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28 Apr 2010 23:49

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Politics: WTF CNN? Site poses a big question on network’s soft news

  • CNN has a journalism problem. Some argue that its overly soft content focus, both online and on TV, is why the network is getting killed in the ratings. That’s what WTFCNN.com argues – it compares the CNN front page to a hard-news front page. But we have to admit, the two front page examples we hit here don’t exactly sell their argument well. Greece is a big freaking deal, but then again, so is 5,000 barrels of oil flooding the ocean daily. And hey, if a first lady is going to accuse someone of poisoning her husband, that seems reasonably important. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Apr 2010 23:16

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Politics: Two purposely awful Photoshops on the Charlie Crist situation

  • We tried to make these Photoshops extra awful… bad cutouts, obvious cliches, the whole bit. We’re pretty sure the Kanye shades aren’t even cut out all the way! But let’s face it. The Florida governor has better taste in wolf shirts than Panda Bear. Marco Rubio may have youth and momentum going in his direction, but Charlie Crist has the indie vote. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Apr 2010 20:52

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Biz, Tech: Win/win situation: How Palm and HP’s merger benefits them both

  • Palm The smartphone company’s big problem has been a lack of money to take on the big boys in the field. HP, if nothing else, has money.
  • HP The company gets access to a pretty impressive smartphone platform in WebOS, and they have the money to make it a hit. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Apr 2010 20:46

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Tech: Badly-sourced tweet: Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t believe in privacy

  • Off record chat w/ Facebook employee. Me: How does Zuck feel about privacy? Response: [laughter] He doesn’t believe in it.
  • New York Times technology writer Nick Bilton • Tweeting something maybe he shouldn’t have. The tweet suggests that Mark Zuckerberg’s merely paying lip service to the idea of privacy, which is probably not something which helps his cause right now in the wake of the Open Graph push. Bilton, for his part, is facing a controversy of his own over his apparent misunderstanding of “off the record,” though in his defense, the source later said it was OK to leak the information without using their name. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Apr 2010 20:30

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Biz: McDonald’s not very happy with Santa Clara County right now

  • What happened?Santa Clara County, Calif., decided they had enough of the Happy Meal convincing kids to eat crappy food by teasing them with a cheap toy, so they banned selling crappy food with toys inside. “This ordinance breaks the link between unhealthy food and prizes,” the county supervisor claimed.

    healthy food excluded The ordinance really only limits restaurants from giving away toys with crappy food. If your meal has less than 485 calories, 600 milligrams of sodium, 35 percent of calories from fat and 10 percent of calories from sugar, you’re golden.

    Grace period Restaurants have a little over 100 days to make changes to their menus. source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

28 Apr 2010 20:12

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U.S.: Financial reform debate’s a go in the Senate, finally

  • Forget the full Senate vote. They shook hands on it. In what’s a pretty big #(&(@&& deal, Democrats and Republicans in the Senate agreed to bring financial reform to the floor. BBC notes that a vote failed three days in a row, but eventually went through after Democrats nearly forced an all-night session. Republicans claim they won some concessions, though. While Republican Sen. Richard Shelby, who’s been working with bill mastermind Christopher Dodd, says he still disagrees with many parts of the bill, but has been promised that Republican amendments would be considered. So that’s something. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

28 Apr 2010 12:25

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Culture: Jay Leno’s new “Tonight Show” looking like Conan’s in the ratings

Faint lines: First weeks of Conan vs. Letterman last year. Bold lines: First weeks of Leno vs. Letterman this year. Note that Conan and Leno are doing about the same. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

28 Apr 2010 11:21

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Politics: Pundits try to put the Goldman Sachs saga into words, struggle

  • Can this be easily explained? No, but these pundits are gonna try. Here’s a five-minute long video of TV news types trying to explain what some say is easy to explain but others say is really hard. Either way, it’s hilarious to watch them play with metaphors. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Apr 2010 11:11

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Politics: The 2010 election prospects for both parties, in map form

  • Harry Reid’s Nevada seat is currently listed as “toss-up.” The Washington Post put together this huge map suggesting what’s happening with all of the major Congressional races this year. There are a LOT of toss-up states in the Senate alone. Is it enough to switch the balance of power significantly? We’ll see. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Apr 2010 11:05

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World: Twitter currently chewing on Gordon Brown’s “bigotgate”



Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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