Sent from my iPhone Edition

Today’s links of interest:

• Apple won’t sell NBC programs on iTunes
  NBC is the latest entertainment company to accuse apple of attempting to use digital content to sell hardware. A shocking claim. And somewhat surprising when you consider all the talk about how iTunes was responsible for the crucial early success of programs like the Office (and probably Heroes, to a certain extent).
• The Office Summer Vacation
  What the people from The Office did on their summer vacations.
• Sony Unveils Video Walkman, Drops Connect Music Store
  Not only has Sony given up on selling digital music, they’ve dropped their proprietary DRM scheme — in favor of PlaysForSure. Guess they haven’t heard about the Zune.

I’m not a wine snob. I don’t feel the need to discuss vintage discrepancies or the loaminess of the terroir. It’s just that there are few things as pleasurable as finding a truly great wine. There are some objective truths to a great wine but like all arts, it’s largely a subjective exercise of the senses. Above all else, it fills one with a sense of wonderment as you recognize its endless possibilities. In other words, it’s just so cool.

What makes a wine great can be debated ad nauseam (please, no more about the tannic structure or I will have to get medieval on your %$#) Yet, I find that amidst all the clammer, there is that constant refrain of somethingness, for lack of a better word. In itself that somethingness is indescribable, you just know that it’s there. It’s the a-ha moment.

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Rest My Weary Bones Tonight Edition

Todays links of interest:

• The blog haters have barely any idea what they are raging against
  Scott Rosenberg on blogging.
• To be or not to be?
  Analysis of how Shakespeare became famous. Hint: in a way that ensured he would not actually benefit from said fame.
• Wilco is still like no other | wilco, sky, band, tweedy, one
  Your ‘lopers were at that Wilco show last night, and holy christ! is Nels Cline a guitar god. Don’t remember him being this awesome with The Geraldine Fibbers, but that was a long time ago. Hard to say if this was the best Wilco show I’ve ever seen — the 1995 show at Slim’s was a revelation, and then of course there was that Jay Bennett birthday show with the stripper at Great American Music Hall. Or any of the Fillmore shows after "Being There" came out. But it was pretty great.

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I was fairly young when some unsuspecting adult thought it would be a good idea to explain to me that I could always get the current time by dialing POPCORN.

I proceeded to abuse that information by dialing the number every five minutes to find out what time it was — among other things. I figured if the Time Lady was so all knowing about the time of day, she might have the answers to other questions as well. What can I say, I was young and Google hadn’t been invented yet.

I never did get any other answers from the Time Lady. She stuck to the time with a zen-like focus. In retrospect I think she might have what we now call “obsessive compulsive”.

Over the years I lost track of the Time Lady. Recently there hasn’t been much need to call her. In fact, I was sort of surprised to discover that she was still around and giving out the time to anyone who called — but not for much longer.

This week AT&T announced that the Time Lady’s time has run out. After September, California residents will no longer be able to pick up the phone and dial the time. AT&T is discontinuing the service, citing failing equipment, the need for additional phone numbers, and, presumably, a general lack of use, as reasons.

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I don’t have the juice to go in-depth about anything this week, so I thought that I’d take a few swipes at some things:

Download Service Explosion — With Nokia’s recent announcement announcement of their download service on the heels of CD Baby and Wal-Mart’s services, it looks like we are in another round of download service offerings. Add these to the DRM-free service that Universal announced last month, and the long-rumoured Amazon download stores, and consumers will have every type of choice.

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Some People Out There in Our Nation Don’t Have Maps Edition

Todays links of interest:

• Castro’s tip: Clinton-Obama the winning ticket
  Thanks for the tip Fidel. Your endorsement will do wonders for their electability in this country.
• Miss Teen contestant to explain meltdown
  On the Today Show. Which means that she’s already more famous than whomever it is that won the pageant. However, she is going to need to do better than she "completely misunderstood" the question: there is no conceivable question to which what she said would have possibly been the answer.
• Microsoft Piracy Check Snafu Mislabels Authentic Windows Copies
  Oops. But not terribly surprising. And we’re still trying to suss out how "Windows Genuine Advantage" was ever any type of advantage for their customers.

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U.S. Americans Edition

Todays links of interest:

• Look Out For That Cliff: 15 TV Sensations Whose Popularity Faded Fast
  Another Monday, another awesome A.V. Club list.
• CBS goes on the defensive over Kid
  How could anybody think that this would be a good idea on any level?
• TorrentSpy shuts down in the U.S.
  Making it that much more difficult to ever find the 4th season of Everwood, since those dumbasses at WB still haven’t released it.

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As eyeballs and earlobes move away from traditional media, it will the challenge to advertisers to move to where the body parts are. After decades of selling to a relative few number of media outlets, advertisers will be chasing down consumers all over the web and the world.

This will lead to a serious challenge as the places where the kids — and let’s be honest, advertisers remain stubbornly stuck in a world-view where only kids have cash for discretionary spending — hang out are not necessarily as family friendly or wholesome as advertisers prefer. When you’re beholden to shareholders, you cannot, for example, advertise on a site that extols the virtue of pot smoking. Even if the audience captured (and retained) by that site represents the nadir of marketing goals that can be achieved.

This is the problem with MySpace, Facebook, and just about every blog worth noting. In the past, advertisers had sufficient clout to, if necessary, control the message. Television networks were more likely to bow to advertisers pressure than politicians spouting off about “family values”. If you couldn’t sell the spot, then you might consider changing the content.
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While you were busy trying to fill one of the last two weeks of summer with too many activities, this is what we were doing:

• One of Those Late Summer, Living Is Easy Posts - Damn, I wish I was in San Diego!
• My Afternoon in Wal-Mart’s MP3 Download Hell - Kirk takes one for the team. One more reason to stay away from the nightmare that is Wal-Mart.
• Debunking the Great DVD Sniffing Dog Hoax - The latest adventures of Flo and Lucky - invasion of privacy is only the beginning.
• Active Eight - Tim praises the internet for its help in facilitating his numerous outdoor activities. The rest of us ‘Lopers are sitting on our couches or laying in our hammocks with our heads hung down in shame.

McLovin Edition

Todays links of interest:

• The Science of Out-of-Body Experiences
  Dude! Whoa!
• Group successfully details hardware-based iPhone unlocking
  Hackers unite!! Break out your soldering irons and free yourself from the arbitrary shackles put in place by The Man!! You have nothing to lose but your, er, um, iPhones.
• Austin Nichols Arrested for DUI
  "Please blow into the tube, Butchie."

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