Shareholders Slam Apple's Environmental Initiatives
“The Apple shareholder meeting on Thursday was a telling example of just how difficult it is for a public company to go green, even if it really wants to.
Apple currently has a much greener reputation than it deserves according to the recent New Scientist study. Consumers rank Apple #3 in sustainability, even though the scientists rank them at #19. Yes, they have made efforts to reduce toxicity in their products and created an e-waste recycling program, but both of these green initiatives came as a response to activist campaigns led by NGO’s like Greenpeace.”
(via Good)
Tuesday, March 2nd 2010 11:04pm
Yahoo Pact Gives Twitter Distribution, Revenue
Nice to see Twitter will finally bring in some revenue! This new partnership seems good for Yahoo, but better for Twitter,
“It’s the latest step in Yahoo’s latest strategy, which is to integrate the world’s most popular social networks into the Yahoo environment rather than try to compete with them. The pact is similar to a deal with Facebook announced in December, allowing users to import their connections and update their status through Yahoo.
The deal will give Twitter a vast new distribution to 600 million Yahoo users, and something else it has found scarce: revenue.”
(via Ad Age)
Wednesday, February 24th 2010 10:10am
“New research from Nielsen reveals what types of entertainment people have paid for online, and what they’re willing to pay for.
People have shown a willingness to pay for music, games and movies, but they’re less thrilled with the idea of paying for news. We can add this to the heap of indicators that the New York Times paywall plan might be a folly.
The bigger picture here though is that the vast majority of people still don’t pay for entertainment like movies, music and news online.”
(via Business Insider)
Saturday, February 20th 2010 12:24am
Yes, the Tiger Woods Confession Is Compelling, but Is It News?
“News, it seems, is less and less about what’s important—and more and more about what’s compelling. So it’s fitting that all the major broadcast networks broke into their regularly scheduled programming to carry what is, in fact, a tabloid story—Tiger Woods’s apology—the day after the Pulitzer Prize Board acknowledged that an actual tabloid, The National Enquirer, was eligible for journalism’s most prestigious award.”
(via Vanity Fair)
Friday, February 19th 2010 1:14pm
The Supreme Court's gift to big business
The Supreme Court is going to make a ruling over whether or not corporations can run ads during political elections. I am strongly against this. At its core, if the Court rules in favor of corporations, it will be conferring the rights of an individual upon a corporation. It sickens me that self-proclaimed Originalists like Scalia or Thomas would dare infer from the Constitution that a corporation is entitled to a right like Freedom of Speech (thus declaring a 1926 law barring corporations from running campaign ads unconstitutional).
The issue is this: corporations already have outsized influence on our legislative process through their lobbies. They have destroyed our healthcare system (through McCarron-Ferguson), our financial system (through Gramm-Leach-Bliley), and blocked any investment in energy for three decades. Why we, as citizens, do not revolt against this, I do not understand. But if corporations can run ads during elections, then whatever tiny shred of integrity left in the legislative process will be long gone. All candidates will be stuck pandering to their corporate puppet masters. We will be McDonald’s Nation.
(via Fortune)
Friday, January 22nd 2010 10:19am
The Wannabe Warhol
Plain weird, but interesting. Read more about Damon Dash’s “hippie art collective” aka “DD172”
“You can spend hours at 172 Duane Street, in Tribeca, and still have no clue what’s going on here…DD is for Damon Dash, the 38–year–old fallen hip-hop impresario who thought it would be cool to start a hippie art collective right smack in the middle of one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Manhattan. It is, in short, the kind of scene you hoped still existed in Manhattan, but feared might have gone away.”
(via The New York Observer)
Wednesday, January 13th 2010 11:30am
I have a feeling my children will look like this.
The Children of Cyberspace: Old Fogies by Their 20s
(via NYT.com)
Tuesday, January 12th 2010 4:18pm
MOCA says Jeffrey Deitch is its new director
and one more reason why LA is the new NY!
(via Flavorpill)
Monday, January 11th 2010 4:18pm
A Clothing Clearance Where More Than Just the Prices Have Been Slashed
This makes me livid. Not only is this process wasteful and irresponsible, but a clear example of a corporation in disorganization. I had higher hopes for H&M, and especially Walmart who has been a leader in sustainability.
“The New York Times is having a hard time these days, and the mainstream media are taking a lot of hits. But you have to admit, there is still a lot of power in those presses. Just yesterday Jim Dwyer wrote A Clothing Clearance Where More Than Just the Prices Have Been Slashed, about how graduate student Cynthia Magnus discovered that piles of clothes from Wal-Mart and H&M were being destroyed and thrown out.”
Monday, January 11th 2010 9:14am
Michael Pollan On The High Cost Of Cheap Food
“Earlier this week, food journalist and author Michael Pollan appeared on the Daily Show to promote his latest book “Food Rules,” a straightforward set of guidelines for helping us navigate the increasingly complex question of “What should you eat?” In discussing the book, Pollan points to the hidden costs of cheap food on both the health of ourselves and the environment. Pollan cites a staggering statistic, noting that the average American receives 20 percent of their annual calories from high fructose corn syrup, a figure that explains the high incidences of preventable diseases such as type II diabetes.”
(via PSFK)
Thursday, January 7th 2010 5:52pm
Coke Announces Global Rollout of Plant-Based Plastic Bottles
A huge move by one of the largest consumer food manufacturers, The Coca-Cola Company unveiled today a new plastic bottle made partially from plants. The “PlantBottle™” is fully recyclable, has a lower reliance on a non-renewable resource, and reduces carbon emissions, compared with petroleum-based PET plastic bottles. The new bottles stand to cut down on carbon emissions by up to 25% compared to traditional PET bottles.
Nearly 1.6 billion servings of Coca-Cola-branded beverages are served each day.
(via Inhabitat.com)
Thursday, November 19th 2009 10:58am
The Carnivore’s Dilemma
“It’s true that food production is an important contributor to climate change. And the claim that meat (especially beef) is closely linked to global warming has received some credible backing, including by the United Nations and University of Chicago. Both institutions have issued reports that have been widely summarized as condemning meat-eating.
But that’s an overly simplistic conclusion to draw from the research… it could be, in fact, that a conscientious meat eater may have a more environmentally friendly diet than your average vegetarian.
None of us, whether we are vegan or omnivore, can entirely avoid foods that play a role in global warming. Singling out meat is misleading and unhelpful, especially since few people are likely to entirely abandon animal-based foods.
Still, there are numerous reasonable ways to reduce our individual contributions to climate change through our food choices. Because it takes more resources to produce meat and dairy than, say, fresh locally grown carrots, it’s sensible to cut back on consumption of animal-based foods. More important, all eaters can lower their global warming contribution by following these simple rules: avoid processed foods and those from industrialized farms; reduce food waste; and buy local and in season.”
(via The New York Times)
Sunday, November 1st 2009 12:21pm
Garbage Island
I give VBS TV a lot of credit for creating this piece. The crew went to the Northern Gyre in the Pacific Ocean, a spot where currents spin and cycle, churning up tons of plastic into a giant pool of chemical soup, flecked with bits and whole chunks of refuse that cannot biodegrade.
Disheartening and absurd. I feel so small when I see video like this because there’s only so many ways for me to help. I would love to see #2 or #3 of Garbage Island to focus on how a citizen can help and change things on a broader scale.
Monday, October 19th 2009 11:46am
Todd S. Purdum on Sarah Palin
Despite her disastrous performance in the 2008 election, Sarah Palin is still the sexiest brand in Republican politics, with a lucrative book contract for her story. But what Alaska’s charismatic governor wants the public to know about herself doesn’t always jibe with reality. As John McCain’s top campaign officials talk more candidly than ever before about the meltdown of his vice-presidential pick, the author tracks the signs—political and personal—that Palin was big trouble, and checks the forecast for her future.
(via Vanity Fair)
Sunday, July 5th 2009 8:35am
video artist 1kilo came up with an interesting take on urban flight from 1900 to the present day. In a striking visual parallel, cities declining in population are denoted by small white explosions. Pay particular attention to the years of World War - chilling stuff.
(via Culture Now)
Friday, June 26th 2009 2:28pm
