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11 Feb 2010 20:32

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Politics: New campaign rules: “I’m an evil CEO, and I approve this message.”

  • That oughta work around that Supreme Court decision. So, let’s say that you’re an organization or a corporation and you’re all excited about that Supreme Court decision that allows you to spend as much money as you want to skew a campaign. Well, the Democrats’ new proposed rules would force more transparency in the process, including our favorite, forcing corporate CEOs to say they approve this message. Bailed-out companies can’t fund ads either. Awesome. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Feb 2010 10:19

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Culture: Not music, just television: MTV symbolically changes its logo

  • What does MTV stand for now? Heaven forfend, but should ‘Jersey Shore’ prove to be so successful that it keeps the network alive for another three decades, will ‘MTV’ only make sense to those of us who know that it used to stand for ‘Music Television’?
  • TV Squad blogger Annie Wu • On perhaps the most painfully obvious change to MTV’s logo. It no longer refers to itself as “Music Television.” This move honestly has been due since about 2000 or so, really, but now it symbolically cements in stone that MTV can no longer go home. Rather than be depressed about it, we’re just going to watch some music videos on YouTube. At least somebody gives us what we want. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Feb 2010 09:58

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U.S.: The FDA wants to make serving sizes on food actually realistic

  • If you put on a meaningful portion size, it would scare a lot of people. They would see, ‘I’m going to get 300 calories from that, or 500 calories.’
  • University of North Carolina nutrition professor Barry Popkin • Regarding the possibility that the FDA could change serving sizes to match how people actually eat food. Some foods have serving sizes of just an ounce or a cup despite the fact that people eat far more than that. A serving of cereal is just three-quarters of a cup, despite the fact kids often eat two cups. The serving sizes were based on studies of how much people ate in the 70s or 80s, but often suggest unrealistically small servings. This is a good idea. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Feb 2010 10:57

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Tech: Amazon’s got a full-on Kindle publisher revolt on its hands

  • 3 major publishers are opting out of Kindle’s $9.99 pricing scheme source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Feb 2010 12:35

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Biz: Heinz Ketchup, your main squeeze, now wants to double-dip

  • Innovation is coming to the ketchup packet. Heinz, which has apparently struggled for years to come up with a better idea than the pull-apart packet, has created a mix between the squeeze and the dip, which means you don’t need a spot to plant your crushed tomato-and-vinegar puree any longer. We’re waiting for someone to do the same thing with brown mustard packets. Get back to us then. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

03 Feb 2010 10:31

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Biz: AOL’s first post-Time Warner quarter shows a (tiny) profit

  • $1.4
    million     the amount AOL made in profits this quarter, their first since being spun out of Time Warner’s lair
  • $1.96
    billion     the amount AOL lost in the same quarter a year ago; their subscriber rates are still dropping source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Feb 2010 21:04

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Tech: Google decides to bite the bullet, adds multitouch to the Nexus One

  • They could set themselves up for a patent battle with Apple. When the Google Nexus One launched, one of the biggest things it was lacking was multitouch – a seemingly obvious advantage the iPhone (along with Palm’s Pre and Pixi) held over it. Apple has a lot of patents on the technology, which would seemingly make it off limits. Today, though, Google enabled the feature in a software update, which should at the very least cause a cluster#(&@ … or nothing. We’ll see. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

01 Feb 2010 10:00

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Biz: Super Bowl ads: A symbol of a quickly-disappearing era?

  • It’s so expensive to buy time and produce a Super Bowl ad, and you have so much competition and so many distractions, that you must hit an absolute home run to be able to get return on investment.
  • Quell Group senior vice president Jim Cain • Regarding the evolution of the Super Bowl ad. In recent years, many companies have balked at the $2.5-$2.75 million price tag per 30-second slot, the latest being Pepsico. Despite this, ads have been selling for as high as $3.2 million and are still in high demand. But with the added diversity in the advertising sphere – the Web is a pretty formidable option nowadays – along with the recession, many big brands are staying out of it altogether. Which used to be unheard of. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Jan 2010 17:58

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U.S.: Teens no longer in a super-fast rush to get a driver’s license

  • 30.7% of 16-year-olds in 2008 had gotten their drivers’ license as soon as they possibly could
  • 44.7% of 16-year-olds in 1988 did the same; modern kids say the don’t need it as much due to technology source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Jan 2010 12:18

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Tech: Digg founder on site redesign: “People are going to be shocked”

  • We’re making some drastic changes, but they’re much-needed drastic changes. People are going to be shocked at some of the directions we’re taking. You have to be comfortable with completely tearing down and throwing away a bunch of ideas.
  • Digg founder Kevin Rose • Regarding an upcoming redesign of his site. Rose claims the site will be more photo-driven and with a stronger real-time focus, and he claims that most people won’t even think of the site as being the same brand as before. Sound intriguing? Yeah, pretty much. But considering his site isn’t the innovation front-runner it was when it launched (thanks, Twitter), it may be what it needs. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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