
Seriously? That’s a movie I’d pay to see, but who else? It’s a big inside joke among about 100,000 people. Maybe...
Community organizing - Wikipedia, the free... →
Community organizing is a process by which people are brought together to act in common self-interest. While organizing describes any activity involving people interacting with one another in a formal manner, much community organizing is in the pursuit of a common agenda. Many groups seek populist goals and the ideal of participatory democracy. Community organizers create social movements by...
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My big idea
The Aspen Institute’s Ideas Festival is taking place right now and I’ve noticed folks posting their own “big ideas”. Here’s my big idea of late: make Congress vote on regulations that cost over a certain amount.
There are two ways government can spend money. First by raising revenues through taxation and other means and then spending them money, and second by making...
John “Lucky Dice” McCain: The Gambling Man →
Reason #353278 John McCain Will Make a Terrible President: He’s a Gambling Addict. From TNR: “McCain is a high-stakes craps player who loves the pure, adrenalin-pumping, rush of the game. Obama is an exceedingly low-stakes poker player who sizes up his odds methodically and rarely loses money.”
Turmoil Continues in McCain Campaign →
It seems none of the competing advisers working on Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign can actually agree who is in charge.
I said this before about Hillary Clinton and I’ll say it now about McCain: The only evidence of executive performance we have of the senators running for president is how they run their campaigns.
New Quicksilver builds →
Apparently, Quicksilver is not dead and development is progressing. A couple weeks ago I couldn’t take it any longer and switched to LaunchBar. Doesn’t have many great Q features, but man is it fast.
Why video fails
Here’s Scoble today (who I keep thinking I’ve removed from my news reader):
Here’s an interview with Topix’ CEO, Chris Tolles, having a conversation with me about the online community business. How is he doing it? He covers his advertising, his marketing, and other aspects of his business. He also discusses the differences between “normal people” and people who read TechCrunch and hang...
Watchlonelysandwich:
David Lynch on Where Ideas Come From
The money quote is towards the end—something about Van Gogh with diarrhea.
via The Morning News
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Behind the Viral Video: What's Fake, What's Real →
(NPR’s Talk of the Nation) Internet entrepreneur Jonah Peretti, hula-hooping viral video star Lauren Bernat and TV Week contributing writer Daisy Whitney talk about the highly controlled world of “viral video” and what’s real, what’s fake and how video became a big gun in the online marketing arsenal. (via moth.)
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FedEx to Kill Kinko’s →
For three years in high school and college I worked at Kinko’s making copies and later desktop publishing. Sad to see FedEx kill the brand. But it had it coming.
In recent times, the brand has been known not for their conveniences and know-how, but for slacker staff, long turnaround times, and sky-high prices. $2 for a single sheet of colour printing? Cmon.
Recent times? I remember...
James - Hey Ma (live at KCRW).
WatchThis is the caption.
