Some think SDK isn't enough

Not everyone is enthused about Apple's iPhone SDK release.

Tomothy Lee writes for Tech Dirt tech dirt and he suggests the SDK announcement was a huge disappointment due to its "walled garden" model:

- No voip
- No data exchange between apps
- No multitasking (3rd party apps quit when switching to another)
- Apple approval required for apps and can block any
- Chilling affect for casual tinkering (how email/web were developed)

Daylight Saving Time

The notion that extended Daylight Saving Time by several weeks was based in energy savings, but in fact, while lights may have burned fewer hours, there was more gas and electricity expended as a result. DST now starts three weeks earlier and ends one week later.

On a related subject. We know that one day is equal to one rotation of the earth, which is divided into approximately 24 hours. Time is either added or subtracted to or from the atomic clock to make period corrections due to the inaccuracy of that time standard.

What about the year? Are there precisely 365.25 days in one spin around the sun? I doubt it. How long does it take to notice that the sun is not in the same position on January 1 of every year? Are there periodic corrections make in this measurement? I don't know!

Obama: forget VP

After Hillary all but said she'd take Barack as a running mate in the '08, he fires back with a big "not so fast". "Hey, I'm running for President here, not VP!" He's basically saying it's too soon to tell. We should be waiting for the convention, if it comes to that, to ask who gets the ticket's 2nd billing.

Bush: Torture is OK

In a landmark veto, Bush tarnishes American values, insisting that CIA's use of waterboarding and other forms of torture shouldn't be banned by the US Congress. Apparently playing good cop/bad cop and general deception, a couple of the 19 methods allowed, aren't enough for this administration.

Java for iPhone

One of the top ten annoyances with the iPhone will move down the list if Sun's plan is even moderately successful and they're indeed able to construct a decent Java platform for Apple's wireless handset.

Deep Blue Something - Breakfast At Tiffany's

Click to Play

Deep Blue Something set to play at People's Court in Des Moines tonight, but first they hit Capital 106.3's Studio C and play a couple familiar songs.  This one's Breakfast At Tiffany's, which got a lot of local airplay following its '96 release.  It hit #1 in the UK and #5 on this side of the pond.

Spam Blog?

I'm not sure how they decide this at Google, but they tell me this "...blog has characteristics of a spam blog..."

Interesting. The company also told me my adsense account could hurt their advertisers -- without divulging why they think that.

Romney update

Considering Gov. Romney bowed out of the Presidential race and I don't have the resources to take the fight to an out-of-state Federal Court, I let this go and I have been informed that the video
has been restored to the Governor's YouTube account.

Free Advertising

It's possible to get advertising that doesn't require a cash buy. Not that it's completely free, but more so than the "buy one get one free" and "after mail-in rebate" offers.

Many of the local half price deal offers put on by radio and TV stations allow you to exchange marketing for gift certificates. If you can afford to issue a few thousand in high-interest product, you can get some airtime without jumping through the traditional billing hoops.

But use caution here. Inasmuch as nothing's really free, this can be costly to you and your core customer base if such as offer would stretch your resources -- or you don't have the ability to perform as promised.

Romney-Mickelson video pulled from YouTube

click here to download

On August 2, 2007, Gov. Romney did a radio interview at the WHO Radio studio in Des Moines. I videotaped the 20 minute visit and made it available to the station for its web site.

A few hours later, Romney spokesman Tim Albrecht (Iowa communications director for the campaign) called me and insisted that the video be taken down immediately. His reasoning? At a point during a commercial break on the radio, the host uttered, "While we're off the air". Albrecht suggested what followed should have been treated as off-the-record and therefore the camcorder shouldn't have been recording or that portion shouldn't have been used.

Hardly off the record

The control room had men standing three abreast, plus the producer sitting at a console, who could all hear the off-air exchange. In the studio with the governor was at least two people with the campaign, plus the host and myself, again, listening to the conversation. No reasonable person could expect the governor's comments to be private in those circumstances.

Nevertheless, station management ordered the video pulled while it considered the matter. But before that meeting ever happened, I suspect Romney campaign staffers downloaded it and posted it on their own YouTube area (under the profile of "GovMittRomney"). I didn't give it to them and I controlled the only copies.

Not long after today's phone conversation with Ms. Biber, the campaign faxed a counter-claim to YouTube, who in turn forwarded it to me. In it, they claimed , "...the material was removed or disabled [from YouTube] as a result of a mistake or misidentification of the material..." That statement substantially contrasts the conversation I had with Ms. Biber. I assured her the video was mine, that I shot it using my personal camcorder, using my tape.

How did the Romney campaign get the video?

What Biber didn't say may be telling. She didn't claim that the campaign owned the video and had the right to use it for their purposes, nor that they know who the rightful owner is, nor did she claim they sought and received permission to use it for their purposes.

So if the poster knows he doesn't own the video, why would he have the need to challenge ownership? He'd never have used it. How did the campaign come by the video in the first place? Why would they state for the record that my claim is based on a mistake when there are a number of first-hand witnesses to the facts involving the video? It seems reasonable that if the case were to be challenged in court, the campaign would lose. And what would forcing a court fight against a private citizen do to governor's bid for presidency? Wouldn't it make the governor look like a bully? The public might wonder why the governor would steal people's property?

But would they even have to win in court? The simple act of submitting a counter-claim may have a chilling affect on the original claim, so perhaps it's a safe bet that a private citizen from Iowa wouldn't have the resources to fight it in a federal court in Massachusetts. Biber did mention this as a probability.

In my opinion, forcing that kind of an action under these circumstances is a misuse of the courts. The campaign knows it doesn't own the video, so it's morally inept to challenge the original claim.

Chris Bernheisel - photos

Click to Play

Chris Bernheisel of Fremont, Nebraska entering the Ultimate Carrie Underwood Fan / American Idol contest. This version includes photos he submitted with his entry. Courtesy of kiss1075.com (Kiss 107 FM), Des Moines, Iowa.