Tag: BLOGS

Ever wonder how all those insipid rumors about Barack Obama's citizenship became so ridiculously virulent? According to a recent study from researcher R. Kelly Garrett, e-mail is to blame. Blogs? Not so much. Though the Internet can expose us to a wider array of rumors, it can also expose us to a variety of counter-arguments, effectively neutralizing the blogsophere's rumor-mongering potency. ...

As the saying goes, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If that's true, Twitter and Tumblr should be very flattered by the Chinese copycat sites Sina Weibo and DianDian, which have plucked ideas and designs from the microblogging networks. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Sina Weibo has eclipsed Twitter as China's leading microblogging site. Mirae Asset Securities estimates ...

With newspapers shedding film critics left and right, and amateur movie blogs gaining steam, many old-school academics and film journalists are blaming the Internet for what they call the 'Death of Film Criticism.' On the Web, literally everybody is a critic -- and that, some argue, threatens the very art of film criticism, itself. Roger Ebert, however, begs to differ. In a recent essay for ...

Over Thanksgiving weekend, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) seized 82 websites, most of which were shut down for selling counterfeit designer handbags and sunglasses. But caught up in the massive virtual raid were several music blogs, including OnSmash.com, RapGodFathers.com and rmx4u.com. The sites were shut down for posting copyrighted material without the permission ...

Forget $h*! My Dad Says (and its abysmal reviews) -- ABC is turning the blog Awkward Family Photos into a TV series. We can't wait for a sitcom based on a bunch of other people's quasi-funny photos in which everyone's wearing cowboy hats or someone's pregnant behind a tree. Can't you just taste the Emmy? ...

Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, who's been in power since Anwar El-Sadat's assassination in 1981, is up for re-election next year. Opposition groups in Egypt have been unable to gain any real political power over the past thirty years, but there may be hope for executive change in Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, former Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and Facebook may turn out ...

Frustrated with referees, the Orlando Magic's Dwight Howard did what any young NBA superstar would do -- vent on his blog. But the NBA retaliated by hitting him where it hurts. According to an Associated Press report, Howard was fined $35,000 Wednesday for criticizing referees in a post on his personal blog. Howard was in chronic foul trouble during his team's recent series against the Charlotte ...

Share In modern Western cultures, death is not something easily embraced. Most of us live in either fear or denial of the inevitable. But, as our society becomes more open and, for better or worse, turns us into a generation of over-sharers, death has crept into our public discourse in ways normally reserved for works of high art. The era of social networking and blogs has given anyone with ...

In an effort to reach increasingly younger veterans, the Department of Veterans Affairs hired a former member of the 101st Airborne, and active blogger, to revamp its social media strategy. According to The Washington Post, Brandon Friedman's job is to change the way veterans communicate with a department that's long been known for its lack of transparency. Friedman, who received a book deal in ...

As growing numbers of people upload photos of nearly everything they eat, broadcasting breakfast and documenting dinner has become the trend du jour across social networks and blogs. As the New York Times reports, it's not just foodies or gourmands that flood Flickr with photos of their flambés. Neuroscientist Javier Garcia, for example, decided to begin documenting his diet after ...

Share For over two months, music bloggers and journalists have been plagued by an intricate, creepy and riveting mystery: the identity of the mysterious and macabre iamamiwhoami. In December, a 55-second clip of a hyper-saturated, eerie (Scandinavian?) forest appeared on YouTube, making its way through critics' circles because of its catchy, pretty sounding music. No information was given, ...

Attention trolls, lurkers, flamers, and irreverent jerks: seek haven elsewhere. Apparently the Net -- and its horde of online, overly sensitive crybabies -- just doesn't want your universal disdain any longer. A troubling trend has arisen, troubling at least for snarky bloggers (ahem), and it involves a terrifying movement toward a kinder, gentler Web. And this new Web for weaklings, where ...

According to The New York Times, some New York City chefs are using Twitter as more than just a marketing tool. Angry chefs are feuding with one another, striking back against bloggers and food critics, and even venting about the rigors of their job. It's a surprising trend, as the restaurant community is known for being tight-lipped. Joe Dobias, owner and chef at JoeDoe in the East Village, ...

Google has dominated the tech-news cycle for the last few days. The Internet is still abuzz with news of Buzz, and Google's foray into the ISP business is attracting plenty of press, as well. But not all of the coverage has been for positive reasons. The company has found itself embroiled in a scandal that has been dubbed "musicblogocide2010" by the Twitterverse. Several popular music blogs, ...

Take it from us: surviving in the blog-o-sphere ain't easy. With the seemingly infinite number of online magazines and voices screaming for attention, it truly is a blog-eat-blog world. And now it looks like the streets are getting even rougher and tougher, thanks to a new fat cat on the blogging block: God Almighty. In a message previewing the theme of this May's "World Communications Day," ...