Welcome to another week of the daily edition of CobWEBs, the flagship podcast of The Cynical Bastards!

For those who don’t remember from the other episodes, this is a new format for the show as we are going to try giving you daily bite sized chunks of our patented brand of cynicism over everything in the tech universe. The show will have a rotating host schedule between Steven Hodson, Mark ‘Rizzn’ Hopkins and myself. You’ll always get two of us, you just never know which two!

In this episode, Steven and I discuss how the FTC can’t make up its mind about how much it is going to enforce its disclosure rules … and then we somehow end up talking about the evils of the entertainment industry and its war on copyright laws.  We do tend to wander. (links by Steven)

FTC Not Sure How to Enforce Blogger Disclosure Rules – Wall Street Journal
Net Neutrality is a good thing as long as it screws with copyrights – The Inquisitr

Push the big green button and have a listen in!

Welcome to another week of the daily edition of CobWEBs, the flagship podcast of The Cynical Bastards!

For those who don’t remember from the other episodes, this is a new format for the show as we are going to try giving you daily bite sized chunks of our patented brand of cynicism over everything in the tech universe. The show will have a rotating host schedule between Steven Hodson, Mark ‘Rizzn’ Hopkins and myself. You’ll always get two of us, you just never know which two!

In this episode, Steven and I discuss Haiti and the idiotic comments of Pat Robertson.  We then move on to the day we have all waited for … the launch of Blippy!  Get down with your bad self, Leo Leporte and your hip hop love! (links by Steven)

Tech companies adding to the relief effort for Haiti – The Inquisitr
Pat Robertson Haiti Comments – Sean P. Aune
leolaporte is using Blippy – Leo Leporte
Can We Live In Private and Demand Companies Be Open? – Louis Gray

Push the big green button and have a listen in!

Scattercast is 78 … and thinking about all those true stories.

- Haiti … need I say more?

- The whole Leno/O’Brien thing is just astounding.

- Some thoughts on the Green Lantern movie and the upcoming Spider-Man reboot.

Here’s

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for those who wish to download it, subscribe to Scattercast via iTunes.

Multiple sources are reporting that Jay Leno is returning as host of The Tonight Show, and Conan O’Brien is exiting with a lot of money.

As I was writing this, the only source on this news was TMZ, which I always take a grain of salt, but now Nikki Finke, who is almost untouchable on this type of news, is reporting that the final details are being worked out now that will restore Jay Leno to the hosting duties on The Tonight Show, and Conan O’Brien is completely out of a job.  Ms. Finke’s sources say that Mr. O’Brien will exit with a tremendous amount of money, exactly how much is not known, but it sounds like it will be a considerable amount.

Jeff Zucker is reportedly taking no blame in this whole debacle, even though everything traces back to all of it being him: guaranteeing Conan The Tonight Show prematurely, not seeing if Jay was ready to retire and then coming up with this disaster of  a primetime vehicle for Leno.

I can not believe what a debacle this has turned in to.  With each step NBC looks worse and worse, raising Conan O’Brien to almost folkhero status as people rally around the man who is getting shafted by corporate America.  Everyone involved in this situation should be ashamed of themselves, the biggest one being Jeff Zucker, but closely followed by Jay Leno.  The gracious thing to do would be to step aside, he had his shot in primetime, it failed, move on.  Instead you are forcing a man and his staff — yes, lets not forget he brought his staff with him from New York City — out of jobs.  They uprooted their lives and moved up to “the show” to use baseball vernacular, but because Jay Leno’s ego won’t let him fade away, he is ousting them so he can keep his chin on TV.

If this proves to be true, I am done with NBC.  So long as Jeff Zucker is in power, I will not watch another show on this network, which right now just means giving up 30 Rock.  And you know what?  I’ll live.

Show your support, display I’m With Coco!

I’ve discovered over the years that one of the keys to a long and happy life is to just simply not discuss religion. Sure I have my occasional dances with the Church of Scientology, but that isn’t really about religion. Define Pat Robertson’s comments about the tragedy in Haiti any way you want, but I’m still going to condemn them and call the man an asshat.

Lets get this out of the way first: the tragedy in Haiti is mind numbing in its magnitude.  Some estimates put the death toll at north of 500,000, and that is a number that is almost too large for the human mind to comprehend.  My heart goes out to the people of Haiti as they try to work through this horrific tragedy.

However, people like Pat Robertson are not helping.

In a recent segment on the Christian Broadcasting Network, Mr. Robertson said the following in regards to the tragedy in Haiti:

And, you know, Kristi, something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, “We will serve you if you will get us free from the French.” True story. And so, the devil said, “OK, it’s a deal.”

My personal favorite moment is when he says, “True story.” Really? You have documented proof of this, Mr. Robertson? Is it notarized by the Notary Public of Hell?

Where do you even start with how wrong this whole thing is?  Not only does he talk about some supposed pact with the Devil (true story!), but he calls the earthquake “a blessing in disguise” in the full video clip below.  Mr. Robertson, you sir, are an asshat.  Plain and simple.  Why, I would go so far as to call you the King of the Asshats.  Wear your crown with pride, sir.

Welcome to another week of the daily edition of CobWEBs, the flagship podcast of The Cynical Bastards!

For those who don’t remember from the other episodes, this is a new format for the show as we are going to try giving you daily bite sized chunks of our patented brand of cynicism over everything in the tech universe. The show will have a rotating host schedule between Steven Hodson, Mark ‘Rizzn’ Hopkins and myself. You’ll always get two of us, you just never know which two!

In this episode, Steven and I are puzzled by the Facebook/McAfee team-up that seems to imply if you aren’t running at least some form of anti-virus software, you won’t be allowed on the site.  Riiiight.  We also go off in a weird direction for a bit to see how much our Twitter profiles are worth and laugh at the math.

Push the big green button and have a listen in!

The villain that will face off against Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan/Green Lantern has been found for the film due out in 2011.

It had been assumed by most people that the villain for the Green Lantern movie would be his most well-known enemy, Sinestro.  Well, in a curve ball out of nowhere, Peter Sarsgaard has been cast as the lesser-known villain, Hector Hammond.  This is a bit of a shock, but I see an interesting possibility that this means we meet Sinestro in this film, but he doesn’t turn evil until a possible second film.

This is the second big piece of casting news this week for this film as it was just announced that Blake Lively of Gossip Girl has been cast as Carol Ferris, Hal Jordan’s love interest.

Filming begins in March in New Orleans for a June 17, 2011 release date

Welcome to another week of the daily edition of CobWEBs, the flagship podcast of The Cynical Bastards!

For those who don’t remember from the other episodes, this is a new format for the show as we are going to try giving you daily bite sized chunks of our patented brand of cynicism over everything in the tech universe. The show will have a rotating host schedule between Steven Hodson, Mark ‘Rizzn’ Hopkins and myself. You’ll always get two of us, you just never know which two!

Tonight Steven and I tackle the issues of Robert Scoble not knowing his behind from a hole in the ground when it comes to Twitter, but also when it comes to Google and censorship in China.  Although, to be fair, most of the Internet doesn’t seem to get the china thing.(links by Steven)

Corporate Bravery from Google – Robert Scoble
Google’s “we’ll leave China” has nothing to do with censorship – The Inquisitr
Google Is Just Saber Rattling And Won’t Pull Out Of China – Paul O’Flaherty

Push the big green button and have a listen in!

This is like a train wreck that I just can’t pull my eyes away from!

At last, Conan O’Brien has made an official statement about what is going on over at NBC with The Jay Leno Show and The Tonight Show.

People of Earth:

In the last few days, I’ve been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I’ve been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I’ve been absurdly lucky. That said, I’ve been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.

Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over The Tonight Show in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.

But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my Tonight Show in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.

Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn’t the Tonight Show. Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the Late Night show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy.

So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of The Tonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet a time slot doesn’t matter. But with the Tonight Show, I believe nothing could matter more.

There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.

Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it’s always been that way.

Yours,
Conan

So, what say you, is Conan correct in taking this stand? Personally I say “yes”.

***MAJOR SPOILERS***

Continue Reading ->

Welcome to another week of the daily edition of CobWEBs, the flagship podcast of The Cynical Bastards!

For those who don’t remember from the other episodes, this is a new format for the show as we are going to try giving you daily bite sized chunks of our patented brand of cynicism over everything in the tech universe. The show will have a rotating host schedule between Steven Hodson, Mark ‘Rizzn’ Hopkins and myself. You’ll always get two of us, you just never know which two!

Tonight Steven and I are all over the place subject wise.  First up we bitch about the just announced reboot of the Spider-Man movie series … we know, totally not tech related, but it annoyed us.

Then we’re on to why Microsoft should be getting more “social” … followed by my suggestion of a Microsoft theme park named “Windows World”.(links by Steven)

Spider-Man 4 Canceled; Franchise Reboot Planned – Sean P. Aune
Google sure has picked of the tricks of screwing their customers pretty quick – The Inquisitr

Push the big green button and have a listen in!

Bolstered by the legal fight between the heirs of Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster against DC Comics, the family of Jack Kirby is going after the rights of a large chunk of the Marvel comics universe.

The legal battles over the ownership to Superman has been a long one, dating back to the 1940′s.  It has had more twists and turns than one can count, but in the end, DC has paid some money to the families, and some small issues still linger.

Now comes Marvel Comics turn to fight in court to retain characters created under its brand name.

The family of Jack “The King” Kirby has served Marvel with notices of their intent to reclaim the rights to 45 characters in 2014 that he created while working for the company in the 1960′s and 1970′s.  This was announced this past summer, even before the news of Disney buying Marvel broke, and Disney has stated that the issue was taken into consideration when determining the $4 billion price tag it paid for the comics publisher.

Now news comes today that Marvel is taking the Jack Kirby estate to court and claiming that all of the characters were created under a “work for hire” situation.  This essentially means he worked for them, was paid for his work, and that Mr. Kirby retains no rights to those characters as they were purchased outright by the company.  John Turitzin, a lawyer for Marvel, said, “[the Kirby heirs] are trying to  rewrite the history of Kirby’s relationship with Marvel.  Everything about Kirby’s relationship with Marvel shows that his contributions were works made for hire and that all the copyright interests in them belong to Marvel.”

Marc Toberoff, lawyer for the Kirbys, replied, “It is a standard claim predictably made by comic book companies to deprive artists, writers, and other talent of all rights in their work.”

While I have not seen the actual contracts, I hate to tell the Kirbys that Marvel is more than likely correct.  Back in the time he was working for the company, comic books were seen as nothing more than children’s entertainment, and the work was disposable at best.  No one saw the long term iconic status these characters would reach, nor the millions they would bring in at the box office.  They simply were stories sold to kids, and nothing more, the fact that they have endured is a testament to the work Mr. Kirby did, but if the contracts read the way I imagine they do, they have no real case here.

I am certainly not defending the way Marvel treated Jack Kirby over the years, but a contract is a contract.

The one thing Mr. Toberoff said that really angered me, and prompted me to write this article at all, was, “Sadly, Jack died without proper compensation, credit or recognition for his lasting creative contributions.”

Excuse me?  Have you ever spent any time within a mile of a comic book store or convention?  Heck, within a mile of a comic book fan alone?  Jack Kirby is spoken with reverence and love by just about every comic book fan who draws breath.  No credit?  No recognition?  You, sir, are a fool who are just trying to paint Marvel in an unfavorable light, but instead you just show your extreme ignorance to the industry you have decided to take to task.  You would be well served by doing some research.