I’m honored to be giving a keynote talk at Highway Africa, which has become the biggest annual gathering of African journalists and has a strong element of how technology is changing journalism. A key theme this year is citizen journalism.
The conference has some scholarships available for working journalists. A link to the application is here.
Yes, I now have an iPhone. I bought it used — a first-generation model — from a friend who bought the 3G phone.
Now, notice, in the upper left part of the screen what carrier I’m using (in the U.S.).
Yes, it’s T-Mobile, the other major GSM carrier. I used the excellent jailbreak/unlock application from the iPhone Dev Team, and it worked flawlessly.
More about this in upcoming posts…
Clearly, the politicians had to “Shore Up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” as the NYT headlines today. The risk of not stepping in was just too high.
But the paper, and every other bit of coverage, also notes:
While senior Democratic and Republican officials in successive administrations have for many years repeatedly denied that the trillions of dollars of debt Fannie and Freddie issued is guaranteed, the package, if adopted, would bring the Treasury closer than ever to exposing taxpayers to potentially huge new liabilities. The two companies could face significant new losses this year as the wave of housing foreclosures continues. Officials seemed to suggest, however, that they had little choice but to intervene.
Think about it for a minute. These officials were deliberately lying to you, to all of us. They knew perfectly well that they and Congresses run by both parties had created a situation in which there would be no choice but to bail out these monster companies.
We are all on the hook for billions, maybe a trillion or two, that we simply do not have. Our kids and grandkids will pay for this, unless we start dealing with reality right now by requiring some sacrifice from the basest generation, the baby boomers whose selfishness — and willingness to allow corporate corruption on a mega scale — has brought us to the edge of financial catastrophe.
And the politicians have led the parade with false promises and outright lies. We insisted they do this, or so they believed, and they responded as they normally do.
American could soon be in an Argentina-like meltdown. When you look for people to blame, if you’re older than 30, start by looking in the mirror.
Engadget, the electronics blog, has a detailed iPhone 3G review today. Good overall, but then, near the top, is this whopper:
And its 3G network compatibility finally makes the iPhone welcome the world over, especially after Cupertino decided to ditch its non-traditional carrier partnerships in favor of dropping the handset price dramatically. $200? We’re still a little stunned.
The 3G makes it mostly world-wide in coverage, but the notion that Apple has dropped the handset price to $200 is absolutely, totally bogus.
Apple did nothing of the kind. The company calling itself AT&T is subsidizing the device. But cheaper? Not on your life. In fact, you’ll pay hundreds of dollars more during your subscription period of you buy this thing. (Yes, you’ll get the 3G that the company calling itself AT&T offers as part of the deal, but not many other serious benefits.)
Engadget got suckered by the hype this time. A correction is in order.
Rep. John Conyers, in “Karl Rove, The White House And The Rule Of Law,” says:
Today was the deadline for a Judiciary Committee subpoena issued to Karl Rove, demanding his appearance before the Committee to testify on his role in the politicization of the Department of Justice and the politically selective prosecutions of Democrats. Unfortunately, Mr. Rove chose not to show up.
What are they going to do about it? Nothing, in the end, because Conyers and his Democratic colleagues are nothing but doormats for a White House that holds them in deserved contempt.
The Democrats are pathetic. Sadly they don’t seem to know why the public now rates them in single digits for approval.
If this video is to be believed, you can pop popcorn with the signals. Holy crap.
Whoops, it’s not to be believed.
But I still think it’s safer to use a headset.
In this Dow Jones story –FISA Deal Will End Court Cases Vs Phone Cos - GOP Lawmakers — Missouri’s Republican senator, Christopher Bond, is quoted as follows:
“I’m not here to say that the government is always right, but when the government tells you to do something, I’m sure you would all agree that I think you all recognize that is something you need to do.”
If I ran the St. Louis Post Dispatch or Kansas City Star, the two biggest newspapers in Missouri, I’d assign my Washington reporters to ask Bond, at every opportunity, the following questions:
If the government tells you to murder someone, is that “something you need to do?” If not, what crimes are in the permitted zone? What illegal acts can the government order a private citizen or company to commit?
Amazingly, or perhaps not, there’s no sign that anyone is asking Bond these questions. Another example of journalistic non-feasance.
Doc Searls has been in the hospital for a week, and many of us have been following the saga via his blog. Happily, as I learned during a visit yesterday in Cambridge, he’s seeing “light at the end of the digestive tunnel” and is back on real food as opposed to feeding tubes.
Doc is a treasure — to his family, his colleagues and his friends, and a guiding light in so many ways. To be his colleague is a constant pleasure and learning experience. To be his friend is a joy.
NY Times: Congress Reaches Deal on Wiretapping Bill: After months of wrangling, Democratic and Republican leaders reached a deal Thursday that would re-write the rules for the government’s wiretapping powers, and would provide what amounts to limited immunity to the telephone companies that took part in President Bush’s warrantless eavesdropping program after the Sept. 11 attacks.
This “deal” — which the reporter stenographically reports, quoting others, as a compromise — is an absolute capitulation by the Democrats, who have shown themselves conclusively to be pure quislings. Fearful of looking “soft on terrorism,” they are bowing to Bush and Republican demands that they encourage companies to break the law — and break it so that government can have all the help it needs in spying on American citizens who have done absolutely nothing to justify the surveillance.
We may as well redact the Fourth Amendment when we publish the Constitution. It’s completely meaningless at this point.
McCain supports this travesty, of course. He believes in absolute, dictatorial power for the president.
Where the hell is Obama, who claims to believe in the rule of law? He’s in hiding.
UPDATE: No, it’s worse. He supports this, too, after being a leader in the fight against it before. What a raging hypocrite he has become.
A new kind of politician? Not one who’d sell out the Constitution to get elected.
