If you use the facebook app on your iPhone, Blackberry, Android, whatever, then you maybe have noticed the 'Friends Nearby' button. It was quietly unveiled officially today and has already been dubbed the "stalking app" since it could open people up to "potentially awkward or threatening interactions with strangers on the social network who know you're nearby." Why are you friends with them if you think they are going to harm you? Guess that's the difference between real friends and virtual ones. It's honestly not that big of a deal, since you see where your friends are when they get tagged or tagged themselves somewhere in your news feed. So that doesn't really bother me as much, but what I don't like is, over the weekend, facebook changed every user's defualt email to [yourusername]@facebook.com. Seriously, check your profile right now.. I'll wait. I had to check myself to believe it but sure enough, there it was. Their privacy concerns have been well documented, and I'm not really concerned, because well, I just don't care but it seems like a sneaky move. Just like the forced timeline layout.
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Ebooks are killing the publishing industry. The rise of ebook has been slower than say that of streaming television or downloading music, because readers are usually loyal to having the book in their hands. In 2011, ten percent of all book purchases were digital whereas in 2010 30% of all music sales sold digitally. And by the end of this year that could double to almost 20% since even the most loyal book buyers have been switching over. However, the same study found that digital book readers are among the biggest buyers of printed books anyways. Seems like the people who bought a couple of books a year is the audience that has been lost. I know it might put some people out of work, in Canada, British Columbia has had a long history of logging but is it really the worst thing in the world to not kill these huge trees? With declining air quality rate and expanding population couldn't we use the oxygen they produce? Call me a hippy I guess...
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Talk about dad of the year. Or dad of the last thirteen years. Bryan Martin is the father of a high school senior named Brenna and for the last thirteen years has been collecting stories, praises and signatures in a copy of Dr. Seuss' "Oh, the Places You'll Go" from every teacher she has had from kindergarden all the way until this year. How he kept it hidden all this time is possibly the most impressive part, but also, that's brilliant. Like, who thinks of that? Brenna called the gift "moving, touching, nostalgic, and thoughtful," posted a link online, and posted it on her Reddit account (I don't know what that is). Her dad did know what Reddit was and commented on the post saying, "I cannot believe Brenna posted this... she has always been the light of my life. Doing this was just a small way of letting her know." Doesn't that just make you all misty?
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Remember that Simpsons where Homer's arms gets stuck in the vending machines, but he's not really stuck, he just didn't let go of the soda can and treats. I like that episode. Anyways, some moron in California got his arm stuck up a pop machine, not doubt trying to beat the San Diego heat with a Fresca. Unlike Homer, he was genuinely stuck, and struggled to get loose, scraping and bruising up his arm before he was busted by a rider on the nearby San Diego trolley system who phoned in the police. They tried to get him loose using axes, a crowbar and and an air chisel with minimal success. Eventually he was freed when a rotary saw had to cut through the machine's locking system. No charges have been layed yet, petty theft has been mentioned, but NBC San Diego said that the kid never actually got the soda he didn't really steal anything. Air tight, NBC, air tight.
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| Rayce Veitch, Rudy Olsson, Stu Miller, Zach Giannotti |
A shoutout to the boys in Crimes In Paris. Great friends, great guys to work with (or party with) and one hell of a band. They formed in Muskoka when they were all in high school and dropped their first record, "Modern Ghost Stories" in 2010, and are currently recording their sophomore album "Corrupt the Kids" at Metal Works in Toronto. You can check out their debut record, track by track, at www.crimesinparis.com, along with the video for the song "Running Ink." If you enjoy great music, soaring melodies, and more pop sensibility than most bands this young, give them a listen. A young band of veterans, look out for "Corrupt the Kids."
Crimes In Paris cover Don McLean's "Vincent":
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| Cool, Armstrong, Dirnt |
Green Day has not one but three albums slated for release in the next seven months. The band were jamming together at their space in Oakland, and apparently the songs kept pouring out and it had outgrown a single and double album, so the result, is three albums titled "Uno," "Dos," and "Tre," will be released 2 months apart from each other this winter on Warner Records. The album will apparently be lighter in tone than the last two albums, with the last one "21st Century Breakdown" reaching the point of super-serious. Green Day's continually evolving sound (or evolving since 97's "Nimrod" - before that the albums sounded pretty similar) is described by frontman and main songwriter Billie Joe Armstrong as "power pop - somewhere between ACDC and early Beatles." An indepth story with Green Day members Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt, drummer Tre Cool and producer Rob Cavallo on the making of the records will be the cover story of the new issue of the Rolling Stone hitting stores this Friday.
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| Youk as a White Sox tonight |
It's been a rough go the last while for the Boston Red Sox. They had the epic collapse last September, beer drinking during the game and in the clubhouse for starting pitchers, their two time World Series winning manager Terry Francona left, or was let go, depending on which reports you read, and the builder of the two World Series championships, president Theo Epstein fled to the Cubs. And now, Kevin Youkilis has been traded to the Chicago White Sox for a utility outfielder and a minor league pitcher. Will Middlebrooks has been doing a great job at third base this season after given a chance to start regularily while Youk was injured. Youkilis has been having a tough season, at least by his standards, with his average about 60 points lower than his career mark. Middlebrooks, on the other had, has been having a very Youkilis type season offensively, hit at a .325 clip with 9 homers and 34 RBI. David Ortiz is the sole Red Sox who was a member of the 2004 championship squad and along with Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury, are the only holdovers from the 2007 Series title. The Red Sox currently sit 5.5 games out of first entering Monday nights play. Good luck to Youk too, White Sox have a good team this year and he can only help.
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| James VanRiemsdyk |
The Toronto Maple Leafs are doing what they can given the high prices of acquiring talent out there. They have shipped off defenceman Luke Schenn to the Philadelphia Flyers for power forward James VanRiemsdyk after a pretty quiet draft week. While the coveted big centreman is still being looked for, with not much out there free agent wise, there hasn't been much luck. Not to mention the goaltending situation, which the Leafs have made a bit less complicated by shipping the rights to the the "Monster" Jonas Gustavsson to the Winnipeg Jets (who just locked up their starting goalie on a five year deal, meaning if a deal gets done Jonas will be backing up Pavelec), still needs to be resolved but there is little out there, and maybe even less now since Luongo said he wouldn't waive his no trade clause to go for the Leafs, not that we neccesarily wanted him anyways at the term and dollars left on his contract.
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