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12 Jun 2009 10:23

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Politics, Tech: Why did video games start to suck and become no fun?

  • Today’s video game is more like a movie – as long as you turn the crank on the side of the projector, eventually you’ll experience the entire thing. That is the opposite of playing a game, since you are never guaranteed to win a game.
  • Blogger “agnostic” • In a long-winded rant about how video games became elaborate productions instead of simple, fun things that were reflexive challenges. We agree. Video games suck now because they’re overly complex, and we totally stopped playing them for this reason. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 8 Comments • Permalink

11 Jun 2009 21:41

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Politics: Shepard Smith has another one of his amazing moments of levity

  • In response to the Holocaust shooting yesterday, Smith went on a tirade against right-wing extremism, claiming it’s ticked up since President Obama took office. He has these moments once a year or so where he gives us straight talk, and we wait patiently for them. Because they rock. (Though some conservatives no likey.)source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Jun 2009 11:13

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Culture, Politics: David Letterman pisses off Sarah Palin, gets smacked down

  • Am I guilty of poor taste? Yes. Did I suggest that it was okay for her 14-year-old daughter to be having promiscuous sex? No.
  • David Letterman • In an apology about a series of jokes he made about Sarah Palin’s daughter, which Palin did not take kindly to. Palin said, regarding the jokes, “it reminds us some Hollywood/N.Y. entertainers have a long way to go in understanding what the rest of America understands.” To those looking to defend Dave: Well, he did make sexual jokes about her 14-year-old daughter. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Jun 2009 20:49

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Politics, Tech: Google: You mean the DOJ is investigating us? Pssh, whatever!

  • They wouldn’t be doing their job if they weren’t taking a look at all the industries people are telling them to take a look at.
  • Dana Wagner • Google’s competition counsel, on the Obama administration’s investigation of the search engine giant. To explain how much the government’s all over Google, we’re going to pretend to be like The Count here. One government inquiries. Ah-TWO government inquiries. NO! THREE government inquiries! • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Jun 2009 20:28

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Biz, Politics: This Boston Globe editorial toon is 23% off, just like their wages

Boston Globe editorial cartoonist Dan Wasserman, per usual, found an entertaining way to express his opinion. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Jun 2009 20:16

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Music, Politics: Ouch! This indie rock catfight seems destined to leave scars

  • He needs to go back to school or move back in with his parents and sit down and think about things. He shouldn’t play music. He shouldn’t tour.
  • Black Lips singer Jared Swilley • On fellow indie rocker Nathan Williams, a.k.a. Wavves. Wavves, who is currently earning much buzz for his noise-drenched indie rock, had a huge drug-fueled on-stage meltdown at the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona, Spain – his first European show. Swilley says he thought he was too cool and blew his opportunity. He also treats people bad and eats puppies. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Jun 2009 23:03

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Biz, Politics: Stupid idea: Charging $100 a year for an e-mail newsletter

  • Good idea Billboard Magazine has for years offered a daily, informative e-mail newsletter that told readers about their latest free and paid content, on top of telling you who was going to the top of the charts. If you’re a chart nerd like us, reading data about music is actually interesting. It was by no means junk mail: We looked forward to reading about the latest music-industry trends in our inbox every day. source
  • Good idea Billboard Magazine has for years offered a daily, informative e-mail newsletter that told readers about their latest free and paid content, on top of telling you who was going to the top of the charts. If you’re a chart nerd like us, reading data about music is actually interesting. It was by no means junk mail: We looked forward to reading about the latest music-industry trends in our inbox every day.
  • Bad idea Today, after numerous changes to the format, Billboard informed its subscribers that it would charge them $100 a year ($2 a week!) for content that they used to give away for free – an e-mail that, throughout its history, essentially linked to a Web site. (Now it offers up a useless PDF. Which makes no sense. What, are we going to print it? Why discourage the positive Web traffic?) source
  • Good idea Billboard Magazine has for years offered a daily, informative e-mail newsletter that told readers about their latest free and paid content, on top of telling you who was going to the top of the charts. If you’re a chart nerd like us, reading data about music is actually interesting. It was by no means junk mail: We looked forward to reading about the latest music-industry trends in our inbox every day.
  • Bad idea Today, after numerous changes to the format, Billboard informed its subscribers that it would charge them $100 a year ($2 a week!) for content that they used to give away for free – an e-mail that, throughout its history, essentially linked to a Web site. (Now it offers up a useless PDF. Which makes no sense. What, are we going to print it? Why discourage the positive Web traffic?)
  • Bad example Why does this bother us so much? Well, it’s a poorly-done example of the trend towards pay walls for content, which newspapers are about to screw up. With all that niche content, they should set the example for everyone. Instead, they’re charging for what should be a promotional tool. Have you not heard of Twitter, guys? E-mail is the same way! Sigh. We digress. What do you think? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

09 Jun 2009 15:04

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Biz, Politics: Explaining himself: Why a Boston Globe reporter voted no to cuts

  • They didn’t want more work from us, they didn’t want less holidays, they didn’t want fewer vacations, anything we could have offered besides just our money, they were uninterested. And I feel like they were insensitive to a lot of people who have already sacrificed quite a bit for them.
  • Reporter Scott Allen • A member of the Boston Newspaper Guild who voted no on a 8% pay cut, and since the measure failed, guaranteed himself a 23% pay cut. He claims that The New York Times Co. stacked the cards against employees who hadn’t gotten a raise in four years due to wage freezes. Of course, in the wake of all of this, the paper could close. Scary. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Jun 2009 23:28

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Politics, Tech: AT&T is really dropping the ball when it comes to the iPhone

  • It was even apparent during the keynote yesterday that Apple sounds pretty disgusted with how far behind AT&T is dragging them. Notice the absence of any AT&T personnel on stage.
  • TUAW contributor Megan Lavey • On the Apple iPhone 3GS launch, which had all these new features – tethering and MMS, two things that a lot of phones on AT&T’s network already do – that weren’t available in the U.S. due to the carrier. Lavey goes further to say why AT&T will regret this: “Apple won’t forget that AT&T didn’t have key features in place when they needed to be there.” • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Jun 2009 17:30

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Politics, U.S.: George W. Bush has moved on. Protester Cindy Sheehan hasn’t.

  • I think this is going to be the protest of the summer. It’s really picking up a lot of energy.
  • Cindy Sheehan • On her latest move to draw attention to the Iraq war … another protest of ex-President Bush’s Texas home. Gee, that’s creative. Not that the war doesn’t deserve the attention, but Bush isn’t exactly in a position to fix the mess he created now, is he? Did you pull a newspaper out of 2005 or something and read it wrong? • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 6 Comments • Permalink
 
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