Yahoo’s new ad is bright, ear catching, and filled with positive thoughts. The one thing it isn’t though, is realistic. In the new ad, Yahoo states that their homepage is all about you. It’s your sports, your news, and your entertainment all rolled into one!

Disclaimer: I admit, before writing this, I had not used Yahoo’s Search in over 5 years. Therefore to be fair, I signed up for a Yahoo username to “experience” the new Yahoo of today.

After signing up, here is the Yahoo homepage I was greeted with. This is a random page and the first one that loaded for me. It’s an example only.

Wow, I have to look at all of this just to search for bread recipes?

Not only is this information completely unnecessary for my goal of finding bread recipes, it’s actually the complete opposite of what Yahoo claims to be in their new ad.

We will start with exhibit A and only focus on Yahoo’s and Google’s Search homepage.

What really separates Yahoo’s Search Page and Google’s Search page apart is their focus. Yahoo tries to make a simple search a “experience”, while Google makes it a simple search. Attempting to appeal to every person in this world with one handful of random popular topics is actually counter productive. In the end Yahoo’s attempt at mass appeal ends up being, mass disillusionment.

Here is the ad from Yahoo. To me the ad is a absolute hypocrisy, but as always, think for yourself and if you wish, post your thoughts in the comment section below.

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Glenn Greedwald previously was a constitutional law attorney in the US, he now spends his time as an author and a full-time blogger on Salon.com. If you’re looking for a sober, concise, and rational approach to today’s issues, such as terrorism and the health care debacle, you need look no further then Glenn’s writings on Salon.com.

I have read Glenn’s writings on Salon.com for about 4 months now and must say he is probably one of the most logical and intelligent thinkers on the internet . He’s currently doing a speaking tour and has been on The Rachel Maddow Show, Democracynow, and Dylan Ratigan’s show. I highly recommend checking out these videos as well as Glenn’s writings on Salon.com.

Glenn Greedwald on The Rachel Maddow Show

Glenn Greedwald on Democracynow

Glenn Greedwald on Dylan Ratigan’s show

Glenn Greedwald on MSNBC’s Morning Joe

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As we near the end of 2009, now is the time to look back and reflect on our culture and how our culture has evolved over the past 350 something days. Current Tv’s InfoMania released this video to showcase all of the best-est and worst-est moments over the last year.

A few highlight of the video:

• Sergio’s Top 5 Music picks of the week, this time though, he covers the top 5 songs on ITunes in 2009 and explains to his father what Lady Gaga really means by her “pa pa pa pa poker face”
• Another great segment is Sarah Haskins review some of the best products of 2009. Plus you’ll learn why butts are stupid.

Enjoy and have a good holiday, see ya on the other side!

Technorati Tags: 2009, music, news, video, website, current tv, current tv retrospectacular, current, infomania, retrospective, sergios top picks

The Yes Men Strike again. If you are unfamiliar with the the Yes Men, they are a group of about 300 members who specialize in impersonating large corporations and criminal organizations in hopes of exposing the true nature and crimes committed by these organizations.

This time the Yes Men have impersonated the US Chamber of Commerce. The pretend claim was that the Chamber would be reversing it’s stance against the new climate change bill and would support a carbon tax. Needless to say, the Chamber of Commerce is highly against any regulation of green house gases or any tax associated with pollutants.

The news that the Chamber of Commerce was reversing it’s stance and siding with scientist even made it onto Fox News. This is the video coverage, from DemocracyNow, which shows the Faux News clips and a interview with the impostor.

Multiple members of the US Chamber of Commerce have withdrawn membership based on the fact that the Chamber’s board has decided to not back a climate change bill. This new spoof has put the spotlight on them, but they have yet to back down on their rejection of the bill.

Regardless of your stance on climate change, this at least show how easily major news organizations can be swayed to report false news. Apparently all you need is a suit, tie, and a microphone to make national headlines.

The Yes Men are currently releasing their new movie, The Yes Men Fix the World.

Technorati Tags: yes men, yes men fix the world, democracynow, democracy now, yes men 2009, yes men chamber of commerce, us chamber of commerce, chamber of commerce impersonation, climate change bill

For one day only tomorrow, September 26th 2009, you and a guest can receive free admission to hundreds of museums nationwide. The free admission is not restricted to only Smithsonian museums, but is instead available for countless museums across the county.

I play on visiting the Experience Music Project \ Science Fiction Museum here in Seattle, WA. The museum features the Jimi Hendrix: An Evolution of Sound exhibit, which should be very exciting to see. The EMP is just one of 14 museums to choose from in the Seattle area alone.

Other Great Museums in the Seattle area to choose from are:

• The Museum of Flight
• Seattle Art Museum
• Nordic Heritage Museum
• KidsQuest Children’s Museum
• Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture

This is a great opportunity to take your son, daughter, nephew, niece, cousin or just a good friend out for a nice day of fun and learning.

For more information and to download your free admission card you can visit the Smithsonian Museum Day page.

Technorati Tags: smithsonian museum, museum, free admission, free museum admission, emp, experience music project, jimi hendrix exhibit, seattle art museum, museum flight, museum day 2009

If you are unhappy with your current cell phone company, now is the time to speak up. The FCC just recently launched a large investigation into how the cellular industry is charging its customers (us) and how it is competing as a market.

Over the last 10 months, many Verizon Wireless customers have been outraged for being charged out-of-line megabyte usage charges for actions they can’t even verify were them. These mysterious charges started appearing about a year ago and are one of the things the FCC will be looking into as possible violations by the wireless industry.

FCC Chair Genachowski said,

“Many Americans are learning to do more with less. A surprise charge on a monthly bill or a new service that does not perform as advertised can be a major budget-buster, especially as household spending on communications grows ever larger. Today’s notice will help the Commission build a record on ways to ensure that consumers understand what they are signing up for.”

If there is a time when the FCC will actually listen to complaints against the few giants that rule the Wireless Industry, it is now.

If you wish to file a official complaint with the FCC in regards to your cell phone service, you can follow the steps provided below.

1. Visit the FCC Consumer Complaints Page
2. Click the 5th option, “Wireless Telephone”
3. Next, most likely you will want option 4,

   “Billing, Service, Privacy, Number Portability and other issues”

   or Option 3,
   “Deceptive or unlawful advertising or marketing by a communications company (does NOT include Telemarketing)”

4. Select your filling method; online, phone, postal, or fax
5. Fill out the simple form with your information and complaint
6. Optionally: Add this statement, in your complaint, to request that your name be kept private.
   

   In regards to Form 2000B and article 4 of the FCC NOTICE REQUIRED BY THE PRIVACY ACT, I explicitly requests that the FCC withhold my name from public disclosure.

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Recently a good friend of mine brought to my attention the alarming fact that; as we are trying to decrees our energy bills and sustain the quality of our environment, we sometimes forget that doing one of the two, may not coincide with doing the other.

The recent push over the years towards using CFL, aka compact florescent light bulbs, is a push towards reducing energy cost in our home, but is also the cause of widespread mercury contamination. That sounds more like “grey” bulbs, not “green” bulbs.

CFLs Must Be Disposed Of As Hazardous Waste

CFL’s contain a small amount of mercury, as all florescent bulbs always have, but the problem is that these bulbs were never used widespread in homes around the world and were usually used in a industrialized setting. It never dawned on me that these bulbs must be disposed of as hazardous waste.

Even more alarming is the clean up process should one of these bulbs break in your home.

The EPA states:

• you must leave the contaminated area for at least 15 minutes
• after that you should not use a vacuum to clean up the mess
• instead should use a sticky tape, such as duct tape, to remove the spilled chemicals.

That is just a couple of the 19 steps you should follow if you break a compact florescent bulb in your home.

LEDs Should Be The New Standard

The European Union just announced today that they are official phasing out traditional incandescent light bulbs and will replace them with more energy efficient bulbs. In the US we have adopted the CFL option and are currently working on replacing incandescent bulbs with them.

Instead of shipping mercury around the globe, we could easily be working towards implementing LED light bulbs which can reach the same brightness as the other two options as well as be even more energy efficient than CFL light bulbs.

The main problem with bringing LEDs into your home right now is the cost. The average bulb can range from $20 to $50+ which might be hard to justify as “cost saving”, but what it does guarantee is that the next time your child or you breaks a light bulb in your home, you are not stuck dealing with a hazardous waste spill.

What do you think about the effects of using CFL in our home and what do you see as the best solution to reduce energy cost while at the same time be environmentally conscious?

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Myspace has teamed up with a few sponsors, such as Toyota, to start a contest for all Myspace Music users where users have a chance to win a exclusive record contract. Sounds great right? Sounds great indeed, but the fine print says otherwise.

By Joining You Are Submitting

Few music contest contestants ever read the fine print or the rules that drive the contest they are joining. This goes for Myspace contests or a tv show such as American Idol. Unfortunately, not only do the contest strip you of your rights, once you actually win the contracts they just take even more rights away.

Here is the first example of the rights you forfeit when you enter this new Myspace Music Contest. Taken from section 5 which states:

In consideration of a Submission being reviewed and evaluated for this Contest, each Entrant hereby grants to the Contest Entities the non-exclusive irrevocable, fully paid, universal license to use, copy, sublicense, transmit, distribute, publicly perform, publish, delete or display such Submission, or any portion thereof, including to the extent applicable (a) any information, biographical data, and material (e.g., the “Creative File”) submitted by Entrant in connection with the Contest; and (b) all video, audio, photographs, text, graphics, statements, any other creative materials, and quotations of or by Entrant and furnished by Entrant as part of this Contest (the “Material”) included in and/or submitted by Entrant in connection with the Contest), in any media now known or hereafter devised including, but not limited to all forms of electronic media, print media and all forms of internet and wireless protocol.

Boom, bam, and your music is no longer your music. Simply by entering your song in the contest, you no longer have exclusive rights to your music.

Myspace can now take your song and:

• Sell it
• Remake it
• Distribute it
• All while paying you nothing

This next excerpt is in regards to your identity\band, also from section 5:

In addition, by participating in the Contest and providing a Submission, each Entrant hereby grants permission (except where prohibited by law) for the Contest Entities to use Entrant’s Submission, name, likeness, voice, quotes, comments, biographical information, photograph and/or image for the purpose of advertising, trade, or promotion without further compensation or consideration in any and all media now known or hereafter developed throughout the universe.

From the date of your submission, you will have given Myspace and Toyota the rights to use your image, name, lyrics and other personal content FOREVER without payment.

Lessons and Reflections on Musicians Rights

The main lessons to take away from contests like this are to read the fine print and know what rights you’re giving away. If you’re comfortable giving away everything you submit in hopes of that small chance of wining, then by all means, take that chance. I, for one, am not going to censor my music and give it away to Toyota for a chance to win a highly restrictive record contract.

Technorati Tags: myspace, myspace music, myspace music contents, myspace toyota contest, rap music contest, music contest, myspace contest, music contracts, musician rights, contest rules

Washington and Oregon have both started free recycling services for computers, monitors and TVs this year and both are having great success with the new service. Finding the locations and hours for these locations is another story though.

This is a complete list of all of the locations in Portland where you can bring your computers, monitors or TVs too. As a note, you may want to call the locations ahead of time in regards too peripherals such as mice, keyboards, and speakers.

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Noam Chomsky is an institute professor emeritus at MIT and political activistcritic. Although shunned by the main-stream media, Chomsky has continued to be a echoing voice of reason for the past 50 years.

Noam recently appeared on The Real News Network for a 4 part interview on the economy and democracy. During the 3rd part, Chomsky broke down the root of the problem with the US heath care system. Here is the video of the excerpt, as well as the transcript.

Watch the full 4 part interview

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