Google hits coder G-spot with Linux command line tool
June 23, 2010
Google has introduced a command line utility for accessing various Chocolate Factory services, including YouTube, Blogger, Google Docs, Calender, and Contacts. And an army of text-interface obsessives have responded with glee.
“I love you!!” one coder told Google. “This couldn’t be better!!”
“Ooh, I hope it’s not April 1 today. *calendar check* Wow, nope!” said another. “There goes my Friday evening.”
“Effin amazing” said a third.
Google CL is a Python application that uses the gdata Python client library to make Google Data API calls from the command line. Currently, it supports Blogger, Picasa, YouTube, Google Docs, Contacts, and Calendar.
Just think of it. You can update your blog or browse a list of web videos or update your online calendar – all without stooping to the level of a GUI interface.
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Convenience Stores Seek Distance From BP Oil Spill
June 9, 2010
As U.S. consumers vent their frustration over the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico by launching demonstrations and speaking out online, some retailers are evaluating their gas brand choice, according to published reports.
Several U.S. groups, including consumer watchdog Public Citizen and Vermont-based Democracy for America, have called for a BP boycott. And social networking sites are becoming a place where consumers can speak out against the situation or join groups advocating for boycotts and other causes, the report stated.
“People are posting their anger and frustration on their own personal newsfeeds,” Karen North, director of the Annenberg Online Communities program at the University of Southern California, said in the report. “But in terms of people coming together as part of a collective effort, if it’s there, I haven’t seen that much of it. And that might be because people aren’t sure what the right bandwagon is to join.”
Seize BP, a campaign urging the U.S. government to seize BP’s assets and redistribute them to those damaged by the spill, is planning a week of demonstrations in all 50 states at gas stations and BP offices, according to the Reuters report. The campaign is gaining ground on Facebook, where at least five groups with a total of more than 8,000 members were advocating this cause as of Thursday.
A spoof Twitter feed, BPGlobalPR, meanwhile, purports to be the oil company’s online persona. The satirical feed has more than 114,000 followers, compared to the official BP_America feed, which had less than 10,000 on Thursday, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, the unrest over the failed cleanup efforts is hitting the convenience store industry. Philipsburg, Pa.-based Snappy’s Convenience Stores decided to debrand three of its BP-branded stations in Bald Eagle, Philipsburg and State College, and switch to an unbranded banner, the Altoona Mirror reported.
“We are debranding BP. We will no longer be associated with BP by the end of the month. We are doing this because of the backlash and bad publicity from the handling of BP’s catastrophe,” Sean Lay, vice president of operations, said in the report. “We don’t want to be associated with them any more. We’ve had enough.”
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Anti-speed camera activist nabs Bluff City PD’s expiring web domain
June 8, 2010
BLUFF CITY, Tenn. – Brian McCrary found the perfect venue to gripe about a $90 speeding ticket when he went to the Bluff City Police Department’s website, saw that its domain name was about to expire, and bought it right out from under the city’s nose.
Now that McCrary is the proud owner of the site, http://www.bluffcitypd.com, the Gray, Tenn., computer network designer has been using it to post links about speed cameras – like the one on U.S. Highway 11E that caught him – and how people don’t like them.
“It’s kind of surprising that they’d just let it lapse like that,” McCrary said, adding that the new site has logged 1,200 unique visitors since he took it over May 22. “I figured they would be aware [it was about to expire] and renew it on their own.”
Domain names – such as the one for the Bristol Herald Courier’s website, http://www.tricities.com – serve as an easy-to-remember substitute for the numerical Internet Protocol addresses that direct people to specific locations (or websites) on the infinite landscape of cyberspace.
Domain names are bought and sold on a subscription basis through hundreds of website hosting companies, such as Go Daddy, which according to a company spokesperson currently manages more than 41 million domains including “www.bluffcitypd.com.”
When someone buys a domain name they can do whatever they want with it for the year that it’s registered to them. They can sell it, use it to keep someone from making a website, or use it to host a site that makes fun of or attacks a company with that name.
But at the end of that year-long registration period, the web hosting company regains control over the domain name and has the option of cancelling it and effectively taking down the customer’s website or selling the domain to someone else.
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BP Protest In NYC Gets Real
June 1, 2010
There has been a lot of chatter lately with people boycotting BP for the spill in the Gulf of Mexico. A Facebook page calling for a Boycott of BP has already worked itself up to a quarter of a million followers. Many people took to the streets this past weekend to protest at BP stations but today we found something different. A Twitter user sent this image of a BP station in NYC on Houston Street.
As more and more oil starts to wash up on the shores of the gulf states, you can expect this type of protest to only get more popular.
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Apple Finally Drops “I’m A Mac” Ads
May 24, 2010
Apple has finally caught on to something many of us have known for years: John Hodgman’s befuddled “PC” is far more appealing than Justin Long’s smug “Mac,” so the “I’m a Mac” ads aren’t really very effective at converting PC-users to Mac fans. Well. maybe that’s not the official reason, but the company is still killing the long-running campaign
The ads have already been removed from Apple’s site, and have been replaced by the company’s “Why you’ll love a Mac” promos. The “I’m a Mac” campaign launched in 2006, and has been one of the company’s most successful marketing efforts (at least when it comes to raising its brand recognition). Last month, Justin Long signaled the end when he told an interviewer: “You know, I think they might be done. In fact, I heard from John, I think they’re going to move on.”
Fortunately, nothing really disappears on the internets, so go ahead and get your Hodg on with this collection of the ads:
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