Friday Night Links

Hooray! Friday is upon us. And what better way to prepare for the weekend winddown than with a batch of links and videos. Warning: Links tend to be excellent. Allow sufficient time to peruse them. Maybe go get yourself a box juice and a bag of potato chips. On to the links.

Sometimes I forget that it would be a good idea to put up some of my favorite stuff on the internet from time to time. The P.S. 22 chorus is awesome. That link leads to their blog. Here’s a video of them taking on a classic.(Lady Gaga and Coldplay at the end of this post.)

Vick signs with the Eagles. NFL Players Tweet reactions.

MSNBC blog First Read on townhalls, anger, and Republican reaction. Good stuff.

The Onion: Little Butterball Holding Up Ice Cream Line.

A Neocon for President in 2012? Daily Beast series looks at 2012 landscape. Just found this, looks bookmarkable.

Are you tired of seeing quizzes on “what childhood beach toy you are”? Is the craziest you get on facebook entail sending out an inquiring wall post? Or maybe a poke if you’re feeling saucy? Well then Facebook Lite might be for you.

Clearly the best part is at the end when he nonchalantly says, “When I interviewed Vice President Joe Biden, he became my homeboy. Now that I’ve interview you would you like to be my homeboy?”

Madden 2010. May need to dip back into the classic franchise…

Interesting post from Slate’s Brow Beat Blog.

Oooo top 100 blogs. Where the blogosphere and twitterosphere meet apparently.

What’s coming up in New York City?

This guy wrote about a traffic problem in Queens for the Queens Ledger. This guy is me.(I know about the typo, don’t know what happened there)

Magazine Launch parties are back! Regular readers may fondly remember my post on another magazine launch party from ten years ago.

P.S. 22 Chorus sings Lady Gaga’s Just Dance with(thankfully) cleaned up lyrics:

And the kids sing a song rumored to be about the Crusades, the French Revolution, Napoleon, George W. Bush, Caesar, Nero, or Jesus Christ:

Back to the Future: Augmented Reality Twitter

Marty McFly would have blown his flux capacitor if he read the post below.

As the Joker famously said in The Dark Knight, “And… here… we… go!”

What is augmented reality twitter? The best thing ever according to some, and to others it will be yet more evidence of the impending downfall of our civilization. My take? The technology could actually have some life-saving real world applications. Check the video and read on.

So at this point you think I lost it. You’re thinking, “Adrian, there are floating faces sending tweets using GPS technology. Please tell me you’re kidding with the life-saving thing.” Well, actually I’m not. See, Twitter has already shown it’s unparalleled ability to provide up to the second updates in dangerous circumstances. The Iran election fallout was a high profile one, the recent plane collision over the Hudson River was another.

Imagine this scenario. There is a school shooting on a sprawling college campus. The day was well-planned and the tragedy has law enforcement playing catchup. On a campus this big and with the shooters separated in different buildings, a dangerous stalemate is taking place. No one knows where the survivors are hiding but its a race against time. The students could make a call from where they’re hiding but they risk being heard. A tweet will help. A GPS aided augmented reality tweet would really do the trick.

In this scenario a still disbelieving officer scans  an iPhone across three large buildings and he can see where students are hiding. Law enforcement concentrates their efforts efficiently and saves students. Imagine a terrorist attack. Imagine finding survivors beneath rubble before time runs out. It sounds crazy. But it could be a reality.

It will probably end up being primarily used by a teenager to find her friends in the mall. But it could be great. Apple has to open up its code so that this technology can become widespread first though because as of now it was done as a work around. Stay tuned. It might be as close as we get to time travelling cars.

Friday Night Links: Twitter Edition

What? A graphic?! Yes, its that time of the week. This time a wrinkle. All of the links will come from my interesting tweets(and retweets) of the week. Don’t worry they’re not all about Twitter. Its a vibrant cross section of the news that is the fabric of this great nation. Oh and videos. I always bring the vids.

Jon Stewart earns the wrath of Rush Limbaugh. Looks like a win-win for Stewart.

The GOP isn’t worried about backlash from hispanics over Sotomayor. I think they should be.

Grad sues college for tuition because she can’t get a job.

Newly discovered pieces by Mozart, technically demanding and furiously paced. He was seven or eight years old when he wrote them. When I was seven, my teacher asked the class to find out the opposite of the word “sweet”. I came back the next day, told her it was “sour” and received some sort of prize. My accomplishment was not technically demanding, furiously paced nor was it an extensive concerto movement.

Cheesily produced video of the greatest basketball team ever assembled. The 1992 Dream Team:

The prevalence of these stories doesn’t make it any less alarming. We’re running out of oil at an unbelievable rate.

Apple tries to silence 11 year old with exploding iPod.

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again. The time for lasers on top of airplanes has come.

The Onion: “Victim of Mall Shooting Determined Not To Die In Yankee Candle”

140 characters? Please. Old news. The cheapest telegrams used to be 150 characters. Includes awesome code words for shortening sentences. Thus: “If a sufficient inducement is offered, the hunting expedition will not set out” could be sent in code by simply sending “Inert hurst” in a telegram.

With the news that championship hero David Ortiz failed a steroid test in 2003, coming on the heels of the Patriots shady business during Spygate, a new song has come out. Boston Trophy Party:

Reuters CEO is going at online content distribution just like the AP…but the exact opposite. “I believe in the link economy.” Great read.

Hey so, why are Russian nuclear submarines snooping off the East coast of the US?

The Onion: Solitary Crow on Fence Post Portending Doom, Analysts Warn

Candidate Bloomberg: Let’s reopen LIRR stations in Elmhurst, Richmond Hill, and Glendale. Please do Mr. Mayor if you are reelected to be mayor once again. Transportation in some parts of Queens is a nightmare.

Seth Rogan talks about being rejected by Megan Fox with rejection clip. Hilarious.

Geez, why was he so nervous anyway?

Oh.

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For a chance to have my blog posts delivered to the comfort of a popular social network, follow me @TheRealAdrianC on Twitter, where I retweet  loads of interesting and important stories each day, send out social media news, and of course, pass along my humble blog posts, to you, the discerning new media devotee.

Risky Business: News Corp. To Charge For Online Content

The "Last Mogul" will either be the first innovator or...the last mogul.

It happens in many of our favorite action movies. The hero has been outsmarted. He’s up against the wall and the pirate/ninja/dragon/girlfriend has the upper hand. The hero is out of options. Will we see him fall? Assuredly so…unless …unless of course he can pull off the riskiest of moves. He has no other options but to swing on a rope onto another ship/use a forbidden martial arts move that could leave him defenseless or deal a fatal blow/roll underneath the beast, avoid napalm-like flame and plunge his sword deep into its belly/feign sickness to get out of the scrabble triple date. This is the news industry. It’s zero hour. And it’s their move.

And so it is amidst these dire circumstances that Rupert Murdoch decided that his success with the Wall Street Journal is enough to test the waters of monetizing online news across all of his newspapers by June 2010. The New York Post, the UK’s Times and the Sun, and Australia’s Daily Telegraph are just some of the newspapers he owns besides the WSJ.

As I blogged about a couple of weeks ago some companies are trying to get ahead of this coming wave of news organizations trying to figure out how to receive revenue for quality journalism. The trick is that they must provide a price point or a pay model that retains enough readers so that advertisers don’t jump ship. Whether news organizations use an intermediary or develop their own system, it’s clear that they will have to create a delicate balance between opposing forces.

If Murdoch succeeds? Besides inflating his ego, it will save newspapers. Plain and simple. In an era where classified advertising went to Craigslist, newspapers would receive a life preserver in the form of revenue injection across the board. If it fails? News Corp. will stumble badly but I don’t think it can get much worse for other news organizations. The worst of the recession has passed by most accounts and newspapers are hurting, but they are surviving.

So the movie will play out in front of our eyes. The trouble–of course–is that at the end of movies you leave the theater happy. In real life? The good guys don’t always win.

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For a chance to have my blog posts delivered to the comfort of a popular social network, follow me @TheRealAdrianC on Twitter, where I retweet  loads of interesting and important stories each day, send out social media news, and of course, pass along my humble blog posts, to you, the discerning new  media devotee.

Newsgasm:On Clinton/North Korea, Clunkers, LA Fitness Shooting and more…

I’m going to try something a little different here. I had a little bit to say about multiple news stories, nothing I wanted to ramble about. Maybe this becomes a weekly feature maybe not, but can you say recurring? I think so.

Bill Clinton/North Korea: It’s amazing that the United States was able to pull this off with a huge assist from Bill Clinton. But as information came out yesterday that Clinton already had a guarantee that he was going to be taking the prisoners home, I wasn’t surprised. Howard Kurtz, Washington Post media critic, opined that this was the case on @HowardKurtz on Twitter, before it became public. What I find most interesting is that North Korea rejected Al Gore and seemingly Hillary Clinton as emissaries, and asked for Bill Clinton.

Cash for ‘Clunkers’: Click for data on why the program is working. I, like so many others in this country am tired of the political games that seem necessary to achieve progress in this country. It doesn’t matter what your politics are. Let me repeat, this is not about politics. The program set out to improve the average mileage of cars in the United States, have  positive environmental and economic repercussions because of it,  and help Americans who were three of four thousand dollars short of being able to finally get a new car. Guess what. It’s a success. Getting the extra $2 billion should not necessitate arm wringing and nonsensical posturing. This time it was Republicans but neither party is immune to the idiocy that is common place. When progress can only be accomplished at a glacial pace, Americans lose out in the long run.

LA Fitness Shooting: Click for story from CNN. This tragic story may have a lasting impact on law enforcement. Mashable details online diary entries from the  murderer who set out to kill young women. He was planning it and talked about  how he was lonely, hadn’t had a girlfriend since 1984 and that he didn’t want to live anymore. How will law enforcement patrol the internet for dangerous people who are making their criminal intentions known beforehand?

Healthcare: The article explains that Democrats are feeling good about passing healthcare reform after a pep talk from the Head Coach-in-Chief. I know that healthcare is a polarizing issue and even within a party, there is disagreement. I even blogged about an issue that’s been dismissed that may be crucial in the debate. But why exactly are Republicans so up in arms? So astonished, bewildered and enraged about the prospect of healthcare? This was one of the pillars of Obama’s campaign. He won. Did you think he would decide against it once he was able to kick his feet up in the Oval office? I don’t mean to trivialize the issue. But last week Nancy Pelosi said that Democrats have the votes to pass healthcare. Politicians are the cagiest of people, why would she say this and have it blow up in her face? It seems that the Democrats can push something through if they want because of the public signing off on it in the election and because they can get the votes. Disagreement within the party has slowed progress of the bill because Blue Dog(more conservative) Democrats want consessions in the bill that progressives are against. Its pretty clear that Republicans will not work with Democrats for the best possible bill. It goes against their principles to do so. But why the uproar? If its so bad for the country won’t people realize this? If the bill is just another collosal mistake by the Obama administration, won’t this make it easier for a Republican challenger to harness the momentum of public opinion and defeat Obama in the 2012 election?

ESPN To Employees: Stop Tweeting You Twerps!

In the last 36 hours, the US Marines have banned Twitter use, the NFL has banned Twitter, and now comes news that ESPN will only let employees Tweet if, you know, it’s not about sports. What’s next? Shaq can’t tweet about random acts of Shaqness? CNN can’t tweet about news? I can’t tweet about blog posts and blog about tweets? What is the world coming to?

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I want to know about an NBA reporter's vacation destinations and car shopping experiences.

In all seriousness, ESPN could not be more shortsighted in it’s gagging of employees and in it’s approach to Twitter. Let’s look at the internal memo which they thankfully(foolishly?) released. Via Deadspin:

Specific Guidelines
· Personal websites and blogs that contain sports content are not permitted
· Prior to engaging in any form of social networking dealing with sports, you must receive permission from the supervisor as appointed by your department head
· ESPN.COM may choose to post sports related social media content
· If ESPN.com opts not to post sports related social media content created by ESPN talent, you are not permitted to report, speculate, discuss or give any opinions on sports related topics or personalities on your personal platforms
· The first and only priority is to serve ESPN sanctioned efforts, including sports news, information and content
Assume at all times you are representing ESPN
If you wouldn’t say it on the air or write it in your column, don’t tweet it
Exercise discretion, thoughtfulness and respect for your colleagues, business associates and our fans
· Avoid discussing internal policies or detailing how a story or feature was reported, written, edited or produced and discussing stories or features in progress, those that haven’t been posted or produced, interviews you’ve conducted, or any future coverage plans.
· Steer clear of engaging in dialogue that defends your work against those who challenge it and do not engage in media criticism or disparage colleagues or competitors
· Be mindful that all posted content is subject to review in accordance with ESPN’s employee policies and editorial guidelines
· Confidential or proprietary company information or similar information of third parties who have shared such information with ESPN, should not be shared
Any violation of these guidelines could result in a range of consequences, including but not limited to suspension or dismissal.”

“Prior to engaging in any form of social networking dealing with sports, you must receive permission from the supervisor as appointed by your department head.” Twitter and social media helps to pass content along and inform viewers of upcoming programming. This is free advertising! That fans want to read! Bill Simmons constantly pimps ESPN’s fantastic upcoming documentary series ’30 for 30′. Is this a bad thing for ESPN?

” The first and only priority is to serve ESPN sanctioned efforts, including sports news, information and content.” My favorite one. On ESPN besides the oft-mentioned Simmons, (who is going to have the biggest name on my tag cloud soon) Marc Stein and Ric Bucher tweet about in progress reporting before a story is ready for submission. While this might sound a little dangerous, they use their news judgment as experienced professionals, to decide what little nugget would be simultaneously interesting to readers and harmless to divulge. Why does ESPN insist on treating their employees like irresponsible children?

“Assume at all times you are representing ESPN. If you wouldn’t say it on the air or write it in your column, don’t tweet it” More of the same. ESPN has a history of taking itself too seriously. On a March 27th B.S. Report podcast with his boss John A. Walsh, Simmons shared five gripes about ESPN and the first one was that ESPN could have a better sense of humor about itself. Walsh agreed. but he didn’t reallyaddress the concerns. This is an example of outdated thinking and is exemplified in their approach to employee tweets. Twitter has many different applications, especially for a giant media company, and its shocking that they wouldn’t want to embrace this.

Social media connoisseur, Chris Brogan put it this way:

“You can use your robot feeds to blurt out posts and showtimes and stuff, but if you want connectivity to people, engagement to your content, and a sense of participation on the social web, making people only talk about ESPN is a quick one-way ticket to “who cares?”

Over at Deadspin the writer chronicled how ESPN employees were scared to send over the memo and believed that Bucher was “flagrantly testing” the new policy. Simmons tweeted “My take on the great unspoken: Ultimately it’s good if (redacted) incorporates (redacted). Had to start somewhere. I trust @rfking(ESPN.com editor-in-chief). So there.”

Too bad we’ll never know if that’s what he really thinks.
UPDATE: I don’t think my post is what did it but…ESPN responds to backlash and criticism.

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For a chance to have my blog posts delivered to the comfort of a popular social network, follow me @TheRealAdrianC on Twitter, where I retweet  loads of interesting and important stories each day, send out social media news, and of course, pass along my humble blog posts, to you, the discerning new media devotee.

Drunk on ‘Sexcess’: What A Lavish 1999 Magazine Launch Party Has To Do With A 2009 Recession.

Ten years ago Talk Magazine was the 'you know what' of the town.

Bill Simmons, popular national columnist from ESPN, has taken a liking to Twitter. As such he posts early and often @sportsguy33. One of his recent tweets was about the startling difference between the much ballyhooed launch of Talk Magazine in 1999 and the stark reality that confronts the industry now. The story is a great read, chronicling the absolutely over the top nature of a party in front of the Statue of Liberty, complete with floor pillows and celebrities bumping into each other in a shrouded outdoor atmosphere. A quote from the story:

“Ten years ago, journalists, long the salarymen of the publishing economy, began gorging on big contracts and options from digital start-ups like shrimp at a free buffet. With coveted writers commanding $5 for every typed word into magazines that were stuffed to the brim with advertising, there was a fizziness, some would say recklessness, in the air. The industry was drunk on its own prerogatives, working a party that seemed as if it would never end.”

Does that sound familiar? While I was reading it, suddenly my mind was shifting away from the mistakes of magazines and I felt like this wasn’t about the writers and publishers at all. The paragraph above could just as easily be describing the culture on Wall Street. Is it passe to bash these companies? I don’t think so. Especially because they continue to operate in a reality other than the one most of us inhabit. In 2008, 4793 Wall Streeters made over $1 million in bonuses. They received taxpayer money and doled it out liberally. But surely those practices have mercifully ended, correct? These companies, ones that received TARP payouts, they’re not back to their old ways are they? Well actually they are, as Goldman Sachs prepares to hand out $11.4 billion this year to its employees. I don’t know enough about this topic to say for certain that companies like Goldman should be exercising restraint for the good of their company. What I can say is that I’m pretty sure  it looks terrible for them to be tossing money from the rafters while the rest of the country suffers through the worst recession and job market in a generation. But what I can’t say authoritatively, I will let others do.

The New York Times: “Goldman, analysts warned, is embracing financial risks that many of its competitors are unable or unwilling to take. While Goldman managed those risks this time, its strategy could backfire if the markets turn against it.”

Moneyweek: “Trading in fixed income, currency and commodities generated half Goldman’s record revenues. That can’t last. Competitors will return and clients will lose enthusiasm for trading as the rally runs out of steam. And as investors lose their appetite for government debt, Goldman will also struggle to continue earning fees by finding buyers for this.”

New York Daily News: “The scary thing is we’re about to see the cycle repeat itself – and it will lead to near insolvency at another firm too big to fail,” said John Coffee, a Columbia law professor. “High-risk, high return trading – where managers share in the upside, but not in the downside – has already returned to Goldman Sachs, and other banks will say they have to do the same thing so they can compete with Goldman.”

Well! That sounds fantastic. Let me see if I get this straight. It’s hard to get your mind around complex issues when you’re not gifted with the intelligence and foresight of financial tycoons, executives, and CEO’s, so bear with me. With Wall Street drunk on a mix of success and excess, let’s call it ‘sexcess’, our financial system was on the brink of failure. It was saved by the government. The government still owns some of these companies, like one-third of Citigroup, for example. So last year amidst the meltdown, these corporations continued to shell out big bonuses. Now this year, despite everything that happened, a little success, in one quarter mind you, has led companies to throw caution to the wind once again. “Screw it! We’re back,” seems to be the sentiment. And on top of this fortunate news, analysts believe that other companies will feel that they need to embrace the risky practices that led to near catastrophy and threatened our fair republic.

The amount that Americans should be outraged is incalculable. Maybe, David A. Viniar, Chief Financial Officer for Goldman Sachs can take us away with a comforting quote. Something to make us all sleep a little better tonight.

Viniar on bonuses, from NYT: “We pay for performance.”

I bet the publisher of Talk Magazine was thinking the same thing in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, on a night not so long ago.

For a chance to have my blog posts delivered to the comfort of a popular social network, follow me @TheRealAdrianC on Twitter, where I retweet  loads of interesting and important stories each day, send out social media news, and of course, pass along my humble blog posts, to you, the discerning new media devotee.

Top 5 Upcoming Blockbuster Movies of 2009, 2010

With Comic Con in the books and the summer blockbusters out of the way, I thought I’d take a look at what’s going to hit theaters over the next 500 days or so. In no particular order:

1) Alice in Wonderland

It’s safe to say that Johnny Depp has some range. March 5th, 2010.

2) 2012

I don’t know about anybody else but this movie trailer scares the bejesus out of me. Those Mayans and their calendar seem to be causing a lot of strife, so let’s go to a Mayan priest to settle the issue, once and for all. November 13th, 2009.

3) Ironman 2

You gotta love how movie companies are so secretive with their trailers. Oh no! Fans might be exciting and pining for the movie at an earlier date! Excitement might reach a fever pitch! No, no, we don’t want that. As such we’re reduced to watching pictures of a trailer. How sad. Don Cheadle, in the photos, as he is replacing Terrence Howard. Don’t know the story? Here ya go. May 7th, 2010.

4. The Expendables

Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Jet Li, Jason Statham, ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin, Eric Roberts, Randy Couture. All in the movie. Yes, I am serious. April 23rd, 2010.

5. Twilight: New Moon

No I didn’t do this for traffic. How dare you even think it. Look, the characters are dreamy and the movie is so real because it’s her story, in first person ok? Ok? IT LOOKS COOL WHEN THE GUY TURNS INTO A WEREWOLF. There I said it. November 20th, 2009.

The Associated Press vs. The Internet

The Associated Press would charge 12.50 for a quote of five words.

You know, I get it. Journalism is in trouble. Oh yes, its true. Business model is in shambles and no one quite knows how you monetize something that people have been getting for free, for years now. There are ten-year olds, who only know a world with nothing but free, high quality journalism. So everyone is kind of in a free-for-all attempting to salvage a virtuous and important industry.

Some are now toying with the idea of different pay models for news sites, as I blogged about a couple of weeks ago. The Associated Press has decided to go the extra mile. If you want to quote five words or more, it will cost you $2.50 a word. The AP is upset because they feel that their content is hijacked all around the internet. I won’t dispute that, I’m sure they track their content well and know that they don’t like the current setup. But as this story over at Mashable says, it’s a  news wire. Don’t they want to encourage sharing of their stories? Shouldn’t they figure out a way to work within the current rules a little better? I think this experiment is an example of a news organization striking out big time. I hope I’m wrong, but just to be safe, let me quote four words from one of their stories so I don’t have to break out some greenbacks. “This Makes No Sense,” Associated Press.

For a chance to have my blog posts delivered to the comfort of a popular social network, follow me @TheRealAdrianC on Twitter, where I retweet  loads of interesting and important stories each day, send out social media news, and of course, pass along my humble blog posts, to you, the discerning new media devotee.

JK Wedding Video: Anatomy of an Instant-Classic.

Those closest to me might say that I’m prone to hyperbole from time to time. They’re wrong, but I’ll humor them anyway. Maybe this is an exaggeration, but if it is, it’s just by a smidge. The video was uploaded 15 days ago…it has more than 15 million views. Let’s analyze that quickly. I’m On A Boat(one of my faves), featuring The Lonely Island and T-Pain has 31 million views. It’s a Saturday Night Live digital short! It aired in millions of homes on a Saturday night! It’s been on Youtube for six months. This wedding video is viral. It’s been passed along the internet. Without further ado the hilarious video. Play-by-play and analysis below:

0:00-0;50: Classic opening. Those guys deserve a lot of credit. You know grandmas in the pews were slightly horrified about the proceedings, but the two guys had all of the spotlight on them and delivered. Well done.

0:50-1:05 Great job by the young ladies in pink. Choreographed and crisp. But it’s a good thing they went before…

1:05-1:30 The showstopper!  He’s got some moves, as he opens with the patented NFL player entrance side-skip immortalized by Deion Sanders. For a big man he has some dexterity, going for a hand stand. And his face is a portrait of attitude.

1:30-1:45 A slight hiccup in the performance excellence, but once again they’re dancing in front of family before a wedding. One misstep and you have the second cousin you don’t particularly care for making snarky remarks as he asks you to pass the gravy on Thanksgiving.

1:45-2:00 Now that’s more like it! I like how the guy on the right said, “You know what, I’m going sans vest. I’m going to dance my heart out.”

2:00-2:50 Assorted regrettable creative decisions. They can’t all be winners.

2:50-3:03 My favorite participant is back leading the charge.

3:04 The groom tumbles in ladies and gentlemen! I took tumbling gym in high school. That right there, that’s a multistep process, executed to perfection.

3:05-3:35 Getting into position for…

3:35-4:10 Slow motion Matrix moves?! Is this real life?! Stellar. Just exemplary.

4:10-4:30 The bride enters, beaming.

4:30-5:10 And scene. Is there any way this marriage doesn’t last 20 years? A certain type of love and admiration has to be present for all parties to say, “Yeah you know what, let’s dust off Chris Brown’s, ‘Forever’, and dance to it. It was in the bargain bin on iTunes, anyway.”

So there you have it. Over on Salon.com’s Future of Journalism Blog, King Kaufman thinks the JK Wedding video is relevant to the future of journalism. I know! Who would have thought? Click on over for some interesting thoughts.

College humor imagines that JK don’t last the 20 years I foretold…

The JK Wedding Dance has people in every country taking to the streets!(Aliens must see this and think humans are so weird.)

For a chance to have my blog posts delivered to the comfort of a popular social network, follow me @TheRealAdrianC on Twitter, where I retweet  loads of interesting and important stories each day, send out social media news, and of course, pass along my humble blog posts, to you, the discerning new media devotee.