Cool Bookmarks since 2004

US Lifts Iran, Sudan, Cuba Internet Services Export Ban

The 4 Big Myths of Profile Pictures

Regarding Foursquare and Please Rob Me

If Global Warming Is Real Then Why Is It Cold?

YouTube Music Discovery Project and Playlist Creation Tool

Conversations With An Anonymous Facebook Employee

Photoshop Disaster: Ultra-thin Ralph Lauren model sparks outrage

Bloggers Must Disclose Payments for Reviews

People who sign up for Twitter, post once, then never return

VLC 1.0.0 is out!

Revisiting the Mac mini media center

pulpTunes – The Web Server for iTunes

How China 50 Cent Army Could Wreck Web 2.0

  • The CCP has hired thousands of freelance Internet propagandists whose job is to infiltrate chat rooms, message boards and comment areas on the Internet posing as ordinary users to voice support for the agenda and interest of the CCP. They praise China’s one-party system and condemn anyone who criticizes China’s policy on Tibet. They comment aggressively on news reports about China’s food-safety problems, relations with Taiwan, suppression of bird-flu and AIDS information, Internet censorship, jailing of dissidents, support of Sudan’s military in Darfur and other sensitive topics. Comments applaud the Chinese government and slam its critics, all using scripts and lines approved by the party.

    Some estimates claim that the 50 Cent Army includes a whopping 300,000 people. If that’s accurate, China's freelance propagandists exceed in number the total populations of 47 countries.

Kickstarter Launches

  • Kickstarter aims to let creative people of all kinds — journalists, artists, musicians, game developers, entrepreneurs, bloggers — raise money for their projects by connecting directly with fans, who receive exclusive access and rewards in exchange for their patronage. The model is simple: a project creator sets a fundraising goal, deadline, and an optional set of rewards for backers. If the goal's reached by the deadline, then everyone's charged via Amazon Payments and the backers get their goodies. If the goal's not reached, nobody's charged. It's all or nothing.

High bandwidth websites lose money in developing countries