Google Local Business Referrals

Google LBR was an interesting program that Google discontinued a while ago. But I had to find a solution for the small and medium sized businesses out there that need these services. The answer is proper usage of Google Pages.
The first step is to visit this URL and either create a new Google account or log in with your existing one:
http://www.google.com/local/add
Second, watch these videos:
http://www.youtube.com/googleplaces
Third, go back to the page from step one, and begin creating your own business Google Places Page. This allows you to: manage business information, post coupons and live updates, and see how you're doing with a performance dashboard.

Gas Price Indexes

A friend requested some gas price indexes, so here's a brief survey of the main ones:

GasBuddy.com

Gas Prices @ MSN Autos (Beta)

http://gasprices.mapquest.com/

Gas Price Watch

AAA Fuel Gage Report

Healthcare Price Indexes

In my online travels, I've found a few different interesting providers of healthcare price or cost information on the Internet:

1. PriceDoc at http://www.pricedoc.com/ - seems to be the most comprehensive of all, although its network did not offer a lot of locations particularly close to me, it does seem to have a lot of listings nationwide. Also offers a unique "Priceline" style feature where you can name a cash price, and they'll try to find a physician/professional who will accept your offer.
2. Healthcare Blue Book at http://HealthcareBlueBook.com/ - While they don't offer prices for specific practitioners, this site is great for getting an idea of the average "fair" price for many medical procedures in your own zip code. (Seems to offer nationwide coverage.)
3. Out Of Pocket at http://outofpocket.com/OOP/Default.aspx - Not sure this site is very helpful for the average person. It seemed to be little more than an interface to Google at the time of my review.

Palin vs. Chavez

Imagine - a place where the state levies no taxes on individuals, but instead taxes oil companies a significant amount, and uses those revenues to support the government's own functions, and even to provide significant benefits worth hundreds or thousands of dollars to each citizen.

Is this Hugo Chavez's Venezeula? Or Sarah Palin's Alaska?

idea from:
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2008/11/03/081103
taco_talk_hertzberg?printable=true

Nuclear waste piling up at U.S. hospitals - Health care- msnbc.com

Nuclear waste piling up at U.S. hospitals - Health care- msnbc.com:

Tubes, capsules and pellets of used radioactive material are piling up in the basements and locked closets of hospitals and research installations around the country, stoking fears they could get lost or, worse, stolen by terrorists and turned into dirty bombs.

Ahmadinejad accepts Israel's right to exist | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Peter Tatchell: Ahmadinejad accepts Israel's right to exist | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk:

The Iranian president has said he would accept a two-state solution if the Palestinians agree. So where are the headlines?

privatizing profits, socializing losses - glenn beck @ cnn

Commentary: Financial meltdown is an absolute disaster - CNN.com:

So now that we're here, what do we do? I am massively conflicted about this bailout program. The idea of government stepping in to bail out international banks that were reckless with their own business literally makes my stomach churn. We are privatizing gains and socializing losses.

nuked - daily mail

ALEX BRUMMER: Nuked! Why our children will pay a heavy price for the scandalously short-sighted sale of our nuclear industry | Mail Online:

The very idea that we should trust the future of nuclear power, one of Britain's most strategic industries, to an overseas company is extraordinary enough.


But what makes the £12.5 billion takeover of nuclear generator British Energy by Electricite de France (EDF) even more outrageous is that the buyer is 85 per cent owned by the French state.


In effect, this country is placing control over its energy needs in the hands of a foreign-owned enterprise...

Israel asked US for green light to bomb nuclear sites in Iran

Israel asked US for green light to bomb nuclear sites in Iran:

Israel gave serious thought this spring to launching a military strike on Iran's nuclear sites but was told by President George W Bush that he would not support it and did not expect to revise that view for the rest of his presidency, senior European diplomatic sources have told the Guardian.

US ‘will lose financial superpower status’

FT.com / World - US ‘will lose financial superpower status’:

The US will lose its status as the superpower of the world financial system. This world will become multi polar with the emergence of stronger, better capitalised centres in Asia and Europe, Mr Steinbrück told the German parliament. The world will never be the same again.

Obama camp: McCain's 'stunt'

Ben Smith's Blog: Obama camp: McCain's 'stunt' - Politico.com:

the only thing McCain really wants suspended is the American people’s disbelief. In fact, he’s been in full campaign mode the entire time.

Travelers' Laptops May Be Detained At Border (washingtonpost.com)

Travelers' Laptops May Be Detained At Border (washingtonpost.com)

Federal agents may take a traveler's laptop or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed.


Also, officials may share copies of the laptop's contents with other agencies and private entities for language translation, data decryption or other reasons, according to the policies, dated July 16 and issued by two DHS agencies, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.


'The policies . . . are truly alarming,' said Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), who is probing the government's border search practices. He said he intends to introduce legislation soon that would require reasonable suspicion for border searches, as well as prohibit profiling on race, religion or national origin.

ebay and paypal sellers, watch out, the IRS is coming !

Essentially, the bill requires Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, PayPal, Amazon, Google Checkpoint, and virtually every other "electronic payment system" to track, aggregate, and report information on nearly every electronic transaction to the IRS. They must report:

• The gross amount of payment card and third-party network transactions and
• The name, address, and taxpayer identification number of the participating merchant

However, the bill gives these systems more than two years to gear up for these requirements--mandatory reporting won't come into effect until 2011.

Asset Protection BLOG - Mark Nestmann: Housing Bailout Bill: Say Goodbye to Untaxed Internet Transactions

Possible new channels for Sirius XM Radio

Sirius XM radio will soon be adding a total of 12 new channels on each platform. Six that will be awarded to non-profits who wish to provide NCE (non-commercial, educational) informational programming, and another six that will be awarded to Qualified Entities (small businesses, preferably women and/or minority owned).

My thoughts on who would make good use of such channels:
Non-profits:
1. A Native American public radio station/network such as Native Voice One or AIROS. (This one could potentially qualify as minority owned, as well. But Native Americans deserve to have a voice on satellite radio, either way.)
2. A good eclectic public music station such as KEXP or The Current.
3. A quality Christian CHR station that would clearly not overlap with either The Message or Spirit. Perhaps a group like Radio U, WAY FM (Nashville/Nationwide), WaY FM (Michigan), or Radio Y.
4. An alternative point of view station/network such as Pacifica or perhaps Free Speech TV, if they wanted to also offer a Free Speech Radio, or even Link TV might offer Link Radio.

Minority / Female Owned:
1. BTNC (Black Television News Channel) should really put together a radio station (even it's primarily an audio simulcast of their TV channel. This would offer a new voice and source for news from a different perspective.
2. Given their extensive experience owning radio stations, Univision might be a good source for a new channel or two. I'm not sure whether the minority/female block of six channels will be limited to one to a customer, as the non-profit channels will surely be. Nonetheless, Univision could probably do well programming a station with mostly music and some news breaks, funded by national advertising.
3. The Word Network - they used to be on Sirius, and I'm sure they would jump at the chance to get back onto Sirius XM radio.

Any other ideas? Please feel free to leave comments.

energy / survival = what is coming ?

My Way News - Energy fears looming, new survivalists prepare:

Convinced the planet's oil supply is dwindling and the world's economies are heading for a crash, some people around the country are moving onto homesteads, learning to live off their land, conserving fuel and, in some cases, stocking up on guns they expect to use to defend themselves and their supplies from desperate crowds of people who didn't prepare.

high-fat diet = better for epilepsy ?

BBC NEWS | Health | Diet treatment call for epilepsy:

A special high-fat diet helps to control fits in children with epilepsy, a UK trial suggests.


The number of seizures fell by a third in children on the 'ketogenic' diet, where previously they had suffered fits every day despite medication.

time to start stockpiling

R.O.I. - WSJ.com:

I don't want to alarm anybody, but maybe it's time for Americans to start stockpiling food.


No, this is not a drill.

24th amendment, anyone?

The forgotten constitutional amendment about voting rights. - By Bruce Ackerman and Jennifer Nou - Slate Magazine:

Indiana's law insists on a photo ID to vote, which in turn requires documents, like a birth certificate or passport, that verify identity. Getting these papers costs voters money as well as time and effort. This leads to the question the court failed to ask: Does the extra expense violate the absolute ban on all 'taxes' imposed by the 24th Amendment?

war landscape ... oil exploitation ... america ?

In Wyoming, the Dark Side of America’s Thirst for Energy - New York Times:

...like many Americans, the people in Teton County — which includes Jackson — do not understand what it takes to feed the country’s seemingly insatiable demand for energy.

“Most people don’t know what goes on in an oil field,” she said. “It’s a war landscape. Those boys are out there 24 hours, even when it’s 50 below and the wind is blowing sideways.”

europeans suffering as much as americans

For Europe’s Middle-Class, Stagnant Wages Stunt Lifestyle - New York Times:

LES ULIS, France — When their local bakery in this town south of Paris raised the price of a baguette for the third time in six months, Anne-Laure Renard and Guy Talpot bought a bread maker. When gasoline became their biggest single expense, they sold one of their two cars.

tell P&G it's okay

AFA ActionAlert - Procter & Gamble promotes explicit open-mouth homosexual kissing

My letter:
Dear Mr. Lafley,

I am very concerned that the American Family Association has nothing better to do than harass Procter & Gamble. I would suggest that P&G continue making the best As The World Turns show possible instead of catering to a very narrow conservative agenda. Most Americans, including me, aren't offended by a relatively chaste kiss, compared to what straight couples get away with doing on soap operas.

Sincerely,
Johnathan Grant

food prices skyrocket

Food Costs Rising Fastest in 17 Years: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance:

Wonder Bagels, in Jersey City, N.J., posted a letter from its wheat supplier, A. Oliveri & Sons, saying the recent situation was unprecedented.
'The major mills across the country are using words like 'rationing' and 'shortages' if things continue,' it said. 'We will sweat out the summer together, hoping there will be some flour left to purchase at any price.'

wholesale inflation hits the stratosphere

Wholesale inflation is now at a 13.2% annualized rate!

Wholesale prices soared in March: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance:

Inflation at the wholesale level soared in March at nearly triple the rate that had been forecast as energy prices kept rising and food costs posted a much bigger jump than anticipated.
The Labor Department reported Tuesday that wholesale prices rose by 1.1 percent last month, the largest increase since a 2.6 percent rise last November. The November gain in the Producer Price Index was the biggest one-month jump in 33 years.

prescription rx drug costs soar for sicker patients

Co-Payments for Expensive Drugs Soar - New York Times:

But the new system sticks seriously ill people with huge bills, said James Robinson, a health economist at the University of California, Berkeley. “It is very unfortunate social policy,” Dr. Robinson said. “The more the sick person pays, the less the healthy person pays.”
Traditionally, the idea of insurance was to spread the costs of paying for the sick.
“This is an erosion of the traditional concept of insurance,” Mr. Mendelson said. “Those beneficiaries who bear the burden of illness are also bearing the burden of cost.”

chinese no longer means cheap

Is the era of cheap Chinese products over? - By Alexandra Harney - Slate Magazine

... A perfect storm has hit China's manufacturers. So far this year, the renminbi has been appreciating at a 16 percent annualized rate. And prices for raw materials, which account for 60 percent to 70 percent of manufacturers' costs, are soaring.

sub-prime mortgage fallout?

Try this - prime borrowers who can't pay it back!
Why the next mortgage crisis may be worse. - By Mark Gimein - Slate Magazine

rx wait times explained

Why it really takes so long for a pharmacist to count out a few pills.
The Joy of Tech comic... laughter is the best tech support.

food prices moving up, up, up

BBC NEWS | Business | IMF head gives food price warning: "The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that hundreds of thousands of people will face starvation if food prices keep rising.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn said that social unrest from continuing food price inflation could cause conflict."

food costs on the rise

Food stamps are a continuing reminder of widespread poverty - Americas, World - The Independent

the next great depression

USA 2008: The Great Depression - Americas, World - The Independent

a hands on approach

Heart group urges hands-only CPR in emergencies | Health | Reuters

hilarious pranks

An all around great site - cockeyed.com.
McDonalds Menu Prank

state supported religious schools in minnesota?

See more here:
Wednesday: Wall of silence broken at state's Muslim public school

WB coming back, sort of...

Personally, I'd like to see them offer The WB as a digital subchannel. Program it with Headline News' Morning Express in the AM, and Showbiz Tonight at 11 PM. Middays, rerun Jenny Jones, and any other 90s talk shows they can license cheaply, then run "Best of The WB" in afternoons and prime time. On weekends, run Kids' WB from 6 AM - 12 Noon, then fill the remainder with Best of The WB.

The premise would be that you can target "baby boomers" with something like Retro Television Network, but the new The WB would target a younger age group, that wants to see the shows they watched as a teen.

WB coming back, sort of...

news you can feel? wevoke!

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

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

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

Hope and the Elephant

Sponsored Post

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

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

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.

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."

Online game info - user ratings

Sponsored Post

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.

New .torrent file search engine

Sponsored Post


Throughput.de is a new meta-search website for BitTorrent files. The unique feature they offer is the ability to see inside a torrent with just one click. In search results, a single click on the filename shows you all the individual files that may be downloaded with that particular torrent, as well as a list of the sources from which the torrent itself may be downloaded.

china to u.s. :: 'shut up'

Newsvine - Chinese Envoy Tells U.S. to 'Shut Up'

This stands alone.

hard at work ?!

Video: wcbstv.com - Hard At Work? Not These Con Ed Workers

a perfectly cromulent idea

Should Google Support Computer User Groups? Yes!

(Although, I'm not sure all of the suggested "requirements" ought to be enforced, but I think it would be reasonable to make a group seeking funding pick 4 or 5 of these goals to pursue each year.)

Record labels sue XM

Playlist Magazine: Record labels sue XM Radio for copyright infringement
My post on the subject:

Another poster: "They are actually trying to sell you someone else's music without paying royalties!"

XM is the largest single payer of royalties to the RIAA!
http://www.orbitcast.com/archives/cea-speaks-out-against-riaa-lawsuit-against-xm.html
"XM Radio already is the largest single payer of digital music broadcast royalties. More, the record labels receive royalties on every XM recording device sold as provided by Congress under the Audio Home Recording Act (AHRA)."

The RIAA / music labels already get money every time someone buys a satellite radio that can record, and a percentage of the monthly fee each subscriber pays to XM or Sirius. They just want more money than they are getting now, and trying to use the force of government to raise their royalty rates even higher.

And, contrary to the article this feedback forum post is attached to, at no time do songs recorded off of satellite radio channels become MP3 files. They stay on the radio, in their native format (in XM's case, AACplus), and the only way they can be used is by listening through an analog output.

While it is true that MP3 and WMA files can be uploaded to the newest XM Radios, those files must be ones that you already have on your computer hard drive, either from converting a CD into digital format, or legal or illegal downloading. There is no way to record XM music and save it onto your computer by plugging the radio in via any digital method. The only way would be to plug the analog output of the radio into the analog input of the computer, and manually hit record on an audio recording program, which is what anyone could do anyway, and the sound would suffer a loss from going from one compressed format into another, therefore degrading its quality.

In fact, in my opinion, the requirement to maintain a continued XM subscription (and therefore a continued royalty payment to RIAA members as part of that monthly fee) is what makes these devices legal. It's very much like Napster To Go, which charges a similar monthly fee and allows listeners to download as much music as they like, with the provision that they must continue to subscribe or else have that music deactivated and unlistenable. XM forces consumers to pay RIAA members each month to be able to listen to music, and I think the record labels should be dancing with joy that satellite radio has found a way to make monthly payments for music palatable to consumers.

'The N' TV network

In this article, the author laments the loss of a favorite show on The N:Blogcritics.org: TV Review: Radio Free Roscoe

I'm here to add a few shows I think The N ought to pick up.

All of these are currently running on the UK network with a similar target demographic called Trouble.

1. 'Sausage Factory' / 'Now What' - This show was apparently produced in Canada, features Adam Brody, and previously ran on The N's big brother MTV USA. I think it's only a six-episode series, but it wouldn't be bad for filling a gap when new episodes of Degrassi aren't airing.

2. Amish in the City - This show was aired on The N's former big brother UPN, and would be a great "real" reality show that would fit with The N's overall programming by not being too glitzy nor too outrageous or "unbelievable."

3. Just Deal - While The N has run this show before, I wish they'd bring it back even as overnight reruns anywhere from 1-5 nights a week. This way, those interested could TiVo (or TiFaux (Tape ^-^)) the program. It's a good show, from Tom Lynch (the creator of South of Nowhere) and deserves to be on TV somewhere. Features the excellent Jewel Staite.

am - fm protection racket

Anti-Satellite Radio Bill - Orbitcast.com

I sent the following message to my senators about the Local Emergency Radio Service Preservation Act of 2006 (S. 2418) :

I'm writing in regards to the "Local Emergency Radio Service Preservation Act of 2006" (S. 2418).

As a satisfied customer of both XM and Sirius Satellite Radio companies, I would like to respectfully ask that the aforementioned Act not be passed. It represents an unfair restriction on Satellite Radio's ability to serve its customers. If regular AM & FM radio provided what people want, they wouldn't be voluntarily buying new radios and paying monthly service fees.

To me, this is a simple question of innovation. The Act would curtail the ability of new entrants into the radio market to compete by better serving their customers.

Traditional AM & FM stations should compete by offering a better product, not by asking for protectionist handouts from the government. If the Act is passed, traditional radio loses its incentive to offer a better product to its listeners.

no more ... until they fix things

CNN.com - Anderson Cooper 360� Blog: "I have a thought here. What if every big news station in the country sent just one crew down to New Orleans and reported every hour on the hour until the country becomes so sick of it they either bang down the White House door telling them to fix this or they go fix it themselves? No more BS about who the VP shot.No more about secret wiretapping that is going to go on wether we like it or not.No more tragic stories about floods or collapses in other parts of the world when we can't even handle our own.No more HollyWood BS about who is dating who, who's pregnant, who's on drugs, who's gay, who's getting arrested and who's wearing what.There are only two things this country should care about right at this moment. Hurricane Katrina victims and the selling of our souls to the UAE.

Posted By Theresa Costello, Immaculata, PA"

internet as chopsticks

FT.com / Asia-Pacific / China - China’s virtual cops pinpoint web dissent : "... if my child does not lay her chopsticks down properly, then I will smack her ..."

kamen alert

Dean creates water, power, and jobs:
The Segway creator's next entrepreneurial spin - Feb. 16, 2006

go multicast

PBS | I, Cringely . February 9, 2006 - Stupid Net Tricks: "If Congress wants to do something truly useful, they should force network providers to support multicast in every router. The capability is there already, just waiting to be turned on. Flicking that switch would do more to help multimedia applications (and to foster continued U.S. leadership in multimedia applications) than Congress can even imagine."

nola tornadoes

BREITBART.COM - Tornadoes Blow Through New Orleans

great description of the internet

Saving the Net: How to Keep the Carriers from Flushing the Net Down the Tubes | Linux Journal: A commenter, Jacob Hallén, says that "... the Internet is an electronically based outdoors ..."
Scroll *all* the way down and read his description - it's quite good, and explains the Internet in a way I've never seen it done before.

MSN:mac gains AV chat?

BetaNews | Microsoft: Mac Consumers Important: "A goal for the Mac BU in coming months is to put the Messenger client on more even footing by adding features ..." such as "... video and audio functionality, and that would come soon."

second life

On BBC NEWS | Programmes | Newsnight | Do avatars dream of electric racoons?, the show briefly moves to a virtual set inside Second Life, and the story moves on from there ... very interesting ... worth a watch.

sandvox

Sandvox: Public Beta | Karelia Software
You should check out Sandvox, the website builder for the Mac that is coming soon from Karelia Software. It is in public beta now, so you can try it out even though it's not ready to buy yet.
(I'm encouraging people to sign up because it's a cool program, and because if you sign up, I'll get a discount when it's released. If you start referring people, you can get a discount too.)
Thanks!

hell has frozen over - again

I'd like to thank Microsoft for licensing the Flip4Mac QuickTime components that play Windows Media for free distribution. This is the second best thing that the Microsoft Windows Media group could do for Mac users. Number 1 is still making WM-DRM Mac compatible, but this is a very, very strong number 2.

Windows Media - Components for QuickTime

canadian satellite radio

The Tea Makers: CBC and Sirius do satellite radio: the easy and the queasy

I (being American, but frustrated at the lack of international content) think this is a great opportunity for Canada to get its voices heard in a wider market.

It's not just a ghetto of Canadian channels, either. XM's license with the CRTC states they will ensure a minimum of 7% of all new songs added to all music channels are "Canadian content". By the end of XM's license term, 10 percent of everything on XM will be Canadian. ( http://www.cdnsatrad.com/news11052004.php )
So, really, the majority of channels will have some Canadian content, probably more than most US-based terrestrial music stations. (Presumably Sirius has a similar mandate to add Canadian music to all music channels.)

I also think the CBC can stand to make some decent money from this venture, as they own 40 percent of Sirius Canada. Sirius USA only owns 20 percent. (The remaining 40% belongs to Standard Radio.)

I wouldn't be shocked if Sirius Canada eventually does add Howard Stern, even if as part of a premium package. XM Canada carries the High Voltage "shock jock" channel with Opie & Anthony and Ron & Fez.

Also, I think that CBC/Radio-Canada is finally able to present a full service to all of Canada this way. CBC Radio 1 & 3, Premiére Plus, Bandéapart, Infoplus, and RCIplus are now available with complete nationwide coverage.
Also, note at http://www.cbc.ca/sirius/ that CBCR1 on Sirius has been reformatted to avoid duplicating terrestrial R1 stations. (It also, cleverly enough, avoids duplicating the CBCR1 programs already carried on Sirius USA by Public Radio International. (pri.org))

XM really does need to improve its Canadian offerings a little if it wants to compete in that area. However I think they do have a leg up with their NHL coverage, including a Canadian-produced 24/7 hockey network "Home Ice".

I suspect, for starters, that XM 52 "(un)Signed" will change its name in the new year, as the name is not mentioned at all when I've listened. They ID as "XM 52. New. Emerging. Now."

I am also looking forward to what I hope will be a 9th channel of Canadian content from XM, the multicultural music station to be named "Mosaic". If they do indeed add this instead of changing an existing Canadian station, they'd be able to add 9 more channels from the US service, filling out the music lineup and possibly including a few more news stations. More info on XM Mosaic here:
http://www.cdnsatrad.com/news04212005.php
http://www.byrnesmedia.com/News/May2005/csrandasiantv.html

XM also needs to beef up their news offerings. "Canada 360" and "Quois De Neuf" are not exactly engaging or interesting. Surely they can find a partner who could at least help them add some produced feature stories to spice up their "rip and read" style of news. Help should be forthcoming from Corus in this department:
http://www.cdnsatrad.com/news10212004.php

cattle relations (!)

My Way News - Man Pleads No Contest to Cattle Relations

speaks for itself.

iTunes OPML (!)

Musings from Mars > iTunes Interface Controversy
A little exposed part of the iTunes interface:

I just figured out that iTunes imports & exports OPML! Who knew? (iTunes doesn't always expose advanced functionality, but this keeps things simpler for non-power users.)

To import OPML, just go to File > Import... and select the OPML file.
To export OPML, select the "Podcasts" item in the left hand column (of playlists/sources/etc) and then go to File > Export Song List. You may then choose Plain Text, Unicode Text, XML, or OPML from a popup menu.

farewell, MacIE

As noted here - shahine.com/omar/ - Slashdot | Microsoft Ends IE for Mac - MS will officially lay Macintosh Internet Explorer to rest at the end of this year.

I wish it well. It truly raised the bar for a "standards compliant browser" in its day. WinIE remains a "standards complaint browser".

The below is speculation, based on bits and pieces I've picked up online - I might very well be totally wrong:

Wasn't the "missing feature" in IE5 a Radio toolbar that would have been better than the one in WinIE? It was to play MP3 formatted streams, and (may or may not have been) related to SoundJam somehow?

(But what theoretically happened is that Apple wanted to buy SoundJam to make iTunes, and didn't want to ship IE as default browser if it contained a competing Internet radio player?)

comments on Y! buying Flickr and del.icio.us

Participatory Culture: News and Ideas > Blog Archive > Fullscreen Controls

Well… I do think Yahoo’s acquisition of Flickr and del.icio.us raises questions. It all depends on how much advertising Yahoo adds, how they add it, and whether they give users a way to either benefit from it, or opt out of it.

I have dealt with websites before that showed ads and rewarded users for it. FreeRide.com, for one, in its previous incarnation (not the current one) had a forum, and both reading and posting within the forum were rewarded with points that could be exchanged for money and prizes, and although advertising was present, clicking on or interacting with ads was not a required condition of being rewarded. The idea was to simply offer an environment where users are paid to spend time on this forum, and money was made merely through the normal level of interaction that users would have with ads anyway. A portion of such monies were then returned to users.

Something else that Yahoo! might consider doing (although I don’t know if it would be considered enough “payback” to the community) is offering some financial or technical support to various open source projects, and/or offering open source projects free APIs to access various Yahoo! services.

I realize that in the mind of many users, the best solution would be for Yahoo! to never acquire such “Web2.0″ businesses anyway, but it seems to be inevitable that any site which reaches a certain level of popularity will either be acquired or be coerced by market forces to partner with a top-level portal (Google, AOL, Yahoo!, MSN).

'why not to use windows'

TalkBack: No wonder if they use windows | reader response on| CNET News.com: "There is no excuse, except maybe that they tried to use windows."

'the illusion of security' - interesting

TalkBack: Failures are intentional... | reader response on| CNET News.com: "The latter is
really the most important -- the illusion of
security, the illusion that the government is
being proactive in defending its citizens
against harm -- because without it, the
government would appear useless to a great
number of people."

homeland security Windows 95 = ?

Aging computers hobble Homeland Security | CNET News.com: "An upgrade to Microsoft's Windows 2000 operating system failed ... which meant one division had to ... reversion back to Windows 95."

more surveillance

Bush Secretly Lifted Some Limits on Spying in U.S. After 9/11, Officials Say - New York Times: "eavesdropping inside the country without court approval"

surveillance society

... it marches onward ...
KWCH 12 | Hidden camera in boy's bathroom

not critical enough for you?

WorkingForChange-Drowning the hard questions: A Nova special

NOVA may not have been critical enough, but the PBS show NOW has asked the hard questions:

• October 21, 2005 NOW Updates on Katrina and the environment
  
• September 30, 2005 NOW goes inside the management mess at FEMA.
  
• September 16, 2005 NOW What's next for New Orleans? A 1-hour town hall meeting.
  

It goes on, and on, and on. NOW continues to deal with this issue regularly. Notably, NOW is the rare PBS show that is not (currently) funded by any corporations. Since Bill Moyers left, and NOW moved to a 30 minute format, it's been funded by a mix of foundations and the PBS network itself. And it's been doing a great job at speaking truth to power. It's the kind of stuff the commercial networks' newsmagazines used to do before they all got sucked into multinational corporate conglomerates.

glad to see

Mall Resurrects Display of Hurricane Town - Yahoo! News

The mall has decided to resurrect an ever-so-slightly-sanitized version of the display, along with a bulletin board where both sides can post their comments. This is a much better solution.

censored

Project Censored - Media democracy in action

My challenge to you, dear reader? Pick any one of the above-linked 25 stories and try to contain your outrage at this media and this government.

banging the WM DRM drum

Of unintended interactions
I am perfectly well aware that MacBU isn't responsible for WMP. I would certainly hope they would never attach their good name to such a piece of work.

However - Microsoft - some part of it - is responsible for WMP. And they haven't really addressed the Mac community (to my knowledge). I would be interested to know whether they will ever implement a more recent version of WM DRM on the Mac, or whether they will license flip4mac.com to do so. Linspire wanted to procure a license for WM DRM, and they were told that MS doesn't license it for "general computing platform" usage. So much for "Plays For Sure".

Reference Links:
http://www.flip4mac.com - Not perfect, but significantly better than the "official" WM Mac player. And officially licensed by MS, to boot.

http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS3080897910.html - Article explaining how Linspire was denied a WM DRM license. I just don't see why, exactly, that MS wouldn't want this (except of course to preserve an OS monopoly). Are they honestly that threatened by Linspire? I thought they wanted Windows Media to "Plays For Sure" on all types of devices.

interesting condition

g i l g a m e s h . c a � Puretracks: Record labels Forced Mac Incompatibility: "... the site would not work for Macs."

in. appropriate.

CBS Producer Peddles 'Jesus Juice' Wine Label | NewsBusters.org

WorldSpace worrying me

Satellite radio going global - Breaking News - World - Breaking News: "WorldSpace would like to add Chinese-language channels and make radios that exclude foreign news channels.


'We're not interested in whether China is setting its media rules this way or that, we're interested in what those rules are and how to follow them,' Samara said."

Ew. I hope they change their attitude. (Or make those radios very easy to hack to receive the foreign news channels. ;) )

iTunes in NOV = WMA DRM solution ?

CMCentral.com Forum -> Tim Foreman speaks on protected CD: "... itunes is coming out with a new version for PC users in early November that will be compatible with all of these new CD's ..."

I wonder if this means that the supposed "new" iTunes in november will be either:

• Compatible with WMA-DRM, and converting such tracks to Fairplay DRM (or adding WMA to iPod (unlikely)).

OR



• Able to rip CDs with no regard to DRM, as before (hopeful, but realistic?)

My other question is whether the Mac iTunes will be affected by any of the above, or whether it will remain blissfully unaware of Windows Media DRM.

ActNow.org: Campaign for America's Priorities

Check out the interactive map I created

It's unbelievable that politicians are cutting vital social services like food stamps, Medicaid, and bridge and road construction while still giving away huge tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations.

Join me in this online march and get yourself on the map with thousands of people who think this just isn't right for America.

Thanks!

cool pi video

nerd alert! - you may need to be a geek to get this:
Keith Schofield / Pi

loose nukes @ purdue :(

ABC News: Purdue University: "No guards. No metal detectors."

stop the "break my VCR" flag!

Public Knowledge - Night of the Living Broadcast Flag!
What I added to their form letter:
"This is very important to me, as I spend the majority of my time helping out family at home. But to do so, and continue to attend college part time, it is essential that I'm able to record TV and radio if I'm going to be able to watch or listen at all, since I don't have the luxury of sitting down to watch programs live. I realize TV and radio aren't essentials for life, but they are an important way for me to stay informed and get entertained when I can't leave the house for a significant amount of time more than one night a week.

I am also majoring in Computer Information Systems in college, and I am very afraid of the chilling effect that these proposed onerous restrictions could have on computer programmers and hobbyists. We could be prevented from building or fixing our own computers, or even writing our own programs. I think we need to encourage more people to experiment with technology at home, if we ever want our country to catch up with the highly competitive job markets around the globe. Let's invent the next great thing right here in the US of A.

I'm also worried about the so-called "digital transition" from analog to digital TV. I think we should accelerate the transition, but the broadcast flag is the surest way to slow it down, and prevent public safety and other future bandwidth users from receiving their desired allotments on time. I don't think anyone will want to buy (or even take for free) a bunch of new digital equipment, which, thanks to a broadcast flag or similar restriction, will automatically delete shows before they've even been watched, prevent copying of shows for archival or sharing with other family members, or even prevent recording of certain shows entirely. That's just awful and greedy on the part of the entertainment industry. Everyone I've asked has said that they would not want a new VCR that didn't work at least as well as their old one."

Gullible?

I took the The Gullibility Factor test at NewsTarget.com - my score was 88 out of 100. This classified me as a "Free Thinker". Interesting test.

UP IN FLAMES

Mirror.co.uk - News - EXCLUSIVE: UP IN FLAMES: "Tons of British aid donated to help Hurricane Katrina victims to be BURNED by Americans"

quicktime tv - take 2

AmericaFree.TV : Free Internet Television with Classic Movies, Sci-Fi, Comedy, Independent Films and more !

Hope to see more of their streams move to H.264 in the coming months.

thank goodness

BREITBART.COM - Just The News: "'I can't swing a dead cat without hitting a reporter,' Honore said."

Freedom of the press in action. The first amendment, being enforced!

go CNN !

Feds Drop Media Ban on Katrina Recovery - Yahoo! News: "Challenged in court by CNN, the Bush administration ..."

It's high time that someone challenged the Bush administration.

meangirls = bb6 friendship

BB Screencaps BB6 Screencaps
An excellent parody.

Love to see Janelle win HOH again this week. Jedi Janey just needs one more HOH and she. could. go. all. the. way!

ways to replace cable tv with internet web subscription services

You might want to consider something along the lines of Real.com's SuperPass - it includes the 24/7 "ABC News Now" as well as other music and video channels. You can also add a Starz video on demand service for an additional fee. Some people also find they get by with an over-the-air antenna and digital tuner (in many areas you can receive multiple channels free with the appropriate tuner, even if you have an older analog TV set). Another alternative is Netflix, a DVD rental service, or even Peerflix, a DVD swapping service, which can be cheaper if you want fewer than 11 different DVDs during a given month - or would like the option of keeping and owning any DVD you receive.

It's also worth noting that Scripps Howard content (from networks like HGTV, DIY, Food Network, etc.) is available free (on an ad-supported basis) at Living.com.

Anne Rice comments on NOLA hurricane

Do You Know What It Means to Lose New Orleans? - New York Times

Good article. Rice expresses the highly complex nature of New Orleans and its importance to the fabric of our national life.

citizens, not insurgents!

Boing Boing: Al-Cajun? Army Times calls NOLA Katrina victims "the insurgency"

Is this a symptom of President Bush's "you're with us or you're against us" mentality? And, is he against the victims of Hurricane Katrina? Federal response was certainly slow in coming.

props to Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart Commits Additional $15 Million to Katrina Relief: "... Wal-Mart will establish mini-Wal-Mart stores in areas impacted by the hurricane."

I wonder if Wal-Mart will get their aid to the affected faster and more efficiently than the federal government. I wouldn't be shocked if that was the case.

racism makes me cry

"Blacks are Looters and Whites are Finders" - a series of screenshots at Dvorak's weblog.

How insensitive is this? Darker-skinned people are "looters" but those with lighter skin are "finders"!

(I realize these photos aren't all from the same news agency but I think their juxtaposition shows that race is still unfortunately a factor in how judgments are made when very little information is available about a person.)

Please, anyone reading this, donate to the relief organization of your choice.

another bad decision != shock

Former Clinton Advisor: "No One Can Say they Didn't See it Coming" - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News: "... the Bush administration cut New Orleans flood control funding by 44 percent to pay for the Iraq war."

BREITBART.COM - Just The News

BREITBART.COM - Just The News: "Religious ... " extremist " ... Pat Robertson called ... for the assassination ..."

Silly me. I thought that was the type of headline that I was supposed to hear about from other countries, not my own. How depressing, that a man who claims to be a Christian would call for the assassination of a foreign leader. Or anyone, really.

friends don't let friends run Windows

CNN.com - Worm strikes down Windows 2000 systems - Aug 16, 2005: "Microsoft in 'emergency response' as worm reported..."

How many times does this have to happen? Will it be more critical systems next time? What if a Windows virus hits computers at a hospital? Or at an air traffic control center? I don't want it to happen, but if the world doesn't move toward an environment of diversity in operating systems, it probably will.

Even the state of Indiana recently realized a cost savings by offering Linspire Linux-based operating systems to schools across the state. They will save money up front, and over time, as maintenance costs will be generally lower than comparable Windows-based systems.

Don't blame Apple for DMB "CD"

The Official Dave Matthews Band Website Guide To Defeating Copy Protection For Fair Use
I put "CD" in quotes because any CD that has copy protection isn't really a Compact Disc according to proper standards. Please don't blame Apple or anyone else for a record label's shortsighted decision to intentionally disable and damage DMB's album with copy protection.
How does the copy protection help if an unencrypted, unencumbered Audio CD can be burned of the complete album anyway? Seems to me you're only making those who legitimately buy an album jump through hoops to enjoy it to its fullest. Meanwhile, true pirates will burn a CD from Windows Media Player once, then take that CD and copy it to sell on the streets.

Christian paradox in USA

The Christian Paradox (Harpers.org): "... the overwhelmingly Christian American nation trails badly in all these categories, categories to which Jesus paid particular attention."

List of county prefixes for Indiana license plates

Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles
This is a numerical list, that is, arranged by numbers, of all the Indiana counties and their corresponding numbered designations on Indiana state BMV issued license plates.

ridiculous

FRESNO / Girl, 11, to go on trial for rock incident / Mayor stands by police in face of ethnic bias claim
No comment.

yet another use of duct tape

Use #597: Fix the space shuttle.
My Way News: "And if that didn't work, he was supposed to use a hacksaw put together ... with ... duct tape."