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17 Aug 2009 23:13

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Music: ShortFormBand: SUNBEARS! makes us feel cheery and excited

Sunbears

  • Whoa, what is this?

    In our continuing effort to try new things, here’s our latest: Band coverage! This time, SUNBEARS! completely ignores our rules on brevity, but because we like their pop-laden music so much, we learn not to be such sticklers. Want to see your band here? E-mail us or bug us on Twitter!

    Listen to them

    Q1: In 15 words or less, describe your sound: Interesting music with a bit of pop-sensibility.

    Q2: Name three influences that inspire you, with three words each on why they’re awesome:
    Scriptures/texts (any religious/philosophical scripture/text will do): To get inside the heads of thinkers/spiritualists long past no matter how bonkers or completely boring they may be.
    The outdoors: Because there’s always something more to look at.
    Real smiles: Because it’s always inspiring to witness someone being truly happy.

    Q3: What’s a recent song you’ve been digging? Write ten words explaining why:
    Animal Collective – “My Girls”: I love the beginning with the triplet synth part, how swimmy it all is, until the beat drops on brings it all together.

    Q4: In 140 characters or less, how do you use social networking to get the word out: Just using things like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter to communicate with people in an everyday sort of way. “What’s up? What’s happening!? These are my thoughts…”

    Q5: In 15 words or less, what’s next for you? To keep pushing forward. Writing more tunes, Playing more shows. source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Aug 2009 22:29

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Biz, Politics: Alan Greenspan thinks the economic recovery is fleeting

  • I think we’re OK for the next six months. We are getting a recovery in (housing) starts and motor vehicles, but the process doesn’t have legs to it.
  • Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan • Giving his prognosis for the economy. Greenspan spent 18 years chairing the reserve, and he knows what he’s talking about. Greenspan’s tenure has been attacked by some critics who say that the housing bubble burst on his dime, but he defends what he did during the time there. One interesting factoid that came out of this: Greenspan says the auto market is oversaturated, with 20 percent more vehicles on the road than licensed drivers. What’s wrong with that? Everyone needs a car AND a truck! • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Aug 2009 22:13

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Biz, Tech: Albert Gonzalez probably has your credit card number

  • 130 million numbers were stolen by him and two Russians source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Aug 2009 22:00

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Tech: Why EveryBlock’s success should be a call to arms for savvy techies

EveryBlock

Journalism needs ideas like EveryBlock. Everyone's complaining about losing jobs and how big media organizations like the Associated Press don't get it. Why don't you help write the plot? Here's a few thoughts on how.
  • Get to coding If you’re a journalist with tech tendencies who’s been laid off, or even one without tech tendencies who wants to write the plot, start working on your Web skills. Find a niche that’s being underserved or a community that could a new journalism approach. Learn your options, try your hand at coding (don’t be scared; it’s like riding a bike), and put your heart into it.
  • Get to coding If you’re a journalist with tech tendencies who’s been laid off, or even one without tech tendencies who wants to write the plot, start working on your Web skills. Find a niche that’s being underserved or a community that could a new journalism approach. Learn your options, try your hand at coding (don’t be scared; it’s like riding a bike), and put your heart into it.
  • Think bigger Ideas like EveryBlock don’t happen by accident. People behind startups notice niches and find ways to make them flourish. They aren’t modest about their ambitions. They’re willing to try and fail. They’ll sweat heavily and spend long hours working on their project even when it feels like it’s not bearing fruit. But if you want to turn journalism on its head, be bold. Be brash.
  • Get to coding If you’re a journalist with tech tendencies who’s been laid off, or even one without tech tendencies who wants to write the plot, start working on your Web skills. Find a niche that’s being underserved or a community that could a new journalism approach. Learn your options, try your hand at coding (don’t be scared; it’s like riding a bike), and put your heart into it.
  • Think bigger Ideas like EveryBlock don’t happen by accident. People behind startups notice niches and find ways to make them flourish. They aren’t modest about their ambitions. They’re willing to try and fail. They’ll sweat heavily and spend long hours working on their project even when it feels like it’s not bearing fruit. But if you want to turn journalism on its head, be bold. Be brash.
  • Come a-knockin’ Knight News Challenge: In two weeks, the organization that birthed EveryBlock will begin accepting applications for the 2010 version of its venture-capital contest. You should apply.
    Y Combinator: Just this morning, the startup incubator announced plans to fund a journalism-centric company with aspirations of making money. Learn more here.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 8 Comments • Permalink

17 Aug 2009 21:22

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Tech: Kudos to journalism experiment EveryBlock for making it happen

  • I often tell friends and industry colleagues that EveryBlock in is current incarnation is only about 5 percent of what we want to do with it. We’re now in a position to make this happen.
  • EveryBlock founder Adrian Holovaty • Discussing his company’s acquisition by MSNBC.com. This is a BIG DEAL for journalism, because EveryBlock’s experimental model, which leans on using public records and RSS feeds to provide a to-the-block organization of information in a city, is an alumnus of the Knight News Challenge, which encourages Web-centric approaches to journalism. Some have questioned whether what EveryBlock does is journalism; Holovaty has famously said he doesn’t care. For what it’s worth, EveryBlock got a warm welcome from NewsVine founder Mike Davidson, whose own MSNBC-owned site has only benefited from acquisition. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Aug 2009 20:25

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U.S., World: Bill and Claudette: Two storms living separate lives

  • Bill’s still on track to become a major hurricane, but probably isn’t headed towards the U.S. at all. source
  • Claudette, however, has made landfall in Alabama and Florida and appears to be slowing down. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Aug 2009 20:16

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U.S.: Chicago had Furlough Funday today. They saved; you complained.

  • $8.3 million was saved by annoying people for one day source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink
 

17 Aug 2009 11:33

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U.S.: Police brutality on YouTube example No. 193,196: Mom gets tasered

  • The cop clearly pulled her out of the car in this case just to taser her. Jerk. We hope he gets fired for doing this during a routine traffic shop. He claimed that Audra Harmon, by the way, was talking on her cell phone, which she says she wasn’t.source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 8 Comments • Permalink

17 Aug 2009 11:25

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Music: Radiohead: Screw it, we’re gonna upload our songs to torrent sites

  • The new song had a twisted journey online. “These Are My Twisted Words” leaked a few days ago on a torrent site with zero information to go with it, but with a sound that was VERY close to Radiohead. However, the band only confirmed they uploaded the track this morning. While they’re not the first band to use BitTorrent as a distribution mechanism (Harvey Danger comes to mind), they’re definitely the biggest. Kudos to Radiohead for being game for reaching audiences in new, interesting ways. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Aug 2009 11:18

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World: Missing Russian ship The Arctic Sea found, with crew still alive

  • The Arctic Sea was discovered at 1 a.m., Moscow time today 300 miles off the Cape Verde islands. All crewmembers are alive and they are feeling well. They were not under armed control.
  • Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov • Regarding the fate of the ship, which had been missing since last month. The ship’s disappearance captured the attention of Europe – with lots of speculation as to whether pirates hijacked it – due to the fact that, well, it’s a giant cargo ship and it went undetected for over two weeks on waters which are well-trafficked. The ship was carrying a lot of wood – $2 million worth of timber. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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