Hit the Buzzer

TerreStar May File Bankruptcy

2010-10-18T11:28:00.000-07:00

AT&T partner TerreStar may be on the verge of filing bankruptcy. The Virginia-based firm had released an announcement four days ago stating that the FCC had given them the go ahead to use the same wireless frequencies that it uses for both it's satellites and its commercial devices on land, according to SpaceNews.com.

This had followed some hand-wringing from the company that had feared a 'catastrophe' if their request did not go through. Two days later, Wall Street Journal reported that TerreStar was considering bankruptcy despite their approval from the FCC. As Engadget pointed out this afternoon, TerreStar had just released their Genus satellite phone last month.

I Spit on Your Grave 2010 Review

2010-10-14T08:45:00.000-07:00

Love it or hate it, there is no doubt that Sarah Butler and I Spit on Your Grave 2010 will be a major office cooler topic for months to come. The film is a remake of the original I Spit on Your Grave that was released in 1978 starring Camille Keaton as she avenges herself of the four men who raped her in classic over-the-top 70s slasher style. If nothing else, I Spit on Your Grave 2010 shows just how much has changed in the world of formulaic slashers in the recent years thanks to brutal films filmed by directors like Eli Roth and James Wan.

For those whose panties are all in a bunch over the graphic depictions of rape and murder in this film, take it down a notch. I Spit on Your Grave 2010 is unrated, meaning it is unlikely that the family is going to accidentally stumble into the theater after Sunday mass. There has always been a subgenre of film that zooms in on the gruesome details of violence; modern filmmakers just have better equipment and a more hardened audience in 2010.

Ashley Anderson email virus

2010-10-13T15:04:00.000-07:00

According to a developing story in the computer security community, a new virus is making the rounds online in the form of an email message sent from Ashley Anderson. The email contains a message in which a person by this name encourages you to click on an embedded link to wedding pictures or some other material.

Clicking on this link may result in a malicious virus being introduced to your computer. As of this moment, the precise identity of this virus has yet to be reported. Be sure to delete any emails from this sender without opening the message or clicking on a link.

Friendly's Ultimate Grilled Cheese BurgerMelt

2010-10-09T14:19:00.000-07:00

Tired of news headlines lamenting the impending foot amputations of the next generation's blubbering sacks of asthma, heart disease and diabetes? Friendly's invites you to take your war-torn conscience and metabolism out of their misery with the shotgun blast of meat, cheese and grease that is the Ultimate Grilled Cheese BurgerMelt.

Grilled cheese hamburger buns: When fried chicken buns just will not do.

Some numbers via Friendly's website include 1500 calories, 79 grams of total fat, 2090mg sodium and 180g of cholesterol.

They might even let you substitute the lettuce with bacon if you ask nicely enough.

Campbell to Retire Iconic Soup Labels in Favor of "Neuromarketing"

2010-02-20T12:34:00.000-08:00

Campbell's announced this week that it has made the decision to dramatically overhaul their iconic soup label design in favor of embracing an emerging trend in advertising design that manipulates the involuntary physiological responses of consumers. The famous red labels of Campbell's soup cans remained largely unchanged throughout much of the 20th century and became a global icon through Andy Warhol's use of the can label designs in a series of paintings. While it is fairly clear that Warhol's work was not exactly intended to be a ringing endorsement of the company, it nevertheless solidified Campell's soup cans as one of the quintessential product of American consumerism.

Despite the fact that polls show consumers are clearly in favor of keeping the iconic label designs, Campbell's has chosen to trade in whatever advertising value the nostalgic red labels held for consumers for a decidedly 21st century approach to advertising. While earlier forms of consumer manipulation exploited psychological buttons in the minds of customers such as using red and yellow color schemes to excite customers, Campbell's new label's take advantage of "neuromarketing" techniques that cause an actual physiological change in the human body. Following a two year study that measured subtle changes in pupil dilation, breath, heart rate and skin moisture of customers while they shopped for soup (the same involuntary indicators measured by lie detectors. BTW), Campbell's believes that they have cracked the code to make consumer's hearts go a flutter over a can of cream of mushroom.

Full story including pic of the new labels via Fast Company: http://www.fastcompany.com/1554158/waiter-theres-pseudo-science-in-my-soup

Rumors Swirling of Google Super Bowl Ad

2010-02-07T08:39:00.000-08:00

Beginning late Saturday, rumors began surfacing of a possible Super Bowl commercial for Google during today's game. Google, who has a history of avoiding mainstream modes of marketing, has begun reaching out changing its tune as it struggles to promote its new Chrome web browser and keep ahead of the curve against Microsoft's Bing search engine. Google CEO Eric Schmidt seemed to verify the rumor from his Twitter account last night:

"Can't wait to watch the Super Bowl tomorrow. Be sure to watch the ads in the 3rd quarter (someone said 'Hell has indeed frozen over')."

Mysterious and mysteriouser, the cryptic tweet could mean just about anything, but the tech blogs are taking this as confirmation of rumors of a Google Super Bowl ad that seemed to have originated with Federated Media Publishing's John Battelle.

If the rumors are true, it remains to be seen just which one of Google's many services will be promoted in the Google Super Bowl ad. Some speculations include a possible installment of Google's "search stories" ads or promotion for the Nexus One smartphone.

UFC 109: Randy Couture Chokes Coleman for the Title

2010-02-07T00:10:00.000-08:00

49 year-old UFC hall of fame fighter Randy "The Natural" Couture ended the main event of UFC just into the second round of their light-heavyweight tonight with a rear-naked choke hold that rendered Mark "The Hammer" Coleman unconscious. Couture, who was one of the Ultimate Fighting Championship's most well known fighters at the turn of century, has not had a single submission win since the summer of 2005.

MMA insiders and fans alike expected most of the fight to take place off the floor, as both Couture and Coleman are fighters who like to stay on their feet. Coleman, 45, was rated as a slight underdog with sports bookies due to Couture's experience with boxing skills. The first round of the fight went even worse than expected for Coleman, with Couture dominating him in the ring and getting in a number of punches until he had Coleman against the cage and delivered the pain until the end of the round. In round two, Couture took Coleman to the mat and soon brought the match to a close with a choke.

Sarah Palin to Deliver Keynote Speech

2010-02-06T15:32:00.000-08:00

Of all of the speakers at the first Tea Party convention, it is unlikely that any will garner us much mainstream media attention. Sarah Palin is scheduled to deliver the keynote speech of the convention Saturday night to a crowd that is sure to adore just about anything that comes out of her mouth, as her appeal to fly-over-state indignation seems to know no bounds. While much of the mainstream media, news commentators and general public seems seriously befuddle by Sarah Palin's continued appeal to a certain segment of the population every since she was nominated to the GOP Vice Presidential ticket in 2008, there is no arguing is no getting around the fact that there are people out there who want to hear what she has to say. As far as having a clue as to what she just said, that's another story.

Other than self-righteous indignation and a call to "take this country back," few outside of the Tea Party have a clear understanding of what exactly it is that the movement wants other than furthering the partisan divide to the point of caricature. As such, Palin seems to be the ideal representative of the Tea Party movement. To Tea Partiers, she seems to represent a much needed voice to a public that must feel left behind by a society that is, well, trying to leave the behind. To the rest of us, Palin's rhetoric seems to contain neither form nor content, much like the Tea Party movement itself.

Mass Retailer Exodus of Detroit, Michigan?

2009-06-18T16:46:00.000-07:00

It's no secret that motor city has fallen on hard times, but it appears that the next shoe is dropping hard for the beleaguered city as major retailers are packing up and leaving Detroit, Michigan in droves. According to the Wall Street Journal, the last Borders in the city has finally closed its doors and there only four remaining Starbucks outlets in the entire city of Detroit.

The city's unemployment rate is well over 20%, with nearly a third of the city's citizens relying on a state sponsored food program.

Full Story:

Wall Street Journal

Today's Buzz - North Korea, Carrie Prefean and Holocaust Museum Shooting

2009-06-10T13:45:00.000-07:00

North Korea Keeps Pushing It, International Sanctions

Following the sentencing of the two US journalists by North Korea and concrete threats against South Korean ships nearing North Korean coastline, the international community has finally stepped up sanctions against the rogue nation, part of a long line of attempts to settle the North Korean nuclear threat diplomatically. Dear Leader's appointment of his apparent heir is yet another cause of instability in the region. Full Story

Carrie Pretean Fired from Miss California

Carrie Pretean, the center of the much hyped media storm over some controversial comments, has officially lost her crown as Miss California. The questionable decision will no doubt thrust her back into the talk radio spotlight for the conservative media desperately seeking representatives less polarizing than figures like Cheney and Limbaugh. Here we go again... Full Story

Shooting at Holocaust Museum

An elderly white supremacist opened fire on visitors to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC today, killing a security guard and wounding others. The gunman, James W. von Brunn, had a reputation for being a conspiracy theorist and having issues with the federal government. Full Story

North Korea Bans Ships off Coast, Sentences Journalists to 12 Years

2009-06-08T06:21:00.000-07:00

Following last weeks hostile weapons test, North Korea has continued to defy global standards for peace and common decency.

Two American journalists have been sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for illegally entering the country, which the state-run media of North Korea refers to as a "grave crime." The journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, have been held since their arrest some three months ago and will be transferred to their prison within the next 10 days. Ling's sister, Lisa Ling, is known for her television journalism on the National Geographic's Explorer program. Although a handful of NGO's are exercising every possible route to secure the journalists release or a less sever sentence, North Korea does not have a court of appeals and the United States does not have diplomatic relations with the country's government.

According to Dongguk University's professor Kim Yong-hyun's statements to the Mercury News, it is likely that both of the journalists will eventually be released due to diplomatic pressures.

Further exacerbating tensions, the North Korean government has ordered all fishing and shipping vessels to avoid their coastline, a sign that suggests that they plan on testing further missiles some time in the near future.

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12544711?source=rss

Journalist Roxana Saberi Continues Hunger Strike

2009-04-25T12:16:00.000-07:00

Roxana Saberi is now on the fifth day of her hunger strike, according to her American-Iranian father. Saberi is a journalist who had been working for quite some time in Iran when she was arrested by the Iranian government for working without press credential, but this charge was later elevated to espionage. Although she was sentanced to eight years in prison, the sentence has become a major source of contention between the United States and Iran, and her family's lawyer has stated that he is optimistic that the sentence will be overturned or greatly reduced. She plans to continue her hunger strike until freedom.

Swine Flu Symptoms

2009-04-25T06:19:00.000-07:00

The Swine Flu outbreak in Mexico that has been making headlines the past couple of days has given the media cause to start up the perenial pandemic flu fear mongering again. Although it seems that every year we are all supposed to freak out due to a new bug that kills a small number of people and brings out flu like symptoms in a handful more, Swine Flu, along with Avian Flu, West Nile Virus, and all the rest, represent a real threat if they mutate and spread, so being aware of the symptoms of Swine Flu certainly can't hurt.

Swine Flu Symptoms include:

*Feever
*Nausea
*Diarreha
*Feeling Weak
*Vomiting
*Runny Nose
*Sore Throat

Yep, symptoms about as pleasant as the name Swine Flu itself.

Gospel Singer Timothy Wright Deceased

2009-04-24T07:23:00.000-07:00

Gospel singer Reverend Timothy Wright died yesterday at the age of 61 due to complications of injuries that he sustained during a three car accident in New York City last year. The lives of both his wife and his grandson were claimed by the accident, and Rev. Wright had been surviving with the aid of a respirator since that time. Reverend Timothy Wright's career spanned over four decades of gospel ministry and he was once nominated for Grammy award.

Veterinary Pharmacy Mistake Kills 21 Horses in Olca, Florida

2009-04-23T13:58:00.000-07:00

Franck's Pharmacy in Ocola, Florida appears to have made a mistake in a pharmacy order that killed 21 champion polo horses over the weekend, according to the Associated Press. The horses were scheduled to play in a championship match, but a mistake was made at Franck's pharmacy that delivered an innapropriate dosage of an unreported ingredient. According to a report at Fox News, the pharmacy is cooperating with an investigation being conducted by the FDA.