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23 Apr 2009 21:44

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U.S.: Our two-second analysis of the latest Obama poll

  • think Obama is the greatest thing since bread was sliced and put into bags source
  • think Obama is a pretty awesome guy who knows what he’s doing in D.C. source
  • think Obama isn’t amazing, but they don’t think he sucks at job either source
  • think Obama is lame and wish he wasn’t president because he smells source
  • hate Obama with the raging fire of a thousand burning teabags source

23 Apr 2009 11:07

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Culture, Politics: We were wondering the same thing about Perez Hilton

  • So wait … how is it Perez Hilton, the gossip blogger who built a career by drawing male genitalia and cartoon cocaine on celebrity photos, is now the media’s official spokesperson on one of the most important civil rights issues in America?
  • Helen A.S. Popkin • MSNBC columnist, on Perez Hilton’s sudden ascent to gay marriage activist following that whole Miss USA thing earlier this week. Nothing against Perez, but considering his fairly catty history, he’s kind of the wrong guy for the job. • source

08 Apr 2009 10:28

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Biz, Tech: Google CEO Eric Schmidt thinks newspapers need more innovation

  • Schmidt spoke at the the Newspaper Assn. of America conference yesterday, where he told his audience, “You can architect a structure where innovation is welcome, and where it’s taken advantage of.” (In other words, don’t lay people off!) source
  • Schmidt also told the audience that the AP’s crazy plan to piss off their customers wasn’t going to work. Information doesn’t flow that way, so putting it back into the bottle isn’t going to work. He suggests embracing the aggregation instead. source

31 Mar 2009 22:02

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Biz, Politics: Opinion: If GM or Chrysler fail, is nationalization really that bad?

  • It’s the kind of daunting task that calls for a great national project. Nationalizing the first automaker to go would give us a lab for that project, and save American manufacturing to boot.
  • Non Vivant Blogger John Zwick • Suggesting the idea of a nationally-reworked car company; Zwick suggests that the it would allow the country to move towards cleaner, greener cars and into a more modern approach to an industry famous for bloat. We’re sure some might claim it’s socialism or *gasp* communism, but that’s why this article is clearly marked as opinion, so you jerks can’t claim we’re the ones saying it. As it is, Zwick is making a reasoned argument. • source

27 Mar 2009 19:58

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Culture, Politics: CNN isn’t doing so hot in primetime right now; MSNBC is

  • +30% increase in MSNBC’s prime-time ratings helped largely by kingpin Keith Olbermann; they’re now in second place, ahead of CNN (Fox News is still way atop the heap) source

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

20 Mar 2009 10:37

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Politics, Tech: Microsoft’s IE8 is out – is it any good? Let’s ask the Interweb!

  • And we think that, as long as we don’t have to tweak our code, we’re happy.
 

19 Mar 2009 21:26

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Politics, U.S.: Republican strategist: Off with Timothy Geithner’s head!

  • Geithner’s only constituent is President Obama. Mr. Obama selected Mr. Geithner because his appointment was expected to calm Wall Street. But what good does it do the president to gain Wall Street and lose the rest of America?
  • John Feehery • A Republican strategist who wrote an entire article trashing on Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. In the wake of the AIG bonus scandal on top of his apparent incompetency, Feehery and other Republicans – and heck, some Democrats – are calling for his resignation already. Obama hasn’t even made it through his first 100 days yet! • source

18 Mar 2009 23:13

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Politics: We’re late to the Clay Shirky newspapers bandwagon, but he’s right

  • He’s right, you know Shirky makes this argument that all the stuff that the newspaper industry is doing right now is essentially trying to prop up an unsustainable model ruined by the Internet. Well, yeah. It’s the nature of creative destruction, something I wrote about a couple of months ago. But despite this, the content itself is more popular than ever. We read it because we love it. Even when we bitch and moan about the bias, we secretly love it.
  • Nothing will work Shirky’s main point: Experiment like crazy. Fail. Lose your shirt. Because you might eventually come up with a new type of thread which is a lot better than the one that held together your crappy shirt. I’d like to think that I got his point without having to be told it bluntly. I think a lot of people I know didn’t really get his point until it hit them in the face so hard that they couldn’t stop staring and they felt stung. It’s creative destruction. Don’t fight it.
  • Everything might work My friends are getting laid off, event the ones outside the newspaper industry. Newspapers are getting closed. The media feels like a watchdog that’s running out of sweet, sweet kibble. And it’s not because kibble’s in short supply – it’s because it’s getting dumped into a different bowl and it has a slightly different taste. It’s not going back into the old bowl. And you’re going to starve to death eating stale kibble. source

17 Mar 2009 10:29

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Biz, Politics: A rare argument in favor of letting AIG keep their bonuses

  • Tearing up contracts could set a bad precedent. Obama and large swaths of the government (and large numbers of taxpayers) don’t like having to pay $165 million in bonuses, but it may just be in their best long-term interest to bite the bullet, argues Andrew Ross Sorkin. “If you think this economy is a mess now,” Sorkin argues, “imagine what it would look like if the business community started to worry that the government would start abrogating contracts left and right.” Oh boy. source