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04 Jan 2010 21:03

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Biz: Nice way to start 2010: Stocks have a pretty awesome Monday

  • 1.5% increase in the Dow Jones Industrial today; hip
  • 1.6% increase in the S&P 500 today; hip
  • 1.7% increase in the NASDAQ today; hooray! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Jan 2010 20:56

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Offbeat: Tattoo mom gets all “Memento” on her kids, does it herself

  • I’m not breaking the skin. It’s going to fade away, it’s like a pen mark.
  • Patty “Jo Jo” Marsh • On tattooing her kids using a homemade device – a pen and a guitar string. After the biological mother of some of the six kids she tattooed complained, Marsh and her husband, Jacob Edward Bartels, couldn’t understand what they did wrong (you know, besides break Georgia law about tattooing children and homemade tattoos). “I love my children, we’d never do anything to harm our kids,” she continued. You know, besides tattoo your kids using a pen and a guitar string. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Jan 2010 20:42

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Tech: Mashable’s redesign sucks. Yeah, we said it. What what?

  • They look like the establishment now. Mashable’s always had a lot of clutter in its design, due to the fact that they tended to try a lot of things and throw them on the wall and see if they worked. It’s what the site’s always been about. They did need a redesign, and we’re glad they’re trying. But we’d rather have the old design back than this slick hodgepodge that feels like absolutely nothing at all.
  • Why does it suck? The colors of this design are so quiet, so muted, so similar to Yahoo!’s longstanding mid-decade quiet tones, that it doesn’t make us feel anything. Also worth noting: The headshots, which emphasized that this was a personality-driven site, have been de-emphasized too much, creating an anonymous, generic feel.
  • Changes worth considering Mashable’s a popular site, but it could stand to be hipper (like Engadget, which just got a great redesign) or more playful (like Twitter, which drives much of the site’s traffic). It should have as much personality as the words of its jetsetting founder, Pete Cashmore. Cleaner doesn’t mean lifeless. Never forget that, kids.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 9 Comments • Permalink

04 Jan 2010 20:23

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Tech: The frickin’ iSlate (or whatever Apple calls it) is coming. Maybe.

  • The Wall Street Journal says March. Are you a nerd with a predestined affection towards devices with no buttons? Do you like breathlessly waiting for months for things, turning rumor into fact in the process? Well, good news for you. The WSJ says the machine, which may or may not get released in January, is heading into stores in March, just in time for your rent check to burn a hole in your pocket. Yay anonymously-sourced tech rumors! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Jan 2010 20:14

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World: France retreats from a hell of a lot of swine flu vaccine

  • 50 million piggies went back to the manufacturer source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Jan 2010 12:53

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Politics: Bono’s busy schedule: Stop file-sharing, defeat AIDS, save Africa

  • Perhaps movie moguls will succeed where musicians and their moguls have failed so far, and rally America to defend the most creative economy in the world, where music, film, TV and video games help to account for nearly 4 percent of gross domestic product.
  • U2 lead singer Bono • Regarding file-sharing’s danger to the content industries. As crazy as this quote is, it starts out even crazier: “But we know from America’s noble effort to stop child pornography, not to mention China’s ignoble effort to suppress online dissent, that it’s perfectly possible to track content.” This guy is just as arrogant and full of it as the glasses and haircut (and crappy recent music) suggest. He compared file sharing to child porn and free speech. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

04 Jan 2010 12:47

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Biz: Political pubs HuffPo and Politico are profitable, but not massive

  • $12-16 million The Huffington Post’s estimated profit in 2009, which is peanuts considering its massive size
  • $20
    million     Politico’s estimated 2009 profits, which largely came from its print publication source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

04 Jan 2010 12:39

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Biz: UBS ugh: Whistleblowers don’t get any love anymore, it seems

This guy, Bradley Birkenfeld, was responsible for cracking the door open for UBS’ tax fraud case. A judge didn’t give him leniency. He’ll serve 40 months. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Jan 2010 12:24

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Biz: Manufacturing rates are at their best since before the recession

  • 55.9 the December factory index according to the Institute for Supply Management
  • 50 the number the rate needs to be above to note a growing sector; so we’re doing good!
  • five straight up months; it’s at its best level since the heady days of April 2006 source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Jan 2010 12:15

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U.S.: Someone’s gonna get in trouble for the Newark incident

  • The TSA guy who let the security-breacher through could feel the pain. Flights may be back to normal today, but last night’s security breach at Newark Airport won’t come without consequences. While they never caught the guy, everyone did go through a checkpoint again and subsequently had their night ruined. For its part, the Transportation Security Administration says they’re trying to learn lessons from the incident. “We’re reviewing the circumstances and its totality,” said TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis. “We’ll look and see if any lessons can be learned and take further action going forward.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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