Time to Really Get Social

On the Twitter Line as BIGBOPPER.
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Followers can link Here:
http://twitter.com/bigbopper
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What Does Open Social Mean (Yahoo Joins Google's Effort).

analysis forthcoming...

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Online Bookmarks

My Online Bookmarks:

http://del.icio.us/theWingman

Verizon, AT&T Win 700 mhz

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http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2008/03/20/verizon-att-big-winners-in-700-mhz-auction-verizon-wins-much-discussed-c-block-no-spectrum-for-google/

barronsblogs_link:

===================================================================================== March 20, 2008, 3:33 pm
Verizon, AT&T Big Winners In 700 MHz Auction; Verizon Wins Much-Discussed C Block; No Spectrum For Google
Posted by Eric Savitz

Verizon (VZ) and AT&T (T) are the big winners in the FCC’s 700 MHz spectrum auction, the commission disclosed today.

Verizon, as many had expected, was the biggest spender. The company won the rights to the much-discussed C block, which could be used to create a nationwide broadband network. A quick analysis of the bidding by Tech Trader Daily of the 1091 blocks that were auctioned off finds Verizon spent a total of $9.4 billion in the auction, buying parts of the A and B spectrum blocks as well as the C block.

AT&T spent $6.6 billion in the auction, all of it in the B spectrum block.

Other big spenders:

* CentruyTel (CTL): $149 million
* Cox: $304.6 million
* Frontier Wireless, which is related to EchoStar (DISH): $711.8 million. Frontier spent all of its cash on the E block, which was expected to be used for a mobile television service.
* King Street Wireless, an affiliate of U.S. Cellular (USM): $300.5 million
* Qualcomm (QCOM): $558.1 million. (The company also had the high bid on the D block at $472 million; but that failed to meet the reserve price, and that block will be re-bid.)
* Vulcan Spectrum (owned by Paul Allen): $112.8 million.

Google (GOOG) did not win any of the auctions.

All winning bids combined totaled $19.12 billion; the FCC says net dollars raised in the auction after some credits is $18.96 billion.


Update: Here are some additional companies that were substantial players in the auction:

* Cavalier Wireless: $46.4 million
* Cellular South Licenses: $191.5 million
* Continuum 700: $66.1 million
* Puerto Rico Telephone: $31.4 million
* Triad 700: $17 million
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Site Location listed above:

Charlie Rose: To Err (AIR) is Human...

MacBook Err?

Tuned into Charlie Rose today on KVCR and saw the vernerable host looking like a Geraldo want-to-be, with a nice shiner and bandage on his face.

What gives?


The Full story consists of Charlie, his brand new MacBook Air and a New York City Pothole. The Pothole and MacBook are fine, the "Rose" is black and blue.

Story at Wired Magagine:

The "FITS" of Telling the NEWS

Remember when the News was about the News?

Now the News (broadcast) is about possibilities.
Now the news is about asking inane questions from unqualified but Slanted "pundits".
Today, you can go to the News for questions but why bother?

They Don't have the answers. Probably a never had it, never will, kind of thing.
- - -
What about the WEB?
There's a lot of "Stuff" out there.

Some of it Might be News

The 100 top newspaper sites are here:
http://refdesk.com/top100pap.html

You know, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal.
Some are still viable despite their owner's "news pedigree".

And what about RSS feeds?

That's how I get the BBC Podcasts (for a different perspective about what's happening in the states).

I listen on my PSP, I don't use an iPod, but it works too. Pretty much any portable MP3 player will work, and there you have it, the BBC telling you the News of the Day.

The BBC has a whole slew of BBC RSS FEEDS you can subscribe to with just a click of a button.
Click here for FEEDS to choose from:


If you look hard enough, beyond the broadcast "Sound and Fury", you can find "some" viable news sources.

***
A cliche phrase from my Philosophy Logic Days was: "Consider the Source."

Good Idea, that.
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Here's a snippet of current news posted at refdesk.com: (My Fav Kid Safe reference web site!)
((webpage Slices is coming...))
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IN THE NEWS:
• Favre Could Be Scarce in Retirement - Mar 09 12:41 PM US/Eastern
• Tar Heels Hold Off Duke to Win ACC Crown - Mar 09 12:38 PM US/Eastern
• AP Probe Finds Drugs in Drinking Water - Mar 09 12:33 PM US/Eastern
• Obama's Black Support Shows Its Limits - Mar 09 11:47 AM US/Eastern
• AP: Water Makes US Troops in Iraq Sick - Mar 09 11:38 AM US/Eastern
• Democrats Criticize Bush's CIA-Bill Veto - Mar 09 11:31 AM US/Eastern
• Obama Wins in Wyoming, Adds 7 Delegates - Mar 09 11:07 AM US/Eastern
• Woman Earns Silver Star in Afghan War - Mar 09 10:32 AM US/Eastern
• Iran Ready to Talk Nuclear With Europe - Mar 09 10:14 AM US/Eastern
• China: Terrorists Targeted Olympics - Mar 09 8:38 AM US/Eastern
(from the REFDESK.COM page.)
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Some Blogs and Stuff LINKS
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A Youtube Video Worth Watching...
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How Much Does the War in Iraq Cost?:
http://www.afsc.org/cost/?gclid=CMOLqd-xgJICFSEaawodhjHI9w
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Barack OBAMA Blog:
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http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hqblog/
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John McCAIN Blog:
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http://www.johnmccain.com/Blog/Read.aspx?guid=ace5005c-939b-4282-b19d-f95396ecbcd6
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Hillary CLINTON Blog:
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http://blog.hillaryclinton.com/
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Check Out DIGG for NEWS
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http://digg.com/news
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Found this on DIGG News.
The Check's Are Coming
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http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/08/tax.letter.ap/index.html?iref=24hours
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One Last BLOG to lighten the Load.
One of the 100 Newspapers posted above contains the Chicago Sun-Times which is the home of Ebert's "At The Movies" column. Here's the LINK:
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/

Yeah, he thinks "No Country For Old Men" was Pefect too...
Wingman, out.
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For The Loss of A Buckley...

The Theater loss the reason seasoned thoughts of intellectuals many years ago with the loss of the Great Actor/Orators like Spencer Tracy, Henry Fonda, Gregory Peck, Peter O'Toole, Sidney Poitier and Katharine Hepburn.

Some might say, me included, that the loss of persistent intellectuals may have faded from the American conscience with the loss of William F. Buckley Jr.

For 50 plus years he prodded and probed the political systems with glib and evanescent inquiry. His aloof delivery and slow meanderings, sprinkled with ten dollar words made you strain for understanding. What is He talking about? What does he mean?

I took from him: Question everything, and Question Everyone. Particularly politicians, whose words are too often filtered by think tanks and spin doctors. Too often they try to tell us what "they" think we want to hear.

One of my frequently quoted phrases from Marshall McLuan is "The Message is the Massage", which to me means: the means of the transmission is equally as important as what is being transmitted.

That was what Buckley was, an intelligent transmission.

That Voice and Transmission is what we lost last week.

The world has become a darker, quieter place because of it.

CNN and the Cool "Minority Report Effect"

Always on the cutting edge tech wise if not news reporting, CNN showed off it's neato Minority Report Like Effect last night.

Like Tom Cruise did in the Steven Spielberg movie "Minority Report"' minus the headset.
IMDB Link Here:

I guess that would have been "Too Techy".

Link to my report of the Windows Table Top system that MS sells for 10,000 a pop.

Link to a way to "duplicate" the effect for home movies using Blender 3D software.

RSS, Podcasts and New Media

Dave Winer on Leo's TWiT podcast argued that the RSS enclosure was not being use fully. That it was capable of doing "so much more...", but no one was taking advantage of its potential.

I iclude a link to the Podcast Here

TWIT episode 134

March 3rd, 2008

TWiT 134: Pave the Cow Paths

RSS evolves, Twitter vs. Pownce, Wikileaks, powdered hard disks, and more...

Just a simple cut and paste here to include Leo's Link.