Suzanne Craig: Weathering the Storm

Most media outlets are giving broad coverage to Senator Larry Craig’s plight. It is pervasive and, for the moment, part of the national discussion. As this maelstrom plays out, Senator Craig’s wife, Suzanne Craig, finds herself at the center of media attention.

Members of the media would like a comment - a sound bite that will play endlessly for the news cycle. What can she say except absolutely nothing, with the hope that the drama will conclude soon? One can only imagine the personal turmoil, as well as the public commotion that surrounds her family. Perhaps the key is simply to endure - without comment and with only a semblance of privacy. Some will empathize. It will never be ‘business as usual’.

Catherine Forsythe

[tags]suzanne craig, politics, media, family, privacy[/tags]

Lucky and Flo: International Crime Fighters

First, it was piracy in Malaysia, for which Lucky and Flo received the thanks of the Malaysian government. Now, this crime fighting duo have made their presence felt in New York City:

“NEW YORK — Two trained black Labradors have sniffed out a large inventory of knockoff discs in the New York City borough of Queens, the district attorney’s office said Wednesday.”

link: Labradors Lucky and Flo take bite out of DVD piracy

Perhaps Lucky and Flo have individual frequent flying plans. These two dogs are fighting crime internationally - and seeing more of the planet this year than most humans.

Catherine

Lucky and Flo: International Crime Fighters

First, it was piracy in Malaysia, for which Lucky and Flo received the thanks of the Malaysian government. Now, this crime fighting duo have made their presence felt in New York City:

“NEW YORK — Two trained black Labradors have sniffed out a large inventory of knockoff discs in the New York City borough of Queens, the district attorney’s office said Wednesday.”

link: Labradors Lucky and Flo take bite out of DVD piracy

Perhaps Lucky and Flo have individual frequent flying plans. These two dogs are fighting crime internationally - and seeing more of the planet this year than most humans.

Catherine Forsythe

[tags]dogs, piracy, crime, security, new york city[/tags]

Blocking the Firefox Browser

It is fairly safe to say that very few people like advertising (except Google and advertisers). Based on that belief, the Firefox browser has an extension (Adblock Plus) that blocks advertising from appearing on the page being viewed. While this may be welcomed by the site visitor, it is preventing the site owner from generating any revenue. And some site owners are fighting back:

“A Web site owner is protesting a Firefox plug-in, Adblock Plus, that blocks advertisements. He’s doing it by blocking all Firefox users from his site, whether they’re running Firefox or not…”

link: Blocking The Ad Blockers: Formula For Success?

Being a site owner, I can appreciate both sides of the argument. It is disheartening to put up content and not to have any advertising viewed. For some sites, that is the only means of generating revenue to cover the costs. Blocking advertising does nothing to help with the bills - and really discourages the people, like myself, who put in time to these sites.

I don’t think that banning Firefox is the answer. It is simply a more secure browser than Internet Explorer. However, I think that the people who created the Adblock Plus extension should be aware of the predicament that it places upon site owners. There might be a built in reminder, after so many visits to a site, that it is possible to allow advertising from that site. Of course, that raises concerns about tracking viewing habits, so that would touch upon yet another contentious issue.

It seems that people who visit a site regularly, sometimes daily, know that the content is not free. Someone is paying for things like hosting and domain registration. It seems that regular site visitors will support a regularly visited site and will look at the advertising. It would help site owners immensely if, somehow, the clever Adblock Plus people were able to facilitate that and make it easier for the regular ‘Firefox’ visitor to support selected sites.

Catherine Forsythe
Director of Operations
FlyingHamster: http://flyinghamster.com/

[tags]firefox, adblock plus, extensions, advertising, site revenue[/tags]

NBA: David Stern’s Terrible Summer

NBA Commissioner David Stern’s nightmare summer continues. While the Tim Donaghy saga remains to be played out before a court of law, there remains lingering issues that hang over the National Basketball Association. Mr Donaghy has suggested that other NBA officials may have acted contrary to league policy. No specifics were given and no names were given. The implications cast a shadow over the league.

In recent weeks, two former referees have spoken out about the quality of the refereeing. Present employed officials are restricted from making media comments. As a retort, Commissioner Stern has taken a shot at the quality of the work put in by these two former referees, Mr Hollins and Mr Mathis:

“…The former referees the commissioner spoke of were Mike Mathis and Hue Hollins, who have been critical in some recent newspaper stories of the current state of the profession under director of officials Ronnie Nunn. NBA officials are generally prohibited from speaking to the media.

“I think that their statements about current referees, which they’re happy to take shots at, are kind of interesting,” Stern said. “And I guess that’s all I’ll say, is that . . . Mathis and Hollins at the end of their careers were not model referees.”

link: Stern awaiting more information before doling out gambling punishment

The situation is obviously messy. What looms in the coming months is a fresh NBA season. The challenge before Commissioner Stern and other league officials is a matter of damage control. At issue is presenting a product whose integrity the basketball fans will accept, in light of recent events. Commissioner Stern has been known to exercise strict control of his league. However, this matter is not entirely under his control. The judicial system is involved and this restricts what, as league commissioner, he can do. Commissioner Stern knows that it is a precarious position for the league. The basketball fans are questioning the validity of past game results. The marketing, in the forthcoming months, will be unprecedented. Commissioner Stern has to convince the NBA fan base that they ‘still love this game’.

Catherine

NBA: David Stern’s Terrible Summer

NBA Commissioner David Stern’s nightmare summer continues. While the Tim Donaghy saga remains to be played out before a court of law, there remains lingering issues that hang over the National Basketball Association. Mr Donaghy has suggested that other NBA officials may have acted contrary to league policy. No specifics were given and no names were given. The implications cast a shadow over the league.

In recent weeks, two former referees have spoken out about the quality of the refereeing. Present employed officials are restricted from making media comments. As a retort, Commissioner Stern has taken a shot at the quality of the work put in by these two former referees, Mr Hollins and Mr Mathis:

“…The former referees the commissioner spoke of were Mike Mathis and Hue Hollins, who have been critical in some recent newspaper stories of the current state of the profession under director of officials Ronnie Nunn. NBA officials are generally prohibited from speaking to the media.

“I think that their statements about current referees, which they’re happy to take shots at, are kind of interesting,” Stern said. “And I guess that’s all I’ll say, is that . . . Mathis and Hollins at the end of their careers were not model referees.”

link: Stern awaiting more information before doling out gambling punishment

The situation is obviously messy. What looms in the coming months is a fresh NBA season. The challenge before Commissioner Stern and other league officials is a matter of damage control. At issue is presenting a product whose integrity the basketball fans will accept, in light of recent events. Commissioner Stern has been known to exercise strict control of his league. However, this matter is not entirely under his control. The judicial system is involved and this restricts what, as league commissioner, he can do. Commissioner Stern knows that it is a precarious position for the league. The basketball fans are questioning the validity of past game results. The marketing, in the forthcoming months, will be unprecedented. Commissioner Stern has to convince the NBA fan base that they ‘still love this game’.

Catherine Forsythe

[tags]nba, david stern, fans, marketing, referees[/tags]

Nano-Computing: Two IBM Discoveries

Nano-computing is the goal of having computers that function on the molecular level. Atoms would convey the data. The simple translation to this is ’small’:

“CHICAGO (Reuters) - Imagine cramming 30,000 full-length movies into a gadget the size of an iPod.

Scientists at IBM said on Thursday they had moved closer to such a feat by learning how to steer single atoms in a way that could create building blocks for ultra-tiny storage devices.”

link: Two IBM discoveries add promise for nano-computing

The convenience and efficiency of having such high level storage are balanced by the nightmare of losing enormous amount of information. Imagine how much data could be compromised with the lose of just one of these future storage units. Encryption - and perhaps some form of automatic data destruction upon unauthorized data access - would be the default. High storage hard drives might be looked upon as ‘how they did it in the old days’…

Catherine Forsythe

[tags]nano computing, ibm, atoms, high level storage, the next wave[/tags]

An Apple Car: The iCar

Could Apple be considering entering into the car business?

“BERLIN (AP) — U.S. computer company Apple Inc. and German automaker Volkswagen AG are discussing the possibility of building an “iCar” that would feature products by the producer of the ubiquitous iPod personal music player.

…Market experts estimate that a compact car upgraded with Apple products would be of substantial interest to young target groups, according to German financial magazine Capital.”

link: Volkswagen and Apple heads discuss possible ‘iCar’ project

Considering the initial release price of the iPod and the iPhone, the iCar would carry its own ‘price shock’. It makes one wonder if there are other secret projects under way: iHog (with Harley Davidson), iFaucet (with Delta), iBicycle (with Schwinn)…

iCatherine

An Apple Car: The iCar

Could Apple be considering entering into the car business?

“BERLIN (AP) — U.S. computer company Apple Inc. and German automaker Volkswagen AG are discussing the possibility of building an “iCar” that would feature products by the producer of the ubiquitous iPod personal music player.

…Market experts estimate that a compact car upgraded with Apple products would be of substantial interest to young target groups, according to German financial magazine Capital.”

link: Volkswagen and Apple heads discuss possible ‘iCar’ project

Considering the initial release price of the iPod and the iPhone, the iCar would carry its own ‘price shock’. It makes one wonder if there are other secret projects under way: iHog (with Harley Davidson), iFaucet (with Delta), iBicycle (with Schwinn)…

iCatherine

[tags]apple, car, icar, volkswagen[/tags]

Amazon Fresh: Milk, Eggs and Other Groceries Online

Buying groceries online is not a new idea. It has been tried before but Amazon brings years of distribution expertise to the idea. Jessica Mintz, reporting for Associated Press, gave it a try:

“…Aside from the excessive number of bags, Amazon’s delivery got a perfect score. Ice cream? Frozen. Lettuce? Crispy. Eggs? Unbroken. Salmon? Refrigerator-temperature, well-sealed and from a nearby town. Amazon also gave us free “complimentary samples,” including an extra dozen eggs and a family-sized bag of pre-washed salad mix.

It turns out that 89 cents was a steal for the nectarines, which were as big as softballs.”

link: Review: Amazon delivers groceries on time, but site lacks bells

For a free service and for a concept in a test-market phase, Ms Mintz seems to give this grocery part of Amazon’s operations high marks. The idea might be well received by those who are so time challenged that grocery shopping becomes pushed further and further down the priority list. Personally, grocery shopping is a routine that is a nice part of my weekly schedule, away from the computer and away from other demands. Pushing about that cart is relaxing. I know that I don’t want to see incoming email and site alert problems, while I am deciding on the vegetables for the next couple of suppers. I am probably not a grocery-multitasking kind of person… at least, not yet. I would fall into the “uncool” category of Amazon’s demographics.

Catherine