david becher dot com

Jason Calacanis Offers $250,000 To Be A Suggested Twitter User

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 01:19:53 -0400

Jason Calacanis Offers $250,000 To Be A Suggested Twitter User:

I’m…I’m…words fail me.

(Oh, and also? Do not let me to link to techcrunch EVER AGAIN.)

Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston Break Off Engagement

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 12:11:18 -0400

Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston Break Off Engagement:

Damn. I really thought that was gonna last.

ThruYOU

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 15:30:56 -0400

ThruYOU:

Some guy takes random, boring videos and assembles them into incredible music. Quite possibly the only good thing I’ve ever seen come out of YouTube.

Last.fm Blog: "Techcrunch are full of shit"

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 19:28:47 -0500

Last.fm Blog: "Techcrunch are full of shit":

Richard Jones, founder of Audioscrobbler and co-founder of last.fm, responds to the allegations made by Techcrunch that they handed over personally identifiable information to the RIAA about users who listened to U2’s leaked album. According to Ars Technica, even the RIAA denies this happened. The source of the rumor? A tip Techcrunch got from one person who claims to know someone who works at CBS. They still have not retracted the story.

TheDieline.com: Tropicana to return to old packaging design

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:55:57 -0500

TheDieline.com: Tropicana to return to old packaging design :

Tropicana’s equities were steadfast: Tropicana’s equity lies in the fact that they own the orange. The symbolism of a straw stuck pushed straight through the skin of an orange is the very definition of freshness and purity. Stripping the layers of meaning away by using an image of a glass of orange juice suggests that of a me-too brand – one that does not own the definition of spontaneity of an orange bursting with juice, but merely a product, poured into a glass. Not special, not different – and not ownable. This is not to say that the pack couldn’t have done with a redesign. But one that understands, respects and makes use of the equities inherent in an established, respected and ubiquitous brand.

And you gotta love the reaction by Peter Arnell, the “chairman and chief creative officer” of the company that made the failed design:

Tropicana is doing exactly what they should be doing […] I’m glad Tropicana is getting this kind of attention.

Boxee Forced to Remove Hulu Content

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 19:58:39 -0500

Boxee Forced to Remove Hulu Content:

This just seems like an incredibly dumb and short-sighted thing to do. TV shows on iTunes are just too expensive for me to really consider buying (especially for something I’m only going to watch once or twice), and ad-supported content that I can watch on my TV and control with my Apple remote is exactly the kind of thing I was looking for. I don’t know if the people who run these media companies are actively trying to fail or just dumb as bricks, but they’re definitely succeeding at one thing: pissing off people who are willingly trying to watch their content legally. Hulu’s CEO Jason Kilar also had something to say about this.

How Not To Secure Your Confidential Legal Documents

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:23:49 -0500

How Not To Secure Your Confidential Legal Documents:

Step 1: Change all redacted text’s font color to white (so, you know, nobody can see it).

Step 2: Publish the PDF, with all redacted text still included, online (Pro Tip: be sure not to enable the feature in PDF documents that disallows copying and pasting of text).

Step 3: Hope nobody decides to, let’s say, copy-and-paste said redacted text into a text editor, revealing confidential information to AP reporters.

(via tc)

President John F. Kennedy (1961-63) spends some time at the...

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 23:02:35 -0500

President John F. Kennedy (1961-63) spends some time at the White House with his children, Caroline and John Jr., and their pony, Macaroni.

Let me repeat: Macaroni the fucking pony! Obama’s sitting on his ass wasting our time trying to pick a stupid dog when we could be talking ponies? Get with the program, Mr. President.

Publishers Not Happy About Books Being Read Out Loud

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:43:23 -0500

Publishers Not Happy About Books Being Read Out Loud:

“They don’t have the right to read a book out loud,” said Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild.

Seriously.

Google Mobile Sync Now Supports iPhone

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:56:00 -0500

Google Mobile Sync Now Supports iPhone:

Push sync of your Google contacts and calendars (including reminders!). For some reason it only wants to sync one of my calendars, but it definitely syncs fast: I added an event in the web interface and it updated before I even had a chance to look down at my phone. Pretty much replaces the only thing I ever used MobileMe for, especially since I started using the amazing Dropbox.

Digital TV Transition Delayed Until June

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 14:00:15 -0500

Digital TV Transition Delayed Until June:

OH GOD I’M NEVER GOING TO STOP HEARING THOSE FUCKING COMMERCIALS, AM I?

A Twitter Decision

Sun, 08 Feb 2009 21:10:54 -0500

A Twitter Decision:

The problem I seem to have is that once I start following someone, it takes a lot to get me to hit “unfollow”. I’m probably overly picky about who I start following, but once I do, there’s some kind of connection that makes it really hard to let go. His point is a good one, though: if the people in your twitter stream make you unhappy, just fucking unfollow them.

'My life cleaning Delhi's sewers'

Sun, 08 Feb 2009 19:21:06 -0500

'My life cleaning Delhi's sewers':

He needed water to clean himself, just a splash on his face could have made him feel better.

His colleagues started banging on doors of the rich neighbourhood where he was working. Nobody opened their gate.

A Quick Introduction

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 01:25:20 -0500

Hi.

The first draft I wrote of this post went into all kinds of detail about myself and my subconscious and my cats (I’m only kind of joking here), but suffice it to say I decided this was way more than you probably ever wanted to know about some guy in his first blog post. I probably will publish that article someday, but for now, here’s the short version: I’ve been wanting to start a blog for many years now and tonight I finally decided to do it. So here goes, I guess.

Oh, and by the way: I hate the word “blog”. Let’s all try to pretend I never said it, OK?