Help for Stalkers
Microsoft has a new service that is just the ticket -- for celebrity stalkers!
Want to hunt down Jeff Bridges or Anna Kournikova? Windows
Live
Local will show you exactly where they love to hang. There is one celeb
missing from the list: Where does Bill go to eat, shop and bar hop? I hope this
is just a simple oversight.
Hate Alive and Well on U.S. Servers
America leads the world in football (the real kind), cheeseburgers and celebrity
gossip. Now we also lead the world in hate speech. More and more yahoos (apologies
to the search engine) that spew this filth are hosting this nonsense on American
servers, and the Simon Wiesenthal Center is none
too pleased.
I see good news and bad. Through freedom of speech we tolerate morons and even
offer up a platform. But more and more of these mental defectives are pushing
for violence, and that perhaps is where we can legally draw the line.
I broke this story 10 years ago in a story
about White Supremacists on the Web. The piece got national attention because
it includes calls for censoring hate speech. The story is still relevant today
and may be the best thing I’ve ever written (aside from my first love
letter).
Internet Censorship Alive and Well on Worldwide Servers
There's a pretty interesting report out (PDF
download here) about which countries clamp down on the ‘Net and which
don’t. Some results are obvious -- Iran, China, and North Korea tend to
censor more than they allow. I was expecting the good old U.S. to come through
with flying colors, but that was not quite the case. The U S of A got knocked
for our lack of privacy -- all thanks to the Patriot Act, warrantless searches
and the war on terror. Whether you see this as acceptable or egregious, we still
have far more privacy than the folks in Iran, China and North Korea.
Is Bush the New Gates?
Patriot Act patriarch George W. gave
a graduation speech filled with tech, philosophy and advice, telling the
younguns to use technology, but not be abused by it. While W. waxed on about
cures for disease and job opportunities, the low-tech speaker system went on
the fritz, leading Oklahoma State University students wondering just what the
prez was talking about. While Gates’ demos might crash from time to time,
his sound systems always work!
Is Ad Domination Next?
First Microsoft sold software to hobbyists, then it went after business, and
most recently has pried away hard-earned dollars from our children for the Xbox.
Now Microsoft wants a huge hunk of ad dollars. Through adCenter
(obviously, there’s not a copy editor on staff to insist on an initial
cap); Microsoft intends to rule the online ad market. I hope it doesn't succeed
too wildly. Free content like this newsletter, Redmondmag.com and even Redmond
magazine are all supported by ad dollars. If Microsoft steals away too many
dineros, your choice of media may dwindle.
About the Author
Doug Barney is editor in chief of Redmond magazine and the VP, editorial director of Redmond Media Group.