Grant Robertson · new media superhero

I’ve finally concocted a grand unified theory of lousy PR. Hopefully this will streamline the process of submitting things to the Download Squad tip box. Please use this form from now on.

Dear sir/maddam,

I’m writing to let you know about our

[x]incredibly boring
[ ]poorly conceived
[ ]misguided
[ ]useless
[ ]already done

product available

[ ]on the web
[ ]as a download
[x]via paid subscription

Our

[x]product
[ ]service

makes

[ ]Windows
[ ]Linux
[ ]The web
[ ]Facebook
[ ]Twitter
[x]Other

[ ]more useful
[x]less time consuming
[ ]easier to navigate

while also

[x]lowering total cost of ownership
[x]keeping your records in the cloud

Our clickwrap agreement is:

[x]complex
[ ]thick
[x]full of things you’d never agree to if you actually read it

only requiring your:

[ ] complete and total submission
[x] waiver of any rights to your own data
[x] first born child

We appreciate your time and consideration. Please contact:

[x] Our poorly paid and under-trained PR flack
[ ] Our expensive PR company
[x] Myself
[ ] No contact details provided

with any questions.

Sincerely,

[ ] CEO in title only
[ ] Eastern European programmer with lackluster English skills
[ ] The comic book guy
[x] Anonymous tipster who is actually a company representative

Huge thanks to everyone who helped out on this show. Ben Feinstein, Elizabeth Clarke, Christina Warren, Victor Agreda, Brad Linder and the whole Download Squad team.

We’re rockin it on planning future video goodness, so stay tuned.

McWiFi, by Grant_Robertson.

This both intrigues and frightens me.

Late night svnadmin., by igb.

I’ve learned that as an ubergeek and a creative person, I often face a difficult decision; Do the thing I love, and do it all the time (write), but for less money than I’d like -or- Do the thing I’m good at, still love but love less, and make way more money.

Alas, I’ve taken the undeclared third option.. do them all at once. I’m writing code for a living, again, while still working as a writer/editor for Weblogs, Inc and doing the more than occasional stand-up set.

Essentially, the end result is, I never sleep anymore. It’s ok, I’ll sleep when I’m dead. No big deal.

Ryan Block reports that content filter maker Barracuda has been blocking traffic from Weblogs, Inc.

I just got off the phone with Barracuda, makers of an incredibly popular line of corporate firewall / proxy / spam filter appliances. After weeks of emailing into a black hole from whence no replies emerge, I’ve finally confirmed what many Engadget readers have been reporting for the last couple of months: somehow Barracuda added Engadget (namely, our backend / hosting facilities at www.blogsmithmedia.com) to their blacklist as spam. Not inappropriate (read: time-wasting) content… spam.

He says someone is on the hunt to fix it at Barracuda but, how does something like this happen in the first place? Beware that sometimes, when you install an internet filter, you’re blocking more than just nasties. In the case of Download Squad, you’d be blocking some awesome productivity tips, tricks and tutorials.

I’m working on aggregating RSS feeds generated by every web 2.0-esque service I use into one river of personal data; timestamped and massaged into a streaming feed of me. Links, pictures, blog posts, twittr asides, et al.

I wrote an article about this for Download Squad today about the two places that inspired me to give this a go and start thinking about the data I generate in some far more interesting ways.

I’ve written Governor Rell, asking that she speak independently with any number of the available experts and then use that information to make the right decision; Issue a pardon of Julie Amero. Now it’s your turn. Take 5 minutes out of your day and do what you can to keep Julie Amero from serving jail-time for falling victim to malware!

read more | digg story

I knew it.. Finally there’s evidence that really lousy web-pages are bad for your health.

In a test, the SIRC used as a control what it called “the Perfect Web site,” one that functioned well. Study respondents were then presented with a stream of “crazy graphics and slow-loading pages.” While a small sampling remained calm, others “showed very distinct signs of stress and anxiety,” according to the study.

The report stated, “Some changes in muscle tension were quite dramatic While this was happening, the participants faces also tensed visibly, with the teeth clenched together and the muscles around the mouth becoming taught. These are physically uncomfortable situations that reduce concentration and increase feelings of anger.”

[via EE Times]

Wow. When I met Newt Gingrich in 1994, I had no idea that he’d develop a distaste for the constitutional amendment that allows me my livelyhood.

From MSNBC:

NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: My view is that either before we lose a city, or if we are truly stupid after we lose a city, we will adopt rules of engagement that we use every technology we can find to break up their capacity to use the Internet, to break up their capacity to use free speech, and to go after people who want to kill us, to stop them from recruiting people before they get to reach out and convince young people to destroy their lives while destroying us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OLBERMANN: If you’re going to destroy freedom of speech, bub, you’ve already lost all the cities.

To paraphrase Pastor Martin Noemuller’s poem about Germany in the ‘30s and ‘40s: First they came for the Fourth Amendment, then they came for habeas corpus, then came for free speech, and there was no one allowed to speak up.

I’m not normally a big fan of Keith Olbermann but, I think he sums it up quite well. If you start ripping up the constitution just to protect a few (even millions) from a terrorist attack, you’re already exacting more damage on the “American way of life” than any terrorist could hope to create with unlimited resources. A history professor like Newt should really have a better grasp of the whole slippery slope phenomonon, don’t you think?

The highlight was definitely getting to see Stanton T. Friedman give his talk on the physics of interstellar space travel. It wasn’t so much science as it was a little bit of trivia, a lot of pictures of experimental nuclear fission aircraft propulsion systems and 20 minutes of him bashing other people who don’t cotton to his theories. Mix 1 cup of negativity towards your own Wikipedia entry discrediting your claims to have actually worked hands on with a who’s who of advanced propulsion systems, stir: You’ve got an hour of entertainment.

Michael passed me the station’s really cool Marantz digital recorder and I spent 10 minutes talking to Paul Kimball who is about to deliver a documentary film to Canada’s Space channel titled, “The Other Side of Truth: Best Evidence“. Clips of my interview with Paul should be on an upcoming episode of Popped Culture. Paul is an interesting guy who, at the very least, can tell a story. He practically interviewed himself, which made my job extremely easy.

Must do more radio-journalism. Telling a story using other people’s words is really neat-o.