Categories | ABCD |
Link to us:
Add your Blog:
TagCloud
Last Feeds
Partner
|
 |
Aggregator | News River | All Tags
| Latest news on your favorite celebrities from better gossip blogs! |
| Appliances Trends and Reviews, Appliance trends and reviews is a portal about Appliances Trends and Reviews news, ratings, reports and buyers Appliances Trends and Reviews guides, appliance parts, Appliances Trends and Reviews accessories, and service. |
| Vacation deals and travel information. |
| orlando, florida flight deals | | plan your perfect trip to orlando and book cheap flights online at travelciti. flying from all major airports uk and world wide. we have the latest and best flight deals on flights to orlando, bargain airfares, airline tickets and flight deals with all leading airlines. book your flight
| plan your perfect trip to orlando and book cheap flights online at travelciti. flying from all major airports uk and world wide. we have the latest and best flight deals on flights to orlando, bargain airfares, airline tickets and flight deals with all leading airlines. book your flight
|
| washington dc rental car + flights from $176 | | washington dc fly & drive - by george, it’s capitol fun the hallowed halls of history. the hum and thrum of a city that reinvents itself with every administration. at least one thing’s a constant: washington, d.c. offers capitol fun!
includes: flight, rental car, taxes & fees
| washington dc fly & drive - by george, it’s capitol fun the hallowed halls of history. the hum and thrum of a city that reinvents itself with every administration. at least one thing’s a constant: washington, d.c. offers capitol fun!
includes: flight, rental car, taxes & fees
|
| boston rental car + flights from $168 | | boston, ma: fly & drive - the big dig-it lobsters, fall leaves, the red sox, and american history - there’s nothing like the exuberant tea-party blend that is boston.
includes: flight, rental car, taxes & fees
| boston, ma: fly & drive - the big dig-it lobsters, fall leaves, the red sox, and american history - there’s nothing like the exuberant tea-party blend that is boston.
includes: flight, rental car, taxes & fees
|
| paris, france flight deals | | from the sacr coeur to the beautiful banks of the seine, there’s no shortage of sublime sights to see in the city of light.. save now on airline tickets to paris, and savor the scenery-along with the world-class food and shopping. low fares on flights to paris
save even more when you book your paris flight + [...] | from the sacr coeur to the beautiful banks of the seine, there’s no shortage of sublime sights to see in the city of light.. save now on airline tickets to paris, and savor the scenery-along with the world-class food and shopping. low fares on flights to paris
save even more when you book your paris flight + hotel together.
|
| san diego flight deals | | surf at del mar. shop at horton plaza. go wild at the zoo. book your airline tickets to san diego and save. low fares on flights to san diego
save even more when you book your san diego flight + hotel together.
| surf at del mar. shop at horton plaza. go wild at the zoo. book your airline tickets to san diego and save. low fares on flights to san diego
save even more when you book your san diego flight + hotel together.
|
| Self catering Holiday property rentals France Spain Italy Portugal Florida Croatia Greece Cyprus Turkey and The UK to search and book direct with the owners online. Beautiful self catering vacation properties in Beautiful surroundings |
| : castle rentals in toscana-tuscany italy : la torre | | holidayhavens holiday rental property advertisement description : the only apartment in tower in the castle of orciatico, built in the year 652, newly renovated, sleeps 4,on the ground floor living-dining room with kitchenette,satellite television, electric heating, coffee maker, microwave, toaster,gas cooker, fridge, iron-ironboard, on the first floor, a double bedroom with double bed, a bathroom with shower, wc, hairdryer, on the second floor, double bedroom with double bed, on the top floor a large 13mq terrace with a breathtaking 360 view of the tuscan countryside, in the village 2 grocers, a bar, a bank with atm machine, a post |
| : apartment rentals in toscana-tuscany italy : la castellana | | holidayhavens holiday rental property advertisement description : small apartment in the castle of orciatico, built in the year 1000-1100, recently renovated in 2007, the apartment has a complete kitchen with microwave, fridge-freezer, oven, gas cooker, washing machine, iron-ironing board, one bedroom with either 1 double bed or 2 single beds, tv, dvd player, cd-alarm-radio, ceiling ventilator, one bathroom with small tub-shower over, wc, hand basin, hair dryer, orciatico is in a very central position, florence, siena, pisa, san gimigniano, volterra close and easy to get to, the mediterranean itself is only a short 40kms away, public parking 100 metres, |
| : holiday cottage rentals in manche lower normandy : traditional french holiday cottage, normandy: log fire, sleeps 6-8 | | holidayhavens holiday rental property advertisement description : caravelle cottage is located at bellefontaine holiday park in normandy, a small complex of 11 self catering cottages, the cottage has an open fire, a private balcony overlooking an orchard and it-s own parking space, as the cottages are comfortably spread around the park you have a choice of being alone for a quiet spell or joining in with other holiday-makers in this spacious english-run family holiday park in normandy,the cottage has: fully equipped seperate kitchen with fridge-freezer, oven, cooker, microwave, coffee maker, cutlery and crockery, iron and ironing board are also supplied |
| : chalet rentals in haute-savoie rhone-alpes : chalet koala, large catered winter chalet | | holidayhavens holiday rental property advertisement description : chalet koala is perfectly situated for skiing the portes du soleil, the world-s largest linked resort with 650km of groomed pistes, the chalet is on the road to the ardent lift, just five minutes by car or free ski bus which stops at the end of our driveway, giving quick access to the areas of avoriaz, chatel and into switzerland, a large open log fire, a drink from the honesty sipped on our comfy leather sofas is a great way to round of the day-s skiing watching maybe a film on skytv, a dvd or listening to music on our hifi system, the nine bedrooms, seven with sinks in rooms offer flexible |
| : chalet rentals in haute-savoie rhone-alpes : koala, summer bed and breakfast with evening meal option | | holidayhavens holiday rental property advertisement description : chalet koala offers a brilliant base for a summer holiday whether to sample many of the different sports on offer, play golf on the various courses in the area, a base for touring chamonix, annecy, evian, yvoire or even into italy for the day or just chilling and relaxing by a lake or stream with nine bedrooms we can accommodate most groups of family or friends, there is a large garden with splash pool for summer use, garden furniture, bar-b-q and outdoor games, bike storage and wash down facilities, the large lounge has comfy leather sofas, honesty bar, dvd, sky tv, hifi and large open lo |
| : villa rentals in pattaya pattaya : luxury villas bungalows with free use of car | | holidayhavens holiday rental property advertisement description : luxury holiday homes, bungalows andl villas near jomtiem and pattaya beaches,welcome to jomtien-pattaya beach, holiday villas prices from 59 per day inclusivewith six kilometers of palm-lined golden sands and warm turquoise seas, you are in holiday paradise, the jomtien-pattaya beaches here have everything for the perfect thailand holiday, from banana boats and paragliding to sunbathing, sampling the delicious locally caught seafood or treating yourself to a relaxing thai massage,by night, pattaya comes into its own, world-class shows, all the latest films and enough bars and nigh |
| : studio rentals in kefalonia ionian islands : thea studio poriarata, nr trapezaki, kefalonia, | | holidayhavens holiday rental property advertisement description : thea studio is under construction and will be available for the 2008 summer season at 2007 prices, located amongst the olive and almond groves with sea views across lourdas bay to zakynthos, the studio will comprise twin beds, dressing table, wardrobe, kitchenette with microwave, oven and hob, ensuite showeroom, |
| : villa rentals in kefalonia ionian islands : villa areti, poriarata, trapezaki, kefalonia, | | holidayhavens holiday rental property advertisement description : villa areti is a brand new property and is situated just outside of poriarata, nr trapezaki on the south coast of kefalonia, villa areti comprises three bedrooms, two double, one twin all with ensuite showerooms, all rooms airconditioned, large kitchen-dining living room, patio area,the villa has sea views over the beautiful lourdas bay and a backdrop of mt ainos, villa areti is set amongst the olive and almond groves and provides an ideal peaceful location for families, the villa offers an ideal location close to a small selection of local amenities-1km-, the nearest beach is trapeza |
| : apartment rentals in albufeira the algarve : wonderfull apartment | | holidayhavens holiday rental property advertisement description : the apartment is located in a private, small and peaceful closed area, with adult and childrens swimming poll, a green and pleasant garden, tennis court and a place for kids, the apartment is provided with an indoor private car parking, at the swimming pool you will find two private sun beds for private use of the apartments guests, the construction concept of the condominium allows the swimming pool to receive sunlight throughout the whole day, the apartment is a two bedroom space, located on the second floor, a lift allows the access to the apartment, to the parking and also to all exist |
| : gite rentals in dordogne aquitaine : la fargeotte | | holidayhavens holiday rental property advertisement description : www,gitededordogne,comla fargeotte is a large rural property, with courtyard parking and gardens close to the main tourist routes-d32 d47-from perigueux to les eyzies and sarlat,a large spacious building on 3 floors, with attached single storey annexe, large garage, and barn which is currently employed as the games room-pool table, table tennis etc-and secluded rear garden terrace that backs onto the river manaurie-not suitable for fishing-,the property was built in the traditional perigordian style with local stone and features wood parquet flooring as well as beamed ceil |
| President George W. Bush delivers a weekly radio address to the nation that airs each Saturday at 10:06 AM (ET). |
| president's radio address to the nation - march 15, 2008 | | in his weekly radio address, president bush said, "my administration worked with congress to pass a bipartisan economic growth package that includes tax relief for families and incentives for business investment. i signed this package into law last month -- and its provisions are just starting to kick in. my economic team, along with many outside experts, expects this stimulus package to have a positive effect on our economy in the second quarter. and they expect it to have even a stronger effect in the third quarter, when the full effects of the $152 billion in tax cuts are felt." |
| president's radio address to the nation - march 8, 2008 | | in his weekly radio address, president bush said, "the fact that we have not been attacked over the past six-and-a-half years is not a matter of chance. it is the result of good policies and the determined efforts of individuals carrying them out. we owe these individuals our thanks, and we owe them the authorities they need to do their jobs effectively. we have no higher responsibility than stopping terrorist attacks. and this is no time for congress to abandon practices that have a proven track record of keeping america safe." |
| president's radio address to the nation - march 1, 2008 | | in his weekly radio address, president bush said, "today, my administration is releasing our 2008 national drug control strategy. this report lays out the methods we are using to combat drug abuse in america. and it highlights the hopeful progress we're making in the fight against addiction." |
| president's radio address to the nation - february 23, 2008 | | in his weekly radio address, president bush said, "members of congress will soon be returning to washington, as well, and they have urgent business to attend to. they left town on a 10-day recess without passing vital legislation giving our intelligence professionals the tools they need to quickly and effectively monitor foreign terrorist communications. congress' failure to pass this legislation was irresponsible. it will leave our nation increasingly vulnerable to attack. and congress must fix this damage to our national security immediately." |
| president's radio address to the nation - february 16, 2008 | | in his weekly radio address, president bush said, "at the stroke of midnight tonight, a vital intelligence law that is helping protect our nation will expire. congress had the power to prevent this from happening, but chose not to. ...at this moment, somewhere in the world, terrorists are planning a new attack on america. and congress has no higher responsibility than ensuring we have the tools to stop them." |
| president's radio address to the nation - february 9, 2008 | | in his weekly radio address, president bush said, "when men and women agree to serve in public office, we should treat them with respect and dignity, and that means giving them a prompt confirmation vote. when the senate fails to give nominees a timely vote, it leaves important positions in our government vacant, and it makes it harder for presidents of both parties to attract good men and women to serve in these vital posts. by working together, republicans and democrats can chart a better course. we can bring every nomination to the floor for a vote, and give the american people the kind of public servants they deserve." |
| president's radio address to the nation - january 26, 2008 | | in his weekly radio address, president bush said, "on monday night, i will address the american people about the state of our union. i will report that over the last seven years, we've made great progress on important issues at home and abroad. i will also report that we have unfinished business before us, and we must work together to get it done. ... i am confident that we can work together to meet our responsibilities in these areas -- and leave our children a stronger and more prosperous america." |
| president's radio address to the nation - january 19, 2008 | | in his weekly radio address, president bush said, "passing a new growth package is our most pressing economic priority. and when that is done, congress must turn to the most important economic priority for our country -- making sure the tax relief now in place is not taken away from you. ...i am optimistic about our economy, because people like you have shown time and again that americans are the most industrious, creative, and enterprising people in the world. that is what has made our economy strong. and that is what will make it stronger in the challenging times ahead." |
| president's radio address to the nation - january 12, 2008 | | in his weekly radio address, president bush said, "a democratic palestinian state is in the interests of the palestinians. it is in the long-term security interests of israel. and it is in the interests of a world at war with terrorists and extremists trying to impose their brutal vision on the middle east. by helping the israeli and palestinian people lay the foundation for lasting peace, we will help build a more hopeful future for the holy land -- and a safer world for the american people." |
| president's radio address to the nation - january 5, 2008 | | in his weekly radio address president bush said, "at its core, the battle unfolding in the middle east is more than a clash of arms. it is an ideological struggle. on one side are the forces of terror and death. on the other are tens of millions of ordinary people who want a free and peaceful life for their children. the future of the middle east depends on the outcome of this struggle, and so does the security of the united states. we know that societies growing in tolerance and hope are less likely to become sources of radicalism and violence. so america will stay engaged in the region. we will support democrats and reformers from beirut and baghdad to damascus and tehran. we will stand with all those working to build a future of liberty and justice and peace." |
| New Releases, Street Dates, Movie Reviews and Commentary |
| It's even worse than it appears. |
| christmas comes early for president obama | 
ny times: "during one of the most difficult periods in the presidency of bill clinton, he addressed a group of clerics at an annual prayer breakfast in september 1998 just as the starr report outlining his dalliance with monica lewinsky was about to be published."
|
| my name is dave and i'm a racist | hello! 
i wrote a comment on a post on phil windley's blog earlier today which i ended saying perhaps we should all just disclaim up front that we're racists, and then go ahead and say what we have to say about race.
it should save a lot of time, and get a lot of formerly private and hush-hush stuff out in the open.
ironically, it's possible because we got, through rev wright's at-first shocking sermons out and in the discussion. so much for black people not being racists. he could attend our nation's 12-step meeting and introduce himself as i did.
hello, my name is jeremiah wright and i'm a racist.
hello jeremiah!
in his speech on tuesday morning, obama said the same thing.
it's like what jerry said about his life.
it's even worse than it appears. 
fact, if you've lived in the united states as long as i have, 52 years, you have opinions about race, and to some that makes you a racist. the problem -- only our closest friends and family know our opinions about race. there may be blacks who first heard that there is white resentment from geraldine ferraro, or from barack obama. but it's no secret to me.
we may eventually get rid of racism, but it isn't going to happen by keeping it hidden.
on tuesday before obama's speech i saw a panel on race, on cnn, moderated by a black newsman, with two blacks as panelists. no whites. that's the old style pre-obama panel on race. the new modern way is to balance it, and let whites speak about race too. let us make generalizations about blacks and whites the way blacks always have. for a change, let the blacks listen, and appreciate that we have opinions too, show us that you get that we're not silly, naive, trivial.
in all my years, i've only heard two images of whites from blacks. 1. the man. we control everything. we're privileged. the oppressor. we coordinate to keep blacks out, to keep blacks down. 2. the silly do-good liberal. we look for approval. we want to be hip. but we're naive and shallow. there is no third view of whites in black folklore. and you wonder why we never connect.
right now i'm not trying to be your friend. i never was your oppressor. i do believe in the fierce urgency of now, so what i want is to work together to get us some good government. i certainly don't mind, if along the way, the lot of black people improves. in fact i like that. and it doesn't make me silly or naive. i argue, and i think obama agrees, that makes me an american, which i most certainly am.
once we feel heard, then we might be better able to listen to what you have to say. just a thought.
one more thing before i sit down. by disclaiming my racism, you can't get me by calling me a racist. just admitting that one simple and obvious fact makes it possible for the air to start to clear on this formerly taboo subject.
i'll sit down now, having said my piece, for now.
|
| what's wrong with wikipedia | first, i point to wikipedia pages often here on scripting news and on twitter. i also find it a useful personal resource. for example, i'm working my way through battlestar galactica and i find it helpful to read the summary of each episode after i've watched it. it's great that they have a common format. and they fill in blanks you might not have noticed but don't spoil the plot of upcoming episodes. i've been investing in etfs lately, and wikipedia has helped me learn how they work. so i don't question its value. it has value.
wikipedia is therefore a puzzle to me. because while it's helpful, it also hurts me, because my biography there is more of a vendetta, by anonymous people, who seem self-centered and immature, but it's impossible to tell what axes they have to grind, because they're largely anonymous.
same is true for various activities i've participated in. you may argue that i didn't invent this or that, but surely i had something to do with rss, blogging and podcasting? yet depending on when you look, i'm often not mentioned on these pages. this makes it hard for me to claim my work in professional dealings because people consider wikipedia authoritative. what it says is considered by many to be the truth. so this has hurt my career, and my ability to do creative work that builds on past work.
this is where andrew keen could have and should have, imho, written his book. this is where the cult of the amateur really does do damage, by usurping authority, and replacing it with anonymity and giving power to those who who tear down creativity, to remove the incentive to share, unless you're completely selfless and don't mind if others take credit for your accomplishments. that's not the nature of creativity, btw, creative people fiercely insist on credit, fight for it, imho, rightly.
eventually, if it hasn't already happened, there will be consultants you can pay to make sure your point of view dominates a wikipedia page. it has already come out that a gift to the wikipedia foundation will assure that your point of view dominates your profile page. how much of this can wikipedia stand before it is reformed? it seems time to have this discussion, and not in the confines of wikipedia where it can be controlled and gamed by insiders, but outside where everyone's opinion can be heard without being edited out and when it's clear who's saying what.
that said, here's how i think wikipedia should evolve to fix this problem.
based on the principle that one has the right to confront his accusers, wikipedia pages on living people, or covering active creative areas, should be limited to pages of pointers of attributed accounts. editors work to validate that the people are who they say they are. if they can't be validated, they either don't get linked, or get linked to from an area specially marked as not being validated. (i prefer the former.)
further, in areas important enough to be controversial, meaning that people disagree on what happened, we should try to get as many people who were involved in the event or activity to write first-person narratives. in areas where they all agree, that should eventually be considered fact and presented as such, but the first-person narratives must stay linked. this would prevent the kinds of disasters that happen when people (for example) edit their own profile pages, meanwhile giving people the formal right to tell their own story, which clearly, many people covered by wikipedia want.
i hope an interesting discussion ensues. of course i expect to hear from the people who edit my profile pages to keep my name in the dirt, and i don't expect them to use their actual names. can't speak for everyone else, but i'm much more interested, always, in hearing opinions from people who have the conviction and courage to put their personal authority behind their words, as i do.
|
| update after obama's race speech | i had so many thoughts after obama's speech yesterday, but none of them were organized enough to write. today maybe a few are.
1. i don't think it's going to change anyone's mind. if you supported obama before, you probably still do, if you didn't you still don't.
2. it should now be clear to everyone with a reasonably open mind who listened to the speech, what he means by change. there were so many shortcuts he could have taken. if he were bush or clinton, he would have taken them. after having presidents who openly lie for so long, the change is this: obama doesn't. he told the truth, maybe not all of it, but orders of magnitude more than politicians of our age do.
2a. yes, virginia, obama is a politician. and that's not a dirty word. we have politics to make decisions as groups of people, at a local, state, country, even a global level. if we ever elect someone to the presidency who says he or she is not a politician, they are lying, bigtime.
3. sometimes things get so bad that only the truth will do. we usually like bedtime stories from our politicians, tales that give us a good night's sleep. obama certainly has a good bedside manner. and while race isn't the top item on our national to-do list, it is on the list and has been there, as he said, since before the founding of the country.
the wright videos have brought race to the front, have started a discourse here and elsewhere, that has enormous potential for improving communication. and while the problems may be unsolvable (none of us are going to change how we feel or what we believe) we must not let them stand in the way of working together and getting stuff done. you don't have the time to change me, and i don't have the time to change you. our first order of business is to get obama elected, and after that, we have a lot more work to do.
i think this is how historic problems are properly dealt with. you side-step the personal issues, and just start assuming the problem has been solved, and then one day you look up and things are a lot better. not perfect, they never are, but better. (this is why the "fierce urgency of now" is something to seize and embrace, to not pass up. we can use it to get past the attitudes and beliefs that are in our way.)
4. obama is not howard dean, and the wright videos are not the dean scream, because obama has the delegate and popular vote lead, and we're deep into the primary season. he makes the decision whether his candidacy is viable, not hardballs, 350, the saturation room, space the nation not even cowntown and certainly not tim russert. (sorry, the first was a typo, then i had fun with the others.)
5. maybe the delay in choosing a candidate is not such a bad thing for the democratic party. maybe the time can be used to figure out wtf the democratic party is in 2008. maybe we can participate in that decision this time, maybe it isn't just the insiders and fatcats (love that word!) who get to call the shots. maybe we should organize a bloggercon for may to discuss the future of the democratic party. i bet some interesting ideas would come from such a meetup.
update: huffington cross-post.
|
| i don’t understand y combinator hate | | the vast majority of entrepreneurs i’ve spoken with who’ve been funded by seed stage vc/incubator y combinator are happy that they took the investment. and the ones that applied but weren’t selected generally have nothing bad to say, either.
so i continue to be surprised to see journalists write stories that suggest that the deal [...] | the vast majority of entrepreneurs i’ve spoken with who’ve been funded by seed stage vc/incubator y combinator are happy that they took the investment. and the ones that applied but weren’t selected generally have nothing bad to say, either.
so i continue to be surprised to see journalists write stories that suggest that the deal y combinator offers to entrepreneurs is somehow unfair. unless they find a significant number of entrepreneurs who back up the claims, it seems a bit speculative to say the least.
y combinator isn’t designed to give companies the capital they need to grow a large business. rather, they give investors less than $20,000 to give them the capital they need to take something at the idea stage through to a prototype. in exchange they take an average of 6% of the equity in the company. their investment model has been widely copied.
remember, these startups are usually 2-3 people with little more than an idea. generally speaking there are few other investors who will be willing to invest in them until they have some sort of code written or an initial product out the door. y combinator fills a niche that even angel investors find too risky. and all they ask is a small amount of equity in the form of common stock. most angels and venture capitalists demand preferred stock for their investment, which gives them more control over the company and the ability to take their money plus a guaranteed return off the table in the event of a sale or ipo. with y combinator, they take the same stock that the founders get.
to date y combinator has invested in 102 startups (the most recent batch is here). of those, 18 have died. a handful have been acquired, and the rest continue to fulfill whatever destiny is in store for them.
there’s nothing bad about y combinator. they are a private company investing their capital at more than reasonable valuations with willing entrepreneurs. they give their companies a huge stamp of approval and a great launch platform. and their hit rate to date is impressive given how early stage these “companies” are.
crunch network: crunchboard because it’s time for you to find a new job2.0

 |
| yearbook yourself for a good laugh | | find a picture of yourself looking straight at the camera and then go to yearbookyourself for a good laugh. the site morphs your picture into a classic looks from 1950 - 2000. a few of the ones that it created for me are in the image to the right (and the middle left one is [...] | find a picture of yourself looking straight at the camera and then go to yearbookyourself for a good laugh. the site morphs your picture into a classic looks from 1950 - 2000. a few of the ones that it created for me are in the image to the right (and the middle left one is my new facebook profile image).
it’s free and ad supported. full disclosure, i had that hair in the bottom left photo - that exact hair - in eighth grade.
crunch network: crunchgear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

 |
| sportsfanlive: it’s like netvibes for sports | | if you go to any of the major sports sites on the web—espn.com, yahoo sports,, sports illustrated—you’ll find pretty much the same thing: a picture of michael phelps, olympics coverage, and maybe some fantasy baseball. david katz, a former yahoo executive who used to run yahoo sports, is trying something different with sportsfanlive, which [...] | if you go to any of the major sports sites on the web—espn.com, yahoo sports,, sports illustrated—you’ll find pretty much the same thing: a picture of michael phelps, olympics coverage, and maybe some fantasy baseball. david katz, a former yahoo executive who used to run yahoo sports, is trying something different with sportsfanlive, which has just launched in beta.
rather than being organized around the big sports headlines of the day, sportsfanlive is organized around the fans themselves and the obsessions. instead seeing the same general sports information that everyone else sees on the homepage and taking thre or four clicks to get to the page about your team, sportsfanlive lets you put the information you want up front. you tell it what teams you follow, and whatever is happening with those teams is front and center when you visit the site. as he was creating the site, katz asked himself:
what do sports fans want to do? consume content about their favorite teams and players, connect with like-minded (or non-like-minded) fans, and compete.
sportsfanlive looks a little bit like a green netvibes, with different widgets arranged on the page: a fun poll up top, a feed of major sports story headlines, another feed of top headlines from the teams you are following, and a facebook-like fanfeed that lets you keep up with all of the sports news and events your friends are watching. there is also a fanfinder that shows you local sports bars where tonight’s game is being watched (organized by team loyalty).
the site is designed to recreate the chest-thumping bravado of a sports bar. bragging rights are key, which is why the site also includes virtual betting. says katz:
every sports fan thinks they know everything about sports, but they all know something different.
with sportsfanlive, katz is trying to create a friendlier gathering place for sports fans than the faceless major sports sites. but he still has a lot of work to do. a facebook or myspace app would be nice for starters, so that fans don’t have to recreate their social networks. there are also simple things he could do, like letting fans take their team headline widget and embed it anywhere on the web. also, mobile and twitter integration are key if katz wants fans at the game to be able to interact with their friends and other fans online.
the company that operates sportsfanlive is called sports media ventures, and is based in los angeles. it faces competition from all the big sports sites, as well as social sports sites such as citizen sports, screaming sports,, and sportstwit. all you sports fans out there, chime in. would you use it?

crunch network: crunchboard because it’s time for you to find a new job2.0

 |
| sharemo: how japanese people share used stuff using their cell phones | | swapping sites are nothing new (see dig n’ swap), but in japan we like to trade our junk via our mobile phones. that is what the japanese social sharing service sharemo is all about. the site’s ambitious idea is to contribute to overcoming japan’s throwaway society.
this is how it works: users can [...] | swapping sites are nothing new (see dig n’ swap), but in japan we like to trade our junk via our mobile phones. that is what the japanese social sharing service sharemo is all about. the site’s ambitious idea is to contribute to overcoming japan’s throwaway society.
this is how it works: users can offer any item they don’t need anymore (dvds, comics and clothes are especially popular) on sharemo. if the item is useful to another member, it can be rented, used and then relisted. this procedure is repeated until one sharemo user decides to keep the item. the system keeps track of all actions and allocates points to active members, which can be donated or redeemed to rent items.
sharemo’s crucial point is the complete absence of money and the reliance on trust among the members. in japan at least, the concept pans out as expected: although the mobile site isn’’t actively being promoted yet, sharemo it already racks up 400,000 page views monthly.
sharemo is operated by enigmo, a company setting itself apart from other japanese web companies by an international mindset. their promotion networks rollmio and pressblog are successful outside japan already, and sharemo is set to follow suit in the mobile space. will this concept work outside of japan?

crunch network: mobilecrunch mobile gadgets and applications, delivered daily.

 |
| web censorship is so bad in turkey that blogs are shutting themselves down in protest | | it doesn’t take much to get your website banned in turkey. pretty much any complaint to a lower court can get a website blocked in the country. websites including youtube, dailymotion, alibaba, slide.com, and some wordpress blogs have all been banned, usually because of some purported slight to the turkish government or mustafa [...] | it doesn’t take much to get your website banned in turkey. pretty much any complaint to a lower court can get a website blocked in the country. websites including youtube, dailymotion, alibaba, slide.com, and some wordpress blogs have all been banned, usually because of some purported slight to the turkish government or mustafa kemal ataturk. (the youtube ban was the result of a sophomoric video claiming ataturk was gay).
the problem has gotten so bad that turkish blogs are now banning themselves in protest. the fake bans started with firat yildiz, who put this message up on his blog:
bu siteye erişim kendi kararıyla engellenmiştir
which roughly translates to:
the access to this web site is prevented by its owner’s free will.
then another turkish blogger, selim yoruk, created this page with a piece of code that lets any blogger easily add the same message to his homepage. nearly 200 turkish blogs have (temporarily) shut themselves down in this manner. the point is to show turkish web surfers what the internet would look like if the censorship continues unabated. the protest will last until wednesday.

(photo by john walker).
crunch network: crunchboard because it’s time for you to find a new job2.0

 |
| perhaps pandora must be our sacrificial lamb | | pandora made a bold political statement today, saying they’d likely shut down rather than continue to pay exorbitant fees to play music to listeners of its massively popular service.
radio stations pay different rates depending on how they broadcast music. terrestrial stations (normal fm/am stations) pay nothing, a tribute to their powerful corporate parents with limitless [...] | pandora made a bold political statement today, saying they’d likely shut down rather than continue to pay exorbitant fees to play music to listeners of its massively popular service.
radio stations pay different rates depending on how they broadcast music. terrestrial stations (normal fm/am stations) pay nothing, a tribute to their powerful corporate parents with limitless lobbying budgets. satellite stations pay approximately 1.6 cents per hour per listener. by 2010, pandora and other internet radio stations, which have few lobbying resources, must pay 2.91 cents.
pandora says they’re alread paying 70% of their $25 million in yearly revenues in royalty fees, and it is driving them out of business. other internet radio stations are even worse off.
for their part, the music industry says internet radio stations have no one but themselves to blame, and suggest they find more innovative revenue models.
the blatant discrimination between terrestrial, satellite and internet radio stations is ridiculous. but little is likely to change - large scale protests last year over royalty increases were mostly ignored.
pandora, our sacrificial lamb
perhaps pandora, one of the first companies i profiled on techcrunch, needs to be sacrificed before artists and labels to realize just how absurd their position is. in a free market it’s been proven that labels will actually pay to have their music played on radio stations, and payola almost certainly continues to occur in some form.
the fact is that pandora and other internet radio stations provide a valuable marketing service to artists and labels. as i wrote in march when billy bragg argued that bebo should pay musicians a portion of their $850 million aol payday, they are particularly valuable for unknown artists who just want more people to hear their music:
recorded music is nothing but marketing material to drive awareness of an artist. websites that bring that music to listeners are doing artists a favor. in fact, they’re doing them a favor that they should (and will) be paid for. young artists and songwriters in particular benefit from these services - until a few years ago they had almost no way to break into the mainstream without getting a label to promote them. now those walls are being torn down, and bragg has the audacity to complain about it.
for now the labels want to squeeze more revenue out of pandora and others. but when these companies start to go under and the bird in the hand disappears, they may regret their overly aggressive negotiating stance. it’s time for the labels to die, and anything that cuts off another revenue stream is at least partially good. i’m reluctantly willing to sacrifice pandora if it quickens the inevitable march of recorded music towards free. let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that.
crunch network: crunchgear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

 |
| cnn doesn’t include spoiler alert in tweets, twitter users say it ruined olympics | | the american media has been obsessively covering michael phelps on his quest to win eight gold medals this olympiad - a feat that has never been accomplished. up until now he has been perfect, managing to win his seventh medal by only .01 seconds in the 100-meter butterfly yesterday, and tying the previous record [...] | the american media has been obsessively covering michael phelps on his quest to win eight gold medals this olympiad - a feat that has never been accomplished. up until now he has been perfect, managing to win his seventh medal by only .01 seconds in the 100-meter butterfly yesterday, and tying the previous record held by mark spitz since 1972.
tonight, the buildup will finally reach its climax as phelps races for his eighth gold to become what the media seems intent on calling “the greatest olympian ever”.
unfortunately for them, cnn has already spoiled the results.

because many of this year’s olympic events are not scheduled during nbc’s “primetime” coverage, they are typically taped and broadcast hours after events actually occur. cnn decided to ignore this, and tweeted the results of the phelps race on its “breaking news” account (cnnbrk) hours before it was shown on air.
a quick search for cnn’s account on twitter reveals an onslaught of criticism and outrage towards the major news network. cnn has tweeted the following in response:
admin: wrt: olympics - cnn chose to tell the story of the world rec. men’s 100m. it’s in the world media. it’s breaking news - not spoiler.
i side with cnn on this one. breaking news is breaking news.
update: looks like cnnbrk isn’t actually affiliated with cnn - it’s an unofficial account that posts stories that get sent through cnn’s breaking news email alerts. either way, cnn sent the news out when it broke.
crunch network: crunchboard because it’s time for you to find a new job2.0

 |
| android and the internet of things | | as the world waits for the first android phone to appear in the wild (from t-mobile), questions are being raised again about whether google’s android ambitions will stop at cell phones. in a speculative, but well-thought-out piece, venturebeat’s eric eldon reports:
industry sources tell us that although android will indeed start as a mobile os, [...] | as the world waits for the first android phone to appear in the wild (from t-mobile), questions are being raised again about whether google’s android ambitions will stop at cell phones. in a speculative, but well-thought-out piece, venturebeat’s eric eldon reports:
industry sources tell us that although android will indeed start as a mobile os, google intends to expand it to be a sort of universal operating system that will span set-top boxes for televisions, mp3 players and other communication and media devices and services.
if what eldon is hearing is true, that means that android could one day spread beyond mobile phones and set-top boxes to a multiplicity of devices. after all, if we are moving towards an internet of things, those things will need an operating system. in this case, however, the operating system will reside partially in the cloud, and applications written on google’s app engine, for instance, will work across devices and the web.
that is easier said than done, and android will have a hard enough time simply establishing itself on mobile phones. but the more devices android apps can work across, the more appealing it will be to developers and startups.
and for at least one other device, it does make sense. in fact, i’ve been hearing similar rumors in regards to a google set-top-box project that i first caught wind of last year. as far as i know, that project is still alive and is very android-like in its aspirations. as i wrote in my post in november, 2007:
if creating applications for set-top boxes was more like creating applications for the web, we’d be able to do a lot more things with our tvs—especially if those set-top boxes were also connected to the web. want instant messaging and caller id on your tv? no problem. want customized information widgets for the tv that scroll breaking news, weather, sports scores or stock quotes from sources you choose in your own ticker at the bottom of the screen? no problem. want to turn that annoying ticker off? no problem. want to control the camera angles on that basketball game? no problem. want to add the live video stream from your friend’s cell phone who is at the game? no problem. want to create your own video mashup of fight scenes from various movies that you can edit right on your tv and share with others on their tvs? no problem.
what other devices could android conquer?
crunch network: crunchgear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

 |
| mobage-town: japan’s biggest mobile-only social network | | there is a lot of hype and hope in the u.s. around taking social networks mobile, but mobile social networking is still in the fledgling stages in the west. in japan, it is already a reality. one company in particular, dena, has taken japan by storm with its mobile sns/virtual world/gaming platform mobage-town. [...] | there is a lot of hype and hope in the u.s. around taking social networks mobile, but mobile social networking is still in the fledgling stages in the west. in japan, it is already a reality. one company in particular, dena, has taken japan by storm with its mobile sns/virtual world/gaming platform mobage-town. dena opened a us office in san mateo earlier this year, with plans to offer an english version of mobage-town this fall.
subscribers can exchange messages, chat in communities, share music, read pocket novels, and blog, among other things. the site’s “killer feature”, however, is the vast selection of free games that makes most users register in the first place.
each of the 11 million mobage-town members is represented by an avatar “living” in a virtual room. both the characters and rooms can be pimped out with new clothes and wallpaper, for example. in order to do that, users must acquire “moba gold”, a virtual currency established by dena, by clicking on ads, signing up for affiliate services and inviting new members.
the circular business model has paid off for the company, which is listed on the tokyo stock exchange (market cap: $2.3 billion). mobage-town alone raked in $46 million in sales in the first quarter of this year and saw nearly 15 billion page views in june. and yes, this is japan- and mobile-only.

crunch network: crunchgear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

 |
| the state of wordpress 2008: awesome growth | |
today at wordcamp, a user and developer 1-day conference for the wordpress blogging platform, founder matt mullenweg announced impressive growth figures and reaffirmed automattic’s focus on fixing some of wordpress’s biggest weaknesses. the theme for the “state of the word”, mullenweg’s yearly keynote, was “strong,” and growth from both wordpress.com and wordpress.org (their hosted [...] | 
today at wordcamp, a user and developer 1-day conference for the wordpress blogging platform, founder matt mullenweg announced impressive growth figures and reaffirmed automattic’s focus on fixing some of wordpress’s biggest weaknesses. the theme for the “state of the word”, mullenweg’s yearly keynote, was “strong,” and growth from both wordpress.com and wordpress.org (their hosted and self-hosted platforms, respectively) sure show it. here are the stats for wordpress.com over the last year:
- page views grew from 1.5 billion to 6.5 billion/month
- 1/3 of the page views come from vips like cnn and lolcats
- 120-160 million global unique visitors per month
- two million new blogs created for the year
- 35 million new blog posts (up from 20 million)
this growth is also seems significant versus wordpress.com’s main competitor, typepad. comscore numbers put us numbers at 20.9m uniques for wordpress.com against 7.2m on typepad.com, and internationally 97.8m vs. 16.8m. here’s the compete graph (which only measures us traffic):
and for wordpress.org (the self-hosted, open-source version), mullenweg announced today that there are 2.6 million active user-installed wordpress blogs in the wild. this figure is based on real data (not sampling), similar to mozilla accumulating browser stats. downloads from wordpress.org went over 11 million since last summer (up from 2.8 million the year before), thanks to over 11 new wp releases.
the focus for 2009? easier upgrades. their growth, mullenweg says, is not dissimilar from other popular products (he mentioned microsoft, osx, iphone, facebook platform as examples), and believes that good platforms need good self-updating systems. automattic has a three-prong strategy for better updates: better community awareness, working with webhosts, and adding automatic upgrades functionality to wordpress. mullenweg envisions the upgrade process to work just like firefox: one-click, with a list of plugin and theme incompatibilities generated. wordpress.org’s plugin directory (and a recently-launched theme directory) will help make this possible. many new features are also in the pipeline, including the much anticipated buddypress, but that a clean update system will remove one of the biggest thorns for wp users.
also up for 2009 is better security. their most recent release, 2.6.1, was an optional update (no security patches), which is a nice departure from their previous, critical ‘dot’ releases. wordpress has received a lot of flack for this recently: they were given a 2008 pwnie for mass 0wnage for numerous vulnerabilities that led to mass hacking.
crunch network: crunchboard because it’s time for you to find a new job2.0

 |
| A collection of the most bizarre, shocking, funny and downright incredible video stories by Reuters from every corner of the globe. |
| transformers hit japan | | jul. 23 - the movie "transformers" comes to tokyo this week, a homecoming of sorts for the toy-robot film that earned over $260 million in three weeks in north america. |
| reuters showbiz week | | jul. 26 - the best of the week's entertainment news including the latest on lindsay's legal trouble, the beckham's welcome party, as well as an insiders guide to the weekend box office. |
| on a wing and a prayer | | jul. 28 - some of the world's most courageous pilots compete in the sixth leg of the red bull air race which sees pilots complete an obstacle course over the river thames in london. |
| robert de niro's feminine side | | jul 30 - the premiere of stardust, a film where robert deniro wears a dress, takes place at the paramount puictures studios, los angeles. |
|
 |
|