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20 Jul 2009 09:05

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Sports: David Beckham: Not feeling the love from L.A. Galaxy fans

  • Hey Becks, Here Before You, Here After You, Here Despite You.
  • A sign in the crowds trashing David Beckham • Beckham played his first game for the Galaxy at home this season – a friendly match against AC Milan, the elite club that Beckham chose to play for instead of the Galaxy for the first half of the year. And the fans, boy, they let Becks hear it, especially one fan who got arrested in a near-attack of the soccer superstar. So, in case you’re wondering: MLS fans aren’t storied soccer hooligans yet, but they’re getting there. • 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

07 Jul 2009 10:24

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Politics: Sarah Palin says her decision was “out of the box.” Her words.

  • That caught people off guard… It’s out of the box and unconventional. That’s what we are as Alaskans and certainly how I am as a public servant.
  • Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin • Describing her decision to resign as a way to help her state. Uhhhhhh what? That makes absolutely no freaking sense, and we hope that Top Conservatives on Twitter (a.k.a. #tcot) have a field day giving us grief for criticizing their leading lady. Because we’re saying she shouldn’t be, and people in her own party are saying the same thing. “I said before … ‘You know, politically speaking, if I die, I die. So be it,'” she went on further to say. Wow. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Jul 2009 22:21

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U.S., World: Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe calls some U.S. diplomat an idiot

  • I hope he wasn’t speaking for Obama … You wouldn’t speak to an idiot of that nature. I was very angry with him.
  • Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe • Saying very nice things about Johnnie Carson, the U.S.’ top African official. You know, Bob, we don’t know what Johnnie said to you, but we’re guessing Johnnie has a strong enough handle on diplomatic and economic matters that he wouldn’t let this happen. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Jun 2009 10:38

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World: Ahmadinejad wants an apology from the guy Republicans called “timid”

Because Obama dared to be modestly critical, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says he’s striking the same critical tone as Bush. Hmmmm. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jun 2009 10:39

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Tech: Web designers hate Outlook so much, they’re creating cool protests

outlook0624
  • Beyond the very valid reason for the protest (Dear Microsoft: PLEASE FOLLOW STANDARDS!), the technology running this site is immaculate (that background is dynamic). On the plus side, if everyone switches over to Google Wave, this will not be a problem. Dear FixOutlook.org: Give this technology to the Iran protesters. Now.source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Jun 2009 22:21

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Biz, Tech: The kings of overpriced service, Boingo, own wi-fi hotspots now.

  • Back in 2001, Boingo applied for a patent on connecting computers to routers using this budding service called wi-fi. In the time since, it’s proliferated everywhere, becoming synonymous with laptops and iPhones. While hotspots are free many places, Boingo slowly became known for its overpriced wireless access points. source
  • Now it’s 2009. Boingo got approval for the patent in January, and now they’re telling the world all about it in a press release. “This patent represents a huge addition to Boingo’s intellectual property,” says CEO David Hagan, who will face the wrath of coffee-shop dwellers nationwide if he chooses to enforce it. Jerk. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

23 Jun 2009 21:42

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U.S.: You mean our president can’t smoke his way through a stressful job?

  • 95% of Obama doesn’t smoke; the other 5% doesn’t inhale source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Jun 2009 21:29

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U.S., World: Looking for Obama to be more forceful? Get ready to be pushed

  • I strongly condemn these unjust actions, and I join with the American people in mourning each and every innocent life that is lost.
  • President Barack Obama • In a speech about the Iran conflict where he specifically took the response to the protests to task. Dude has been feeling the pressure about not getting too involved in Iran’s political struggle, despite Iran complaining saying he is. Obama has noted that he’s trying not to give the country an excuse that the U.S. was somehow at fault. Feeling forced yet? • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Jun 2009 22:39

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Tech: Eventually, Amazon’s Kindle runs into a hard, solid wall of DRM

  • A poor blogger found out the hard way. Dan Cohen of GearDiary found out the other day that some books he downloaded for his Kindle/iPhone had a limit to how many times they could be downloaded and on how many times they could be shared. Worse, it seemed this number was arbitrary and was, until now, not communicated to customers. After talking to a number of Amazon customer service reps, he confirmed it was set by publishers, though it was very confusing to get to that point. Granted, Cohen posts on a site that checks out tons of devices, so it’s possible that his case is extraordinary, but why is it even there in the first place? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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