Idle Musings | 2008 July

Archive for July 2008

Delicious Relaunches With Redesign

In Social Networking, Technology on Jul-31-2008 with
no comments

Well this is interesting. I just noticed popular social bookmarketing site Delicious (thanks for getting rid of the periods in your name BTW), has just totally redesigned their site. Well a total redesign may not be accurate. It is still similar to the previous version, just cleaner and easier to get around. Heck, they even have a quick video if you are confused.

The Web Design Dashboard is one heck of a resource. Check it out!

NBC Goes All In With Internet Olympic Coverage

In Business, Sports on Jul-29-2008 with
no comments

I have been wondering what NBC’s plans were for the Internet, and now we have some details:

Olympics fans will have a bevy of opportunities to get content from NBC Universal next month—2,200 hours of live online coverage, live events on their mobile phone and even a way to download coverage to computers with Microsoft Vista.

The network announced plans that will encompass many of the digital platforms in use today. It also will include fantasy and casual gaming, VOD and interactive TV. Major partners include Microsoft, Amazon Unbox, Schematic and many others.

NBC’s digital Olympics coverage has evolved quickly, beginning with one hockey game streamed on the Web in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Now there’s not one Summer Olympics sport that won’t get the full treatment, not only blanket video coverage but also audio play-by-play and commentary and live blogging by NBC Sports experts. That’s quite a change for fans of fencing or kayaking, for example, where the sports got comparatively short shrift compared to other disciplines.

NBCOlympics.com’s player was built by Schematic on the foundation of Microsoft’s Silverlight 2 platform, an alternative to Adobe Flash. The Schematic player will be used for viewers who want to choose from coverage of four live events totaling 2,200 hours or the 3,600 hours of on-demand coverage, including what was on TV sometime after it was aired. Schematic has vast experience with video players, designing ABC.com’s as well as CNN Pipeline, among others.

What the article doesn’t address is how NBC is going to handle advertising. Will there be ads on the site and around the video player, embedded in the video itself, or some type of combination. Regardless of how they handle ads, even if they are everywhere, I give NBC a ton of credit here. This is a huge step forward, and a welcome step to say the least for sports fans that want to watch events that won’t be carried on on NBC, MSNBC, or CNBC.

Lets Talk “San Francisco Values”

In Culture, Politics on Jul-28-2008 with
no comments

It is hard to turn on Fox Noise or any right leaning radio show and not hear somebody rail against “San Francisco values.” In my humble opinion it is more than the city votes liberal, instead this phrase is just a “code” word for their dislike of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities. Markos Moulitsas recently pointed out what I think every time I heard “San Francisco values:”

But let’s talk about “San Francisco values”, you know—tolerance, entrepreneurship, and creativity.

Since O’Reilly boycotts everything he hates, I look forward to his boycott of all Bay Area-origin products. Same with every conservative who bashes San Francisco and the Bay Area. So no iPods or anything Apple. No HP computers. No Google. No Yahoo. No eBay. Those conservative bloggers using Blogspot, MovableType, or TypePad? Sorry. Those products are Bay Area-based.

Also no Adobe or Macromedia products. No computers, either, since most run on AMD or Intel. No tax preparation using Intuit products. Cancel your Netflix subscription. Cancel your TiVo subscription. Remove your Network Associates or Symantec virus protection software from your computer. Unplug your Netgear wifi router.

Don’t wear Levis (or any kind of jeans), Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, or buy your kids Gymboree. Avoid LeapFrog learning toys. Boycott Pixar movies. Boycott any movie using George Lucas’ ILM special effects shop. Stay away from Treos and other Palm devices. Don’t let Charles Schwab manage your portfolio. Don’t bank at Wells Fargo.

Yeah, those “San Francisco values” sure are dragging the region down. Making it weak as it falls behind the rest of the country—the parts that don’t share “San Francisco values”—economically and socially.

Or, maybe—just maybe—it’s made the region a magnet for the world’s smartest, most innovative, most entrepreneurial individuals and an incubator of the world’s most dramatic technological advances.

This was first written two years ago. Now Silicon Valley is ground zero for the funding and development of a next generation “green” technology and businesses. Maybe some other regions of our nation could benefit from those darn evil “San Francisco Values.”

Ripert’s Quest To Build The Perfect Burger

In Food on Jul-28-2008 with
no comments

Stud four-star chef Eric Ripert recently opened a new restaurant in the DC Ritz-Carlton called Westend Bistro. In doing research for how to construct the “perfect” burger he spent some time at chain places like McDonald’s and Burger King and found what he thought was key to their success:

Just looking at the basic burgers at each of these chains—particularly the Big Mac—showed me a couple of very key things: First of all, the burgers are a perfect size. You can grab them in both hands, and they’re never too tall or too wide to hold on to. And the toppings are the perfect size, too—all to scale, including the thickness of the tomatoes, the amount of lettuce, etc. In terms of the actual flavors, they taste okay, but you can count on them to be consistent; you always know what you’re going to get.

The scale of the burger and what is served on it is key. If I am tailgating I don’t mind if I get a great burger where I need a roll of paper towels to eat it as everything moves and slides around.

But if I am having a burger in a suit at the Ritz-Carlton things needs to be in proportion and it needs to be easy to consume. Also, another problem with burgers not in proportion is that things do shift and move around, therefore you don’t get all the desired ingredients with each bite. It takes away from the overall “experience.” Not really acceptable if you are paying twenty bucks for a hamburger.

When More Press Is Not Better Press

In Media, Politics on Jul-27-2008 with
no comments

The role of the Fourth Estate is to inform and educate the public and serve as a watchdog of corporate America, the government, and other institutions.

As I’ve been gathering information for a long article about traditional media and where the future of print based advertising is headed, I’ve come across some information that I expected was true, but it is still startling none the less.

James Rainey of the Los Angeles Times pointed me in the direction of this study on bias in network news coverage:

The Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University, where researchers have tracked network news content for two decades, found that ABC, NBC and CBS were tougher on Obama than on Republican John McCain during the first six weeks of the general-election campaign.

You read it right: tougher on the Democrat.

During the evening news, the majority of statements from reporters and anchors on all three networks are neutral, the center found. And when network news people ventured opinions in recent weeks, 28% of the statements were positive for Obama and 72% negative.

Network reporting also tilted against McCain, but far less dramatically, with 43% of the statements positive and 57% negative, according to the Washington-based media center.

As a student of media, heck just a citizen of this country these are really troubling findings. Now if there is something negative to report about a candidate he should be reported in a factual manner.

But I tend to think, and have for a long time, that the media with their need to fill 24/7 coverage have moved away from actually reporting the news and instead what to construct a narrative with a story arch. If you pick up any book on how to write a screen play it will stress the need for conflict, more conflict, ever increasing conflict until the climax.

How do you create this on-going narrative, with negative stories. And where no negative stories are available they are manufactured by the media. Is the religious right really that unhappy with McCain or are Latinos really not going to vote for Obama now Hillary is out of the race?

Is this news or are both of these items just manufactured stories to create conflict and further an on-going narrative? I tend to think, with the research data from Center for Media and Public Affairs that it is tough to come to any other conclusion.

RIP: Randy Pausch, 47, Passes Away

In Culture, Video on Jul-27-2008 with
no comments

Randy’s site, NYT obituary, and Wikipedia entry.

World Writes Open Letter To McCain

In Humor, Politics on Jul-27-2008 with
no comments

“Ordinarily we do not interfere in America’s internal affairs,” said a spokesman for the rest of the planet, “even when it has become clear, as in recent years, that American voters are about to elect ignorant, incoherent buffoons who will add immeasurably to our immiseration. But this time is different. We didn’t think it was worth our while to step up for your Carter or Mondale or Dukakis or Gore or Kerry—besides, we’d only be bombed or invaded for our trouble. But this time, I mean, come on—you’ve got to be kidding me, right? Please tell me you’re kidding.”

Pointing to polls that show Obama leading McCain 94 percent to 6 percent everywhere on the inhabited globe except the United States, where most polls give Obama a narrow one- to three-point lead, the entire world suggested that Americans might not be sufficiently informed about the U.S. election. “Look, this isn’t funny,” said a world representative, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “You’ve got one candidate who has a reasonably sane and comprehensive foreign policy combined with detailed knowledge of American domestic affairs, and another candidate who isn’t always sure which country he’s talking about and whose domestic policy consists of telling people to stop whining. Why are you even throwing this open to a vote? Are you people out of your minds?” [….]

← Before

← Back to Home