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Thursday, September 23, 2004 |
JD Lasica: "Google News uses computer algorithms to identify top stories while Yahoo News favors old-fashioned human editors. But do Google's automated search results display a conservative bias?" [Scripting News]
8:25:25 PM 
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NOW THAT'S COMEDY. Vodkapundit links to this classic Letterman Top 10:Top Ten Ways CBS News Can Improve Its Reputation 10. Stick to stories everyone can agree on, like cookies are delicious. 9. Move nightly "happy hour" to after the broadcast. 8. Stop hiring... [Begging To Differ]
8:24:45 PM
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A visual history of spam (and virus) email
A BB reader sez: "Raymond Chen has kept every single piece of spam and every virus-laden email which he has received, while at Microsoft, since 1997. He has taken the data regarding numbers and file size, and plotted them out on a graph. It makes for an interesting, and informational, read."
Spam went ballistic starting in 2002. You could see it growing in 2001, but 2002 was when it really took off.
Link (via The Spam Weblog)
[bOing bOing]
6:07:56 AM
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The undeniable final word on CBS-gate.
Time to crack open the nearest unit of champagne. This whole CBS/forged document thing -- the mother of all campaign red herrings -- is finally over. Intrepid news anchor Jon Stewart has sorted it out. You can see the breaking news here.
And here's a partial transcript from the broadcast:
(Ed. note: Given that said transcript is a duplicate, War Room does not vouch for its authenticity.)
JON STEWART: Well Stephen, what do you think is going to happen now at CBS News?
STEPHEN COLBERT, Daily Show Senior Media Correspondent: Jon, there's got to be some accountability. Dan Rather is the head, the commander in chief if you will of his organization. He's someone in the ultimate position of power who made a harmful decision based upon questionable evidence. Then, to make things worse, he stubbornly refused to admit his mistake, choosing instead to stay the course and essentially occupy this story for too long. This man has got to go!
STEWART: Uh ... we're talking about Dan Rather...?
COLBERT: Yes Jon, Dan Rather. CBS is in chaos, it's unsafe, riven by internal rivalries. If you ask me, respected, reputable outsiders need to be brought in to help the rebuilding effort.
STEWART: ... at CBS News?
COLBERT: Yeah, at CBS news! What possible other unrelated situation could my words be equally applicable to?! Now people need to be held accountable. The commander in chief, the vice president, the secretary of defense, the national security adviser -- everyone at CBS News needs to go! Jon, I can tell you, Walter Cronkite is rolling over in his grave.
STEWART: Walter Cronkite is still alive.
COLBERT: Not according to my sources ... at CBS News.
[Salon.com]
6:05:30 AM
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More propaganda remix posters
 New additions to a previously-Boinged online gallery featuring brilliantly modernized versions of old propaganda posters. You can buy the retweaked graphics on sporty messenger bags, t-shirts, coffee cups, and -- well by golly, even a thong or two. Link (Thanks, Squiddo)
[bOing bOing]
6:01:55 AM
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Wes comments on an item I blinked as well:
The Butt Ugly Weblog: We lied to you. "In the golden 80s and 90s [the computer industry] told [the entertainment industry] micropayments and content protection would work; that you would be able to charge minuscule amounts of money whenever someone listened to your music or watched your movie. We told you untruths which we well knew would never work - after all, we would've never used them ourselves." I don't think games are a good example of this, considering the escalating copy protection war in that industry. Game publishers tried funky corrupted CDs (the Apple II days all over again) and requiring the CD to be in the drive, so game-playing hackers wrote CD-ROM-drive-emulating device drivers. This merely opened a new front in the kernel, prompting the copy protection systems to install their own device drivers which disable debuggers and other legitimate utilities. Of course any offline system can be cracked, so the game companies are planning to force you to be connected to the Internet to play.
[Hack the Planet]
6:01:29 AM
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Listen to a Book on Your Cell Phone.
more competition
[stuff on audible.com and circulating audio books for mobile devices snipped]
Tangent: you should also read Aaron's post about library journal's breaking news. He makes some excellent points, and you start to wonder how information-rich the online world of library-related information would be if there was more of a two-way street between the bloggers and the trade journals.
[The Shifted Librarian]
And Aaron sez, among other things:
What does matter is how bland LJ’s blurb is. It really would have benefited librarians who will only be receiving this infomation from LJ if they had included some links to library related blogs’ discussion of this study. Sure this is a ‘breaking news’ blurb and not a full on article, but it wouldn’t have taken much effort to include some links.
5:54:20 AM
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Ourmedia.org is coming.......
ive posted before here and here about a huge door that is about to open.
It was called open-media.org, now its called Ourmedia.org.
In just a few months, this project has moved very quickly thanks to JD Lasica and Marc Canter.
What is it? Well, check the official FAQ to educate yourself if you care about free storage and bandwidth for your videos FOREVER. (or for as long as people keep caring)
Q. What's the big idea here?
A. The idea is pretty simple: People who create video, music, photos, audio clips and other personal media can store their stuff for free on ourmedia's servers forever, as long as they're willing to share their works with a global audience.
Backed by the Internet Archive, ourmedia's goal is to expose, advance and preserve digital creativity at the grassroots level.
The site will serve as a central gathering spot where professionals and amateurs come together to share works, offer tips and tutorials, interact in a combination community space and repository that will preserve these works for future generations.
and more importantly for us.......
Q. I'm a video blogger. I shoot video, create mini-movies, and place them on my weblog. Can I use ourmedia instead?
A. Yes, as long as you're willing to share your work with the world.
[unmediated]
5:47:45 AM
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School Lunch. Mayor Bloomberg has made education reform a priority, and now change is coming to public school cafeterias. A new chef, Jorge Leon Collazo, plans to make lunch a little more excitingand healthywith the help of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and a new approach to school lunch. [WNYC New York Public Radio]
5:46:41 AM
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Understanding of the Cell and a brief history of microscopy. This quote, made a real impact on my mind's vision of the cell. I can just imagine little monks scurrying from cell to cell. The rest of the article is also very good--a nice combination of biology, science history, and art history: The word "cell" literally means "room". The term was first used in biology by the 17th-century British physicist... [GalaxyGoo Blog]
5:46:19 AM
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E-Vote Fears Soar in Swing States. The Bush and Kerry campaigns, along with a range of advocacy groups, are concerned with the integrity of voting technology -- particularly in the states where votes matter most. By Jacob Ogles. [Wired News]
5:40:45 AM
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The summit of Mount Stephenson. Neal Stephenson's sprawling, intricate "System of the World" caps a vast trilogy of historical and philosophical splendors. [Salon.com]
I've started reading The System of the World. The very start is once again bringing together the physical and more abstract layers of what constitutes money. Can't wait to finish it; don't want it to end.
5:35:20 AM
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