Ziggyzong

Apparently, companies can now pay to have their brands mentioned in song lyrics. I suppose it makes sense on the one hand, given that music artists often use brand names in their lyrics. But as the article points out, no one is required to say which words are part of an advertisement in the song. I can sort of picture a scenario where you have 24 hour music going on the radio, but it all sounds the same. The real songs blend into the commercial jingles because everything has product placement.

I finally saw a Sony Reader in person the other day on the New York subway. It looked pretty cool, but ultimately like an overgrown blackberry/iphone etc. It's not a screen I'd really want to read books on.
Plastic Logic's new reader, however, looks incredible. Someone's finally realising that if you're going to make a digital book reader, it has to be a device people might actually want to use. I could actually see using this thing, assuming they figure out how to make it fold down so it fits in my pocket. But I expect they will get there.

This is fabulous so I had to post. Someone has created the Simpson's intro sequence entirely in Lego. I don't know what it is about Lego that is so cool. They make entire video games using Lego style--Batman, Indiana Jones--and people love them. Maybe a lot of us are just retro-babies at heart and like our new technology to still be familiar and have that old school feel. I do wonder if kids under 20 appreciate it though...

When a 60 year old man told him to stop urinating in public, a man decided to go get his sword. How is that anyone's first thought? "You pissed me off. Now i'm going to slice you with my sword."
More importantly, who has a sword lying around at home? What century are we in? I suppose it's safer than if the man had brought back his gun. That would have had a very different outcome.

Universal Mccann has posted a presentation of the results of its research on social media. It defines social media as

 online applications, platforms and media which aim to faciliatate interaction, collaboration and the sharing of content.

 It's a good presentation with a lot of interesting info.

Kidnapping your virtual ex-lover is definitely wrong. And going to such great lengths to do it doesn't help the case. After failing at her first attempt, the woman brought her dog for the second attempt. When she couldn't get her man, she duct-taped her dog. Poor dog.
I'm not sure what to make of this. There's a part of me that says that if she were a man, it would be more scary and less comical. But then, I haven't seen or read Misery, aside from this wikipedia entry.