URGENT - Spread the Truth About Biofuels

Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), chair of the Senate Energy and Resources Committee, has passed through his committee a bill that would require an annual production of 36 billion gallons of biofuels per year by 2022. This bill is on course to be the backbone of major energy legislation that will come to a vote on the Senate floor in early June.

Tell your senators to overhaul or scrap this bill.

What?!? But aren't biofuels an alternative to fossil fuels -- and part of the answer to energy security? Shouldn't an environmental group like Friends of the Earth be backing such initiatives?

The truth is that biofuels can be a good alternative to oil and coal, and Friends of the Earth is excited about the opportunities offered by the production of some biofuels. But science matters, and science tells us that not all biofuels are created equal.

Sen. Bingaman's bill would mandate production of up to 15 billion gallons of corn ethanol -- equivalent to half the corn currently grown in the entire United States. This is not a clean prospect.

Growing and processing this much corn for fuel would:

• Create over 100 million metric tons of global warming pollution
  
• Lead to the ecologically damaging conversion of millions of acres of land
  
• Increase non-sustainable agriculture, erosion, pesticide use and fertilizer use
  
• Require 60 billion gallons of water
  
• Drive the price of corn through the roof, effectively taking it out of the diet of many of the world's poor (the amount of corn it would take to fill one 25-gallon SUV tank with ethanol could feed a person for a year!)

Perhaps most discouraging, recent reports suggest the burning of corn ethanol generates as much or more pollution as the burning of gasoline.

Senators need to know there are promising biofuel crops out there -- including switchgrass and even algae -- that can be converted to fuel with less intensive use of resources and result in cleaner final products. Like many things, the devil is in the details, and when it comes to biofuels the Senate must pay attention to those details.

Our activists in states with a senator serving on Bingaman's committee weighed in before this bill passed out of committee, and their pressure helped Friends of the Earth staff negotiate some important improvements -- including mandates for a 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gasses for biofuels produced in newly built factories. But this bill is still far too bad to support. Tell both of your senators that Sen. Bingaman's bill, as written, should not be the foundation for major energy legislation.

To find out more about why this legislation is bad, check out our fact sheet.

- Friends of the Earth

Take action here: http://www.FOE.org/biofuels_action

Tasty news from Apple!

We are cheering! Steve Jobs has decided to bring us closer to the greener apple that Mac users all over the world have been asking for.

Today we saw something we've all been waiting for: the words "A Greener Apple" on the front page of Apple's site, with a message from Steve Jobs saying "Today we're changing our policy."

It's not everything we asked for. Apple has declared a phase out of the worst chemicals in its product range, Brominated Fire Retardants (BFRs) and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) by 2008. That beats Dell and other computer manufactures' pledge to phase them out by 2009. Way to go Steve!

But while customers in the US will be able to return their Apple products for recycling knowing that their gear won't end up in the e-waste mountains of Asia and India, Apple isn't making that promise to anyone but customers in the USA. Elsewhere in the world, an Apple product today can still be tomorrow's e-waste. Other manufacturers offer worldwide takeback and recycling. Apple should too!

Apple hasn't gotten an actual green product to market, but no other electronics manufacture has either. That's a race worthy of the wizards of Cupertino.

We've seen the enthusiasm with which Apple fans have greeted our campaign to make Apple a green leader. They've made clear what they want-- an Apple which isn't just skin-deep green, but green to the core. One that creates products free from the most hazardous chemicals, that they can buy and return with a clear conscience, secure in the knowledge that Apple will re-use or recycle them responsibly, and that won't end up in scrapyards or add to the mountains of e-waste that the electronics industry has created.

Apple must begin to address these growing problems to ensure that the workers and children of Asia and many developing nations no longer face the unnecessary environmental and health dangers posed by the high-tech industry's waste.

We look forward to working with the new, greener Apple in future – toward the greening of the entire electronics industry.

And to all the Apple fans who have contributed their thoughts and blogs and creativity to this campaign, reach over your shoulder and pat yourself on the back. Put a happy tune on your ipod and do a happy dance. You've proven you can make a real difference. You convinced one of the world's most cutting edge companies to cut the toxic ingredients out of the products they sell.

Now, let's take it to the next level! An Apple green to the core!

Digg this story Hugg this story!

See the content from Apple fans!

• Check out the great stuff that Apple fans have made to ask Steve for a greener Apple.

Sign up!

• Sign up for the free Greenpeace online activist e-zine. You'll get our newsletter and occasional alerts about ways you and a million people like you all over the world can take action to ensure a green and peaceful future.

ADMINISTRATION -- WHITE HOUSE HAS TROUBLE FILLING SENIOR POSITIONS

"The Bush administration is facing growing difficulties in filling a rising number of high-level vacancies following a recent spate of senior departures. In the last 10 days alone Mr Bush has lost four senior officials and more resignations are expected to follow."

Recent administration officials who have left include J.D. Crouch, deputy head of the national security council; Randall Tobias, who left after it was revealed he used call-girl services; Dinah Habib Powell, the administration's senior-most Arab-American; and Timothy Adams, a top Treasury Department official.

Today, Johnnie Burton of the Interior Department, "who was roundly attacked by Democrats and Republicans in Congress for not aggressively pursuing billions of dollars in royalties from oil and gas companies from their operations in the Gulf," also resigned.

The series of resignations is creating problems for the White House in filling these new vacancies, seen, for example, in the difficulty Bush has had in finding a "war czar" to oversee operations in Iraq, spurring questions as to the popularity of his Iraq policies within his own inner circles.

"Republican allies of the president, who are growing increasingly jittery about the rising number of American deaths in Iraq without signs that Washington's 'new way forward' is working, have publicly questioned the rationale for such a job." Privately, President Bush has expressed concerns about the growing number of vacancies.

"The real concern is that the Bush administration is losing its ability to control Iraq policy," said David Frum, a former White House speech writer.

Weather Of Mass Destruction

Last month, the Military Advisory Board, a panel of esteemed retired military officers, issued a report that found "projected climate change poses a serious threat to America's national security" over the next 30 to 40 years.

The report -- "National Security and the Threat of Climate Change" -- warned that there will be wars over water, increased hunger, instability from worsening disease and rising sea levels, and global warming-induced refugees.

"The chaos that results can be an incubator of civil strife, genocide and the growth of terrorism," the report predicted. In an interview with The Progress Report, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said that "if the impact of climate change is going to make regions of violence poorer, then they really provide a level of fertility for inciting disaffection, resentment against the prosperous world. That's an indirect effect that can create the conditions for terrorism."

(Listen to the full 10-minute interview here.)

Raising the ire of the right wing, the House Intelligence Committee took needed action to set aside funds in order to study the adverse impact that climate change may have on global security.

Why 'green' biofuels are endangering orang-utans

Biofuels are green fuels, right? Aren't they much less damaging than traditional fossil fuels like petrol and diesel? Well, yes... and no. Alternative fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel can indeed help reduce our emissions of climate changing gases, but without proper controls on their production they could instead make matters much worse.

It's stating the obvious but crops need somewhere to grow and there is a finite amount of arable land on the planet. If we're growing crops to feed our cars instead of ourselves, we will be the ones losing out with increasing food prices and increasing poverty for those who struggle to get enough food as it is.

Worse, forests are being torn down to make way for biofuel plantations. With the link between deforestation and climate change well-established, biofuels have the potential to be a worse climate polluter than dirty old fossil fuels, as well as putting endangered species such as orang-utans under even greater pressure. Now that really would be dumb.

Want to know more? Read the article about biofuels on our blog.

The government is keen to increase the amount of biofuels we use and intends to make all fuel companies increase their supplies. The bad news is, they haven't any decent standards to make sure these biofuels will actually be the green alternative they're intended to be.

However, there is also good news. The government wants to know what we think about biofuels so we have a chance to ensure they get it right. That means developing strict and compulsory standards which are monitored by an independent agency to check that there's no deforestation, wildlife habitat destruction, impacts on vulnerable people, or increase in climate change gases such as carbon dioxide.

Biofuels need to be green from the field to the forecourt so write to the government now and tell them to get it right. You'll have to hurry though, as you'll need to get your email or letter in before Thursday 17 May.

Thanks for your support!

Jamie Woolley
Web team
9 May 2007

Bush Takes Big Oil Back to the Beach

Last week, officials in the Bush/Cheney Administration announced plans to allow Big Oil to drill in tens of millions of acres of environmentally sensitive waters off the coasts of Virginia, Florida, and Alaska, including Alaska's salmon-rich Bristol Bay, an area closed to drilling after the disastrous Exxon Valdez oil spill.

These waters are home to imperiled whales, sea otters and other wildlife that could be devastated by drilling. Congress has just 60 days to object to this awful plan, so please urge your Senators and Representative to oppose harmful new drilling right now.

Is Phil Stacey headed to Iraq?

Maybe it's fitting that Phil Stacey was the first contestant to be eliminated from American Idol after President Bush shifted the spotlight from his Iraq withdrawal veto with an awkward Idol appearance (those Fox News connections pay off).

Iraq could be Phil's next stop.

The chrome dome crooner is an active duty petty officer 3rd class and vocalist with the Navy Band Southeast in Jacksonville, Florida. And the Navy has been very excited that one of its own has become a star (last night, Phil sang part of his farewell number with his arms around two Navy buddies). And the military wants to make the most of it.

The top 10 Idol finishers are set to go on tour this summer. Phil could be allowed to participate as part of a recruiting assignment, the Navy could force him to use personal leave, or they could release him from his military obligation. But the Navy has reason to want to hang onto the bald-headed belter.

The LA Times reports that the USO is finding few stars willing to go to Iraq. With Phil Stacey, the military has a singing star they can order to perform anywhere.

Phil is the lead singer of Pride, the Navy's rock band. They usually play at high schools or at recruiting events. But Phil could be reassigned or asked to volunteer for a musical tour in Iraq, Afghanistan or the two naval carrier groups stationed in the Persian Gulf.

Neither the Navy nor Pentagon are saying what's next for Phil. But one Navy officer told the Times: "I would rather have Sanjaya deploy."

Must make Chris Richardson feel lucky.

(Phil should have thought twice before choosing to sing "I'm going out in a blaze of glory"-- it was an invitation, reminiscent of Elliot Yamin singing Michael Buble's "I wanna go home... let me go home..." last season.)

Published by NewsGasm

Cabriolet Brian Jessel BMW Fashion Gala 2007

The 2nd Annual Brian Jessel BMW Fashion Gala look place May 3rd and was once again a high end experience. Like last year’s show, the caliber of this year’s event was clearly over and above any other local events that I’ve previously attended. Yes, I’m sorry Ian. It’s even better than the Affiliate Dinner. Believe me, I attend a lot of parties and I throw a few too, but for Vancouver, this was definitely in a league of its own.

Brian Jessel BMW is one of North America’s most high tech dealerships. The transformation from automobile dealership to high end fashion runway was no less than astounding. The crew worked nonstop to have everything resemble a world class fashion show venue and I heard that they worked till 3 AM the same night to put everything back. This included cleaning up and driving all the cars back into the showroom before opening. However, it was worth it because this event this year would be supporting the BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre Foundation and the Prostate Center at Vancouver General Hospital; two worthy causes.

Guests were treated to an open bar that served fine wines, martinis, and yes, even high end beers, while Vancouver’s finest high end restaurants served exquisite appetizers to Vancouver’s Elite in attendance. Restaurants included Joe Fortes (Awesome Oyster Bar! Mmm!), Elixir Restaurant, Quattro on 4th, Raincity Grill, RARE Restaurant, Savory Coast, and Terra Breads. C Restaurant was also part of the festivities. Although they didn’t really impress me when I dined with them earlier this year, I was impressed that they weren’t above helping out some great charities.

Not to be outdone, the folks from The Original Cupcakes store sent a few ambassadors out to get people excited about cupcakes. Don’t they make you excited about cupcakes? It’s nice to see that even a cupcake store takes time out to help others. They ended up handing out miniature versions of their prized cupcakes after the fashion show and of course, I had to have one…or two…or three…

Meanwhile, a live band called “Token Rhyme” played on in the background as attendees made their way into the venue. Charity auction tables where generous local businesses donated some wonderful prizes, also lined the venue, hoping to grab the highest possible bids and raise a load of money for some great charities. Kelly ended up spending about $400 in the name of charity. I guess next time she’ll keep track of how many prizes she bids on. Whoops!

Celebrity MC’s, Coleen Christie and Mike Kileen from CTV hosted the event. Both of them did a very fine job of MC’ing and breaking the ice with the crowd. They played a bit of heads and tails with the crowd which eventually ended up in someone walking away with a one year lease on a BMW 323i. That’s not a bad prize. It’s ALMOST like winning a car….almost.

Of course, everyone was waiting for th HOT Grand Finale. The models strutted hard and put on some very fierce poses. I almost liked it better than the LG Lingerie Show but given the fact that the models in Whistler had to endure standing out in the middle of the cold and managed not to slide off the catwalk even in a snowstorm, I’ll have to give them the top prize. If you’re into scantily clad models strutting down the runway, you might want to check out my Cabriolet Brian Jessel BMW 2007 PhotoGallery.

As the evening came to a close, Brian Jessel himself took center stage to thank everyone for coming and gave a shout out to all the sponsors that made this event a success including main sponsors HUGO BOSS and Harry Rosen. The event was very well done, attracted a whole bunch of people, and raised a whole bunch of money for some great causes. Brian has a lot to be happy about.

A High End event just wouldn’t be one without the goodie bag! Everyone that attended got one of these little goodie bags which contained Michael Buble’s latest CD “Call Me Irresponsible”, a cool Harry Rosen Silver Shoehorn, a HUGO Boss hat and some other fashionable doodads.

Thanks again to Kenneth and John from Brian Jessel BMW for inviting me out to this most excellent event. Can’t wait to go again in 2008!

Tuesday is the new Friday

I had the day off today. Woke up this morning and it was 20' outside. Outstanding.

Watched a bit of Monster-in-Law on TV this morning. Frig it was funny. I love Wanda Sykes. Went to the mall this afternoon in search of a birthday present, and came home with a birthday present and Michael Buble's new CD for myself. I'm going to rip it to my iPod tonight so I'll have something new to listen to for the way in to work tomorrow.

Forgot to tell this story, but on Sunday at the family expo, the Kids' CBC show was starting when I was on break so I thought it was safe to sit in and watch Mark and Lunar Jim for a minute. Then didn't I get busted by a co-worker. "I hate to interrupt you," he said. "You looked like you were really enjoying that."

Embarrassing!

But not going to worry. I'm off to meet a friend for dinner.

Technorati changes

I noticed a change on Technorati today. Instead of listing the number of unique blogs and number of links to the blog, they just have a single “Authority” number displayed again beside the blog’s rank in the overall listings.

The top 10 searches of the day are:
1. WTF: youtube
2. WTF: ron paul
3. WTF: myspace
4. WTF: sarkozy
5. WTF: galilea montijo
6. WTF: joost
7. WTF: paris hilton
8. WTF: web 2.0
9. WTF: lileks
10. WTF: shoppero

Now, either I’m out of touch (which is most likely), or there are a lot of strange people out there. I have never heard of 5, 9, or 10, and I only just learned of 4 today (a French guy). Why would people search Technorati for “youtube” is anyone’s guess, because it’s pretty easy to type in youtube.com and search for the hot videos right at the source. I guess they want to see which Youtube videos are talked about in blogs particularly, the most. The biggest question now, is how will Britney Spears top Paris Hilton’s alcoholism, and end up back in the top 10? Top 10 Celebrity Alcoholics list anyone?

Published by: Abandoned Stuff

Newspaper Self-Immolation

At NewAssignment.net, John McQuaid looks incredulously into the Minneapolis Star-Tribune’s decision to turn top-notch columnist James Lileks into a street reporter. We need all the street reporting we can get, but this is nuts. Quote:

The Star Tribune’s decision to eliminate James Lileks’s column and reassign him to a beat as a local reporter is so self-evidently dumb, an Umbridge-worthy example of the bureaucratic mentality run amok, that you have to wonder if newspapers – especially the once-robust, medium-sized daily paper – have indeed reached some kind of suicidal turning point.

Like McQuaid, I occasionally disagree with Lileks’ views. But I read his blog religiously. He is genuinely one of a kind, with a voice all his own, and a rare talent in the newspaper business.

Utterly bizarre and self-defeating. I predict Lileks will have a new — and better — opinion-writing gig in short order. And the Star-Tribune will have contributed in a big way to its own eventual demise.

Published by: CITYMEDIA

Why is MSNBC lying?

As we all know, MSNBC hosted the first Republican debate of the '08 cycle at the Reagan presidential library Thursday night. They also set up a poll at their website to rate the candidates.
They are now interpreting their results to tell us that Romney "won".

But according to the results, he didn't. Why are they intentionally mis-representing their own results?

Exhibit A: The polling results before the debate:

As you can see, even though this poll is unscientific, it does mimic the popular opinion going into the debate. Giuliani leading, McCain second, and Romney third. The rest of the candidates are lost in the background noise. This indicates that the polling is reasonably indicative of the MSNBC viewers.

Exhibit B: The polling results after the debate

Very clearly (with 77,000 respondents thus far) Mitt Romney did very well, but he came in a distant second to Ron Paul. Furthermore...

Exhibit C: The viewers rate the six attributes that determine the victor

Again, Romney did pretty well, but not nearly as well as Paul.

So naturally, if MSNBC is going to point to these results to declare a winner, they're going to point to Paul, right?

Wrong.

In fact, if you troll through the MSNBC debates section, there is no mention whatsoever of Ron Paul's apparent victory at the debate. There's no mention of Ron Paul whatsoever!
The respondents are clearly perturbed about this fact on their message board.

Throughout their televised "analysis" yesterday (yeah, I watched), they mentioned Ron Paul 3 times by my count, and only admitted that he actually won according to their poll once. Not incidentally, they also chose that moment to state that their polling was unscientific. In addition, the few times they did mention him, they framed it as
#1) He did "pretty well"
and
#2) "He can't win".

So all this begs the question: If their polling indicates that Paul actually won the debate, why can't they just cover the news as it is? Very likely, he can't win, but why crown a false victor in their coverage? Why not simply report the results as they are; cover the story as it appears?

It's very evident that MSNBC doesn't want to give Ron Paul any press. Why not? They know that the two things that will kill a campaign are

• the collective belief that a candidate "can't win"
• lack of recognition

They are clearly attempting to use their influence to alter the results of the Republican primary process.

Why? I mean, if the Republicans happen to nominate a candidate who "can't win", isn't that good news for Dems? This also raises more questions: How are they interfering in the Democratic primary process through their intentionally skewed and selective coverage? What's in it for them?

And most importantly: Why are we allowing them to get away with it?

Published by: Crimes and corruption

Rom Pauls WIns

Ron Paul Wins MSNBC Poll -- Following the first Republican debate, Rep. Ron Paul has won MSNBC's viewer poll. With 32%, Dr Paul beat Mitt Romney by two percentage points. And he had the lowest negative rating of any of the candidates. (Via Thysdrus, Iosue, and others.) A friend of mine recently went to one of Dr Paul's speaking engagement and came away saying, "Wow, Ron Paul rocks." Told you so.

Here's what he says about the Iraq war and our military interventions in general.

Published by:

Dappled THings

Utah Legislative Ratings

A Compilation of Various Ratings of the Voting Records of the Utah Legislature. A listing of other ratings may be found under links at the bottom of the blog.
Friday, December 08, 2006
Presidential Aspirant Voting Records

With the field of Potentail Presidential candidates for 2008 now being formulated here's a composite of the voting records from two diverse "interest group" categories, as reported by Project Vote Smart (A VERY rough estimate = Average of first 10 ratings in either category.) Republicans:

* Sen John McCain votes 70% "conservative" 26% "liberal"
* Sen Sam Brownback votes 80% "conservative" 6% "liberal"
* Gov Mitt Romney not rated
* Rep Duncan Hunter votes 49% "conservative" 5% "liberal"

Democrats:

* Sen Barack Obama votes 23% "conservative" 97% "liberal" (If he gets the nod from the Demos would that be an Obamanomination)
* Sen Hillary Clinton votes 19% "conservative" 96% "liberal"
* Sen Evan Bayh votes 30% "conservative" 91% "liberal"

For comparison: Rep Ron Paul votes 88% "conservative" 32% "liberal" (That last number is a little surprising) Sen John Kyl (AZ) votes 88% "conservative" 4% "liberal"
Rep Nancy Pelosi votes 22% "conservative" 98% "liberal" Sen Orrin Hatch votes 66% "conservative" 7% "liberal"
Rep Jim Matheson votes 45% "conservative" 70% "liberal"
Sen Ted Kennedy votes 13% "conservative" 98% "liberal"
Rep Tom Tancredo votes 85% "conservative" 7% "liberal"
Sen Joe Biden votes 16% "conservative" 90% "liberal"
Sen Joe Lieberman votes 22% "conservative" 86% "liberal"


Published by:

JQW

Nosferatu and Timberwannabe Say Goodnight,

I finally got an elimination right! Phil Stacey and Chris Richardsen were kicked out of "American Idol" last night leaving Melinda DoLots, LaKiki, Jordin and Blake to battle it out.

The show started with Ryan Gaycrest announcing that "Idol Gives Back" raised like $70 million or something. Half of which is probably going to medicate Paula Abdul, so she doesn't act the fool anymore.

A hot moment also went down when Simon thought Ryan called his girlfriend a "puppet." Ryan tried to shrug it off, but he's not good at being put on the spot. Simon said to him, “Ryan, if you’re going to be obnoxious, I’m not going to answer your questions. … I’m being serious. You’ve already been rude about my girlfriend, so you can apologize.” Gay lover fight!

Speaking of gay lovers. When Blake and Chris were left as the final two battling it out for the last spot, Chris said he would go home for Blake. Awwww....how could America break these two lovers up?!

Melinda and Blake in the finals. Trust me.

Published by:

Dlisted

They can't all be an 'American Idol,' but some '08 hopefuls say they watch

File this in the "Only in America" category:

Politicians vying to be America's next president professing that their favorite reality TV show is American Idol. We're sure they were nervously watching Wednesday to see if Blake or Chris would be eliminated.

The Associated Press continues its "personal side" series by asking the presidential contenders about which reality TV shows they enjoy. American Idol, as you'll see, got a few votes. Their answers:

Democrats

• Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware: "Don't have one."
• Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York: "American Idol."
• Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut: "American Idol, which I say often reminds me of running for president sometimes."
• John Edwards, former North Carolina senator: College basketball.
• Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio: No time for TV.
• Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois: "Other than the U.S. Senate on C-SPAN? I don't watch them too often."
• Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico: "Fox News." (On Politics question: Anyone think he was being serious?)

Republicans

• Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas: "None this season; too busy. Last season it was The Amazing Race." (On Politics aside: We like the show too, senator -- and this season's finale is coming up!)
• Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York: Baseball.
• Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas: "Nashville Star, USA Network's country music competition."
• Rep. Duncan Hunter of California: The Versus network, previously called the Outdoor Life Network.
• Sen. John McCain of Arizona: Arizona Diamondbacks baseball.
• Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts: "American Idol."
• Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado: "None."

Prior to this, AP has asked the candidates about their "desert island necessities," what they would be doing if they weren't in politics and their favorite foods to cook.

Published by:

USA Today

American Idol

Ok Idol fans we are going to wrap up the last two weeks in one tidy blog. There's been a lot going on in the world of American Idol with Idol Gives Back and the surprise noone's leaving, to last night's dropping of two contestants.

Let's begin with Idol gives back. I was blown away by the efforts of th AI team and their pull on the inhabitants of elite hollywood. Not only did they get Ellen to co-host they had a vast arsenal of tinsel town's best. Jack Black was hilarious during his short bit as was the whole troop dancing around to Stayin Alive. It was an impressive show with a important message. What impressed me most of all was the fact that they decided not only to focus on Africa, but they are aiming at our country too. Here in the land of opportunity we have an alarming poverty issue. Not only in big cities but in rural communities there are children and adults for that fact starving and lacking the baisic tools for survival. As sad as it is I am overwhelmed by the viewers and the people involved with Idol Gives Back. Around Seventy million dollars raised, it is awesome! I would also like to mention Bono and his efforts in humanitarianism. He is quite possibly the most active celebrity on global issues. He has brought together several people to aid the world and his efforts reach almost every country. Thanks for that, there should be more like him!

Side note: Yesterday on The View Rosie(who is leaving soon YES!!) challenged fox to match the proceeds. Well Rosie why don't you shut you're yap and dig into your deep pockets. Oh for once focus on the issue, not the president, or the republican party, or your personal agenda, but the issue at hand. Give credit where credit's due!

Ok. on to this week's performances and ejections. I must say that everyone did a decent job with the Bon Jovi songs, a true suprise to me. Phil was good, Kiki was awesome as well as Melinda! Jordin was ok, she seemed a bit more nervous than usual, and Blake was once again unique and ground breaking. Chris was far better than I expected, but he wasn't good enough.

Phil and Chris were thrown out of the ring last night. Neither of them truly stood out so it's not a real shocker that they're gone. Phil really has a good voice but he's often boring to the point of snoozing. Chris is ok but reminds me too much of Justin Timberlake, which in effect never really let me give him much thought.

All in all it's been an exciting year on Idol. I am proud to be an avid fan and am impressed by their efforts to help the world. Remember to vote~for Melinda preferably~ and watch on Tues. and Wed. nights. Much love to all you Idol fans!?

Published by:

Tara diddle

The Next Net Battle - Adobe vs Microsoft

This post has been sitting in my moleskine for sometime fermenting and I figure since I just missed the boat from the A-List coverage of MIX early in the week I may as put it out there. These notes go back to my post in October 2006 called “Why Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft are NOT Competing“. Since then I have been thinking over the ever changing paradigm of technology as a business and how these major companies are competing. With the releases of Adobe’s Apollo and Microsoft’s Silverlight (back then it was called WPF/E), it struck me: the next battle will be between Adobe and Microsoft.

I stand by my conclusions of my aforementioned posts - even if you comeback with Google Office competing with Microsoft’s traditional cash cow - MS Office. No, there is not competition between these products. Both are and will serve different audiences. Will Google Office cannabalize some of Microsoft’s Office Revenue? Yes. Will it be enough to affect the bottom line? No.

That being said, why Adobe vs Microsoft? And furthermore, why do I think Microsoft will win?

As the next generations of the web are being developed on the basis of Rich Internet Applications (RIA) and Software as a Service models with the addition of varying, diverse media types such as audio, video and text - the company who can best embrace and enable this will become victorious.

If you envision the entire life cycle of a web application or an RIA it starts at conception and design, followed by development and deployment. Now as this workflow has progressed and been perfected over the years so have the tools…

Adobe
Photoshop -> Dreamweaver -> Flex -> Flash -> Apollo

Microsoft
Expression Studio -> Visual Studio -> ASP.Net -> Silverlight

Both companies are coming close to perfecting the workflow from concept to implementation. Granted you are not controlling the information like Google - but do control how its designed, developed, deployed, and what platform it will run on. The key for these to companies is platform - which will be provide the platform for the next generation of web development?

So why will Microsoft win? Easy. ASP.Net is far, far, far, far superior to Flex. Silverlight will trump flash - I don’t care about the numbers of people with flash already installed either. Silverlight will come prepackaged in Vista and in five years those numbers will mean nothing. Also the release of Silverlight has given power to the millions of .NET developers out there to create rich, engaging applications with the same ease as they are used to.

Oh and don’t forget about the inherent compatibility with the infrastructure that an .NET application lies on (WPF, Windows Server, SQL Server).

Some people agree with me… Scoble says Microsoft may have just “rebooted the web”. Mike Arrington says Silverlight Is Important.

More on the battle in upcoming posts, as well as much more on Silverlight. Also upcoming - why Astoria will be amazing and the Web 3.0 platform; and why Jasper will show the Rails crowd that we can do it too - only better, more scalable, and faster. And naturally more analysis from the rest of the great stuff that came from MIX07.

It’s safe to say this is a great time to be a Microsoft Web Developer.

Published By:

Andy

Disney's Vista Gadget Points To Future Of Marketing Widgets

All the buzz here at Microsoft MIX in Vegas is rightly about Silverlight, but one other impressive demo I came across was a Vista gadget (a.k.a. widget) for Disney. Entertainment and Devices Division President Robbie Bach was on the main stage yesterday, talking about marketing Microsoft's connected entertainment services. One of the case studies wheeled out was Disney, which - as The Seattle Times reports - is working with Microsoft and large OEMs selling computers in China to install a software gadget on new PC desktops. The gadget features content meant to attract people to the company's Hong Kong theme park. Bach pointed out that Vista's gadgets (mini web apps that run on your desktop) are a way for brands such as Disney to establish a presence on "some of the most valuable real estate in the home" - i.e. the PC desktop. The Seattle Times goes on:

"The Disney gadget is aimed at an emerging Chinese middle class that does not have the history with the Disney brand that Americans do, said Edward Kummer, a Disney executive in charge of online promotions of the company's parks and resorts.

The gadget is constantly being updated via RSS feeds with news about the theme park and also includes long-format video, itinerary planning tools and other interactive content.

"This is effectively having a Disney application on the PC," Bach said.

No details were provided about the size of the application, the computing resources it uses or whether consumers could remove these branded gadgets."

There is a video of the Disney talk during Bach's presentation, up on the Visit MIX07 site. I've taken a few (rough) screenshots of the Disney gadget from the video, because I think its interactivity and rich real-time data (including video) is a great example of how widgets/gadgets will evolve over the next couple of years. I also expect this kind of interactivity and multimedia in widgets that run in the browser (e.g. Microsoft's own live.com widget platform).

Note that I haven't yet seen the Disney gadget on the Web, so if anyone has a link to it -- please note in the comments.

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