Sponsored Post
Wevoke, a new social news aggregator (seems as if everyone and their first cousin has one these days) allows for emotional voting and discussion about the news of the day. You can also choose to view only happy news, only sad news, or even only the "warm & fuzzy" news, if you so choose. I encourage my readers to check it out - it had some interesting stories that I might not have found otherwise.
Wevoke - News You Can Feel
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
a letter to npr
Zune buttons on NPR Podcast pages?
I see "Download to Zune" buttons sprinkled around the podcast pages here at NPR.org. Are these paid for by Microsoft? I would assume they are, since no other hardware player is specifically promoted in the same way.
I realize that other buttons on the podcast pages either contain or link to commercial sites, such as iTunes or My Yahoo!, but I am under the impression that those were chosen as part of the site's basic functionality, and were more of an editorial or technical decision. The Zune buttons appear to merely be a financial decision.
If NPR is in fact being compensated by Microsoft to promote the Zune in this way, I would prefer that this was identified as advertising. It may be inelegant to put that identification right next to the Zune button - but it could be placed further down on the page. Something like "Zune(TM) download links underwritten by Microsoft." would be fine.
As it is, the Zune buttons appear like they are placed there as an editorial or technical matter, but it just doesn't seem right for a network that generally separates sponsorship from editorial functions.
NPR : Podcast Directory: Morning Becomes Eclectic Video Podcast from KCRW
I see "Download to Zune" buttons sprinkled around the podcast pages here at NPR.org. Are these paid for by Microsoft? I would assume they are, since no other hardware player is specifically promoted in the same way.
I realize that other buttons on the podcast pages either contain or link to commercial sites, such as iTunes or My Yahoo!, but I am under the impression that those were chosen as part of the site's basic functionality, and were more of an editorial or technical decision. The Zune buttons appear to merely be a financial decision.
If NPR is in fact being compensated by Microsoft to promote the Zune in this way, I would prefer that this was identified as advertising. It may be inelegant to put that identification right next to the Zune button - but it could be placed further down on the page. Something like "Zune(TM) download links underwritten by Microsoft." would be fine.
As it is, the Zune buttons appear like they are placed there as an editorial or technical matter, but it just doesn't seem right for a network that generally separates sponsorship from editorial functions.
NPR : Podcast Directory: Morning Becomes Eclectic Video Podcast from KCRW
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
no child's behind left?
This is a hard nut to crack, here - how can we reconcile the goals of educating every child, and really educating them, not just "teaching to the test" or socially promoting them from grade to grade, yet on the other hand realizing that not every child will be a genius, and in fact some children, who face special learning challenges, may never learn as much as others of their age or grade level?
WP: 'No Child' target called out of reach - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com
WP: 'No Child' target called out of reach - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Hope and the Elephant
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This is an interesting little short story about a father and a daughter that live in the future. I'd say quite a bit further, in my opinion. In any case, the father takes his daughter to the park, even though she is actually at home, too sick to go anywhere. Despite her lack of optimism, her father remains cheerful as he explores the park.
I would read more stories about these characters in their universe. I would like to see a little more character development and detail.
Rating: 4/5.
Hope and the Elephant
This is an interesting little short story about a father and a daughter that live in the future. I'd say quite a bit further, in my opinion. In any case, the father takes his daughter to the park, even though she is actually at home, too sick to go anywhere. Despite her lack of optimism, her father remains cheerful as he explores the park.
I would read more stories about these characters in their universe. I would like to see a little more character development and detail.
Rating: 4/5.
Hope and the Elephant
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Defective By Design
I just signed an important letter that tells Steve Jobs to move it or lose it on his DRM pledge:
DefectiveByDesign.org | The Campaign to Eliminate DRM
DefectiveByDesign.org | The Campaign to Eliminate DRM
Monday, March 05, 2007
want to be patriotic?
Then take care of the veterans:
'It Is Just Not Walter Reed' - washingtonpost.com
The United States is supposed to be the world's superpower, the best country on earth, and then I read this:
"Among the most aggrieved are veterans who have lived with the open secret of substandard, underfunded care in the 154 VA hospitals and hundreds of community health centers around the country. They vented their fury in thousands of e-mails and phone calls and in chat rooms."
Let's have a "surge" in funding to take care of our veterans. They have all served, so that we may sit here today.
'It Is Just Not Walter Reed' - washingtonpost.com
The United States is supposed to be the world's superpower, the best country on earth, and then I read this:
"Among the most aggrieved are veterans who have lived with the open secret of substandard, underfunded care in the 154 VA hospitals and hundreds of community health centers around the country. They vented their fury in thousands of e-mails and phone calls and in chat rooms."
Let's have a "surge" in funding to take care of our veterans. They have all served, so that we may sit here today.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Ruckus: 'open up that platform'
My Way Finance: "Jobs 'could open that platform up tomorrow if he really wanted to,' insisted Mike Bebel, chief executive of Ruckus Networks, a Herndon, Va., service that offers more than 2.5 million DRM-protected song titles to college students. 'It's great PR (for Jobs) and a nice way to turn the tables, but it's not really working toward a solution.'"
Mr. Bebel: Can you "open up" your "platform tomorrow"? It would be really nice to access the Ruckus service and all of its content on my Mac OS X system. And I bet some college students running Linux would appreciate it as well. Oh. Wait. That's right - Windows Media DRM - where "open" means "as long as you have a license for Windows OS." Unfortunately, "Plays For Sure" always means "Not On Mac!"
At least Steve Jobs has taken a stance against DRM, and the DRM his store offers works on the top two desktop OS platforms in the world, and the top selling brand of MP3 players in the world. And it easily lets people burn songs to a CD which is completely unencumbered and DRM-free.
Microsoft's Windows Media won't even consider offering a "Desktop DRM" license for any product that doesn't run on Windows. Linspire and Flip4Mac both want such licenses but have been turned down. Again - "open" would imply "available to all parties at a similar price and on similar terms."
Mr. Bebel: Can you "open up" your "platform tomorrow"? It would be really nice to access the Ruckus service and all of its content on my Mac OS X system. And I bet some college students running Linux would appreciate it as well. Oh. Wait. That's right - Windows Media DRM - where "open" means "as long as you have a license for Windows OS." Unfortunately, "Plays For Sure" always means "Not On Mac!"
At least Steve Jobs has taken a stance against DRM, and the DRM his store offers works on the top two desktop OS platforms in the world, and the top selling brand of MP3 players in the world. And it easily lets people burn songs to a CD which is completely unencumbered and DRM-free.
Microsoft's Windows Media won't even consider offering a "Desktop DRM" license for any product that doesn't run on Windows. Linspire and Flip4Mac both want such licenses but have been turned down. Again - "open" would imply "available to all parties at a similar price and on similar terms."
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Online game info - user ratings
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Game-Rate: Rating of online games
This site has a lot of information about online games - and these aren't just "web" games, either. Some use web pages, yes, but a few use Flash, and many use downloadable client software. Some games offer clients for both Windows and Mac OS X users, but many only offer Windows clients, since it is the most popular platform for gaming. The search options seem too limiting on game-rate.com; when I tell the site to show me games available for "Macintosh," I get no results, even though all the games listed as "Web-Based," "Win/Mac," or "Flash" should work just fine for Mac users.
While anonymous ratings are accepted, users who set up a free account will enjoy the benefit of their votes having "5 times more power" as compared to those of unregistered users.
Game-Rate: Rating of online games
This site has a lot of information about online games - and these aren't just "web" games, either. Some use web pages, yes, but a few use Flash, and many use downloadable client software. Some games offer clients for both Windows and Mac OS X users, but many only offer Windows clients, since it is the most popular platform for gaming. The search options seem too limiting on game-rate.com; when I tell the site to show me games available for "Macintosh," I get no results, even though all the games listed as "Web-Based," "Win/Mac," or "Flash" should work just fine for Mac users.
While anonymous ratings are accepted, users who set up a free account will enjoy the benefit of their votes having "5 times more power" as compared to those of unregistered users.
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