September 2009
11 posts
6 tags
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Now This Is Advertising!
Only Microsoft could be so bold.
As I explained in my last post, TechFlash’s Todd Bishop and I have been bantering back and forth about what is advertising. Oh, these IM arguments can be brutal. Anyway, FedEx showed up 45 minutes ago with the Zune HD and Zune headphones I ordered from Amazon. Look at what’s on the headphone box!
I’m looking forward to testing the Zune HD,...
4 tags
What is an Ad?
TechFlash’s Todd Bishop and I disagree about what constitutes an ad. I ask you which of us is right. The disagreement started over Todd’s post “Windows Ads, Finally Cool?” He reports about some Windows 7 videos that popped up online a few days ago.
I saw the same vids on Tuesday night and almost blogged about them. But I recalled reading something a few weeks ago...
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Michael Arrington, Talk Dirty to Me
There’s something dirty feeling about watching Michael Arrington’s interview of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. I don’t mean that as criticism of Michael; plenty of other folks have done that all too well. It’s this new media thing, where you sleep with the people you write about. You do business with them and for them.
Who am I to criticize? The new media thing is working...
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Am I Cool Enough for Tumblr?
I’m in a bit of a blog transition right now, with Oddly Together’s future hanging in uncertainty. A man has got to live and feed his family, so I have to make Chronicle of Technology, Culture and Stupidity and my subbranded site at Betanews the greater priorities. The latter site pays, the other doesn’t, but it could someday. So could Oddly Together.
When I launched Oddly...
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Why the Dow is So High But Consumers are So Low
Yesterday, I warned that signs of economic recovery are nothing more than a mirage. Today, I’m freaking out because Robert Reich has got an explanation so simple and so obvious. If the former US Labor Secretary’s analysis is correct, as I believe it is, the economy’s in deeper doo doo than even my worst warnings about it.
Robert asks: “How can the Dow be flirting with...
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My Run In With Fake Steve Jobs
It’s not the first encounter. But this time, I fought back.
Last week, someone tweeted that I had been Fake Steved. Over at Betanews I had blogged: “Why I chose Windows 7 Over Snow Leopard (and you should, too).”
For Fake Steve (aka, journalist Dan Lyons) that translated into post title: “Borg lapdog says you should choose Windows 7 over Snow Leopard.”
He writes:
...
4 tags
$4,999 Car Is the Answer
Today’s Jeopardy question: How do you turn around the auto industry? For at least one automaker, perhaps even two or three, a sub-$5,000 car is my answer.
Over lunch, I read news analysis “Small Isn’t Beautiful” in Sept. 19-25, 2009, Economist (I’m a print a subscriber). Economist aptly explains why the auto history is hosed, now that cash-for-clunkers programs are...
3 tags
Recession and the Recovery Problem
I’m sitting outside the auto repair shop waiting for the brake light switch on my aging Toyota Corolla to be fixed. I’m typing on the Nokia N97 smartphonne, on which I also have been reading news. I had blogged that the N97 would get a second chance. The iPhone 3GS is on ice, so to speak. But my N97 experience is topic for another post.
My topic here is the news I was reading in the...
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Where the Rubber Room Meets the Road
I have a suggestion for Joel Klein, chancellor of New York City schools: Publish a teaching offenders list.
I must be a slow learner, because until Saturday I hadn’t understood New York City’s losing battle with the powerful teachers union. Once teachers achieve tenure—after 3 years—they are employed for life and damn near undismissible, even for cause. Journalism professor Samuel...