‘The Path to 9/11′ open thread

Did you watch the first installment of ABC’s controversial 9/11 miniseries, The Path to 9/11? If so, tell us what you thought in comments below.

Microsoft’s user video site launching soon

LiveSide has details of MSN Soapbox, Microsoft’s upcoming user-created video product that’s currently in internal beta. Much like many of the other user video sites out there, Soapbox allows users to embed videos on their own blogs. One nifty feature is the ability to watch video while browsing for other clips. And it will integrate, of course, with MSN Video. Soapbox is expected to move into public beta “in the next few weeks,” so stay tuned. Screen shot, courtesy of LiveSide…

10 comments September 10th, 2006

Blackberry thumb now official

The American Physical Therapy Association has added Blackberry thumb to its list of workplace maladies. Well, that’s a relief. Here’s a few of their recommendations:

Want views? Put your bloopers online

I love that KUTV does this. A regular stop of mine has been the Salt Lake City CBS affil’s blooper video page. They have assembled the reels we all keep for private viewings and Christmas parties and have put them online. You can watch them on the page and even download them for your iPod. You already have the content. It’s a good way to show the community you don’t take yourself too seriously. It’s also a good way to get a lot more video views than you will on a typical fire or shooting story.

5 comments September 10th, 2006

Breaking the silly new airplane travel rules

Terry Heaton’s pot of Carmex got confiscated as he tried to bring it on a plane leaving WKRN’s bloggers conference we attended. Poor guy had to sit for hours in dry air with unmoistened lips. But if Terry had simply purchased Carmex (well-known for its addictive properties) in a tube and then put it in his pocket, there wouldn’t have been a problem. I was drinking iced tea as I tried to board my plane. I was told to finish it or pour it out (obviously, I finished it). If I had put it in my bag, I could have “sneaked” it on. And that’s the silliness of these new “no liquids and no gels” travel rules. You can defeat them so easily that they only penalize the people who cooperate. Want to bring liquid on a plane? No problem. Buy water once you pass through the gate and then put it in your carry-on. Ditto toothpaste. And those silly terrorists could easily sneak gels through, simply by bagging them and strapping them to their legs or putting them in their pockets. As far as I know, we don’t pass through gel detectors. Once again - it’s not the security, it’s the appearance of security.

22 comments September 10th, 2006

Lonelygirl15 'creators' admit it’s a hoax

As many suspected, the young YouTube phenomenon known as lonelygirl15 has all been fake, according to an admission posted by “The Creators” just a day after a story revealed a connection to a Hollywood agency. “Thank you so much for enjoying our show so far,” the admission begins. “With your help we believe we are witnessing the birth of a new art form.” The post on the lonelygirl15 forum explains they are filmmakers that “aren’t a big corporation.” As for Bree, the young “homeschooled” girl, the filmmakers would only say this about her identity: “Lonelygirl15 is a reflection of everyone. She is no more real or fictitious than the portions of our personalities that we choose to show (or hide) when we interact with the people around us.” Yeah, ok, thank you. While I admit the whole sordid affair was quite brilliant, the news guy in me doesn’t like the idea of being lied to in the name of art. But I’m sure others will have a different take…

12 comments September 10th, 2006