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30 Dec 2009 09:12

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Politics: Slate all weirded out by its al-Qaeda equivalent, Sada al-Malahim

  • There’s even an Explainer-like feature that answers reader questions about current topics in jihadism. (Here’s one: The prophet commanded us to expel infidels from the Arabian Peninsula. Which countries was he referring to?)
  • Slate writer Brian Palmer • Discussing the existence of Sada al-Malahim, an online magazine for terrorists. He compares it to Slate, saying that the publications have quite a few things in common. Palmer notes that while it’s not the terrorist organization’s first foray into long-form publications, “it is the first to be released on a fairly reliable schedule over a number of years.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Dec 2009 09:00

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U.S.: The White House generates a lot of e-mail, apparently

  • 94 days the span of time the 22 million missing Bush e-mails spread over, according to Gawker
  • 234,042 the number of e-mails they would’ve had to send and receive every single day source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Dec 2009 22:29

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Tech: SEO, Demand Media, “fast food content,” and the loss of quality

  • These models create a race to the bottom situation, where anyone who spends time and effort on their content is pushed out of business. We’re not there yet, but I see it coming. And just as old media is complaining about us, look for us to start complaining about the new jerks.
  • TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington • On the rise of “fast-food content” – information that’s turned into commodity, with no thought put into quality but focus put into SEO alone. Don’t believe us? It’s already here, kinda. It’s called Demand Media. Where everything is recycled so many times that the good content goes away and we’re stuck eating crappy, good enough media burgers. With genetically modified URLs. (ReadWriteWeb also noticed this trend.) Our thoughts: Wouldn’t it be great to know you’re surfing the Web and getting more than snake oil? Because, hey, SEO is nice and all, but content with a clever approach is even better. Also, we’re convinced that Google and Microsoft will fix the SEO problem someday and figure out quality-based algorithms to curb the rise of crap content. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 3 Comments • Permalink

13 Dec 2009 10:18

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Biz: Mortgage rates super-low, but good luck taking advantage

  • 4.7% the low point of mortgage rates, hit in the 1940s thanks to post-WWII government intervention
  • 5+% the place it’s been most of the time since the 1950s – at one point, it was near 17%, which is insane
  • 4.8% the current rate, caused by massive government intervention; too bad banks don’t want to refinance source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Nov 2009 10:07

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U.S.: Wikileaks intercepts a bunch of pager messages from 9/11, posts them

  • 500,000 pager messages are being posted by information transparency site Wikileaks
  • real-time the speed at which the messages are displaying; it’s happening now if you want to check it out source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

16 Nov 2009 10:41

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Politics: Why doesn’t Obama use Twitter? Clumsy fingers.

  • Well, first of all, let me say that I have never used Twitter. My thumbs are too clumsy to type in things on the phone.
  • President Barack Obama • Discussing at a town hall with a bunch of Chinese students in Shanghai why he doesn’t use Twitter. He goes further into a larger dialogue on free speech, though, explaining that although information flows a little too freely for his taste sometimes (a lot of criticism comes with it), he really appreciates how it “makes our democracy stronger and it makes me a better leader because it forces me to hear opinions that I don’t want to hear.” Nice save, bro. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Nov 2009 22:40

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Politics: L.A. Times: Maybe straight news is what CNN needs to stand out

  • I’d like to suggest that CNN, in parting ways this week with its most opinionated host, Lou Dobbs, may be planting the seeds of its resurrection and holding out the possibility that around-the-clock broadcasting doesn’t have to mean around-the-clock spin.
  • L.A. Times media columnist James Rainey • Discussing CNN’s move to objectivity thanks to the departure of Lou Dobbs and the subsequent scheduling of John King. Rainey suggests that the constant spin cycle on other networks is getting tiring for many who might just want good journalism – you know, the kind CNN used to do back in the day. “If CNN fortifies the information meal,” he suggests, “I think King could prove correct.” Considering the votes our poll got today, it seems a lot of ShortFormBlog’s readers agree with his assessment. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

10 Nov 2009 20:57

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Biz, Tech: Google to News Corp.: Come on, we dare you to block us

  • Publishers put their content on the web because they want it to be found, so very few choose not to include their material in Google News and web search. But if they tell us not to include it, we don’t.
  • A statement from Google • Describing its stance on the whole Rupert Murdoch thing we posted about yesterday. That sounds like a dare to us. Will News Corp. match Google’s dare with a double dare? Will Murdoch then pull out a double dog dare, or will he go straight to the triple dog dare? We don’t know, but we’re glued to our seats in excitement. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Nov 2009 10:43

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Tech: Daily Poll: Is Google’s new privacy-pushing Dashboard a good idea?

  • Google has a lot of data streams on you and just about everyone else. It’s a huge responsibility of theirs to keep all that information safe. So, to help build transparency in the system, the site just launched Google Dashboard. Is it a good idea? Vote about it here.source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

03 Nov 2009 10:40

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About: It’s official. We have a redesign. It’s up. Check it out, kids.



So here it is. Our redesign. We've spent months working on this bad boy. We've been talking about this in bits and pieces over the last few months, but now here it is. And we hope you guys like it. Because you're awesome and make us look good when you like stuff we do.

  • What hasn’t changed The commitment to providing people with short, info-packed bites that provide quick insight into the day’s news. Most of the post styles are still exactly the same as they were on day one of the site. Oh, and Julius is still the mascot. (And one of the trademarks, referring to the site in the “editorial we,” continues unabated.) source
  • What hasn’t changed The commitment to providing people with short, info-packed bites that provide quick insight into the day’s news. Most of the post styles are still exactly the same as they were on day one of the site. Oh, and Julius is still the mascot. (And one of the trademarks, referring to the site in the “editorial we,” continues unabated.)
  • What has changed Over the last ten months, it’s become clear what’s worked and what hasn’t, and what was needed to take that basic idea and turn it into something more useful for readers. So with that, we’re adding focus on navigation, improving our content focus and pushing a design that encourages exploration. Read more above. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 10 Comments • Permalink
 
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