5
Oct
2009

cbslogosmall

In a break from the normal Daily Edition format of just two of the Cynical Bastards taking on an issue, both Steven Hodson and Mark ‘Rizzn’ Hopkins join me today to tackle the subject of the FTCs attack on bloggers.

Yes, I edited the title of the episode, “Anyone thinking the FTC blogger rules are good are f***wads” because I opted to avoid the F-word in my title, but the exact quote, that came from my very own lips in the episode is that I said “f***tards”, and I stand by that.  If you agree with what the FTC has done, you are insanely short sighted and have zero ability to grasp the scope of what this foretells.

FTC Publishes Final Guides Governing Endorsements, Testimonials

FTC to Bloggers: Disclose Freebies or Face $11,000 FineReadWriteWeb

FTC Values Sponsored Conversations at $11,000 Apiece. – TechCrunch

FTC Launches New Guidelines For Blogs – StarterTech

FTC Media Roundup: The Good, the Bad and the Indifferent – SiliconANGLE

FTC says bloggers must disclose payments and freebies when reviewing products or risk being fined $16,000 – Orlando Sentinel

Bloggers Must Disclose Payments for Reviews – New York Times

FTC to Fine Bloggers up to $11,000 for Not Disclosing Payments – Mashable

FTC regulates our speech – Jeff Jarvis

[Special] CobWEBs Daily Podcast: Anyone thinking the FTC blogger rules are a good thing are fuckwads – Shooting at Bubbles

The FTC brings out the nut crackers and centers out bloggers – The Inquisitr

Please do yourselves a favor and research this situation for yourself, and if you disagree with us, tell us so, but don’t be surprised if we call you a F***tard.

2
Oct
2009

Scattercast is 63 … and it’s feeling a bit political in here.

- Wi-Fi connected homes? Well, a Wi-Fi scale is a good start.

- Are extended school days really the solution?

- Perhaps we should just start with school uniforms?

- I finally comment on nationalized health care … I know, shocking.

Here’s a link to the MP3 for those who wish to download it, subscribe to Scattercast via iTunes.


1
Oct
2009

cbslogosmall

Welcome to the fourth 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!

Steven Hodson and I discuss all the excitement over Google Wave, and our utter shock at how Robert Scoble called it over hyped.  Apparently the apocalypse has finally come.

Push the big green button and have a listen in!


30
Sep
2009

cbslogosmall

Welcome to the fourth 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!

Steven and Mark discuss days that don’t go well, and then they get down to some discussing of behaviroral ads, based around this post today over at SiliconANGLE.  They don’t see eye-to-eye, but as with all Cynical Bastard discussions, they aren’t that far apart even while being on opposite sides.

Push the big green button and have a listen in!


29
Sep
2009

cbslogosmall

Welcome to the fourth 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!

Steven and I go on an Apple run tonight, discussing a ton of Apple related stories, and only went seven minutes over the usual 20 minute run time!  Yay us!  Here are links (thanks, Steven) to all of the things we discussed tonight, as you can see it is a quite a boat load!

Apple 1984 ad, updated for 2009 via Boing Boing (YouTube Video link / doubleTwist)
Apple Granted Patent on iGlasses via Valleywag
iSinglePayer iPhone App Censored by Apple via LambdaJive
A Sense of Entitlement: Tweetie 2 via iPhone Development
European Union threatens to take iPhone off the market via The Next Web
Apple’s move to kill Hackintosher suit denied via The Register

Push the big green button and have a listen in!


28
Sep
2009

cbslogosmall

Welcome to the fourth 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!

Mark and I discuss the controversy over the “Should the President Be Killed?” poll on Facebook that took the blogosphere by storm today.  While we didn’t really have a problem with the actual blogs written about the poll, but the comments people were leaving that suggested this poll was some sort of Secret Service sting, or perhaps a Jewish conspiracy … if you listen closely, you can hear me hitting my forehead on the keyboard through out this episode over the stupidity.

Push the big green button and have a listen in!


26
Sep
2009

cbslogosmall

Welcome to the third 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!

Mark and Steven set out to discuss new advancements at Microsoft (which they get to eventually), but not before they take a swipe at a guest post at TechCrunch by Shelby Bonnie, which somehow involves discussing how much I blog and what an idiot I am for doing it. (I wasn’t even on the show to defend myself!)

Push the big green button and have a listen in!


25
Sep
2009

Scattercast is 62 … and yes, this is an all original episode despite the title.

- The server move is officially over … thank goodness.

- Is Twitter really worth $1 billion was back in the news this week, and it looks like it is.

- Gmail suffered a major outage this week, is this a bad sign of things to come?

- The Highlander remake isn’t the only thing annoying me about the movies this week.

Here’s a link to the MP3 for those who wish to download it, subscribe to Scattercast via iTunes.


23
Sep
2009

cbslogosmall

Welcome to the third 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!

Mark and Steven take a look at Google Sidewiki and discuss if it is a good or bad thing for the blogosphere.  Both of them take slightly different angles at it, and to be honest, I would have had a third angle to look at.  Very much a worthwhile episode to listen to and get so more thoughts on this unexpected new product from Google.

Push the big green button and have a listen in!


22
Sep
2009

cbslogosmall

Welcome to the third 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!

Steven and I take a look at what is possibly going to happen with President Obama and the newspaper industry.  Long story short … the government really needs to stay out of this whole thing.

Push the big green button and have a listen in!


21
Sep
2009

cbslogosmall

Welcome to the third 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!

Mark and I tackle the FCC announcing its net neutrality plans, and while I start off being in favor of it, I have to admit Mark changed my mind some.  (Which killed my post idea for today… Darn him!)  Give it a listen though and hear what we think the real solution is.

Push the big green button and have a listen in!


18
Sep
2009

Scattercast is 61… and glad this week is over!

- The server move this week was … not fun, and caused me many headaches

- Facebook is supposedly eating away at email

- Is Twitter really worth $1 billion?

- ASCAP and BMI want more money from Apple

Here’s a link to the MP3 for those who wish to download it, subscribe to Scattercast via iTunes.