The question of what’s “fair use” in terms of aggregators indexing and providing lists of stories from newspapers, for example, on their own pages (Google news is good example) is a thorny one, made ever more urgent by news organizations need to grow revenues online more rapidly to offset print declines.  Is Google unfairly profiting [...]

Continue reading about MediaShift examines legal history of Fair Use disputes in news; pre-dates the Web

Ernesto on April 13th, 2009

A bit of humor for all of you who, like me, labor in the trenches in the embattled newspaper industry (a battle well-worth fighting for the sake of local journalism, information, the right-to-know and essentially, democracy), here’s Stephen Colbert’s take on newspapers as he sits down with John Sturm of the NAA. The Colbert Report [...]

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Ernesto on April 12th, 2009

Wishing you all a joyful Easter; I feel immensely grateful today. I couldn’t help but reflect during a beautiful Mass at Ste. Marie Parish today (props to the choir and the magnificent brass section), that in times as challenging as these, where the news of the day each day is filled with financial crisis and [...]

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After we got the kids in bed and the chores done, I sat down last night and knocked out three and a half pages of a screenplay. Why? ScriptFrenzy. Write a 100 page script in a month. Sort of like the National Novel Writing Month (NANOWRIMO) challenge.  My buddy Jay mentioned this to me a [...]

Continue reading about Script Frenzy began yesterday, 3 pages down, 97 to go

Ernesto on March 10th, 2009

I hadn’t planned on seeing much scenery while in Utah. Work took me out here, and I flew in late on a Sunday night and fly out dreadfully early on Friday morning.  My days here are busily occupied in a glass building in an office park in a room with whiteboards on the walls and [...]

Continue reading about Rock Canyon: a bit of Utah scenic wonder

Ernesto on February 28th, 2009

Leafing through old (very old, these days) notebooks from college attests to the fact that I was back then (and occasionally still am) a doodler. Which does not mean I wasn’t paying attention in class. In fact, the secondary task of doodling can demand just enough cognitive function to keep the mind more attentive to [...]

Continue reading about Doodling is good for concentration? Knew it all along…

There were a couple of Catholic-related stories on the tech news pages today (which I was, ironically, reading on my phone while eating lunch), both related to Pope Benedict’s embrace (with important caveats) of new communications and social media tools in his message anticipating the upcoming World Day of Communications.   He praises these tools, saying: [...]

Continue reading about Pope calls new communication tech like social networks a “gift to humanity,” markets brand on YouTube.com

Ernesto on January 1st, 2009

New Year’s Day 2009 Run! Originally uploaded by Ernesto and Kristen Burden Mulling over some resolutions for 2009 during my run today. I came up with a long list of ever more complicated resolutions, many with clauses, appendices and exemptions, some with deeply-nested if-then statements. Embarrassing, I realized as I sat down to type them [...]

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Ernesto on December 20th, 2008

One of the best parts about in-town living is the great neighbors we have.  And though we all get along and really like each other, we don't see them all that often.  Busy lives, different schedules.  But almost every time there's a good snow, you're sure to find neighbors from two or three of the [...]

Continue reading about Hidden social benefits of a snowstorm

I rented a tux for a buddy's wedding a few month's back, and got a coupon for Men's Wearhouse.  So I took the coupon and went 'back-to-school' shopping and bought a new sport coat for work.  It had been quite a few years, and my old ones were starting to look threadbare…Anyhow, I loved the coat, [...]

Continue reading about Men’s Wearhouse: Crazy Good Customer Service Story, With a Cost of Acquisition Business Moral