Scott Simon takes a fascinating look at the singles scene at Home Depot. Evidently, some of these stores have hosted weddings…
Government Video News Releases
I find the conversation about Government video news releases much ado about nothing. How is this different than a media organization reprinting a press release – which happens all the time? The problem is not completely with the government, rather, it’s publishers who don’t bother to look into these releases and determine if there is another angle, or even a story worth spending time on, rather than just hitting the “print” button, as it were.
GM Adds Line-in Jack to their Auto Music Systems
Wisely, GM has decided to support audio line-ins from any portable music device, starting this fall in a handfull of models.
Paying for Phone Service You Never Use
“I have to pay for a service I’m never using,” he said.
He has no choice. His telephone company, SBC Communications, will not sell him high-speed Internet access unless he buys the phone service, too. That puts him in the same bind as many people around the country who want high-speed, or broadband, Internet access but no longer need a conventional telephone. Right now, their phone companies tend to have a “take it or leave it” attitude.
Local telco provider TDS Metro has the same policy: you must purchase legacy phone service with dsl internet access.
Fabien Cousteau: Swimming with the Sharks
To get inside the mind of the Great White shark, Fabien Cousteau is getting inside its body. Not such a strange endeavor, perhaps, for a third-generation oceanographer who was practically born with fins. ?I did my first dive on my fourth birthday,? says Cousteau. ?My father found me on the bottom of the pool buddy-breathing ? a pretty advanced technique for sharing an oxygen tank ? with a family friend.?
Since then, Cousteau has hardly surfaced for air. Following in the wake of his famous grandfather Jacques and father Jean-Michel, Fabien has made the oceans his second home. ?I went along on their expeditions during every school break,? he says. ?I?d scrub the hulls, paint the rails, do whatever needed to be done ? and dive. For me, that was vacation. I loved it.?
Microsoft’s New Internet Ad Product: Selling Your Information
The new tool will allow advertisers to buy not just keywords but also the demographics of the person searching on those keywords.
MSN can do that most effectively when the search is conducted by a registered user who has already provided some personal details to the site. MSN attracts more than 380 million unique users worldwide per month.
This means that MSN, Hotmail and other Microsoft property users search & click data is aggregated, then sold to advertisers.
Employees Who Smoke Face Health Care Surcharge
That’s why she is troubled by a rule that will go into effect at her company next January. Trapp-Dietz and other smokers who work at Northwestern Mutual – regardless of whether they light up at home or outside the building at work – will pay an extra $25 a month for health insurance coverage.
Trapp-Dietz said considers the fee an invasion of her private life.
“I know I have to quit, and I really want to. But I don’t like being told to by my employer,” she said.
These type of disincentives are already in play if one purchases other benefit type products such as life insurance.
Traditional Media Changes
Tim Oren: trust, transactions, and the risks to MSM bundling as a business model. Interesting reading. Alan Mutter on the qualitative implications of newspaper profits growing at a faster rate than revenue growth (something is being squeezed).
Fiona Apple & Internet Music
Fascinating story: Sony dumped a fully completed Fiona Apple album. The music is available via bittorrent.
Feingold 2008: Winer Announcements Perhaps First Endorsement
Dave Winer says he will support Russ Feingold for President in 2008, though he comments that “I’m sure he has almost no chance of winning, but every time I’ve wondered if anyone would stand up against the lunatics that run this country, Feingold has been there”. The Democrats certainly need to think different…. Perhaps Janesville’s Russ Feingold is the answer?
Russ has earned my respect over the years because: he’s always been willing to talk, spends his time flying coach on commercial airlines, dining at places the rest of us choose and generally showing up to visit with the people.
A useful question for Russ: Can one be idealistic & effective in the current political arena?