All Things Digital - Latest Comments

Re: Tim Cook’s Dazed and Confused Years

demodave — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 14:17:31 -0000

Sorry, Peter, this is totally pathetic. It's a picture of a kid in school and then a non sequitorial cast of aspersions. Normally I like your work, but this one should be discounted from your collection of articles written.

Re: Tim Cook’s Dazed and Confused Years

Dizzy Dame — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 14:13:51 -0000

this is an article?

Re: HuffPost Live Thrives On Tape

Ro Gupta — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 13:35:23 -0000

I agree that live online will increase from today -- esp. if YouTube is
serious about pushing live streaming. But don't see how it ever gets
back to the synchronous viewership levels broadcast and cable get/got on
a regular basis.

Also, I wonder what % of Twitter conversations are actually driven by live events, let alone live TV specifically. It's certainly a big part of Twitter -- esp. in terms of media coverage and the consumer brand -- but looking at my own feed, still feels like asynch is the majority, even for tweets about TV. If you extend to FB, Tumblr, Reddit, Disqus, etc., convos on live events prob represent an even more modest % overall, although it may be growing.

Wonder if Bluefin or Gnip or someone has decent data on this.
@PKafka -- make it happen!

Re: Here’s Why You Hate Your Cable Company

Jerry — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 12:38:34 -0000

Time-Warner in Houston was so bad that I emailed the Texas Public Utilities commission my running emails with tm over my constant phone outages. I emailed the Houston TV stations, and best of all I emailed the long-running email to Time-Warners competitors. Comcast bought Time-Warner and within 24 hours of the announcement Comcast had a crew at my house, on the pole at MIDNIGHT putting in new equipment. Comcast did give us great service.

Jerry. Google SEO Goo-Roo

Re: Facebook’s Gay Marriage Map

D Isaacs — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 12:17:52 -0000

Bob: Ernie and Bert are not gay, true. They are not "just good friends," either, though. They are puppets of fictional (non existent) characters. People can interpret them to be anything they want. It's been a looooong time since anyone really thought an author/creator gets to overrule the reader/viewer about the interpretation the latter has.

Re: Facebook’s Gay Marriage Map

Guest — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 12:14:20 -0000

Bob: Ernie and Bert are not gay, true. They are not "just good friends," either, though. They are puppets of fictional (non existent) characters. People can interpret them to be anything they want.

Re: Netflix Taps “Matrix” Makers for New Series

PKafka — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 12:06:51 -0000

It's actually not a "real" Netflix series. But thanks for reminding me - I'll write about it in a bit.

Re: HuffPost Live Thrives On Tape

PKafka — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 12:04:38 -0000

Hey Mark. Yup, I get the theory. But I think there are a very limited number of things that lots of people want to see at the same time (as opposed to lots of things that small groups of people want to see live, which is a different equation). Basically sports and sports-like events, and a few other exceptions.

Social media can make live events a lot more fun, but I don't think it's likely to drive people to watch something in real time if they have the chance and opportunity to view it on their own time.

Like tonight, for instance, when I watch the Shark Tank I DVR'd last night.

Re: Here’s Why You Hate Your Cable Company

David Leopold — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 11:08:34 -0000

I hate my "former" Cable company for other reasons. They provided crappy residential Customer Service; in my "Business Class" they thjought it was OK to go into my checking account to take their monthly fee---WITHOUT MY PERMISSION to do so.
"SmallBizDavid" (aka David Leopold)

Re: Facebook’s Gay Marriage Map

Bob M Wade — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 10:35:45 -0000

Why would it matter anyway if they were gay or straight?

Re: Tim Cook’s Dazed and Confused Years

nogeeksadmin — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 10:31:59 -0000

Stupid headline. Stupid article.

Re: Here’s Why You Hate Your Cable Company

davebarnes — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 10:30:37 -0000

They should have made multiple versions of this using the real names and logos of cable companies.

Re: Facebook’s Gay Marriage Map

elizabeth — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 10:24:46 -0000

it's a joke, kiddo

Re: Tim Cook’s Dazed and Confused Years

Jeanne C. — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 09:59:40 -0000

What a misleading title and topic. Wow.

Re: Tim Cook’s Dazed and Confused Years

Gaurav Chandiramani — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 09:34:09 -0000

When I read the title I thought it referred to his current tenure as CEO :P

Re: Here’s Why You Hate Your Cable Company

Charlie1 — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 09:08:45 -0000

SO TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Facebook’s Gay Marriage Map

James Terry Pizzy — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 07:13:04 -0000

They are puppets why the hell does it matter gay or straight they ain't real!

Re: Facebook’s Gay Marriage Map

Rose Thompson — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 00:41:17 -0000

I too would be interested to see data showing those who changed profile pics to demonstrate opposition to proposition. Otherwise the reporting is nothing less than biased, one-sided conjecture!

Re: Here’s a Marissa Mayer M&A Candidate You Haven’t Heard Of

madmilker — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 21:53:20 -0000

Everyone at the Wine-O's Love Art Too Society have left Yahoo and went to Chrome by way of each getting a Samsung Chromebook.

No Exclamation mark....
No Bing...
No AOL...
and those nice young people at Google keep busy each day updating those Chromebooks to make sure everyone at the Wine-O's Love Art Too Society are happy....

duh! has Greg Penner got interest in Softbank?

Re: HuffPost Live Thrives On Tape

Rona Berry-Morin — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 21:35:33 -0000

I'm a huge fan of HPL. It's also got our 21 yr old hooked. How many news shows can say that?!

Re: Facebook’s Gay Marriage Map

jerome1972 — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 20:57:28 -0000

Peter Kafka: don't you mean "the darker the color", not "the brighter the color"? Or maybe it should be "the denser the color"?

Re: What Do Facebook Likes Really Mean? Stephen Colbert Knows

Joel Emmett — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 18:53:06 -0000

Curly fries are the Cadillac of French fries. (I know that because I'm smart.)

Re: Facebook’s Gay Marriage Map

Bob Singer — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 17:35:27 -0000

The question was asked of Muppets creator Jim Henson years ago. Here is the official response from that :

Bert
and Ernie, who've been on Sesame Street for 25 years, do not portray a
gay couple, and there are no plans for them to do so in the future. They
are puppets, not humans. Like all the Muppets created for Sesame
Street, they were designed to help educate preschoolers. Bert and Ernie
are characters who help demonstrate to children that despite their
differences, they can be good friends.
”

- Sesame Workshop's consumer response prepared statement, 1993

And again:

When Michael Davis, author of the 2008 book Street Gang,
was asked, "What's the biggest misconception that people have about
Sesame Street that you're hoping to dispel with this book?," Davis
responded, "That Bert and Ernie are gay... Certainly they [Sesame Street
cast members] played to that notion and laughed about it and enjoyed
speculating about Bert and Ernie, but the truth is that those characters
are a projection of the real-life friendship between Jim Henson and
Frank Oz

Eric Jacobson to Vanity Fair, 2011:

VF: I’m sure you’re aware of the online movement this last summer to get Bert and Ernie married. Do you have an opinion about what did or didn’t or should’ve happened?
[Long pause.] EJ: You’re going to have to talk to our P.R. department about that.
VF: But you’re the guy who plays Bert. You don’t have any thoughts about his sexual orientation?
EJ: If you know the genesis of the characters, it’s an absurd idea. They’re like The Odd Couple. Just think of it like that. It’s Felix and Oscar from The Odd Couple. That’s what I believe the inspiration for Bert and Ernie was. If you
look at the history, when the show first aired, that makes sense.

Nuff said. Good friends. Why must you assume more?

Re: Facebook’s Gay Marriage Map

Kevin Newton — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 17:26:06 -0000

How do you know Bert and Ernie are not gay? Did they tell you?

Re: Facebook’s Gay Marriage Map

Bob Singer — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 17:22:25 -0000

Why after repeated explanations do gay supporters keep using Bert and Ernie as a meme? Bert and Ernie are great friends, but they are NOT GAY! On a more serious note, did you in any way check to see how many people were defriended and otherwise bothered by the FB focus on gay rights? How many humorous versions of the "=" were displayed, and how many people would have used an alternative to show their objection to the meme if one were circulated on FB? I didn't think so. Shoddy reporting.