Dave Lucas on LiveJournal

Beware of the Codec!

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 23:25:45 GMT

My buddy, who is always careful about where he goes online and what he downloads, just had to wipe his harddrive clean and reload Windows. The other night he went to download a movie (legally!) and of course when he tried to watch it Windows Media Player popped up an advisory it needed a particular codec to play the filee. It asked permission to search & download, but hiding inside whatever that codec was: a nasty little virus that hijacked his browser toward unimaginable porn and warez and mlm websites. It was outta control and unstoppable. My buddy is an IT pro and moved the harddrive to his workbench unit to make sure he could writedown the disc to zeros. He says he never encontered anything like this before. I told him, as I tell you now, seek out and grab a free copy of VLC player. I have it on my old WinMe PC. It plays ANY video, crystal clear, no pixellation, repairs broken or damaged video files of any extension, and NEVER needs to go fetch a codec! Google it!

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New role for the CD?

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:22:50 GMT

A generation or two stands between the 33rpm vinyl album with its artwork and liner notes and the digital music CD which is what it is. On Facebook this week Yarah Bravo has been plugging her new CD and mentions she won't be pressing any more hard copies. People who had a copy commented back how glad they were to have an original. This morning I heard that a local music distributor is closing several retail shops because people are buying and downloading music online. I see two great marketing opportunities for artists: issue limited edition specially enhanced mixed media CDs, numbered like artists number prints of their works, like "3 of 300" - and - offering an "enhanced download" including liner notes and artwork that can either be printed out or simply viewed on the computer. The CDs have the potential to increase in value over time. Downloaders get more goodies (which cost the artist next to nothing to add to the CD package.) ----------
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Bloggers on TV

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:59:41 GMT

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World In Pocket

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:12:43 GMT

My two trusty tools: the VM Kyocera Wild Card and the Fly Ying F003. It's an interesting (and a great) time to be alive, as far as the ability for one to communicate goes... these days that's pretty far! The meshing of internet with mobile phone technology diminishes the space between us all quite impressively.

Last night on my Fly Ying phone I chatted with friends near and far, texted friends in some very faraway places, checked my e-mail, jumped on Yahoo Messenger for a minute, read the New York Times online, watched a youtube video and downloaded a couple of java games. Then, I looked through the directory that contains photos, deleting a few that I no longer needed, e-mailing a few others to friends and family, and sending a couple to my computer so I could put them on CD. All of this, on one little mobile phone!

The technology already exists and is available on that phone to use the device as a one-to-one or one-to-many video/audio broadcasting device. Not only that, when either cellular or internet technology or BOTH are NOT available, my phone can entertain me with audio (mp3s or built-in FM radio) or video (it can hold 5 full-length movies and has built-in TV) or eBook reader (I have two books and a dictionary loaded onto it). I can view saved webpages, play games or WRITE and save my work for later! Just 25 years ago, the ability to posess such a marvelous communications tool was at best a sci-fi dream, and now, it is here.

With the speed of the internet itself, the mobile phone industry is changing day-to-day. There are many among us who have not and probably will never have a land-line telephone. My advice, as always, is to keep an analog system as a back-up. Although the "Dark Angel" TV show is fictional, imagine the impact if some sort of pulse bomb succeeded in wiping out all electronic data!

Hand-powered Windup Mobile Phone Charger

Solar Charger from thinkawesome

Freeloader Solar phone charger

Mobiles are no longer a luxury. They are an absolute necessity. A Cell phone is also a fashion statement. The kind of phone a person carries speaks volumes about the person. This year the number of worldwide mobile phone users hit 4.6 billion people. Much of that growth has taken place in the developing world. And, as phones expanded in some countries, so did economic development.

Think Media, Not Medium

Wordpress has launched two themes that will automatically be displayed when a Wordpress.com blog is accessed from a cell phone... the type of mobile phone a user employs dictates what the different blogs will look like, the company said in a blog post. Websurfers who access Wordpress.com blogs from their iPhone or Android-based devices will be able to access the particular blog's "posts, pages, and archives." WPtouch will also support AJAX-based "commenting and post-loading." Header images will be scaled to fit the device's screen. Those accessing blogs on other phones won't be treated to all the bells and whistles. According to the company, those visitors will see a simple page that focuses mainly on loading blog content as quickly as possible. *more on C-net In some countries, mobile telephones have been the driving force and social glue behind "flash mob" gatherings.

The American book and TV series "Gossip Girl" demonstrated the power of electronic communication slightly ahed of the curve when it was first introduced. I guess Dick Tracy's two-way wrist radio was cast from a similar mold. People have WANTED to communicate and be informed like this for years and years! NOW is the time! The trend hasn't caught on just yet in North America (although I recently signed up for mobile banking with my financial institution) but Mobile phones are also being used to transact business. " The continual expanding coverage and use of wireless mobile devices such as mobile phones in developing regions such as Africa and South East Asia, are leading to increased applications to deliver financial services, especially to those in remote regions and whose low income have typically excluded them from the traditional banking system." Mexico Eyes Mobile Phones To Boost Financial Service Use - WSJ.com The blog Crisscrossed details what makes the mobile phone so important. I've rewritten the original post to explain, from my point of view, what the mobile phone has done for me, both personally and professionally.

But what makes mobile phone so special?

It is so especial because it combines all former media, such as telephone, Internet, and even radio and television, and because one can:

Communicate and receive information (radio, television and Internet)
Document and collect information
Publish information in text, audio and video
Can network in different ways on a peer-to-peer basis

So a passive recipient can become an active user or citizen.

The excellent Pomise of Ubiquity report from Internews has some fascinating statistics such as the different media access. In most countries, 2008 signified a turning point as more people owned mobile phones than televisions. So, the mobile phone becomes a key instrument to receive information via Internet, listen to radio (FM mobile phone) and watch videos although the latter has not worked yet and is unrealistic due to high costs. Location-based services will be very promising.

“A world in which nearly everyone owns a mobile linked into networks advanced enough to offer video and location-based services is years, not decades, away.” Internews

Different spheres of mobile activism I looked, during my presentation, at political activism and focused on four different spheres and examples even though there is still a lot more happening (and much more in many African countries than in Europe).

Public sphere The mobile phone will become an important tool to shape the public sphere. Two examples are Voices of Africa and mobile African reporters. I showed a great footage from Cameroon about a Guiness factory polluting water sources. This example shows the potential to report better from the local context. But I also wonder when will there be a critical mass of an audience for such reports?
Participation The radio still plays a decisive role, because it reaches many more groups of people and particularly illiterate listeners. Combining a mobile campaign with the radio can be a great package. The organisation AZUR in Congo launched a while ago an SMS campaign, where they asked women to report about cases of domestic violence. The answeres were then portrayed and discussed in a radio show.
Transparency For some years now, the monitoring of elections has been happening in different African countries such as Zimbabwe or Nigeria. Digiactive has a great comparative case study analysis. In Barcelona, I followed an insightful presentation by Ethan Zuckerman, where he describes a great example from last year’s election in Zimbabwe: “SMS is an effective tool for monitoring all sorts of large, dangerous mammals. You can make the argument that Morgan Tsvanagarai was able to challenge the first round of Zimbabwe’s presidential elections in no small part due to SMS. A change in polling law meant that every local polling station in Zimbabwe was required to post local voting results publicly. Zimbabwe’s opposition party, MDC, organized an effort to collect these results via SMS. As a result, the MDC knew, within a few hours after the close of polls, that they’d received more votes than ZANU-PF.” By the way, an organization called Sokwanele has also been doing some pioneering work in Zimbabwe for mobile activism. Another one is Kubatana, which developed the Freedom fone.
Networking A bit more than a year ago cotton-workers in the Nile delta striked for a higher salary. They went into strike for a few weeks long because of the inflation, which took most of what little was left. Unrecognized by media in Egypt and internationally, an Egyptian woman, who did not use to be an activist, decided to set up a Facebook group to solidarize with the strikers. The group grew in a few weeks to more than 70,000 members (Egypt has about around 700,000 Facebook members). There is an enormous potential to use social networks for campaigns and protests. I think these networks will be working over the mobile phone in the future as I described here. Nevertheless in this case the protest could not made it to the the street, as the Egyptian authorities hardly allowed any protests on their streets. But mobile phones play a decisive role in protest coordination. Patrick Meier, also from Digiactive, did a great presentation about Mobile for Advocacy and Activism.

Challenges

Unfortunately, there are numerous challenges to mobile activism in Africa and, therefore, it is even more incredible how many initiatives are happening. Just to name a few:

Usage The costs of mobile communication or SMS are still very high. Although rural areas a now much better connected, there is a disparity between rural and urban areas, where one part becomes only passive recipients of information.
Government Mobile networks can be even easier controlled such as the Internet, because they belong to one provider. Recently, it came out that half state owned Vodafone in Egypt gave out its customers data about the above described strike to the Egyptian police.
Mobile Provider As much as mobile providers have done positive for the dissemination of mobile phones , they have their own business interests, which do not necessarily fit and promote activism. Such are walled gardens, where companies can and want to control what is offered and exchanged.
Activism Although mobile activism is at least 8 years old, since the Estrada campaign in the Philippines, it has just started and a lot of experimenting is happening. It is also clear that it can also be a tool for a mean and cannot be useful for any form of activism. A theatre group might have more impact on the issue of HIV/Aids than an SMS campaign.

Patrick Meier, from the group DigiActive, argues that people can now become activists simply by using a mobile phone. Portable telephones have been employed to organize and coordinate protests – specifically in the Philippines, Spain and Pakistan. Mobile phones have also been used to document human rights abuses, in Egypt, Tibet and Morocco. Cell phone sales inch up in third quarter 9 Examples of innovative tools for the mobile phone Girl attempts suicide in Jammu and Kashmir over sim card Stop Positioning Mobile Phone as a Mere Tool for Entertainment and KIT

Tags: mobile phones, cell phones

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Seeing Double

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:27:23 GMT

I'm trying to figure out why my posts sometimes appear twice. I only write them and send them once...

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World in pocket...

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:36:20 GMT

..is the title of an article I posted on my blogspot blog. All about how mobile telephony is changing the way we exchange information. But it is so much more than that. The newest phones are like having a combination communications and entertainment center plus a computer that you can tote anywhere Get one for YOUR pocket! I'm using the HiPhone, but since there's no wifi on my street my Kyocera comes in handy for blogging, im-ing and e-mailing. Ah, well... I have big pockets. And thank God for cargo pants!

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World in pocket...

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:36:14 GMT

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What's in YOUR blog?

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:48:42 GMT

Some nitwit with nothing better to do sent me an email, complaining about my blog*spot blog ( http://dave-lucas.blogspot.com ) "I like your blog but you're all over the place... Why don't you stick to one topic or niche?" D'oh, hello? It's MY blog and I'll do with it whatever I please! I wrote back to the moron in a pleasant, professional fashion. In closing, I asked him to send along the url for HIS blog. To which he responded "I don't have one I think they're a waste of time."

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Presenting the Pocketblog!

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:58:25 GMT

For those of you who follow me on LiveJournal, my Posterous Posts, which simultaneously appear on LJ, have a new direction. From now on, I'm uploading to Posterous by mobile phone only. Everything there will be blogged "out of pocket," get it? Should you wish to check it out directly, go to pocketblogger.posterous.com

Twitter Up: Twitter APPS Crippled

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 15:35:36 GMT

Twitter: The Attack Continues! People from all over the planet have been flocking to read my article "Twitter is still screwed up" on my showcase blog*spot blog.

Creative SEO wrote an interesting post on Twitter Down, Facebook is Running Slow as Twitter users flood server
Here’s a quick excerpt

One problem with this tactic, Facebook is grinding under the pressure and yes you guessed it, its up and down more times than a yoyo at a pro yoyo convention. Facebook is struggling under the pressure and we have been receiving reports …

Read the rest of this great post here: Twitter Down, Facebook is Running Slow as Twitter users flood server

What's on YOUR cereal box?

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:35:29 GMT

This message is from a Virgin Mobile user. Enjoy.
_____________________________________________________________

The caption says "hold this image close to your face and STARE through it as if looking off into the distance. The image will look blurry. Try not to blink. Move the box VERY SLOWLY away from your face until the image gradually comes into focus and the object magically appears." Hmmmm... wonder if this technique could be used to influence one's thoughts?

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The Archer

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 22:54:31 GMT

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Still Magical After All These Years: RADIO!

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 00:19:01 GMT

I've been so lazy when it comes to LiveJournal! Time to put a nice new post up, a rather long one that's just a bit too long for my regular blogspot readers! Like you, I've been hearing a lot about the decline of print media and how the bloom has dropped off radio's bush. A New York Times op-ed columnist recently described the American press as being on "suicide watch" with "newspaper circulations and revenues...in free fall." The Capital Region's Metroland weekly ran a story entitled "Death on your doorstep" in which Chet hardin wrote "A single Web site wipes out hundreds of millions of dollars in classified ad revenue in a few quick years; legions of anonymous bloggers (I like this part) exert sway over public opinion equal to that of any self-respecting, war-mongering newspaper baron." But while all media is hangs on for dear life through the "digital earthquake," public radio is gaining strength, particularly NPR, and that's GOOD NEWS!

National Public Radio (NPR) ratings have increased steadily since 2000, and they've managed to hold on to much of their 2008 election coverage listenership bump (with over 26 million people tuning in each week so far in 2009), unlike many of their mainstream media counterparts.

Compared to cable news, where most networks are shedding viewers, and newspapers, where circulation continues to plummet, public radio appears to doing a lot better at it than the rest of the traditional media. I don't believe its what NPR or PRI or Radio Pacifica is doing differently. I think the key is what public radio is doing BETTER.

Case in point, the station I work for, WAMC, is a REGIONAL news powerhouse. In the unique
Upstate New York / Capital Region area, people have what I refer to as "regional alliances." You know people like that: your buddies who travel to the City whenever they get the chance. Your co-workers who root for the Boston Red Sox. Your neighbors who take regular trips up to Montreal. The people at church who are heading out to the Utica Zoo this weekend. Not to mention those who work in state government, hailing from all 4 compass points! Then there's the "Berkshires" crowd, and the Saratoga art and track patrons, etc. etc. etc.

In my opinion, WAMC is successful because it localizes the regionality… where else on the radio dial could you hear current temperatures for Albany, Glens Falls, Utica and Plattsburgh during a newscast?

According to NPR CEO Vivian Schiller, the network has a culture incredibly devoted to local coverage. "To me, local is the big play, because local commercial radio has abandoned the local market. Local newspapers are withering or sometimes dying. The big national media companies, including excellent ones like The New York Times, cannot afford to be covering every single community. So that leaves a big, gaping hole to serve Americans' local coverage," (that's what she told mediabistro.com in April!)

Published reports say NPR has a "three-prong strategy" including a focus on LOCAL newsgathering and informational coverage as well as adoption of social media. WAMC excels in both areas, but that unique twist, that ability to "localize the regionality" is what propels 90.3 into the stratosphere. So you have a great radio station, a great internet presence and a truly local "personality" (if radio stations can have personalities) that instantly befriends any listener.

The only other public radio station that makes me feel welcome anytime I tune in is WFUV down in New York City. What NPR has become aware of, and what WAMC has been channeling so remarkably, is what some industry folk refer to as "hyperlocal content." The Capital - Saratoga - Central NY - NYC area is so unique that I don't believe what WAMC does would work anyplace else.

According to mashable.com, Alex Iskold, the CEO of semantic web application company AdaptiveBlue, in 2007 predicted the rise of hyperlocal information, indicating that extremely targeted local advertising could be the path forward for the ad industry.

"Despite globalization, hyperlocal information is very valuable both to people and advertisers. In the coming years, we will be seeing the rise of a new way to look at information - geography. Inspired by utility and the promise of hyperlocal advertising, startups are racing to build businesses that deliver highly relevant, local information to users," he wrote.

Mashable.com also takes note of another aspect of NPR's winning approach: their adoption of social media. NPR is one of the few mainstream media organizations that is leading the charge in social media channels. Their Twitter account has over 780,000 followers, making it one of the top 25 on the social network (and third among news organizations behind only the New York Times and CNN). Their Facebook Page has over 400,000 fans. Mashable.com goes on:

…NPR has embraced social media in more ways than just having an active presence on top social media channels. They've also put social media to work for them. In October of 2008, for example, NPR asked listeners to factcheck the US Vice Presidential debates and communicate findings via a Twitter (Twitter reviews) hashtag. And in February, NPR's social media strategist (@acarvin) talked about Twitter on air, including hundreds people tweeting back comments in the conversation. Their conclusion? Twitter lets us all share the media consumption experience together, and that's a very positive thing.

NPR (and WAMC) don't stop at social networking, either - their social media efforts extend to podcasts, blogs, mobile apps, and even their own social network. NPR has been recognized for these efforts year after year with multiple Webby Awards.

NPR's 26.4 million weekly listeners are 11 times more than the daily circulation of USA Today, and greater than 9 times more than the prime time viewership of the #1 cable news channel in the US, Fox News. They have 860 local stations in their member network and operate 38 news bureaus around the world - 18 in foreign markets, which is greater than any other news gathering organization. NPR's amazing growth over the past 10 years prompted FastCompany magazine in March to call NPR the "most successful hybrid of old and new media," and wonder if NPR could be the savior of the news industry.

THIS IS THE IMPORTANT SENTENCE:

And they owe that success to the culture of open access and audience participation that they've cultivated over the past decade.

WAMC has been doing that for MORE than a decade! Where else could you get a mix of national, world and local programming including LOCAL news as well as reports from BBC and NPR?

Imported Air (Imported from Blog*spot)

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 18:44:46 GMT

The title of this post is a line I've imported from a Blondie song. It just seems to fit my general feeling today. Today I'm in Manhattan, and a look at the newspaper reminds one of the great POLITICAL distance between New York City and Albany. The NY Post pulling no punches, hammering Governor David Paterson and his sudden slam-dunk Senate pick Kirsten Gillibrand and the now-indicted former Senator Joe Bruno. The paper predicts that, like the terminator, Andrew Cuomo and Caroline Kennedy "will be back" when time comes. The Post: Gov Says Caroline Turned 'Nasty'... NYDN: ..underwhelmed from the start

Up in Albany, talk has already shifted away from politics to basketball, as UAlbany and Siena play home games this weekend. The Times Union has game updates, results and photos at:Siena and UAlbany as well as the TU SportsBlog

The newspapers also reflect the continuing decline of the economy: The Post has three timely articles - one about layoffs at public television station WNET/13, another about Girl Scout Cookies being downsized, and another about the MTA giving toolbooth attendants the boot as more motorists switch to E-ZPass.

And in the Nation's Capitol: OBAMA VS. RUSH IN NEW MEDIA WAR

Labels: Capital Region, MainStreamMedia, New York City, politics, Radio, Sports, TV

The Martin Luther King Half A Holiday

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 03:23:29 GMT

I find it hard to believe that in a nation that has just elected its first Black President, we've placed such a low value on the Martin Luther King holiday. I've heard radio talk-show hosts call it a "pseudo-holiday" and "half a holiday" because so many businesses choose to ignore it! People would get pissed if they were suddenly ordered to go to work on Memorial Day or the 4th of July. Hopefully, President Obama will see to it that the King Holiday becomes a full-fledged REAL holiday, not only in the eyes of the Nation, but in the eyes of the private business sector.

A few weeks ago I published an article entitled "The Situation" on my blog*spot blog. This was before the conflict escalated in Israel. In the post, I noted that there are some who would argue that the Middle East is setting the stage for the next (last?) major World war. There are others who invoke the biblical warning of "wars and rumours of wars."

In his newspaper column, Israeli Nechemia Meyers writes about the range of terrorist rockets: "According to maps we see almost every evening on TV, it now reaches only a dozen kilometers south of Rehovot, where we live. There is no reason to doubt that it will soon reach us too."

Meyers brought something very interesting up... it reminds me of the argument people use here in the US sometimes. You'll see Pakistani and Indian businessmen and women coming to New York, living in cramped quarters with several others, working two or three jobs and saving that money for a year or two. Then they buy into a business: a convenience store, pizza shop or gas station. Observers then attack less fortunate Americans with the argument "if they can do it, and they can barely speak English, why can't YOU?" Anyway - here's what Meyers writes about the Palestinians in Gaza: "They are still there after six decades because their Arab brothers want them to be there (emphasis mine). Rich, underpopulated Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States could easily absorb them as they have absorbed untold thousands of Indians, Pakistanis, Thais, Filipinos and others, who do work that could be done by Palestinians. But most of the Arab states would rather have the Gazans remain a festering sore in Israel's south rather than to rehabilitate them as Israel has done with Jews from Arab countries... One can only dream of another scenario, one in which peace and cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians would make life easier on both the frontlines and the home front." Isn't that what all "ordinary citizens, everyday people" really want? Peace and cooperation? Can the leaders not make it so?

I've thought this out a bit farther in the interests of clarifying something. Follow me now:
- In the U.S.A. blacks have been socially disadvantaged for many years.
- The Civil Rights Movement (inlcuding the JFK era and the social disorder that raged thru the later sixties into the early seventies) paved the way for many changes which
- really started to "set" during the mid-1970s when there was increased interracial activity on may fronts.
- As the harsh reality of the 1980s set in and hip-hop was born, an mist of hopelessness settled over many inner-city neighborhoods, while at the same time, Indian and Pakistani people (along with other foreigners) came to the States and began to establish the businesses mentioned above.

Even now, many of the poor black families in the US share a common bond with the Palestinians in Gaza. Although other Arab countries could give the Gazans jobs, they choose not to. Although the United States could give jobs (training and loans) to black citizens, those jobs and benefits are going to foreigners. Something is wrong with both pictures.

Back to Semagic

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 23:45:46 GMT

I thought that I had deleted Semagic from my system, but as I was checking files, there it was! So here I am, giving the program another "test." I am writing this while offline. I spent much of Saturday trying to figure out whether or not i should shell out $99.99 for an Aspire One Notebook PC. RadioShack is selling them for that, long as you sign up for AT&T's "air card" at $60 a month for a two-year term. The Acer I'm looking at has a flash drive instead of a harddrive. Problem is a lot of my programs I like to use wouldn't work on it... or would they? Looks like I'll be Googling to see if perhaps I can install an extra OS (the Aspire does have a WinXp version which I understand is very cranky, has a DVD program (the Aspire has no DVD drive) and the machine itself has a spinning disc style harddrive, something I don't want at all. Any one out there who is familiar with or owns the Acer Aspire Linux version?

Invitation to Interaction!

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:21:20 GMT

Dear Readers (Blogders!) -

You may have noticed a bit of tinkering and experimentation going on. It's ALL good! I'm trying to "stitch my online presence together" Google/Blogger ---> MyBlogLog/Yahoo! ---> LiveJournal ---> MySpace ---> FaceBook ---> LinkedIn ETC.

FIRST a WARM WELCOME to NEW READERS!

Next: It's THAT time of year, when I solicit other bloggers to contribute "guest posts" to run on my blogspot blog during the holiday season! Contact me!

I'm seeing more in the way of "comments" and that's good. I'm also seeing folks come in and use the Haloscan comments like a Cbox or TagBoard, and that's also good! Better yet, I've added a C-Box and a Google Interactive box to encourage more readers to use my blogspot blog as a forum.

I've gotten rid of box at the top of the sidebar where you could enter your email addy and get nightly updates / summaries of this blog. I've seen this recommended by many other bloggers, so naturally I was curious to see how it will work here. It didn't. I almost installed the MyBlogLog widget that shows previous posts (actually, I DID install it for a few hours) but then I realized that there's already a "previous posts" section in the sidebar!

Scroll down a bit (on blogspot) and you'll notice "Dave Lucas' Shared Items" which comes your way via my Google Reader, so I can direct and recommend articles on other people's blogs without having to log in and post an entry.

I'm trying to figure out if I can add a MyBlogLog widget on my LiveJournal blog! anyone?

You'll also notice (on blogspot) different "counters" and "rankers" which are really more for my benefit than yours, so I can get a feel for what's happening with this blog. I've signed up for but haven't fully initiated some "microblogging" features... there's also a little icon under my photo that says "mobile" which is how you can carry and view my blog wherever you go on your iPhone!

I'm also on MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn... (love those "social networks") I'm putting more effort into the LiveJournal blog, where you're beginning to see stuff you won't see on my blogspot.

In the months to come, I'm hoping to get LOTS more in the way of interaction and participation from readers and other bloggers. Your feedback is ALWAYS welcome!

Feel free to share your feedback with me by leaving me a comment using either "comments" feature below. If you have any questions, I’ll be happy to help answer them for you. Take a moment to subscribe to my RSS Feed and be sure to start following me on Twitter.

Now, here's a few things I noticed going on in the blogosphere:

A Cuban blogger meet-up scheduled for Saturday is in danger of being cancelled by the authorities. Eduardo Avila reports.

Blogger feng37 posts on a new wave of control over media in China:

Homero shares his Mom's recipe for the Nicaraguan dish Mondongo Soup.

This article cross-posted on blogspot & MySpace!

Anybody know how to tuck a MyBlogLog widget into an LJ sidebar?

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:23:23 GMT

It would be nice if it can be done...

Beyonce Without Her Makeup: If I Were A Boy...

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 21:29:07 GMT

Beyoncé - If I Were A Boy

Beyonce gets all sexy senorita on the Spanish rendition of her latest smash 'If I Were A Boy'. With a new album and two movies on the horizon, it appears the "Season of Beyonce" has begun. It's all in the MARKETING, folks!

Beyonce in rehab - but only to research her latest film role...

TI fends off Beyonce

Beyonce Debuts At #1

Beyonce GQ Pictures December 2008

People seem to have an obscene fascination with seeing pictures of celebrities minus make-up. Okay, so here goes a few of Beyonce, the popular singer.

masala4maza: Beyonce Robot Gloves Photo and Video

To the left, to the left! Hey Beyonce! The glue is pulling that wig to the left! (Check out the wrinkles near her eye).
[bigger photo]

And the wannabees are waiting in the wings: Leona Lewis 'Inspired' By Beyonce, Sets US Deluxe Album Release

By the way friends, I'm at 2,350 posts and counting on this blog alone! Whew!

Tags: Beyoncé, Beyonce

Labels: Bloggers, Blogs, Celebrities, Entertainment, Film, MainStreamMedia, Marketing, Pop Culture, Radio, web 2.0, YouTube

You Are What You Eat!

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 01:59:49 GMT

The New York Times reviews a book called Eat This, Not That!, a nutrition guide full of images of foods you shouldn't eat and their healthier substitutes. The book also has a section highlighting 20 of the country's worst foods, and the article republishes eight of them, categorized with names like "worst fast food meal" and "worst drink". The "winners"?Worst Fast Food Meal: McDonald's Chicken Selects Premium Breast Strips with creamy ranch sauce. Chicken sounds healthy, but not at 870 calories.

Worst Drink: Jamba Juice Chocolate Moo'd Power Smoothie. With 166 grams of sugar, you could have had eight servings of Ben & Jerry's.Worst Supermarket Meal: Pepperidge Farm Roasted Chicken Pot Pie. One pie packs 64 grams of fat.Worst "Healthy" Burger: Ruby Tuesday Bella Turkey Burger. With 1,145 calories, not a very healthy choice.Worst Airport Snack: Cinnabon Classic Cinnamon Roll. Packed with 813 hot gooey calories and 5 grams of trans fats.Worst Kids' Meal: Macaroni Grill Double Macaroni 'n Cheese. With 62 fat grams, it's the equivalent of 1.5 full boxes of Kraft Mac 'n Cheese.Worst Salad: On the Border Grande Taco Salad with Taco Beef. A salad with 102 grams of fat and 2,410 mg of sodium.Worst Dessert: Chili's Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream. At 1,600 calories, it's like eating the caloric equivalent of three Big Macs.

So, out of curiosity—any of your "diet" staples make the list? Let's hear how you fared, along with your votes for worst foods, in the comments.

Threads

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 01:44:18 GMT

It's been a long time since I lasted posted here. Most of the time I'm on my blogspot blog http://dave-lucas.blogspot.com, mostly because I'm so familiar with the blogspot way of doing things.

Recently, I became more active on MySpace and semi-active on Facebook. I intend to thread MySpace -> Facebook -> LiveJournal ->Blogspot -> Wordpress into one unified web presence. Why? Because it's good to have multiple ways of communicating on the internet... I call it "interblogging" and I believe it's a good way to maximize exposure if you're somebody like me, who is active in the media.

If you have any comments, thoughts or suggestions on this "interblogging" concept, please let me know!

Life (and Blogging) Takes Funny Turns

Sun, 23 Dec 2007 19:36:17 GMT

One thing that really frosts my pumpkin is those bloggers who feel that they "must" tell the world that they are taking a few days or a week or weekend off. First of all, nobody cares! Secondly, that's a great way to tip hackers off that you won't be online and let people in your city or town get the idea that you may not be in your home or apartment for awhile. Bad move! Just take the time off you need, post on the fly if you can, and that's that!

I've always always always been a fan of LaShawn Barber and her blog. I've written many times how much I admired her "comments" section, loaded with real dialog (not spam) that almost takes on a "forum" or "board" atmmosphere--- something I've always hoped to accomplish with my blogspot blog, but it never happened!

Now, LaShawn is taking her popular blog in a whole new direction:

Many people started reading my blog because of the way I covered political and “controversial” topics. Since I’m phasing out those topics, it makes sense that some of those readers are phasing out LBC. But it doesn’t feel scary. I’m treading new-to-me territory, and it feels like a fresh start. I feel refreshed.
In some ways, I'm starting over with this blog. After I stopped covering politics, a few loyal fans stuck around. For the most part, however, I’m reinventing myself and the readership is shifting. - LaShawn Barber
When I first started blogging, I followed veteran bloggers’ advice: comment on and trackback to other blogs, send post links to established, like-minded bloggers, etc. I did all that. I even visited small blogs - really small blogs - and commented on those sites. This consequently led the bloggers to blogroll me, and things picked up from there.

Should I do the same with digital music blogging?

Absolutely!

MashUp: LiveJournal Plus Blogspot

Sat, 08 Dec 2007 14:09:39 GMT

I've been waiting for the opportunity to interblog between Blogger and LiveJournal. Blogger has added a much-needed feature:

H/T Maremag:

Blogger in Draft (it's in a test phase..) now lets you enable OpenID-based commenting in your blogs' Settings | Comments tab...This means that users of OpenID-enabled services — such as LiveJournal and WordPress — can comment on your blog using their accounts from those sites, rather than with Blogger/Google accounts. Read more... I updated my comment section accordingly, no excuses for lurking now!

To try out Blogger in draft, just go to http://draft.blogger.com/ and log in. If you want to stop using it and go back to “normal” Blogger, simply log in to http://www.blogger.com/ instead. Your blogs and posts are the same regardless of whether you use Blogger in draft or regular Blogger. The only difference is what you see in the interface. Source

On the Radio

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 17:08:44 GMT

I was twisting the radio dial at home during breakfast when I stumbled upon the Righteous Brothers version of "Little Latin Lupe Lu." How diverse pop music was in the 60's thru 90s... today, all you need is one hit song with somebody saying "Ay, Ay, Ay" in a cute and original way, and all of a sudden you've got a slew of what we used to call "biters" who steal the riff and put it in their own song. Two things are killing Rap & HipHop: the first of course is the language, glorification of violence and dehumanizing of women. The second is stealing riffs or entire songs from others. For heaven's sakes, be original, dude!

We have XM sat radio in the car, and I enjoy popping thru the channels listening to all kinds of stuff. New York City radio is always hot and diverse with a station just about anywhere on FM and AM dials! Albany radio is an entity unto itself: up here people have been buzzing about Imus' return to 770 WABC. Locals are very aware that WFAN 660 and WABC 770 can be received here. The more localized buzz involves Paul Vandenburgh's return to to the airwaves on his own station at 1300 AM. I first met Paul at the old WWCN 1460 when he showed up seeking employment. He seemed like an okay guy. That Friday I was called into the general manager's office. He said to me "Dave, I'm going to be away this weekend. There's two guys that want the afternoon weekend talk show slot. Could you listen for me and pick the one you like best?" I did, and it was Paul, hands down! Off the bat he displayed that local, folksy, Paul style that has entertained Albany area audiences for years. Talk 1300 should be on the air soon.

The laundromat I usually take the clothes to suddenly stopped piping B95 thru the speakers, after playing that station nonstop for about the last 20 years... It switched over to the Country Music station, WGNA. I finally saw the owner and asked him what happened... sit down for this: he said he'd been getting complaints about the music. ??? "Did anybody ever complain before?" "Nope, but I've had several from different people in the last month or two, so I changed the station!" Go figure!

I think it's quite humourous we have so many "radio experts" in the Capital Region. Whatever the case, 2008 should be a very interesting year...

4 Windows Assassins

Sat, 17 Nov 2007 18:53:48 GMT

Ah, the nasty buggers! Little trojans love hopping aboard unsuspecting computers. For you, I have identified four very nasty bugs and ways to defeat them:

ibm0001 - aka - torpig

USPY.EXE

Tempmbroit

lsass.exe