Monthly Archives: March 2005
Search Wars: Google Strikes Back
Wow! Not since the height of the browser wars has there been such a lively new features face-off as is currently transpiring among the established giants, and a few promising newcomers, in what will surely come to be known as … Continue reading
The World’s Richest People
The new list of the richest people in the world just came out in Forbes magazine. As Robert Orben says, "Every day I get up and look through the Forbes list of the richest people in America. If I’m not … Continue reading
Hard to Know WHAT to Believe
Could Dan Brown have invented a more bizarre and conspiratorial plot than the recent wounding of Italian journalist Guiana Sgrena and the killing of Italian spy Nicola Calipari as they sped to the airport mere minutes after the journalist’s being … Continue reading
User-Configurable Search Results Ranking
The New York Times today has a pretty good roundup of the latest attempts to eat into Google’s dominance of the search market worldwide. In content, the innovations at Amazon A9 (neighborhood context) and MSN Search (user-adjsutable search priorities, via … Continue reading
Creeping Commercialiization Thru Promiscuous Partnering
CADES COVE, Tenn. — The job posting for a new director of tourism for the National Park Service cites the usual requirements: expertise with budgets, ability to set priorities. But a new skill — the ability to ”create, nurture, and … Continue reading
Don’t Get Him Started on Che and the Old Gang
HAVANA (Reuters) – President Fidel Castro has given Cuban women some good news on International Women’s Day: rice cookers are coming to every household. In a five-hour 45-minute speech to cheering women on Tuesday night, the Cuban leader announced 100,000 … Continue reading
Out of the Blogosphere, Onto the Airwaves
Great news on the local media scene. Former Berkman fellow and blogger brain-trust stalwart Christopher Lydon will soon have a regular gig on the airwaves once again. Ever since our upstairs neighborWBUR (90.9 FM) made the most spectacular gaffe in … Continue reading
Women’s Day in a Man’s World
Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition. Timothy Leary (1920 – 1996) Oh, woe unto the women, for they are doomed to live in a man’s world. Mired near the tail end of a five-thousand year stretch … Continue reading
Women’s Day – Machos for Matriarchy
Oh, woe unto the women, for they are doomed to live in a man’s world. Mired near the tail end of a five-thousand year stretch of out-of-control male madness and machismo, we long for the forgotten sanity of a stable … Continue reading
Ten Days Later….
Tonight, after numerous false alarms, ABC is set to go with the segment they filmed at the Bloggers@Berkman Meeting ten days ago. As the inimitable Mike Walsh put it, it would have been better if they had never come. What … Continue reading
Spring Training Tour
The unfortunate incidents of the past semester are rapidly fading into the water-under-the-bridge file, and the Dowbrigade is happily turning his attention to his upcoming two-continent, three-sport Spring Training Expedition. On Tuesday of next week, (3/15) we will be flying … Continue reading
Fair and Balanced? Hell, no!
From tomorrow’s New York Times: In the physical world, being labeled a journalist may confer little prestige and may even evoke some contempt. But being a journalist can also confer certain privileges, like the right to keep sources confidential. And … Continue reading