Current TV
previously & previously, the media company founded by Al Gore after the 2000 election, has picked up the kinds of in depth long form journalism being rapidly dropped by major networks, but has been tantalizingly unavailable for those without cable; until now. They have been putting their Vanguard episodes up on their website and on YouTube.
[more inside]
posted by Blasdelb
on Apr 30, 2011 -
24 comments
In February of 2008, Microsoft
acquired the maker of the Sidekick, Danger Inc.,
for $500 million dollars and rolled the company into its Premium Mobile Experiences division, led by
Roz Ho. The Sidekick retained a dedicated following after the merger despite some
hiccups along the way. Twenty-six months after the acquisition, Microsoft
unveiled the KIN One and KIN Two devices which would launch in May. The devices were backed by a huge and
mildly controversial marketing push aimed at the young, hip social-networking addict niche. Reviews were
generally negative and often cited needless complexity, software that was lacking basic functions and no support for third party applications. The devices ran a fork of
Windows Phone 7, Microsoft's rewrite of their aging mobile operating system that had been
rapidly losing ground to RIM, Apple and Google. Just seven weeks after launch,
the KIN is dead. Engadget has some
insight into the failure and the subsequent shake-up at Microsoft.
posted by cgomez
on Jul 1, 2010 -
98 comments
In the light of the
Microsoft/Sidekick data disaster, it might be a good time to take a look at just what's happening with Microsoft's half billion dollar investment in Danger. Despite already having a mobile phone operating system (Windows Mobile) and an entire division (Zune) just itching to go head to head with Apple's iPhone. Microsoft decided to turn Danger into a skunkworks for "
Project Pink," named, apparently, after
the pop star.
Now,
According to MobileCrunch, the project is two years late, most of the team has left or been fired, Microsoft hasn't managed to create an app store, and the demoralized team is more enamored of their iPhones than their own product.
[more inside]
posted by CheeseDigestsAll
on Oct 11, 2009 -
42 comments
When thousands of people depart, leaving an entire city dead that’s a real tragedy. There are mainly two reasons why people leave the place where they used to live for years or even generations: danger, and economic factors.
Abandoned Places In The World. ( previously
1,
2)
posted by netbros
on Jun 21, 2009 -
29 comments
Full Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse album Dark Night of the Soul is streaming right now on
NPR. Info about album dispute
here.
posted by forallmankind
on May 16, 2009 -
50 comments
"I thought, 'Why don't we just raid the place?' " --the newest and only currently viable way to check up on how the billions and billions we're spending on reconstruction in Iraq is being spent--fake raids by the US military, making it seem like the recipients aren't receiving aid from us, and in fact are being targeted by us.
posted by amberglow
on Mar 23, 2007 -
35 comments
Prisoners of their Bureaus--the Besieged Press of Baghdad What it's like to be a journalist in Iraq now--and especially relevant given
the current attacks on the media for not reporting all the good that's happening in Iraq--
...
an ever-widening gulf between official language and the reality of the actual situation in Baghdad. While official language is relentlessly upbeat, the already nightmarish reality has been getting worse with each passing day. ... the insurgent attacks on the US forces and Iraqi government and the sectarian fighting between Sunnis and Shiites have become destructive beyond what most journalists have been able to convey ... (NY Review of Books)
posted by amberglow
on Mar 25, 2006 -
35 comments
What's so extreme about Extreme Sports? According to the ads, Extreme Sports are the antidote to our safety-first, shrink-wrapped world. In reality, sports like skateboarding and mountain biking are more about the appearance of risk and marketing-driven terms like 'carving out your own path' rather than any particular danger. The reality of these Extreme Sports? Many are actually
safer than traditional sports.
posted by fet
on Nov 22, 2005 -
60 comments
Planning a vacation or going on a business trip this summer? Why not try one of the world's
most dangerous destinations for the trip of a lifetime? Just make sure you have
Worldcue® PRO loaded on your laptop and fill out some
forms and you'll be ready for
death departure.
posted by Guerilla
on May 13, 2005 -
2 comments
The Uses of Canaries--and what canaries need to do --
...Why go to all that trouble when we have reduced the homosexual, himself, to nothing more than a body part? Remove the homo -- he's just a diseased body part, after all -- and the problem is solved.
Of course there will always be those so pathologically sex-panicked that they have to rely on their Think Pieces to get their pornography fix. Not worth worrying about, generally. But when United States Senators start in with the Depravity Fillip, and the DF starts showing up in the campaign literature of various groups... well, you want to keep your eye on that sort of thing. You maybe want to start thinking about that famous canary in the mine-shaft. ...
posted by amberglow
on May 9, 2005 -
51 comments
You'll put your eye out! My childhood was fraught with peril. I rode bikes without a helmet. My friends made flashpowder bombs. I brought knives and lasers to school. I survived. Blogger Tim Blair did too, and asks "What insane risks did you take as kids that would now induce rage and fear if repeated by your children?"
posted by bitmage
on Dec 1, 2004 -
147 comments
Future of Sky Scrapers? Is this the future of sky scrapers, or are they now irrelevant with the current threats that are presented? Would you work in this building?
posted by npost
on Jan 29, 2003 -
15 comments
A
proposed mega wind farm miles into the ocean off Cape Cod is being fought by Democrats like Robert Kennedy Jr because it would "obstruct" the view from his oceanside house on clear days. Other concerns like bird kills (perhaps a few hundred birds a year), fish disruption from poles in the sand and danger to low flying planes are cited and could hold the project up for 5 years or perhaps forever. Would you care about a windfarm out in the ocean if Kennedy and few other had a view that was not "like when the Pilgrams arrived" or is this powerfull community leaders pulling a Not in my Backyard when it comes to fighting for the Environment. Horseshoe Shoals is one of the best wind spots on the East Coast.
posted by stbalbach
on Nov 3, 2002 -
30 comments
Nine lives? It seems cats do better when dropped...uh, I mean, fall, more than seven stories. Anything less and they fail to reach terminal velocity and don't land properly. Once the cats reach
terminal velocity they spread their legs (think parachute) and slow their fall. A cat has a far better chance of survival falling from 32 stories than four.
Dwarfs, however, do not benefit from longer flights.
posted by cedar
on Aug 29, 2002 -
36 comments
How the biohazard symbol came to be (from NYTimes Magazine)...
posted by Miyagi
on Nov 18, 2001 -
12 comments
K....A....B....O....O....M....! Rolls Royce is recalling five of their 2000 and 2001 models after discovering a design flaw can cause the cars to EXPLODE. While only 539 vehicles are affected, 408 are in the US. The flaw was discovered after a technician put the first tank of gas into the
$360,000 (!) vehicle, started to drive it and hit the switch to roll up the windows. The explosion blew out all the windows and damaged the convertible top and the interior.
posted by crunchland
on May 13, 2001 -
13 comments
Dodge ball getting flack for being too dangerous. Nevermind football, field hockey, or lacrosse.
*sigh*
Shame is, as the awkward, non-athletic kid they're trying to protect, dodge ball was my savior. It allowed me to fully participate in PE without the loss of dignity necessitated by other, mainstream sports.
posted by silusGROK
on Apr 11, 2001 -
40 comments