Tech-media-tainment

Hollywood hot for fairytales

2012-01-29T23:45:00.000-05:00

Hollywood has rediscovered fairytales.
Numerous movies and television shows lately have been based on characters and stories from age-old fairytales. The public knows and loves these tales. And Hollywood loves using them because they’re in the public domain. That means they’re no longer covered by copyright and are free for anyone to adapt.
Disney isn’t the only media company that can make a “Snow White” or “Cinderella” movie, TV show, stage play or book. Any company, high school theater group, writer or cartoonist can adapt these works. That’s what the public domain is all about. After a limited period of government protection, creative works are given to the public for reinterpretation, reimagining and repurposing.
The public domain is a great thing. Too bad it’s under attack by corporate media interests.
I last wrote about Hollywood adaptations of public domain works in October, when I discussed “Puss In Boots” and “The Three Musketeers.”
Here is a list of current and upcoming movies and TV shows based on public domain works:

‘Once Upon a Time’

The ABC fantasy-drama “Once Upon a Time” uses a universe of classic fairytale characters (including Snow White, Prince Charming, Jiminy Cricket, Rumpelstiltskin, etc.) as a launching pad for a modern story. ABC is a unit of the Walt Disney Co.

‘Into the Woods’

Walt Disney Pictures has joined forces with director Rob Marshall to make a film adaptation of Steven Sondheim’s Broadway musical “Into the Woods,” according to GeekTyrant.
While “Into the Woods” is a copyrighted work, it is based on stories in the public domain. The stage musical “Wicked” and the book on which it’s based did the same thing with the public domain “Wizard of Oz” stories. “Into the Woods” weaves together such beloved fairytales as Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk and Rapunzel with a new story.

‘Grimm’

The NBC horror-drama “Grimm” is a cop show where characters inspired by “Grimms’ Fairy Tales” exist.

Snow White

Two big-budget movies based on the centuries-old Snow White story are due for release in theaters this spring.
First up is “Mirror Mirror,” starring Julia Roberts as the Evil Queen. Directed by Tarsem Singh, this version of the tale is billed as a comedy-fantasy. The movie from Relativity Media is set for release on March 30.
“Snow White & the Huntsman” follows it on June 1. This version from Universal Studios is pitched as a fantasy-adventure film. It stars Charlize Theron as evil queen Ravenna, Kristen Stewart as Snow White and Chris Hemsworth as the Huntsman.
But wait, there’s more.
The Hollywood Reporter said in August that Disney was producing a live-action Snow White movie called “The Order of the Seven.” The revisionist story is set in 19th century China and focuses more on Snow’s seven companions, who are warriors seeking redemption.

‘Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters’

Set for release on Jan. 10, 2013, “Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters” takes place 15 years after siblings Hansel and Gretel escaped a witch’s gingerbread house in the Grimm Brothers tale. Now they’re out to kill witches all over the world.
The movie stars Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton as the titular characters. (See article by Entertainment Weekly.)

‘Jack the Giant Killer’

Director Bryan Singer turns the children’s tale “Jack and the Beanstalk” into an action adventure called “Jack the Giant Killer.” It stars Nicholas Hoult, Ian McShane and Ewan McGregor and is set for release on March 22, 2013. (See EW article.)

Cinderella

Disney is looking to remake the ages-old Cinderella tale with a script by “The Devil Wears Prada” writer Aline Brosh McKenna, according to Deadline.
Universal is planning its own Cinderella movie, Variety reports.

Beauty and the Beast

Director Guillermo del Toro is looking to film a “Beauty and the Beast” remake starring Emma Watson of the “Harry Potter” movies. His version would be a period film, according to MTV.
And two TV shows are in the works based on the fairy tale as well.
ABC is looking to make a dramatic fantasy-period series based on “Beauty and the Beast,” according to Deadline. And the CW wants to reboot the 1980s CBS version of “Beauty and the Beast,” a modern retelling that starred Linda Hamilton.

Sleeping Beauty

“True Grit” actress Hailee Steinfeld is set to star in a revisionist version of Sleeping Beauty. “The new version is told from her point of view as she enters the dream world and has to find her way out,” Deadline reports.
Meanwhile, Disney is working on a version called “Maleficent,” which would center on the wicked witch of the tale. Actress Angelina Jolie has be rumored to star in the title role, Deadline and GeekTyrant say.

Week in review: Apple is swimming in cash

2012-01-28T20:38:00.000-05:00

The following is a roundup of my stories from Investor’s Business Daily at Investors.com.

Synaptics stock surges to its highest level in more than two years after the maker of smartphone touch-screens and notebook track-pads beats estimates for fiscal Q2. (Jan. 27, 2012)

Netflix shares rally on Q4 beat, but analysts see big challenges ahead. (Jan. 26, 2012)

Like Scrooge McDuck swimming in a vault of gold coins, Apple seemingly has more money than it knows what to do with — nearly $100 billion.
Apple now is exploring options for its $98 billion in cash and investments. Dividends and pre-buying components are likeliest choices. (Jan. 25, 2012)

Netflix beats expectations for Q4, offers mixed guidance for Q1. Shares jump 13% afterhours. (Jan. 25, 2012)

Apple shares jump to record high on huge holiday earnings, upbeat outlook and speculation of dividends ahead. (Jan. 25, 2012)

Apple shares hit record high after company posts stellar results for holiday quarter. Its iPhone accounted for 53% of total sales. (Jan. 24, 2012)

After an epically bad finish to 2011 that saw its stock pummeled, online subscription video service Netflix has set low expectations for 2012. (Jan. 24, 2012)

Top 5 things to watch for in Apple’s Q1 earnings report. (Jan. 24, 2012)

U.S. tablet ownership up to 19% after big holiday sales quarter for Apple and Amazon. (Jan. 23, 2012)

Hot iPhone sales to fuel Apple’s Q1 report. (Jan. 21, 2012)

Photos: Walt Disney’s Scrooge McDuck (top) as a metaphor and Apple’s iPhone 4S with Siri digital assistant.

Week in review: Intel up on Q4 earnings news, prospects for 2012

2012-01-20T23:30:00.000-05:00

The following is a roundup of my stories from Investor’s Business Daily at Investors.com.

Intel shares reach 4-year high on strong Q4 results and 2012 outlook. (Jan. 20, 2012)

Intel beats Q4 forecasts and gives in-line guidance. CEO excited about 2012 product pipeline, including ultrabooks and mobile device chips. (Jan. 19, 2012)

Apple seeks to revolutionize textbooks and education with iPad initiative. (Jan. 19, 2012)

Microsoft expected to post 5% sales growth in fiscal second-quarter. (Jan. 19, 2012)

Intel forecast to deliver 20% sales growth in Q4; focus shifts to outlook. (Jan. 18, 2012)

Photo: Ultrabook notebook PCs on display at Intel's booth at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show. (CEA photo.)

Kelly Clarkson, Justin Timberlake, Bond girls add sizzle to CES

2012-01-16T22:56:00.002-05:00

Every Consumer Electronics Show has its share of celebrity appearances.
Sony always brings out the star power for its annual CES press event. This year’s media event included a performance by Kelly Clarkson of her new single “Mr. Know It All” and actor Will Smith promoting his upcoming movie “Men In Black 3.”
Actor and singer Justin Timberlake represented the relaunched MySpace at the Panasonic press conference.
Other celebrities in attendance included actress Eliza Dushku, singer Justin Bieber, rappers Ludacris and 50 Cent, “American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest, comic Wayne Brady, TV fitness guru Jillian Michaels, actor and rapper LL Cool J, Black Eyed Peas frontman Wil.i.am and “Jersey Shore” reality TV star Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi.
My favorite celebrity event of the week was seeing Clarkson perform live.

But I also enjoyed the launch event for the James Bond movie series on Blu-ray Disc. In honor of the 50th anniversary of MGM’s James Bond franchise, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment sponsored a directors’ panel at the Panasonic booth.
Directors John Glen (five Bond films including “For Your Eyes Only” and “Octopussy”), Martin Campbell (“GoldenEye” and “Casino Royale”) and Michael Apted (“The World Is Not Enough”) discussed their work on the Bond films.
Also, the two latest Bond Girls, Olga Kurylenko of “Quantum of Solace” and Caterina Murino of “Casino Royale” hosted the event.
MGM and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment are releasing “Bond 50,” a collectible box-set featuring all 22 James Bond films on Blu-ray Disc for the first time in one complete offering. The collection also marks the debut of nine James Bond films previously unavailable in high-definition Blu-ray.
Amazon.com is currently offering the set for pre-order for $199.99, 33% off the list price of $299.99. No release date has been scheduled.

Photos (top to bottom): Bond girls Olga Kurylenko (left) of “Quantum of Solace” and Caterina Murino of “Casino Royale”; Kelly Clarkson performs an acoustic version of “Mr. Know It All” at the Sony media event; and the “Bond 50” box set of James Bond spy thrillers on Blu-ray Disc.

Highlights and lowlights of the 2012 CES

2012-01-15T23:52:00.003-05:00

The 2012 Consumer Electronics Show is one for the record books. This year’s show was the largest in the event’s 44-year history.
The four-day trade show in Las Vegas attracted more than 153,000 attendees, up 2.3% from a year ago and besting the previous record of 152,203 set in 2006. It drew more than 3,100 exhibitors who took up 1.861 million net square feet of show floor space – both new records.
The Consumer Electronics Association, the show’s producer, released the statistics late Friday, after the show had ended. The group wanted to dispel the notion that CES was on the wane – an idea that took hold after Microsoft announced in late December that it didn’t plan to exhibit or keynote after this year’s event. (See the Jan. 8 New York Times article “A Tech Show Loses Clout as Industry Shifts.”)
The numbers indicate that the show is doing quite well.

Microsoft says good-bye to CES

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer gave what was billed as the company’s last keynote speech at CES. That keynote, held Monday evening, only provided further proof that Microsoft won’t be missed at the show.
Ballmer’s final presentation at the show was mostly a bore. It contained little news, some embarrassing technical problems and several head-scratchers.
I’ve been saying as far back as two years ago, that CES should give the opening keynote speech to a company other than Microsoft.
While Microsoft is a powerhouse in personal computers, servers and business software, it has been outflanked by Apple, Google and other companies in consumer electronics, such as media players, smartphones, tablets and smart TVs. Microsoft’s Xbox video game system has been successful, but its digital living room initiatives have been tied to that one box, limiting its reach.
Instead of giving a speech, Ballmer gave rehearsed responses to planned questions by celebrity host Ryan Seacrest. The on-stage rapport between the gruff billionaire salesman and the effeminate “American Idol” host was awkward to say the least.
“The scent of desperation hung thick,” the Huffington Post noted, as Ballmer pitched late-to-market Windows phones and still-to-come Windows 8 for PCs and tablets.

Ballmer’s oddball final keynote

Microsoft’s final CES keynote was “a disorienting whirlwind of jaw-dropping absurdities,” the Huffington Post wrote. They included an auto-tune recap of prior Microsoft keynotes by digital music artist Pogo, a “Tweet Choir” of gospel singers, a trippy “Sesame Street” visit, and the forced banter between odd couple Ballmer and Seacrest.
And pity Derek Snyder, a senior product manager for the Windows Phone division, who endured a couple of high profile technical gaffes while showing off some new smartphones.
At one point, Snyder demonstrated speech-to-text transcription on a Windows Phone. In the demo, he tried to reply to a text message.
“Sounds great,” he spoke into the phone.
“Sound” was all the phone transcribed, setting off laughter in the crowd.
Later he had trouble switching demos from one phone to another.
“Sorry for the trouble tonight,” he told the crowd. You could see the flop sweat on his brow.

Last hurrah for Microsoft?

In introducing Ballmer, CEA chief executive Gary Shapiro held out hope that Microsoft would someday return to CES.
“I would be shocked if a Microsoft executive doesn’t return to keynote at CES in the next few years,” he said.

Buzzword of the year: Ultra

In 2010, the most bandied-about word at CES was “green,” as in energy-efficient and environmentally friendly products and initiatives.
In 2011, the favorite buzzword at the show was “smart,” as in smart TVs, smartphones, smart appliances and other products getting computer smarts.
This year, the buzzword was “ultra,” as in the proliferation of ultrathin and ultralight notebooks called ultrabooks and super high-definition televisions called ultradefinition TVs.

Best booth: LG Electronics

South Korea-based LG Electronics had the most dazzling exhibit at the Las Vegas Convention Center. A big focus of the booth was on 3-D televisions that use passive, movie theater-style glasses.
The LG presentation made me a believer that passive 3-D glasses could be effective when paired with the right set. Before that, I had been in the camp with companies promoting active-shutter, battery-powered 3-D glasses. Both technologies now look viable.
I particularly liked LG’s use of a 3-D music video starring Gina Choi, a gorgeous Korean-Canadian singer who goes by the stage name G.NA.

News media complaints

The number of news media attending the Consumer Electronics Show continues to rise, making covering press conferences and other events at the show a challenge.
For the first time in my 13 years attending CES, I was unable to get into a press conference, because the room was already filled to capacity some 20 minutes before its scheduled start.
On Press Day, when the CES slots back-to-back corporate press conferences from 8 a.m. through 6 p.m., it used to be possible to go from one media briefing to the next without a problem. Now, many reporters wait in a line for the big company events an hour ahead of time. So, the rooms fill up quickly. I heard many complaints this year from veteran CES media who were unable to get into press conferences such as Intel and Samsung.
This year, the CEA tried a new procedure for giving out VIP press invites for the various press conferences, but the number of tickets was limited to 100 for each event.
With the number of media and analysts rising from more than 4,000 in past years to more than 5,000 this year, something has to be done to accommodate all the interest in these press conferences. I would suggest that virtually all the seating be spoken for ahead of time and everyone else be directed a large overflow room with a live video feed.
CES is a big pain to cover as a journalist. Much of my time is wasted standing in line for transportation, trying to walk from one appointment to the next across the ginormous and crowded convention center or looking for an open space in the press room to work. Minimizing the hassles would make the show a much more pleasant experience.

Coolest products shown at CES

The 55-inch OLED HDTVs unveiled by LG and Samsung were stunning. The whisper-thin displays boast rich colors and deep contrasts. OLEDs are the next generation of TVs beyond LCD, but will be out of my price range for a while.
The ultrabook notebook computers from Acer, Hewlett-Packard and others made me wish I hadn’t been so quick to buy a new laptop last month. The lightweight notebooks feature fast start-up times and always-on Internet connectivity.
On a goofy note, I liked the Blast Chiller feature on some LG refrigerators. It can chill a can of beer or soda in as little as five minutes, where it would take 40 minutes with a conventional fridge today.
“Perfect for chilling a can of beer on a hot summer afternoon,” said Skott Ahn, president and chief technology officer for LG Electronics.
I’m also intrigued by PixelOptics and its electronic focusing eyewear.

Dumbest products announced at CES

CES had its share of duds as well.
LG and Samsung pushed smart kitchen appliances, including refrigerators that can suggest recipes for items you have on hand and alert you when you need to buy more of a certain item. I wouldn’t pay more for those features and I’m sure I’m not alone.
Sharp demonstrated its Freestyle Aquos transportable displays. These flat-screen TVs have 20- to 80-inch displays and come with handles so you can carry them around the house or into the backyard. Seriously? Who asked for that product? (See report by Tested.)
Finally, Samsung put a lot of resources into promoting its Samsung Galaxy Note. With its 5.3-inch display, the Android-based device is too big for a smartphone and too small for a decent tablet experience. (See article by USA Today.)

Photo credits: Panasonic booth at CES 2012 (CEA), Ryan Seacrest and Steve Ballmer at Microsoft keynote (CEA), ultrabooks at Intel booth (CEA), G.na photo (G.na), LG unveils 55-inch OLED HDTV (LG), Sharp Freestyle Aquos televisions at Sharp press conference (Tested), and author with Hopper the kangaroo at Dish press event at CES 2012.

Consumer Electronics Show 2012 in review

2012-01-14T23:30:00.000-05:00

The following is a roundup of my stories from the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show, published in Investor’s Business Daily and on Investors.com.

If Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn got to choose, the Super Bowl likely would feature the Houston Texans against the San Francisco 49ers. (Jan. 12, 2012)

Accessories for smartphones and tablets take center stage at CES. (Jan. 11, 2012)

When Microsoft finally enters the tablet business later this year with Windows 8, it may find itself shut out of a market ruled by Apple’s iPad and Google Android devices.
Also, iRobot “welcomes” competition from Samsung and LG. (Jan. 11, 2012)

Mobile chipmaker Qualcomm sees Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8 operating system for ARM-based processors as a big opportunity.
Also, OLED televisions and ultradefinition, or 4K, TVs take CES by storm. (Jan. 10, 2012)

Health-and-fitness gadgets were a big trend at CES 2012. (Jan. 9, 2012)

Following Apple’s lead with its Siri voice-command software on the iPhone 4S, consumer electronics vendors are adding speech-recognition functions to their televisions, notebook computers and other devices.
Nuance Communications is a key beneficiary of the trend. (Jan. 9, 2012)

Photo: Panasonic’s booth at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. (CEA photo)

Week in review: Apple’s specter will haunt CES

2012-01-06T23:30:00.000-05:00

The following is a roundup of my stories from Investor’s Business Daily at Investors.com.

Apple will loom large at the annual Consumer Electronics Show this year, even though it isn’t exhibiting, as vendors showcase products to rival Apple’s MacBook Air, iPad and rumored iTV. (Jan. 6, 2012)

Marvell says new Google TV using its processor will make people forget bad memories of first-generation Google TV flop. (Jan. 5, 2012)

Netflix writes premature obituary for video discs. (Jan. 4, 2012)

MovieStop seeks to fill vacant Blockbuster stores. Retailer uses GameStop business model with DVDs. (Jan. 4, 2012)

2012 prediction: Twitter for your toaster - the next big thing in microblogging. (Dec. 30, 2011)

The year ahead in tech includes Facebook’s IPO, possible Apple TV, Intel’s redesigned chip, Microsoft’s Windows 8 and advances in mobile, social and cloud computing. (Dec. 30, 2011)

Photos: LG Electronics booth at the 2011 CES in Las Vegas (top); MovieStop retail store in Jacksonville, Fla. (bottom).

Half of 2011 predictions on TMT proved right

2012-01-03T07:00:00.000-05:00

Out of 10 predictions I curated a year ago for 2011, five arguably were correct.
Those predictions said it would be a big year for IPOs, Jennifer Aniston would find love, there would be social unrest over the economy, e-book usage would skyrocket, and people would make a fuss about 11/11/11.
Initial public offerings last year included Groupon, LinkedIn, Pandora, Zynga and Zipcar. Of the other predicted IPOs, Facebook’s IPO was delayed until 2012 and Skype was acquired by Microsoft.
Jennifer Aniston began a serious relationship with actor and screenwriter Justin Theroux in May 2011.
The Occupy Wall Street protest movement started in September 2011 in New York City and spread to other cities nationwide. The protests were against social and economic inequality, high unemployment, corporate greed and government corruption.
E-book usage accelerated with lower-cost e-readers and media tablets from Amazon and Barnes & Noble as well as Apple’s popular iPad tablet. (See article by Publishers Weekly.)
And yes, numerologists and the general public made a big deal out of Nov. 11, 2011.
A separate list of 10 bold tech industry predictions for 2011 proved much less accurate. Only one of the 10 predictions was accurate and it was one of the few layups on the list – that Apple would launch an Apple iTunes service in the Internet cloud.

Photo: Jennifer Aniston found love, maybe her “soul mate,” in 2011. Photo from The Superficial.

Wild psychic predictions for 2012

2012-01-02T21:32:00.001-05:00

Let’s check in with a couple of psychics to see what they’re predicting for the year ahead.

Predictions for 2012 by psychic Roxanne Usleman Hulderman:

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie take a break from each other, temporarily separating.
Paris Hilton gets hitched.
Justin Bieber in a relationship gets caught red-handed with another female.
Chelsea Clinton pregnant.
Abundant rich minerals will be found in Afghanistan. These minerals will be very rare and powerful.
An earthquake impacts the states of Washington and California.
A great war between Israel and Palestine.
The Middle East explodes in a violent nuclear war between countries.

Predictions for 2012 by psychic Pattie Canova:

An upsurge of aggression, violence, murders, belief in magic, paganism, and unexpected fluctuations that seem out of our control.
Terrorist cells uncovered in South America.
Radiological breakthroughs on sonar, radar, and infrared improvements.
Major or fatal crises for Dick Cheney.

Photo: Nuclear blast at Bikini Atoll in 1954. See National Park Service website.

Top 20 celebrities predicted to die in 2012

2012-01-01T22:01:00.000-05:00

For the second year in a row, actress Zsa Zsa Gabor has been selected as the celebrity most likely to die in the coming year, according to contestants playing in the Stiffs.com dead pool.
Gabor, 94, has been in failing health for some time. Stiffs.com entrants picked her as the No. 4 public figure most likely to die in 2010, but she moved up to No. 1 in 2011 and 2012.
Of the top 20 celebrities marked for death in 2011 by Stiffs.com, only seven kicked the bucket last year. They included Bob Hope’s widow, Dolores Hope; former first lady Betty Ford; actor Harry Morgan; golfer Seve Ballesteros; baseball great Harmon Killebrew; journalist and author Christopher Hitchens; and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
Here’s the full list of public figures predicted to die in 2012:

1. Zsa Zsa Gabor, 94
2. Etta James, 73
3. Billy Graham, 93
4. Abdelbaset Al Megrahi, 59
5. Kirk Douglas, 95
6. Robin Gibb, 62
7. Ronnie Biggs, 82
8. Gary Carter, 57
9. Penny Marshall, 68
10. Fidel Castro, 85
11. Nancy Reagan, 90
12. Run Run Shaw, 104
13. Margaret Thatcher, 86
14. Luise Rainer, 101
15. Joe Paterno, 85
16. Olivia de Havilland, 95
17. Eli Wallach, 96
18. Nelson Mandela, 93
19. Prince Philip, 90
20. Aretha Franklin, 69

The top of the Stiffs.com list usually includes the elderly and the infirm. Here are some notable younger celebrities predicted to die this year:

69. Lindsay Lohan, 25
112. Charlie Sheen, 46
118. Courtney Love, 47
245. Mindy McCready, 36

Photo: Troubled actress Lindsay Lohan is No. 69 on the list of celebrities most likely to die in 2012. Playboy photo from I Don’t Like You In That Way.

16 pop culture predictions for 2012

2011-12-31T21:53:00.002-05:00

Here I’ve curated more than a dozen interesting predictions for 2012 from around the Web about entertainment, sports, politics and miscellaneous.

Ask.com offered a list of predictions for 2012 based on Internet queries to its website.

Tiger Woods will retire from golf in 2012.
Dr. Oz will surpass Dr. Phil in ratings in 2012.
New York will reclaim its spot as the No. 1 U.S. tourist destination in 2012. Orlando was No. 1 in 2011.
Nicki Minaj will leapfrog Katy Perry in album sales in 2012.
The McRib will become a permanent fixture on McDonald’s menu.
The Green Bay Packers will win the Super Bowl again.
George Clooney will win an Oscar in 2012.
Republican Mitt Romney will be elected president.

Forbes predicts that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will be elected president in 2012, kicking out Barack Obama after one term.

James Poulos, a columnist at The Daily Caller, also predicts that Romney will be elected president, adding that CIA director David Petraeus will be his vice president.

Predictions from Judy Hevenly, a Los Angeles-based psychic:

Mitt Romney wins Iowa presidential caucus;
A baby boy for Kate Middleton and Prince William;
A tsunami in Hawaii;
Barack Obama re-elected president;
Breakthrough in the cure for Lyme disease;
Angels will actually be seen walking among us by some with extraordinary powers of perception;

Adult industry professionals on the Xbiz.net forums offered a host of predictions for the porn industry in 2012. (Weblink requires registration.)
Black and Blue Media predicts that mainstream media companies will file copyright lawsuits against porn studios doing “parodies” of well-known TV shows and movies.
Copying a movie or TV show and just adding sex scenes as an homage to the original will not offer First Amendment parody protection, the group says.
Forum member Jacco agreed that some porn “parodies” likely are not protected free speech. He writes:

Parody: A work or performance that imitates another work or performance with ridicule or irony.
The Supreme Court of the United States stated that parody “is the use of some elements of a prior author’s composition to create a new one that, at least in part, comments on that author’s works.”
If you look at the current crop of porn “parodies” the ridicule/irony/comments are mostly missing. The imitation part is there.
My guess is that there are not a lot more court cases … because the original copyright holders don’t want to generate publicity for the porn movies involved.
Just calling something a parody does not make it a parody.

Photo: Novelty item for opponents of President Barack Obama. The Obama Basher from RageGage lets users take out their frustrations on a toy Obama. The device responds to bashes with one of over two dozen presidential messages depending on the strength of the bash. It spouts phrases ranging from “You hit like Nancy Pelosi's hair dresser” to “OK, I give up ... I'll repeal it!”

11 bold tech and business predictions for 2012

2011-12-31T21:07:00.000-05:00

Year-ahead predictions are a dime a dozen.
Put more bluntly by some foul-mouthed philosopher: Opinions are like assholes – everyone’s got one and everyone thinks theirs doesn’t stink.
I’ve reviewed a lot of 2012 predictions by experts in their fields and have compiled some of the most interesting ones.
Here are 11 notable predictions in technology and business that I’ve seen for the coming year.

1. Microsoft will buy Netflix and/or LinkedIn

Kudos to the analysts at market research firm IDC for sticking their necks out with their 2012 predictions. They predicted that Microsoft would buy Netflix to buck up its online content offerings and LinkedIn to add social networking capabilities.
IDC analyst Frank Gens admits they’re “audacious” calls.
“You can’t do layups all day,” he told me. “You have to take a half-court shot now and again.”

2. Microsoft will fire CEO Steve Ballmer

IBD tech business writer Brian Deagon is convinced that 2012 will be the year that Microsoft will give the boot to long-time CEO Steve Ballmer. This prediction has been floated in previous years, but Deagon is practically alone this year. (Warner Crocker at Gotta Be Mobile also predicts that Ballmer will step down next year.)
Deagon thinks Ballmer will be shown the door in 2012, despite the anticipated launch of Windows 8 later in the year, which will give the company a shot at penetrating the tablet market and reinvigorating PCs. Deagon thinks the Microsoft board will finally tire of Microsoft’s lagging stock price and missed opportunities.

3. Apple shares will plummet 50% from 2011 highs

Europe’s Saxo Bank predicts that Apple shares will tumble to $213.35 at some point in 2012, half of its 2011 high. The bank predicts that Apple will lose ground to competitors in smartphones and tablets in 2012 and see its profit margins cut.

4. Apple will buy Twitter

Apple will swoop in and buy Twitter as the microblogging service sees usage wane from competition from Facebook and Google+, ReadWriteWeb founder and editor-in-chief Richard MacManus predicts.

5. Apple will declare a dividend

The Apple board will decide to share some of its $26 billion cash hoard with investors in the form of a dividend, predicts Marc Lichtenfeld, senior analyst at Investment U.

6. Zynga will lose half its market cap

Social gaming company Zynga will see its market capitalization of over $6 billion cut in half in 2012, predicts Bernard Moon, co-founder and CEO of Vidquik, writing at VentureBeat.com.
Moon thinks Zynga will start to see its leadership position in the space diminish next year.

7. RIM will exit the hardware business

Research In Motion will ditch its BlackBerry smartphone hardware business and focus on software, says Alan Shimel, co-founder and managing partner of the CISO Group. RIM will focus on software for managing mobile devices for the enterprise, he says.

8. FTC will take Google to court

The Federal Trade Commission is likely to take Google to court next year on antitrust charges, according to Clint Boulton, senior editor for eWeek and Google Watch.
Boulton also predicts that Google will shutter its Chrome OS and Google TV products as CEO Larry Page continues to clean house of dead-end products and focus on core software.

9. Facebook will expand into e-commerce and business networks

Colin Sebastian, an analyst with Baird Research, thinks social networking leader Facebook will make a big push into e-commerce next year. He calls the online sales trend F-commerce.
IDC thinks Facebook will be getting more “business-oriented” in 2012, partnering with enterprise tech giants like Microsoft, IBM, Oracle and SAP to add social networking to their offerings.

10. Twitter for your toaster

IDC predicts that 2012 will see the arrival of microblogging by things, so people can follow the status of a product or service.
“Think Twitter for your toaster,” Gens said.
Machine-to-machine communications will allow people to follow a Twitter feed from an appliance in their home, the arrival time of a bus or the available parking spaces in an area.

11. Coinstar will change its name to Redbox

Coinstar will change its name to Redbox in 2012. Redbox is the company’s largest business today and it’s being used to brand new ventures like Seattle’s Best Coffee kiosks. This is my only personal prediction for the year.

Photos: Netflix on a laptop computer (top); and a Redbox-powered Seattle’s Best Coffee kiosk at the Harris Teeter grocery store in Reston, Va., in December 2011.

Movie ad fail: ‘Conan the Barbadian’

2011-12-30T23:30:00.000-05:00

Vacationing at the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island in the Bahamas this week, I saw this posting outside the resort’s movie theater.
The 2011 big-screen adaptation of “Conan the Barbarian” was billed as “Conan the Barbadian.” I would like to have seen that Caribbean-themed “Conan,” perhaps co-starring pop star Rihanna, the official ambassador of youth and culture for Barbados.

Naughty and nice Christmas lists

2011-12-24T23:02:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas, everybody!
In honor of the holiday, here are some neat pop culture lists I’ve curated. Enjoy!

15 Funniest Christmas Movies of All Time (Huffington Post; Dec. 6, 2011)

I haven’t seen all of them, but “The Ref” and “Bad Santa” were so terrible I couldn’t finish them. I definitely agree with “A Christmas Story,” “Scrooged” and “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” though.

The 15 Best Christmas Movies of All Time (CollegeHumor; Dec. 11, 2011)

20 Top Christmas Movies Ever (Entertainment Weekly; Dec. 15, 2010)

The Best Family Christmas Movies (Huffington Post; Dec. 24, 2010)

10 Holiday Songs You’ll Hate By Christmas (TheStreet.com; Nov. 16, 2010)

15 Christmas Songs Too Annoying For Words (Huffington Post; Dec. 9, 2011)

30 Years of Elf Handiwork - The Most Popular Holiday Toys since 1981 (UltimateCoupons.com; Dec. 20, 2011)

Top 30 Funniest Christmas Porn Movie Titles (Tech-media-tainment; Dec. 7, 2010)

Photo: Santa gets his wish this Christmas. From a photo shoot featuring Courtney Stodden and Doug Hutchison. See lots more photos from the shoot at The Superficial.

‘American Horror Story’: Best new show of 2011

2011-12-23T23:30:00.000-05:00

“American Horror Story” finished its first season on FX this week and what a ride it was.
The 12-episode run was by turns shocking, frightening, funny and poignant. The series has pushed the boundaries of what’s acceptable on basic cable with its violent, sexual and mature content.
The show kept me guessing. I was never sure how it was going to turn out.
And the performance of scenery-chewing co-star Jessica Lange was a real treat. She should be a heavy favorite for honors at the Golden Globes and Emmy awards.
One of my big concerns about “American Horror Story” – and other new shows this season – was how far the creators could carry the premise of the show.
When the season finale was over, the story of the troubled Harmon family was complete. To continue it seemed pointless.
Series co-creator Ryan Murphy admitted as much this week. He told reporters that the second season would “begin with a new locale and a (mostly) new cast,” EW says. Some of the current cast members may come back in different roles, Murphy said.
“It’s a really fun idea to do an anthology show,” Murphy said. “That’s the way it was designed from the beginning. Every season, there will be a new haunting and we’ll have a new overriding theme.”
Of this fall’s other new shows, I’ve only stuck with CW’s “Ringer” and ABC’s “Revenge.” Both are far-fetched soap operas, classified as “guilty pleasures” by some critics. They’re entertaining enough, but low on my viewing list.
I still like returning shows “The Walking Dead,” “Supernatural” and “The Vampire Diaries.”
AMC’s “The Walking Dead” has suffered a sophomore slump with sluggish pacing and poor writing. It was partially redeemed by a great mid-season finale. But the show’s producers had better pick up the pace in the second half of the season.
CW’s “Supernatural” continues to surprise me in its seventh season. It’s a great show. But I hope they find a way to end it before it goes stale like “The X-Files.”
Both “Supernatural” and fellow CW show “The Vampire Diaries” could teach “The Walking Dead” producers a thing or two about pacing. They don’t stretch out story lines. They have mini-climaxes throughout the season and come up with new plots to keep things moving.

Michael Buble rules the Christmas music airwaves this year

2011-12-23T01:27:00.003-05:00

This holiday season, Michael Buble is dominating the radio airwaves with tracks from his new Christmas album, including “Jingle Bells,” “All I Want For Christmas Is You” and “Holly Jolly Christmas.”
Buble’s album “Christmas” has been the No. 1 album for four weeks straight, according to Billboard. It’s already the year’s third best-selling album, behind Adele’s “21” and Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way,” the New York Times says.
The Canadian crooner also scored with a hit Christmas television special on NBC and was a recent musical guest on “Saturday Night Live.”

Here are my top 10 Christmas songs for 2011:

1. “Winter Wonderland” (1963) by Darlene Love
2. “Jingle Bells” (1946) by Frank Sinatra
3. “Ring Christmas Bells” (1962) by Ray Conniff
4. “Christmas Wrapping” (1981) by The Waitresses
5. “Mary’s Boy/Oh My Lord” (1981) by Boney M.
6. “Happy Xmas” (1998) by Celine Dion
7. “Carol of the Bells” (2008) by August Burns Red
8. “Last Christmas” (2010) by the cast of “Glee”
9. “Hey Santa” (2008) by Carnie and Wendy Wilson
10. “All I Want For Christmas Is You” (2011) by Michael Buble

The apocalyptic art of Steve McGhee

2011-12-20T22:49:00.002-05:00

With some people convinced that the world will end next year, I thought I’d spotlight the work of Canadian artist Steve McGhee. He specializes in pictures depicting disasters and the end of the world.
McGhee uses photo manipulation and graphic design software to create his nightmarish works. I particularly like his airplane crash images, especially “All Is Lost,” which depicts a jumbo jet crashing into the bridge with cars.
For more information on McGhee, check out his website and his profile on the Behance Network.

Looking to ancient cultures for predictions

2011-12-18T22:22:00.001-05:00

Why do so many people put their faith in ancient cultures to predict the future?
People seem to think that our distant ancestors were better at predicting future events than today’s scientifically advanced culture. It’s like they had skills that we lost over time or that they were closer to God.
It’s a load of bunk, of course. Nostradamus and his ilk perfected the art of making vague predictions that eventually could be construed as coming true.
Now some people think that the world is going to end on Dec. 21, 2012, just because that’s when the Mayan calendar runs out. The Mayans may be right, but if they are it would be pure coincidence that the world ended then.
You wouldn’t take medical advice from one of your ancestors from centuries ago, so why would you trust them on prophecies?

Art: Poster from the end-of-the-world disaster movie “2012.”

Further reading:

2012 phenomenon (Wikipedia)

Mayan Prophecy For 2012 Has Believers Preparing For Catastrophe (Huffington Post)

2012 Mayan Calendar ‘Doomsday’ Day Might Be Wrong (Discovery)

Holiday Coca-Cola cans continue to confuse

2011-12-17T23:41:00.000-05:00

Earlier this winter holiday season, Coca-Cola came out with cans that confused a lot of customers. The seasonal cans, which featured polar bears, were white with red lettering and looked a lot like Diet Coke cans.
Since we have both Coke and Diet Coke drinkers in my household, the new cans confused us, along with many other people.
Coca-Cola admitted that it blundered and announced that it would put out new cans with the traditional red background, but keep the polar bears.
Last weekend, on a United flight to Chicago from Washington, D.C., I received one of the new red holiday Coke cans. All fine. But when I looked at the label, the text was all in Russian.
No great mystery. I’m sure that Boeing 777 had been to Russia and brought back some locally produced beverages. But it threw me off for a bit.

Week in review: Zynga goes public

2011-12-16T23:38:00.002-05:00

The following is a roundup of my stories from Investor’s Business Daily at Investors.com.

Zynga’s success in social network games on Facebook is attracting competition, including Electronic Arts. Zynga became a publicly traded company today. (Dec. 16, 2011)

Adobe Systems beats Wall Street views in Q4, but faces headwinds ahead in digital media and digital marketing sectors. (Dec. 15, 2011)

Adobe Systems is in “perpetual fix it” mode, one analyst says. (Dec. 15, 2011)

Lam Research to buy rival Novellus Systems in an all-stock deal worth $3.3 billion that will create a major rival for No. 1 chip gear maker Applied Materials. (Dec. 14, 2011)

Best Buy missed Q3 forecasts because it had to price aggressively to compete with Amazon, Costco and Wal-Mart this holiday shopping season. (Dec. 13, 2011)

Best Buy shares fall 12% after the consumer electronics retailer misses Q3 profit and revenue estimates. (Dec. 13, 2011)

Intel lowers its Q4 sales outlook on hard-disk drive supply, but does seem to have some trends in its favor. (Dec. 12, 2011)

Days after Texas Instruments and Altera cut their revenue outlook for the current quarter, chip giant Intel followed suit with its own sales warning, blaming the global shortage of hard disk drives. (Dec. 12, 2011)

TSA perverts touching our children

2011-12-15T23:34:00.000-05:00

Child molesters are attracted to jobs where they can get access to children. Just ask the Catholic Church. So it’s no surprise that the U.S. Transportation Security Administration has attracted a good number of pedophiles.
TSA screeners have the authority to pat-down and grope children in public. It’s a dream job for child molesters.
Last month, I documented 10 cases were TSA airport employees were accused of sex crimes.
Today the Florida Department of Law Enforcement arrested 48 child predators, including a TSA agent, as well as a teacher and church treasurer, according to Fox News in Orlando.
Also, on Wednesday, a former TSA screener, 34-year-old Andrew Cheever of Lowell, Mass., pleaded guilty to child pornography charges, according to the Boston Globe.

Graphic: I altered the TSA’s Pre-check logo to a more fitting description for the agency: “TSA Perv.” Sounds about right.

Bruce Lee, Beatles, Rat Pack porn parodies delayed, but still in the works

2011-12-10T23:52:00.001-05:00

Unlike the aborted Osama bin Laden and William & Kate porn parodies, the adult filmmaker who announced X-rated parodies of Bruce Lee, the Beatles and the Rat Pack has every intention of doing them.
Axel Braun tells Tech-media-tainment that his directing slate is full of superhero porn parodies at the moment. But Braun hopes to film all three public-figure porn parodies next year, he said in a Nov. 28 phone interview.
Braun recently was nominated for an AVN Award for director of the year. His movie “Elvis XXX: A Porn Parody” received nine nominations including a nod for best parody – comedy. Braun’s productions this year scored 20 nominations. His other nominated films included “Spiderman XXX: A Porn Parody,” “Scream XXX: A Porn Parody” and “This Ain’t Lady Gaga.”
In October 2010, Braun announced plans to film “The Beatles XXX” followed by “The Rat Pack XXX” for Vivid Entertainment. In February, he said he had cast Keni Styles as martial arts screen legend Bruce Lee for his movie “Bruce Lee XXX: A Porn Parody.” The Bruce Lee movie was supposed to be released in July, but wasn’t.
“The Bruce Lee movie has been stalling because the only guy who can play the role of Bruce Lee had to go back to England for some family issues. And without him I can’t shoot the movie. There are not many Asian guys in the industry,” Braun said. “It’s still going to happen. I just don’t know when. In the meantime, my schedule is so full. My schedule is full until late 2014.”
Braun said he might be able to squeeze the project into his schedule in the spring. He just finished shooting an Iron Man and Avengers porn parody and is working on X-rated spoofs of X-Men, Wolverine and “Avatar 2” in December.
Then, in January, he’s scheduled to shoot parodies of Thor and the Fantastic Four, followed by a Batman sequel and a “Dark Knight” parody.
“We still have movies in the can that we haven’t released,” Braun said. “I have ‘Superman vs. Spider-Man,’ which is a great movie. But ‘Spider-Man’ (XXX) has been so successful that we don’t want to release it too close to that.”
Braun said his shooting schedule could open up next spring.
“I believe that Bruce Lee should be done in the spring … The Beatles and Rat Pack, which I was planning to shoot back to back, could happen around June and be ready to release the Beatles in September and Rat Pack in January 2013. That’s my hopes,” he said.
A team of lawyers is still evaluating the legal issues involved with doing dirty parodies of the Beatles songs, he said.
A big concern with making a porn parody of Bruce Lee is how his fans will react, he said.
“When I did the Elvis parody, which was greatly successful, I had several death threats,” Braun said. “In one of them, somebody left a note on my car at the grocery store. It was a big deal.
“I had to file a report and involve the police and it was pretty serious. At that point, I started thinking, if an Elvis fan gets so crazy that they think they want to kill me, what is a Bruce Lee fan going to do? Elvis fans are like in their 80s and they’re God-fearing people. But Bruce Lee people might be Kung Fu masters.”
Meanwhile, Braun is excited about the release in January of a porn parody of “Star Wars.”
“The release of ‘Star Wars’ I moved from September to January,” he said. “When I did ‘Superman’ there were I think 27 video special effects shots. And it was a big deal for a porn movie. ‘Star Wars’ has 512 effects shots. The scope of that was so big that I couldn’t realistically have it done the way I want it in September. I decided to push it.”
Porn parodies of the “Star Wars” sequels are in the works as well. The scripts for “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi” parodies have been written. The current plan is to film them back to back in May or June and release the next movie in September.

Week in review: Tablet holiday season

2011-12-09T23:40:00.001-05:00

The following is a roundup of my stories from Investor’s Business Daily at Investors.com.

Analysts have cut their Apple iPad 2 sales forecasts for the holiday shopping season. Reasons: Diminished expectations, saturated market for early adopters, competition from Amazon’s Kindle Fire and consumers waiting for iPad 3 in early 2012. (Dec. 9, 2011)

The success of Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet is boosting the fortunes of Monotype Imaging. (Dec. 7, 2011)

Wireless router maker Netgear is benefiting from the popularity of tablets, especially Apple’s iPad. (Dec. 5, 2011)

Worldwide semiconductor sales are forecast to accelerate over the next two years. (Dec. 5, 2011)

Photo: Apple’s iPad 2.

Why does text in some Web browsers look so terrible?

2011-12-08T23:22:00.001-05:00

A lot of people have switched to alternative Web browsers like Google’s Chrome, Mozilla’s Firefox and Apple’s Safari, but I’m sticking with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.
The reason is simple: Internet Explorer is the only PC browser that seems to care about displaying text clearly. Using IE, headlines and body text look bold and sharp. In other browsers, typefaces look jagged and pixilated.
It practically hurts my eyes to look at this blog on Firefox or Chrome. Safari is better, but noticeably below the quality of IE.
See the accompanying images for a comparison of text from Firefox and Internet Explorer. The first image shows a side-by-side comparison of this blog’s “About me” box. (Firefox is on the left and IE is on the right.) The image below compares the date and headline from a recent blog post. (The Firefox sample is on top and IE sample is below it.)
On Wednesday, I discussed this issue with an expert: Doug Shaw, the chief executive officer of Monotype Imaging. Monotype provides digital fonts and text imaging technologies to makers of printers, personal computers, tablets, e-readers and other consumer electronics.
“The quality on these different browsers can vary dramatically,” Shaw said. “It’s always been a quandary to us. When you look at the browsers, my impression is that they spent a lot of time on performance, so how quickly they image; and spent a lot of time on the graphics, how vivid are the graphics. And depending on the browser, maybe a little less time on text.”
In other words, Web browser developers are much more interested in page load times and graphics than with rendering text clearly.
“Microsoft has a dedicated type group. They spend a lot of money and a lot of attention on fine-tuning, particularly the core fonts,” Shaw said.
The other guys? Not so much.
“There’s a pretty remarkable difference across the various platforms,” Shaw said.

Heart, women rockers snubbed by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

2011-12-07T22:05:00.001-05:00

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced its latest round of inductees today, including Guns N’ Roses, the Beastie Boys, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and the Faces. But this year’s selections included only one woman, the late singer/songwriter Laura Nyro, the Associated Press and EW reported.
I can’t fault the hall for its main picks this year. At least it chose a lot of rockers, unlike past years where it selected the likes of ABBA, Neil Diamond and Madonna.
But where are the women?
Among those nominated but not chosen for induction this year were Heart, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Donna Summer, and Rufus with Chaka Khan.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame needs to induct Heart. Sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson are the core of a popular hit-making band that can really rock. They also were hugely influential to female rockers who followed.

Photos: Covers of Heart albums "Little Queen" (1977) and "The Essential Heart" greatest hits collection.

Hustler backs off plans to make porn parody of terrorist Osama bin Laden

2011-12-06T22:13:00.001-05:00

Fans of porn parodies likely will be disappointed to hear that Hustler isn’t currently making a politically themed porn parody about late terrorist leader Osama bin Laden.
Hustler announced May 18 that it was preparing an X-rated parody called “This Ain’t Bin Laden XXX.” It was supposed to be available on DVD over the summer.
In a statement at the time, Hustler Video Director of Operations Rob Smith said, “Oh yeah, we’re going there … We’re pretty sure from what we’ve heard that Bin Laden was a big fan of Hustler. He was looking at porn, now porn is looking at him. See, it all comes full circle.”
The news generated media coverage by Salon, Slog, TMR Zoo and other outlets.
The Hustler announcement followed reports that the U.S. military had found a stash of pornography at bin Laden’s hideaway in Pakistan. (See media coverage by New York Post, Gothamist, Salon and Mediaite.)
But Hustler never pulled the trigger on the production.
In an e-mail to Tech-media-tainment on Nov. 29, Smith wrote, “All I know is this title has not been produced yet. I cannot say when or if it will be produced in the future. Sorry, that’s all the info I have.”

William & Kate porn parody also a no-go

Reports that Vivid Entertainment planned to release a movie based on the honeymoon of England’s Prince William and Kate Middleton have turned out to be false.
Gossip blog Hollywood Life said May 2 that Vivid was planning to film a royal porn parody.
“HollywoodLife.com has learned exclusively that look-alikes of William and Kate, as well as Prince Harry and Kate’s younger sister Pippa, will begin filming the X-rated feature later this year,” the blog said. “An insider at the studio tells us Harry and Pippa will ‘show up’ while their siblings are consummating their marriage, ‘and may even hook up.’”
But it was all just wishful thinking on their part.
Vivid spokesperson Jackie Martin in a Nov. 18 e-mail to Tech-media-tainment said Vivid never green-lighted a William & Kate movie.
“Vivid didn’t actually announce a William/Kate movie,” Martin wrote. “An item appeared on a gossip site saying that this was going to happen. It is still a possibility though a date has not yet been set.”
Actually there’s already been a porn parody of the royal wedding. A U.K. adult movie studio, Pure XXX Films, released a flick called “The Royal Romp” in April. (See articles by Porn Star Babylon and Fleshbot. Warning: Links may contain nudity and explicit content.)

Chilean miner porn parody fails to materialize

Another announced porn parody was to be based on the rescue of 33 Chilean miners who were trapped for more than 2 months in a mine in Copiapo. (See Wikipedia summary on the incident.)
AVN reported in November 2010 that a Chilean filmmaker planned to make a porn film on the rescue called “La Mina Se Comio los 33,” translated as “The Mine that Swallowed the 33.” The article notes that in southern Chile it is not uncommon for men to use the word “mina” to refer colloquially to young girls.
Since then, there hasn’t been a peep about the project.
Somebody must have come to their senses and decided this movie was a bad idea.

Photo: Cover of New York Post with photo illustration and story on Osama bin Laden’s porn stash with the headline “Osama Bin Wankin’!”
Also a cast photo from the British porn movie “The Royal Romp.”

The Pokemon presidential candidate

2011-12-05T22:23:00.001-05:00

If knowledge of Pokemon trivia was a requirement for the U.S. presidency, my 8-year-old son would be a shoe-in for the job. When he turns 35, of course.
Former Republican presidential front-runner Herman Cain showed his Pokemon knowledge in a speech Saturday when he announced that he was withdrawing from the race. (See Huffington Post article.)
It’s fitting that Pokemon is derived from the Japanese brand Pocket Monsters, because Cain apparently couldn’t keep his “pocket monster” to himself.
You see what I did there? I made a lame sex joke.
The same day Cain suspended his campaign, I took my son and my nearly 6-year-old daughter to the latest Pokemon movie, “Pokemon the Movie: White – Victini and Zekrom,” at a theater in Centreville, Va. A version of the same movie will air on the Cartoon Network on Sat. Dec. 10 and again on Sun. Dec. 11.
As we watched the movie, I was amazed at how many of the fictional creatures my son could identify. Plus, he helped explain what was going on at times. The plot was pretty convoluted for someone like me who hasn’t seen all the movies (this is the 14th one) or played the video games.
If any other presidential candidates need to get schooled about Pokemon, my son is available to help.

‘Roots,’ ESPN, DSK porn parodies show adult studios willing to offend

2011-12-04T21:28:00.001-05:00

Several recent adult movies demonstrate that porn studios are willing to offend to attract attention and generate sales.

‘Roots’ porn parody

On Nov. 7, Evasive Angles released a porn parody of the historical novel “Roots” by Alex Haley and the hit television miniseries adapted from it.
Because it makes light of slavery, the video, “Can’t Be Roots – A XXX Parody,” sparked some controversy. (See AVN article.)
Haley based “Roots” on his family tree, which he claims he traced back to African slave Kunta Kinte.
The poorly written synopsis of “Can’t Be Roots” skips all the details of the Haley source material. “Evasive has brought you a wild journey into the minds of white women back in the day and what really went on behind closed doors,” it says. “Watch the pretty (slave-owner’s) daughters fall in lust with the studs and chase them around for some love.”

ESPN porn parody

On Oct. 18, Hustler Video released a porn parody of cable sports channel ESPN with depictions of ESPN on-air talent, including reporter Erin Andrews.
Featuring a portrayal of Andrews in the movie is arguably in poor taste because she recently was victimized in real life by a man with a hidden camera. The man surreptitiously took video of her naked in her hotel room.
The movie, “This Ain’t ESPN,” also parodies anchors Sara Walsh and John Buccigross, reporter Angela Sun and athletes Shaun White and Danica Patrick. (See coverage by Deadspin and Bleacher Report.)
Hustler has been particularly active in making porn parodies of real-life events and public figures. It parodied a host of celebrities in “This Ain’t Hollywood Squares,” released in August; pop singer Lady Gaga in “This Ain’t Lady Gaga,” released in July; and Fox News personalities in “This Ain’t Fox News,” released in June.
But perhaps the most controversial porn parody based on real-life events and public figures is in production.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn porn parody

A French adult studio is producing a porn movie based on the exploits of former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who was forced to resign after his arrest in May on charges of sexually assaulting a hotel maid in New York City. The charges were later dropped after the credibility of the victim was called into doubt.
The DSK porn movie, called “DXK,” makes light of a rape, which is despicable. (See media coverage by the Huffington Post, the Local and Slate.)

Check out the Tech-media-tainment Flickr page for a gallery of porn movies based on celebrities, politicians and other public figures, as well as real-life events.

Week in review: Segway turns 10

2011-12-03T19:10:00.001-05:00

The following is a roundup of my stories from Investor’s Business Daily at Investors.com.

Remember the crazy speculation 10 years ago over a mysterious invention called Ginger, or IT, that was going to change the world? Apple’s Steve Jobs and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos raved about it. The Segway didn’t change the world, but it did help the tourism industry. (Dec. 1, 2011)

Microsoft is predicted to buy Netflix and LinkedIn in 2012. Research firm IDC says those deals will be part of a flurry of tech M&A next year. (Dec. 1, 2011)

For those keeping tabs, Samsung won a legal round against Apple to sell its Galaxy Tab tablet in Australia. (Nov. 30, 2011)

Dell is gaining ground in servers while Hewlett-Packard slips. (Nov. 29, 2011)

Photo: Woman rides a Segway i2 personal transporter. Photo from Segway Inc.

Nip slips on the rise with celebrities, but not Lingerie Football League players

2011-12-02T23:40:00.001-05:00

Nip slips have become common with female celebrities as a way to get media attention.
Need to publicize a new movie, TV show or album? Wear a low-cut dress and “accidentally” flash a nipple to photographers. The photos get the Interwebs all excited and the actress and her project get some publicity.
TVPredictions.com concurs in an article this week titled “Is Nip-Slipping Really a Slip-Up?” To see examples of celebrity nip slips, check out the collection at Egotastic. It includes everyone from singers Kelly Rowland and Jennifer Lopez to (oh, horror) talk show host Nancy Grace.
One place you’re not seeing nipple slips these days is in the Lingerie Football League. As Tech-media-tainment reported Sept. 11 (in lieu of 9/11 remembrances) “LFL nip slips (are) a thing of the past.”
LFL players have gotten wise to the perverts – er, fans – who watch the sport and are now wearing pasties and tape to cover their nipples. This probably has as much to do with chafing as it does with modesty though.
Seattle Mist quarterback Angela Rypien on Sept. 27 even tweeted a photo of her favorite brand of pasties, Nippies. She wrote, “Just got my pasties for game day! Don't know which ones to wear yet? Pink or Stripes?”

In every LFL game and many game photos, you can see breast covers behind players’ tops and sometimes tape on exposed breasts.
For example, see the photo below. In it, Tampa Bay offensive lineman Adrian Purnell makes a touchdown grab as Cleveland Crush linebacker Jamara Lee flashes her nipple tape on Oct. 21.

The Italian blog Very Special Girls, a friend of Tech-media-tainment, recently bemoaned the lack of nipple exposure in the LFL. Blogger Lisa Tacchi writes, “Unfortunately, the use of pasties is widespread in the LFL,” adding that she hopes “that there are still players who do not use the pasties.”
She seems to be saying to LFL players: You’re beautiful. Be proud of what the good Lord gave you and show it off!
To find a good example of an LFL nip slip, Very Special Girls found photos from a Nov. 13, 2009, game between the Miami Caliente and New York Majesty. Both teams were in the LFL’s first season but folded afterward.
In the photos (top and immediately below), Miami’s Danella Williams has a wardrobe malfunction. The photos are part of a set posted on the Team Nikon Miami blog, which features the work of Jim Winters and his friends. (For the uncensored photos, follow the weblinks above.)

Nip slips might be a thing of the past in the LFL. But there’s still no shortage of LFL players inadvertently mooning the crowd when defensive players try to tackle them by their panties. (See Nov. 4 photo of Seattle Mist wide receiver Jessica Hopkins below.)

Update: There was a nip slip in the Oct. 7, 2011, game between the Chicago Bliss and Green Bay Chill. See photo here.

Blogger passes the torch to Tumblr

2011-12-01T23:43:00.001-05:00

Google’s Blogger used to be the popular place for people to publish web logs. Now the hot platform is Tumblr.
Nowhere was that more obvious than on Blogger’s own Blogs of Note site this week. Just about every weekday, the curators of Blogs of Note spotlight a blog that uses its platform.
On Tuesday, they selected a blog called Eyes on Fremont. If you visit the site, one of the first things you see is a big graphic promoting the business’ site on Tumblr. It reads “I (heart symbol) Tumblr. Click here to check out Eyes on Fremont on Tumblr!”
That’s the equivalent of a sign in a retail shop window that says, “We’ve moved. Come visit our new store.”
Eyes on Fremont actually is a store. It’s located in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle and sells “unique, affordable eyewear.”

Big ratings for Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show

2011-11-30T22:46:00.001-05:00

The annual “Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show” on CBS delivered its largest audience since 2002 and its best performance ever in the key demographic of adults 18-49.
The show was seen by 10.3 million viewers Tuesday night, EW reported. You can watch the full special online at CBS.
For fans of the show, a great resource is VSholic, which has photos and videos of the Victoria’s Secret fashion shows starting with 1998. Also check out Victoria Secret’s own news site called VS All Access.
You can check out photos from the 2011 show at Popoholic, the Superficial, E Online, the Fab life and CBS News.

Photo: Model Candice Swanepoel at the 2011 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.

Victoria’s Secret lingerie models like smartphones, social media

2011-11-29T23:30:00.000-05:00

When Victoria’s Secret taped its annual fashion show earlier this month in New York City, I had the chance to interview some of the models about their use of social media.

Chanel Iman

U.S. model Chanel Iman, 20, is hooked on Twitter. She uses the microblogging service “all the time every day” to express herself, she says.
“I love Twitter,” she said. “I use Twitter just to get out my thoughts and opinions on my life … I really do it for my fans. But sometimes I’ll go through all my different tweets that I have tweeted and it’s like memory. It’s almost like a journal. It’s documenting my life and the different points that intrigue me.”
Iman has nearly 103,000 followers on Twitter.
Iman has avoided joining Facebook. Twitter satisfies her urge to share and it’s so darn simple to use, she says. “It’s easy, just a few words and a picture and you’re done.”
Iman also uses Tumblr, which has become a hot platform of late.
“Social media is a big part of our generation and how we connect,” Iman said. “I think it’s a great way to connect with people. I use it every day.”
On the go, Iman uses a touch-screen smartphone from Vertu, a maker of luxury mobile phones based in Church Crookham, England. Vertu is a unit of Finnish cell phone giant Nokia.

Behati Prinsloo

Behati Prinsloo, 22, of Namibia uses social media more for keeping in touch with friends than building her personal brand and interacting with fans.
“I’m not a really self-promotional person,” she said. “Facebook I use more to keep in contact with my friends back home because I’m so far away … I try to keep it for friends and people I know.”
She started using Twitter at the suggestion of Victoria’s Secret officials.
“At first, it was really weird,” Prinsloo said. “I was like – what do I say? ‘Hey, I’m walking down the street going to work.’ But you can use it for good. I hate on Twitter when people just say, ‘Hey, have a great day.’ I mean, use it good. Don’t fill up space on my BlackBerry. Give me something. I think it’s a great thing. If you use it right. It can be an advantage.”
Research In Motion’s BlackBerry is her smartphone of choice because she likes the physical keyboard. Prinsloo says she’s more comfortable with hard buttons than touch-screens.
Prinsloo also has a Tumblr page, which she uses to post personal photos.

Liu Wen

Liu Wen, 23, of China has used a Twitter-like service in her home country called Weibo for about three years. Weibo is hugely popular in China and owned by online media company Sina.
She says she only started using Facebook a week before the Nov. 9 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show taping. “We can’t really use Facebook in China,” she said.
She is using Facebook to connect with her friends and fellow models in the East and West. Like Prinsloo, Liu isn’t much interested in using social media for self-promotion at this point.
As for mobile devices, she has both an Apple iPhone and a RIM BlackBerry.

Photos from the 2011 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.

Musicians take limelight off Victoria’s Secret models, fashions at apparel maker’s 2011 show

2011-11-28T22:07:00.001-05:00

The annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show airs Tuesday night on CBS and it’s sure to be a slick, entertaining production, as always.
For the second year in a row, I attended the show in New York City when it was taped on Nov. 9 at the 69th Regiment Armory. It was a very entertaining production, but a slight letdown from prior years.
I felt that the live musical performances by Kanye West, Jay-Z, Maroon 5 and Nicki Minaj took over the show and pushed the fashion aspects into a supporting role.
The gorgeous Victoria’s Secret Angels should be the stars of the show. The musical guests are a nice treat, but the centerpiece should be the models and their fantasy bedroom apparel.
I can only hope that when the show is edited for broadcast that the focus will return to the Victoria’s Secret Angels. Because the live show belonged to the guys and they weren’t even dressed up for the occasion. In their performances, Adam Levine of Maroon 5 and Kanye and Jay-Z were wearing street clothes when they should have been in formal wear, even if that’s not their normal style.
I appreciated the music selections more in prior years. Usually they’d include one or two cool club mixes of hit songs that would blow me away. But not this year.
Personally I think bouncy dance music goes better with supermodels strutting the runway than rap or rock.
Kanye performed “Stronger” and was joined by Jay-Z for a version of “That Shit Crazy.”
Maroon 5 performed “Moves Like Jagger,” with Levine performing all vocals, including the verses done by Christina Aguilera on the radio track.
Nicki Minaj performed her hit “Super bass.” More like “Superb ass,” given the stunning models walking the stage in lingerie. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
Recorded music for the show included “Make Me Wanna Die” by The Pretty Reckless, “California King Bed” by Rihanna, and “Secrets” by OneRepublic. The encore featured snippets of “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga, “Run the World (Girls)” by Beyonce and “S&M” by Rihanna.
Two songs by Rihanna. Come to think of it, she would have been perfect for the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. Rihanna is sexy, fashion-savvy and has topped the pop music charts all year. But she was probably booked.
My favorite ensemble of the night was Adriana Lima wearing a Victoria’s Secret Very Sexy Corset and Matching Panty, black boots and lacy gloves, topped off by huge black feather wings. Love those angel wings.

Photo: Supermodel Candice Swanepoel wearing Victoria's Secret lingerie and wings.

Celebrities vs. the TSA, a new blog documenting TSA absurdities

2011-11-27T10:23:00.001-05:00

Instead of trying to identify real security threats, federal airport screeners waste their time treating everybody as a suspect.
They pat down children and senior citizens for weapons and explosives, even though they represent almost zero threat.
And they do the same for celebrities and other well-known public figures. Like that makes any sense.
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration would rather take the politically correct and inefficient approach of frisking everyone, rather than look like they’re discriminating against certain people, especially Muslims.
What they should be doing is employing information technology systems that tie airline ticketing systems and boarding pass kiosks with criminal and Homeland Security databases. That way they can flag suspicious ticket holders. They should use behavioral screening, which would target mostly single males, including Muslims.
To me, nothing highlights the absurdity of the TSA screening procedures more than agents frisking public figures.
The paparazzi and the general public have snapped photos of hundreds of celebrities going through TSA checkpoints and getting frisked or having to stand in the full-body scanners to check for weapons or explosives.
Is the TSA keeping the skies safe from terrorists or performing security theater when it gives model Anna Kournikova a pat-down? Maybe today will be the day she pulls out a box cutter and tries to hijack the plane, right?
Or when they frisk actor Ryan Gosling, do they think he might want to blow up a plane rather than try to win an Oscar or date some hot starlet?
It’s ridiculous, of course.
So I’ve created a Tumblr blog called Celebrities vs. the TSA. It aggregates photos of celebrities and other public figures begin groped, disrespected and inconvenienced by the TSA.
With photographers snapping away, TSA agents show the world that celebrities are just like the rest of us. That is, they’re treated as criminals like anyone else going through the TSA screening process.
Click on the tags for photos of celebrities being felt up, forced to dump their liquids, raise their hands or walk barefoot through the security area.

Celebrities speak out about the TSA

Many celebrities have taken to Twitter, YouTube or blogs to complain about how the TSA treats passengers.

Reality TV star Khloe Kardashian compared TSA pat-downs to rape, according to US Weekly and the Huffington Post.

“Baywatch” beauty Donna D’Errico believes she was pulled aside for a “naked” scan at Los Angeles International Airport just because she is attractive, according to CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, and the Huffington Post.

Former Miss USA 2003 Susie Castillo was left in tears by her invasive TSA pat-down and posted a video to YouTube immediately afterward to complain, according to the Raw Story.

“Star Trek: The Next Generation” actor Wil Wheaton wrote on his blog that he felt violated and humiliated by a TSA pat-down.

Country singer Miranda Lambert tweeted “Dear Airports. You suck,” after she was subjected to a pat-down on Oct. 24, according to Taste of Country.

“Dancing with the Stars” pro Cheryl Burke tweeted that she got “fingered” by a TSA agent, according to TMZ.

Speaking at a travel conference, actor Sean Penn said he isn’t a fan of TSA X-ray machines. “I’m not so interested in having my genitalia X-rayed,” he said, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

Former professional wrestler and ex-Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura said the U.S. is turning into the “Fascist States of America” with the TSA’s heavy-handed security at the nation’s airports, according to Infowars.
Ventura sued the federal government over its invasive pat-downs and full-body scans, but lost the case, according to the Star Tribune.

On Nov. 11, actor Alec Baldwin took to Twitter and wrote, “Flying used to be fun. Then pleasant. Now it’s awful. #solvetheTSAscreeningproblem.”

Reality TV star Jenni Farley, a.k.a. JWoww, of MTV’s “Jersey Shore” said on Twitter that she was singled out for a pat-down and “treated like a criminal,” according to the Associated Press. She said it was an abuse of authority, the Hollywood Reporter said.

Photos (top to bottom): Socialite Paris Hilton, former NFL coach Mike Ditka and actress Eva Longoria get searched by TSA agents.

Women’s sports reaches nadir with Rick’s Basketball Association

2011-11-26T22:48:00.001-05:00

First came the Lingerie Football League, where attractive athletic women were given a chance to show off their gridiron skills.
That led to the Lingerie Basketball League, where athletic skills were much less important than beauty, sex appeal and skimpy outfits.
Now the trend reaches a low point with Rick’s Basketball Association, where strippers play basketball in high heels.
The new sports league is the brainchild of Rick’s Cabaret International, a publicly traded group of 23 upscale gentlemen’s clubs. The teams will be made up of topless dancers from Rick’s clubs in New York, Miami, Charlotte, Houston, Dallas, Philadelphia, Minneapolis and Indianapolis.
The league debuted on Nov. 1 with strippers from Rick’s New York City club showing off their sexy uniforms for the press.
On Tuesday Nov. 29, Rick’s has scheduled a press conference to announce the coach of the New York City team. A press release describes him as a “former National Basketball Association superstar.”
Not surprisingly the mainstream media has ignored the upstart league. But plenty of blogs have taken up the slack, including Total Pro Sports, Coed Magazine, Crossover Chronicles, Xbiz, and Leopardman Studios.
Details about the new sport are as skimpy as their uniforms. A league schedule is expected to be announced in January.

Photo (top): The women of Rick’s Cabaret in New York City announce the formation of Rick’s Basketball Association. Photo by Total Pro Sports.

Week in review: Amazon Kindle Fire tablet hot

2011-11-25T22:43:00.001-05:00

The following is a roundup of my stories from Investor’s Business Daily at Investors.com.

Amazon.com is setting the pace this holiday season with its Kindle Fire tablet and low prices on electronics.
Shoppers at Best Buy, other stores comparison-shopping in the aisles with Amazon on their smartphones. (Nov. 25, 2011)

Holiday online retail spending is forecast to rise 15% this year over last, ComScore says. (Nov. 23, 2011)

Amazon’s $199 tablet is drawing away sales from Apple’s iPad and other tablets, as well as e-readers. (Nov. 21, 2011)

Amazon Kindle Fire tablet is a hit with the public, but its success drags on Amazon’s stock. (Nov. 21, 2011)

Consumer demand is high for Amazon Kindle Fire tablet, which is more likely to hurt sales of second-tier tablets than Apple’s iPad. (Nov. 21, 2011)

Photo: Amazon’s Kindle Fire media tablet

TSA worker hall of shame, part 2: Thieves and other miscreants

2011-11-24T11:29:00.001-05:00

There’s no shortage of examples of bad TSA hires. The other day I wrote about 10 TSA workers arrested on sex-crime charges ranging from child porn to rape.
Today I’ll focus on thieves, violent criminals and other miscreants working for the U.S. Transportation Security Administration.

TSA agent accused in stabbing murder of coworker

TSA worker Ruben Orlando Benitez, 45, of Jackson, Miss., was charged with murder in connection with the Sept. 18 stabbing death of coworker Stacey D. Wright.
Benitez worked as the assistant federal security director for screening in Mississippi, according to the Sun Herald.
Wright, 43, had recently been promoted to supervisory transportation security officer at the Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport, the Sun Herald said. She was murdered in her apartment in D’Iberville, Miss., according to ABC affiliate WLOX.

TSA officer flashes badge, harasses other driver

An off-duty TSA agent was charged with driving a vehicle to harass or intimidate after he allegedly tail-gated, blew his car horn and flashed his badge at a woman who was driving too slowly for him, Reuters reported.
Donald Eichler, 63, was arrested July 26 in South Windsor, Conn., after the incident. The frightened woman called 911 and remained on the line until a police officer arrived. Eichler worked at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Conn., NBC reported.

TSA baggage screener dismissed for hate-filled rants on Facebook

The TSA fired Roy Egan, a baggage screener at Chicago O’Hare Airport who reportedly railed against Muslims, African Americans, Latinos and homosexuals on his Facebook page, the ABC affiliate in Chicago reported Nov. 15.
Egan openly identified himself online as a TSA officer, posting comments such as, “filthy Muslim,” Muslims “need to be exterminated”, “burn Islam”, and “Does anything at all make you smile more than a Muslim burning by his own hateful hand?,” according to the Huffington Post.

TSA agent arrested for erratic behavior

A TSA agent was arrested on Jan. 3, 2010, in Terminal 1 at Los Angeles International Airport, according to NBC LA. He had just gotten off duty and was behaving erratically, saying things like, “I am God. I’m in charge.”

Two TSA agents at JFK stole $40,000 from checked baggage

Two former TSA officers who worked at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York pleaded guilty Oct. 27 to stealing $40,000 from a piece of checked baggage, NBC and Queens Chronicle reported.
Coumar Persad, 44, and Davon Webb, 31, were convicted of third-degree grand larceny, second-degree obstructing governmental administration and official misconduct. (See also a New York Post story about their February arrests.)

TSA officer caught with stolen iPad in his pants

A TSA worker at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida was arrested in July on charges of stealing about $50,000 worth of electronics over the prior six months, according to the Broward-Palm Beach New Times.
Nelson Santiago, 30, was caught by a Continental Airlines employee taking an iPad out of someone's luggage and stuffing it into his pants, police said.
After being arrested on two counts of grand theft, police say Santiago admitted to stealing computers, GPS devices, video cameras, and other electronic gadgets from baggage he was supposed to be screening, the paper reported.

Memphis TSA agent guilty of theft

A former TSA screening agent at Memphis International Airport was found guilty of theft and making a false statement on Oct. 6.
The agent, Ricky German, was convicted of trying to steal a passenger’s laptop computer last December, according to CBS affiliate WREG.

Houston TSA officer charged with theft

A TSA agent at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston was arrested on theft charges in June.
An undercover officer gave the agent, Karla Morgan, a wallet he said he found with a thousand dollars inside. Morgan put the wallet in her backpack and walked out of the airport. She was arrested in the parking lot, according to ABC affiliate KTRK.

Newark TSA agent busted for theft

A lead TSA officer at Newark Liberty Airport in New Jersey pleaded guilty in February to stealing money from passengers’ bags as they underwent security screenings.
The officer, Al Raimi, admitted that he and his supervisor regularly stole money from travelers. Prosecutors say Raimi gave a cut of the cash to his supervisor, Michael Arato, who also pleaded guilty, according to NJ.com. Raimi stole between $10,000 and $30,000 cash over nearly a year.

Two TSA agents at LAX arrested for theft

Police arrested TSA officer Paul Yashou in June on suspicion of taking $30,000 worth of items from suitcases at Los Angeles International Airport, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The arrest came on the heels of TSA officer Ryan Driscoll being arrested in May on suspicion of stealing from a suitcase in another terminal at LAX.

Airport baggage screener sold stolen goods on eBay

In July 2009, Pythias Brown, a TSA screener at Newark Liberty International Airport, was sentenced to three years in prison for theft.
Brown used his position as a baggage screener to steal items from passenger luggage. He stole an estimated $200,000 worth of items, including jewelry, laptop computers and cameras.
As of May, about 500 TSA officers had been fired or suspended for stealing from passenger luggage since the TSA was created in November 2001, according to New York Press.

Los Angeles TSA agent aided pot smuggling ring, police say

Police broke up a marijuana smuggling ring at Los Angeles International Airport in October.
TSA employee Dianna Perez, 28, of Inglewood, Calif., was arrested on charges of accepting bribes to allow the smuggling of marijuana on flights, Fox News reported.
Millage Peaks IV, the son of a former Los Angeles fire chief, was charged with bribing the TSA officer at LAX to help him smuggle about 14 pounds of marijuana past security on nine separate trips, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Peaks told FBI agents he and his associates paid $5,000 to $6,000 in bribes to avoid detection, the LA Times stated.
TSA agents also have been arrested at airports in N.Y. and Connecticut for aiding drug smugglers.

Art: Screenshot of "Saturday Night Live" TSA parody from November 2010.

TSA employee hall of shame: 10 airport screeners accused of sex crimes

2011-11-22T22:45:00.001-05:00

With over 65,000 employees, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration is bound to have its share of bad apples. And we’re not talking about the usual ill-tempered, power-abusing airport security officers.
No, we’re talking about criminals and hate-spewing sociopaths, according to the charges against them. Here’s a list of 10 TSA screeners charged with sex crimes, including rape and child pornography.
Remember, these are the types of people the TSA thinks are suitable for touching our children in security pat-downs at the airport.

TSA worker allegedly rapes woman after flashing badge

A TSA officer was arrested near his Manassas, Va., home for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman after he flashed his badge while wearing his work uniform.
Harold Glenn Rodman, 52, was charged Monday with aggravated sexual battery, abduction with intent to defile, forcible sodomy and object sexual penetration, according to CNN, Fox News and WJLA. Rodman worked at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C.

Former TSA agent sentenced to prison on child porn charges

A former TSA agent at Philadelphia International Airport was sentenced to 11 years in prison Monday on child porn possession and distribution charges.
As an airport security screener, the 46-year-old defendant, Thomas Gordon Jr., was in close contact with flyers of all ages, including kids, according to the CBS affiliate in Philadelphia. (Also see article by the Daily Mail.)

TSA officer busted on child porn charges

An Orange County, Fla., man was charged Nov. 1 with possession and distribution of child pornography while working as a TSA officer at Orlando International Airport.
The suspect, Paul David Rains, 62, was arrested after a search warrant was executed at his home, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

Md. TSA agent charged with child porn

A TSA officer was charged Oct. 10 with possession and distribution of child porn after police searched his Perry Hall, Md., home.
The suspect was identified as Michael Scott Wilson, 41, according to Baltimore TV station WBAL.

TSA officer arrested for lewdness with a child

A TSA officer was arrested Aug. 24 on six counts of lewdness with a child.
David Ralph Anderson, 61, of Spring Creek, Nev., was accused of having sexual contact with a girl younger than 14, according to the Elko Daily Free Press.

Former TSA employee charged with sexual assault

A TSA employee who worked at Manchester Boston Regional Airport was arrested March 18 on five counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault, the Eagle Tribune of North Andover, Mass., reported.
Dwayne Valerio, 44, was accused of victimizing a juvenile.

Ex-TSA agent charged with child porn possession

A former TSA employee was arrested on charges of possessing child porn after a search of his Beverly, Mass., home last December.
Andrew W. Cheever, 33, faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted, according to Fox News in Boston.

TSA worker accused of kidnapping, rape

Police say a TSA employee kidnapped a young woman in Atlanta, took her to his Hogansville, Ga., home and sexually assaulted her on Nov. 17, 2010.
Randall Scott King, 49, attempted suicide after the incident, according to CNN and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
King worked as a behavior detection officer for the TSA at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

TSA worker accused of raping 14-year-old girl

A TSA worker at Logan International Airport was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl, Boston’s WHDH reported March 9, 2010.
The suspect was identified as Sean Shanahan, 45, of Winthrop, Mass.

TSA agent tried to keep girl as sex slave, police say

A TSA agent was charged with lewd and lascivious molestation of a minor after police say he tried to keep a juvenile girl as a sex slave.
Charles Bennett, 57, of Winter Garden, Fla., was arrested on Jan. 29, 2010, according to Fox News in Orlando.

Top 11 TSA scandals, second-half 2011

2011-11-21T22:07:00.001-05:00

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration is the source of frequent scandals and outrages.
In August, the National Review compiled its “Ten TSA Outrages.” They included accosting the ill and disabled, giving full-body pat-downs to children, and groping pretty women.
The same month, LewRockwell.com printed “The 12 Scariest TSA Stories of All Time.” They included arresting citizens who question the TSA’s procedures, feeling up little old ladies, exposing a woman’s breasts during a pat-down, and removing another woman’s nipple piercings with pliers.
Here are some more recent TSA outrages:

Manhandled breast cancer patient

Breast cancer patient Lori Dorn was subjected to a TSA pat-down, despite having a medical ID card that explained her condition.
Dorn had a bilateral mastectomy and tissue expanders placed in her chest for later reconstructive surgery. A TSA agent wanted to give her a pat-down after seeing the expanders on a full-body scan. Dorn resisted. The agent refused to look at Dorn’s medical ID card.
Dorn was then humiliated in front of fellow passengers with a public pat-down at the checkpoint at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on Sept. 29.
(See Dorn’s blog post and news coverage by the Los Angeles Times, the Huffington Post and Laughing Squid.)

Roughed up India’s former president

Two TSA officials who frisked former Indian President Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam at New York’s JFK airport on Sept. 29 were fired for “exceeding their brief,” according to International Business Times.
The two officers made Kalam, who is also an eminent scientist, face a second security check after he boarded his aircraft. He had already gone through a private screening procedure.

Left ‘freaky’ note in passenger’s luggage

A TSA officer was fired for leaving a “highly inappropriate” note in a passenger’s suitcase.
After a trip, New York blogger Jill Filipovic found a TSA form with a handwritten note saying “GET YOUR FREAK ON GIRL,” apparently referring to the sex toy she had stowed. Filipovic wrote about the Oct. 24 incident and generated significant media coverage.
(See coverage by ABC News, Forbes, Boing Boing and Time.)

‘Vile touching’ of sex organs

Columnist Amy Alkon reported that she was subjected to a rough pat-down that involved “the vile touching of my sexual parts.” The TSA agent groped her breasts and her vaginal area.
Her boyfriend tried to videotape the assault, but was ordered to stop by the TSA, a violation of First Amendment and the TSA’s own rules, according to Mediabistro.
After she blogged about the July incident, which she described as rape, the TSA agent got a lawyer and threatened Alkon with a defamation lawsuit and $500,000 in damages, TechDirt wrote.

Blamed in death of teen stowaway

The House Committee on Homeland Security blamed the TSA in the death of a 16-year-old boy, who allegedly was a stowaway in the wheel well of an airplane, WHDH in Boston reported Sept. 16.
Delvonte Tisdale fell to his death from the plane as it descended into Boston. Officials said Tisdale hopped a fence at an airport in North Carolina and climbed into the plane’s wheel well.
The case showed the TSA was inattentive to securing airport perimeters.

28 fired over improper luggage screening at one airport

In September, the TSA fired 28 employees – in addition to three who resigned or retired – following an investigation that revealed bags were allowed onto planes at Hawaii’s Honolulu International Airport without being properly screened, CNN reported. Fifteen other TSA workers were suspended.

Woman arrested for protesting pat-down of young daughter

A Tennessee woman was arrested in July at Nashville International Airport after protesting the pat-down of her 14-year-old daughter by TSA agents.
Andrea Abbott was just trying to protect her daughter and was “basically arrested for giving her opinion,” her attorney told a CBS affiliate.
In October, the disorderly conduct case was bound over to a grand jury after a preliminary hearing, according to News Channel 5 in Nashville.

TSA agent took cash to speed passengers through security

New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick witnessed a TSA agent taking cash tips to speed travelers through the security checkpoint at the Newark, N.J., airport. She offered to push people in a wheelchair to the front of the line for tips of around $10, according to TechDirt.
The TSA claims Mushnick mistook a skycap for a TSA agent, according to Security Management. Mushnick stands by his story.

Harassed woman with afro-style hair

An airline passenger who had already been through airport security was left in tears after TSA agents insisted on scouring her afro-style hair for concealed explosives, according to the Daily Mail.
Hairdresser Isis Brantley was stopped at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta in September, after she had already gone through a scanning device.

TSA reneges promise to check safety of scanning gear

Earlier this month, TSA administrator John Pistole promised the Senate that he would get an independent safety review of the agency’s backscatter X-ray machines. On Nov. 15, he backtracked, saying such a review wouldn’t be necessary because earlier tests proved they were safe.
Meanwhile, the European Union banned the same type of equipment because of concerns it might cause cancer.
(See articles in the Los Angeles Times, the Daily Mail, Prison Planet and Gizmodo.)

Raising ticket fees to pay for TSA screenings

President Barack Obama has proposed tripling the security fee on airline tickets to pay for TSA screening, according to Politico.
The federal government currently tacks on a security fee of $5 for a round-trip flight. Obama wants to gradually increase that to $15 by 2017.

Photos: Playmobil airport security play set available on Amazon.com.

TSA mission creep turning into mission leap

2011-11-19T23:53:00.001-05:00

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration was formed to protect our nation’s airlines from terrorist attacks. But now the blue-gloved thugs of the TSA are showing up at train stations and on highways to hassle citizens under the guise of national security.
The agency’s mission creep – some say “mission leap” – is alarming from a number of angles.
As a fiscal conservative, I’m disturbed at how much we’re paying just for the TSA to perform its “security theater” at the nation’s airports, especially in these times of huge budget deficits.
A congressional report out this week says the U.S. government has spent nearly $57 billion over 10 years on TSA airport security described as wasteful and ineffective. (See earlier Tech-media-tainment post as well as new articles by Reason, Forbes, the New American and the Daily.)
And the TSA’s expenses are growing as it adds more questionable technology and seeks to expand its purview.
The agency acts like the U.S. government has bottomless pockets and citizens and their elected representatives will always pay more just to feel safer.
Some legislators are calling for the dismantling of the TSA, but that may be wishful thinking. Once created, government agencies are hard to kill. They take on a life of their own. And politicians like to play it safe, with none of them wanting to appear soft on domestic security. In Washington, it’s easier to say yes to more spending than it is to say no.
The TSA has a budget this year of $8.1 billion, compared with $1.3 billion in 2002. Its employment ranks have swelled to over 65,000 workers from 16,500 its first year.
I’m also concerned about what the TSA is doing to the civil liberties of Americans. The agency has trampled on citizens’ Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures with its invasive full-body pat-downs and confiscating of benign items like perfume, shaving cream, beverages and grooming scissors.
TSA agents routinely tell people that they can’t be photographed or videoed doing their jobs, even though it’s entirely lawful.
In addition, the TSA has a disturbing record of lying to the public about its intentions. For instance, it continued to pat down children under 12 after it said it would stop the controversial practice. It also lied about privacy and health issues concerning its full-body scanners.
The TSA is notoriously secretive. It has refused to release its security record, the document embodying its enhanced screening procedures and other information.
Finally, the TSA is expanding its reach beyond airports into other modes of transportation.
In October, TSA agents harassed truckers on highways and travelers in bus stations in Tennessee. It was part of the TSA’s Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR) program, which has conducted operations in other states as well, according to the Washington Times, the Sacramento Bee and Infowars.
In addition to airports, highways and bus terminals, the TSA is reaching its tentacles into train stations, subways, ferries, ports and tourist attractions. In a sign of how ridiculous things have gotten, the TSA even checked out a 296-foot-long funicular railway in Dubuque, Iowa, for security threats, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.) said the TSA’s expansion wasn’t mission creep, but “mission leap,” in a column in the Daily Caller.
The TSA is taking on the appearance of a secret police force like the Stasi or KGB. On the path it’s headed, it won’t be too long before TSA agents can walk up to anyone on the street and demand to see their “papers.”

Art: Parody poster showing actor Don Knotts, best known as bumbling deputy sheriff Barney Fife on “The Andy Griffith Show,” in an airport security uniform inspired by the German Gestapo. Photo from Free Republic, Angry White Dude and other websites.

Week in review: Victoria’s Secret hooks up with fans on Facebook, Twitter

2011-11-18T21:44:00.001-05:00

The following is a roundup of my stories from Investor’s Business Daily at Investors.com.

How Victoria’s Secret uses social media to boost sales in the holiday shopping season. (Nov. 18, 2011)

Samsung is tweaking the design of its tablets and smartphones to avoid Apple patent infringement issues. (Nov. 17, 2011)

Video game retailer GameStop reported in-line results for Q3, but said Q4 will likely disappoint. (Nov. 17, 2011)

Dell focused on profitability, misses Q3 sales forecast. Computer maker says it’s walking away from low-margin PC deals. (Nov. 15, 2011)

Dell earnings expectations low ahead of Q3 report. (Nov. 15, 2011)

Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet is already a hit with software developers, who rank it No. 2 behind Apple’s iPad. (Nov. 14, 2011)

Photo: Adriana Lima at the 2011 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, airing Nov. 29 on CBS. See show photos of Lima at the Daily Mail and Just Jared.

10-year anniversary of TSA no time to celebrate

2011-11-16T23:30:00.000-05:00

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration was created 10 years ago this week. But it’s not an occasion worth celebrating.
The TSA was founded in reaction to the terrorist attacks of 9/11. You can’t fault legislators for trying to stop future plane hijackings like the three orchestrated by Al-Qaeda. But they’ve created an ineffective, costly bureaucracy with an alarming mission creep and a penchant for trampling constitutional rights.
A congressional report issued Wednesday gave a scathing indictment of the agency.
Here are some highlights of the media coverage about the report and the TSA’s 10-year anniversary:

Congressional report calls TSA ‘bloated’ (USA Today; Nov. 16, 2011)

According to the report, “A Decade Later: A Call for TSA Reform,” TSA is:

•A bloated bureaucracy with 65,000 workers, including nearly 4,000 at headquarters and 9,656 administrators in the field.

•An ineffective agency, with 25,000 security breaches in the last decade.

•A sponsor of inadequate technology, including 500 advanced-imaging technology machines costing $122 million that are “easily thwarted” and $39 million wasted on explosive-detection “puffer” machines that were unreliable.

GOP report: TSA hasn’t improved aviation security (Washington Post; Nov. 16, 2011)

After a $56 billion federal investment in airline security, flying is no safer than it was before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the bare hands of passengers might be the best defense once a terrorist gets on board, two members of Congress said Wednesday.
Deriding the Transportation Security Administration as a bloated bureaucracy that recruits security personnel with ads on gas pumps and pizza boxes, the two House Republicans said it needed to undergo almost a dozen reforms.

GOP to TSA: Happy 10th Birthday, Now Get Your Act Together (Transportation Nation; Nov. 16, 2011)

The TSA turns 10 today. In the past decade it has given the perennially maligned IRS a run for the money for most complained-about government agency.

House report slams 10-year-old TSA (Government Executive; Nov. 16, 2011)

“TSA needs a vision and purpose that goes beyond throwing expensive equipment and invasive searches at passengers who do not pose a security threat,” said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which signed off on the report along with the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Airline Travelers Say TSA Screening Still A Hassle 10 Years After 9/11 (Huffington Post; Nov. 15, 2011)

“It’s a sign of how low the bar is set that we celebrate when 5-year-olds can keep their shoes on” at an airport checkpoint, says Geoff Freeman, vice president of the U.S. Travel Association
…
Of the five most cited frustrations of flying, four involved airport security, according to a passenger survey. Those complaints included the wait time at checkpoints; the need to take off belts, jackets and shoes; and the attitudes of TSA employees.

TSA Watch: 10 things the TSA should do on its 10th anniversary (Elliot; Nov. 6, 2011)

No one was surprised by this week’s report that the Transportation Security Administration glossed over the health risks of its airport X-ray scanners.
The investigation found that anywhere from six to 100 U.S. airline passengers each year could get cancer from the machines — a hazard critics have warned about ever since the devices were quietly deployed in many airports almost two years ago.

Photo: Logo from humorous fake TSA Twitter account Agent Smith.

Return of the pocket watch

2011-11-15T23:30:00.000-05:00

Many people today don’t wear wristwatches. When they want to know the time, they just check their cell phones.
Without realizing it, they’ve brought back the pocket watch.
I’m one of those people who don’t wear a watch. I did up until three months ago when my watch broke. I just haven’t gotten around to getting a new one.
In the meantime, I’ve gotten used to my modern-day pocket watch, an Apple iPhone 4.
Everything old is new again.

Photos: Time and date displayed on my iPhone 4 (top); a pocket watch from Orient Japan as featured on aBlogtoRead.com.

NBC announces midseason schedule, but ‘Awake’ missing

2011-11-14T23:36:00.001-05:00

NBC announced its midseason schedule today, but one show I was looking forward to seeing is nowhere to be found.
“Awake,” starring Jason Isaacs (who played Lucius Malfoy in the “Harry Potter” series), was slated as a midseason replacement series. But NBC either couldn’t find a slot for the show or lost confidence in it, like it did last season’s “Day One.” The network’s website lists the show’s premiere as “TBA.”
The Hollywood Reporter on Oct. 26 said the show shut down production for a month after filming its sixth episode to give writers time to hammer out scripts for new episodes.
“Awake” is a drama about a police detective who finds himself living reality-bending double life. Here’s the official synopsis:

When Detective Michael Britten (Isaacs) regains consciousness following his family’s car accident, he is told that his wife Hannah (Laura Allen, “Terriers”) perished but that his teen son, Rex (Dylan Minnette, “Saving Grace”), has survived. As he tries to put the pieces of his life back together, he awakens again in a parallel reality in which his wife is very much alive – but his son Rex died in the accident. In order to keep both of his loved ones alive at one time, he begins living two dueling realities in parallel worlds, which churns up confusion – in one moment, Michael and his wife debate about having another child to replace their son, while in the other reality, he is attracted to his son’s tennis coach, Tara (Michaela McManus, “The Vampire Diaries”), to fill the void from the loss of his wife. Trying to regain some normalcy, Michael returns to police work and solves crimes in both worlds with the help of two different partners – Detective Isaiah “Bird” Freeman (Steve Harris, “The Practice”) and Detective Efrem Vega (Wilmer Valderrama, “That ’70s Show”). Also starring are Emmy Award winner Cherry Jones (“24”) and BD Wong (NBC’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”) as therapists in each respective world.
The series is produced by 20th Century Fox Television. Kyle Killen (“Lone Star”) and Howard Gordon (“24”) are executive producers. David Slade (“Twilight: Eclipse,” “30 Days of Night”) also serves as executive producer and directed the pilot written by Killen.

Hopefully NBC will find a place for this show. It sounds intriguing.

Photo: Jason Isaacs as Det. Michael Britten in a scene from NBC’s “Awake.”

Photographer scores LFL wardrobe malfunction photos

2011-11-13T09:28:00.001-05:00

Photographer Eric Lynch of Bingme Photography took a terrific series of photos at the Nov. 4 Lingerie Football League game featuring the Seattle Mist vs. the Las Vegas Sin.
Lynch did a great job capturing the on-field action, including a couple of obligatory wardrobe malfunctions.
Shooting LFL games is difficult because of the indoor lighting and fast motion, but Lynch was up to the task. Check out his Flickr set. Also, check out a recap of the game.

Photos:

Top: Seattle Mist wide receiver Jessica Hopkins eludes a Las Vegas Sin tackler for a touchdown.

Bottom: Las Vegas Sin running back Tracee Thomas has her pasty-covered breast exposed by Seattle Mist linebacker Natalie Sutey.

Week in review: Activision releases ‘Modern Warfare 3’, latest in blockbuster game series

2011-11-12T23:30:00.000-05:00

The following is a roundup of my stories from Investor’s Business Daily at Investors.com.

Monotype Imaging’s purchase of Bitstream’s font business will give it added heft to take on Adobe Systems in the Web fonts market. (Nov. 11, 2011)

Activision’s “Modern Warfare 3” has record sales, but investors unimpressed. (Nov. 11, 2011)

Monotype Imaging buys the font business of rival Bitstream. (Nov. 11, 2011)

New “Call of Duty” game will be a biggie for Activision, but investors are focused on the company’s fast-slipping “World of Warcraft” subscriber base. (Nov. 8, 2011)

Activision Blizzard shares jump on huge “Modern Warfare 3” video game launch. (Nov. 8, 2011)

Netflix looks outside the U.S. for growth; announces content deals for U.K., Ireland and Canada. (Nov. 7, 2011)

2011 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show raps, then wraps up; Will air on CBS Nov. 29

2011-11-09T23:37:00.001-05:00

As a member of the press, I had the priviledge of attending the 2011 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in New York City. It was taped tonight at the 69th Regiment Armory in Manhattan. The video will be edited for a one-hour prime-time special to air Nov. 29 on CBS.
It was another great production for Victoria's Secret, a unit of Limited Brands. This year's show was highlighted by musical performances by Maroon 5, Kanye West and Nicki Minaj. Rapper Jay-Z made a surprise appearance to perform a number with West. Cee Lo Green was on the bill to perform but backed out and was replaced by Minaj.
The show boasted a bevy of beauties modeling Victoria's Secret's sexy garments. They included supermodels Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio, Miranda Kerr and Chanel Iman.
I'll have more to say about the show later.

Photo: Ticket to the 2011 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.

Facebook needs a new search function pronto

2011-11-07T07:00:00.000-05:00

As people store more things online, having a way to sort and search through those things is critical.
Google and Yahoo figured that out early with their e-mail services. People don’t want to have to sift through hundreds of e-mails looking for a particular message when they can just do a keyword search.
Social media is the next frontier for search.
Millions of people are actively using Facebook and Twitter and building up thousands of posts in their message streams. But they can’t search their postings easily on either of those sites.
I recently wanted to show my son some funny videos based on the Angry Birds video game. I had shared links to those videos on my Facebook wall, which I’m using now in place of Digg and separate bookmarking services to save weblinks to interesting sites or articles.
Long story short, I couldn’t find those videos quickly because Facebook lacks a search tool specifically for users’ postings. Same goes with Twitter.
Those services need such a search tool pronto. Its need is going to be more important over time.
I eventually found those Angry Birds-themed videos, but not before sifting through months worth of my posts. Not great. You can see a compilation of those videos at One Stop Video.

Photo: Photoshopped image of a National Geographic cover featuring a red bird from Angry Birds. (See Laughing Squid.)

Tech-media-tainment turns 3 with another LFL wardrobe malfunction

2011-11-06T10:56:00.000-05:00

You don’t get to 622,000 page views in three years without appealing to the prurient interests of Web surfers.
I started Tech-media-tainment on Nov. 6, 2008, to give my thoughts and opinions on a range of topics from entertainment and technology to politics and liberty. But it’s my occasional articles on wardrobe malfunctions in the Lingerie Football League that drive traffic to this silly blog.
On that subject, here’s another LFL wardrobe malfunction.
On Oct. 14, Los Angeles Temptation wide receiver Chloe Butler exposed her backside in a touchdown catch when a tackler missed her. Butler’s score capped off the Temptation’s 28-7 victory over the Minnesota Valkyrie. (See above screen grab and game summary.)
A video of the incident (embedded below) is available on YouTube (starting at the 3:33 minute mark).
Read about Butler at Fox Sports Australia and the Courier-Mail of Queensland, Australia.

Bloggers managing more blogs

2011-11-05T22:30:00.000-04:00

Technorati’s annual survey of bloggers found that bloggers today are juggling an average of three different blogs, up from two last year.
I blame Tumblr. The upstart blogging platform is a breeze to use. Setting up a Tumblr blog is quick, easy and fun. I recently started a Tumblr blog and will be publicizing it shortly. With that blog, I’ve moved from managing two blogs to three blogs.
Once again, based on the Technorati survey, I’m your typical blogger.
Bloggers are mostly hobbyists (61%), just like me.
Only 11% of bloggers post on a daily basis. Guilty again. I seem to post every other day.
Bloggers are mostly male (59%), educated and married parents. Ditto, ditto, ditto.
Technorati surveyed 4,114 bloggers in 45 countries for the latest survey, released Nov. 4.

LOL Cats photo from I Can Has Cheezburger?

Week in review: Sabre booking virtual travel

2011-11-04T23:59:00.000-04:00

The following is a roundup of my stories from Investor’s Business Daily at Investors.com.

Sabre now booking virtual travel; partners with Polycom on videoconferencing. (Nov. 3, 2011)

Lenovo is grabbing PC market share as rivals back away. (Nov. 2, 2011)

Monotype Imaging shares down 6% today in overall sour market. Posted Q3 EPS topping views with in-line sales. (Nov. 1, 2011)

Disney’s deals with Amazon and Netflix show that content companies hold all the cards in streaming video. (Oct. 31, 2011)

Photo: Polycom room videoconferencing system.

When Twitter favorites aren’t favorites

2011-10-31T23:57:00.000-04:00

I like the “favorites” button on Twitter, but I don’t use it to mark my favorite tweets.
I use the favorites button for two purposes, neither of which involve me expressing my opinion about a tweet.
For me, the microblogging service Twitter is mostly a news feed. I follow 23 technology, business, media and entertainment news services, which can post hundreds of tweets a day to share weblinks to articles. When I’m pressed for time, I’ll click the favorites star to mark a tweet that I plan to return to later.
I also use the favorites star to bookmark the last tweet I read. That way I don’t waste time rereading tweets to find where I left off.
This isn’t a problem except that Twitter now alerts members when someone “favorites” one of their tweets. I wish Twitter would stop doing this. If a tweet is truly a favorite, I’ll retweet it to my followers and add to my tweet stream.
I can’t be the only Twitter user who uses the favorites button this way. Without a way to mark where you left off, Twitter feeds can be overwhelming.
I hope Twitter keeps the favorites button, but also learns what users are really doing with it.

24 notable webpage error messages

2011-10-30T23:06:00.000-04:00

I recently got an error page on LinkedIn showing a janitor washing the floor. It included the message “Sit tight. We’re taking a moment to clean things up.”
It got me thinking about other webpage error screens, usually called 404 error messages. Turns out that I’m not the only one. Quite a few websites have compiled lists of funny, artistic or interesting webpage error messages.
Here are 24 notable webpage error screens, starting with LinkedIn (above). Click on the images for a larger view.

Bellaminettes, website of French artist Bruno Bellamy

Bitly, weblink shortening service

Daniel Karcher, film design studios

Google, search engine

Heinz, ketchup maker

IGN, video game news website

Mozilla, maker of the open-source Firefox Web browser

South Park Studios, maker of the cartoon “South Park”

TechCrunch, technology news website

The New Yorker, magazine

The North Face, outdoor apparel and accessories maker

Twitter, microblogging website

Urban Outfitters, apparel retailer

Adham Dannaway, a Web designer and developer in Sydney, Australia

Astuteo, a Web design studio
(Sadly, Astuteo’s 404 error page no longer includes the Campbell’s SpaghettiOs can.)

Blizzard Entertainment, video game company owned by Activision Blizzard

Chris Glass, a graphic designer

Club Kayak, Florida community for kayaking and canoeing

Hasbro, toy company

The 501st Legion, a worldwide Star Wars costuming organization comprised of and operated by Star Wars fans.

FrogsThemes, a designer of WordPress themes

Frontend, Web design and development conference in Oslo, Norway

NPR, National Public Radio

Other resources:

Page Not Found – Showcase of Creative 404 Pages (Inspiration Mix; Sept. 6, 2011)

25 Mind Boggling 404 Error Pages (SloDive; Aug. 30, 2011)

Showcase of Creative and Entertaining 404 Error Pages (Noupe; Aug. 25, 2011)

33 More Entertaining 404 Error Pages (Mashable; Jan. 16, 2011)

35 Entertaining 404 Error Pages (Mashable; Sept. 4, 2010)

Beautiful and Useful 404 Error Pages for Inspiration (Six Revisions; May 30, 2010)

12 Unique 404 Error Page Designs (SloDive; Jan. 11, 2010)

404 Error Pages for Your Viewing Pleasure (WDL; Oct. 14, 2009)

Creative 404 Error Pages Around for Inspiration (InstantShift.com; March 24, 2009)

The 100 most funny and unusual 404 error pages (Blog of Francesco Mugnai; July 2008)

404 Error Pages: Reloaded (Smashing Magazine; Aug. 17, 2007)

Wanted: Your 404 Error Pages (Smashing Magazine; July 25, 2007)

Week in review: Redbox raises DVD rental prices; Netflix shares take a tumble

2011-10-28T22:24:00.001-04:00

The following is a roundup of my stories from Investor’s Business Daily at Investors.com.

PC makers are spending too much time copying Apple when they should be innovating on their own. (Oct. 28, 2011)

Redbox plans to raise DVD rental prices by 20%. Yeah, because that worked out so well for Netflix. (Oct. 27, 2011)

Coinstar beats Wall Street’s Q3 views, but disappoints on Q4 guidance. Stock down 10% after hours. (Oct. 27, 2011)

IRobot shares up on strong Q3 report, led by international sales of home robots such as Roomba. (Oct. 27, 2011)

Netflix shares fall 27% after the company issues dismal outlook for Q4 and 2012. (Oct. 24, 2011)

Could Netflix be the next AOL or Palm? (Oct. 24, 2011)

Netflix’s U.K. expansion plans fail to distract from U.S. woes. (Oct. 24, 2011)

Player controversy shines unflattering light on Lingerie Football League

2011-10-27T23:30:00.000-04:00

On Friday night, the Lingerie Football League’s Baltimore Charm could play against a skeleton crew of the Toronto Triumph after at least 16 Triumph players quit the team over safety concerns.
The players voiced concerns about improper equipment and poor coaching. They said they were equipped with ill-fitting hockey helmets and one-size-fits-all shoulder pads designed for young men, according to Toronto Star.
“We would have headaches during practice,” said former Triumph player Sandra Dalla Giustina. “They made a hockey helmet a football helmet, and that’s not what it’s for.”
She’s right. Those helmets are designed to deflect an occasional hockey puck or stick, not take the full force of a collision with another player or the hard ground.
Case in point: Check out the serious cut Baltimore Charm running back Kacey White suffered to her face when she was tackled on Sept. 16 in a game against the Orlando Fantasy. (See above photo.) She wouldn’t have gotten that injury with a football helmet.
The hockey helmets obviously were chosen so LFL fans could see the players’ attractive faces better. Safety was a secondary consideration.
Head coach Don Marchione ignored Triumph players’ requests to improve the equipment, the Star reported. And when players sustained injuries in their first game and only game of the season so far against the Tampa Breeze on Sept. 17, there were no medical personnel to treat them. In that game, players suffered sprained ankles, concussions and pulled hamstrings, the players said. (Game photo below.)
The reason for the “shoddy” equipment, as one player referred to it, is so spectators, mostly men, can observe the players’ bodies.
Male bloggers and commenters have been unsympathetic to the women who quit. This just reinforces negatives stereotypes about men and their perceptions of the LFL.
A writer at Barstool Sports, using the byline “kmarco,” wrote:

Chicks are so funny sometimes. Take themselves so seriously and act like what they do is so important when at the end of the day earning their living by running around a field in their panties getting in 99% naked pig piles. Hey sweethearts I hate to burst your competitive bubbles but this ain’t the NFL. Nobody cares about your form tackles and pass rush technique. Nobody cares about your intensity and desire to win. Just tighten up your bra, hike your thong up your asshole, and run some slow easy fly patterns so everyone can watch your tits bounce. Seriously if you’re getting concussions and sprained ankles playing lingerie football you’re doing it wrong.

Regardless of what organizers and many fans of the LFL think of their sport, the players take this game seriously. They hit hard, practice hard and play aggressively. They’re not “doing it wrong.” To play hard-nosed, smash-mouth football, you need the right equipment. And it’s pretty clear they’re not getting it.
The idea behind the LFL is as sexist as they get. But even two seasons in, I can see the players starting to turn this into a real sport.
The LFL doesn’t pay its players salaries, only their travel and equipment expenses. These players are in it for the love of the sport. The LFL is going to have to start treating its players like professional athletes, not commodities they can exploit.
LFL Chairman Mitchell Mortaza was dismissive of the complaints of the former Triumph players in a statement issued Tuesday.
“Apparently it never occurred to some former Toronto Triumph players that in tackle football you could possibly pull a hamstring or twist an ankle. True LFL athletes are actual football players who understand that in football, injuries happen, they do not pretend to be football players just to gain celebrity,” he said.
Mortaza argued that Triumph team members quit after an embarrassing performance in a 48-10 opening night loss to the Breeze.
It will be interesting to see what sort of team the Triumph fields for its game Friday. Various media reports said 16 to 22 of the team’s 26 players had quit.

Other articles:

LFL: 22 Toronto players quit, comments show league’s disarray (Yahoo Sports; Oct. 20, 2011)

Lingerie Football League in trouble? Mass walkout of Toronto Triumph players (NBC Sports; Oct. 20, 2011)

Ford, others quit lingerie league (Toronto Sun; Oct. 19, 2011)

At the Lingerie Football League Tryouts (Torontoist; May 2, 2011)

A disgruntled Lingerie Football League Player speaks out (NBC Sports; April 21, 2011)

Favorite websites in review, part 4

2011-10-25T22:19:00.000-04:00

These websites have been featured on Tech-media-tainment and bear the TMT stamp of approval.
This is the fourth set of 25 favorite websites.

76. YourVersion (yourversion.com)
77. The Daily Patdown (thedailypatdown.com)
78. Cover It Live (coveritlive.com)
79. The Great Gatsby for NES (greatgatsbygame.com)
80. Shit My Kids Ruined (shitmykidsruined.com)
81. My Kid Is Gifted (mkig.com)
82. The Nine Eyes of Google Street View (9-eyes.com)
83. Hanzi Smatter (hanzismatter.blogspot.com)
84. Born This Way Blog (borngaybornthisway.blogspot.com)
85. Asians Sleeping in the Library (asianssleepinginthelibrary.tumblr.com)
86. SolarBeat (whitevinyldesign.com/solarbeat)
87. The Malcolm Gladwell Book Generator (malcolmgladwellbookgenerator.com)
88. Ransom Note Generator (ransom.sytes.org)
89. Wanna Feel Old? (wannafeelold.tumblr.com)
90. Beloit College Mindset List (beloit.edu/mindset)
91. Man Tripping (mantripping.com)
92. Wikia (wikia.com)
93. TinEye (tineye.com)
94. Survey Monkey (surveymonkey.com)
95. Adventure Time official website (www.cartoonnetwork.com/tv_shows/adventuretime/)
96. Adventure Time wiki on Wikia (adventuretimewithfinnandjake.wikia.com/wiki/Adventure_Time_with_Finn_and_Jake_Wiki)
97. Techmeme (techmeme.com)
98. Kuo Design – Steve Jobs on Magazine Covers (kuodesign.com/pineapple/coverme)
99. Very Special Girls (veryspecialgirls.blogspot.com)
100. Tumblr (tumblr.com)

Update: Since writing about TinEye on June 20, I’ve switched to Google Images, which provides better reverse image search results. TinEye is still good, but Google's image search is simply better.

Art: The Cartoon Network’s “Adventure Time with Finn and Jake.”

5 more fun Tumblr blogs

2011-10-24T23:02:00.000-04:00

Following yesterday’s post featuring 10 fun and interesting Tumblr blogs, here are five more worth checking out.

Animals Being Dicks

Animals Being Dicks features silly animated GIFs of animals being jerks.
The Next Web interviewed the blog’s creator in August.

Starbucks Spelling

Starbucks Spelling is a blog that offers “a collection of misspelled names from the inventors of the ‘Frappuccino.’”

The Lisa Simpson Book Club

The Lisa Simpson Book Club features images of “Simpsons” cartoon character Lisa Simpson reading books.

Posing With Friends

Posing With Friends is a photo blog featuring people imitating tourists taking pictures.

Unnecessary Journalism Phrases

Unnecessary Journalism Phrases “was created to showcase linguistic crutches journalists employ. Each entry looks at a particular phrase, an unnecessary one, if you will, and links to the offending article.”
This blog got a nice write-up by Poynter.

10 fun Tumblr blogs

2011-10-23T21:01:00.000-04:00

Tumblr is hot.
The upstart blogging platform is easy to use and ideal for posting photos, videos and short messages. Tumblr combines the simplicity of microblogging service Twitter with the visual appeal of a photo or video hosting website.
Lately I’ve noticed quite a few Tumblr blogs spotlighted in The Huffington Post’s regular feature “7 Sites You Should Be Wasting Time On Right Now.” It’s become a new hotspot for Internet memes.
The following are 10 fun and interesting Tumblr blogs, some of which have been featured in HuffPo’s “7 Sites” and TheNextWeb.com’s Tumblr Tuesday.

Hot Chicks of Occupy Wall Street

Hot Chicks of Occupy Wall Street features photos of attractive women protesting at the Occupy Wall Street rally in New York City. (See sample photos above.) Salon.com recently wrote about this controversial blog.

Shit That Siri Says

Shit That Siri Says shows screenshots of funny responses from Siri, the speech-recognition personal assistant app on Apple’s iPhone 4S.

[sic] Humor

[Sic] Humor spotlights examples of bad writing found by a professional book reader.

CAPTCHArt

CAPTCHArt turns nonsense Captcha security words turned into funny cartoons. TheNextWeb.com recently wrote about the website.

New Condoms

New Condoms features Photoshopped images of condom wrappers sporting well-known brands and logos.

Letterheady

Letterheady displays interesting and notable letterhead designs.

Scandybars

Scandybars shows photos of the insides of candy bars from around the world.

Presidential Pickup Lines

Presidential Pickup Lines runs photos of U.S. presidents with humorous pickup lines they could have used.

Reasoning with Vampires

Reasoning with Vampires savagely critiques the poor writing and grammar of author Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” series of books.

Replaceface

On Replaceface, a digital artist replaces the heads of Russian generals in famous paintings with modern celebrities. This sample features Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Hollywood’s one-sided love of public domain works continues

2011-10-22T23:30:00.000-04:00

Hollywood loves to adapt stories from the public domain because they often are known quantities and are off copyright and free to use. (Current examples: “The Three Musketeers” and “Puss in Boots.”)
But Hollywood zealously fights to keep its original stories from going into the public domain. So while it benefits from the public domain, Hollywood doesn’t contribute to it. Corporate copyright holders have successfully lobbied Congress to extend copyright terms way beyond the original intent, bastardizing the purpose of copyrights.
Under copyright law, a government gives the owner or creator of a work of art a monopoly on its use for a “limited” period of time. Governments spend considerable resources (i.e. tax dollars) to enforce those copyrights. What the public gets in return is the expectation that those works eventually will be placed in the public domain where educators, artists and other people will be free to use and adapt them for the benefit of society and humanity.
But corporate copyright holders have convinced government officials to stretch the terms of copyrights practically forever. That’s wrong. The public domain of ideas needs to be regularly refreshed.
On Friday, the latest adaptation of “The Three Musketeers” opened in theaters. The movie, starring Logan Lerman and Milla Jovovich, was filmed in 3-D. It’s based on the 1844 novel by Alexandre Dumas. The source material has been made into two dozen movies over the last 100-plus years, according to Wikipedia.
Up next is “Puss in Boots” from DreamWorks Animation, which will hit theaters Nov. 4. The computer-animated movie features the voices of Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek. This version of Puss in Boots is a spinoff from the “Shrek” series of movies, which are based in large part on fairy tales in the public domain.
“Puss in Boots” is based on a 1697 French fairy tale by Charles Perrault, according to Wikipedia.
Many more new works based on or inspired by public domain works are on the way. More on that later.

Photos: Movie posters of "The Three Musketeers" and "Puss in Boots."

Week in review: Apple disses Amazon tablet

2011-10-21T22:29:00.001-04:00

The following is a roundup of my stories from Investor’s Business Daily at Investors.com.

In solid first-quarter financial results, Microsoft’s Office stayed strong, including cloud version, but Windows came up light. (Oct. 20, 2011)

Apple CEO is dismissive of Amazon’s tablet prospects vs. iPad. (Oct. 19, 2011)

Without Steve Jobs, Apple disappoints on Q4 results. (Oct. 19, 2011)

Photo: Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet will take on Apple’s iPad this holiday season.

Eye-opening chart on state of newspapers

2011-10-19T23:30:00.000-04:00

In an Oct. 18 report on Internet trends, Kleiner Perkins partner Mary Meeker included a chart comparing U.S. newspaper print and online revenue with Google’s U.S. revenue.
Newspaper revenue is tumbling while Google sales are steadily climbing. Both get most of their revenue from advertising.
It does appear that Google is benefiting at the expense of newspapers. Maybe Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward was right when he said earlier this year that the tombstone of Google’s then-CEO Eric Schmidt should read: “I killed newspapers.” (See Poynter article.)
“Newspapers, once the bastions of content creation (and) curation, are experiencing (their) 5th straight year of declining revenue,” Meeker wrote.

Yahoo may not be built to last

2011-10-18T23:30:00.000-04:00

As a consumer of Yahoo services, I’m concerned about the future of the once-dominant Web portal.
Over the years, Yahoo has fallen behind Google, Facebook and others as go-to Web services. It has let core services atrophy, seen talented workers leave and gone through rounds of layoffs and other cost-cutting moves. Yahoo also has had a deplorable record of making acquisitions and then letting those promising businesses die.
Since firing CEO Carol Bartz (its 3rd chief executive in less than five years) in September, Yahoo is rumored to have put itself up for sale.
I hope that if Yahoo is sold, the new owners can get Yahoo back on the right path and improve upon the things that it does well.
Yahoo’s strength has been as a Web portal, a starting point for people launching their browsers. It acts as a modern newspaper, aggregating news and information important to users. I particularly love the My Yahoo page, which I’ve customized with news categories that interest me. Yahoo’s Finance webpages also are top notch. But there’s room for improving them. And Yahoo must do a better job bringing those services to smartphones and tablets as well.
I’ve been using Yahoo’s e-mail service for about 14 years. My first Web-based e-mail address was with RocketMail, which Yahoo acquired in 1997. I stuck with Yahoo because it seemed like the company was built to last.
In 2005, I became a paying subscriber of Yahoo’s Flickr photo-hosting service and still use it today.
I’m concerned about Yahoo’s future. As a consumer, I’ve gotten used to Yahoo’s services and would hate having to start over someplace else.
But that’s the ephemeral nature of the Web. Services and websites can’t be counted on to stick around.

Photo: Yahoo billboard in Silicon Valley, photo by Fred Abercrombie of Unnecessary Umlaut.

Resources:

“Yahoo’s 3Q shows company remains in financial funk” (Oct. 18, 2011; Associated Press)

“Yahoo Profit Falls 26%, but Its Media Sites Draw More Views” (Oct. 18, 2011; Reuters)

“Yahoo Has a Crowd, Wants a Voice” (Oct. 3, 2011; New York Times)

“Content Deluge Swamps Yahoo” (Sept. 8, 2011; Wall Street Journal)

“At Flickr, Fending Off Rumors and Facebook” (Jan. 30, 2011; New York Times)

Lingerie Football League shows more butt crack than a plumbers convention

2011-10-17T23:30:00.000-04:00

No ifs, ands, or buts, Lingerie Football League players show a lot of butt crack.
Tackling a player by the back of her bootie shorts is a commonly used defensive move in the LFL. That leads to wardrobe malfunctions and exposed rear ends on live TV.
My favorite Italian blog Very Special Girls reported with great excitement recently that Green Bay Chill quarterback Anne Erler had “un altro touchdown sexy” on Oct. 7 while playing against the Chicago Bliss. (See above photos.) It was her second rear exposure this season. The first occurred Aug. 26 in a game vs. the Minnesota Valkyrie.
“As in the first game, the beautiful and talented player of the Green Bay Chill has in fact crossed the goal line with panties pulled down,” Very Special Girls said, according to a translation by Google. (See photos and video at Very Special Girls, which does a great job covering such “spettacolare azione” or spectacular action.)
But wait, there’s more.
On Sept. 23, Baltimore Charm wide receiver Kyle DeHaven was slowed down by a panty grab by Cleveland Crush defender Lateefa Moore. Twitter user @Royal_Regal spotted the wardrobe malfunction and posted a photo. (See photos below.)

Zombies: the scary and the funny

2011-10-16T23:12:00.000-04:00

The second season of AMC's survival horror series "The Walking Dead" premiered Sunday night. It was pretty intense. So to lighten things up, check out these eight funny zombie videos posted to sister website One Stop Video.

Week in review: Netflix nixes Qwikster

2011-10-14T22:16:00.000-04:00

The following is a roundup of my stories from Investor’s Business Daily at Investors.com.

Netflix made three big mistakes with its ill-fated Qwikster business. (Oct. 14, 2011)

Apple shares gain on iPhone 4S launch, Samsung patent case rulings. (Oct. 14, 2011)

Electronic Arts wins video game sales crown in September with three of the top five best-selling games. (Oct. 14, 2011)

Personal computer shipments were lower than expected in the third quarter. (Oct. 12, 2011)

Polycom brings videoconferencing to the Apple iPad and other tablets, rather than build its own device like Cisco and Avaya. (Oct. 11, 2011)

Netflix customer losses likely big from Qwikster controversy, analysts say. (Oct. 10, 2011)

Many Netflix subscribers still upset about Qwikster, want CEO fired. (Oct. 10, 2011)
Netflix shares jump on news that Qwikster is no more. (Oct. 10, 2011)

Photo: Screenshot of the Qwikster.com preview website, which now redirects to Netflix.

Tech-media-tainment reaches milestone of a half-million page views

2011-10-11T22:47:00.001-04:00

Tech-media-tainment today crossed the milestone of 500,000 page views. That’s not bad for a personal blog that isn’t quite three years old.
I’d like to think Web surfers come for my scintillating commentary on libertarian issues like abolishing the Transportation Security Administration or legalizing marijuana. But the truth is that they’re more interested in seeing pretty ladies.
The most-read blog posts at TMT are those where I curate wardrobe malfunctions in the Lingerie Football League. Go figure.
I started covering that topic as a lark, but now I’m in it for the page views.
So expect more posts of female football players losing their bikini tops and bottoms in the near future. That’s quality journalism!

Photo: Chicago Bliss players take the field before the Sept. 2, 2011, LFL game against the Las Vegas Sin. This photo is from an excellent series of shots by MingH Photography on Flickr.

Netflix goes from beloved brand to laughingstock in just weeks

2011-10-10T23:47:00.001-04:00

Missteps by online video service Netflix have turned a once-beloved brand into a laughingstock.
First, the company bungled its message about a rate increase on July 12. (See press release and company blog post.) Then, it tried to apologize but ended up enraging subscribers by splitting its DVD-by-mail service (to be called Qwikster) and streaming service on Sept. 18. (See company blog post.)
Finally, today Netflix flip-flopped and said it wouldn't go through with Qwikster and would keep the websites for the DVD and streaming services integrated. (See press release and company blog post.)
Comedians have had a field day with how Netflix confused and angered subscribers with its seemingly hasty decisions.
Netflix was parodied in a “Saturday Night Live” sketch on Oct. 1 and at CollegeHumor.com on Oct. 6. Landline TV was out with a parody video on Sept. 19.
Cartoonists also dinged Netflix. The Joy of Tech (see above cartoon) and The Oatmeal were among those mocking Netflix in comics.
Netflix’s Qwikster service now ranks with Coca-Cola’s New Coke among major corporate blunders. Now Netflix must work to rebuild its reputation with consumers.

See Netflix parody videos at One Stop Video.

South Dakota mancation: National parks and the great buffalo roundup

2011-10-09T23:44:00.003-04:00

I recently took a four-day mancation to South Dakota with my brother Bill and my 8-year-old son, Chris. It was a short trip, but jam-packed with the kinds of things guys enjoy.
We flew into Rapid City, S.D., on Saturday morning Sept. 24 after an unplanned overnight stay in Denver. (Our plane from Washington, D.C., was delayed because of mechanical problems and we missed our connecting flight that Friday night.)
On our first day, we drove across the state line to see Devil’s Tower National Monument in northeastern Wyoming. The huge column of rock is a spectacular, one-of-a-kind sight. No wonder Steven Spielberg chose to film “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” there.
The weather was warm and sunny and a number of climbers were ascending the tower. We took the paved path to the pile of boulders at the base of the tower, admired the view, took some pictures and moved on. After all, we had a schedule to keep.
After lunch at the hard rocking Ponderosa Cafe in Hulett, Wyo., we drove to historic Deadwood, S.D. We stopped by Saloon #10, a bar and museum that celebrates Old West figures like Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane. There, actors reenact the fatal shooting of Hickok. I got to play one of the poker players at the table where Wild Bill was shot in the back. I even had a few lines of dialogue.
On Sunday Sept. 25, we drove out east to odd-ball tourist trap Wall Drug in Wall, S.D. After picking up some souvenirs, we drove to the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site.
We experienced the Cold War arms race between the U.S. and Soviet Union up close by visiting a silo containing a decommissioned intercontinental ballistic missile. Hundreds of such weapons of mass destruction used to dot the landscape of South Dakota and the Great Plains. Many have since been dismantled. But others remain as a deterrent to aggressors of the U.S.
After that we toured Badlands National Park. The otherworldly landscape was amazing. The park is a geological oddity and a great place to find fossils. It’s not very hospitable to life. Signs warn of rattlesnakes. Even the cute prairie dogs carry the plague.
We then drove west to Custer, S.D., for the night. We ate pizza at Pizza Works, a pizzeria housed in an old opera house and silent movie theater. It was the restaurant’s last night of operation for the tourist season. They will reopen next May.
On Monday Sept. 26, we got up early and drove to Custer State Park in Custer, S.D., to witness the annual Black Hills buffalo roundup. This event was the reason we timed our trip when we did.
The Custer State Park Buffalo Roundup is an awesome Old West experience. Cowboys and cowgirls on horseback (and in pickup trucks) drive a herd of about 1,300 American bison over the hills and into large corrals. The roundup is critical to maintaining a strong and healthy herd because the park can only support so many buffalo during the winter.
After the roundup, park staff sort, brand and vaccinate the herd for the buffalo sale, held in November. Every year the park auctions off 200 to 500 head of live buffalo. They’re purchased to supplement an existing herd, to start a herd or to eat.
We didn’t stick around to see the bison up close in their holding pens. Instead we drove to Wind Cave National Park to the south. Wind Cave was the first cave to be designated a national park. It features one of the longest cave systems in the world and notable for its rare boxwork calcite formations.
After that, we made a pilgrimage to Mount Rushmore National Monument. Chris and I saw the monument from the sky days earlier on our flight to Rapid City. Now we got to see it up close.
Seeing Mount Rushmore is a patriotic experience. The 50 state flags line the entry way and columns note when each state was admitted to the union. The sculptures of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt are fantastic in their scale and detail. We hiked the base of the monument to get a closer look.
With our trip nearing an end, we drove back to Rapid City. We stopped at Dinosaur Park, a quirky attraction on Skyline Drive overlooking the city. The park was dedicated in May 1936 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The seven dinosaur sculptures were constructed by the city of Rapid City and the Works Progress Administration.
We then drove to downtown Rapid City where we took some goofy pictures with the presidential statues that mark the street corners. I also admired an alley that blazed with color from graffiti artists appropriated named Art Alley.
We had dinner at the Firehouse Brewing Co., where I ate a buffalo burger. You can’t go to South Dakota without eating some bison meat. Then it was back to the hotel to rest before our early morning flights out of town.
Now it’s time to plan next year’s mancation.

Resources:

Rapid City, S.D.

Devil’s Tower National Monument

Wyoming Official State Travel Website

Ponderosa Cafe in Hulett, Wyo.

Deadwood, S.D.

Saloon #10 in Deadwood, S.D.

Wall Drug in Wall, S.D.

Minuteman Missile National Historic Site

Minuteman Missile Delta-09 site

Badlands National Park

Pizza Works in Custer, S.D.

Custer State Park Buffalo Roundup

Wind Cave National Park

Mount Rushmore National Monument

Dinosaur Park in Rapid City, S.D.

Art Alley in Rapid City, S.D.

Firehouse Brewing Co. in Rapid City, S.D.

Black Hills, S.D., tourism website

Week in review: Apple carries on without Steve Jobs, launches iPhone 4S

2011-10-08T23:30:00.000-04:00

The following is a roundup of my stories from Investor’s Business Daily at Investors.com.

With Steve Jobs gone, Apple could turn into an “ordinary company,” focused on operations not disruptive innovation. (Oct. 6, 2011)

The Top 10 achievements of Steve Jobs. (Oct. 6, 2011)

Apple looking to grow its smartphone market share with cheap iPhones. (Oct. 5, 2011)

Apple is turning its smartphones into personal assistants that can answer spoken questions and take dictation. (Oct. 4, 2011)

Investors unimpressed with Apple’s latest smartphone, the iPhone 4S. (Oct. 4, 2011)

The spotlight is on new CEO Tim Cook at Apple’s iPhone event. (Oct. 4, 2011)

Art: Cover of Oct. 17, 2011, issue of Time magazine.

Magazine cover boy Steve Jobs

2011-10-07T23:30:00.000-04:00

In addition to cool gadgets, Steve Jobs also turned out a lot of magazine covers.
Every time Apple came out with a sleek new iPod, iPad or other product, magazine editors invariably would put his mug on their covers.
With his death this week, Jobs is on the cover of the latest issues of Time, Bloomberg Businessweek, The New Yorker and others. (See coverage by The Atlantic, Forbes and PCmag.com.)
Sam Kuo of Kuo Design has compiled a gallery of 101 magazine covers featuring Steve Jobs. And that’s only through August 2010. He badly needs to update it. Soon.

Update: Sam Kuo e-mailed me Oct. 8 to say that he's "trying to catch up on all the covers. Stay tuned!"

Interviewing Steve Jobs

2011-10-06T23:30:00.000-04:00

I was fortunate enough to interview Steve Jobs once. The August 2002 phone interview was in the context of his role as CEO of Pixar Animation Studios.
I had been trying to interview him for some time to talk about Pixar’s amazing track record and the company’s plans to ramp up production to one film a year.
I missed him the first time he called and he left me a voicemail message. Thankfully he tried me again later and we spoke for about 15 minutes about what makes Pixar films so special.
He was clearly passionate about the films Pixar was producing. The studio had released “Monsters Inc.” that year and was finishing production on “Finding Nemo.”
At the time, he was chief executive of both Apple and Pixar. Both companies shared Jobs’ perfectionist streak.
I asked him what the key was for maintaining quality movies at Pixar.
“Everyone will tell you that story is the most important thing, but hardly anyone really walks the walk,” Jobs said. “What happens (elsewhere) is that when the story’s not good enough and the production machine is moving and needs to be fed, people will just keep making the movie that they know isn’t the greatest. But some people, Pixar among them, will stop and say: ‘Wait a minute. This just is not as good as it needs to be.’”
You read the article at AccessMyLibrary or check out a PDF of the newspaper page here.

Art: Steve Jobs tribute art by Hong Kong design student Jonathan Mak. (See article by Reuters.) Jobs died Wed. Oct. 5.

TSA a prime target of political cartoonists

2011-10-04T23:34:00.000-04:00

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration has been the subject of frequent scandals and citizen outrage. But it’s been great fodder for political cartoonists, including Investor’s Business Daily’s Michael Ramirez. (See above sample.)
Here are some online galleries of other TSA-themed political cartoons:

About.com Political Humor

U.S. News and World Report

MSNBC PowerWall

Chimp Planet part 1 and part 2

America’s disgust with the TSA could be an issue in the 2012 presidential race

2011-10-03T23:57:00.000-04:00

The United States has always prided itself on its principles of personal freedom. But reactionary politics after 9/11 have created a police state at our nation’s airports. And that mindset is spreading into other sectors of American life.
Under the guise of greater security, American citizens have seen their constitutional rights eroded. If you want to fly a commercial airline today, you lose your Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches. That amendment states that people have a right to be “secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures” unless there is probable cause of criminal activity.
But today blue-gloved agents of the U.S. government, working for the Transportation Security Administration, can grope you in full-body pat-downs, take X-ray images to see what you look like under your clothes, and dig through your personal belongings at will at the nation’s airports.
A famous quote from Founding Father Benjamin Franklin is appropriate here: “Those who would give up Essential Liberty, to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
The TSA is an example of the expanding scope of the government into the lives of its citizens. The mandate under President Obama’s sweeping health-care law that citizens must buy health insurance or face penalties is another.
U.S. Rep. Ron Paul has been gaining supporters in his Republican presidential bid with calls for smaller government. Paul says he would abolish the TSA and privatize airline security. He believes the agency has infringed on the privacy rights of passengers while doing little to keep the country safe, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The Associated Press reported Monday that Paul is “proving to be a force in the 2012 contest.” While few believe he will capture the GOP nomination, he could play spoiler to early front-runners Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the AP says.
Republican candidates should pay more attention to libertarian voters and less courting of the religious right, if they want to win next year.
A citizens’ petition on the White House website to abolish the TSA has garnered nearly 25,000 digital signatures. It only needed to get 5,000 signatures to be submitted for review and get an official response, according to Forbes. The White House says it will respond to the petition to abolish the TSA in a “few weeks,” Forbes says.
Meanwhile the TSA’s Gestapo tactics have caught on with metropolitan police departments who harass and arrest journalists and citizens who try to videotape their officers in public. (See articles on Gizmodo and Techdirt.)
And the National Football League this year is instituting TSA-style pat-downs at stadiums before games.
This has got to stop.

Art: Terrific political cartoon by Ben Garrison of Grrrgraphics.com.

TSA-type screenings spreading like a disease

2011-10-02T23:47:00.001-04:00

Football fans attending today’s NFL matchup of the Denver Broncos vs. the Green Bay Packers were inconvenienced by long lines as the Packers instituted new security screening procedures.
As the kickoff to Sunday’s Broncos-Packers game approached, “long lines of fans waiting to enter (Green Bay’s) Lambeau Field still stretched deep into the stadium’s parking lots,” the Associated Press reported.
The NFL is pushing for pat-downs at stadiums to improve fan safety, USA Today reports.
So, the practices of the reviled Transportation Security Administration have been adopted outside of the nation’s airports.
What’s next? Pat-downs before entering shopping malls or movie theaters?
Techdirt skewered the NFL’s decision to implement TSA-style security theater in a recent article. This is not a good trend for America.

Art: One of several funny TSA-related imprints for bumper stickers, coffee mugs and other products offered for sale by Zazzle.

Week in review: Amazon launches its Kindle Fire tablet, takes aim at Apple’s iPad

2011-09-30T23:15:00.000-04:00

The following is a roundup of my stories from Investor’s Business Daily at Investors.com.

Amazon is selling its Kindle Fire tablet at a loss. The $199 tablet probably costs $210 to make, IHS iSuppli says. The e-commerce leader hopes to make up the difference with sales of digital and physical goods. (Sept. 30, 2011)

Amazon’s Kindle Fire is likely to spark a tablet price war that could impact even Apple’s iPad. (Sept. 29, 2011)

Google looks to make its mark in the online travel business, where Expedia and Priceline dominate. (Sept. 26, 2011)

HP’s new CEO fails to impress investors. Stock falls to a 6-year low. (Sept. 23, 2011)

It’s official: HP names Meg Whitman its new CEO. But can she succeed at an enterprise IT firm with her consumer business background? (Sept. 23, 2011)

No word, as of this moment, on fate of Hewlett-Packard’s CEO Leo Apotheker, but investors voting for change. (Sept. 21, 2011)

Netflix apologizes to upset customers, then angers them again. (Sept. 19, 2011)

Angry customers give Netflix an earful. (Sept. 19, 2011)

Netflix pisses off subscribers once again by splitting its DVD and streaming services into separate businesses. (Sept. 19, 2011)

Porn parodies of advertisements show adult film industry is out of ideas

2011-09-23T01:50:00.000-04:00

The adult film industry is running out of things to parody in their movies.
Porn studios have parodied Hollywood movies, TV shows and even public figures. Now they’re parodying TV commercials and consumer products.
This week, Hustler Video released “America’s Favorite Commercials Gone Porn,” which parodies commercials by Subway restaurants, Progressive Insurance, Wrigley’s Orbit Gum, Dos Equis beer and FreeCreditReport.com.
Subway’s “$5 Footlong” sandwich ads become “$3 Footschlong.” Orbit Gum becomes WhoreBitz Gum and so on. Characters like Dos Equis’ “The Most Interesting Man in the World” and Progressive’s Flo get the X-rated treatment.
I previously reported that adult film studio Caballero has released compilation videos packaged to parody consumer products like breakfast cereal and candy, such as “Honey Likes Nuts and Ho’s” (Honey Nut Cheerios), “Cinnamon Muff Munch” (Cinnamon Toast Crunch) and “Cocoa Ditzies” (Cocoa Krispies).
Now Caballero is moving on to parodies of alcoholic beverages. Upcoming releases include “Drill Her Genuine Gash” (Miller Genuine Draft), “Clit’s Malt Lick Her” (Schlitz Malt Liquor), “Buttmeiser” (Budweiser) and “Dos Sexxy” (Dos Equis).

Photos: Edited cover shot of Hustler’s “America’s Favorite Commercials Gone Porn” (top); edited cover of “Honey Likes Nuts and Ho’s” and the cereal box cover it’s parodying.

Week in review: Netflix stumbles

2011-09-17T23:13:00.001-04:00

The following is a roundup of my stories from Investor’s Business Daily at Investors.com and Click, IBD’s tech blog.

Apple’s iPad tablet is taking the corporate market by storm, shaking up how businesses operate. (Sept. 16, 2011)

Netflix hits a 10-month low as recent price hikes force it to concede that it will actually lose U.S. subscribers this quarter, only the second time ever. (Sept. 15, 2011)

Sylvan Goldman invented the shopping cart and revolutionized retail. (Sept. 14, 2011)

Windows 8 is Microsoft’s best, and possibly last, chance to be relevant in tablets. Nice features, but no release date yet. (Sept. 13, 2011)

Microsoft shows off Windows 8, its next-generation computer operating system, due out next year. (Sept. 13, 2011)

Analysts expect more M&A in wireless networking chip field after Broadcom-NetLogic deal. Cavium and EZchip could be in play. (Sept. 13, 2011)

Broadcom shares down 2% early Monday on news that it plans to buy NetLogic for $3.7 billion. (Sept. 12, 2011)

China’s top Internet search engine, Baidu, plans to take on Apple in the China mobile device market, with Dell as a hardware partner for smartphones and tablets. (Sept. 6, 2011)

Google+ is a dud

2011-09-16T23:35:00.000-04:00

Google’s latest attempt to compete with Facebook in social networking, Google+, is a failure.
The venture got a ton of press when it launched on June 28, primarily because it was by invitation only. When I finally got an invite on July 12, I immediately signed up to check it out. I connected with a few colleagues and tested out various features. But I’ve only been back a few times since.
There isn’t enough going on at Google+ to make me want to come back, much less abandon Facebook and start over. After all, seemingly everybody is on Facebook. So why switch? The experience on Facebook is not that bad.
On the plus side, Google+ has a nice clean look. Facebook looks cluttered by comparison. But that’s not enough to sell me on using Google+.
Except for its innovative Circles feature, Google+ is largely a Facebook copycat.
Plus, I’m already feeling social media fatigue from Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, each of which are distinctly different. I don’t need Google+.
And one more thing – I hate the name Google+. It should be called Google Plus or better yet, Google Circles.
Google+ may have 25 million registered users, according to ComScore, but I doubt a very large percentage is active. Recent articles by TechCrunch and HuffPo suggest that interest in the service is waning.
Even Google CEO Larry Page seems to have lost interest in Google+, Network World reports.
I agree with LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, who said people don’t have enough free time for another social network.
I'm going to let my account go dormant. Maybe it’ll be useful somewhere down the road. But I'm not holding my breath.

TSA funnies

2011-09-13T23:00:00.000-04:00

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration has been derided as an ineffective, wasteful government agency that tramples on the constitutional rights of U.S. citizens.
So it’s only fair that the TSA has become a target for ridicule and parody.
Here are some funny TSA graphics I’ve seen online.
Most of them have gone viral and are hard to source. I’ve tried to provide attribution where available. (Top photo from Very Demotivational.)

Terrorist Osama bin Laden mocking TSA patdowns. This one is everywhere on the Internet, including BuzzFeed.

Funny infographic from Bits & Pieces and elsewhere.

Greeting card from Someecards.

Funny TSA infographic from The Onion.

Humorous poster from Demotivational Posters.

TSA Checkpoint sign by Oleg Volk. See articles by The Atlantic and Boing Boing.

The use of Pedobear as the mascot for the TSA is another popular Internet meme. It's been published by About.com and elsewhere.