We should all send her $10. I mean, is two coffees at Starbucks too high a price to pay to defeat Harry Reid? Hat tip Twice Right.

I have received complaints over the years about the background color of my blog. In a recent conversation with roxics he suggested the current color you are seeing now.

How do you like it? Better? Worse? Ambivalent? Still wonder why you read me?

In a recent interview by Walt Mossberg, Steve Jobs uttered the following (can be found in the video around 2:00):

One of my beliefs very strongly is that any democracy depends on a free, healthy press.

Some of these newspapers are the news gathering and editorial organizations are really important. I don’t want to see us descend into a nation of bloggers myself.

I think we need editorial more than ever right now.

So anything that we can do to help the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and other news gathering organizations find new ways of expression so that they can afford to get paid, so they can afford to keep their news gathering and editorial operations in tact, I’m all for. What we have to do is figure out a way to get people to start paying for this hard-earned content.

Bloggers vs. “media”
The moment I heard Jobs utter those words, I shot through the roof. What a guy!

Here’s a guy that has made his money predominately off of writers, journalists, bloggers and indie arts people. Granted, right now, established press has an enmity against bloggers, but what is a blogger?

This is an argument that we have been fully engaged in for a decade. The general consensus is that the difference between a blogger and a journalist is that a blogger is not one who has been through J-school and typically doesn’t act as “professional” (identifying before interviewing, honoring background/deep background, etc.) as a journalist. However, bloggers have, for the most part, enjoyed the same shield laws that traditional journalists have enjoyed.

Then there’s the question of hybrids: are all online news services blogs? And where do you classify sites like Wired or Engadget? Are the “media” or blogs?

No matter how you slice or dice it, the majority of people in this demographic are Apple users. Why piss them off?

Now, the way I read the stitches on this fastball is Jobs is someone who has time and time again been successful in what he has done. He can point to his previous achievements that have not once, but several times been world changing. Consider:

• Macintosh
• iPod
• iTunes
• iPhone
• iPad
• Pixar

These have all been game changers. I expect Jobs to continue to produce game changers until his career ends. But as @JeepCat pointed out, because Steve’s never been challenged because he’s had such astounding success, he is used to being dictatorial and getting his way.

I tend to think that Jobs was reacting to Gizmodo and the stolen iPhone fiasco.

Either way, I think that the only way to interpret what Jobs said is thus: “There should only be a few finely controlled news sources. The reason for this is that stupid people need to be told what to think. We can’t have a bunch of bloggers running around out there telling the truth and exposing facts we don’t want exposed. Read what I tell you to read. SHUT UP, SLAVE!

WWDC: Turn Off the Wifi
As if to back up my point, in a truly dumbass move that only a totalitarian could pull off, Steve Jobs barked the following from the stage today during the Apple World Wide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) when the radio in the new iPhone couldn’t get wifi signal:

“You know you could help me out, if you’re on WiFi if you could just get off… well we’re having a little problem here.”

Which Engadget complained about:

11:05AM Oh my god. Jobs is asking everyone to turn off their network cards and MiFis!

11:05AM He’s asking people to set their laptops on the floor.

11:05AM Guess what — we’re not doing that.

To which I Tweeted:

No bitching about Steve telling you to turn off your wifi. You applauded when he said “no nation of bloggers.” SHUT UP, SLAVE! #wwdc

Your Comments Go Here
What constitutes press? Is there a difference between bloggers and “the media”? Is Steve Jobs being dictatorial? Do you think that Jobs is in favor of censorship?

For the wonderful people at Barnes & Nobel:

If you check my blog within the next 24 hours and this post is either at the top or near the top of my blog, you can have the answers to the question of the .pdb format.

From Wikipedia:

PDB is a container format for record databases in Palm OS, Garnet OS and Access Linux Platform. Its structure is similar to PRC resource databases. The PalmDOC eBook format is a special version of the PDB format.

Which leads us to a short discussion of .prc and .mobi.

Again, from Wikipedia:

PRC is a container format for code databases in Palm OS, Garnet OS and Access Linux Platform. Its structure is similar to PDB databases. Usually, a PRC file is a flat representation of a Palm OS application that is stored as forked database[clarification needed] on the PDA.

PRC files are also used by the Mobipocket e-book-reader (here sometimes referred to as MOBI format). The AZW format of Amazon’s Kindle reading device is in turn a DRM-restricted form of the Mobipocket format.

On Palm OS, PRC files are used for applications, localized resources (overlays) and shared libraries.

So from this, we can extrapolate the following:

1. We know that the three formats that the Nook supports is .pdf, .epub and .pdb
2. We now know that .pdb is very similar to .prc
3. .pdb and .prc are both Palm OS file formats.
4. .mobi is an e-book format that builds on .pdb and .prc
5. Amazon’s Kindle uses a copyright-protected version of the .mobi file system.
6. There has not been a lot of innovation in the e-book file format.

Cheers,
ProfessorTom

What a propaganda piece! “Report anything suspicious [especially Tea Parties]. Do as your told, don’t question authority. SHUT UP, SLAVE! It’s for your own protection, Sir.”

I wonder just who exactly doesn’t report suspicious things. I mean, I know we live in a country that elected Jabronies like this and even this but still. We’re hard-wired for self-preservation. If we think something is dangerous, of course we notify officials.

I think that this video is starting the slow-boil for turning in family members that speak out against the government.

Try this line out for size: “Retailers depend on the free-flow of customers. No gates or security checks stand in the way.”

What a bunch of double-speak! On the one hand, the argument being made on the surface is that you’re only safe if you take off your shoes and get a picture of your naked body taken against your will (body scanners, metal detectors, etc.) But we know this is crap. Despite Napolitano’s continued erosion of our liberties via TSA policies, we still have incidents like the Chirstmas panty-bomber. Let’s not forget that this is the same government that is pushing for high-speed rail making the argument that you won’t have to take off your shoes to get on the train.

Feeling the heat yet, froggy?

So we just got a flyer from our current health insurance company delivered to my place of work. This flyer contains the “changes” that can be made to the contract at any time. Try this gem on for size:

Employers with fewer than 20 Employees (Effective July 1, 2010)
If you (or your spouse) is eligible for Medicare due to disability and is also covered under the plan by virtue of your current employment status with the employer, your coverage under the plan will cease and you (or your spouse) should enroll in Medicare and may purchase a Medicare Supplement Contract.

For all of Obama’s talk about wanting to help the little guy, the only thing he has done is make people more dependent on the government. He has removed benefits that small businesses offer to their employees.

For those of you suckers who haven’t joined a union and work for a company that employs less than 20 employees, Our Dear Leader has a message for you: SHUT UP, SLAVE!

@FilmLadd did not come to bnb last week because he is a doucebag. @FatherPhoenix and @jeepcat did drop by around 1830ish because they were in town and are not douchebags. We haven’t heard from @russellcrosswy since his rookie attendance.

For reasons that I cannot divulge here, I will NOT be in attendance June 1st. I know that this will be a big blow to the group as I have made every B n’ B since my debut, but I WILL be back the following week.

Speaking of June 8, you are all invited to attend B n’ B for a very special presentation. @jtrigsby will be giving a presentation to writers interested in writing for a hyper-local news site. Beats include Night LIfe, Restaurant Reviews, Entertainment and Politics. There will be revenue share from three different categories: page views, content generation and ad sales.

If you’ve ever wanted to be a journalist, get paid for what you write or just plain think that you can do a better job than the competition *cough*@hsvtimes then you don’t want to miss this meeting, nor does your writer friend who has similar aspirations.

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