http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/index.htmlBS Blogendarin@belief-systems.comCopyright 2005 Darin Marshall2008-07-07T15:17:56-07:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Mon, 07 Jul 2008 19:53:29 -0700darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2008-07-07T15:17:56-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/0b192b5b337f7669ebc463d733bae78f-66.html#unique-entry-id-66http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/0b192b5b337f7669ebc463d733bae78f-66.html#unique-entry-id-66
Here’s some unboxing photos and a video of Yamaha’s Tenori-on device that appeared on the Engadget blog recently. This device is similar to the Monome project boxes but those devices don’t actually have sound generators in them like the Tenori-on does.

]]>darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2005-08-15T14:37:00-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/4CB5F0F0-5F32-4797-B44A-0979CFA50F78-62.html#unique-entry-id-62http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/4CB5F0F0-5F32-4797-B44A-0979CFA50F78-62.html#unique-entry-id-62article in Business 2.0.]]>darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2005-08-15T13:02:00-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/C368846F-BBB7-44CC-951D-ABB1D57F0002-61.html#unique-entry-id-61http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/C368846F-BBB7-44CC-951D-ABB1D57F0002-61.html#unique-entry-id-61

Finally, someone has come up with an RSS ad management and insertion application. I've seen the SFist, LAist, Gothamist sites advertising within their feeds but this is the first new site I've seen that is specifically designed for setting up ads in your RSS feeds. It might actually be possible to make a little scrill for the efforts of our blogging labors!

You can also buy ads to promote your blog and feeds in other streams including RSS and Atom feeds and on other blog sites. Verification of these ads being served elsewhere could be a tad bit difficult but this is a step in the right direction for the new open web. Here's the site link.

FYI: Read the TOU very carefully. They require a social security number of a Tax ID # for service and everyone must be approved before they are added to the service.]]>darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2005-08-14T15:04:00-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/E444E611-F498-4B91-8030-24B13CCB125F-60.html#unique-entry-id-60http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/E444E611-F498-4B91-8030-24B13CCB125F-60.html#unique-entry-id-60

A new social networking website has popped into existence out of thin air again. This time, the hook is consumating with your social network, i.e., finding people who have similar interests to you using those oh-so-web2.0 tags, having a lot of people on the site give you the thumbs up and a ranking based upon how many people said they would "do you". Uff da!

The funniest part of this site, other than the obvious misspelling of the word "consummating", at least with some of the more active profiles, is reading the comments from the "rate a date" functionality. People that "hook-up" can post about their experiences first with a comment from the person that "dated" the person described in the profile, and then with a rebuttal that must be posted within 24 hours of the "date" by the person represented by the profile. There are some great comments on a couple of profiles on both sides of the equation. Others simply let the dater post and don't reply back in time leaving the conversation a bit one-sided.

As far as I can tell, points are awarded to you by others who rate your responses to a series of seemingly random weekly-added questions, or by simply clicking the thumbs up button on your profile when they see it. There's also a nifty little recommendation engine that suggests people based upon the tags that you entered and the tags that you click on to find people. Additionally, there are sections for popular tags, unpopular tags and random tags as well as girls or boys nearby and most popular user tags.

One of the site's creators is ranked #1 [Ben Brown] and there's also a tag "f**kedbenbrown" that appears on two profiles as of this posting. It's good to be on top I guess and it helps to b an early adopter or a founder. RSS feeds of people's comments on their "dates" are available for aggregating this specific type of content as well. Their About section also includes a reference to the Uberweb2.0 acronym AJAX, or Asynchronous Javascript and XML, for the web2.0-challenged among us. I'm not sure where they're using it though; maybe it's being used for the thumbs up click?

Strangely enough, I just joined and have quickly moved from 4345th to 2025th in rank overnight! I have only one point as well. I gotta go answer some silly questions!

Check out the consumating site for yourself right here.
]]>darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2005-08-12T14:50:00-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/4C50EA30-BB3F-4CEA-BEC9-0A85B37560C9-59.html#unique-entry-id-59http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/4C50EA30-BB3F-4CEA-BEC9-0A85B37560C9-59.html#unique-entry-id-59

Have you ever seen a firetruck or ambulance change the stop light from red to green so that they can get to an emergency situation faster? Apparently, these devices are also being used by non-emergency personel like joe-motorist when they come to a stoplight as well [Who knew you could get these?]. Non-emergency use of these signal changing devices is now a federal crime, just in case you thought there weren't any other more important things to worry about in the domestic world right now. Here's the link to the story.]]>darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2005-08-11T16:23:00-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/0AAEF640-02AD-4D85-968B-14A9DBD2D82C-58.html#unique-entry-id-58http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/0AAEF640-02AD-4D85-968B-14A9DBD2D82C-58.html#unique-entry-id-58link to the site. ]]>darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2005-08-08T16:45:00-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/FE6EDC44-A0C3-476E-AF5A-FFC1DBDA260C-57.html#unique-entry-id-57http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/FE6EDC44-A0C3-476E-AF5A-FFC1DBDA260C-57.html#unique-entry-id-57
Here's the link to the short article.

The Moral of the story: Be careful what you post in print...]]>darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2005-08-08T14:39:00-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/2E745E66-6DD3-4B8D-8FF7-0001DA5E38CE-56.html#unique-entry-id-56http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/2E745E66-6DD3-4B8D-8FF7-0001DA5E38CE-56.html#unique-entry-id-56

Wired News recently published an article about the South Korean website, Cyworld, whose subscription total just hit 13 million, up from 10, about a quarter of the Asian coutry's population are members of this particular site, including 90 percent of the 24- to 29-year-old age group. Here's the link.]]>darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2005-08-05T17:25:00-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/EEC1FF9F-B238-49A4-835E-E50B5425EAA5-55.html#unique-entry-id-55http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/EEC1FF9F-B238-49A4-835E-E50B5425EAA5-55.html#unique-entry-id-55
The website talks about the 9/11 bombing at the very beginning as a "reason" for the light bulb's creation but all is forgiven if the product actually works, isn't harmful to humans [their site says that they're safe], doesn't cost too much and if it actually lasts at least as long as a standard light bulb.

Here's the link.]]>darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2005-08-05T12:51:00-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/E1A44BED-6FD9-431B-A18D-6D5BEF922C9F-53.html#unique-entry-id-53http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/E1A44BED-6FD9-431B-A18D-6D5BEF922C9F-53.html#unique-entry-id-53AJAX might be a bit nebulous and scary. Wired magazine was nice enough to post an article today that might connect a few more head dots in the brain puzzle for us fearful freaks.

Apparently, it's not for just cleaning the toilet bowl and there's no bleach in it either.

Here's the link to the article.]]>darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2005-08-03T21:14:00-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/FDE365DC-7D53-46B4-BB09-3637167B7EB7-51.html#unique-entry-id-51http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/FDE365DC-7D53-46B4-BB09-3637167B7EB7-51.html#unique-entry-id-51

Blinklist is a nifty little bookmarking site that requires simple registration to utilize its best features but after registering, you can easily tag, categorize and even "star" bookmarks. The site also features public and private bookmarks and an import for Firefox and IE. No Safari import, as far as I could tell from my short visit to the site. Unfortunately for us Mac users, the blinksite bookmarklet, a crucial element for using the blinklist site, doesn't appear on the step 2 page, or on the blinktool page when using the site in Safari. The blinktool download link does appear when I visit the site using Firefox though.

Here's the link.]]>darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2005-08-03T13:03:00-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/887A91E4-BC5C-492E-B07E-6133C5BFA818-50.html#unique-entry-id-50http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/887A91E4-BC5C-492E-B07E-6133C5BFA818-50.html#unique-entry-id-50
Check it out here.
]]>darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2005-08-02T21:51:00-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/67561CB0-E8A2-4D58-BBA0-E16E907D1156-48.html#unique-entry-id-48http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/67561CB0-E8A2-4D58-BBA0-E16E907D1156-48.html#unique-entry-id-48Clusters and interestingness were added to the flickr feature set today. Digital Photography has the story of these two subtle features.]]>darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2005-08-02T12:29:00-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/0CD958E6-8210-4123-836B-9FB8FE8D23CB-46.html#unique-entry-id-46http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/0CD958E6-8210-4123-836B-9FB8FE8D23CB-46.html#unique-entry-id-46
Additionally, if you get invited to join and you sign up, your account receives 6 invites to join the site that you can send to your friends. I just sent out an invite to a friend of mine.

Here's the link to their site.

I've got 5 invites left so ping me if you want one...]]>darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2005-08-02T01:20:00-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/B3FDCC83-7298-44A7-93A0-E22457B12893-45.html#unique-entry-id-45http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/B3FDCC83-7298-44A7-93A0-E22457B12893-45.html#unique-entry-id-45

I hate to admit this but I have a TV with cable. I did just get the news about Current TV going live though. There are streamed uploads that you can view on the site and there are quite a few of these uploads available for streaming. The uploads play just fine on my Mac using Safari, but the "pods" that they play on the TV channel are not streamed on the site yet. Maybe in the near future they will start streaming the channel from the site as well.

There's lots of interesting "pods" I've seen since last night. One of the pods is about suicide clubs that are sadly popular in Japan as well as a short about Shepard Fairey's Obey street art. Another Current TV "pod" documents young people in Iran at a party with alcohol which are both illegal. Homosexuality is also illegal in Iran and they execute homosexuals in that country. The documentarian is surprised to see ecstacy at the house party as well which can land offenders in prison for a long time.

The station's Current Soul segment just featured Deepak Chopra with a short discussion of karma, physics and prayer. Deepak is a "mentor" on Current TV; apparently one of a few that will be featured as proramming ramps up. I haven't seen very many commercials so far on the network. Of course, right after I said that, I saw a Sony DVD HandyCam ad but there was only one not three or four back to back.

People that are capable of producing compelling content can submit it to the site and if your upload is selected, Current TV will pay you up to $1000 per piece. I hope some people on tribe get their poop together and produce some content for the site. If anyone wants to license or use any of my music for a spot, please feel free to contact me so that we can sort something out.

The CurrentTV site continuously updates with a blurb and a photo about the current pod that's playing and also features a list of upcoming pods and how many minutes away they are that can be clicked on. The TV channel has a little progress bar that indicates how long the segment is while you're watching.

So far, my only complaints are that they seem to play some of the pods more often than others, including the Deepak Chopra pod almost back to back recently, and their promo videos are waaaay louder than the "pod" content and the VJ segues into the "pods".

Google has also partnered with Current but from what I can tell, there's no mention of it yet on their site.

Where to find Current on your cable system:

DirecTV Nationwide: 366

Time Warner Digital:
New York City 103
Los Angeles 116
Honolulu 108
Other cities:

See the Current TV website and click on the Get Current image link to find your area's Time/Warner Digital channel.

Comcast:

S.F. Bay Area, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Seattle, Portland, D.C., Philadelphia, Denver, Miami, Salt Lake City, Aspen, Fresno: 125
Atlanta: 287
Cleveland, St. Paul, Pittsburgh: 107

For other Comcast cities, check out the website and click on the Get Current image link
----------------
Shepard Fairey link
Current TV link
]]>darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2005-08-01T19:55:00-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/9AA653FE-B394-45C1-B86D-3448892B2F6F-43.html#unique-entry-id-43http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/9AA653FE-B394-45C1-B86D-3448892B2F6F-43.html#unique-entry-id-43discovery.

]]>darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2005-08-01T19:50:00-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/F991BD34-9C84-49CD-922D-FB6F7AFF8A6A-41.html#unique-entry-id-41http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/F991BD34-9C84-49CD-922D-FB6F7AFF8A6A-41.html#unique-entry-id-41out now.


]]>darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2005-07-28T19:30:00-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/8D39D070-1245-4A46-BB71-6D2B8D8A854A-40.html#unique-entry-id-40http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/8D39D070-1245-4A46-BB71-6D2B8D8A854A-40.html#unique-entry-id-40Here's a scary link to a story about a robotic android that is intended to look like a real woman. For all those nyerds that need to get a date, the future is here!

]]>darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2005-07-26T17:33:00-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/9976C055-9362-48FA-B158-E1140DFB3BD6-39.html#unique-entry-id-39http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/9976C055-9362-48FA-B158-E1140DFB3BD6-39.html#unique-entry-id-39This was an interesting article about Indie labels and how the payola payoff from Sony BMG in New York could impact small indie label owners. Apparently, it's a good time to be an indie label. Here's the link.]]>darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2005-07-26T17:32:00-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/2AC30464-F93B-465C-A2F3-9C8C9E606E09-38.html#unique-entry-id-38http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/2AC30464-F93B-465C-A2F3-9C8C9E606E09-38.html#unique-entry-id-38This weekend I made the long trek to the only Fry's Electronics in the East Bay down in Fremont off of Auto Mall Parkway. When I got out of the car, it felt like I was wearing a big blanket of heat that weighted about 40 pounds! I couldn't wait to get into that big huge air-conditioned warehouse of tech nyerdiness.

Once inside, I went straight for the memory counter. I first took care of my MMC card situation I blogged about earlier and purchased a 1 gb card for my Nokia 6620 and all is right with the MMC card and my phone.

Right then and there, I decided it was time to get some more RAM for my 1.5 GHz 15" G4 PowerBook laptop. A nice Fry's employee with a wandering eye for slender geek babes wandering around the store with their geeks in tow, asked me how he could help me and I said I needed some RAM for my pooter. Of course, I had to tell him when he asked what kind of memory I needed that I had a Mac. He didn't know what kind of RAM I needed so I went at his suggestion to the EarthLink computer center that has a browser on the internet and quickly navigated to www.crucial.com/ as instructed.

On this site, right in the middle of the page is a select manufacturer pop-up and so I chose Apple and clicked Go. On the second page, I selected PowerBook and clicked Go. On the third page, I clicked the PowerBook G4 1.5GHz (15" Display) and got a recommendation right there on the spot:

200 PIN SODIMM, DDR PC2700, CL=2.5, NON-ECC

I wrote all of this info down on a piece of paper and took it back to my salesperson and he started doing his thing on the Fry's supercomputer to find me a good price and a good size. I thought about getting the 1 gb RAM card but the price was more steep that I had expected [around $170] so I went for the 512MB card and after I got some official paperwork from the store employee, I was off to the impulse buy line where I grabbed a power strip, because we all know you can never have enough of those, and I promptly checked out.

When I got home, I turned of the Mac and got my trusty Mac under-carriage screwdriver out and started unscrewing until I had the memory compartment exposed and at that moment, I realized that I had made an unfortunate assumption about Apple and my computer's factory RAM configuration.

My mac came with 512MB of RAM from the factory. Since I got the 512MB card and I figured that Apple had only one RAM card with 512MB on it, I figured that getting the 512MB card would give me 1 gb total. Unfortunately, Apple instead put in two 256MB RAM cards. With laptops, space is at a premium so normally, you only get two slots, if that. Luckily, there's no parity issues anymore where you have to have the same sizes and speeds in two paired slots, but basically, instead of 1 gb of RAM, I now have only 768MB with the new 512MB stick installed and the other 256MB stick that was already in there. This is what I get for not checking the computer before I went to Fry's!

Hopefully, this little story will save someone else from making the same stupid mistakes that I make all the time and the crucial website is just that; crucial for finding out what kind of memory to purchase. Some of us have to learn the hard way I guess...]]>darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2005-07-25T17:25:00-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/943A35B8-3BFD-486C-BF1E-8A7086265551-36.html#unique-entry-id-36http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/943A35B8-3BFD-486C-BF1E-8A7086265551-36.html#unique-entry-id-36A multi-car accident that occurred before noon today on 16th St. right in front of Il Pirata resulted in the closure of that short block for a time while police investigated the accident. I was parking my car when I noticed that the street was closed and flares were out to stop people from going up 16th at the accident scene.

A Black Mountain water truck, a Mustang, a Chevy land stalker SUV and a Lexus were all involved in the incident. The Mustang, SUV and water truck all seemed to be fused together with crinkled metal shards protuding out of the fronts of the two cars. The truck was hit on its side where the water bottles would be stored and seemed to sustain the least amount of damage.

]]>darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2005-07-23T18:11:00-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/6E892328-AEB8-4CB5-93AA-C69BAC249F1B-33.html#unique-entry-id-33http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/6E892328-AEB8-4CB5-93AA-C69BAC249F1B-33.html#unique-entry-id-33
SD cards, or Secure Digital Memory Cards, are the same size in every dimension as MMC, or Multi-Media Cards, except that the SD Cards are slightly thicker (2.1mm vs. 1.4mm for the MMC cards). The MMC card has only 7 contacts and the SD Card features 9 contacts. The SD Card also has physical indents on its sides and a slide lock for memory card write protection.

It turns out that MMC-compatible devices, like my Nokia 6620 phone, aren't compatible with SD Cards but the reverse is true that SD Card-compatible devices can use MMC cards. SD Cards also 'feature', if you can call it that, a little-used DRM file protection scheme that the MMC cards don't have.

Both formats are available up to 2GB but SD cards are much more prevalent in consumer digital cameras and portable devices, such as the Treo and as such, the MMC format may be a bit more expensive.

I hope that this information helps someone avoid purchasing the wrong memory card for their phone or protable device like I did. Check out your phone or camera's manual before heading off to Office Depot to purchase a new card for your device.]]>darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2005-07-22T11:10:00-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/E20FA5B2-18D0-4898-A00D-6B0128C858CD-32.html#unique-entry-id-32http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/E20FA5B2-18D0-4898-A00D-6B0128C858CD-32.html#unique-entry-id-32
Bay Area details:

NIN, Queens of the Stone Age and Autolux
September 30th, Oakland Arena
Doors open at 7:30PM
Ticket prices: $36.75 or $47.25

Link to ticketmaster Oakland Arena NIN tickets page.

Tour dates for NIN around the U.S.

]]>darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2005-07-21T18:00:00-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/72CA79FE-DC45-40FC-A0B2-C776472765EE-31.html#unique-entry-id-31http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/72CA79FE-DC45-40FC-A0B2-C776472765EE-31.html#unique-entry-id-31According to a San Jose Mercury News review, this re-titled plot bite from a B-movie 80s classic flick Logan's Run, among others, gets out of the gate well enough and is visually stunning, as all Michael Bay films are, but leaves the big issues envisioned in the movie's setup in a mangled heap behind all the special effects and stunt scenes. Link [Registration may be required]]]>darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2005-07-21T14:42:00-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/D00A4641-FE44-4F02-A749-AF3CC9E620C4-30.html#unique-entry-id-30http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/D00A4641-FE44-4F02-A749-AF3CC9E620C4-30.html#unique-entry-id-30CNET ran a story about Firefox today that said Firefox 1.1, scheduled for July would be pushed back a few months and would now be called 1.5 with more features that were originally planned for 1.1. Here's the link to the story there.

]]>darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2005-07-21T13:45:00-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/8CC28120-B4ED-4A00-A54E-42C5223C7A74-29.html#unique-entry-id-29http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/8CC28120-B4ED-4A00-A54E-42C5223C7A74-29.html#unique-entry-id-29Other than the #1 slot, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, directed by Tim Burton, starring Johnny Depp and probably at least worth a couple of bucks to watch, or #5, Chris Nolan's Batman Begins starring Christian Bale which is starting to fade at the box office anyway, American's prove once again that we're still largely lacking in culture or taste with this week's top movie box office totals. At #2 is the Frat Pack Wedding Crashers, and #3, the Hollywood comic crash continues with the Fan. 4 flick. Here's a link to Box Office Mojo and the box office take results.]]>darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2005-07-21T10:40:00-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/BBCA2428-4C8F-41D7-8CBE-7A10CEC7C5FC-21.html#unique-entry-id-21http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/BBCA2428-4C8F-41D7-8CBE-7A10CEC7C5FC-21.html#unique-entry-id-21boingboing posted a sad note about the man who coined the phrase "We're givin' her all she's got captain!" on the 70s version of television's Star Trek. Apparently, he passed away yesterday and will be sorely missed by his family and trekkie geeks everywhere:



Memory Alpha Montgomery Scott link.
CNN Story link]]>darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2005-07-20T13:42:00-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/2AF6F6B5-1290-4BF1-9D83-2123C836688E-20.html#unique-entry-id-20http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/2AF6F6B5-1290-4BF1-9D83-2123C836688E-20.html#unique-entry-id-20Wired News carried a story today about Grey Parrots that are not only smart but one in particular that may actually understand the concept of none. Here's the link]]>darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2005-07-20T09:26:00-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/4F8CCC8F-FE9B-4B18-922B-4AC392F9AE01-18.html#unique-entry-id-18http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/4F8CCC8F-FE9B-4B18-922B-4AC392F9AE01-18.html#unique-entry-id-18Imagine the google mapping technology applied to the Moon with little indicators that show where each Apollo mission ended up on the planet. I highly recommend that you zoom in to check out the amazing detail. You can do it! Zoom in all the way!]]>darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2005-07-19T13:09:00-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/00E01252-63BE-49AF-9354-7ACB00442E25-9.html#unique-entry-id-9http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/00E01252-63BE-49AF-9354-7ACB00442E25-9.html#unique-entry-id-9ZDNet reports that Firefox 1.06 has been released to fix a bug in 1.05 that broke some third party Firefox extensions. Here's the ZDNet link.

]]>darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2005-07-19T12:46:00-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/2D754CAA-B65F-46B0-A87F-4640F938B261-8.html#unique-entry-id-8http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/2D754CAA-B65F-46B0-A87F-4640F938B261-8.html#unique-entry-id-8
I just read the KRON 4 "The Bay Area is Talking" blog post about Craigs' List and I gotta say, they are fond of that man. I didn't know that Craig was taking over?

]]>darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2005-07-18T21:03:00-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/A25D02A4-7035-405B-BA21-87C3131ACF1F-4.html#unique-entry-id-4http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/A25D02A4-7035-405B-BA21-87C3131ACF1F-4.html#unique-entry-id-4TechDirt reported that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is acquiring myspace.com's parent company Intermix Media. In the deal, Intermix also exercised its option to purchase the remaining 47% of the popular social networking site that it didn't already own.

In June, Intermix Media settled charges for 7.5 million that the company was secretly installing spyware on end user's computers with the state of New York.

Intermix CEO Richard Rosenblatt and Myspace CEO Chris DeWolfe will join News Corps.' recently announced Fox Interactive Media unit. So, if you like Fox or Rupert Murdoch, myspace is the place for you.

Here's the internetnews.com link.

]]>darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2005-07-18T15:44:00-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/DB3DEA04-4E7D-431C-A306-94D94149AD47-2.html#unique-entry-id-2http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/DB3DEA04-4E7D-431C-A306-94D94149AD47-2.html#unique-entry-id-2
All of this is necessary because I forget that the uncrowded office in Alameda is closed from 11 to 12 Noon and because PG&E can't afford, or won't allocate resources to update their systems to accept those three digit codes that appear on the back of the credit cards now.

The good news I got from the teller that helped me today? They will probably close this particular payment center at some point within the next year. Lovely. All of the propaganda about how great PG&E is on the walls when I go into these payment centers is just that: propaganda. I won't even get into how the shell corporation raked in California power users' dollars when deregulation was implemented and Californians were getting totally screwed and tattooed by Enron. Thanks PG&E! Too bad you're a monopoly in this market!]]>darin@belief-systems.comBS Blog2005-07-17T18:31:00-07:00http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/134109E5-1996-49A7-B828-BAB9209633A9-0.html#unique-entry-id-0http://www.belief-systems.com/blog/files/134109E5-1996-49A7-B828-BAB9209633A9-0.html#unique-entry-id-0