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President quotes bloggers in Iraq defense

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bushUS President George W Bush has quoted Iraqi bloggers in defense of the current “surge” security operations being undertaken in Iraq.

Yahoo News reports President Bush saying:

“They have bloggers in Baghdad, just like we’ve got here…[quoting bloggers]..Displaced families are returning home, marketplaces are seeing more activity, stores that were long shuttered are now reopening. We feel safer about moving in the city now. Our people want to see this effort succeed.”

Yahoo News correctly states “Bush made a surprising reference to the blogosphere during a spirited defense of his war strategy on Wednesday”.

The White House later confirmed that President Bush was quoting Mohammed and Omar Fadhil, two bloggers based in Baghdad who write the English language IraqTheModel blog.

I’m not going to get into the politics either for or against on this one, but one thing should be noted: if there was ever any doubt that blogs have made it, having the President of the United States of America quote from blogs squashes every single argument the naysayers and MSM haters have put up against blogs over these last 4-5 years. Blog are here, and they’re being read and quoted by the most powerful person on earth. Game, Set, Match to blogs..and a struth for good measure :-)

Originally posted on March 28, 2007 @ 11:06 pm

Hyatt joins the digital music sales market

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hyattYes, you did read the headline correctly.

Hyatt Hotels are entering the Digital Music market, by offering MP3 downloads of music for sale from Hyatt Hotel websites.

In an interesting twist, the music offered will be geotargeted, with each hotel having a different list of music based on it’s location, and to garner more sales the geotargeted music will also be piped throughout each Hyatt Hotel itself…yes, now you’ll be able to buy the elevator music.

Hyatt will also begin offering visitors the ability to play their own music in room, with a roll out of iPod compatible clock radios (seriously).

The one thing lacking for my thinking is MOD (music on demand) in the same way that video/ movies are currently available in hotel rooms, be it at often exorbitant rates. The tech is fairly simple in terms of providing on demand music and having a massive play list, but I guess unless there’s a decent buck in it hotels won’t be interested.

(via MediaPost)

Originally posted on March 28, 2007 @ 4:34 am

The Godfather of Blogging Speaks: Sierra death meme game over

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dave winerDave Winer has written a lengthy post covering his thoughts on the “OMG somebody threatened death against Kathy Sierra meme”, short version: Sierra death meme game over.

It’s hard to pick the best bits from the post, the whole thing is utterly brilliant, you can read it here, but some highlights:

Just want to get on the record as Michelle Malkin did yesterday, that the kind of abuse that Kathy Sierra reported is not anything new, it’s been going on for a very long time…

People aren’t going to like this, but it’s true — when a woman asks for a riot she gets one, and almost no one comes to the defense of a man who is attacked. Who’s more vulnerable? Well, honestly, it’s not always a woman…

Those who provided the riot Ms Sierra asked for, unknowingly, I’m sure, attacked at least one person whose health is pretty fragile. I wonder how y’all feel now that you know that. I wonder how you’d feel if that person died in the midst of the shitstorm…

There should be people who are willing to provide personal support to others who are ostracized this way — and that support should be available regardless of gender, age, or other circumstances. I won’t support anything that only offers support to women and not men, we must help unpopular people, even people who we think are mean…

There’s a pile more goodness at Scripting News. I’ve taken the occasional shot at Winer over the years, mostly light heatedly (at least I hope he took it that way), but I know there are a lot of people out there who can’t stand him. If you’re one of those people, open your minds and reassess the man, because only sheer genius can write something like this, and Winer deserves a pile of respect for it.

 

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Originally posted on March 29, 2007 @ 7:01 pm

Women sacked for Blogging wins unfair dismissal case

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dixon wilsonFrance based English blogger Catherine Sanderson, controversially sacked last year for keeping an anonymous blog detailing her work life, that didn’t actually name her employer, has won her unfair dismissal case against employer Dixon Wilson.

The Times reports that Dixon Wilson was ordered to pay $59,000 in damages to Sanderson, and to refund unemployment benefits paid to her since she sacked in April 2006.

The sacking of Sanderson, whilst undoubtedly unfair, gave her at least 15 minutes of fame, possibly more, with a six-figure contract with Penguin being signed to convert the blog into a book.

Originally posted on March 29, 2007 @ 7:17 pm

Internet Advertising overtakes Newspaper Advertising in the UK

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britainInternet Advertising in the United Kingdom surged in 2006, overtaking Newspaper Advertising for the first time.

According to the Beeb, online advertising expenditure jumped 41.2% to $3.94 billion in UK during 2006 where as newspaper ads in the same market grew just 0.2% to $3.73 billion, some $200 million behind online spending.

Internet advertising now accounts for 11.7% of all advertising in the UK.

Originally posted on March 29, 2007 @ 7:07 pm