Verbo.se

Trusk, Meet Wall

19/03/2010

The truck’s doing 50mph. The wall is one of those security barriers in front of secure buildings. It would appear that they work.

Over Half Your News Is Spin

16/03/2010

I’d love to see research done on this in Ireland, the UK and the US.

Crikey: Under UTS’ Australian Centre for Independent Journalism (ACIJ) head Wendy Bacon (a Walkley Award-winning investigative journalist herselfâ€¦) more than 40 students have got up close and personal with the sticky end of the spin cycle. They’ve had to analyse, critique, question and then pick up the phone to ask the hard questions of the media and its reliance on public relations to drive news.

Hard questions, because this is what came out in the wash: after analysing a five-day working week in the media, across 10 hard-copy papers, ACIJ and Crikey found that nearly 55% of stories analysed were driven by some form of public relations. The Daily Telegraph came out on top of the league ladder with 70% of stories analysed triggered by public relations. The Sydney Morning Herald gets the wooden spoon with (only) 42% PR-driven stories for that week.

Many journalists and editors were defensive when the phone call came. Who’d blame them? They’re busier than ever, under resourced, on deadline and under pressure. Most refused to respond, others who initially granted an interview then asked for their comments to be withdrawn out of fear they’d be reprimanded, or worse, fired.

Great name for an Aussie blog btw.

This is brilliant, a Firefox account manager that standardises the handling of authentication on websites, including registration, login and logout handling, account cancellation, password changes, etc. It’s similar in some respects to the likes of LastPass, but it’s more focused on functionality than data, and in reality should actually be able to tie into current managers as a data store. Web application developers and major website owners need to implement this asap!

Account Manager is a prototype to dramatically simplify how you connect to sites. It implements a new protocol for websites to integrate with your browser, so you can sign in and sign out right from your toolbar. Look for the key icon, to the left of your URL bar.

(Also see the draft spec and the wiki page.)

Jobs the Douche

11/03/2010

This is why I don’t buy Apple stuff, although I fail to see why Giz appears so surprised. Apple has been obsessed with proprietary, propriety and their “privacy” since year dot, from the giant dick at the top to the “I vos just obeying ze orders” tools at the bottom. It’s just a swishy Microsoft that adds fashion-victim appeal and takes away even more freedom than MS. You bought it and bought into it, so deal with it and shut the fuck up.

Gizmodo: The censorship problem is not only about the 5,000 titillating apps that fell down in flames after Apple’s latest puritanic raid. Except for apps from well known slippery-when-wet publishing houses like Playboy, that raid closed the smutty graphic category entirely. The censorship problem goes a lot deeper than that, and it has affected mainstream publications already.

SÃ£o Paulo Scrubbed of Outdoor Ads

11/03/2010

What I wouldn’t give for a Cork like this!

WebUrbanist: Outdoor advertising is so ubiquitous in almost every urban setting around the world, it’s difficult to walk down a street, take an escalator or sit on a bench without getting slapped in the face with one product or another. But the city of SÃ£o Paulo, Brazil is like an advertising ghost town: all of its billboards stand oddly blank and empty.

In September of 2007, the world’s fourth-largest metropolis was scrubbed of almost every type of outdoor advertising â€“ even pamphlets. It’s all part of mayor Gilberto Kassab’s quest to eliminate visual clutter, making the city itself the focal point rather than colorful, increasingly desperate marketing campaigns.

Zuckerberg the Douche

09/03/2010

I’m sure I’ve called Mark Zuckerberg a scumbag here before, usually because of his total disregard for privacy. This is the other reason.

I don’t feel all that sorry for the guys at Harvard that were done over, their handling of it must be a constant embarassment to the college with one of the most respected business schools in the world.

I don’t agree with the opinion that that’s “just how America works” though, and it certainly doesn’t stop Zuckerberg’s behaviour being that of a total doucehbag. I don’t doubt for a second that he’s still running the website and the business the exact same way today.

Your Credit Report

09/03/2010

Applying for a credit report in Ireland used to be a pretty onerous task, as you had to download and fill in a form with one of those biro things, and pay with a cheque or postal order. The ICB now allows you to request and pay for your report online, making it a lot easier to check your report on a regular basis. I recommend doing it at least once a year, to make sure there are no errors in the system.

Porsche 918 Spyder

05/03/2010

I’m not going to give the usual “design language never moves on” for this one. It’s gorgeous anyway. Thanks Mark!

(Via Autoblog Green.)

Geneva 2010: Hamann Tycoon EVO M

05/03/2010

Ok, it’s based on the awful X6, but it’s black and shiny!

(Via Autoblog.)

Trusk, Meet Wall

Chat Roulette Piano Improv