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Apparently there IS one born every minute. Although I've personally been caught up in a variety of scams in my days, usually not the same one twice AND I try to learn from others. So when I read that phishing and other online fraud schemes are increasing, I wonder . . . Here's an interesting item from VNUNET: Sevenfold increase in phishing attacks. And the snip:
The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), which monitors the internet scams, reported that nearly 40 new attacks were reported every day in May.The last graf is typical.
This represents a 700 per cent increase on the number of attacks in January this year.
Most commonly, phishers use spoof emails to trick recipients into handing over bank account or other financial details. Spoofs claiming to come from US banks rose 170 per cent in May month on month.But while the phishing threat is growing, most of the fraudsters use relatively unsophisticated methods to trick victims.
It may be taking a while for SMS to catch on in North America, but when there are speed contests and people breaking world records, it's gotta be big. This item in Slashphone (Faster finger, new sms record. The teaser:
Ever think how fast you can type this? The 160-character, 26-word text 'The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human.' There was a competition in Singapore last week and one lady broke Guinness World Records' time for the fastest SMS typed on a mobile phone.SINGAPORE'S fastest thumbs belong to business student Kimberly Yeo, who yesterday broke the Guinness World Records' time for the fastest SMS typed on a mobile phone.
The 23-year-old clocked 43.24 seconds for typing 26 words. The current record is 67 seconds for the same 26 words. It is held by James Trusler of Britain and was set last September.
Postal rates are going up, as announced here: Cost to mail a letter rising to 50 cents. Let's say that there are 10.5-billion pieces of mail each year in Canada. . .
Lots of Canadian election coverage today -- no surprise. The surprise is the mandate the Liberals got, at least as compared to even the most recent polling. Globe and Mail story: Canadians give Liberals a minority; 'We must do better,' Martin pledges. Ironically, the electorate did exactly what its sentiments have been for the past three or four months. The government has done a good job on the whole but was on the verge of general corruption. So, they give 'em a "flick on the pee-pee," as a friend of mine likes to say.
Just goes to prove the hack politician's prize saying, "The only poll that counts is on election day." As noted in this Toronto Star item: Results confound pollsters.
OK, so the headlines need work. What's here is a pair of items from the NYTimes regarding the personalization of advertising a la "Minority Report." The first one is about Comcast's (in particular) efforts at serving relevant ads to specific sets rather than a geographic service blanket (Advertising: Rain or Shine, Win or Lose, This Ad Is Just for You). You'd think it would be all cream and happiness -- as it should be. But NO! The flat-earthers who depend on things staying as they are are not all thrilled. Read the full story for the entire "TV's for branding . . ." stuff. Meantime, here's a snip:
But some agency executives and marketers wondered how much benefit could accrue even from commercials that know the local forecast, dew point or pollen count.The second item is similar but geared toward a medium that can already facilitate this unique ad serving approach: the Web. Here's the link: Web Marketers Get Personal
"Television first and foremost is a branding vehicle," said Charles Rosen, managing partner at Amalgamated, an ad agency in New York. "It is not the best vehicle for driving impulse purchases. If I make a memorable ad for Ben & Jerry's, it's still rare that somebody's going to get off their couch, go to the store and buy our ice cream."
Here's a nice uplifting piece from Channel News Asia: Threat of shock still hangs over world economic activity. They're covering the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Geneva. Here's some quotation:
"The current global economic upswing seems to be gaining momentum under the influence of unusually expansionary, in fact unsustainable, macroeconomic policies," the report said.Wow! But check this out. It really speaks to the thesis of the book I'm forever working on (about context and circumstance):"The crucial challenge facing policymakers, as the cycle turns up, will be how best to tighten without destabilising a global economy already exhibiting various economic and financial imbalances," it added.
"With the structure of the economic and financial world having changed so quickly and dramatically, and perhaps further change still to come, it could well be dangerous for policymakers to simply assume that their old answers will remain the right answers," the report said.
Anyone following this diary knows that I'm a little down on email as the "killer app" that will succeed into the next generation of Internet value. To be more specific: email is not up to the task at hand (in terms of quality and security, etc.) let alone those we are moving forward toward -- or desiring. SMTP was not made for this, the system is unprepared . . . Which is not to say that it isn't and hasn't been "good enough" for the past decade's use and requirement: it has in fine form. But that was the pre-opening shows in Topeka; now we're going to Broadway. Apparently others think so as well. Look here: Saving E-Mail. Here's the 2nd graf:
How worrisome have the problems become to businesses? Bad enough that MasterCard International Inc. last week said it has created a system for round-the-clock monitoring to inform 25,000 financial-institution members worldwide within four hours of when such a scam starts. Bad enough that fierce rivals in the E-mail business--America Online, Earth- Link, Microsoft, and Yahoo--agreed last week to support each other's E-mail-authentication standards. It's also prompting a consortium of the 100 largest financial institutions to develop a common database to share reports of attacks and responses, and forcing some banks to reconsider how they use E-mail to communicate with customers.
In the immediately preceding post, from last week, I was skeptical of a Website infection report. According to this story (Web site infection still active) and others, it's real.
I've seen this story in a couple of places this morning and don't know what to make of it. This one, in The Register, is entitled Watch out! Incoming mass hack attack. This gist is that there is a security flaw in Microsoft IE and some of their server software that has allows "malware" hackers to penetrate even the most venerable of Websites and infect them. The result being that when you surf to even these "trustworthy" sites, your computer will also become infected. Then all kinds of bad stuff happens.
Read it. I'm not sure that it's not a little overblown. But, I'm updating my virus-scan (which is a little like Communion: It probably won't do you any harm and it just might do some good.)
I grew up in a "legal family," which is a brief way of saying my father was a lawyer in private practice who did, among other things, criminal defence. We were raised on a steady diet of "innocent until proven guilty" and "in our system everyone deserves a vigorous defence for justice to be done," etc., etc. So, my ocassional fascist-leaning lapses are surprising to most. But, it's things like this that make me sympathize with the proactive defense posture of the Bush Administration's war on terrorism policy: 'Incurable psychopath' to be set free. The story is about the incurable psychopath whose well-known goal is to be "the most prolific killer in Canada." He's being released from prison in a week -- after serving his sentence (justice being done . . .) -- and, because he's managed to avoid being labelled a danger offender, despite being in jail for 15 of the past 17 years on 60!!! convictions, he will be able to roam free.
Unfortunately there is precious little that can be done except a little talk because the doctrine of pre-emtive action doesn't hold regardless of the psychopath's stated intent.
It disgusts me that such a waste of humanity can't be dealt with before somebody's child is molested and killed.
Lots of AOL news over the past couple days. First the easy stuff:
Showing support for the anemic online advertising business (which blew the doors off projections for Q1 growth, by the by), AOL is purchasing advertising.com according to this item from ABCNEWS.com: AOL Buys Advertising.com for $435 Million.
The next set of links is more interesting. Yesterday the NYTimes ran a story about how the big-four ISPs were working together to rid the world of spam: 4 Rivals Almost United on Ways to Fight Spam. That it is a Quixotic battle should be immaterial: it's keeping everyone occupied. Good news for AOL because it's one of the big four. How long a day can be . . . when the very next morning two stories appear, this time from the Toronto Star: AOL subscriber list allegedly sold to spammers (subhead: Police accuse pair of stealing 92 million screen names, putting them up for bids) and Two arrested in AOL spam scheme. Good to see law enforcement working so rapidly.
The moral of the story is that where there's value, and apparently there is (commercial) value in spamming -- and hence having a rich vein of ore to mine -- there is no stopping progress. Note that the root problem here is not one that can be readily stopped by an email technology or online security solution: maybe stronger, more prison-like security . . .
A while back we noted that Microsoft had obtained a patent on "clicks," which I believed was another sign that the patent system in the USA was irretreivably lost. Well, Microsoft is patenting again according to this item in The Inquirer: Microsoft patents skin of world+dog. Here's the first grafs:
SOFTWARE MAKER and mad inventor Microsoft has been given a patent for using human skin as a power conduit and data bus.Patent number 6,754,472 was granted for describing a method for transmitting power and data to devices worn on the body.
VNUNET.com issued a couple stories today about the mobile telephony industry and market. The first (Global mobile subscribers tops 1.5 billion) marks the breech of the 1.5-billion mark in early June which has fuelled expectations of exceeding 2-billion global subscribers in July 2006. China, of course, is providing the "tiger's"-share of the additions.
The second item, entitled
vnuMobile operators plan easier user interfaces, tells a story about a new group among mobile operators (mostly Europeans and Asians) to set some handset functionality standards. A snip:
This will offer customers a more consistent user experience across different devices and allow operators and manufacturers to customise and differentiate their offerings.Do you think it's about time?
The NYTimes has this story (Upbeat Forecast for Advertising). It's good news for anyone watching the economy; better news for anyone involved in the advertising business generally. Here are a few snips:
Mr. Coen [Robert J.], senior vice president and forecasting director at Universal McCann in New York, lifted his estimate for the growth of combined national and local ad spending in the United States to 7.3 percent this year compared with 2003. In December, he had forecast a gain of 6.9 percent in 2004.That's good, and as noted below, it represents a LOT OF MONEY. For those interested in a little more detail, he continues:
He listed among the more robust potential performers the Internet, up 20 percent; cable TV, up 14 percent; and syndicated TV, up 13 percent. Magazines, sluggish for a year, trail other national consumer media with a projected gain of 5 percent, behind rivals like newspapers, up 6.5 percent, and radio, up 7 percent. . . .Among the national ad categories expected to stand out, Mr. Coen listed drugs and remedies; toiletries and cosmetics; automobiles; dot-com brands advertising off-line in media like TV and print; beverages and snacks; and liquor. He also said he expected comebacks in several categories that were "down so low" last year, among them airlines; banks; brokers and mutual funds; insurance; and resorts.So, what does that mean in dollars and cents, you ask. Well . . .
For 2004, Mr. Coen predicts ad spending in this country will total $263.3 billion, which would surpass the earlier record for American ad spending of $247.5 billion, set in 2000. By comparison, ad spending in the United States last year totaled $245.5 billion, he said, revising downward the forecast he made in December that 2003 would end at $249.2 billion. . . . The overseas total for 2004 is $256.1 billion, compared with $244.4 billion for 2003; the figure for last year was increased from a December estimate of $221.9 billion because of exchange rates that saw many overseas currencies appreciate considerably.Wow! Have a good 2nd half!
The title of the Globe and Mail story is Canadians spend more on drugs than on doctors. The first paragraph reads:
Ottawa -- Canadians spent a mind-boggling $19.6-billion on prescription and non-prescription drugs last year, almost half as much as they spent on hospitals and more than they spent on doctors.It's simple supply and demand: you can spend money on drugs but there are no doctors! [This joke relies on a recent story about a Health Canada study which concludes that there are many, many Canadians who can't find or get to a GP. ed]
Newspapers are covering the recent "shoot up" of inflation to 2.5%. Much larger than the 2.1% that would be anticipated. Primary reason: gas prices. What is typically overlooked or buried in the last paragraphs (as per the following snip) is that there are different inflation measures. The Globe & Mail, for instance, carried this story today: Inflation jumps. In the last paragraph was the following:
. . . the closely watch core rate of inflation fell back to 1.5 per cent in May, from April's 1.8 per cent, suggesting few underlying price pressures in the economy. The core rate is the Bank of Canada's preferred measure of inflation. It excludes the eight most volatile components of the consumer price index.All inflation is not created equal.
The dot-com bubble and its well-deserved puncture has, as we all know, cast a pall in some quarters, on the value and impact of electronic commerce and business. Many who, admittedly or unwittingly, have a stake in preserving the status quo (such as it is or was) are the most vocal in telling us all that this has all been a vivid daydream. It has passed and business as usual -- the fundamentals -- where there is real value is the place to be. Flat-earthers emboldened by singular early failure to find the route to the Indies.
So, it both comes as no surprise but a happy revelation when Visa (not without a stake of its own) commissions a study that points to the value to the economy being driven by electronic payments. The small G&M item is here: E-payments big driver of growth, Visa study says. Interesting quote from the economist involved in the study:
"This study makes it clear that beyond convenience, electronic payments drive the economy by enhancing transactional efficiencies and expanding payment channels," said University of Toronto economist Jack Carr, an adviser to the study.
And I have issues with a PDA also being a mobile phone? Check out what DoCoMo is doing in Japan. Give the impact of losing something as losable as a mobile handset, I wonder. Here's the Silicon.com story: DoCoMo reveals mobile that's your keys, train ticket, cash.... And a snip:
Japanese mobile giant NTT DoCoMo has revealed plans that will see its next generation of mobile handsets become a sort of wireless wallet.The four new phones will be able to electronically take the place of everything from train tickets and virtual cash to an ID card and front door keys, using a smart-card system. The handsets will be available from early next month.
In this dangerous world, it's good to know that Canadian immigration officials are going out of their way not to offend anyone. In a G&M story (Sept. 11 investigation alleges new Canadian connections) is this snip:
A report prepared for the U.S. commission probing the events of Sept. 11, 2001, said Mohamedou Ould Slahi persuaded four Arab militants in Germany to travel to al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan in 1999. Three of them later piloted hijacked airliners in the [9/11] attacks, which killed more than 3,000.Mr. Slahi later ended up in Montreal. He was accepted as a permanent Canadian resident despite security officials' concerns. [emphasis mine]
Here's a story from the Globe and Mail (AP wire story) that should have all be the die-hards questioning certain action in Iraq (No link found between al-Qaeda, Hussein). The headline says it all, but here's a sentence for you:
In hair-raising detail, the commission said the terror network had envisioned a much larger attack and is working hard to strike again.
Check out this chair wrapper. Wouldn't that hurt? And, what qualifications are there for the job?
This is probably a good thing. According to this NYTimes piece (Federal Agency Declines to Create Do-Not-Spam Registry) the FTC is not going to pursue a version of "do not call" for spam. A snip:
In the law intended to crack down on junk e-mail, or spam, that passed last December, Congress ordered the commission to report on the feasibility of allowing e-mail users to place their e-mail addresses on a registry for those who do not want unsolicited messages.Further on, the FTC says that it will defer to the private sector to address and deal with the issue, including the determination of what constitutes adequate authentication of senders.In its report, the commission said a do-not-e-mail list would not be effective in cracking down on spam.
Rather, the report suggested that the most promising way to reduce spam was to create new technology that can verify that an e-mail message was sent from the address that it claims to be from.
Frankly, I'm not yet convinced that the present approach of validating senders is (a) ready for prime time or (b) the ultimate solution. It's a good start though, underlining the need for digital identity.
Worms on mobile phones. That's what this Reuters article (World's First Mobile Virus Is Not Lethal, Yet) shows. Here's the gist:
The worm, named Cabir, was sent to security software firms Kapersky Lab of Russia and U.S.-based Symantec by a member of 29a, a group of virus writers from the Czech Republic and Slovakia who pride themselves in creating proof of concept malicious viruses," Kapersky Labs spokesman Denis Zenkin said."This is the very first version of a network worm which propagates via mobile phones," he said on Wednesday.
The worm is designed to work in smartphones running on Symbian and Series 60 software, Symantec said on its Web site.
This software is used to power millions of Nokia phones, such as the popular 6600 model.
Great. I think we all knew it was coming -- eventually. On the plus side, maybe it'll stop all those people from carrying on secondary conversations while ignoring their dining partner in restaurants . . .
Here's what the developers have put up for the kids.
Contract or tax preference? Accenture has to make the call because Congress woke up and thinks that expatriating homeland defense is not in the national best interest. Coverage here: Congress in Move to Kill $10 Billion Accenture Deal The snip:
The war on terror appears to have indirectly bagged another victim, with a US$10 billion Accenture security contract with the US government at risk because the company is not based in the US.
Ray died and the body is gone. Coverage here and here, among other places.
But the soul lingers.
I can't believe an insider ("Paul Martin's top political advisor," David Herle) would say that his party is in "a spiral" in any forum that could get exposure in the media unless (a) he'd lost his marbles or (b) it's a tactic. Globe & Mail story here: Liberals 'are in a spiral,' top Martin adviser says. EVEN IF they were being crushed and totally desperate, it would be a stupid thing to say out loud -- even to rally the troops.
But, given this side-by-side Globe & Mail story (Liberals still cling to the lead in survey), one has to assume it's a subtle tactic to avoid the fate of unfortunate Ontario incumbent David Petersen some 12 or 13 years ago at the hands of an overzealous electorate that decided somebody needed to teach him a little lesson. When they woke up the next morning, Ontarians realized that maybe they should have consulted with one another about WHO would do the lesson giving. It seems Herle would like to remind everyone that really strange things happen when a lot of well-meaning people act.
Nokia, the belwether of the mobile handset industry, is off. Way off. Their global market share fell by about 6 points this past year. Story from the International Herald-Tribune is here: Nokia sputters amid boom in sales of mobile phones. A snip:
Nokia, the world's biggest cellphone maker, lost market share to all of its major rivals partly because of a weak lineup of mid-range phones, Gartner said.
Googling and getting the ad to not just hyperlink information but connect a prospect inquiry. Excellent idea. Wish I knew somebody working on something like that. Sounds like a winner. Got to be getting pretty mainstream now if the venerable NYTimes is carrying an article about it: E-Commerce Report: Transforming Clicks Into Rings
Great business idea. It seems to have worked for Starbucks. Just not sure that speed in and out of the McDonald's -- or the drive-through -- really aligns with surfing. Story in the Chicago Sun-Times: McDonald's, SBC in Wi-Fi partnership
". . . pop up blockers and do-not-call lists make it harder to get through the gate . . ." Until somebody figures out how to defeat the so-called gate. It's an ancient story; one that security specialists know only too well. The Inquirer carries a story here: Pop-up technology improves. A snip:
According to news.com, Google™'s tool bar, which was confidently touted as a firewall against pop-ups has been tunnelled under by the ad companies. . . .But the ad companies have simply by-passed the blocks by changing the code they use to open windows."
Has anybody noticed the visual distance Aeroplan is putting between itself and Air Canada? I just got the most recent "spam-letter" and the HTML was showing a brand new logo and design. Here's the English splash page.
What could this portend?
On a more serious note, the BBC is reporting a worm that attacks a Windows vulnerability to steal credit card details if one has been used online recently. Read it here: Worm steals credit card details.
In the Inquirer, this (Porn more important than knowledge) item reports on a study conducted in May. A snip:
According to a report prepared by Hitwise, a company which watches the watchers, online porn sites get about three times more visits than the top Web search engines, including market leader Google.Of course it all depends on who's doing the looking. Or, as a statistician would say, 'it depends on the sample.' Still . . . makes for a good headline.
Heard a lot about the Webisodes of the chicken, of Seinfeld, etc. at the Ad:Tech conference. Here's a piece in the Globe and Mail: ('Webisodes' are the new frontier for Internet ads).
Interesting article in the NYTimes about what happens to and who owns the data on your computer when you die (Whose Data Is It, Anyway?).
Practical and philosophical questions in there. Used to be that only the papers we kept hidden away were there for family and historians to find. Thanks to the digital world it gets bigger and bigger.
According to this NYTimes item, somebody's developed a little app that can tell if the recipient of an email has been read (Who Got the Message? There's a Way to Know). The lead:
A NEW service promises to pull back the curtain on anyone hiding behind the common white lie "I never got your e-mail." Users of the service, DidTheyReadIt (didtheyreadit.com), can clandestinely track when and where their e-mail is read.I find this interesting for two reasons. First, my Outlook has a setting that allow me to get a ping when somebody (a) receives, or (b) opens an email I've sent. Second, just because they've done either what proof is there that they've read or understood the content? The fact that it's kept secret from the recipient is significant: no wonder the privacy folks are up in arms.The service, which has already drawn complaints from privacy advocates, offers a new and quiet way to harvest behavioral information about friends, colleagues and potential consumers.
Sometimes too much knowledge is just too much.
If granting patents on spurious "business processes" wasn't enough, it looks like it's out of control judging by the content of this piece in MacCentral (obvious spin here): Microsoft granted patent on button click timing. Here's the second graf:
U.S. patent 6,727,830, granted April 27, is described as a "time-based hardware button for application launch." The patent abstract goes on to explain that the patent relates to how different functions can be invoked depending on whether a button is clicked once, clicked and held down for a period of time, or double-clicked within a short period of time.Why stop there, why not patent the choice of finger clicking the button?
It looks like Bell has a new nationally-capable rival at MTS (Manitoba Telecom Systems) given that an Ontario Superior Court judge turned down their request for an injunction against MTS's merger with Allstream (reported here snarkily before). G&M piece here: Judge turns down Bell's bid against MTS-Allstream deal
Two items here. First, there is an interview with George Lakoff [What? You don't know who he is? Shame on you!] in the Berkeley News: Framing the issues: UC Berkeley professor George Lakoff tells how conservatives use language to dominate politics. The article is a little dated (last October) and, I think, has been done by Lakoff many times, including an NPR audio clip that I posted a while ago. Thanks to Doc for the tip. The title is relatively self-explanatory.
Second, from the other side, today I found that trailer for Michael Moore's film, Fahrenheit 9/11 is online. Moore is, himself, an unrepentant propagandist one-man counter-balance to all that Lakoff describes. Watch the trailer.
From the ever-creative Finnish minds at Nokia: Nokia skywriting
You can never be sure of anything OPEC says its going to do. There are too many "rogue" members that just do what they want to do. Anyway, they are -- allegedly -- seeking to increase the quota output to reduce prices. Reuters article here: OPEC Prepares Deal in Bid to Topple Price. Good by economic theory: increase supply to reduce the price on a fixed demand.
How benevolent. They're willing to increase the amount of the commodity they output (at a slowly diminishing price) just so we don't have to pay as much for a tank of gas. Let me see . . . more output = more revenue = more palaces. And my minivan doesn't cost over $50 to fill any more. Yeah that seems fair.
I know what the title means, and I understand the policy plank that Harper's proposing. Still, I can't help but love the opportunity to respond to the Globe & Mail's article head: Tories aim for tighter links to U.S.
Globe and Mail's story title is: Milton agrees to further salary cut. A snip:
In a letter to employees, dated May 31, Mr. Milton said that his salary, which was cut 15 per cent last year, will drop another 5 per cent on July 1, bringing the total reduction to 20 per cent. Those of other executives and senior managers, which were cut by between 5 and 10 per cent last year, will fall another 2.5 per cent.I'm speechless . . . for now.
The lead graf in this Globe and Mail item (Can Jack Sprat eat no fat? Britain launches a drive to slim down amid growing fears of 'obesity epidemic') reads thus:
Until recently, the most prominent symbol of British-U.S. solidarity was a rifle-toting soldier stationed in Iraq. Now it is being replaced by a gargantuan, 84-pound toddler choking on her own blubber.It's ABOUT time. Should outlaw fast food and television while we're at it. Pride and good sense ought to take care of it, but since (according to this item: Mental illness widespread, undertreated) there's an excess of undiagnosed and untreated mental illness in the world it's good that the government steps in to tell us WE'RE KILLING OURSELVES through corpulence.
But we don't care because if it depresses a teenager to be a chubber-ball, or social ostracism (or double airfare for the second seat) makes the hefty adult weep, there's always Prozac.
The reference is to the post below. The cause is this story from the Globe and Mail: Crude gushes through $42 barrier.
Am I the only one here who remembers the inflationary period of the late seventies and early eighties? Wasn't there a huge oil issue in there somewhere? No wonder there's global pre-occupation with OPEC opening up the taps. Question: what happens when there really isn't a lot of oil left?
Why hasn't Ballard and other alternative energy stock gone through the roof yet? This is again a clear and present threat to the American (motoring) way of life.
News from the corner of Madison and Vine:
Cossette Communication Group Inc. launched a new subsidiary yesterday that will create television shows, magazines and video games as platforms to showcase products -- the latest example of a marketing company attempting to blur the lines between entertainment and advertising.So starts the item in the Globe and Mail entitled Ad agency to develop TV shows, video games. I could have sworn that the last few James Bond flicks, as well as several other movies and television shows were already there.
Henry Mintzberg, of McGill, has a new book out. It's engendered this review/story in the Globe & Mail: Being an MBA doesn't mean you can manage.
My question is why restrict the sentence with the word "manage?"
Excellent idea Nurse Ratchet, let's dope 'em up rather than raise them. From the NYTimes: Antidepressant Seen as Effective in Treatment of Adolescents
Forget a strong military or economic might. Show your independence on the world stage by distributing a movie (Palme d'or at Cannes) that is incindiary in the White House. The New York Times > Business > Media & Advertising > Canadian Studio Plans to Distribute Moore's 9/11 Film. The first graf:
The independent studio Lions Gate Films will distribute Michael Moore's documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11," which has gained wide notice for its critique of President Bush and was spurned for distribution by the Walt Disney Company.Of course Canada, as a nation, didn't endorse this business decision, and Lion's Gate no doubt sees money in distributing this notorious award-winner. I'm going to see it eventually. I love mediocre lefty propaganda. I find it less disturbing and ultimately harmful than even the best right-side variety.
I watched the Miss Universe pagent over top of my notebook's monitor and my wife's shoulder last night. Didn't catch much but got in on the betting for the winner in the final round. Picked Paraguay and Australia. Satisfied with the outcome. Naturally so are the Aussies: Aussie model wins Miss Universe
The adage, attributed to Tip O'Neill (former Speaker of the House and perennial winner of his Massachusetts congressional seat), goes: All politics is local.
The same might ultimately be said about business. For all the nationalization, internationalization, globalization, etc., etc. of recent days which have been pushed on by technologies such as the Internet communications vehicle, ultimately we consumers buy stuff and make it "local." We need it here -- not there. And we need to find stuff in the local physical world.
Ergo, the "yellow pages." Pick your brand, it doesn't matter. What we're talking about is the primary source of consumer information for getting stuff locally. Unassuming and assumed just to be there, this extended commercial telephone listing is essential to most of us. At least to most of us who've been around the block a few times. Others, apparently choose alternate sources such as the Internet.
The New York Times carried a piece called Most Wanted Media: The Yellow Web Pages yesterday. According to a study by Kelsey Group and Constat, there is a distinction among users. A snip:
The online survey found that 67 percent of small businesses that have been in operation for over 20 years still rely on Yellow Pages. The figure drops to 52 percent for companies less than 10 years old, which are also more likely to spend money on online directories and services that promise higher placement in Web searches.If ever there was a medium just dying for expansion into the electronic market, it's this one. If only there were a way . . . [. . . FETCH! . . .]
