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27 Dec 2009 11:40

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Politics: A quick note to the Obama administration on airline security

  • The president is very confident that this government is taking the steps that are necessary to take our fight to those who seek to do us harm.
  • Robert Gibbs • Speaking about airline security and Obama’s role in making sure it’s done right. You know, Barack, you seem like a reasonable dude, so whatever you do, keep in mind that you were once in coach like the rest of us, and you know what it’s like. Don’t force rules on us that fudge the real issues of improving security. It helps nobody and angers normal people greatly instead. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Dec 2009 23:13

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U.S.: Immigration: Hey, let’s throw another thing on Obama’s plate, OK?

  • Couldn’t this battle wait for now, guys? Today, Democratic Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez introduced a bill to reform immigration. Now, obviously, this battle needs to come up, especially considering how heated it got during the Bush years. But let’s play devil’s advocate here. You have a president who is dealing with these things (among others), in order of importance: Unemployment, health care, the economic crisis, Afghanistan, Iraq, closing Guantanamo, gay rights and making sure Bo the dog gets kibble. And now we want to throw immigration on top of all of this? This seems like it could wait until year three. We’d rather see Obama deal with all that other stuff the right way. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Oct 2009 21:09

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About: Big site news: ShortFormBlog’s redesigning, and other changes

redesign1021

We have big plans, guys. As you might remember a couple weeks ago, we asked you guys what you wanted. In part, that's because we have some big plans for the site's future. To start with, we have a redesign ready to launch November 3. Here's a little about the redesign, and some other changes:
  • Why the redesign? ShortFormBlog has been in existence for ten months, and we’ve learned a lot. And in many ways, the site’s focus evolved in ways that the original site didn’t anticipate. Mainly, we wanted a cleaner format that made the bite-sized elements work as well throughout the site as they do on the front page. To emphasize these changes, we’re flipping the slogan from “writing a little, saying a lot” to “read a little, learn a lot.” Small, but notable.
  • Why the redesign? ShortFormBlog has been in existence for ten months, and we’ve learned a lot. And in many ways, the site’s focus evolved in ways that the original site didn’t anticipate. Mainly, we wanted a cleaner format that made the bite-sized elements work as well throughout the site as they do on the front page. To emphasize these changes, we’re flipping the slogan from “writing a little, saying a lot” to “read a little, learn a lot.” Small, but notable.
  • Sports: Outta here One of the things that we’ve wrestled with more than anything is a way of paring down the site’s elements in smart, clear ways. For that reason, we’ve chosen to take out a piece of the pie that’s fallen by the wayside. Sports will not be part of the redesign. By cutting off a finger, we hope to make the hand stronger or something. But in the future, we have other plans for sports. And we want to bring readers on board to help.
  • Why the redesign? ShortFormBlog has been in existence for ten months, and we’ve learned a lot. And in many ways, the site’s focus evolved in ways that the original site didn’t anticipate. Mainly, we wanted a cleaner format that made the bite-sized elements work as well throughout the site as they do on the front page. To emphasize these changes, we’re flipping the slogan from “writing a little, saying a lot” to “read a little, learn a lot.” Small, but notable.
  • Sports: Outta here One of the things that we’ve wrestled with more than anything is a way of paring down the site’s elements in smart, clear ways. For that reason, we’ve chosen to take out a piece of the pie that’s fallen by the wayside. Sports will not be part of the redesign. By cutting off a finger, we hope to make the hand stronger or something. But in the future, we have other plans for sports. And we want to bring readers on board to help.
  • New content, kids! One thing that we will be adding to the site is a weekly editorial comic by Shawn Vulliez. Vulliez, a fan of the site, created the animation for one of the most well-known and popular Flash clips of all time, “The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny.” The comics are just a start, we hope. Our long-term goal is to figure out ways, both big and small, to get more contributors on board. Bug us if you’re interested.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

21 Oct 2009 10:47

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World: Daily Poll: Catholics and Anglicans in a fight to the death

  • Yesterday, the Catholic Church announced a bold move to grab members from the Anglican Church, the offshoot of Catholicism created after King Henry VIII wasn’t allowed a divorce hundreds of years ago. A lot’s changed since then, most notably the Anglican church’s allowance of gay pastors and bishops, which has become a wedge issue that has many Anglicans looking elsewhere. Is this the way the Catholic party should be headed? Vote.source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Oct 2009 10:57

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Tech: Daily poll: Google’s constant logo changes, clever or annoying?

  • Today, Google changed their logo to a barcode to celebrate the anniversary of the first barcode patent. (It turns 57 today.) Now, we think it’s cool and awesome and everything, but Google has been doing this a lot lately. Which compels us to ask a fairly obvious question: Are they overdoing it? Vote above.source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Sep 2009 19:26

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Tech: The Retweet function: The biggest Twitter shake-up EVAH.

The functionality of the site will soon be hugely different based on the image Mashable posted today. They need to work on this a little more, we think. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Jul 2009 09:49

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Music: eMusic finally gets a major label – but not without concession

  • What’s up? eMusic is one of those services that we’ve always heavily supported in part because its inexpensive, music-fan-first approach got the experience of downloading music right – even at the cost of major label support. Recently, it convinced one major, Sony, to jump on board. Good for them, right? Well, yes and no. source
  • What’s up? eMusic is one of those services that we’ve always heavily supported in part because its inexpensive, music-fan-first approach got the experience of downloading music right – even at the cost of major label support. Recently, it convinced one major, Sony, to jump on board. Good for them, right? Well, yes and no.
  • The cost It appears eMusic had to give up a lot to convince Sony to let them put Simon & Garfunkel on the site. Longtime users used to paying $20 for 90 tracks will be surprised to see their download numbers cut. And while the selection is killer, the company had to restrict some tracks – the hits – to flat-rate album download only. source
  • What’s up? eMusic is one of those services that we’ve always heavily supported in part because its inexpensive, music-fan-first approach got the experience of downloading music right – even at the cost of major label support. Recently, it convinced one major, Sony, to jump on board. Good for them, right? Well, yes and no.
  • The cost It appears eMusic had to give up a lot to convince Sony to let them put Simon & Garfunkel on the site. Longtime users used to paying $20 for 90 tracks will be surprised to see their download numbers cut. And while the selection is killer, the company had to restrict some tracks – the hits – to flat-rate album download only.
  • Our take We won’t lie. In part because of the sheer novelty, we downloaded Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” ’cause we could. Ultimately, even with the changes, the service is still cheaper than most download sites. Our disappointment is that they bent so much for a major at the cost of the indies. We’re not sure if this is a good long-term approach. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

20 May 2009 10:41

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Biz: Credit cards will try to cash in on their good customers

  • $20 billion amount credit companies are supposed to make from fees – overlimit charges and such – on bad customers this year source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Mar 2009 00:03

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Tech: Facebook’s tweaking their redesign so you guys stop complaining

  • Since Facebook started in 2004, we’ve been through several redesigns. Each was built with the intention of making it easier to share and understand what’s going on with the people you care about.
  • Facebook Director of Product Christopher Cox • On the redesign and changes they plan to make to the redesign. People are complaining a lot about this one, so they’re making changes. But they’re not reverting back to the old design, so get that thought out of your little head. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Feb 2009 10:09

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Tech: Facebook makes changes to seem less evil, more open

  • The past week reminded us that users feel a real sense of ownership over Facebook itself, not just the information they share.
  • Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg • On implementing a democratic process for people to discuss changes to the site’s policy. If enough response is created, the site will put changes up to a vote. Beats dramabombs. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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