2004 October

If you happen to be in Cannes this week, drop in on the ITXpo, sponsored by the Gartner Dataquest research group. Gartner’s Alexander Linden is speaking on long-term trends in technology leading to the “smart Internet.” Innovations such as Web-enabled mobile devices which grew out of the big tech boom of the 1990s will […]

According to voters polled in a recent survey by Mail Frontier, 21% of those surveyed admitted that if they got an anti-Bush or anti-Kerry spam, it would influence their vote in Tuesday’s presidential election.

A new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project shows that Internet users have greater overall exposure to political arguments, including those that challenge their candidate preferences and their positions on key issues such as the war in Iraq, free trade, and gay marriage. The Political Information Report is based on the findings […]

Gambling mecca Las Vegas is a popular setting for US TV series this year. In the original CSI, Dr. Vegas, or Las Vegas (the show and the city), most bets pay off within hours at the most. Not so with the prominent people taking part in the innovative Long Bets Foundation where actor […]

If you’re an American Gnomie and you’re reading this, you’re registered to vote, right? Good. Now that that’s settled, do you know where to go on November 2nd to make your selections? Here’s a site that’ll help you determine exactly where you need to go.
As they say at mypollingsite.com:
There are 3,040 counties in the United […]

Campaign promises at election crunch time are always interesting to monitor. As divided as the United States is over the current presidential candidates, it’s important to remember that, sometimes, neither side has an easy answer to the problems our society faces. Take, for example, our dependence on non-renewable sources of energy…
From Factcheck.org:
Both John Kerry and […]

Florida has been plagued with bad luck lately, eh? Continuing with what seems to be an election year tradition for the Sunshine State, it looks like the bumpy ride continues…
From The St. Petersburg Times:
TALLAHASSEE - It’s not enough for new Florida voters to swear an oath that they are U.S. citizens, Secretary of State Glenda […]

Oh, no. Not again!
Via Associated Press:
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - Up to 58,000 absentee ballots may never have reached the Broward County voters who requested them more than two weeks ago, election officials said, and state police are investigating.
Hundreds of people have called the county elections office to complain that they never got their […]

From Freepress.net:
Media giant Pappas Telecasting, with TV and radio stations across the nation, will give $325,000 worth of air time on their stations for GOP candidates in many of California’s tightest elections. This is first time we know of that a media giant has given away airtime for partisan ads.
Pappas is abusing its access […]

Okay, this particular
little site is probably going to go everywhere pretty quickly, but if you
haven’t seen it yet, please go and check it out.

The idea is to get people to vote. They don’t much care WHO you vote for, just
as long as you get out there on November 2nd and vote.

Social Responsibility combined with […]

In 1995, who said, “I think that very, very large interests are looking at the Internet, not really understanding what it is, but thinking ‘We can make a fortune if we have one of those!’ You know, they want to get in there, it’ll be broadcast television again. But of course that’s not going to […]

Ordinary readers (those who aren’t professional news hounds, online writers, or bloggers-with-purpose) may be unaware of the “deep links” battle raging among low and high profile electronic news purveyors. You can bone up on this controversy with Mark Glaser’s roundup posted on the USC Annenberg Online Journalism Review. It’s no wonder the […]

From The Guardian:
Sinclair Broadcast Group, a conservative-owned chain of television stations which has provoked an uproar by its plans to broadcast incendiary allegations against John Kerry, has sacked its chief political correspondent for speaking out against the decision.
The Washington bureau chief, Jon Lieberman, said he had been dismissed for “telling the truth.” But […]

“The show that leads into me is puppets making prank phone calls.” -Jon Stewart on “Partisan Hackery” at CNN. Watch the video here. Then watch him talk about it on his own show.

In the upcoming United States election, who’s making an informed choice and who’s just punching the ticket in the blind faith that “their” candidate truly represents their best interests? The Votemaster at The Electoral Vote Predictor writes:
Are the voters stupid? It is not considered politically correct to point out that an awful lot of voters […]

Sometimes creepy results come up when I do a vanity search. What? Of course I run a search on my own name, and if you were honest, you’d admit that you do it, too. Who’d have thought it might, just might, some day save your life? John Martinkus, an Australian reporter, […]

From Chris Shumway of Mediaocracy:
In response to recent censorship by Sinclair Broadcasting and the company’s decision to air an explicitly anti-Kerry program without presenting alternative viewpoints, the media reform organization Free Press has launched a “Sinclair Watch” Web site.
The site has a link to the group’s recent report about Sinclair’s long history of journalistic abuses. […]

Download the new beta version of a Google Desktop service to search more current versions of MS e-mail, files, web history, chats, and to view old web pages offline. If you’ve questions, here are some answers. There I learned the reason why I can’t find something right after I put it away […]

Google announces they are going to offer a search service for your hard drive. Human DNA is mapped and more details are discovered every day. The FDA approves implanting a microchip to contain your health records. It’s news, but is it good news?

Last week we looked at BetaVote, an online voting booth for the US presidential race that allows voting by country. Earlier today Wired News’ Louise Witt pointed out that political parties are counting on the votes from online polls to make that minute difference needed in a race that is apparently so evenly matched […]