(Here) comes an actor, comedian and writer, seeking to make his way across the country in the next two weeks with only a dream and, oh, yes, instead of a dollar, a trailer filled with 3,000 pounds of a new bacon.The actor, Josh Sankey, will embark this week on a promotion for the Oscar Mayer division of Kraft Foods that is being called the Great American Bacon Barter.
This is just yet another lame attempt by Corporate America to leverage social media (and use the mainstream media as a promotional tool) and turn something viral. It rarely works and often blows up in their faces.
On Aug. 31, the Federal Aviation Administration requested public comment on its longstanding policy of prohibiting the use of personal electronics during takeoffs and landings. The restrictions date back to 1991 and were motivated in part by anecdotal reports from pilots and flight crews that electronic devices affected an airliner’s navigation equipment or disrupted communication between the cockpit and the ground. Over the years, however, Boeing has been unable to duplicate these problems, and the FAA can only say that the devices’ radio signals “may” interfere with flight operations.
Gadgets may not but the near constant whining of people who can’t use their iPads and Kindles and can’t entertain themselves for a few minutes might drive some of us insane. Our parents seemed to get along just fine on airplanes without needing to be constantly distracted by electronic gizmos.
If you’ve been put off by the (arguably obtrusive) Special Offers on the Kindle Fire HD, Amazon has just announced that they will allow users to pay $15 to opt-out of the ads for the life of the device.
This morning I received an urgent telephone call from my good friend Pam Gaffin. She was terribly excited about an event that was happening before her eyes. Pam told me it was a migration of soldier crabs also called hermit crabs and there were millions and millions of them she likened it to the migrations of Serengeti.
At what point do you watch this video and think, “That’s really….CREEPY!!”
PayPal President David Marcus responded to mounting criticism from customers by promising that things are changing at the online payments company.
Marcus’ comments come on the heels of some well-publicized criticism of PayPal from Eliot Jay Stocks, a designer who created a magazine called 8 Faces. Stocks posted to his blog about how he would never use PayPal again after repeated incidents of them freezing the funds in his account.
Marcus posted to a discussion thread at the Hacker News Web site, noting “there’s a massive culture change happening at PayPal right now. If we suck at something, we now face it, and we do something about it.”
Of course, it’s one thing to promise change. It’s another to deliver it.
Dan Spitz, former lead guitarist for thrash metal band Anthrax, has sold more than 15 million albums, been nominated for 3 Grammy’s, created over 10 studio albums – and now he is recognized as one of the best watchmakers in the world.
People have been comparing the similarities between Apple products and older Braun products. However, there are big differences between that and what Samsung has done.
Ive’s designs for Apple apply the Braun aesthetic to devices that depart widely in purpose and function from the original Rams-crafted products. Samsung took Apple’s design for a smartphone and applied it directly to…a smartphone. And then tried to pretend that they didn’t.
With its elegantly implemented Thunderbolt connectivity, the Pro Tools|HD Native Thunderbolt interface gives producers, engineers, and mixers the incredible sound quality, low latency, and sheer power of the award-winning Pro Tools|HD Native system in a mobile-based hardware solution…
My buddy Corey Tamas is getting set to record his first album and he has a campaign up on Indiegogo where you can help. Support independent artists, I did.
The ice cream maker that introduced the flavors Schweddy Balls and Karamel Sutra sued the maker of “Ben & Cherry’s” X-rated DVDs Wednesday, saying the “hardcore pornographic” films have smeared its reputation.
Caballero Video has produced titles like “Boston Cream Thighs” and “Peanut Butter D-Cup,” and has packaged them to imitate Ben & Jerry’s containers.
I’d like to thank Weather 2x for sponsoring The Loop’s RSS feed this week.
A distinctively different kind of weather app for iPad and iPhone with stunning Retina-quality visuals and a refreshingly fun and touch centric UI.
Weather 2x is the perfect balance of aesthetics, intuitive functionality and the right amount of detail.
Check out the latest version with great new features including iCloud sync, Twitter & E-mail sharing, local weather detection, and images of Jim’s igloo for when it reaches those sub-zero temperatures.
I’ve been using Weather 2x since it first came out and love it.
South Korea’s antitrust watchdog said Thursday it has launched an investigation into whether Samsung is abusing its dominant position in the wireless market to disadvantage Apple.
The lawsuit was brought by California man Betsalel Williamson who had to replace the screen of his brand new iPhone after he knocked it off the arm of a chair, resulting “in spider cracks across the back glass panel.”
The judge ruled that Williamson failed to demonstrate that Apple breached its warranty or violated laws in California by stating that the glass was “ultradurable.” He said that it’s a fact of life that glass breaks when it’s impacted. The judge threw out the case.
Businessweek did an article today focusing on Daring Fireball’s John Gruber. Besides being a friend, John has helped me with advice and encouragement when I was redesigning The Loop. There is no doubt he has had a big impact on blogging.
Jeff Bezos announced a whole slew of Kindle devices and launched the new Kindle Fire tablets. And if you believe all the Twitter chatter, then he did it in a Steve Jobs style presentation.
I agree with Om that Jeff Bezos has done a great job — except at making profits — and from all I’ve heard, his presentation today was great. Having said that, he’s no Steve Jobs, as much as he may want to be.
Amazon packed a boatload of new products, services and information into its Santa Monica media event Thursday morning. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos introduced a trifecta of new Kindle Fire Tablets, new software services to improve the tablet experience, and updated Kindle e-reader models.
If you are a fan of Amazon and/or their Kindle devices, there’s a lot to like about these announcements. Amazon has a niche – customers who want access to the Amazon ecosystem – and are serving it well.
It may not be a two horse race but the other horses are three legged.
The nation will have a chance to say goodbye to Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, in a memorial service at the Washington National Cathedral on Sept. 13.The 10 a.m. service will be broadcast live on NASA Television and streamed on the websites of the cathedral and space agency.
I’d amend that first sentence to “The world will have a chance to say goodbye…” Armstrong represents and represented more than just America. He represented the best in all of us.
At the apex of this year’s New Establishment list is a Digital Age grudge match–the warring heads of Apple, Google, and Amazon–while Mark Zuckerberg wonders when the gloom of Facebook’s I.P.O. is going to lift. But this crowd has entertainment powerhouses too (Joss Whedon, Adele, Ryan Seacrest), not to mention some real outlaws.
