Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on Twitter • Be a Facebook Fan • Tumble us!

24 Jan 2012 10:50

tags

Politics: Five things rumored to be on Obama’s State of the Union agenda tonight

  • one He’ll likely propose reforming taxes, ending the Bush tax cuts and raising taxes for the wealthy.
  • two He’ll likely make another push for the “Buffett Rule,” which would set a minimum tax rate for the super-rich.
  • three More tax breaks for big business, in an effort to encourage them to bring jobs back to the U.S.
  • four More job-training and education, largely meant for high school grads who want technical degrees.
  • five A renewed push to help refinance homeowners who are still struggling to make ends meet. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jan 2012 10:35

tags

Politics: Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas disses Obama, skips White House event

  • I believe the federal government has grown out of control, threatening the rights, liberties, and property of the people. This is being done at the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial level. This is in direct opposition to the Constitution and the Founding Fathers vision for the Federal government. Because I believe this, today I exercised my right as a Free Citizen, and did not visit the White House. This was not about politics or party, as in my opinion both parties are responsible for the situation we are in as a country.
  • Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas • Describing why he decided to skip an event in which Obama honored the team for winning the Stanley Cup last season. While the event went off without a hitch, Thomas’ no-show has drawn a lot of controversy, as many felt that the move showed a lack of respect to the office. The team has distanced itself away from Thomas’ decision, saying they were disappointed Thomas didn’t join in. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jan 2012 01:11

tags

Politics: Mitt Romey’s tax forms finally released: Here are the highlights

  • 14% the effective tax rate for
    Mitt Romney in 2010
  • $21M the amount he made in 2010 — a tally which mostly came from investments
  • $3M the amount Romney paid in federal taxes that year, according to forms he just released
  • $3M the amount in charitable deductions he paid — and got deductions for — that same year source
  • » The “duh” sentence in this story: “His tax bill is significantly higher than the amount paid by most Americans.” What tipped you off, Wall Street Journal, the fact that there’s “million” in the amount?
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Jan 2012 20:57

tags

Politics: Debate preview: What you should expect in tonight’s #FLDebate

  • OHMIGOD OHMIGOD BRIWI IS MODERATING!!!!! Seriously guys, after the Gawker thing, this man can do no wrong. But the people on the other side of the stage? They’ve got a ton of issues ahead of the Florida debate, which we’ll be tagging with #FLDebate tonight. (It’ll be live over here.) So, with that said — last week’s debates, especially Thurdsay’s, were nasty — will tonight’s debate have similar fireworks? Here’s what we’re watching for:
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Jan 2012 11:23

tags

Tech: YouTube’s quickly growing — both in terms of uploads and videos streamed

  • 4 billion videos streamed on YouTube every single day (whoa)
  • 60 hours amount of video uploaded to YouTube every single minute
  • 3 billion number of videos the company monetizes each week source
  • » A quickly growing tally: With Google’s quickly-growing advertising prowess, the company is constantly looking for new ways to monetize content. And with YouTube, it offers a lot of opportunities to build upon the $5 billion in revenue it makes each year from graphical ads (many of which run alongside YouTube videos). The level of uploads and views is quickly growing, too: A year ago, the company had 48 hours of video uploaded per minute back in May, and the level of overall video views jumped by 25 percent from eight months ago.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Jan 2012 10:31

tags

Biz: A new PlayBook: Struggling RIM replaces its dual CEOs with one dude

  • In the U.S. we were very, very successful coming from the core enterprise business, and in the public opinion this is still where we’re skewed to. We need to be more marketing-driven. We need to be more consumer-oriented because this is where a lot of our growth is coming from. That is essential in the U.S.
  • Research in Motion’s new CEO, Thorsten Heins • Discussing the difficult issues the company faces as it tries to compete with Apple and Google in a field that they popularized with the BlackBerry: Smartphones. Heins, the former Chief Operating Officer, replaced the company’s two co-CEOs, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, who stepped down over the weekend. It has not exactly been the best year for RIM — to call the company’s tablet, the PlayBook, a flop would be putting it lightly, as its failure cost the company nearly half a billion dollars last year. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg in terms of their problems. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Jan 2012 10:10

tags

Biz: Associated Press leader Tom Curley to retire, leaves controversial legacy

  • The guy who guided AP into the aggregation era: You probably don’t know this guy very well, but all the organizations that give you your news know him quite well. Tom Curley, who has led the Associated Press since 2003, plans to retire later this year, after his successor is found. Curley, a former USA Today publisher, faced a not-very-enviable task as AP’s leader: As many of his member publications found it difficult to stay afloat (in some cases, trying to drop AP entirely as a cost-saving measure), Curley took a very hard stance against copyright issues, and once played a role in a protracted fight with Google over access to AP articles. (For years, the Curley-led Associated Press considered Google merely running headlines in search results to be lawsuit-worthy, before eventually backing off.) The AP’s leader will leave a somewhat-difficult legacy in its handling of the blogosphere, too: After previous stunted attempts to show control over its content, the site is moving forward with a new content-licensing initiative called NewsRight. Journalism is a difficult business to keep financially stable, and the AP has had a lot to fight against. But at times, you sometimes wonder if folks like Curley simply didn’t understand the environment. Their issues are certainly not as bad as the music industry’s. But they’re certainly not shining examples of new-media transition. (Photo by Richard Drew/AP) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

22 Jan 2012 21:17

tags

World: Arab League expands observer group, wants Assad to step aside

  • We all had hopes that after sending observers, the problem would be solved—that the presence of observers would halt the violence. But that didn’t happen. Saudi Arabia felt unmotivated and I’m telling you that everyone in the [deliberation] hall felt unmotivated.
  • Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Al Arabi • Describing the frustration the Arab League’s monitors faced in in Syria over recent weeks. The group wants Bashar al-Assad to step aside and hand power to his vice president. The monitors will stay in the country for a second month. The Arab League, which claimed many deaths came as a result of “mutual violence” (to the chagrin of Syrian activists), plans to increase the size of the observer group to 300 people, get better-qualified people, and improve their training. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Jan 2012 20:48

tags

U.S., World: Ali Abdullah Saleh exits Yemen as anger over immunity deal rages

  • the deal Ali Abdullah Saleh agreed to give up his power in Yemen in exchange for immunity against prosecution in the country he led for more than three decades. Saleh, the fourth Arab Spring leader to lose power (and the third to relinquish it), apologized “for any failure that occurred” during his rule.
  • the exit Now, as protests flare up against the sweetheart deal he got, Saleh is heading to the U.S. to get medical treatment for the injuries he sustained in an assassination attempt last year. Bro plans to return in time for elections next month, however — but not as the country’s leader.  source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Jan 2012 12:05

tags

Politics: Finally: Mitt Romney will release tax returns later this week

  • Speaker Gingrich had a good week. It was not a great week for me. We spent a lot of time talking about tax returns and the changing result in Iowa.
  • Mitt Romney • Discussing his loss in South Carolina and revealing that he would finally release his tax forms after much goading. His dad, George, famously released his own tax returns when he ran for president in 1968. “I’m not going back to my dad’s year,” Mitt said, but he would (on Tuesday) release his 2010 return and an estimate of his 2011 taxes. We will not be happy until he tells us where his money pit is. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
<< newer 
top tags
older >>