RizWords - Daily Politics and Tech - EP26

RizWords - Daily Politics and Tech
Episode 26 - download now - subscribe now

• 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.
• TalkGirls comes on Tuesday nights. Check out the TalkGirls Podcast ... it's good times!
  
• Sponsors:
  
• Try GoToMeeting for 45 days! Visit www.GoToMeeting.com/podcast to start your free trial today.
  
• And if you want $50 off your entry to the Credit Restoration program at AACS, tell them RizWords sent you!

The from the Evans-Novak Report:

The Supreme Court's decision yesterday morning upholding a ban on partial-birth abortion reminds conservative voters of one of President George W. Bush's successes -- appointments to the federal courts, especially the Supreme Court. The decision is not a huge victory in practical terms, but it could conceivably mark the point at which pro-lifers stop being pushed backward in the courts.

In our ongoing coverage of the VONAGE CRAP story, we have four new headlines in the series.

Are the Verizon patents actually valid?

Thought we might get away without more Vonage news for at least one issue? Me too. Guess again. Here's an analyst who says that the Verizon patents that Vonage was convicted of infringing upon may themselves be invalid. Dan Berniger suggests that the advances that Verizon patented had been widely discussed before Verizon filed. That's prior art, and would be grounds for rejecting the patents. The trial judge didn't want to hear testimony about the validity of patents; you'll remember that the trial was very fast for a patent trial. Fighting to invalidate the patents would take time and money, two things that Vonage is a little short on.

For more about possible prior art on Verizon's VoIP patents:
- read this article from Techdirt
- check out the article from Computerworld

Vonage "workarounds" no sure thing
Getting those patents tossed might be Vonage's best shot. Remember how Vonage execs were talking right after the verdict about how they'd be able to work around Verizon's patents? It turns out that might not be as simple as Vonage said. In a court filing late last week, Vonage reported that the workarounds--"even if feasible," the filing said--would take months to implement. And even then, it's possible that the court's reading of the patents could be so broad that even the workaround might infringe.

For more information about the Vonage workarounds:
- see this piece from the Business VoIP Report
- read this PC World article
- read this article from CIO Today

Vonage warns of bankruptcy; VCs run for cover
Every public company in the U.S. has to file a Form 10-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A 10-K is basically a company's annual report, except it's not glossy, is very detailed and is submitted under oath. There's a section where companies talk about all the challenges and all the possible negative factors they face in the coming year. So it's really no surprise that Vonage's 10-K mentions that there's a real threat of bankruptcy. It's not imminent, but given the last couple of months, it's certainly prudent for investors to be told of the possibility. Venture capitalists, for their part, are taking a lesson from Vonage's travails and are turning their attention away from carriers and toward VoIP equipment and software makers.

For more information about Vonage and VC fallout:
- read this article from Red Herring

Vonage still top VoIP carrier
The news isn't all bad for Vonage. It's still the leading consumer VoIP service in the U.S., according to figures tracked by ISP-Planet. At year-end 2006, Vonage had 2.2 million subscribers. Comcast Digital Phone had 1.9 million, Time Warner Digital Phone had 1.860 million, Skype (as of July 2005, so this is a very old figure) had 1.8 million paid customers, and Cablevision had 1.2 million customers. Everyone else was far, far behind, though ISP-Planet acknowledges that many service providers don't report their numbers.

For more information about the U.S. consumer VoIP market:
- read this article from ISP Planet

And speaking of the 'death of' things... could this spell the Death of Digg?

MySpace takes on Google News and Digg

MySpace is going into the news business with a service that will scour the internet for news stories and let users vote on which ones receive the most exposure. — This approach blends elements of Google News and sites such as Digg and Netscape …

And in Google-is-better-than-you news:

On the same day that the news breaks that eBay is acquiring StumbleUpon for $40ish million, Google announces that they are building strikingly similar functionality into their Toolbar. Google (along with AOL) were reportedly in the running to acquire StumbleUpon until very recently.

The Google Toolbar now includes a dice icon. Click it and you’ll be taken to a new website that Google thinks you’ll find interesting based on your previous search queries.

This isn’t an exact duplicate of StumbleUpon functionality, which bases recommendations on your and other StumbleUpon users’ votes of sites. But the end result is the same - serendipitous discovery of new and interesting websites based on your core interests.

Google also has a widget that can be added to their personalized home page with recommended sites.

Om Malik says this is Google lashing out at StumbleUpon and eBay because they lost the deal. Given the timing, I tend to agree.

And in New Media News:

Does The Press Pick Presidents?
'Scholar Leon V. Sigal observed three decades ago that one measure of a presidential campaign's vitality prior to the nominating conventions was the number of full-time reporters assigned to it by the top-tier news organizations: the elite dailies especially (New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and the Wall Street Journal), the TV networks, the wires, and the newsweeklies.

'Editorial resources being scarce, news organizations can't cover every declared candidate full time, so whenever a senior editor at a newspaper or network assigns a reporter to a campaign, he votes the institution's conviction that the candidate has a shot at the nomination. Whenever a news organization pulls its reporter from a candidate's campaign, it cancels that vote of confidence.' (Slate Magazine article).

1601 Blog Posts!

Well, I've just crested 1600 blog posts on Rizzn.com. That's fairly amazing. I'm a wordy fellow, apparently.

I'm really pushing podcasting to the limit this week. I'm experimenting in monetization, networking, and publicity. So far, the experiment is proving a success. The growth in listenership for the podcast is either growing by 300% or 83% a week, depending on how you crunch the numbers. Regardless of which set of numbers you look at, it's a definite positive growth curve, and by current calculations, could be my sole source of income by the end of July if current trends continue.

This would be fine by me. I enjoy the heck out of this, and the current technology set-up we're using is completely unobtrusive in terms of my user experience.

As soon as this experiment is complete, I intend to publish either an eBook or a real book on how to do this yourself. I'm really not doing anything that you probably couldn't figure out yourself, but I have done what can only be described as an obsessive amount of research over the last few weeks.

Just to sort of hint at what I'm talking about in terms of strategies, there are tips and tricks on how to get noticed in the podcasting world, which is important when it comes to making dollars for downloads. The only way to really make money on your podcast is to have tons and tons of ears listening to what you have to say. Of course, you need to be creating quality content, and be creating it on a regular basis - but there are ways to sort of game the system when it comes to rising up above the 'noise floor' of what are basically run-of-the-mill podcasts out there. Becoming more than the white noise is where the money is, and if my methods work, I plan to capitalize on it in terms of creating a stable of good shows as well as sharing that information with the public.

Speaking of strategies on getting ears to listen, one of the experiments I'm going to try is getting Rizzn.com to autoplay the latest podcast every time someone hits a page. In terms of regular readers of the site, most of my most dedicated readers come in through the email discussion list. There are a few dedicated readers that come in through the website and several more that come in through the RSS feed. The vast majority of my traffic comes in through random search engine queries, though.

These visitors tend to come on in and stick around for about three minutes, and maybe click on one or two links.

These people, at least for the next couple weeks, will also be forced to listen to my podcast, when I get the autoplay widget loaded on the sidebar.

If you're a regular reader of Rizzn.com, and you don't want to be subjected to this, you need to join the mailing list or subscribe via RSS so you won't be forced to listen to my quality daily podcast. :)

So if you're a regular reader of Rizzn.com, and you can't (or won't) subscribe to the list or the feed, and the autoplay thing still bugs the crap out of you, let me know. If I get enough reasonable complaints, I'll change it.

/rizzn

RizWords - Daily Politics and Tech - EP25

RizWords - Daily Politics and Tech
Episode 25 - download now - subscribe now

• 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 sign up for the discussion list.
• TalkGirls comes on Tuesday nights. Check out the TalkGirls Podcast ... it's good times!
  
• Like Mashable.com and YouTube.com, Rizzn.com is now banned in Thailand.
  
• Sponsors:
  
• Try GoToMeeting for 45 days! Visit www.GoToMeeting.com/podcast to start your free trial today.
  
• And if you want $50 off your entry to the Credit Restoration program at AACS, tell them RizWords sent you!

Listener Mail:

D G Christensen wrote:

Hello,

I've read some of your blog posts, and I believe I met you at a rantmedia event, earlier this year.

I don't agree with everything you have to say. However you express your views with a great deal of intelligence and articulation.

I really like the values of Christianity. I don't however believe there was ever a(n) historical Jesus who walked on water or rose from the dead.

Contrary to what it might look like, I didn't write for an argument. I think that people who spend time and effort converting those they believe do not share their values are often fools. If you believe in missionary work, I mean no offense.

I'm writing because I'm curious about your opinions on red letter Christianity, which I believe to be a good thing.

Listen to the episode to find out what a Red Letter Christian is, and Art's response to his viewer mail.

Turning to Tech News, in the Google Acquisitions department:

Along with Schmidt’s announcement about Google’s web-based PowerPoint rival, Google is now announcing today that it has acquired Tonic Systems, a San Francisco and Melbourne-based company that specializes in presentation creation and document conversion. The site’s product pages now redirect to Google “not found” pages, while the main site redirects to an FAQ about the acquisition.

The terms of the acquisition are not being disclosed.

In an interesting tidbit of Business News:

World's oldest business ends 1,428-year run
Mark Frauenfelder: A Japanese temple-building company founded in the year 578 is going out of business. Here's Business Week's article.

The circumstances of Kongo Gumi's demise also offer some lessons. Despite its incredible history, it was a set of ordinary circumstances that brought Kongo Gumi down at last. Two factors were primarily responsible. First, during the 1980s bubble economy in Japan, the company borrowed heavily to invest in real estate. After the bubble burst in the 1992-93 recession, the assets secured by Kongo Gumi's debt shrank in value. Second, social changes in Japan brought about declining contributions to temples. As a result, demand for Kongo Gumi's temple-building services dropped sharply beginning in 1998.

By 2004, revenues were down 35%. Masakazu Kongo laid off employees and tightened budgets. But in 2006, the end arrived. The company's borrowings had ballooned to $343 million and it was no longer possible to service the debt. In January, the company's assets were acquired by Takamatsu, a large Japanese construction company, and it was absorbed into a subsidiary.

Link (Via Japan Probe)

Make money now! Sue a Spammer... well... sortof:

Anti-Spam Suits and Booby-Trapped Motions
Slashdot contributor Bennett Haselton writes in to say "The last few times that I sued a spammer in Washington Small Claims Court, I filed a "booby-trapped" written legal brief with the judge, about four pages long, with the second and third pages stuck together in the middle. I made these by poking through those two pages with a thumbtack, then running a tiny sliver of paper through the holes and gluing it to either page with white-out. The idea was that after the judge made their decision, I could go to the courthouse and look at the file to see if the judge read the brief or not, since if they turned the pages to read it, the tiny sliver of paper would break. To make a long story short, I tried this with 6 different judges, and in 3 out of 6 cases, the judge rejected the motion without reading it." The rest of this bizarre story follows. It's worth the read.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

This is a big thing in the paid-blogosphere as well as the SEO field. Tune into the show to find out why:

How to report paid links
One thing I heard at SES London was that people wanted a way to report paid links specifically. I’d like to get a few paid link reports anyway because I’m excited about trying some ideas here at Google to augment our existing algorithms. Google may provide a special form for paid link reports at some point, but in the mean time, here’s a couple of ways that anyone can use to report paid links:

- Sign in to Google’s webmaster console and use the authenticated spam report form, then include the word “paidlink” (all one word) in the text area of the spam report. If you use the authenticated form, you’ll need to sign in with a Google Account, but your report will carry more weight.

- Use the unauthenticated spam report form and make sure to include the word “paidlink” (all one word) in the text area of the spam report.

As far as the details, it can be pretty short. Something like “Example.com is selling links; here’s a page on example.com that demonstrates that” or “www.shadyseo.com is buying links. You can see the paid links on www.example.com/path/page.html” is all you need to mention. That will be enough for Google to start testing out some new techniques we’ve got — thanks!

RizWords - Daily Politics and Tech, EP24

RizWords - Daily Politics and Tech
Episode 24 - download now - subscribe now

• 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 sign up for the discussion list.
• TalkGirls comes on tonight. Check out the TalkGirls Podcast @ 10:30 PM EST ... it's good times!
• And if you want $50 off your entry to the Credit Restoration program at AACS, tell them RizWords sent you!
• Corrections:
• Skype DOES allow unmetered calls from America now for $29.99 a year.
• UT Shooting didn't happen in the 70s, it was the 60's
  

In the-most-hilarious-thing-you'll-hear-about-Imus news, Pravda in russia COMPLETELY gets it wrong:

American radio icon Don Imus disgraced, fired after threat to reveal 9/11 secrets

In a clear sign of its intent to reign in dissident American media personalities, and their growing influence in American culture, US War Leaders this past week launched an unprecedented attack upon one of their most politically 'connected', and legendary, radio hosts named Don Imus after his threats to release information relating to the September 11, 2001 attacks upon that country.

According to European reports of the events surrounding Don Imus that have gripped the United States this past week, it was during an interview with another American media personality, Tim Russert, who is the host of a television programme frequently used by US War Leaders, wherein while decrying the state of care being given to American War wounded stated, "So those bastards want to keep these boys [in reference to US Soldiers] secret? Let's see how they like it if I start talking about their [in reference to US War Leaders] secrets, starting with 9/11."

Unable to attack such a powerful media figure as Don Imus, directly, the US War Leaders, and as we have seen many times before, resorted to a massive media attack against him using as the reason a racial slur against a US woman's basketball team, but which has been pointed out by other media outlets was not by any means a rare occurrence for the legendary radio icon to make.

In other getting it wrong news, this from Virginia regarding the tragic VATech incident:

Xeni Jardin: Large-scale incidents of gun violence like yesterday's mass shooting at Virginia Tech University are inevitably followed by gun law debate.

Today, some around the 'net are pointing to relatively relaxed gun laws in Virginia as a contributing factor to the killings. Virginia allows effectively unlimited purchase of assault weapons for anyone over 18 who passes a background check; it's ok to sell rifles and shotguns to children over 12, and a legal loophole makes it okay to buy second-hand guns at gun shows with no waiting period or background check.

And, in other left wing propaganda, we ask "Are we the only ones seeing another UN Money Making Boondoggle on the horizon?":

Global Warming An Issue For UN Security Council
'On the eve of the first United Nations Security Council debate on global warming, the UK foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett, warned US businesses to invest in carbon-free technology or lose out to Europeans.

'The theme of the open debate, a UK initiative, is energy, security and climate. The UK currently holds the Security Council presidency.

'"Clean-tech is going to be a massive market" and the largest economic opportunity of the century, Beckett said on Monday to business leaders in New York, US.' (New Scientist article).

Turning to Tech News, in our ongoing coverage of the Vonage Crap:

Could Vonage Sprint to an Exit? (Light Reading)
Vonage Holdings Corp. (NYSE: VG - message board) is in talks with Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S - message board) about a way to resolve that carrier's patent lawsuit against the VOIP provider, Light Reading has learned. And one source says a Sprint buyout of Vonage is on the table.

And two stories re-visited:

More Stories Of Police Handing Over Xboxes To Stop Crime
First it was Mexico City police offering Xboxes to people who agreed to hand over guns, and now Engadget notes that police in North Carolina are offering gaming consoles to anyone providing info on a local graffiti spree. Of course, in this case, the police are offering a choice between an Xbox, a PS3, a Nintendo Wii or... they'll just hand over $500 in cash ($1000 if you're an adult). It's not clear why adult snitches get more money than the kids, but that's how it works apparently. While it may seem silly to offer a choice between cash or a video game, it might not be that crazy an idea. If it were just a cash reward, it wouldn't get nearly the same attention as offering a gaming console -- even if (depending on the console) it may be a better deal to take the cash. If the graffiti artist were clever, he should start changing his graffiti to reflect the bounty -- perhaps suggesting which prize any informant should take.

Attention Startups: Google Uninterested In Acquiring Your Eyeballs
Despite the return of the IPO market, the ultimate goal for many of today's startups is still to be acquired by one of the large tech or media firms. While Google has made a few really high-profile acquisitions, the company has also made a number of smaller purchases that pretty much fly under everyone's radar. Speaking to a group of VCs, one of the company's top executives involved in making acquisitions said that the company is no longer interested in companies that have plenty of users, but little concept of how to monetize them. Instead, it wants companies with a clear business model that will lead to revenue growth. This makes sense since the company certainly isn't starving for traffic. What's clear is that the company is serious about broadening its offerings, so that it's not so dependent on advertising for its revenue. Eric Schmidt even admitted as such in a recent interview with Wired, as he touted the company's emerging paid software business. The attitude might also be a reflection of the company's ongoing headaches associated with YouTube. While it's still too early to put a verdict on that acquisition, the company may be regretting having spent so much money with so little clarity as to how it would recoup its investment.

/rizzn

RizWords - Daily Politics and Technology
Episode 23 - download now

• 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 sign up for the discussion list.
• TalkGirls comes on tomorrow night. Check out the TalkGirls Podcast ... it's good times!
• And if you want $50 off your entry to the Credit Restoration program at AACS, tell them RizWords sent you!

What is plagiarism, and furthermore, is there any more proof needed on exactly how vapid Katie Couric is?

If Plagiarism Is Presenting Someone Else's Work As Your Own... What Did Katie Couric Do?
There have been a number of interesting discussions from people rethinking the concept of plagiarism lately. From famous authors like Malcolm Gladwell to Jonathan Lethem, some folks are realizing that the line between plagiarism and inspiration isn't as clear cut as some would like it to be. While some claim it's just the younger generation that has a hard time understanding the difference, it clearly shifts over into the business world as well. This week, there's been some buzz over CBS News having to fire a producer who "borrowed extensively" from a Wall Street Journal column in writing up a "commentary" for newscaster Katie Couric. However, this has a few people scratching their heads -- as they realize the general definition of what plagiarism is (presenting the works of others as your own) actually applies equally to Katie Couric having some staffer write up her personal commentary (including supposed nostalgia over getting a library card). Yet, somehow having someone else write up your personal opinion and commentary is fine -- unless that commentary actually comes from someone else. And we wonder why many students today don't see plagiarism as being that bad. It's because they see the same thing done every day by adults who don't see it as being wrong at all.

Vonage and VoIP could be gone soon:

Vonage: No tech 'workaround'

NEW YORK — Vonage has finally confirmed what many had feared: The embattled Internet phone company has no "workaround" in hand to sidestep Verizon's patented Internet phone technology.

Moreover, Vonage (VG) isn't sure that such a plan is even "feasible," given the expansiveness of Verizon's (VZ) patents, which set out methods for passing calls between the Web and conventional phone networks. Vonage's chilly assessment, contained in a filing submitted to a federal court Friday, marks the first time it has admitted that it doesn't have a plan for getting around Verizon's technology. Vonage couldn't be reached for comment.

A federal court recently ruled that Vonage had infringed on Verizon's patented technology. As punishment, Vonage was barred from using the disputed technology to support new customers. Existing customers are not affected.

The company immediately requested — and received — an emergency stay. Meanwhile, Vonage told investors and customers not to worry because a "workaround" was in development.

In its Friday filing, Vonage, which is now trying to get a permanent stay, painted a far different picture.

Huge big very large news regarding Google:

Congrats to the NYTimes for scooping the story that Google is proceeding with its rumored acquisition of ad network DoubleClick. The price was $3.1 billion, making this by far Google’s biggest acquisition to date - the YouTube buy looks small by comparison. Also note that this was in cash, while the YouTube deal was stock. It’s a major, major loss for Microsoft, which is now going to fall even further behind in the ad game at a time when software and “old media” content is moving online in ad-supported form.

DoubleClick generated about $300 million in revenue last year, but the combined force of these two ad providers could be much more powerful. Call me a Google fanboy if you like, but Microlost’s growth will no doubt turn into an implosion as its online mistakes stack up.

We're trying to find out if there's anything to this story

This is Mike the host of RED BAR RADIO.com. I was recently ARRESTED for comments I made on my show. My court date is next week, right in the midst of the Don Imus "scandal."

I'm going to be calling into FREE TALK LIVE tonight to talk about why I was arrested, and the attack on "hot" talk radio in general.

If there was ever an issue to stand behind, this has to be one of the more important ones.

The cable new outlets are depicting our types of shows as "hate radio," trying to convince the general public that what we are doing IS wrong. Stirring up commotion, scaring away advertisers, and trying to demolish people's careers - while also making a cultural change on what people feel is indecent.

Thanks,

MIKE

__________________
http://redbarradio.com
AIM: REDBARRADIO
EMAIL: info@redbarradio.com
PHONE: 1-773-598-8361
RSS: http://redbarradio.com/rbr.xml

Get ready to cancel your cable subscription!:

CBS Shows Coming to MSN, Joost and Others

CBS added new deals for its shows with Joost, Microsoft's MSN and AOL--some of which will offer the content for free. CBS Corp.

With friends like her, who needs enemies?:

RIAA shill's greatest hits
Cory Doctorow: With the news that Jenni Engebretsen, the RIAA's Director of Communications, has been put in charge of PR for the Democratic National Convention, I thought I'd round up some of her greatest hits, culled from her adventures in PR while helping pilot the RIAA into its coveted slot as the most hated company in America:

• On whether downloading a single song could make you into the victim of a RIAA lawsuit: "The industry has no minimum threshold for pursuing legal action."
• On universities spying on students to help the RIAA sue them: "One would think universities would understand the need to retain these records."
• On whether infringement is the same as theft: "When you illegally download music, it's no different than walking into a music store and shoplifting." And "Unauthorized downloading is considered to be robbery by federal law, and is therefore treated as such."
• On whether universities should help the RIAA extort money from students without going to court: "It’s almost unimaginable that a university would be unwilling to help a student avoid a lawsuit."
• On the RIAA's lawsuit against Patti Santangelo, a soccer mom who didn't download any music: "No comment."

With expert PR like this, a Democratic victory must be assured, right?

/rizzn

Two Major Blogging Landmarks

Two blogging landmarks, things I'm going to mention now, because I'll forget it later... In three posts from now, I'll be at 1600 posts for this blog. That's sorta neat.

In other news, you may have noticed, I've updated the layout a little bit for the blog.

[5:03:03 PM] Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins says: http://rizzn.com/ - ugliest rizzn.com ever
[5:03:50 PM] sm0keh0use says: not ugliest...but gayest
[5:03:54 PM] sm0keh0use says: :)
[5:03:59 PM] Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins says: heh
[5:05:09 PM] Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins says: even gayer than the pink one from 2003?
[5:05:24 PM] sm0keh0use says: did i know you then
[5:05:29 PM] Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins says: not sure
[5:05:35 PM] Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins says: nah
[5:05:42 PM] Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins says: the pink one was right before the cam-mafia days
[5:05:47 PM] sm0keh0use says: nope

/rizzn

Weird Suggestions Again

Google's recommendations based off my search history is once again weird....

1. miserable failure
2. jaiku
3. gary halbert
4. vip brother
5. justvoip
6. beto quintanilla
7. vanessa fox
8. twitter
9. easter eggs clipart
10. doubleclick

Beto Quintanilla? Check out the first link on that search. You just might be as baffled as I.
--
/mark "rizzn" hopkins
For my blog, profile, and wikipedia entries, simply Google "rizzn"
--
intelligent discussion: http://groups.google.com/group/rizzncom-v83/
intelligent podcast: http://feeds.feedburner.com/NewsCube-Main
--