It's a Celebration! (Kind of)

I had designs on putting together an aggregated history of the DL on this momentous occasion of my angry defection from myspace its first birthday (even though this is a rather nondescript 191st post), but that's just not going to happen. This week has included pitching a story of a multi-vendor latency/features test of a 48-port 10-Gigabit Ethernet switch that scales to offer data center architects the density necessary to enable cloud computing. Apparently, the pitch went over so well with one pub that it decided to break my embargo. (The full announcement doesn't go until Monday.)

Now, in this gent's defense, this is not exactly his area, and it was a mistake that he pulled quickly. But as my gchat status said, when the morning starts at 6-something with a broken embargo, it does not bode well. Small victories by getting a major analyst firm to agree to stop by the Fulcrum booth next week at SC09, but other than that, the day was rough.

On the way home I called Ganser, with whom I have been playing phone tag, and found out that there is some crazy all-you-can-eat deal on Thursday nights at Acapulco. So, I met him over there crushed some ridiculous amount of Mexican food, rolled back to see his new place and have a beer. This now brings me to this minute...in which I am trying to write a blog post but have pretty much zero motivation to do so.

So...happy birthday, DL from DL. Congrats on one year and 191 (mostly inane) posts about sports, work, tech, friends, family, fortune cookies, songs, articles, rants, raves and just general stupidity. It's been real, and...let's not kid ourselves. We'll be right back here tomorrow.

Article of the Day - Dear Cisco...

...Bite me us.

Love,

HP (and 3Com)

--
HP to Acquire 3Com for $2.7 Billion

Will create networking industry powerhouse with a proven, edge-to-data center set of solutions and global reach

HP and 3Com Corporation (NASDAQ: COMS) (“3Com”) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which HP will purchase 3Com, a leading provider of networking switching, routing and security solutions, at a price of $7.90 per share in cash or an enterprise value of approximately $2.7 billion. The terms of the transaction have been approved by the HP and 3Com boards of directors.

Read full release...

Article of the Day - The Dogpile Continues...

Since I'm just dogpiling on conservative media anyway...

NEW YORK POST LAWSUIT: Shocking Allegations Made By Fired Employee Sandra Guzman

The New York Post editor fired after speaking out against a cartoon depicting the author of the president's stimulus package as a dead chimpanzee has sued the paper. And as part of her complaint, Sandra Guzman levels some remarkable, embarrassing, and potentially damaging allegations.

Guzman has filed a complaint against News Corporation, the New York Post and the paper's editor in chief Col Allan in the Southern District Court of New York, alleging harassment as well as "unlawful employment practices and retaliation."

Read full article...

Perspective I Gained Today

I learned something today. There is no constitutional amendment mandating that a news outlet be credible. Truth. It is not against the First Amendment to suck at your job--even if you claim to be a news outlet.

It's been well-documented that the advent of social media and advancement of all forms of other technology have driven a vast change in the way people get their information. How do you filter out the commentary from the news? Frighteningly, most people don't.

Shocking as it may be, at the center of this controversy is Fox conservative propaganda passed off as factual News, which is attempting to block Google from using "news" content from its companies. While part of me is inclined to argue, "Who cares? They're not credible anyway," the fact of the matter is that we all should.

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a leftist-leaning, First Amendment as a shield and a sword journalism guy. I love the free exchange of information afforded me by the Constitution. Per the (then) groundbreaking decision in Near v. Minnesota, it is in violation of said First Amendment to stop people from saying something before they've said it. This is known as prior restraint. It's a no no. Has been since 1931.

What am I missing? How does this business about Murdoch trying to block Google spiders from picking up information and disseminating through the same channels as...oh I dunno...everything else on the Internet not violate this Supreme Court decision?

Furthermore, in what context is this even smart? Google has kind of become the ubiquitous search engine, and when people want to find something, it's where they go. Microsoft and Yahoo couldn't compete, so they combined to produce Bing...and got to about 26% market share. (They're still separated out in the graphic as the rollout is still in process, but I combined the numbers.)

As I reread the article, I suppose it never does specify that this is taking place in the US, but it's the Internet. It's ubiquitous and omnipresent. I just fail to see how this works or in what context this is a good idea. Sell ads like everyone else on the Internet. You have a ready-made market segment just by virtue of your content.

Oh, and since you're in Australia, if you get an iPhone and jailbreak it, you may end up with wallpaper that's never gonna give you up and never gonna let you down.

Article of the Day (again) - Cloud Computing in Plain English

A trip into the secret, online 'cloud'

By John D. Sutter, CNN

November 4, 2009 1:00 p.m. EST

San Jose, California (CNN) -- One day, while uploading yet another text file to the Google Docs Web site, I started to wonder: When I save this file online, where does it actually go?

I store tons of information on the Internet instead of just on my laptop or work computer. Often, I do this specifically so I can access information from both places, or from my mobile phone if I need it on-the-go.

Without realizing it, I'd started cloud computing, that nebulous term that refers to the idea that computing power is moving off home PCs and laptops and onto the Web.

Read full article on CNN.com

This is a pretty good overview for non-geeks...solid vid embedded as well.

Article(s) of the Day - PRSA Quality Time

Just noticed that these hit the Interweb in the last couple days/weeks. Good times!

Saturday Shift: PRSA Quality Time Event
What do supporting underprivileged children in Mexico, giving up a year of one’s youth to serve the community, helping others battle through addiction and saving the arts in the face of education budget cuts and stiff competition have in common?

On one sunny Saturday in October, the answer was the Public Relations Society of America—specifically PRSA’s “Quality Time with PR Minds” event.

Read full post on DJA Blog...

What'd you do this weekend?
Guest blog post from PRSA-LA YP member Dale Legaspi:

It’s a common question asked on Mondays in offices everywhere. A few weeks ago, though, my answer was an enthusiastic “work!” The quotes are certainly apropos, though, as I “worked” at PRSA’s Quality Time with PR Minds event, which was certainly nothing that resembled the weekday norm. I could not be happier with my decision to participate, and I wasn’t alone.

Read full post on Next Generation blog...

Photo of the Day

Halloween. Brothers and Barley (even though he looked away from the camera)


And, yes, I did flag Tania for dressing that poor defenseless animal in a costume. Repeatedly.