David lafontaine's
Sips from the firehose
A site that attempts to render the internet down into one easy-to consume mental beverage.
Bookworms love the new Nook e-reader
Setting a couple of bookworms loose to play with the next generation e-readers is like setting Augustus Gloop loose in the Wonka Chocolate factory. The first thing that strikes you about the Nook is how much *faster* it is than the Kindle. And Janine loved the...
Headless Mannequin in Topless Dumpster
Living next to a prop house, every once in a while you glance over and do a spit-take. They had just chucked what looked like a limp woman's body out of the back of a semi. Wondering if the frustrated Evil Elves in the fabrication shop had finally snapped and gone...
Theories on “The New Normal” Abound; Most Are Probably Wrong
The New Normal: DenialSince the first utterance of the phrase "green shoots," there have been attempts to gaze into the crystal ball, to predict what things are going to be like once we get out of the recession/depression-lite. The most recent is a long Newsweek piece...
Crowdsourcing lessons from the Guardian
I've been using the brilliant experiment by the Guardian this summer in my trainings - they
Buying Music to Sabotage Pop Culture: A Webconomics Puzzle
Music purists who despise the pre-packaged "X-Factor" (British version of "American Idol") songs always hitting #1 on the charts are buying Rage Against the Machine's incendiary "Killing in the Name" as a form of protestI've been wondering WTF is going on with Killing...
The Music Video Is The Advertisement: Lady GaGa Goes Post-McCluhan On Us All
I had thought that Madonna and Michael Jackson were about as sophisticated as you could get when it came to figuring out ways to build up a juicy public image, and then squeeze it until rivers of cash started running out. Not so. Lady GaGa has rightly recognized that selling CDs if for chumps; anyone can pirate them, and pretty much does.