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23 Oct 2011 11:43

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Politics: Herman Cain, to Michigan crowd: For the poor, it’s not 999, it’s 909

  • If you are at or below the poverty level, your plan isn’t 9-9-9, it is 9-0-9. Say amen y’all. 9-0-9.
  • Herman Cain • Claiming that his much-talked-about 999 plan was intended to always be income-tax-free for the poor. 909? Isn’t nearly as catchy now, is it? Cain made this statement in Detroit on Friday, which plays into some of the criticism his campaign has gotten — that he’s not focusing on the states that will help him win the early primaries. Earlier this month, Karl Rove put this point succinctly: “He needs to get his bus to Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida and Nevada. If he doesn’t break through there — and to break through there, you’ve got to show up, particularly in the first three.” source

14 Apr 2010 22:09

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Politics: Three things the New York Times bizarro hippie study notes

  • 18% of Americans support
    the bizarro hippies source
  • one Bizarro hippies are largely older, white, male and wealthier than your average Americans.
  • two They largely describe themselves as “very conservative” and think Obama is “very liberal.”
  • three They by and large feel that Obama’s policies favor the poor more than anyone else. source

07 Apr 2010 10:17

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Biz: Alan Greenspan: The mortgage crisis not caused by the poor

  • The house price bubble, the most prominent global bubble in generations, was caused by lower interest rates but. … it was long-term mortgage rates that galvanized prices, not the overnight rates of central banks, as has become the seeming conventional wisdom.
  • Former Federal Reserve Chairman (and all-around smart guy) Alan Greenspan • Speaking in business-ese about something which we can put much more simply: Low interest rates that allowed low-income people to buy houses didn’t cause the housing crisis. Instead, the culprit was a couple levels up the food chain. Speak English, Alan. (Greenspan, by the way, is attempting to defend his legacy here.) source

04 Feb 2010 21:10

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Tech: Former VP: Microsoft’s shooting itself in the foot, big time

  • What happened? Unlike other companies, Microsoft never developed a true system for innovation. Some of my former colleagues argue that it actually developed a system to thwart innovation.
  • Former Microsoft Vice President Dick Brass • On why Microsoft’s internal structure is hurting its abilities to create future innovations, forcing them to coast on prior victories such as Windows and Office. Basically, he claims that there is a strong system of corporate competition in the culture, one that has the effect of stifling innovative ideas. Their successes led to them limiting risk. He knows, because he was pushing e-Books and tablet PCs years ago, long before Apple made a big deal about it. One of his team’s most innovative ideas, ClearType, was prevented from being fully implemented in Windows for years because other teams held it back. These sorts of image issues don’t help Microsoft’s long-term cause. source

21 Jan 2010 09:27

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03 Jan 2010 11:00

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U.S.: Crazy: Some poor people subside on zero cash income

  • 6 million people get by on food stamps … and nothing else source

02 Nov 2009 19:10

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Tech: Snap judgment: Threadsy isn’t ready for prime time. Hold off.

threadsy

How it could be a contender, but so isn't yet. In a lot of ways, Threadsy wants to be the central point for Facebook, Twitter AND your e-mail. If someone pulls it off, they rule the market. Well, we just got a beta invite. And well, here's our initial thoughts: Threadsy is a smart idea undone by myriad technical problems and interface flaws which we feel undermine its usefulness. And if Threadsy wants people to use it, they need to fix these problems:

  • Too much broken The private beta signup process was broken when we tried it. So was the front page. When it started working again, and we got to a menu to input our various accounts. Our GMail account didn’t take at first and gave an error. The Twitter login doesn’t use the password-protecting API. And Facebook Connect, which was buried within the interface, would keep dropping. Not to be harsh, but: Even for a beta, these flaws are too obvious and too disruptive.
  • Too much control Threadsy asks for too much access. You feel OK with giving Threadsy your passwords at first, but then you realize you’ve given away the keys to a drunken teenager playing chicken. It decides which Twitter account you’re logged into on the Twitter Web site. Even if you log into a different Twitter account, it changes it back. Other similar services – HootSuite, Seesmic Web – don’t need to do this. Why should we hand Threadsy the keys? We’re not sure.
  • Too much blendThe biggest problem with the service? Everything looks the same. The visual cues, including faint quote boxes and service-signifying icons away from where your eye is drawn, aren’t loud enough and get lost within hundreds of rows. We like how it pulls icons, but don’t like the fact that e-mail doesn’t have a threading option. That seems essential. If Threadsy wants to be a mixed-media inbox, the design needs to be more adaptive. source
 

14 Oct 2009 11:10

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U.S.: Standardized math scores suck: Children left behind en masse

  • 39% of fourth-graders scored proficiently on a national math test
  • 34% of eighth-graders scored proficiently; this is really low source

04 May 2009 03:00

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Music: Conor Oberst ain’t feeling the critics’ love from Pitchfork

  • 4.9 their rating of the Bright Eyes dude’s latest, “Outer South” source

19 Feb 2009 21:53

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Tech: Internet Explorer 8 pays for the sins of Internet Explorers past

  • 2,400 sites look wrong in IE8, including Microsoft’s source