My only question is wouldn't he get tired carrying his computer and all the components? I guess if you're determined it doesn't matter!

According to Advertising Age, an advertising agency in New York, Warren Kremer Paino Advertising, dropped its suit against Lance Dutson, a blogger for Maine Web Report, for copyright infringement, defamation and trade libel and injurious falsehood.

Dutson started blogging about the work WKPA was doing for the Maine Office of Tourism in October of 2005, arguing the strategy the agency provided was misguided. WPKA had bid for broad search terms that also were the interest of some of Dutson’s clients. The blog took on a life of its own (where have we heard that before) and so WPKA decided to sue Dutson to protect their reputation and because their business had been hurt. As a note, I did a Google search for WKPA and they were listed number 17 behind all the blog listings for this issue.

It’s interesting to note the case was dropped the same day The Boston Globe published an editorial calling for the agency to drop the lawsuit and when a Maine state representative said he had asked the governor to suspend working with the agency.

I understand state agencies have a lot to consider when selecting agencies to complete their work – are they in the state and will it help total state revenue, will this be the best agency to complete the needed work, etc. But, I think the Maine Department of Tourism needs to more closely consider what kind of agency they want to work with. This issue and the way it was handled should be closely considered when the agency is up for review.

A handful of liberal blogs, led by this story in truthout.org, began reporting over the weekend that Rove had been served the indictment papers by Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald.

So far, there has been absolutely no mention of this in the MSM. Of course, this provides the perfect test for whether the Blogosphere is ahead of MSM in reporting breaking news, whether it rushes out stories before verification, and whether the Blogosphere is capable of "keeping a story alive" and getting the MSM to follow suit with its own coverage. In other words, this could be the perfect case study of how the Blogosphere operates, and how accurate it is. Stay tuned!

I found the article in one of my baby magazines and here Ms. Mosteller actually did blog through her first child's birth....why? She says it was to keep friends and family updated on her labor and delivery. I say it's because she's crazy! I'm still not even sure I want to be awake for it, but this woman took her laptop and had the presence of mind to form actual sentences!

For me, this is waaaay too much information. Why anyone would want to tell everyone they know (and lots of people they don't know) about every pevlic exam, injection and bodily function that occurs during childbirth is beyond me. That a magazine such as American Baby is touting this fascinating morsel of information it in its pages tells me that blogging has come quite a long way and apparently I'm IN a demographic that was TMI about this kind of thing. (although I can assure you I only read it for this class!)

If you want to visit this journalists blog-site, you can do so at the appropriately named SheNuts.com. I'm not making this stuff up, that's actually her web-address and she's known as the "Sarcastic Journalist" Here's the link, enjoy! The Sarcastic Journalist

A project like this would have to do something more than just be a message board for your own team. It would really need to be an arena for putting fans of one team against fans of another.

For the NFL season, there's always a new message board for your team each week, depending on who your opponent is. Fans from both teams could then post on the same board. The idea could work for all sorts of sports but just thinking about the capacity of this website is making me wonder if this is a workable idea.

Bittorrent has been one of the more recent -- post-Napster, that is -- file-sharing protocols on the Web. I've seen it used for distributing rock music boots and live shows. Apparently the technology is pretty good, but I've never drunk at that trough so I can't say first-hand. If you wanted, say, the entire show from a given night last fall when Cream had its four-night Albert Hall run, Bittorrent was the place to go.

Now Warner Bros. has decided it better get serious about selling movies and TV programs on the Web, and the studio's going the Bittorrent route, at least initially.

Check out details in wired.com.

The ol' Internet pirates of yore are all getting their privateers' licenses.

I wonder what group will be the next to converge?

I have known Stanley for several years. He was a nationally-renowned livestock auctioneer, traveling North America to sell cattle and other sorts of livestock. Now, it should be known that Stanley loved to tell jokes and play pranks on others. When I first met him, he faxed me jokes. When e-mail became easier to access, he quickly shifted to that technology and we all received his jokes in this manner. Ironically, this also meant we always knew the days when he was in his office to disperse these tales. It also meant we could easily access someone’s e-mail address whom we had lost contact. It was a great networking opportunity. Many also enjoyed seeing who Stanley had determined should receive certain e-mails.

Stanley also moved his desktop onto his Palm or whichever device he used to track contacts, schedules and telephone numbers. You could ask him how to contact someone and he had every bit of information needed. Amazing.

Although you could say Stanley “converged” over the years, one item remains – nothing could beat hearing him chant a sale live. And, his handshake was always better than a signed contract. You also could always count on the opportunity that when the sale was over there would be time to raise a cold beverage to toast friends. Stanley, my glass is raised to you.

Now, you can purchase a complete digital record/playback machine for around $1,000 that provides video quality un-matched by any previous technology. A mini DV tape cost is around $3.00 - on sale at Costco (TDK). An hours worth of 2 inch tape once cost hundreds of dollars.

Now, as we are able to record and playback video on a 46 cent disc, I wonder if young people realize what we once went through to get a tv show recorded and on the air?

It’s interesting to peruse the lists side-by-side. The most emailed list of articles contains stories about extra tight jeans, lambic ales and a Home & Garden article called “Home Alone Together” (at #1). The Most Blogged top ten seemed to be all of the scary stuff: Taliban, Iraq, Immigration, Mouassoui, Keeping a Democratic Web, Republican Tax Plans, Laser Weapons, Global Warming. The only article shared by both lists was “After Press Dinner, the Blogosphere Is Alive With the Sound of Colbert Chatter,” and “Colbert” was the second most searched for keyword when I called it up on Thursday.

Other enhancements to the site include more video (surprised?), more original reporting, more blogs, and more multimedia, among other things. Soon, you will be able to create a personalized page on the site with all of your favorite New York Times sections as well as other web sites and blogs all in one place. It's going to be called "My Times." To me it sounds like they might have taken a lesson or two from MySpace.com by adding this customization element (and including the increasingly popular word "my"). An eight-page pullout section in the Tuesday, May 2 issue of the paper paper claims that it’s “customization with an important difference: the guidance and expertise of New York Times reporters and editors who offer their informed editorial judgement in your areas of interest.” But, might I ask, isn’t that judgement what they use when deciding what articles to write in the first place?

“My Times” will also voyeuristically allow us to see what our favorite NY Times journalists have on their own personal pages.

'We sit at our desks and do our comments and write blogs,' says Jenna Fischer, who plays receptionist Pam Beesley. She almost always is seen sitting behind her computer, which makes it easier to keep up with her weekly blog about what goes on at the set for TVGuide.com and her own personal blog at www.myspace.com/pambeesley.

Other actors have blogs as their own characters.

Rainn Wilson, the actor who plays Dwight Schrute, writes his own character blog called Schrute's Space. And he's not alone. Just about all the actors are online at myspace.com as the show is being filmed.

So while the show is being filmed, all the characters are at their desks, playing on the internet, checking myspace and writing their own blogs... kind of like a real office (or classroom).

JB asked me to do a recap in class regarding the conference, but it seems our time is getting short, hence, I’m going to blog about some of the speakers and their topics.

The opening general session speaker was James Canton PhD who is a former CNN commentator, Financial News, and author. Canton talked about how an “extreme future” includes more risk and more opportunity. He also explained there are some specific trends he sees that will shape the future. These include demographics, with whites declining and the workforce becoming older and more divers. Other factors are globalization, workforce, innovation (biofuels, biopharma and biomaterials), security (food bioterrorism), energy and climates (extreme weather, arctic melt). Canton also estimated that by 2015 there will be 10 million more U.S. jobs than workers. He stated a challenge we will face is dealing with a culturally diverse global and aging workforce.

Canton spent a lot of time talking about the effect of generations on the workforce and what we should expect in the future. He talked about a “cross-generational” impact of boomers to Generation X to Generation Y. Those that are able to combine innovation amongst these groups will have a major opportunity to leverage their skills.

What I found interesting about Canton’s discussion was the lack of technology mentions. Did he think that because he was speaking to a group of “agricultural” marketers we did not utilize innovative technology? I appreciate the information on working and managing a diverse workforce. I believe more of that diversification will be effected by technology and the way we utilize that technology. I also believe technology advancements will change the look of the office - more people will work from home offices and communicate via video or phone.

Just for fun, here’s proof that I was really working. This is a picture of those from our company that attended the event’s award show. We won 10 national awards that night.

Since I don’t often read the really long blogs (what does that possibly say about how blogs should be written?), I’m going to use another entry to discuss more speakers.