Friday, June 29, 2007

Attention All Twoofers

Hey folks, Glenn Beck, and Dennis Leary...

You larger media folks may be used to this stuff, but this is my first death threat in years, so I'm a bit taken back by it - hence my posting.

A while back, I posted a video of Dennis Leary appearing on the Glenn Beck show that we ended up using on the RizWords show. As you can see from the comments page linked above, it sparked quite a debate from what I'm now learning is the 'Twoofer' movement (a play on the word 'truther'), and those that are sane.

I know, however, that a few of my readers really do think that 9/11 was an inside job.

So I'll post this graphic of a fellow from YouTube who calls you twoofers compadres.

Kinda wants to make you second guess your position on the whole 9/11 thing. These are the kind of nut-jobs the rest of the world sees you associate with.

To Focoist: your comments have been forwarded to the proper authorities, and Glenn Beck as well as Dennis Leary.

Want to be part of the Rizzn-ite army? Indoctrination instructions here.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Grey Going Technicolor

A lot of my Rizznites out there are involved with my video initiatives, and have already embraced or are considering embracing video solutions for your old media content. For those of you who have not yet made the leap, here's a story about the New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal and their decision to go with video to supplement their other online content:

The New York Times will make the embed code of its video clips available to the public by early fall. This means that many of the paper's videos will be freely used and posted to blogs and Web pages.

This change will be implemented in Q3, according to Diane McNulty, a spokesperson for The New York Times.

Just yesterday, The Washington Post began to offer the code of its clips. Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal opened up it's code.

These big newspapers understand that gaining market share means making their content usable on many platforms, even if there is some degree of risk. There is upside, of course. Through this system, the pre-roll ads that are seen on the site are shared as well and viewed from wherever they are placed.

I think it's terrific that The New York Times is taking a page from YouTube game book of making embed codes available to everyone. After all, a good part of YouTube's success has come from the utility of providing embed code.

Below are links to a clip of comprised of two observers of the success of YouTube: Forrester senior Brian Haven and MIT Professor Henry Jenkins who head the Institute's Media Studies Program. They frame the success of YouTube and the power of sharable video.

The second clip is my interview with Jeremy Allaire, founder and CEO of Brightcove. I spoke with Jeremy in Boston earlier this year about Dow Jones and its plans to share the embed code.

http://www.youtube.com/v/DuWDnzfI98w
http://www.youtube.com/v/rpSbZAaquUk
If you've not yet made the leap to video, I strongly suggest you call me and see what I can do to help your business cash in on this trend. Give me a call at 903-705-9770.

Want to be part of the Rizzn-ite army? Indoctrination instructions here.

Friday, June 22, 2007

Reliant Energy: Not Exactly Thrilled!

I haven't been a user of Reliant Energy for more than one billing cycle, but I'm already facing disconnection, outright lies from customer service, stalling tactics, and impending disconnection.

As many of you are aware, I've recently had a child, as well as just recently have had to move. Those of you that listen to the podcast are probably aware that I've undertaken several new projects that have yet to start really paying off... so as you might imagine, finances are a bit tight at the moment.

Well, imagine my surprise last night when I received a bill (my first bill) from Reliant claiming that my payment of $418.55 was past due. $418.55 for the first month's bill? This is after a $350.00 deposit that I paid roughly three months ago now.

Let's start with what I was told when I signed up:
  • I was told that customer service would be available 24 hours a day.
  • I was told that customer service systems would not be primarily machine based, and that I could talk with humans.
  • I was told that when I had problems, customer service would be responsive to fix them.
  • I was told that I would be charged an up front deposit of $350, and no other fees other than my kW/h charges.
  • I was told that I would incur a nominal fee for transferring my service across town to the new apartment.
  • I was told I've have the lowest kW/h rate in the state.
  • I was told I'd have detailed billing.

As it turns out, Reliant has so far not been able to deliver on any of those claims:
  • Customer service lines are available 24/7, but most of the time, the interaction is strictly with machines. It's about a 25 minute session of punching buttons and listening to recordings before a human will answer the phone. This takes time out of my day as well as runs up phone bills.
  • Once I reach a person, that person inevitably is unable to assist me and patches me through to a different department, one that apparently has no ability to figure out what the five-hundred buttons I pushed in the automated system were.
  • They have decided to add an additional $275 deposit because I moved 10 days after my service started.
  • They have decided not to return my prior deposit - no explanation given.
  • It is by no means the lowest kW/h in teh state.
  • My bill has absolutely no details on it.
Bottom line - avoid Direct Energy and Reliant Energy like the plague. Direct has a long history of crookery with me. Reliant seems intent on claiming the title of worst energy company evar for itself.

Want to be part of the Rizzn-ite army? Indoctrination instructions here.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Just a quick UBN Update...

Hey Rizznites!,

Head on over to www.unimaxservices.com/ubn and check out the live show we're putting on tonight.  I'll be running the phones and the board, and probably not on camera, but this could be a good foreshadowing of things to come... and you definitely don't want to miss this if you can!

--
/mark "rizzn" hopkins
For my blog, profile, and wikipedia entries, simply Google "rizzn"
--
join my google group: http://groups.google.com/group/rizzncom-v83/
Listen to my DAILY podcast: http://feeds.feedburner.com/RizWords
--

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Chart Topping Monsters!

Hey Rizznites!

Just a quick note to brag: RizWords has graduated. This week we were ranked number 23 in live participation at TalkShoe.com, we were ranked number 2 in terms of total downloads, and number 1 in overall downloads and participation!

So we're basically the number one TalkCast on TalkShoe.com!

See what you're missing - head over to the podcast page!

Want to be part of the Rizzn-ite army? Indoctrination instructions here.

Top 25 Blogs Evar!

Ken Rutkowski published a list of the top 25 blogs as graded by a concoction of independent stats measurers... came up with a fairly interesting list:

25 Most Popular Blogs
Logo
Rank
Name Location (URL)
1
Gizmodo Gizmodo.com
2
TMZ TMZ.com
3
engadget engadget.com
4
LifeHacker LifeHacker.com
5
HuffingtonPost HuffingtonPost.com
6
boingboing boingboing.net
7
PerezHilton PerezHilton.com
8
Gawker Gawker.com
9
Kotaku Kotaku.com
10
DailyKos DailyKos.com
11
TechCrunch TechCrunch.com
12
Defamer Defamer.com
13
Wonkette Wonkette.com
14
AutoBlog AutoBlog.com
15
ARSTechnica ARSTechnica.com
16
joystiq joystiq.com
17
AlterNet AlterNet.org
18
downloadsquad downloadsquad.com
19
CrooksandLiars CrooksandLiars.com
20
Mashable Mashable.com
21
GigaOM GigaOM.com
22
littlegreenfootballs littlegreenfootballs.com
23
PostSecret postsecret.blogspot.com
24
AListapart AListapart.com
25
ReadWriteWeb ReadWriteWeb.com

Want to be part of the Rizzn-ite army? Indoctrination instructions here.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

What's Going On Here?

Hey, Rizznites!

You may notice short and unexplained outages here on the site. Basically, here's what I'm working on:

Getting Paul Darby's UBN up and running properly for next Monday.
Getting the final proposal for the new podcast network ready, so we can add new podcasts to a lineup to be featured here.
Re-Designing the site to showcase the expanding nature of the content here at Rizzn.com.

The site is going to change a little bit. The blog will still exist, and the links aren't really going to change any. I am, though, going to be switching up how the page looks when the default domain "rizzn.com" is hit... it'll contain the latest blog post, an autoplayer for the show, and links to all the content we're working on. Consider it the 1.0 for the new content network we'll be unveiling here soon.

I don't have any screenshots to show you, but it'll have a similar feel to snips.rizzn.com since everyone seems to be agreed that it's a much more clean and pleasing look than the current rizzn.com layout.

Hopefully, after I get this part done, I'll have the time to upgrade the rest of the Oblong Box network to fit in with our new content setup. We've really got some big things planned (I mean it this time), and there appears to be a gracious benefactor who believes as much as I do that there's money to be made in the New Media space, and appears willing to put his money where his mouth is.

That's all for now, I need to get back to work.

James and Art will be hosting the show tomorrow without me as I take time to focus on these new developments. I should be back Monday, hopefully.

/rizzn

Want to be part of the Rizzn-ite army? Indoctrination instructions here.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

RizWords Update

I'm in the middle of a redesign on the site here... but an update for you RizWords Rizznites, the show notes will now be contained on the Snips Subsite, powered by Tumblr. I'm still trying to find a color scheme that doesn't make me puke, but that's the basic layout for now.

Show notes will now be found there. There ya go.

Want to be part of the Rizzn-ite army? Indoctrination instructions here.

".. Vice-President of a Feedreader?"

I was listening to TWiT #99 while I was getting the show notes ready for today.

The line of the show is right around the One Hour mark where they're discussing John C. Dvorak's new position over at PodShow... basically, he's putting together a content channel... and after John explains it all, Leo asks incredulously... so you're "VP of a FeedReader?"

Priceless.

/rizzn

Want to be part of the Rizzn-ite army? Indoctrination instructions here.

Saturday, June 9, 2007

Schooling?

You know I think getting your doctorate degree online would be a good idea. Hell going to college is a good idea in general. I know this one school has online courses and is based in Minneapolis. I hear its a real good school,very diverse, with people all over the world taking courses. I will have to check into it some more, and their is a lady that teaches their that just co authored a book called Appreciative Coaching: A Positive Process for Change. It seems to be an very good read. I think I may pick it up the next time I am at the book store.

[This blog post was based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com.]

Friday, June 8, 2007

Guy McClendon on Ron Paul and the LP Dilemma

Guy McClendon from the Texas State Libertarian Committee had some interesting points on the dilemma American Libertarians face due to Ron Paul's presidential run:
The LP’s big problem is that our LP Nat’l Convention is in May 2008, and the Republican Convention is in ~Sept 2008. However on the plus side, there will have been enough primaries by then to give a great idea as to where he stands by May.

The agony is that LP members need to decide much earlier than May 2008 whether to affiliate with the LP [our obvious preference], or vote for Dr. Paul in the Republican primary. For LP folks who tend to support Ron, their inclination is to do the latter. However, that’s a bad decision for several reasons. An additional 500 votes in the USA is most probably not going to impact the Republican primaries.

It’s always great to have a Plan B. If all the constitutionalists in the LP vote in the Republican primary, there will be nothing but purists in the LP convention. The purists would very likely not vote for Dr. Paul simply because his immigration position is not 100% open borders. Duh … Instead, they would probably vote for some non-credible candidate like George Phillies, or maybe someone having a criminal record. If 500 constitutionalists instead go to the LP national convention, Dr. Paul would be assured to gain the LP nomination … and, would thereby be guaranteed a slot on the general election ballot … in all 50 states.

So far as his chance to win the Republican nomination, it would be political suicide for Dr. Paul to even think about running on a ticket beside the RP ticket. So, I certainly am not going to even ask. Of course, if the neocons flood the Republican primaries and nominate a good communist like McCain, our LP ticket could start looking good to Dr. Paul in May 2008. Do you recall how Joe Lieberman flopped from Democrat to Independent during the 2006 election … AFTER having lost the Democratic primary?

Guy
Want to be part of the Rizzn-ite army? Indoctrination instructions here.

Thursday, June 7, 2007

RizWords - Daily Politics and Tech - EP59

RizWords - Daily Politics and Tech
Episode 59 - download now - subscribe now - review us on iTunes!
  • A member of the TechPodcast Network @ techpodcast.com. If it's Tech, it's here.
  • Remember, if you're listening on the podcast recording, you can call into the show live if you tune in through TalkShoe.com at 2:30 PM EST every weekday.
  • If you like the podcast (and you haven't already given us a rating), head over and do so, and don't forget to sign up for the discussion list.
  • Other Podcast Plugs:
    • TalkGirls comes on Tuesday nights. Check out the TalkGirls Podcast ... it's good times!
    • Cotolo Chronicles: Frank is a good friend of the show, and an associate of the late great Wolfman Jack. Check out his podcast.
    • NewsReal: Good friend to Art and I - has one of the best hours of news podcast each week.
    • You Are the Guest: Bill Grady turns the microphone on the internet's most interesting people.
  • Sponsors:
James Smith and Art Lindsey both join me today as co-hosts.

We kick off the podcast today discussing a bit of politics inspired by the Cato Institute.

What Mitt and Hillary Have in Common
As he campaigns for the White House, Mitt Romney has had to tap dance around the health-care reforms he enacted while governor of Massachusetts. The first bit of bad news was that the plan's cost was higher than predicted. Then it reneged on its commitment to cover the uninsured. But the latest bit of news about "RomneyCare" may require even fancier footwork.

The Left is now thanking Romney for making HillaryCare respectable again.

Jonathan Cohn has an article in the latest New Republic titled "Hillary Was Right" [$] that helpfully explains similarities between HillaryCare and RomneyCare:

In Washington, at least, praising HillaryCare will get you laughed off the talk shows. But...if you look closely at the proposals experts and officials are tossing around, you may start to recognize some familiar elements...They also envision, as did HillaryCare, a government role in making sure affordable, high-quality plans are made available — typically, by creating (again, like HillaryCare) some sort of purchasing cooperative through which some, if not all, of the population would buy their coverage. That's true of the plan former Senator John Edwards proposed as part of his presidential campaign a few months ago. It's true of the plan Senator Ron Wyden introduced in Congress back in December. It's even true of the plan former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney signed into law before leaving office last year — even though Romney has made mocking HillaryCare a staple of his campaign rhetoric as he seeks the Republican presidential nomination.
We explore a little bit of the why's and how's over online gambling law in America:
Group Sues Over US Online Gambling Law
It's well known that, last year, Congress hid an anti-online gambling law inside a bill about protecting our ports, knowing that politicians wouldn't vote against protecting our ports. There's been quite an uproar about this, and at least some politicians are starting to reconsider the law. However, that process is apparently too slow for some. A group called the Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association, an organization apparently put together so hastily that it has no website, has filed a lawsuit preventing the government from enforcing the law. The lawsuit apparently also notes that even the WTO says that the US is violating international treaties with its stance on online gambling. While any court case would take years (probably longer than any change to the laws), it could certainly bring some more attention to the law (and potentially prevent its enforcement for the duration of the case).
After the break, we took a good long look at our expectations of the iPhone:
How Big Will the iPhone Become?
palewook writes "Combine the best elements of an iPod with a BlackBerry's addictive usefulness, and you may just get Apple's Next Big Thing. Around 2009, when the lower cost version of iPhone appears, Business Week believes the yearly market for iPhones could be over 10 billion dollars a year. Its an interesting prediction; if those numbers come to pass, iPhone could become a bigger source of revenue than the traditional iPod. 'The answer may not come until 2009. By then, Apple should have begun creating lower-cost iPhone variants to reach consumers scared off by the introductory $499 price. It also will probably have moved into overseas markets and cut deals with more carriers to utilize higher-speed wireless networks. So while most analysts look for Apple to sell around 3 million units this year and 10 to 12 million in 2008, many figure that 20 million will move in 2009.'?"
We couldn't stand it any longer, we discussed a bit of Paris Hilton news:
Paris Hilton Bawls Her Way Out of An L.A. Celebrity Slammer Paris Hilton has finally done it to me. She has so outraged my sensibilities that here I am blogging on this sack of celebrity excrement instead of analyzing every jot and tittle of the presidential race.

As everyone but those hundreds of tortured souls rotting in Gitmo surely know by now, the hotel heiress was streeted only five days into her 23-day sentence (already reduced from 45 days) in a celebrity lockup for repeatedly driving drunk.

The reason: Paris couldn’t sleep and had become a sniveling mess. She will serve the rest of her sentence at home with a tracking device attached to her ankle.

The New York Post said she was seen crying after she cracked “under the pressure of prison.”

Paris, who reportedly is a moderate Republican, had unsuccessfully appealed to California Governor Schwarzenneger to commute her sentence. Her attorneys argued in an irony-free petition that “She provides hope for young people all over the U.S. and the world. She provides beauty and excitement to (most of) our otherwise mundane lives.”

And in other whorific news...:

Jessica Cutler Files for Bankruptcy

This is news?

Yes, it is -- when you have a background as a "sex blogger". :-)

An AP newswire article, via PhysOrg.com, reports that:

Jessica Cutler, the former Senate aide whose online sex diary landed her a book deal and a Playboy photo spread but got her kicked off Capitol Hill, has filed for bankruptcy.

Cutler, a former aide to then-Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, created the "Washingtonienne" blog in 2004 and began posting racy details about her sex life with six men, including a Senate colleague and "a few generous older gentlemen" who she said paid many of her living expenses.

When the blog was discovered, Cutler was fired. She moved to New York, wrote a novel based on the scandal, posed naked and started a new Web site that describes herself as "a published author who jumps out of cakes for money."

Under the occupation heading of her Web site, it reads: "I'm freelancing."

More here.

Background information here and here.

Two Neat Links: Akamai gives a peek at the internet, and more online ad spending.

Want to be part of the Rizzn-ite army? Indoctrination instructions here.

A thought For today

Have you ever thought about how search engine marketers get their views and things like that higher? Well search engine optimization helps them do that by getting their site out their and in the results that pop up when someone "googels" some information. Take Google for instance, they are used by 80% of people that search the web for what they are looking for. I use it all the time. SEO for short, helps put together a web sites information better so that it better understands what is all on the site so when someone looks for web sites with that certain criteria then their site is more likely to pop up in the results.

[This post contains a paid placement.]

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

RizWords - Daily Politics and Tech - EP58

RizWords - Daily Politics and Tech
Episode 58 - download now - subscribe now - review us on iTunes!
  • A member of the TechPodcast Network @ techpodcast.com. If it's Tech, it's here.
  • Remember, if you're listening on the podcast recording, you can call into the show live if you tune in through TalkShoe.com at 2:30 PM EST every weekday.
  • If you like the podcast (and you haven't alreadyf given us a rating), head over and do so, and don't forget to sign up for the discussion list.
  • Other Podcast Plugs:
    • TalkGirls comes on Tuesday nights. Check out the TalkGirls Podcast ... it's good times!
    • Cotolo Chronicles: Frank is a good friend of the show, and an associate of the late great Wolfman Jack. Check out his podcast.
    • NewsReal: Good friend to Art and I - has one of the best hours of news podcast each week.
    • You Are the Guest: Bill Grady turns the microphone on the internet's most interesting people.
  • Sponsors:
Hey. As I mentioned on the blog earlier this week, we're the number three rated podcast on TalkShoe.com right now. Read more about it here. Our new found celebrity status is getting people to write us. Email us with that link to get your letter read on the show!

We kicked the show off with a lively discussion and report card on the various candidate performances on last night's presidential primary debate. We eventually segued into the results of the Scooter Libby trial, which was announced late yesterday:
Libby Given 30 Months for Lying in C.I.A. Leak Case
I. Lewis Libby Jr., the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney and one of the principal architects of President Bush's foreign policy, was sentenced Tuesday to 30 months in prison for lying during a C.I.A. leak investigation
After the break, we started in on the Media and Tech news:
U.S. limits fines for profanity
If President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney can blurt out vulgar language, then the government cannot punish broadcast television stations for broadcasting the same words in similarly fleeting contexts. That, in essence, was the decision Monday, when a U.S. federal appeals court struck down a government policy allowing stations and networks to be fined if they broadcast shows containing profanities. Although the case was primarily concerned with what is known as "fleeting expletives," or blurted profanities, on television, both network executives and top officials at the Federal Communications Commission said the opinion could gut the commission's ability to regulate any speech on television or radio. Kevin Martin, the chairman of the FCC, said the agency was now considering whether to seek an appeal before all the judges of the appeals court or to take the matter directly to the Supreme Court. The decision, by a divided panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, was a sharp rebuke to the FCC and to the Bush administration. For the four television networks that filed the lawsuit - Fox, CBS, NBC and ABC - it was a major victory in a legal and cultural battle they are waging with the commission and its supporters.



Mark explained the personal connection he has to Hearst media and launches into this story of positive growth for old media into new:
YouTube to will pay for local TV programming
YouTube has reached a revenue-sharing deal with Hearst-Argyle Television whereby local TV stations will be paid when users of the video-sharing site watch their programming. YouTube, a unit of Google, and Hearst-Argyle said in a statement Sunday that they would share advertising revenue on news, weather and entertainment videos from five TV stations - the first time YouTube has paid for local TV programming. Hearst-Argyle television stations in Boston, Sacramento, Pittsburgh. Baltimore and Manchester, New Hampshire, will begin posting local video content to dedicated channels on YouTube. YouTube will also distribute Hearst-Argyle's new digital video initiatives, including high school football, basketball and local amateur entertainment, the companies said. Hearst-Argyle, which owns 29 local TV stations in the United States, will take an undisclosed cut of the advertising revenue YouTube earns when its users view clips, a spokesman said. The New York-based company owns local affiliates of ABC, NBC, CBS and MyNetworkTV. It reaches roughly 18 percent of U.S. households with televisions.
Art ponders what is causing this, the latest in a rash of bouts of kleptomania:
Book Publisher Resorts To Cheap Stunts: Steals Google Laptops
Just as Google is making it even more obvious how their book scanning project is helping publishers by helping them sell more books, it appears that at least one publisher doesn't seem to understand the difference between helping more people find your books and theft. Apparently the CEO of Macmillan Publishers decided to swipe two Google laptops from Google's booth at BookExpo America, wait for Google employees to notice the missing laptops (took about an hour) and then claim that he was just giving Google "a taste of their own medicine." Let's see. One is taking an expensive scarce item. The other is building an index so more people can find books. If Macmillan's CEO really thinks that's the same medicine, than someone ought to check what medication he's taking.
And then we briefly talk about a potential winner of the dumbest startup of the week contest:
flickadaylogo.pngLast August Noah Kalina posted a video on YouTube (embedded above): it features nothing more than daily photos of himself over 6 years, set to music. The video has been viewed over 6 million times, inspiring many spoofs and similar postings. The amount of work that went into the video is staggering. Taking the photos, organizing them and then editing them into a movie would have taken hundreds of hours in aggregate.

FlickaDay is a new Boston-based startup that makes this whole process much easier. Use the site to take a photo of yourself every day using a connected webcam or camera. Flickaday will organize the photos and will let you publish it as a Flash widget on another website.

FlickaDay uses Flash to hook up to your web cam. Each day you can sign in and snap a photo through your web cam and write your mood. You can only snap one photo a day, which is stored to your account. You can then show off these photos on your FlickaDay widget, which lists your most recent photo and mood. Viewers can also look through archived photos using a calendar or play through the whole set to a song you uploaded. You can adjust the frame rate, but the default is a comfortable 8 frames a second.

Want to be part of the Rizzn-ite army? Indoctrination instructions here.

I'm sort of a big deal - in Qatar

In the weirdest bit of analytics I've ever seen, check out this screen shot of my Alexa Rankings ... WTFzorz?

I'm apparently ranked 36,257 of all the internet in terms of most visited by Qatarians. Wo0t!

/rizzn

Want to be part of the Rizzn-ite army? Indoctrination instructions here.

Maybe just maybe..

I was thinking the other day about putting some of the things that I have gotten over the years in a deposit box or something like that. Then when I was talking to a friend the other day they told me about how they just got one for their family. Well I have a lot of silver and I need to put it in a safe place so that if I ever get robed one day I wont have to worry about it. This Monex place I hear about I can keep it with them or I can have them send it to me when I am ready to keep it at my house.

[This post contains a paid placement.]

Earthshell News: Bankruptcy Proceedings are, erm, proceeding.

Hey folks.

For those of you new to the Rizzn-ite army, who haven't read the backstory, this might be a bit confusing to you, but for you long time Rizzn-ites, you'll remember my squabbles with Simon Hodson and his Khashoggi backers.

Well, today, there seems to be some big news from the world of Hodson. As you may recall, Hodson removed himself from Earthshell, after driving the company into utter shambles. Essam Khashoggi also left, making it look like rich guys fleeing like rats from a sinking ship.

It can't be coincidence that the same day that Forbes publishes an AP piece about how EarthShell (ERTH) is moving on it's Chapter 11 plan (one that incidentally, it filed all the way back in January), that I get a flood of letters from folks asking about Simon and his ilk, after having read my less than complimentary blog posts about the fellow.

This is something that Bert didn't understand, Simon didn't understand, and Essam could probably care less about, being as rich as he is... You may have more money than me, but if you send your corrupt business practices my way and end up screwing me, the words documenting your actions will not only be forever immortalized here on these pages, but every screwup from here till eternity will be documented here. People will find those documents, and then ask me about them, and I'll explain every sordid detail my photographic memory can recall about you.

I suppose, basically what I'm saying is that it's okay to be a corrupt and slimy business man, just don't be one around me. It won't benefit you in the long run.

Here's the complete article documenting the proceedings:

Earthshell Chapter 11 Plan Set to Vote

EarthShell Corp. moved a step closer to leaving bankruptcy protection in the hands of private equity firm Cornell Capital Partners when a judge said creditors could vote on the eco-friendly packaging company's Chapter 11 plan.

Judge Kevin Gross of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., Monday signed off on the plan outline, called a disclosure statement, allowing EarthShell to send its plan to exit Chapter 11 to creditors for a vote.

Companies operating in Chapter 11 must obtain a judge's approval of the disclosure statement, which describes how creditors will be paid, before creditors are able to vote on the plan.

EarthShell and its unsecured creditors committee last month jointly proposed a Chapter 11 plan that would give private equity firm Cornell Capital Partners 100 percent of the reorganized company's equity.

Under the proposed Chapter 11 plan, Cornell Capital would receive all of the new equity and a $2.5 million note in exchange for its $5.2 million secured claim against the company.

General unsecured creditors will receive an undisclosed amount of funds through a "grantor trust," while holders of subordinated claims and equity interests won't receive anything under the plan.

The deadline for voting on EarthShell's plan is July 16. A confirmation hearing is scheduled for July 23.

The plan is premised on a deal the company reached with one of its sub-licensees, Renewable Products Inc., and Cornell.

Renewable Products, founded by St. Louis-based private equity firm Thompson Capital Partners, teamed with Cornell in submitting a joint bid for the company's assets at a March 26 auction.

The plan slices $2.7 million of Cornell's secured debt from the books of EarthShell, a maker of environmentally friendly disposable food- service packaging. Cornell has agreed to pay $300,000 to fund the company's administrative expenses pending court approval of the plan.

Renewable Products, or RPI, has agreed to pay $500,000 to EarthShell, and to forgive any amounts EarthShell borrowed under the bankruptcy loan RPI provided EarthShell. In exchange, EarthShell agreed to an amended sub-license pact, which was approved by the court April 20, that expands RPI's territory to include Canada.

The amended pact also places caps on royalties otherwise payable by RPI. Previously, RPI paid EarthShell a royalty fee equal to 20 percent of net sales, not to exceed 50 percent of its gross margin.

Founded in 1992, EarthShell makes biodegradable foam plates and bowls from materials such as limestone as well as starch from potatoes, wheat and corn. At one time, the company's clients included McDonald's Corp. (nyse: MCD - news - people ), Aramark Corp. and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Company founder Essam Khashoggi - brother of Saudi Arabian arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi - retired from EarhShell's board in 2005.

The Lutherville, Md.-based company filed for Chapter 11 protection on Jan. 19, saying it couldn't meet payroll and other obligations due to a lack of long-term financing.


Want to be part of the Rizzn-ite army? Indoctrination instructions here.

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

RizWords - Daily Politics and Tech - EP57

RizWords - Daily Politics and Tech
Episode 57 - download now - subscribe now - review us on iTunes!
  • A member of the TechPodcast Network @ techpodcast.com. If it's Tech, it's here.
  • Remember, if you're listening on the podcast recording, you can call into the show live if you tune in through TalkShoe.com at 2:30 PM EST every weekday.
  • If you like the podcast (and you haven't already given us a rating), head over and do so, and don't forget to sign up for the discussion list.
  • Other Podcast Plugs:
    • TalkGirls comes on Tuesday nights. Check out the TalkGirls Podcast ... it's good times!
    • Cotolo Chronicles: Frank is a good friend of the show, and an associate of the late great Wolfman Jack. Check out his podcast.
    • NewsReal: Good friend to Art and I - has one of the best hours of news podcast each week.
    • You Are the Guest: Bill Grady turns the microphone on the internet's most interesting people.
  • Sponsors:

Hey. As I mentioned on the blog earlier this week, we're the number three rated podcast on TalkShoe.com right now. Read more about it here. Our new found celebrity status is getting people to write us. Email us with that link to get your letter read on the show!

We had a heck of a time with the show today. TalkShoe burped on us, and we lost the first iteration of the show. The second attempt was much better.

It was a day of light technical stories today, but some very important political stories. In our ongoing coverage of the 'Vonage Crap' saga, a unique little fold emerges:
Court Says Vonage Needs To Throw Away Money Into Wasteful USF Program
The Universal Service Fund (USF) is a well-known joke. It's a hugely wasteful program with almost no oversight. Yet, last year, the FCC decided that VoIP companies needed to pay a huge chunk of their revenue to the USF, despite the fact that doing so would actually slow progress on getting universal service. That's because the money would go from these new, cheaper services into the bank accounts of the big incumbents who would then promise to provide universal service... without much actually happening. Vonage stood up to this decision and sued, claiming the FCC had no say in the matter, but a court has ruled against Vonage, saying that the FCC didn't overstep its bounds. With Verizon breathing down Vonage's neck over patents, the real irony may be that Vonage will now have to hand over money into the USF, that will go right over to Verizon and not into extending service to underserved areas.
And in news that everyone else but me thinks is important:
The Algorithm Is A Disappointment
There's a lot of discussion today about the newly revamped Ask.com, which remains in the unenviable #4 spot in terms of search market share. Basically, the site seems to have sharpened up its interface a little bit, while incorporating things like news and images into its results page. Additionally, the site offers suggested refinement searches, so if you search for "Sopranos", it'll show you a link where you can get results for "Sopranos Merchandise". All of this is fairly inoffensive, but it's really hard to see how this is going to move the dial at all. Despite the company's insistence that it has developed "A Truly New Way to Search", the whole thing looks like a spin on Google's recently announced universal search strategy, which involves incorporating more types of media into its results. The look and feel is a tad different, but so what? Even if the new Ask.com returns "better" results than Google in some instances, there's nothing here that will actually get people to switch. Right now, the company is making a big effort to explain why the new changes are cool, but most people giving the site a try won't have the benefit of someone explaining to them why the site is now so great. As such, they probably won't see it themselves.
Turning to political news, power balances out and changes hands:
Wyoming Sen. Craig Thomas Dies at 74
WASHINGTON (AP) - Wyoming Sen. Craig Thomas, a three-term conservative Republican who stayed clear of the Washington limelight and political catfights, died Monday. He was 74.

The senator's family issued a statement saying he died Monday evening at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. He had been receiving chemotherapy for acute myeloid leukemia.

Just before the 2006 election, Thomas was hospitalized with pneumonia and had to cancel his last campaign stops. He nonetheless won with 70 percent of the vote, monitoring the election from his hospital bed.

Two days after the election, Thomas announced that he had just been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.

Gov. Dave Freudenthal, a Democrat, will appoint a successor from one of three finalists chosen by the state Republican party.

In big big news, the corruption charges finally come down on Jefferson:

U.S. congressman indicted in bribery case

Rep. William Jefferson, D-Louisiana, was indicted Monday on federal charges of racketeering, soliciting bribes and money-laundering in a long-running bribery investigation into business deals he tried to broker in Africa.

The indictment handed up in federal court in Alexandria., Virginia, Monday is 94 pages long and lists 16 alleged violations of federal law that could keep Jefferson in prison for up to 235 years, according to a Justice Department official who has seen the document.

Among the charges listed in the indictment, said the official, are racketeering, soliciting bribes, wire fraud, money-laundering, obstruction of justice, conspiracy and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case.(Read the indictment [PDF])

Jefferson is accused of soliciting bribes for himself and his family, and also for bribing a Nigerian official.

Almost two years ago, in August 2005, investigators raided Jefferson's home in Louisiana and found $90,000 in cash stuffed into a box in his freezer

And another Republican throws his hat into the ring:

Gingrich Rips 'Dysfunctional' Administration
Former House speaker Newt Gingrich, who is considering a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, said Sunday that President George W. Bush is leading an administration that "is not functioning.

Want to be part of the Rizzn-ite army? Indoctrination instructions here.

RizWords - Daily Politics and Tech - EP56

RizWords - Daily Politics and Tech
Episode 56 - download now - subscribe now - review us on iTunes!
  • A member of the TechPodcast Network @ techpodcast.com. If it's Tech, it's here.
  • Remember, if you're listening on the podcast recording, you can call into the show live if you tune in through TalkShoe.com at 2:30 PM EST every weekday.
  • If you like the podcast (and you haven't already given us a rating), head over and do so, and don't forget to sign up for the discussion list.
  • Other Podcast Plugs:
    • TalkGirls comes on Tuesday nights. Check out the TalkGirls Podcast ... it's good times!
    • Cotolo Chronicles: Frank is a good friend of the show, and an associate of the late great Wolfman Jack. Check out his podcast.
    • NewsReal: Good friend to Art and I - has one of the best hours of news podcast each week.
    • You Are the Guest: Bill Grady turns the microphone on the internet's most interesting people.
  • Sponsors:
Hey. As I mentioned on the blog earlier this week, we're the number three rated podcast on TalkShoe.com right now. Read more about it here. Our new found celebrity status is getting people to write us. Here's one of those letters:
Howdy Mark!

Catching up on my listening this afternoon. Congrats on # 3, and the increase on your numbers. Thanks for the extra plugs and the links....they are very much appreciated.

By the way, make sure you make out that iTunes review check to William Grady (ha, ha).

I also enjoyed reading about your new projects. Looks like you have some good things in the hopper....best of luck to you with all of them.

I just posted my latest show about the ACLU yesterday. The guest was what you call a "newsmaker" who appeared on Bill O'Reilly and wrote into our show to be a guest. I guess if you do it long enough the people will begin to find you.

Well that's all the news from Iowa. Thanks again and stay in touch!

Bill Grady
In telecom news, Amp'd Mobile decides not to pay it's bills:
Amp’d Mobile Implodes: Burns $360 million, Declares Bankruptcy

ampdmobile.pngAmp’d Mobile, a popular Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO), has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.

The company competed with VelvetPuffin, Loopt and Helio in an attempt to deliver a compelling mobile based social networking product to a worldwide marketplace of 2.6 billion cell phone users.

According to mocoNews, Amp’d Mobile owes $33 million to Verizon Wireless, $16 million to Motorola and $10 million to Vivendi. Smaller creditors include BestBuy at $8 million and MTV Networks: $1.8 million. Total debt is more than $100 million with assets less than that figure.

Amp’d Mobile had previously taken $360 million in funding over 5 rounds. Investors include RedPoint Ventures, Highland Capital Partners and Columbia Capital.

Amp’d Mobile is now in the TechCrunch Deadpool.

In fusion news: Tshirts and telephony!:

T-Shirts Meet SMS: Reactee

reactee2.pngReactee has announced the launch of a line of interactive t-shirts that combine fashion, SMS and activism through “shirts that text back”.

Reactee allows users to create t-shirts that include a personalized message such “Stop Global Whaling” or “Andrew Keen is a Luddite” that is then complimented by a unique keyword such as SUSHI or MORON on the shirt. People who see the shirt can then respond to it by sending the keyword via SMS to 41411. In return senders receive a custom text message response created by the T-Shirt creator.

Example Reactee customers given include individuals such as DJs who want to share their playlists, political activists promoting a candidate, people who just want to get something off their chest, or entire organizations, which can make many shirts with the same keyword and use them to promote their unique cause.

Users can create text alert lists to communicate with those interested in their causes. Additionally, users can make their designs public and include them in the Reactee gallery of shirts that have received the most text messages.

Existing users include the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas and YouthNoise.

In our ongoing coverage of the mess in Venezuala, Old Media is New Again:

Banned Venezuelan TV Stations Keeps Broadcasting... On YouTube

Someone who prefers to remain anonymous submitted this long first person account of what's happening in Venezuela with the shut down of a popular TV station by the government. The article explains the background, though, from an opinionated position. The political drama isn't all that interesting, to be honest (we're a tech blog, remember...), but in the middle of the article, it notes that the employees of the "shut down" TV station have simply moved on to broadcasting via YouTube -- and plenty of people are tuning in and showing their support. While broadcasting on YouTube may not be as powerful as being on the network, this does highlight how silly it is to think that a group or government or company can control the media these days. The tools are increasingly available to make sure that there are always alternate routes to get a message out.

In 'more reasons McCain shouldn't and won't be president news':

McCain Wants Ballmer For His Cabinet

While many people jumped all over presidential hopeful John McCain's wrong-headed view on network neutrality, few noticed his infuriating love for Microsoft. "[T]he 70 year old presidential hopeful also said that he would ask Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to serve on his cabinet to deal with technology issues if elected. He did not however say what position Ballmer might be hired in, but did joke that he might consider him for a diplomatic position, such as ambassador to China."
More Internet Tax news:
Internet Tax Imminent?
jhigh writes "Proposals to tax the Internet are gaining steam as state legislators see a giant pot of money just waiting to be dipped into. "At the moment, states and municipalities are frequently barred by federal law from collecting both access and sales taxes. But they're hoping that their new lobbying effort, coordinated by groups including the National Governors Association, will pay off by permitting them to collect billions of dollars in new revenue by next year.""
Finally: Happy Birthday CNN - you're 27!... and for you marketers out there, check out this link... you'll be glad you did.

Want to be part of the Rizzn-ite army? Indoctrination instructions here.

Monday, June 4, 2007

Busy Day!

I haven't had a chance to post the show notes yet today.. expect them early in the morning.

And if you've emailed me lately, I'm a little behind on my correspondence... so gimme a sec, and I'll catch up.  I'm gone for the day... talk atcha tomorrow!

--
/mark "rizzn" hopkins
For my blog, profile, and wikipedia entries, simply Google "rizzn"
--
join my google group: http://groups.google.com/group/rizzncom-v83/
Listen to my DAILY podcast: http://feeds.feedburner.com/RizWords
--

Friday, June 1, 2007

A Great Day, A Great Week.

I've been quite a busy little beaver here for the last few days. Lots of interesting projects are starting to stack up, and a lot of the hard work that Art and I have been putting into the podcast is starting to come to fruition in a big big way. This post is going to ramble, I'll warn you, but it's all interesting stuff, so stick around for it.

For a couple of weeks, Art and I have been amazed at the jump in traffic we've recieved, with each episode getting around 400-700 visits, with some episodes in the multiples of thousands. It seems that this traffic has not gone un-noticed by many. Yesterday, I just found out that we've made it to the number three slot on most downloaded podcasts over at TalkShoe.com. Don't believe me? Listen to this episode of TalkShoe Hosts Sharing Strategies, TalkShoe CEO Dave Nelson's weekly podcast. For the top 25, fast forward to about 6:23.. for our listing, go to about 8:00.

What are the podcasts surrounding us in the Top 5? Well, if you want to hear it from the horse's mouth, check out the above listed podcast, but I'll ennumerate them for you here for you lazy folks:
  1. Lost Community podcast
  2. gspn.tv community podcast
  3. RizWords
  4. Mac Tips Daily
  5. Keith and The Girl
So, aside from the bragging, what else is new?

Well, two new interesting opportunities have arisen, and my (invaluable) podcast experience is coming to bear on them. First one is 5Tribe, the organisation I have been working with over the years, off and on. Their primary function is to help newspaper organisations remain profitable in today's continually flagging old media networks. They mostly do this through improving the site's visibility and upgrading of the online classifieds section. Most newspaper sites today don't even have online classifieds, and in terms of this, they are missing out on a large revenue stream, as newspapers are uniquely positioned to capitalize on their still valuable names and audience as well as the public's willingness to give them money to put bits of text on their site, despite there are hundreds of places to do this on the web for next to nothing.

5Tribe has been expressing a willingness to move into the world of podcasting for quite a while now, but recently have expressed an urgency to move into this market quicker than they anticipated. We're connecting up next week to learn the nature of how they want to get into this world, but with their wide reach in the old media market, any moves they make have the potential to truly reverberate around teh whole new media universe.

In other new projects, Steve over at N-Ventive introduced me to a fellow by the name of Paul Darby, and as a result of conversations I've had with the man this week, we could be putting on what may amount to the largest online live video broadcast to ever hit the net. The fellow runs one of the largest affiliate marketing groups out there on the net, and had the inclination to create a marketing-centric video content network. The best records I've been able to find out on the net tell me that the largest live video broadcast was attended by about 19,000 viewers. Conservative estimates of what he's expecting to show up to the broadcast are at least half of that.

Over the next few days, I'll be doing more news releases on this and hopefully getting more information out there to the big name bloggers that this is something that's going to happen and make a big splash.

I'm looking at my watch right now and it's coming up on 8:00 PM... and I need to be heading home (even though there's lots more I wanna tell you about it). Before I go, I've got to share something with you that was sent to me this afternoon. I sent out a mass email to my contact list with the most recent pictures of Jacob Li that I posted here to the site. One of the guys who got this sent this back to me:
This is such strange timing, Mark. I just had a young man come to me and ask if he could date my daughter. The message here was, we are getting serious and it might turn into something like an engagement at some point. He's a good kid, as is she and of course I said yes. I then set down and open your email and see you as a young Father with a new wife and little baby. To you I'm just an old man, but to me I feel like my daughter was just a baby like yours a few months ago. Time moves on quicker with each passing month. The good news is that things usually get better long term, even with the ups and downs along the way. Enjoy this time of your life.

Enjoy your family right were they are today. It will be but a memory before you can blink.
Very poignant words. With that, I'm headed home for the weekend.

/rizzn

Want to be part of the Rizzn-ite army? Indoctrination instructions here.