So was Microsoft's strategy to crush Netscape by intregrating Internet Explorer into the operating system a good idea? Maybe in the short-term. But here's Dvorak on the long-term:

If you were to put together a comprehensive profit-and-loss statement for IE, there would be a zero in the profits column and billions in the losses column—billions.

He calls Explorer, the "Great Microsoft Blunder." If you didn't already believe in karma, this should do the trick.

And Cringely has another original chapter on the dawning Apple / Microsoft future. He calls Windows "the OS we tolerate," and that's pretty much right on the money.

Posted by jjdaley at 9:01 PM | Permalink

The Herald's 'Separated at Birth' feature takes photos of local figures and compares them unfavorably, sometimes cruelly and unfairly, to photos of unattractive figures.

Today the Herald compares Howie Carr and William Dennehy, which is weird because Dennehy isn't a local figure. Why would they pick on him?

Posted by jjdaley at 11:26 AM | Permalink

Maybe it's only because I watched All the President's Men last night, but I think Charlie Savage's article on the Bush administration's use of signing statements to interpret law and undermine congressional mandates, should be taken very seriously. I do think, though, that he underplays the fact that pretty much all of the laws involved are aimed at the executive branch.

Posted by jjdaley at 10:19 AM | Permalink

What exactly was sixty two year-old Keith Richards doing up in a palm tree?

The episode, as I'm picturing it, has him falling out of the tree and, cartoon-like, a coconut, and then another, drops and bops him on the head to the sounds of birds chirping.

Posted by jjdaley at 8:19 AM | Permalink

Ted Kennedy on the Cape Wind Farm:

''People ought to be worked up with how Cape Wind was able to get special provisions written in here," Kennedy said. ''That's the secret deal. That's what people ought to be worked up on."

That a company was allowed to move forward without bidding on a proposal for a submerged site, for the purpose of building a renewable energy project, at a time when oil dependency is threatening both the economy and national security?

I'm not worked up. Are you worked up?

Also: check out this Wasserman cartoon.

Posted by jjdaley at 7:15 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (1)

Cuppies. That's the new term, coined by Brett Arends, to describe the folks who run their business from the Starbucks wireless internet access points and to whom the new Hayward Place apartments are being marketed. (Link via EconoBlog)

I wonder. If they can afford the $750,000 price tag, why are they using the wireless in a coffee shop?

Posted by jjdaley at 6:58 AM | Permalink

...but I don't care if I get behind.

You can't make it up. Kerry Healy has chosen Boston's Peace of Mind as her campaign song. Who's idea was that?

But Jay suggests she's "a more formidable candidate than critics think."

And Joan Vennochi believes that Healy may be successful in appealing to Independents, particularly women, and that Democrats should be afraid.

ALSO: Check this Blue Mass Group post that pretty much agrees, but notes Healy's attack on Reilly as telling.

Posted by jjdaley at 6:43 AM | Permalink

Michelle McPhee uses an anonymous "high-ranking New York police" source with no apparent connection to the events at hand to make a point in a story critical of an event in Boston sponsored by the Boston Police.

"It’s not corrupt, but it’s tacky. It gives the appearance of selling influence with police commanders,” said a high-ranking New York police official who requested anonymity. “The events smell of corporate CEOs buying face time with Boston police officials.”

My question: Why the need for anonymity and why did the reporter let them have it? What is it about a comment on an event by an much smaller organization four hundred miles away that requires someone to hide their identity? Is it merely for the chance to slam another police department? If so, that's what I call tacky.

Ironically, another Herald article today scrutinizes the credibility of information provided by sources who are given hidden incentives for talking.

(See the About section for my disclosure disclaimer.)

Posted by jjdaley at 6:18 AM | Permalink

Howie Carr's Herald front page investigative exclusive on a painting purported to be owned by Whitey Bulger turned out to be, well, just wrong. The good luck for the paper is that the actual story is pretty interesting too, and good for another front page story.

Posted by jjdaley at 7:29 AM | Permalink

Don't expect Daufr to come up in the next Zawahri video. From a Globe story on humanitarian funding:

The United States is the largest donor by far, giving $188 million to the emergency food program. Norway, Ireland, Italy, Switzerland, and Belgium donated a total of $5.5 million and Canada gave $3.9 million.

The only Muslim nation contributing to the emergency feeding program is Libya, with a donation of $4.5 million...

Of course not all Muslim countries have money, but there are some, besides Libya, that have a lot.

Posted by jjdaley at 7:13 AM | Permalink

I didn't think there would be many, but I also didn't think that -- based on campaign contribution reporting -- there would be none.

Posted by jjdaley at 7:02 AM | Permalink

Lance Duston, blogging on Maine tourism, is the subject of federal lawsuit for posts critical of the Maine Office of Tourism. I'm just catching up on the story, but you can get an overview (from Lance) here .

I'm looking for alternative takes, but from what I've read so far, the lawsuit seems like a massive abuse. Unlike newspapers, bloggers don't have legal teams at the ready to defend their first amendment rights. (And it seems a little ironic that a government public relations branch is resorting to a lawsuit rather than opting to compete in the public relations arena. They must not have much confidence in their own product.)

It's good news that the Media Bloggers Association has stepped in to assist Duston. Jeff Jarvis has weighed in on this, as has Globe blogger Maura Welch.

Posted by jjdaley at 6:44 AM | Permalink

What's your Google ranking? A web challenge went out to set up a site that would rank highest on Google using the nonsense search term "v7ndotcom elursrebmem."

Here are the winners -so far. Still number two is the Grand V7ndotcom Elursrebmem Hotel web site, but I'm rooting for it to pull ahead.

UPDATE: Now I'm rooting for #4 which is in the race for charity. To help out, you should also link to http://www.watching-paint-dry.com/v7ndotcom-elursrebmem/.

Posted by jjdaley at 6:39 AM | Permalink

Best and worst rundowns usually come out at the end of the year, but in the case of the worst products, maybe it's not a bad idea to run them quarterly.

Posted by jjdaley at 6:24 AM | Permalink

And the wasteland is vaster than you thought. Check out this Japanese TV show where Whack-A-Mole is taken to a new level.

Posted by jjdaley at 6:21 AM | Permalink

Suffolk University wants to build dorms but advocates for the adjacent murder victims' garden want the status quo, peace and quiet. Now the state has greased the skids for Suffolk by offering to erase a million dollar debt for the garden if the advocates go along with the new construction.

The garden advocates smell a rat.

“We’re confused as to why any debt forgiveness offer from the state is tied in to a mitigation package for a private entity,” said Mary Lou Schaalman, co-chairwoman of the Garden of Peace Board. “If the state has that ability, it should happen anyway, since the Garden of Peace sits on public property and serves a public good.”

Really, it's no mystery. Suffolk pays to get what they want, the state makes a profit, so much so that they can erase the million dollar debt, and the garden of peace get their debt wiped out.

Sounds to me like deal-making at its best.

Posted by jjdaley at 6:03 AM | Permalink

Another case of plagiarism? Here's the original source - you decide.

(Kennedy himself is reported to be devastated by all of this, but he comes off as rather jolly on his blog. I would think he would be.)

Posted by jjdaley at 1:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Two things that you should print out and leave around the office: An extensive list of Windows keyboard shortcuts and a Google cheatsheet.

Posted by jjdaley at 7:24 AM | Permalink

I was quickly looking for an online spell check and came across this listing of spell services where you can get...

A wide variety of spells for love, luck, money, revenge and more. Also voodoo dolls, oils, incense, gris-gris bags and more. One-stop shopping. Serving you since 1995.

Now even the gris-gris man is online.

Posted by jjdaley at 6:54 AM | Permalink

While she doesn't own a house on the Cape, Eileen McNamara comes out against the Cape Wind project, which she calls a "huge industrial development."

She mentions issues with air traffic, ferry traffic, fog. But she says it's...

...also about whether a private, for-profit developer ought to be handed 24 square miles of publicly owned federal land without having to submit to a competitive bidding process.

A bidding process? Does someone else want to build in the middle of Nantucket sound that we don't know about? Maybe a retirement condo complex among the waves?

Anyway, McNamara asks why Romney and Kerry Healey, who vacation in northern New England, might be against the project since they, unlike Kennedy and Reilly, don't have an aesthetic interest in the issue.

Those turbines are about as tall as the Statue of Liberty, but I am pretty sure you cannot see them from either Republican's patio in northern New England.

What's their motive?

Their motive? Duh! How about money? Money equals contributions, equals votes, equals winning an election. You don't have to live on the coast to want to be on good terms with the rich folks who do. An experienced observer like McNamara doesn't get this? I had to read the column several times, just to make sure it wasn't all tongue-in-cheek.

Posted by jjdaley at 6:50 AM | Permalink

Lessons from The Onion on author Viswanathan's lack of originality.

"This just goes to show there are many things a Harvard education can't teach you, like how to use a thesaurus to cover up your plagiarism."

Check it out, there are a couple more.

Posted by jjdaley at 6:12 AM | Permalink

They're on page 251 of Finnegans Wake. They started in 1996. That's not so bad. I started the book in the nineteen eighties and they're at least a hundred pages ahead of me.

(Here's a shorter version that's still too long.)

Posted by jjdaley at 7:15 AM | Permalink

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez doesn't like the US. He's often characterized as simply being anti-Bush, which for many paints him as nothing more sinister than, say, Al Franken. But it's a mistake to dismiss Chavez as a harmless 'enemy of my enemy' as many in the media have done.

This month's Atlantic Monthly has a pretty good analysis of Chavez and his increasing influence. (Did you know that Citco is a Venezuelan state-owned company?)

...Chavismo represents a bigger threat to American interests in the region than anything the United States has seen in decades. Not since the Cold War has America faced such a well-financed ideological competitor on its left. And Chávez has played his opening moves so masterfully—and the American government has played its so ineptly—that he may yet realize his neo-Bolivarian dream.

He's sending discounted oil to Massachusetts so he can't be all that bad, right? But, as the Atlantic article warns, Chavez is a master tactician and thanks to Delahunt and Joe Kennedy, the residents of Massachusetts are now pieces on his chessboard.

Posted by jjdaley at 6:58 AM | Permalink

Cringely sees a future where Windows programs run on the Mac operating system. And so does John Martellaro. The idea is that Microsoft's complacency in not fixing Windows' security will provide Apple with a big opportunity. If they play it right, Apple could significantly increase its share of the OS market.

These guys are astute observers of technology trends, so I think there may be something here.

Then again, I bought into the pre-Segway hype, where the experts were sure the device was going to be some kind of flying car.

Posted by jjdaley at 6:40 AM | Permalink

This is the second day of a one-day story, but I'll pile on as well.

Kaavya Viswanathan admitted she borrowed, or rather "internalized" portions of other books for her own book. But unconscious plagiarism may still be plagiarism. At least that's what the court said in the case of George Harrison and the Chiffons.

...under the law, infringement of copyright [...] is no less so even though subconsciously accomplished.

Here's more on the Harrison case, in which he had to pay out more than a million dollars. As for Viswanathan, from reading the details of the suspect passages, I'd say she has an incredible internal memory.

Posted by jjdaley at 6:26 AM | Permalink

There seems to be an increase in bad behavior on the T lately. Must be Spring.

Posted by jjdaley at 5:57 AM | Permalink

Carpundit's "Beater of the Week" is a real city car with cheese grater wheels. If I lived in the Back Bay, that's the car I would want to own, although maybe with a hard top.

Posted by jjdaley at 7:00 AM | Permalink

Jury deliberation may begin today in the Moussaoui trial. For inspiration, the jury room will come complete with a giant poster of the faces of all the 2,972 victims.

Posted by jjdaley at 6:57 AM | Permalink

A Harvard student / novelist faces questions about originality this morning. The fact that the book that she is accused of copying from is called "Sloppy Firsts," doesn't help.

I suppose it could be simply coincidental that so many passages from one book closely resemble the other, although our friend Mr. Occam might insist otherwise.

Posted by jjdaley at 6:43 AM | Permalink

Bryan Bender does a piece on Runsfeld the reformer.

All of what he says is true, and sure, much of the criticism of Rumsfeld by the Generals is based on his tipping the military-industrial applecart. But with the way things are going in the Middle East, now is not the time for internecine battles in the military.

Posted by jjdaley at 6:34 AM | Permalink

After taking heat for completely missing Easter, The Globe at least gives some front page play to Orthodox Easter.

Posted by jjdaley at 6:04 AM | Permalink

Jeff Jarvis notices an editorial in the Philadelphia Inquirer in which the paper has apparently written the "first draft of its own obituary."

Posted by jjdaley at 4:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's a black and white afternoon at Brant Rock in Marshfield.

Posted by jjdaley at 4:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A VH1 poll found that people (or at least those who watch VH1) think the best song lyric ever written comes from U2's One: "One life, with each other, sisters, brothers." Yawn.

Now it's up to us bloggers to supply alternative nominations. I'll throw out a couple, starting with "God save the queen, she ain't no human bean." Now that's what I call a rhyme.

More seriously, I've always liked this beginning from Van Morrison's Wild Night:

As you brush your shoes
Stand before the mirror
And you comb your hair
Grab your coat and hat
And you walk, wet streets
Tryin' to remember
All the wild night breezes
In your mem'ry ever

(John Mellencamp, in his cover version, changed the end to "All those wild nights breeze through your mind." What the hell was that about? (And don't get me going about Keb Mo changing Johnny Cash's "I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die." to "They say I shot a man in Reno, but that was just a lie.") There should be a law against this kind of thing.)

Another contender is the line, "Now we dolly back, now we fade to black," from Steely Dan's Haitian Divorce. And I haven't even started on Elvis Costello's wordsmithing. This topic will require a part two.

Posted by jjdaley at 8:23 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (1)

There's a long but interesting article in the Times magazine about Google, censorship and the great firewall of China.

Posted by jjdaley at 7:04 AM | Permalink

To counter my earlier rant over our dependance on oil, I can, via Below Boston, now offer some good news: Hull has a new wind turbine up and running.

Posted by jjdaley at 10:25 PM | Permalink

Check out Hub Blog 2.0. New and improved, now with RSS!

And Britney Spears too!

Posted by jjdaley at 10:09 PM | Permalink

John Keith drives through Dudley Square one recent evening and finds everything closed up. He's not all that far off. Things could be better in the Triangle, but the area has come a long way in the last ten years. Now there's a Dunkin Donuts and street vendors where before there was nothing. During the afternoons at least now, Washington Street is bustling.

But Keith's right. Keeping chains like Walgreens out won't necessarily help the local merchants. The traffic that the bigger stores would bring in would be more helpful than harmful to smaller businesses in the area. Dudley needs more business, more traffic, more customers -not less.

Posted by jjdaley at 9:55 PM | Permalink

Adam Gaffin asked us to make a prediction as to which story -- the shooting of a kid in Roxbury or a dog attack in the South End involving a former press secretary for John Kerry -- would get the most coverage in the papers.

That was last night. In today's papers, not only is the dog story prominently featured, the shooting didn't even make the news briefs section.

Posted by jjdaley at 8:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Gas prices are going up, and they will likely keep going up. Whether it's because of supply, political instability in producing countries or wholesale price speculation, is really besides the point.

The real problem is over-reliance. After the Katrina shortages and accompanying price spikes, this fact was starting to sink in. But then the prices went down and we put our heads back into the sand. (Hummers are selling like hotcakes, sales are up over 200% in the first quarter of the year.)

$5-a-gallon gasoline prices are coming and it won't be a pretty picture as far as the overall economy goes, (not to mention international politics) but at least maybe we'll finally start developing alternative energy sources and stop buying Hummers.

Posted by jjdaley at 8:03 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (1)

There's a nice little park in the Prudential Center, hidden away behind the upscale shops and restaurants. And if you look up, this is what you'll see.

Posted by jjdaley at 7:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For two years in a row, the water quality in the Charles River gets a B+. Some environmentalists aren't striving for an A, though. Apparently that would make it too attractive to boaters, kayakers, etc.

Can't have that, can we.

Posted by jjdaley at 7:34 AM | Permalink

In last night's debate, Tom Reilly called out Deval Patrick for his involvement with predatory lending giant Ameriquest. I don't know the details of Patrick's involvement with Ameriquest's parent company, other than that it began in 2004, more than a year before the settlement was finalized, and that it generates more than $100,000 in income for Patrick. Maybe Patrick was brought in to help reform the company's practices, working from the inside, as he implies. But, the settlement was based on predatory lending practices for loans given up until December 31, 2005.

I'm also curious about where Tom Reilly got the information. I would hate to think he's going through his office's investigative files looking for dirt on his rivals.

Posted by jjdaley at 7:23 AM | Permalink

In 1846 there were fifty seven (by my count) newspapers in Boston! We're down to two now. Or three, if you count the Pilot. (From the City Record.)

Posted by jjdaley at 6:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A couple doing the rounds in the park on Mission Hill this afternoon.

Posted by jjdaley at 4:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Using the Times freelancer questionnaire as inspiration, Jeff Jarvis suggests that bloggers answer a few questions themselves, at least as a starting point for wider media disclosure.

Not a bad idea. Jarvis did it. I probably will too.

Posted by jjdaley at 7:14 AM | Permalink

I don't think new awnings and planters are going to do the trick for Downtown Crossing. Other, more substantive problems have to be dealt with - most relating to the density of homeless shelters in the area - before the the crossing will become an attractive city anchor.

Posted by jjdaley at 6:34 AM | Permalink

How do most people read a webpage layout? If you said completely and comprehensively, you get an F!

Posted by jjdaley at 6:30 AM | Permalink

Earlier in the week, Indira Lakshmanan wrote about violent Central American Gangs. Today she writes about a cure that's at least as bad as the disease.

Posted by jjdaley at 6:17 AM | Permalink

NYC doormen are planning a walkout over wages and health benefits. Panic is sweeping the Upper East Side as the prospect of people opening their own doors looms darkly on the horizon.

Posted by jjdaley at 5:41 AM | Permalink

There's an interesting discussion at Om Malik's site on the tendency of manufactures to make overly complex, feature laden devices that consumers never really use.

He cites a recent study which indicates that the public buys with features in mind, driving sales based on extra features and prompting manufacturers to build even more features. But, all that complexity becomes a source of frustration since most of those features never really get used.

“Simpler is better – despite popular wisdom and a marketplace ingrained in the creation of products that are ever smaller, faster and more feature laden,” said Roland Rust, “Our research showed that consumers will be initially attracted to the mobile phone that ‘does everything’ for example, but once they get it home they become frustrated,” Rust said. “Companies can actually make more money in the long run by making products that are simpler than what customers think they want. The smarter strategy is to design simple, dedicated devices like the iPod, that do one thing very well, to build long-term satisfaction and profitable customer relationships.”

One of the things I like about the Apple operating system is the lack of choices. And the ones you have are intelligently laid out. Unlike the recent versions of Windows in which it seems that configuration choices reach down to ridiculous levels and exist for no apparent reason.

Posted by jjdaley at 1:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The House of the people, designed to be the most direct connection to the rabble, is, according to Peter Canellos and pollsters, increasingly marching to it's own drummer. How will this play out at year's end? Stay tuned.

Posted by jjdaley at 7:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last year I grabbed a bird's eye view. This year I stayed at ground level.

Everyone was jostling for a view.

I missed the leads but here's the third woman runner to come down Boylston.

And there was no shortage of strange sights in the crowd.

Posted by jjdaley at 6:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cringley has another prediction involving the whole Apple / Microsoft cross-platform future thing. Interesting take.

Posted by jjdaley at 8:08 AM | Permalink

We track Iraqi civilian deaths on a daily basis. Natalie Holloway became a national obsession. So why doesn't something like this make national headlines?

Posted by jjdaley at 7:41 AM | Permalink

Deadheading private jets are now selling seats priced for the common man, according to the Globe. With tickets going for $1500 per person, I guess the common man is doing a lot better than me.

Posted by jjdaley at 7:16 AM | Permalink

Seven months in jail awaiting trial for a crime that carries a maximum sentence of six months in jail. Yeah, I'd say something's broken.

Meanwhile, hurricane season starts in... 45 days.

Posted by jjdaley at 7:07 AM | Permalink

There are few things worse than waiting for a bus that doesn't come, especially when you're late for work. And, it's usually cold and raining to boot.

How can you not support people trying to improve city bus service?

Posted by jjdaley at 8:21 AM | Permalink