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Facebook, MySpace: A race/class divide?

Speeches, like plays, are sometimes more interesting to read rather than see live.

So I have spent some time staring at the words of a speech recently given by Danah Boyd, from the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet and Society, titled "The Not-So-Hidden Politics of Class Online."

In the speech, given to the Personal Democracy Forum, Boyd picked up utopian views of technology, pinned them against a wall and asked them for a little more than their name and rank.

"For decades," she said, "we've assumed that inequality in relation to technology has everything … Read more

The worst of Craigslist

If anyone were to give you a horse, would you peer all the way past its teeth to check for, I don't know, human heads?

I only ask because a site called ItemNotAsDescribed.com (tagline: Free is a Four-Letter Word) has dedicated itself to examining some of the free offers on Craigslist. Specifically, the site exists to expose the worst of the free in the Land of the Free.

For example, from Tucson's Craigslist come some book shelves, which have seen better days but clearly can't remember them. The ad for the shelves declares: "in the … Read more

Psst! Wanna buy some Twitter followers?

Do you suffer from tweeting envy?

In all likelihood, someone you know is being followed by far more people than you have mustered. Someone you know has more followers than followed. And someone you know is laughing at your dreadful Twitter stats.

Are you scared that this says something negative about you? Well, now you can pin your fears up against a wall and say "boo!" because the enterprising souls at uSocial.net want to help you be touched by thousands of people out there.

Yes, you have to pay uSocial some money. But in this world, money … Read more

Craigslist, eBay fighting Michael Jackson scalpers

Humanity knows no depths.

On Monday, Craigslist and other sites were adorned with many of those lucky to have won tickets to Tuesday's Michael Jackson memorial service celebrating their good fortune--by trying to sell the free tickets.

On Craigslist's LA site the bereaved are brazenly asking buyers to take away the burden of their pain. One, for example, wanted $2,000 for two tickets. His posting, however, has been flagged for removal.

As, it appears, have most, if not all related postings on Craigslist and eBay.

Naturally, many of these posters knew this might happen, so, in a … Read more

Microsoft chucks vomit ad

Update at 8:50 a.m. PDT: The video has now disappeared from the ad agency's site as well.

Earlier this week, we were all rather intrigued by the appearance of a Microsoft ad, in which a wife borrows her husband's laptop and suffers a technicolor nightmare when she espies a site that he has been, um, enjoying.

By Wednesday night, however, Microsoft had second thoughts about the pulling power of puke.

The ad has been pulled from the IE8videos channel on YouTube. It's also has been removed from the BrowsefortheBetter.com site, which is part of … Read more

Microsoft resorts to vomit to market IE 8

Editor's note at 10:25 p.m. PDT: Since this blog was published, the video has been removed from the hosting pages. But this copy of the video remains on YouTube.

I know a girl who gets somewhat uptight when she's in the passenger seat of a car going any more than 70 mph. However, put her on some insane roller coaster, and she's just fine.

The driving dangers are real, you see. Whereas the roller-coaster ride just feels wonderfully stomach-turning.

And so it is with this charming new online ad for Internet Explorer 8 from Microsoft. … Read more

Do URLs matter anymore?

A little while ago, I was working with a client who wanted to change his very large company's brand name.

His greatest concern was that the new name should make for a simple URL.

I wondered whether it wasn't more important that the brand name should be memorable. Isn't that where it all starts? And ends?

I was reminded of this conversation Tuesday when I arrived in Austin, Texas. By chance and a glass of viognier, I encountered a photographer who wanted her work to enjoy a wider audience. She gave me her card, headlined by her … Read more

Report: Microsoft to cut Razorfish loose

Microsoft is putting Internet ad agency Razorfish up for sale, according to a Financial Times report Sunday.

Microsoft, which acquired Razorfish in 2007 as part of its $6 billion takeover of Aquantive, has reportedly hired Morgan Stanley to find a potential buyer. The report identified French marketing company Publicis Groupe as a potential buyer.

Formerly known as Avenue A/Razorfish, the agency was credited with designing the logo for Microsoft's new search engine Bing, as well as creating the online ads for the ensuing publicity campaign. The Seattle-based agency has more than 2,000 employees and counts Dell, Disney, … Read more

Buy-buy Michael Jackson

In death, there is retail life.

Michael Jackson was an icon, so, somewhere along the way, there will be those who will want to capitalize on his passing.

Drifting through eBay's pages, one sees that many who seem to be bowing their heads in respect may actually be stooping to fairly venal lows.

Take the staggering swiftness of enterprising seller JanisK56, who put a lovely item of memorabilia up for sale Thursday, just before it was confirmed by TMZ that Jackson was no more.

This seller offered, as a one-day special, a 2003 People magazine cover featuring the singer. … Read more

Craigslist ad smokes alleged pot deal

It's time for a test. Is there anyone out there who is not familiar with the term "420"?

For those who may have been on a secret government mission to confirm Pluto's existence, legend has it, or at least one of the legends, that referring to pot as "420" started in San Rafael, Calif., where a group of schoolkids met to puff after school ended--which was 4:20 p.m.

Anyway, there seems to be a man in Quincy, Mass., who may not have thought that the police might be familiar with the term.… Read more