Archive for the 'The Future is NOT Cool' Category

The New “5-7-5″ Monetization Scheme


Posted by Contrarian on March 30th, 2009

Let the celebrities and entrepreneurs Twitter to their heart’s content. Soon real pros will learn the genius of “Haikuter,” the new social networking tool in which you have 140 characters to compose haikus about your present state of mind. An example: I’m finally home I checked the mail and the phone Now I must drink [...]

You Know You’re Old When . . .


Posted by Contrarian on December 19th, 2008

. . . you discover that ephemera from your favorite bands growing up are now part of a fusty old historical society. (See also, the Minnesota Historical Society Soul Asylum Record Series Finding Aid)

Phone Sex!


Posted by Bruno on October 9th, 2008

Will this get people paying attention to wiretap abuses at the NSA? Faulk says he and others in his section of the NSA facility at Fort Gordon routinely shared salacious or tantalizing phone calls that had been intercepted, alerting office mates to certain time codes of “cuts” that were available on each operator’s computer. “Hey, [...]

There Are Many Ways To Skin A Cat . . .


Posted by Contrarian on August 11th, 2008

Old way to ressurect your career — demean yourself on a scripted reality show. New way to ressurect your career — cubism: Can Martha Stewart take a pie in the face — even one she baked herself? Fine Living Network is about to find out. On Sept. 16, Fine Living will unveil a new original [...]

Facebook and Beacon


Posted by Bruno on December 6th, 2007

If you’re not really sure what the hubub is about with Facebook and privacy these days (admit it — you joined, or considered joining, the “Facebook Stop Invading My Privacy” group without really knowing what the hell it meant) WIRED offers a good rundown of Facebook’s “Beacon” platform and what it meant. Basically they partnered [...]

Find The Slowest Lane And Sit In It


Posted by Contrarian on August 27th, 2007

Earn money by purposely idling in traffic — ask me how: Some companies pay millions to have their logos on Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s racecar, but others prefer to pay Brian Katz $500 or more a month for space on his Ford Expedition. Mr. Katz, 32, of Manhattan, is one of the tens of thousands of [...]

Google Jumps the Shark?


Posted by Bruno on August 8th, 2007

Has Google, that benevolent hegemon of the online world, jumped the shark with its new “comment” feature? The idea is that the primary sources involved in a news story that’s linked on Google News (say, the politician or scientist who was interviewed) will get the opportunity to comment directly and give “the full story.” As [...]

Stay Tuned . . .


Posted by Contrarian on July 13th, 2007

There may be a slight reprieve for internet radio broadcasters: In the wake of an appeals court’s decision not to delay the imposition of a new, expensive royalty scheme, Internet radio broadcasters got an unexpected bit of good news from an unlikely source. During a Congressional roundtable initiated by Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), SoundExchange executive [...]

Google’s roving band of video-equipped Beetles is pulling up some funny stuff: Ms. Kalin-Casey, who manages an apartment building here with her husband, John Casey, was a bit shaken when she tried a new feature in Google’s map service called Street View. She typed in her address and the screen showed a street-level view of [...]

But Where Will I Get My V1a8ra?


Posted by Bruno on May 31st, 2007

One of the world’s top spammers, who happens to live in Seattle, is under arrest: SEATTLE (AP) — A 27-year-old man described as one of the world’s most prolific spammers was arrested Wednesday, and federal authorities said computer users across the Web could notice a decrease in the amount of junk e-mail. Robert Alan Soloway [...]


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