Blogoramification

WOOOW!!! OK Go - This Too Shall Pass - Rube Goldberg Machine version - Official

2010-11-01T20:14:00.001-03:00

WOOOOWW!!!

Christchurch : earthquake #eqnz Recovery on the way.

2010-09-06T19:59:00.002-03:00

Christchurch New Zealand hit by an earthquake. Recovery on the way.

Robert Green's Future with England World Cup.

2010-06-12T17:47:00.001-03:00

Robert Green's future with England.

#Microsoft Sustainability : Productivity, future vision

2010-06-03T21:34:00.001-03:00

Nice gadgets... Not sure it is #Microsoft made. Nothing crashed...

Do you need to hire an Online Community or Social Media Manager? | Community Management | Blaise Grimes-Viort

2010-05-27T17:26:00.001-03:00

Everyone’s talking about the role of Community Manager and Social Media Manager, with a lot of definitions being bandied around.

Do you need to hire an Online Community or Social Media Manager? | Community Management | Blaise Grimes-Viort

#Android running on #iPhone

2010-04-23T19:10:00.001-03:00

Portails sociaux en éducation et l'élaboration d'une politique sur les portails sociaux dans un conseil ou commission scolaire

2010-04-21T18:50:00.004-03:00

Portail sociaux en education Check out this SlideShare Presentation: Portail sociaux en education

Portails sociaux en éducation et l'élaboration d'une politique sur les portails sociaux dans un conseil ou commission scolaire

View more presentations from Virtuo CMS Technologies Inc..

Combien ca coute un page fan de Facebook?

2010-04-21T18:48:00.003-03:00

Combien ca coute un page fan de Facebook Check out this SlideShare Presentation: Combien ca coute un page fan de Facebook?

Combien

View more presentations from Commun.

#terremotochile: Mapa Collaborativo de Servicios Abiertos.

2010-02-28T13:17:00.000-03:00

Ver Vegamercado en un mapa ampliado

#terremotochile a traves los ojos (tweets) de los famosos

2010-02-28T13:00:00.003-03:00

Ante la tragedia que vive el hermano país de Chile, Terra Noticias reporta que diversas personalidades de la música y la televisión internacional se unieron a través de Twitter para ayudar a los damnificados a encontrar a sus familiares o avisarles de su situación:

Juanes

RickyMartin.

Residente de Calle13

Beto Cuevas

Soledad Onetto

Miguel Vera González

Elliot Yasmin

Para leer la nota completa, entren aca.

Medecins Sans Frontiere's Slideshow From Haiti

2010-01-16T16:36:00.000-03:00

Medecins Sans Frontiere's slideshow in Haiti.

Zannelmusic: Rock your Social Web World.

2009-12-30T15:56:00.003-03:00

In ZannelMusic check what all the bands and musicians are doing. Zannel!music brings musicians and their fans closer together & helps people discover new music.

What Zannelmusic Offers:

Take control of your relationship with your fans by creating timely, graphic content right from your mobile phone
Keep your MySpace page, Facebook group page, and website update with Zannel’s one-click update capabilities
Help your fans follow you with SMS teasers and email notifications.
Create copyrighted material while you are out and about with your mates/playing a gig
Push your content to your own website as well as to social networks…in one step.

USB Port co-inventor on Conan

2009-10-10T15:21:00.003-03:00

Well this guy, Ajay Bhatt, who co-invented the USB port (and a lot of other fun stuff) in an interview with Conan (not the barbarian, the talkshow host, you idiot ...)

Orson Well's War of the Worlds: a Classic on Youtube.

2009-10-10T12:16:00.003-03:00

Orson Well's War of the Worlds: a Classic on Youtube.

Twitter Comedy Hour.

2009-09-27T14:53:00.005-03:00

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Facebook, Twitter Revolutionizing How Parents Stalk Their College-Aged Kids

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Ikea Heights: An Instore Soap.

2009-09-13T20:57:00.002-03:00

Ikea Heights is a melodrama shot entirely in the Burbank California Ikea Store without the store knowing. It is refreshing, a bit absurd. Interesting...

IKEA Heights from DaveAOK on Vimeo.

Ikea Heights (Episode #2) from DaveAOK on Vimeo.

Serena Williams Meltdown.

2009-09-13T19:04:00.003-03:00

Williams lost her cool after being called for a foot fault on a second serve while trailing 15-30 and 5-6 in the second set of last night’s match. Kim Clijsters won the first set 6-4.

According to Yahoo! Sports, Williams will be asked to explain her actions and comments toward the female line judge. She’ll likely have to pay a heavy fine for her actions.

According to the Associated Press, Williams screamed at the official, “If I could, I would take this [bleep] ball and shove it down your [bleep] throat.”

According to me, it showed poor judgment from her part, she should have risen above the situation. That's what you would expect of an 11-time major champion. Serena should have known better than to threaten the line judge like that. She will have to do damage control over this incident and I hope she learns from this.

Two videos about the incident:

Hot Geeky Girl: Ayelet Noff.

2009-09-13T17:13:00.005-03:00

Ayelet Noff has over ten years of experience marketing companies from various industries and specializes in marketing hi-tech brands.

She was ICQ's Marketing Manager for four years and also held various executive marketing positions in different startups.

She has been involved in the social media world before the term social media even existed. She is also a member of AdHocnium, an ad-hoc agency made up of the top social media experts worldwide, which helps large-scale companies to communicate more effectively with their customers.

Ayelet is a top blogger and currently writes for four different blogs: The Blonde 2.0 blog, The Next Web, Socialmedia.biz, and Adhocnium's blog. She holds an MBA degree from Tel Aviv University, and a BA in Politics from Brandeis University.

Please note that this description was found on Blonde 2.0, a startup she founded about ten years ago. I couldn't find more on my usual sties: Mahalo, Wink and Pipl. But, she is nevertheless geeky and sexy.

Want to listen to her. Check the following video:

US Open Bans Tweeting.

2009-08-31T19:24:00.001-03:00

Locker room signs warning tennis pros against tweeting are an addition at this year's U.S. Open, which starts today. Tweets from competitors such as Serena Williams or Andy Roddick could be perceived as insider information and skew tennis gambling. Players also received an e-mail warning them not to post sensitive information or tweet during games. (via Mashable)

Hot Geeky girl: Conz Preti.

2009-08-17T17:51:00.008-03:00

Licenciada de Comunicación de la Universidad de San Andrés. Actualmente trabajo en el area de producto de MySpace. Adicta a internet y blogger desde hace demasiados años. Conductura de la serie Mirá Vos.

Bajo el username Conz, esta porteñita de 26 años que se define como "Comunicóloga – Marketer Online – Blogger y Sex Symbol (ja, mentira, no se la crean)", tiene interesadísima a la comunidad Twitter argentina: hay 2928 seguidores leyendo lo que hace hora por hora.

Para los que no entendieron nada de la terminología y que se preguntan ¿ porqué el título de "Hot Geeky girl"? Lo concreto es que Conz está fotografiada en la sección MacUnbloged Girl del http://www.unblogged.net/macunblogged-girl-marzo-2008/. Bah, entren y aprecien.

También hizo una producción de fotos para la revista Hombre.

Tiene una página MySpace y fotolog. Algunos perfiles como cualquier geek por todos los lados de la Web.Aunque no tiene un perfil personal en Facebook (???), está en la página del programa Mirá Vos.

Finalmente, podés leer un interviú con ella en el blog Te mataría ...

Miravos.tv

2009-08-14T17:23:00.002-03:00

Miravos.tv is a videoblog about curiosities in technology and Internet. It is conducted by Conz Preti who could be this blog's next "Hot Geeky Girl"

Unfortunately for english-only speaking people, the videos are in spanish, more precisely in argentinean spanish (castellano).

But Conz is worth the look.

Military Blogs.

2009-08-12T14:10:00.004-03:00

I am not a big fan of the militaries. Although, I think they are a necessary pain in the ass. but, if you wnt to have an inside look to what is going on on the fields, for instance, Afghanistan. Check out these two blogs:

Heldman Blog-Afghanistan.

The Helmand blog is run by the UK Forces Media Ops team. The team is located in Helmand at the Task Force Headquarters and in London at PJHQ and works to support the coalition forces together with the other government departments such as the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development.

Bouhammer's Afghan Blog.

A blog originally created by a 22-year veteran of the Army, currently serving as a Senior NCO in the Army National Guard. This blog started out as a way to write about military related issues. It turned into a way for Bouhammer to document his 16 month tour as an ETT leader in Afghanistan for family and friends. It is now one of the leading and award-winning blogs written exclusively on operations in Afghanistan and other military related topics. In addition to Bouhammer, The Dude is a National Guard Officer who is currently serving as a civilian contractor in the country of Kuwait. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy what you see. If you care about what is happening in the land where the attacks of 9/11 were planned and if you care about our military, this is the blog for you. Tell your family, tell your friends, and even tell people you don't like.

Hot Geeky Girl: Orli Yakuel.

2009-08-11T14:34:00.005-03:00

Orli Yakuel is a Web2.0 analyst and the editor of Go2web20 - A personal blog about Web2.0 technology.

She's also a co-founder at Go2web20.net - which is a directory for Web2.0 applications. (in association with Eyal Shahar) (via Crunchbase)

Her blog can be found here.

Go2web20 on Cnet-tv

Go2Web20-The complete web 2.0 directory

Spiderman or Tarzan.

2009-08-09T19:05:00.001-03:00

Yoti Raju has an unusual set of skills to entertain visitors at the Chitradurga Fort in India's southern state of Karnataka. His ability to jump from one rock to another and to scale walls or any man-made height without any aid has earned him the title, "Monkey King." His swift, smooth, efficient and direct moves resemble those in Parkour, a mixture of acrobatics, sport and martial arts.

Drakes falls on Stage. Hey Teen People, wear your pants properly

2009-08-01T17:23:00.002-03:00

This guy Drakes falls on stage. This is what happens when you don't wear your pants properly.

WatchKnow: Web's New Source of Educational Videos.

2009-07-20T13:59:00.004-03:00

The Internet is full of useful information, but it's disorganized and often unreliable, until the Web becomes more semantic . The potential of the Internet for education is especially huge.

Imagine tapping into that potential.

Imagine collecting all the best free educational videos made for children, and making them findable and watchable on one website. Finally, imagine them all deeply and usefully categorized according to subject, education level, and placed in the order in which topics are typically taught. Watch Know has broken down the collection into an easy-to-browse catalog. You can also use a standard search box to find videos.

WatchKnow--as in, "You watch, you know"--is trying to do this.

WatchKnow a non-profit, online community that encourages everyone to collect, create, and share free, innovative, educational videos.

WatchKnow is now available for beta-testing, although it is not yet "officially" launched (see News below). Whether you're a teacher, a student, or just someone who cares about the education of children, you can now get involved.

Home Video new Trend? Jumping out of a Pool.

2009-07-19T18:30:00.002-03:00

Jarron Gilbert started it on YouTube. Gilbert, a third-round pick of the Bears in the 2009 NFL draft, is also seen in videos squatting and dead lifting 600-plus pounds.

UFC lightweight champ B.J. Penn is the latest to pull it off on camera.

This White Guy filmed himself as a video response to Jarron Gilbert.

Delonte Stephens (???) cheats to impress the viewers.

A Wanker in front of my building.

2009-07-19T14:04:00.005-03:00

I caught him pants down in front of my building on the Plateau Mont-Royal in Montreal. So if you live on the "Plateau", keep your eyes open. I was going out with my daughter. I immediately brought her up and I went out with my camera. Unfortunately, with the black-white contrast, it is difficult to see what he was doing exactly. Not that we want to see all the details, do we? But, we can guess which is good enough. I also filmed him, but just when I was going down the stairs to get his face, he left the premise.

But what was he looking at that was so exciting? There was nothing exciting as far as I could see. It was around 14:30, Saturday July 18 2009.

Now, to contact the STM police, that is another story. The 911 is only for emergencies. The only one who seemed to have one was the wanker himself. There is no category about "indecency" on on the Info-crimes site. I will have to call them.

A 45 km Free Fall: Space Shuttle Booster Fall Into the Sea Filmed.

2009-07-18T14:19:00.005-03:00

Imagine you've taken the place of that girl. Instead of a rocket, you are on one of the Space Shuttle rocket boosters. This is what you would see (below video) when lifting up to 45 km in altitude. But, more importantly, what you would see on the way down after both boosters are jettisoned on their way back to earth.

A 45 km free fall.

The Economist VS Newsweek and Time

2009-07-16T19:32:00.003-03:00

"Unlike its rivals, The Economist has been unaffected by the explosion of digital media; if anything, the digital revolution has cemented its relevance."

"The easy lesson might be that quality wins out. The Economist is truly a remarkable invention—a weekly newspaper, as it calls itself, that canvasses the globe with an assurance that no one else can match."

"The secret to The Economist's success is not its brilliance, or its hauteur, or its typeface. You may like the new Time and Newsweek. But you must—or at least, brilliant marketing has convinced you that you must—subscribe to The Economist."

To know more about The Economist is winning the war against Time and Newsweek. Read the following column by Michael Hirschorn in The Atlantic.

911 Python Attack Call.

2009-07-09T16:18:00.004-03:00

Charles Jason Darnell calls 911 when he discovers that his Burmese python got out of his cage that night and strangled his girlfriend's 2 year old daughter.

Operator: 911 do you need police, fire or ambulance?

Charles Jason Darnell: It's an emergency.

Operator: Okay what do you need, do you need a police, fire or ambulance?

Charles Jason Darnell: The baby's dead.

Operator: What address are you calling from?

Charles Jason Darnell: Our stupid snake got out in the middle of the night and strangled the baby!

Operator: Okay, stay on the line with me. I'm going to get you over to an EMS dispatcher. You need to answer all the questions, okay?

Charles Jason Darnell: Okay.

Dispatcher: What is the address of your emergency? Okay are you in a sub division or motor home park?

Charles Jason Darnell: No ma'am it's a house, we're right on the road.

Dispatcher: Okay and what's your name please? Okay and what's the problem? Tell me exactly what happened.

Charles Jason Darnell: A snake, we have a Burmese python and she's about 12 foot long, she got out of the cage last night and got into the baby's crib and strangled her to death.

Dispatcher: Stay on the line please.

Charles Jason Darnell: Why?

Dispatcher: Okay, I do have help on the way there for you sir. I need to ask you a couple more questions okay?

Charles Jason Darnell: Yes ma'am.

Car Surfing

2009-07-07T14:51:00.003-03:00

While I was living in Argentina, for lack of seats on suburban trains, students who wanted to get back home were "train surfing".

I guess the rich country version would be "car surfing" which is a form of acrobatics (or an illegal stunt if performed in public traffic) in which passengers of moving vehicles perform various stunts, including hanging out of the car or 'surfing' on the hood (bonnet), trunk (boot) or on the roof of the vehicle while it is in motion. Car surfing has caused several people to be killed during the course of such stunts (Wikipedia).

Tapioka: What does Quebec Want and Do?

2009-06-29T11:40:00.002-03:00

I just discovered this Twitterlike service this morning. Actually, you can synchronize both services.

"Tapioka is a microblogging service brought to you by GX2 Média. Its goal is to give to french quebecers a common tweeting ground. Tapioka is currently available without advertising, but we trust the advertising platform Atedra, our creatives are optimized by the server AdStanding advertising. It uses the micro-blogging software laconica, version 0.7.2.1, available under the license [GNU Affero General Public License] "

Youtube Video Volunteers

2009-06-24T19:21:00.002-03:00

A very god initiative was launched this week by Google. It is called Ytvideovolunteer.

"Video Volunteers is YouTube's version of a new platform that Google has launched called All for Good, which helps match citizens with volunteer opportunities in their local communities. Built in partnership with the White House, All for Good is sort of like a Craigslist for community service. But you don't just have to show up at your local soup kitchen or animal shelter to give back -- volunteering in the 21st century can be done entirely online. Powered by All for Good, the YouTube Video Volunteers platform will help you find a nonprofit organization that needs help creating videos to promote its cause. Starting today, you can sift through video opportunities on www.youtube.com/videovolunteers and connect directly with nonprofits for whom you'd like to make a video. Learn more about the platform from the Vlogbrothers, who've used their audience and talents to champion causes they care about. "

Well done.

Protest in Iran. Young Woman among the Victims.

2009-06-20T18:12:00.004-03:00

A lot of protesting is going on in Iran right now. Some videos found on Youtube.

http://www.bravetube.com/ Defiant Against The No Protest Rules In Iran Police Are Caught On Video Beating A Women, also you can see a large Motorcycle brigade of militia forces coming down the street.

Young Iranian women People on roof protesting against government - Islamic Regime - protesters Fight for Freedom Democracy

Iranian Regime opened fire on people today(June 20 2009), this girl is one of the victims of today.

مکان: خیابان کارگر، تقاطع خسروی و شهید صالحی، ساعت 7:20 مورخه 20 ژوئن، سی خرداد، Basij shots to death a young woman in Tehran's Saturday June 20th protests

At 19:05 June 20th
Place: Karekar Ave., at the corner crossing Khosravi St. and Salehi st.

A young woman who was standing aside with her father watching the protests was shot by a basij member hiding on the rooftop of a civilian house. He had clear shot at the girl and could not miss her. However, he aimed straight her heart. I am a doctor, so I rushed to try to save her. But the impact of the gunshot was so fierce that the bullet had blasted inside the victim's chest, and she died in less than 2 minutes.

The protests were going on about 1 kilometers away in the main street and some of the protesting crowd were running from tear gass used among them, towards Salehi St.

The film is shot by my friend who was standing beside me.
Please let the world know.

My thoughts are with her family.

Villas de Carpas en los Estados Unidos.

2009-06-20T18:07:00.000-03:00

Los que están soñando a mudarse a los Estados Unidos tendrían que visitar esta página del sitio de Oprah Winfrey. Es posible que no sea un buen momento para lograr su sueño.

El tema de esta sección con video del sitio de Oprah Winfrey es la aparición de villas de carpas en muchas ciudades americanas.

Entienden que hay una crisis financial que ha bajado el valor de las casas. Esta gente perdió su trabajo y no podía pagar más su hipoteca. El precio actual de su casa es menos que cuando la compraron. Entonces, la venta de su casa no permitía pagar la deuda con el banco que se queda con la casa y la deuda. Los dueños tienen que dejar su hogar.

El sueño americano, por ahora, no parece la mejor opción.

Montreal's Mercier Bridge Construction Web 2.0 Strategy

2009-06-18T17:37:00.003-03:00

If you live in Montreal, Quebec. You might be one of the people crossing the Mercier bridge everyday. You know that it is badly in need of renovations.

Well, you can follow the construction process from your computer. The corporation responsible for the project set up a Web 2.0 communication strategy that includes a blog, Flicker, Youtube and even Twitter.

This could become handy since the entire process involves 1,300 prefabricated concrete panels which will replace the bridge deck in a way that is designed to minimize traffic disruption.

The following is a video explaining the steps that will be taken in the coming weeks to complete the replacement.

Swine Flu Updates

2009-04-26T18:49:00.007-03:00

This is how I follow the swine flu outbreak.

I added the Disease Outbreak News and Google News (swine flu) feeds on my Netvibe page. I also have a tab on my Firefox browser with the Health Map.

Twitter can be very useful to get the lastest updates about hot news. So, on Firefox, I also have two more tabs, one with the Twitter search page, the other woth Tweet Grid, both with swine flu as key words.

You can also follow the spread of the disease through this special Google map.

View H1N1 Swine Flu in a larger map

Twittering for Moldova (bis)

2009-04-15T17:07:00.004-03:00

The first post is here.

Newsy.com takes a look at Twitter which has been playing a key role in national and global protests in Moldova.

Zalmox3s:"Alex Grigorievs, US official in Moldova, risks expulsion from RM http://unimedia.md/ #pman #Beck #Hannity #glennbeck "

Moscovici: "Natalia Morari, one of the organizers of flashmob on April 6 in Chisinau, charged for instigation to violence & usurpation of power. #pman "

Frontline: "Frontline blogger Daniel Bennett digs yet deeper into the #Moldova 'Twitter revolution' in #Chisinau - http://bit.ly/55VcI - #pman " "Investigative journalist who helped organise the #Moldova 'Twitter revolution' is in hiding - http://bit.ly/dEZOr - #pman #chisinau "

aribo: " More Moldova: letter from civil society & Mayor of Chisinau (with pictures) http://www.blogofchange.com/?p=1092 #pman "

Twittering for Moldova.

2009-04-14T17:17:00.003-03:00

Some Tweets encountered here and there:

Zalmox3s: "The Moldavian Communist party's website is down, no confirmation of a cyber-attack form Chisinau. #pman "

vdement: Natalia Morari, one of the organizers of Chisinau protests charged for instigation to violence & usurpation of power. #pman via @Moscovici "

ciberplai: "#pman Another murder: Ion Tabuleac (22 yr). Voronin & Co should be made responsible for crimes against humanity. " "Alexandru Olevschi, reader at Technical University (Chisinau, Moldova) was arrested at 2 p.m. He participated at post-election meetings." "Basescu said Romania will bring people responsible for crime againts people in Chisinau before International Court! "

For instance:

Moldovan History student Vadim Ungueanu does not leave his dorm room as of Friday night and not because he is afraid to, but because he is confined to his room by a police warrant. His body is full of bruises and he confesses he has been severely beaten. According to Moldovan Interior ministry official data, some 200 people were arrested in the last week alone. Opposition newspapers however reveal that the numbers amount to at least 800. (via HotNews.ro)

Hundreds of young people detained after anti-government protests in Moldova have been subjected to "cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment and denied access to legal advice, a United Nations official says. (via FT.com)

Recount scheduled for Wednesday in Moldova.

2009-04-13T18:16:00.004-03:00

RNW reports today that the recount of the votes in the recent parliamentary elections in Moldova has been scheduled for Wednesday. On Sunday, the Constitutional Court ordered the election commission to recount the votes within nine days. President Vladimir Voronin had called for the recount to safeguard stability in the country.

Meanwhile, Natalia Morari (Morar), the reporter blamed for the riots on last Thursday, is persona non grata in Russia and on a wanted list in Moldova, according to Russia Today. Moldova's authorities believe neighbouring Romania could be behind anti-government protests which followed the parliamentary election - but they have also set their sights on a local journalist as one of the ringleaders.

Robert Amsterdam on is blog explains that she was once one of Russia's most intrepid young investigative journalists, working for the news magazine The New Times. She uncovered a few blockbuster stories about connections between an Austrian bank, a money laundering scheme which may or may not have been related to the government, and the murder of central banker Anderi Kozlov.In an interview with Grigory Pasko for Amterdam's blog, Morari said that she believed she was exiled back to Moldova in relation with her investigative reporting on corruption, where she named names like Bortnikov, Sobyanin, and Surkov.

Zalmox3s posted on Twitter that the opposition coalition in Moldova is bringing serious charges to president Voronin , including involuntary manslaughter. Other charges include : torture and rape of detainees terror of Moldavian citizens illegal detention of media representatives. Finally, he also reported that President Voronin approved the hiring of his son's construction company to repair the Parlament & Presidency using money from education funding.

Easter Day 2009 in Moldova

2009-04-12T18:19:00.004-03:00

The protest I was writing about yesterday happened today with between 10000 to 20000 participants.

On Twitter, Spooky ET has been writing about torture, rape and murder of students while in the custody of the friendly Moldovian police:

"Hundreds of youth are beaten with bestiality in police precincts. No access is given to parents. #pman "

"Medical examiners reported that girls who resisted interrogation were raped and molested in police custody. Their age was not reported #pman "

"The lists of youth arrested do not contain the names of those that have been tortured. #pman "

"Even the Chinese are reporting about the stalinist human rights abuses in Moldova. Will Vietnam, Cuba, and North Korea follow? #pman "

"Hole on Valeriu Boboc's frontal lobe, blunt-force-trauma, and it is probably what's killed him Commie Police=Rapist=Pedophile=Murderer #pman "

So far, only the latter was confirmed by the Press.

(AFP)Authorities confirmed the death of Valeriu Boboc, 23 and a father of one, during riots earlier in the week, although the cause was not immediately clear.

His parents told opposition websites they had picked up his body from a morgue covered in bruises after he was beaten in custody.

At around 1.00 AM local time on Thurday or Friday, two young protesters have filmed on camera (phone?) how police was arresting somebody using force and beating him. That happened while intense automatic gunfire was heard few hundred meters away, on the other site of the square.

The people filming are saying: look, are they (the police) beating him up? .. in blood … Maybe they have killed him. Let's get out of here, …we are the only witnesses.

Here, a link towards a good photo report about the destruction of the Parliament and Presidency on Thurday from Benialivejournal. More pictures through his blog posts here.

Some call it, the Twitter or Web 2.0 based Revolution ; others, like the President blame Romania for a hypothetical underground involvement. In the following report from AP, the author writes about the generation gap as the main cause for the protests:

"With one-quarter of the population working abroad to eke out a living, impoverished Moldova has become a country of the young and the very old.

It's a generation gap that has split the country politically — and violently.

The elderly, who look to Moscow for leadership and are nostalgic for the Soviet past, recently voted to return Communists to power. The young, rallied by text messages and Twitter and eager to join Europe, seized and trashed parliament and the country's presidential offices in response."

Happy Easter Moldova

2009-04-11T18:41:00.003-03:00

A new protest has been called by the opposition for tomorrow in Chisinau.

So, if I understand well, it was authorized by the City of Chisinau. If you want to be sure, just use Google Translation Tools.

From the information disseminated on Twitter, Two things seem clear:

Russia is helping the Communist Regime in fear of students uprising in Russia itself.
Reporters have become targets for the regime. Links here, here and here.

Much More on the Moldovan Flower Revolution.

2009-04-10T18:33:00.006-03:00

Previous posts here and here.

Here is a link towards a live webcam, of Chisinau.

The public television is protected by people handling Kalashnikov weapons and probably also snipers (according to eye witnesses) Here is the VIDEO.

V. Voronin, the leader of the Party of Communist agreed to the demand of re-counting the votes and made an official request at the Constitutional Court on this matter.

"The recounting of votes, will be an important reason to reinstall political stability, peace and mutual confidence in Moldova", Voronin said.

Despite the call of the opposition for a higher, intensified, anticommunist protest on friday, only about eight hundred protesters marched in the center of Kishinev.

For many observers, the low participation was caused by fear of being arrested and kidnapped on the streets by the police.

Alicia Radu, director of the Moldova's weekly newspaper, Ziarul de Garda, told CNN Friday that attacks from authorities against journalists are the worst she has seen in her 20 years of experience as a journalist.Many romanian reporters were detained, the last one was a Antena3 reporter (a few minutes ago); also a swedish reporter was interrogated by the Moldovan police.

According to the Kosmopolito blog, a number of well known Moldovan civil society leaders issued a statement on the crisis: Declaration regarding the escalating social and political situation in Moldova after the parliamentary elections of April 5, 2009 (pdf)

The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) also published a 'Moldovan NGO statement': A Sustainable Solution to Political Crisis in Moldova Due to security concerns, the organisations behind it are not named.

One of the worrying developments in Moldova seems to be the deteriorating situation for journalists. Reporters without Borders "is very disturbed that the Moldovan authorities have been arresting journalists and even using violence against them."

According to Nicu Popescu, several cyber attacks were carried out against Moldovan news sites. He also reports about FT and BBC journalists that were not allowed to enter the country.

Next, two videos which are showing, according to those who recorded them, how Moldovan police is used to instigate violence and chaos among the protesters.

Reuter's analyst,Conor Humphries, wrote today that Russia's sharp reaction to the violent anti-government protests in Moldova's capital this week betrayed deep-rooted fears that the global economic crisis might spark mass protests on its own streets.

Crowds of Moldovan students denouncing alleged election fraud by the ruling Communists smashed their way into the parliament and set it ablaze last Tuesday. The authorities responded with a crackdown and mass arrests.

For Moscow's ruling class, the protests revived bad memories of street rallies in ex-Soviet republics Ukraine and Georgia that toppled pro-Moscow regimes, and raised fears that young Russian crowds might one day slip out of the Kremlin's control.

In Russia, Roumanians fom Moldova are attacked.

More on the Moldovan Revolution

2009-04-09T16:07:00.015-03:00

The lastest news from Moldova are that cops dressed as civilians are kidnapping students to beat them up and make them disappear. Pictures by Daniel.

Check the following video from Youtube. It is in Romanian but there is a written English translation.

Other cops would be used as riot instigators.

According to a report translated from a Russian press release on Wired's blog, a Moldovan activist would face criminal charges for organizing demonstrations that were enabled by social networking tools like Twitter and Facebook, .

In an interview with Russian news agency ITAR-TASS, Moldovan Prosecutor General Valeriu Gurbulea said Natalia Morar, one of the organizers of an anti-Communist flash mob, has been officially charged with "calls for organizing and staging mass disturbances." (Morar has not been put in jail, however -- despite some reports to the contrary.)

On her LiveJournal blog, Morar distanced herself from the riots. In an interview with The New York Times, Morar said she expected to face charges; she added that organizers had received threatening phone calls.

Morar's LiveJournal page went much of the day without updates; reports circulated that she had been locked up, following the charges filed against her. At 7:13 p.m., she posted this update: "Reports of my detention are not true. I'm O.K."

Chipnt also reports on Twitter about communist civilians attacking the protesters and gives a list of communist supporters misinforming through Twitter as well:

"List of detected communists trying to mislead you: @nordastelo @CStere @mixman2009 @mediamtv @olgaroberts #pman Report and ignore them! "

Today, according to Chipnt , Communists would have blocked students in their classrooms warning them that they would be expelled from the university if they were to protest.

According to a Twit from Andreisava, there would be a new peaceful protest tomorrow at 10 AM:

"Friday 10 April at 10 AM , Flower Revolution in Chisinau Moldova #pman No violence! Everyone will have flowers! Yes we can! Change has come! "

Some Twitters report that Chisinau would be surronded by government troops.

More proof of abuse from the Communist power and supporters.

The President of the Republic of Moldova, Vladimir Voronin, has accused once again the opposition of attempting a civil war and said in an interview with Ria Novosti that authorities intentionally let demonstrators to ransack the Parliament headquarters, so that everybody see what they can do when holding the power of the state. In the interview, he offers his version on events in Chisinau.

He said that the Moldovan people "for the first time saw the opposition openly betray its own people and its own country" by attempting a civil war. "The whole country saw that there is no opposition whatsoever in Moldova - neither anti-Communist, nor anti-Voronin. There is only opposition to the state", Voronin said, quoted by Ria Novosti.

Moldovan Revolution live on Twitter.

2009-04-08T18:09:00.006-03:00

Moldovan students are intensively using Twitter to mobilize the opposition against the communist victory in the last elections.

According to reports, nearly 10,000 students gathered in front of the Moldovan parliament in Chisinau, the capital. Only the police were able to prevent them from entering the building. In reading the many Tweets, it appears that the event was quite violent and is gradually turning into an attempted coup d'etat.

Over the past 48 hours, Moldovan students are twittering non-stop. Just do a search around the words " #pman" (the main square of the capital) and Chisinau, for more information. Some videos are also on YouTube.

Activists are also using the Cloudapp aggregation service to bring onto a single web page Twitter-streams, blog posts, video, and pictures from the protests.

On the other hand, mobile communications were blocked by the authorities. So, Twitter has become the best mean to communicate via GPRS. Twitter is an essential tool for broadcasting information in real time. But in that case, it has also been an interesting tool for coordinating group of people in quite extreme situations.

Twitter was Prohibited in Madrid's Assembly.

2009-03-05T19:49:00.003-02:00

One Madrid's elected representante, Reyes Montel, was asked not to use Twitter anymore while the Assembly is in session. Reyes Montel wrote in her blog on March the fourth that she could use her cell phone to send SMS, or a regular phone, and even post on her blog about the discussion at the Assembly. But, Twitter, no way Jose.

According to her, this is a flagrant lack of transparency and pure ignorance.

Fortunately, on today, she posted that she had no problem twittering during the session.

Keep us posted.

Army Ad Made in Ukraine.

2009-03-01T20:53:00.000-02:00

Where do I sign?

Carlos Santana at the Vina del Mar's Music Festival

2009-02-26T20:30:00.003-02:00

Since Monday, and until Saturday, an important Latin America music festival has been going on in Vina del Mar, Chile. Last night, Carlos Santana gave an incredible performance, so far, the best of the festival.

The festival has a page here on Bligoo and a Twitter channel to keep in touch. Some backstage live cameras as well.

Rue Frontenac Is Online.

2009-01-28T19:56:00.004-02:00

A few days after they were locked out of the Journal de Montréal (Quebecor), 253 unionized workers launched their competing news site, RueFrontenac.com. They also have a Facebook profile and a Youtube channel.

Why?

"Rue Frontenac est publié par les 253 membres en lock-out du Syndicat des travailleurs de l'information du Journal de Montréal. Son nom s'inspire de la rue où se côtoient leurs bureaux et ceux du Journal de Montréal, le «quotidien de la rue Frontenac».

Il fait aussi référence à ce jour d'octobre 1690 où Frontenac a lancé à l'émissaire anglais venu demander la reddition de la ville de Québec qu'il n'avait «point de réponse à faire à votre général que par la bouche de mes canons».

C'est finalement un léger clin d'oeil à une source d'inspiration, Rue89."

The Montreal Karate Club destroyed by a fire.

2008-12-07T15:53:00.004-02:00

We will be using all the resources of the web 2.0 to get in touch with any members and former memebers of the Montreal Karate Club which was destroyed by a fire on December 23rd.

We need everyone who was once involved with our club, the first Montreal's karate club, to help rebuilt it. In that fire, Sensei Watanabe lost 40 years of his life, his home and source of revenue. All the records, photos and archives are lost forever. SIGH!

Please contact us through the comments. Thanks.

More on the fire here and here.

Sexy Girls in Lingerie Football.

2008-12-05T22:32:00.003-02:00

Where was I? First time I hear about the Lingerie Football League. This is a nice contact sport.

Hate Groups Love Web 2.0

2008-11-28T19:38:00.003-02:00

"MySpace, Facebook and YouTube are the 'killer apps' of the Internet today, and they're used by millions, but the virus of hate certainly has infected those technologies," Christopher Wolf, chair of the International Network Against CyberHate (INACH), told the Global Summit on Internet Hate Speech.

Social networks MySpace and Facebook and video-sharing site YouTube are being used as powerful new tools by extremist groups to spread a message of hate, participants in a conference on Internet hate speech warned here on Monday.

"In today's Web 2.0 world with user-generated content, social network sites like Facebook and MySpace, mobile computing and always-on connectivity every aspect of the Internet is being used by extremists of every ilk to repackage old hatreds and to recruit new haters," Wolf said.

"The emergence of new Internet technologies and their adoption by online haters is far more pernicious than the static website that most of us have been focusing on over the years," he said.

(via Yahoo and AFP)

Facebook helps restaurateur tracks down bill dodgers

2008-11-28T19:31:00.002-02:00

Peter Leary, An Australian restaurateur left holding a hefty unpaid bill when five young diners bolted, used the popular social network website Facebook to track them down.

He is the owner of seafood restaurant Seagrass on Melbourne's Southbank and was fuming when the diners ate their way through the menu, pairing oysters, trout and red emperor with some expensive wines, slipped out for a cigarette -- and never returned.

But Leary, left with an unpaid bill of A$520 ($340), remembered one of the diners asking about a former waitress, whom he then contacted and she suggested they check through some contacts on Facebook.

(via AFP)

Spammer Made In Canada 0 : Facebook 1.

2008-11-25T20:07:00.003-02:00

Facebook welcomed on Monday a US court ruling against a Canadian spammer ordered to pay almost one billion dollars in damages for sending unwanted messages to users of the popular social network.

Judge Jeremy Fogel on Friday ordered Adam Guerbuez and his company Atlantis Blue Capital to pay 873 million dollars, 436.2 million dollars in statutory damages and another 436.2 million dollars in aggravated statutory damages, for violations of the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM).

Facebook began legal action against Guerbuez in August, claiming that he had managed to obtain the passwords of Facebook users and was bombarding them with millions of messages about sexual products and drugs. (via AFP)

Web 2.0 welcomes the Montreal Karate Club.

2008-11-17T21:03:00.002-02:00

Now, the Montreal Karate Club has entered the web 2.0 universe. I had been thinking about this since I entered it myself during my two years stay in Argentina. The MKC is the dojo where I've been practising for 18 years now. We've had long forgotten web 1.0 site. Actually, the last entry is dated 2003.

So, I opened a blog to advertise the club. Inside this blog, a lot of information about our Shorinryu style and all the links towards our Facebook and MySpace profile, Dailymotion channel and Twitter account.

See you there.

The Sarah Palin Prank by Les Justiciers Masques.

2008-11-02T22:39:00.003-02:00

Palin would have said afterwards after being explained (a few times???) that she hadn't spoken with Nicolas Sarkosy: "That's life".

Catalan for all Blog.

2008-11-02T22:11:00.003-02:00

You plan to go to Barcelona, capital of Catalunya, Spain. Just to be polite make some friends rapidly, you may want to learn some of the local tongue, catalan. They all speak castillan (spanish) of course. But, the locals will fall in love with you (especially the pretty Barcelona's girls).

To start, go to this blog "El catala per a tots", "Le catalan pour tous", "Catalan for all" .

Vladimir Poutine vs Chuck Norris: who would win?

2008-10-09T19:28:00.002-03:00

Poutine does judo. Norris does karate. Poutine has the sadistic russian mafia behind him. Norris has the bible and God. That is a hard one.

Is the American Dream falling Apart?

2008-10-09T19:16:00.002-03:00

This financial crisis is occupying a big chunk of the blogosphere. Two briliant analysis: one by Newsweek's Francis Fukuyama and the other by NY Times' Thomas L. Friedman.

The first one has a french version in Le Monde.

The main point is that government has to regulate the market in some ways. The republican ideology starting with the so-called "Reagan Revolution" has brought us to this financial mess.

Confeederation.ca

2008-10-06T17:38:00.003-03:00

Here is a comment left by Rob Cottingham on a previous post:

"You can also try Confeederation.ca, which aggregates posts from blogging candidates from across the country. (It's mighty light on the français, mind you. Feed suggestions are welcome!) "

You now have one more source to make a wise choice on October the 14th.

Elections Canada 2008: Blogging Canadians.

2008-10-02T17:54:00.002-03:00

The french debate for what I saw was a little bit boring. Maybe there is more interesting stuff on the web. So, to continue with Canada 2008 web 2.0 situation, here is a, Blogging Canadians, a collection of political blogs by Canadians. Unlike other blog groups this site is not branded under one party instead it encompasses bloggers from all political views into different channels.

More on web 2.0 and the canadian election here, here and here.

Elections Canada 2008: Democratic Space.

2008-10-01T18:39:00.004-03:00

You want to follow the 2008 elections in Canada, visit the DemocraticSpace site. You will be able to check the tendencies and there is also a guide to strategic voting. In their own words:

" DemocraticSPACE is Canada's leading source for non-partisan election news coverage. Offering our unique seat projections, riding-by-riding discussion forums, poll tracking, and election analysis, DemocraticSPACE is literally where democracy happensTM. Featured in national media across the country, including the CBC, Toronto Star, Montreal Gazette, Calgary Herald, among many others, our audience is drawn from across the political spectrum and includes pundits, reporters, campaign staffers, elected officials, and of course, Canadians interested in objective coverage of local, provincial, and federal elections."

The Financial Crisis Explained.

2008-09-30T17:31:00.003-03:00

Want to understand the Wall Street crisis which is becoming a worldwide crisis:

http://seekingalpha.com/article/96106-the-financial-crisis-explained

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2007/12/the-financial-crisis-explained/

http://www.rue89.com/explicateur/2008/09/03/crise-des-subprimes-si-vous-navez-toujours-rien-compris

http://www.rue89.com/files/subprimesRue89.pdf

Need some more Internet Credibility?

2008-09-23T17:12:00.003-03:00

An interesting post I received this morning by email. It is called "How to build credibility on the Web." It was written by Dustin M. Wax, the project manager at Stepcase Lifehack. He is also the creator of The Writer's Technology Companion, a site devoted to the tools of the writing trade.

More on Canada's election web 2.0.

2008-09-13T19:21:00.007-03:00

On the previous post, Electopinion invited me (and all of you as well) to visit this new site:

http://electopinion.ca/

It is a Twitter aggregator divided by political parties. You can read comments made by Twitter users on each party. A vox-populi in real time, Simple and brilliant.

I also found on Fagstein's blog more blogs about canadian politics and the election 2008: (copied and pasted)

# La campagne vue par Marissal et Pratte (just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?), a strange blog in which La Presse columnist Vincent Marissal and "éditorialiste-en-chef" André Pratte discuss politics with each other. Each post is actually a dual post from each of them, asking each other questions and giving their thoughts on some issue. But it's not a strict point-counterpoint.

# Silver-Powers, from the Globe, however, is. A Liberal hack vs. a Tory hack. Both former assistants to politicians in their parties. But rather than just yell at each other or make fun of gaffes from the other's leader, they inject some humour into their posts, and stick to debating the policy issues that set them apart.

# Off the Fence from J. Kelly Nestruck (who went from the McGill Daily to the National Post to the Guardian to the Globe and Mail) has sentimental value for me. We go way back to that protest in 2001 against Canwest, a company we would both later work for.

# Macleans's Deux maudits anglais gets a mention here not just because it's funny (and has provided me plenty of linklove), but because it's one of the few anglo blogs focusing on Quebec.

# Claude William Genest's blog also gets a vote (he's the Green candidate in Westmount), but only because his massive ego is so shameless it's funny. (Though kudos on the website, it's very well designed)

# Ditto Garth Turner, whose blog essentially led to a party switch. Putting blog above party, that's worth something. He continues the full, honest disclosure that got him in trouble in the first place, and separates his blog from other candidates' press-release feeds. (Though every time he mentions Stéphane Dion I ask myself: Really? You're really excited about this guy as prime minister?)

# Liblogs.ca is a blog aggregator, which is pretty good at finding interesting blog posts from small blogs from a Liberal perspective.

And after all this very profound and serious reading, just relax by watching this (very convincing???) video from the Liberals.

Canada's election web 2.0

2008-09-12T17:03:00.003-03:00

In the 2006 federal election, Canadian Autoworkers president and NDP supporter Buzz Hargrove created a stir when he asked traditional NDP voters to cast their ballots for Liberal candidates in ridings where the Liberals had a better shot at beating the Conservatives.

One Facebook group takes the idea one step further, formalizing the process.

More than 350 people from across the country had become members of the "Anti-Harper Vote Swap Canada" group as of Thursday afternoon. The group was created Wednesday morning.
Alongside a grinning, flag-waving beaver, the site states: "Stop Harper and advance a progressive agenda without betraying your personal beliefs."

Mat Savelli from Hamilton, Ont., said he started the group to keep Stephen Harper and the Conservatives from winning a majority government.

The website lists 41 ridings that will likely be close battlegrounds, such as Parry Sound-Muskoka in Ontario, Vancouver Island North in British Columbia and Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar in Saskatchewan.

Furthermore, the Internet and its use by politicians has held the most attention. In the third day of election campaign, the Internet seems to be the preferred platform for politicians to restore their image or to undo the image of the opponent.

Notaleader.ca ,the site created by conservatives to challenge the leadership of the Liberal leader Stéphane Dion, went today a step too far, forcing Stephen Harper to make excuses.

The conservatives are not the only ones to parody the social web.

The Liberals were also inspired by Wikipedia for their Scandalpedia.ca site, an encyclopedia listing the "conservatives scandals " put online this week. The site, which offers a list of articles on various "scandals" such as Bernier case and the case Mulroney-Schreiber, also invites users to collaborate in Scandalpedia by contacting the team. But, unlike Wikipedia, it is impossible to edit sections already online ...

To be continued here

This dunky needs to grind his own bean.

2008-09-08T17:44:00.002-03:00

Looking for the spelling of the word "dunky", I found this hilarious video. This dunky needs a "prick" shake.

McCain on a bad hair day in Time.

2008-08-29T17:58:00.004-03:00

A popular subject nowadays in the blogosphere is the interview given by McCain to Times, an interview with, maybe, too much attitude for some observers, cranky for the others and prickly for the Time's reporters.

Interview, transcript and podcast here.

A Web 2.0 Business Model with Youtube.

2008-08-21T19:39:00.001-03:00

Although, the news lately involving YouTube seem to present media companies which complain about using their videos without permission, there are also some news about other enterprises understanding how to use YouTube as a way to generate income.

More details here.

Twitter: anyboby cares? Wallstrip does.

2008-08-18T16:43:00.003-03:00

Twitter: does anybody care about what you are doing? Someone does because they received 15 millions recently. Walstripp gives us the last financial news about Twitter.

And, by the way, I personnally do care about your comments on Twitter about the public WiFi networks that you use: cities, bars, restaurants, airports, anywhere.... I add them to one of my blogs: WirelessWebWifiNews.

Google's Traditional Media Blog.

2008-08-14T17:05:00.003-03:00

I just discover a Google blog that I did not know about and I am surprised by the topic such as traditional media advertising using Google tools: Traditional Media Ads By Google Blog.

Some things can be useful for everyone, as the response generated ads in traditional QR codes, when complemented by landing pages prepared for a "user offline" may increase even more… or some studies on how dailypapers influence the conduct of users online and some other things as their tools or marketplaces for producing ads, etc..

One way to guide online advertisers in traditional media seems to me interesting.

Jimmy Justice's fight.

2008-08-05T21:13:00.003-03:00

The man who calls himself "Jimmy Justice" roams New York with a video camera to find illegally parked government cars. He puts his videos online, trying to shame parking enforcers into obeying laws they ticket others for violating. You can watch his videos on his profile on Youtube. He also has a blog.

"Sometimes it gets ugly out there. In the two years since he began making his videos, Jimmy said, he has been threatened, punched and spit on, and has had cameras smashed to the ground. He said he does not disclose his real name because he fears retaliation by someone whom he has made an unwilling YouTube star.And Jimmy admits that he occasionally crosses the line, sometimes verbally berating traffic enforcers."

The whole story from the Washington Post here.

Qantas Boeing 747-400 emergency landing in Manilla

2008-07-25T18:24:00.004-03:00

Gaping hole in Qantas jet forces emergency landingA large hole in the fuselage of a jet forced a Qantas flight to make a rapid descent and emergency landing, the airline said. "There was an almighty crack," said one passenger on the Hong Kong-Melbourne flight that landed in Manila, Philippines, instead. Another passenger said there was "a big bang." "I knew there was a hole somewhere, but I didn't know what was going on."

Why Web 2.0 is not Web 1.0

2008-07-24T16:13:00.003-03:00

If you are still confused between those buzz words like web 1.0 and web 2.0, here is a great paper that explains very well the difference between the two concepts.

Maybe I should send the link to Quebec Chief Electoral Officer who wants to regulate the use of the web 2.0 during the next provincial elections.

Here is the paper abstract:

"Web 2.0 is a buzzword introduced in 2003–04 which is commonly used to encompass various novel phenomena on the World Wide Web. Although largely a marketing term, some of the key attributes associated with Web 2.0 include the growth of social networks, bi–directional communication, various 'glue' technologies, and significant diversity in content types. We are not aware of a technical comparison between Web 1.0 and 2.0. While most of Web 2.0 runs on the same substrate as 1.0, there are some key differences. We capture those differences and their implications for technical work in this paper. Our goal is to identify the primary differences leading to the properties of interest in 2.0 to be characterized. We identify novel challenges due to the different structures of Web 2.0 sites, richer methods of user interaction, new technologies, and fundamentally different philosophy. Although a significant amount of past work can be reapplied, some critical thinking is needed for the networking community to analyze the challenges of this new and rapidly evolving environment."

Quebec's Chief Electoral Officer Back to the Future Plans

2008-07-24T16:01:00.003-03:00

Cyberspace will be the great challenge of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) during the next election campaign. Failing to control everything that is circulating on the Internet, the CEO will try at least to enforce the law.

Thus, The Canadian Press learned Tuesday that to avoid political activists and citizens to use the Internet for electoral purposes, the CEO has set up a working group which will submit a report in September and recommendations on the measures to take.

In this spirit, it would seem logical that the CEO recommends parliamentarians to amend the law to enable him to intervene during the next election campaign, when an incident will be reported.

For example, the very definition of what is considered an "election expense" may well have to be revised, since the diffusion of messages on the Internet can be done without charge. Also, to circumvent this difficulty, one of the scenarios is, curiously, to broaden the definition of "election expense" to include a message which actually brings no expense.

Whether they are politicized songs on You Tube, posts on blogs, messages on chain letters or videos, the entire universe of cyberspace is considered in terms of the unfair advantage it might provide to one or the other political party.

Tube.TV: a video top ten ranking from 45 sites.

2008-07-20T16:34:00.004-03:00

I have a new Twitter follower, Tube.TV. So, I visited the associated link and discovered a top ten video ranking from 45 different important video sites. For instance, it could be helpful when looking for a story or a subject for your blog.

Liveblogging 101.

2008-07-12T20:05:00.002-03:00

You have a blog. But, you want to go a step further and liveblog events. In Mashable, an interesting post on how to prepare to liveblog any event. The link is here.

Waterboarding: is it torture or a new extreme sport?

2008-07-04T16:02:00.006-03:00

I don't know if FARC's hostages like Ingrid Betancourt are treated as well as Uncle Sam and Brother W. Bush's war against terrorism prisoners. A U.S. presidential authorization allows military "interviewers" to use a technic called "waterboarding" to get answers otherwise hard to get. But, is it torture? The President and his falcon friends seem to think that it is closer to an extreme sport than torture.

Christopher Hitchens is a prolific Anglo American reporter and author . In support of the Iraq war, "Hitch" is a famous for his atheism who has no sympathy for terrorists who claim allegiance to Islam.

Vanity Fair magazine editor-in-chief Graydon Carter asked the reporter to be part of a waterboarding session, a simulated drowning designed to break prisoners, to make them talk. And says Hitchens, this is no simulation because you are literally drown. To say that this is not torture is a lie, adds he.

Disturbing, powerful, fascinating. An essential text to read, if you have questions about torture and its moral implications, on its practical consequences in the fight against terrorism and on its questionable effectiveness . The video of Hitchens "interrogation", led by pros, is here.

One more post about Ingrid Betancourt.

2008-07-03T12:01:00.004-03:00

This is not very original. Another post about Ingrid Betancourt. But, since last night, this is the big news (and a very good one) around the web. After six years in the hands of the FARC, you must respect the survival instincts of this lady. Don't know if I could do it. I only hope that the other hostages who are still prisoners won't be forgotten. Ingrid Betancourt was the most famous among all FARC's hostages. It is time to put an end on all this kidnapping people nonsense.

And I will only say this once: thanks to President Uribe and the militaries who participated in this rescue.

Here are some videos I encountered on Youtube:

El periodista peruano, Jaime Bayly, en su estilo desprejuiciado, cuenta la liberación de Ingrid Betancourt. Espíritus sensibles, abstenerse.

Posterous: web's simplest blog platform.

2008-07-01T16:23:00.003-03:00

You still know people who don't have a blog or don't understand how to set one up. But, they still want to express themselves through the web and are looking for a solution. Introduce them to Posterous. According to Techcrunch's Michael Arrington, it is the easiest blog platform online for now.

How do you create a blog on Posterous - email something to post@posterous.com. You're done. The subject line of the email is the post title, the text area is the content. You can also email photos, videos and sounds files, which will be displayed in a custom Flash player on the site.

According to Arrington, it is even an easier platform then Tumblr to blog from. Account creation by a single message to a generic email is a great way to help this spread via mobile devices (you have to create an account on Tumblr's website first, then you can start emailing to a unique email id). Posterous also has comments on posts, something Tumblr is just starting to roll out to some users.

Another great thing about Posterous - you can choose to have comments emailed to you, and you can reply to the comment by simply responding back to the email. If you choose to register your account at Posterous (which means creating a password), you can also follow other Posterous bloggers.

What are you waiting for?

Videoclic: online free training video site.

2008-06-30T12:18:00.003-03:00

Vodeclic is a free site that offers more than 1000 training videos (in french), i.e. a good hundred hours of online training in various softwares and uses of information technology, such as Kaspersky anti-virus, iTunes, Windows XP or Skype. It is clearly a training video site for the general public. The aim is to explain what you can basically do with your computer.

Each video shows you all the steps necessary to accomplish the tasks. You are viewing a computer screen shot with the voice of a trainer to guide you in your learning process.

The videos are produced with strict quality, visual, audio and pedagogical standards. Each video is available in full screen version and lasts between one minute thirty seconds and ten minutes.

What is behind those Tiny URLs?

2008-06-29T18:55:00.003-03:00

For instance, if you are a Twitter user, you are used to see those TinyURLs. Should you click or not? Can't see where this link brings you to? Webware reader Amy wrote in to let them know one of her favorite Firefox plug-ins shortText just got updated with a handy new feature. It will now automatically go through any page you're on and seek out any TinyURLs, converting them to the actual URL so you can see where the page links to. Cool....

Bush: "Shut The Hell Up", said Keith Olbermann on MSNBC.

2008-06-26T18:21:00.004-03:00

Many think that this guy, Keith Olbermann, is changing the basis of journalism in the USA. Tom Brokaw seems to agree. Brokaw calls this moment in the news media "the second big bang.":

"We are creating a new universe, and it has all kinds of new laws and science and physics coming into play as well, in this information world," he told me. "And you've got planets out there colliding with each other, new life forms taking shape; others have drifted too close to the sun, and they've burned up. And we don't know how it's all going to settle down. And it has, now and forevermore, a radiant effect."

Let just say that Olbermann knows how to talk to President Bush.

There is a good report about this guy in the New Yorker.

Money vs Meaning: the web 2.0 dilemma.

2008-06-25T16:39:00.003-03:00

While in the Facebook offices, they have been desesperately eager to prove that the web 2.0, and especially Facebook, can be monetized, some others urge us to find a meaning to the social web.

On one hand, Facebook introduced The Visa Business Network which connects you with other small businesses and where you share ideas, information, opinions, and knowledge with people going through the same things you are.

On the other hand, Umair Haque posted a manifesto on his blog on the Harvard Business Publishing web site where he called for today's investors and start-ups to start building applications to "change the world" instead of just making apps that make money. He challenged Silicon Valley to find a problem to fix that will change the world for the better and then pledged that he would help by providing free consulting.

Who will have the last word? I would bet Facebook, although, I'd rather see Haque have it.

Some Canada-Eastern Canada-Quebec bashing offered by Techcrunch.

2008-06-16T16:29:00.004-03:00

I have been monitering the comments on one of Techcrunch's post titled: Canadians Unite To Fight Off The "Feared TechCrunch. If you want to bash Canada, Eastern-Canada or Quebec, that is the place to do it.

I don't understand how a post about a Montreal's startup and a big mouth founder could degenerate in so much hate in the comments section towards Canada or Quebec. Some people need to renew their meds or leave their computer and get out of their small f...ing town.

Some comments against Canada:

"Chris
June 4th, 2008 at 5:57 pm

pffffttttt…..

http://www.usatoday.com/life/t.....ians_x.htm

Look at what they did to Conan Obrien for a SKIT.

Canadians are total media whores. They'll do anything for US press. They're starved up there. The best they have is Paula Todd, Lloyd Robertson and the most boring personalities and stories you could possibly imagine.

Here is a hot story in Canada:

"native american gets drunk and doesn't pick up daughter from school"
That's like their front page headlines. They suck.
youtube.com/watch?v=MHGoKD5hWqA

Look at this, CTV reported on a FAKE youtube video featuring people that were fighting back against throwing cigarette buts in the street. They couldn't even do due dilligence because THAT'S HOW STUPID CANADIANS ARE.

This is the fake video in questionyoutube.com/watch?v=BpZsiDAJ01k

These Montreallers are straight out of the 1800s. Literally.

What a joke. The cold up there freezes their brain function.

Total crap, Montreal Gazette fails again.This is why Dawson college happened. Exactly why, because of stuff like this, law 101, and inbredness."

Chris

June 4th, 2008 at 6:00 pm

http://www.youtube.com/results.....arch_type=

"That's french Canada in a nutshell. Imagine a whole country of people like this."

Against Quebec:

Michael Arrington

June 4th, 2008 at 6:03 pm

"Melanie - Canada ganged up on me today. I'm simply defending myself. Why in the world you put up with those people from Quebec is beyond me."

Chris

June 4th, 2008 at 6:16 pm

"Mike, Quebec is like the Soviet Union. No lie. Don't give them any more press.
That's my 2 cents. It's not even funny."

Sandra G

June 4th, 2008 at 6:38 pm

"You can't judge Canada by Quebec, would Americans like to be judged by Texas? That's not just a no, that's a hell no."

Chris

June 4th, 2008 at 7:06 pm

"@Chris, I *heart* Montreal. One of the best cities in the world. Not all Quebecois are assholes. You're just mad b/c they want to separate from Canada and its 55% tax rates and join the USA as the 51st state. :)"

55% taxes are unacceptable. $7 a gallon gas is unacceptable.Law 101 is unacceptable. Language laws forced upon people by law is unacceptable.

You may think America is English or Anglophone or whatever catch synonym you care to use this week, but when I walk into Walmart in Paramount all the signs are in Spanish.

You see, in America there is no law 101, and people are FREE to do as they choose. Our first amendment isn't limited by the "good sense" of parliament like the charters of rights and freedoms.

Our laws aren't ok'ed or veto'd by the Queen of England through her governor General who technically has more power than the leader of the country.

No sir, we are a free people. We took care of King George III and the Middle East.
Canadians, skedaddle. Go set up your donut stand in Afghanistan and watch out for those F-16s overhead."

Alnoor

June 4th, 2008 at 7:57 pm

"Quebec is like a different country. Please don't think all of us in canada are like those assholes. Just ignore them, like we do lol.

I am in Toronto( province of Ontario) , and we love techcrunch.

TechCrunch is always welcome! keep up the good job."

bjk

June 7th, 2008 at 2:50 pm

"michael, please dont lump all of Canada with these morons…. A lot eastern Canada are idiots… Western Canada is MUCH different….

…from Saskatchewan…

And the above Chris guy is a loser! "

Some comments I loved:

Wesley Moxam
June 5th, 2008 at 4:59 am

"Now I know that Canada entirely consists of a crappy startup, a newspaper journalist and a Microsoft analyst. Glad that all three united to face the foreign beast that is Tech Crunch. If the nation of Canada (population: 3) doesn’t stick up for themselves, who will?? "

techcrunchreader

June 5th, 2008 at 12:09 am

" @14. Mike Arrington: "Why in the world you put up with those people from Quebec is beyond me."
Could you please elaborate a little more.

@Chris. Please save a few bucks and go get laid."

blah

June 5th, 2008 at 7:59 am

"Wow.

Michael, I like TC & as a blogger I know provocative titles help get traffic but were you THAT desperate for comments that you needed to trash a whole country on the insane rants of one idiot?

And you can say that you were just joking, but I think you can tell from the comments people were offended or took ya seriously. And since nothing's in the piece to reflect otherwise, can we blame them?

Why don't we change the title to "Black People unite against Techcrunch" or "Que*ers unite against TC"? Is it funny then? We do know that at least 3 of many groups have disliked TC. (& yes, my queer friends use that word with relish). Go ahead. Let's all laugh together.

To those of you who jumped on the dog pile: 1. Are you that bored? & 2. Are you that ignorant?
um, the Quebec secession movement was settled years ago. THEY (yes, them poutine-lovin, faux-Frenchies) voted to stay. Let's graduate to the 21st century, shall we?

Montreal's probably more hip, happening, diverse & fun than where most of you guys live. The women are goregous & yes I found friendly. Most people are if you are, um you know, not such a jerk yourself.

@90: Wesley, best da*n response here. If you're not a Canadian, you're probably related to one.

@Chris: Take your meds!

Mike, it's your blog. Your standards. This one sure did alot for it."

Want more. Enter here.

Working at Google Latin-America in Argentina can make you fat.

2008-06-14T12:10:00.003-03:00

In the next video, you can see President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner speaking at the opening of the new Google's offices in Buenos Aires' Puerto Madero. But, what follows is more interesting. It seems the employees have gained some weight since they started to work for Google Argentina. Too many food distributing machines around.

This video was uploaded from TN y la Gente's LadoWeb section. Hope they won't mind. A year ago, I uploaded two videos from LadoWeb site and the reporters kindly accepted if I put a direct link to their site. The problem is the production company Artear who owns the rights and are very stiff on copyrights infringements. They have been a real pain in the ass for my Youtube accounts.

Speaking of stiffness, in the video, you can hear the bald press and PR assistant of Buenos Aires mayor, Mauricio Macri, speaking about a technological park to come in the Parque Patricio district. Well this what I have to say about the subject:

Taken for Perfil.com Blog.

Twitter can learn a lesson from this guy's girlfriend.

2008-06-09T19:24:00.003-03:00

Twitter must really be filling a need, to be that very popular with so many hours of downtime. This guy's post, Twitter can learn a lesson from my girlfriend, about her situation with Twitter downtime is an interesting angle to this recurrent problem.

"...Twitter has been lauded for being transparent with their status problems - releasing a new blog, giving interviews and attempting to address the issues. But, that praise has come from techies (like myself). And if you don't read TechCrunch or blogs like this regularly - you'd be left in the dark wondering why twitter@twitter.com on GTalk isn't working… which is precisely what happened to Anette (though she really should read my blog!)... "

Social Advertising 101.

2008-06-07T21:35:00.002-03:00

How would you define “social advertising”? For instance, a traditional destination website (e.g., ESPN.com) is a public forum. The basic way to advertise there is to post a sign (i.e., a banner ad). That banner ad might be well targeted, or it might be loaded with rich media, but it’s just a sign.

Ads on a blog are no different. Although blogs are broadly considered a form of social media, they are nothing more than destination websites with commenting (which is not a knock on blogs).Social advertising happens in sites where people are linked together in some way (e.g., as “friends”). The obvious examples are Facebook and MySpace. However, not all ads in social networks are “social ads.”

For an ad to be social, it has to be just that, social. This means that the ad is there because it has been invited. It has voluntarily been taken across the threshold and allowed into the inner sanctum of the profile page, just as a teenager might hang a picture of a Nike sponsored athlete on her bedroom wall. Social ads are those ads allowed “in the circle.” All others are “outside the circle.”Ads get invited inside the circle for one of three reasons:

1. The ads are tied to great content
2. The ads have utility, and/or
3. There is an economic incentive.

Most examples fall under category #1 (e.g., SplashCast’s Converse campaign). The art and science around these three factors will be the secret sauce of social. Additionally, some ads, if not explicitly invited are accepted. For example, a music application tied to a sponsorship is social.
So, why should marketers care about all of this? The reason is simple: the power of word of mouth. Social ads create a powerful form of recommendation within the context of friend-to-friend connections found in social networks. This type of advertising is far more rich and authentic than other forms, and, ultimately, far more valuable.

Conversely, ads that haven’t been invited inside are “anti-social.”For example, banner ads, however well targeted, appearing on a social network page are anti-social. They are, therefore, typically rejected (as evidence by their comically low click-through rates and CPMs). Anti-social ads are like the junk mail that you would rather not invite into your house.

See, it’s all that simple.

President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner to visit Google's office.

2008-06-06T11:11:00.003-03:00

The CEO of Google Latin America, Gonzalo Alonso, said that the visit of President Cristina Fernández "is a very clear signal of how Argentina supports foreign investments and the importance of our presence in this country"

The executive told Telam to be "very happy" that the Argentina's Head of State leads today the opening of new offices at Puerto Madero's Dock del Platann and said: "It is an important and a very significant fact that she will take time to come here. " (personal note: and make her forget for a few hours all the mess she is in with the agricultural sector that has been on strike and paralyzing the country for the last three months)

Buenos Aires' office is one of three headquarters that Google has in the world (the others are in the United States and Ireland), and was opened in March 2007 in a building in the neighborhood of Catalinas, which now is to be moved to Puerto Madero .

"This investment reflects the long-term commitment we have with this country because we believe that it is a very sound and logical investment to open a center downhere for the whole Latin America region", added the regional director of the Internet giant .

Go further with your Twitter. 150+ tools to do it.

2008-06-03T11:28:00.004-03:00

Twitter is still an important theme in the blogosphere. It seems to be the next best thing after the invention of the wheel. You think you are a real twitterer. Check out how many of these 150+ tools included in this post on Mashable France you've tried.

I know, I know, the post is written in french. And you flunk your french classes in highschool. Well, only use the links. Amusez-vous.

Twitter: +150 outils/services pour aller plus loin.

Seesmic: What Is It Good For?

2008-05-21T17:34:00.000-03:00

I have been observing Seesmic for a few weeks now. And I'm still wondering what is it good for. All I've seen so far is people blabbling around on different subjects more or less interesting. It is self-expression at its best.

I know that people said the same thing about Twitter. But, there had been a will to make something useful out of Twitter. It is used for advertisement, PR, news, humanitarian claims, etc... But, so far, on Seesmic, I haven't seen the beginning of a will to make something else than babbling about one's opinion about something.

I think that to "capture oneself" is essentially boring: me talking to a webcam, do I have something interesting to say? Pfff… I do not know. I believe that the use of video is justified only if the image brings something to the text. And I think that the mere fact of showing my face and my gestures is insufficient. In fact, to join a video conversation is equally heavy: it is not the same to make a diagonal reading of some Twitter or blog posts than to watch several videos one after another.

Then, if you are having the need / illusion to recorded yourself live, there are already a few web services globally recognized (for instance, Youtube) which allow you to upload your videos, directly or recorded with the webcam , and even uploading from your mobile device…

Indeed, if you compare with Youtube, Seesmic contributes very little more than an more "visual" interface and the possibility of sending pings to twitter every time you post a video.

Of course, now, you can meet some celebrities as reported by Michael Arrington on Techcrunch. First was Deepak Chopra, who made a whole series of videos for this site. And yesterday things got even more exciting, when Steven Spielberg, Harisson Ford, George Lucas, Shia Laboeuf, Karen Allen and Cate Blanchett came on the site and had discussions with other users. Here's one of the exchanges, between Jemima Kiss and Steven Spielberg. Here's a Harisson Ford video. etc.

Not many social networks can get the personnalities mentioned above. So, Seesmic should be successful for Loic Lemeur's PR work. Does it fulfill a need? I do not think so. So, what is good for?

Be a better twitterer.

2008-05-09T16:10:00.006-03:00

In one of yesterday's post on Problogger, I found five tips to improve you twitter posting. In short:

1. Leverage Other Profiles
2. Tweet and Tweet Often - But Create Space for Reactions
3. Be Conversational
4. Provide Value
5. Tweet in Peak Times

To read the detailed information, go here.

Wikipedia's Porn Connection.

2008-05-08T16:36:00.004-03:00

This morning, I was reading that the students of Argentina want more sexual education added in the educative curriculum. Until then, to get more info about human reproduction, they could start by visiting Wikipedia more often. Why? There seems to be more to what I wrote on the previous post, Porn Actresses on the Top of the Spanish Language Wikipedia. As reported on Fleshbot, according to the conservative bulldog World Net Daily, Wikipedia is also a repository for salacious, hardcore pornographic material. Like strippers! Gay homosexual sex! And titty fucking!

For instance:

# Recordings of women experiencing orgasms
# Videos of nude men participating in "ejaculation educational demonstrations"
# Detailed photographs of men and women masturbating# Images of mammary intercourse
# Close-up images of topless women and male and female sexual anatomy
# Large-scale photos of men performing oral sex on one another (and performing oral sex on themselves)
# An illustrated list of sex positions
# Threesomes
# Photos of nude strippers
# An image called "Virgin Killer" depicting a naked prepubescent girl from the 1976 cover of a Scorpions album (banned in the U.S.)

That is really, really, but really, disgusting...

And as Vallweywag reports: " A firestorm is now brewing over pornography on Wikipedia and its accessibility to children. The FBI is investigating the matter, right-wing news site WorldNetDaily reports. Jay Walsh, the spokesman for Wikipedia's nonprofit parent, the Wikimedia Foundation, has disclaimed all official responsibility for the contents of the world's greatest compendium of fictional balls."

Porn Actresses Pages at the Top of the Spanish Language Wikipedia Ranking.

2008-05-05T11:57:00.001-03:00

An article published yesterday on 20minutos shows the the category most consulted on the spanish language Wikipedia is the "Porn Actresses" category. The data, although surprising, refers only to the statistics about the use of the encyclopaedia in the recent days. As for the pages ranking, the page the most visited is the Wikipedia homepage itself, followed by the page about Youtube. This ranking does not show cumulative data but only the most visited pages in the last 24 hours.

In the case of the category pages (which represent only 2.4% of visits within the spanish language Wikipedia), the category the most visited is "Porn Actresses", followed by " Pure Bred Dog", "Categories Indicators" and "Sexual Practices".

Convert Youtube video to MP3.

2008-05-02T12:09:00.003-03:00

Found some good Youtube videos with a great soundtrack? You would like to keep only the soundtrack in your computer?

You need to convert those YouTube videos to MP3. If you find a music video you like you can download only the audio to your PC with the online tool called FLVto, which allows us to convert any video from Youtube to MP3 format, and then download it to our PC. Then, we can listen to it with your favorite audioplayer, copy it in your iPod, USB or other device.

Twitter helped student get out of jail in Egypt.

2008-05-01T17:53:00.004-03:00

Last weekend, CNN lead with a big story about James Buck, a graduate student in journalism from the University of California-Berkeley who was arrested last month in Mahalla, Egypt, while covering an anti-government protest. Thinking quickly, James was able to send a one-word Twitter update: "Arrested." His followers in Egypt and back in the US reacted by contacting the university and the consulate on his behalf. Before long, James was updating Twitter with another one-word message, "Free". The CNN Story here.

(via Biz Stone)

Hot Geeky Girl: Marina.

2008-04-30T12:43:00.006-03:00

Marina is a hot teacher who teaches english and shows a lot of skin. She is a 27-year old woman who gives lessons on the website HotForWords. HotForWords is the site of this russianborn language teacher who found on the web, space to exploit her talents and attributes and be included in our Hot Geeky Girls section.

With funny videos, she helps you learn english. Her language videos can be enjoyed on YouTube. This young woman who has two university degrees and a master in philosophy is often consulted for her sensual way of teaching. In one of her videos, she teaches the origin of the word "naked". However, an example would have been nice.

Twitter: a tool for reporters.

2008-04-29T14:58:00.004-03:00

Last year, in Argentina, in some blogs, I participated in a discussion about the usefulness of Twitter for reporters. At first, Twitter seemed a new useless social web network. But, downhere, people agree that it has certain virtues that can be exploited to facilitate the work of a reporter.

On one hand, it gave birth to "20palabras" , a distributed news service for portable devices on which the posts had no more than 20 words, so they could be easily read on any device. The service closed a few months ago. On the other, nowadays, the argentinean newspapers also use it as some kind of a RSS feed.

Two days ago, I stumbled upon this article on ReadWriteWeb about Twitter in the journalistic world.

For instance, at RWW their use of Twitter so far has included:

* the discovery of breaking stories,
* performing interviews,
* quality assurance
* and promotion of our work.

As far as I am concerned, I encountered other uses and resources for journalism on Twitter.

TO BE CONTINUED.

Hot Geeky Girls: Veronica Belmont.

2008-04-24T10:45:00.004-03:00

Yesterday, I encountered this news dated 2nd of April on Valleywag:

"Mahalo Daily host Veronica Belmont — the videoblogger whom Mahalo CEO Jason Calacanis once dubbed a "Rojas-level hire" , in a comparison to Engadget cofounder Peter Rojas — has announced she's "moving on to new projects." She'll host the show for a few more weeks and then later contribute as a correspondent. "This came out of nowhere," a Mahalo source tells us."

First time, I had heard from her. But, the picture (hoochiemama) convinces me to include her as a Hot Geeky Girl. Maybe, it is the first time for you too. So, this is what I've found on Mahalo:

Veronica Belmont is a new media personality and content producer. She is a host of the Mahalo Daily video podcast, a former CNET producer and host, and a frequent guest and guest-host on numerous podcasts. Veronica Belmont has also appeared on episodes of the television shows CNET TV, Free Stuff, and Vampire Secrets.

Fast Facts:

Born: July 21, 1982
Graduate: Emerson College
Co-founder: The Sword and Laser Book Club
Award: Violet Blue's Sexiest Geek, 2007
April 2, 2008: announced plans to leave hosting position at Mahalo Daily
Is currently scheduled to co-host Tekzilla on Revision3 alongside Patrick Norton .

Follow this link to know more about her and her social networks. There are videos and much more info.