I thought that Slate would probably serve up some self-serving garbage about the ruling of the Court of Appeals, but this is truly pathetic. "Microsoft today won the skirmish, the battle, and--in light of the leanings of a Bush/Ashcroft Justice Department--probably the war, in its fight against the pesky antitrust suit that's been nipping at its heels." Dahlia Lithwick must be "getting a lot of free pizza and beer tonight" from her overlords at MSFT for this article, because she certainly didn't read the same opinion I did. Nowhere does she even mention that the court found MSFT to be a monopoly and had acted illegally and "deceptively". The disclosure parenthetical is a cute addition but is totally unnecessary since only someone who works for MSFT could possibly write this evaluation of the opinion. As Ross Perot said, now this is just sad.
- posted by levinson @ 6/29/2001 09:18:00 AM

 
There's a lot of writing on the MSFT ruling today, and most of it seems to glean the same thing I did: MSFT is still in very, very, hot water. One thing that I didn't think of is that this opens the company up to massive private lawsuits that can keep it in court for more than a decade. MSFT has to appeal this ruling in order to try and save itself, but with two opinions in courts below that are so firmly worded and based upon the record, it would be remarkable if the Supreme Court overturned the whole thing. Having lost nearly all interest in Slate recently, I have yet to pull that up and see if they have anything. I wonder if Kinsley will write some pointless editorial the way he did when the movie "Anti-trust" came out. I did enjoy reading the comments from a panel that Salon put together. The court has set a high standard [that the new judge find MSFT would have lost its monopoly position in the OS market had it not acted illegally] for the break-up as a remedy, but it's not too far out of the realm of possibility. The opinion is an interesting read both legally and economically.
- posted by levinson @ 6/29/2001 07:59:00 AM

 
I wasn't expecting Milosevic to be handed over so quickly but am impressed that he was. I also wonder if this will cause anyone to shine a greater light on Henry Kissinger and the issues around whether or not he should also go before a war crimes tribunal. Christopher Hitchens clearly thinks he should and published an interesting two-part article in Harper's a few months back that he's since turned into a book. I haven't read the book, but the article was really interesting.
- posted by levinson @ 6/28/2001 11:12:00 AM

 
Another entry in Salon's media reporting. This time, they are following up on the coverage of radio conglomeration they covered a while back and comparing it to the possibilities with television. It will be interesting how proponents of media conglomeration duck and weave around the radio issue. The most striking feature, I thought was the chart that shows the massive conglomeration in the radio industry. Imagine the same situation with television, but replace Infinity and Clear Channel with AOL Time Warner and Microsoft. Hearings on this go before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. This was once the land of John McCain, but he has been relegated to ranking member with the Chairmanship going to Ernest "Fritz" Hollings. Hollings's website says a lot about the Telecom Act of '96, but doesn't illuminate at all on the issues with radio since the act passed, nor does it offer any clue as to where he stands on the potential television consolidation. What will also be telling is if any of the television stations give this any time on their political shows.
- posted by levinson @ 6/28/2001 08:44:00 AM

 
Salon has a story today, and the beginning of an occasional series, on the large media conglomerates and their attempts to control the internet. The editors point out: "[y]ou can hop from your drive-time station to your eyewitness news channel to your favorite news portal to your morning paper, without significantly expanding your grasp of the world." Even the editorials and pundits have been brought under the yoke of this mindless repition of the two-party lines.

I see an outlet in blogs (although there seems to be a lot of self-congratulation going on in the blog world right now) and liken their possible impact to those of the basement publisher at the beginning of last century. There is a need for independent voices and reporting in an evern constricting media environment. E-mail provides a manner that can bring awareness to a cite faster than most conventional advertising. Also the start-up costs are minimal, and for those that are motivated, self-web-hosting provides almost total autonomy. Kausfiles and the Daily Howler are good examples. I consider Drudge to be a good outlet for less reported stories, though not a reporter/commentator on the same level.
- posted by levinson @ 6/26/2001 07:58:00 AM

 
Commentary from UCS Linking to another blog which is something I don't do all that often, but there are two things I liked on this page. The first is Eric's commentary on the Internet lacking good content, and the blogs are one of the only good outlets available at the moment. The second is his idea for smart tags. Basically a function on browsers that goes through web pages when loaded and (using software like Google to search the web) load in links to the keywords on the page. Obviously everything wouldn't score an interesting page, but I think it would enhance surfing in a profound way. Also, since Google ranks its top hits with a "significance" score (see here for more), what sites words pull up would be in a state of flux and thus reflect the changing nature of the Internet. Sounded pretty cool.
- posted by levinson @ 6/22/2001 10:48:00 AM

 
Look. I'm a sports fan. I'm from Boston and I love my teams to a fanatical level. At least, fanatical for anywhere else in the country. Guys like this just put me to shame. One can only hope that he was already planning to mount the summit before finding out about the potential benefits to the Sox. One thing I've always found interesting is that no one seems to reflect upon the fact that in order to win the World Series, the Red Sox don't have to beat the Yankees. They may have to face them in the playoffs (which has only happened once in baseball history), but to actually win it they have to beat someone from the NL. Nonetheless, hopefully this fan's effort will get them to the World Series.
- posted by levinson @ 6/20/2001 06:42:00 AM

 
The New Yorker: On-line Only A Q&A with one of the author's from the New Yorker's Fiction issue. Usually I don't read the fiction in the weekly issues because I find the main articles more stimulating. This issue (being almost all fiction) removes that restriction and has rewarded me well for this omission. The author interviewed wrote "The Very Rigid Search" about an American travelling to the Ukraine in search of the family that helped hide his family from the Nazi's. It developes smartly and reveals itself in some subtle ways that are almost distracting from the language barrier that is made palpable both in the dialogue and the writing style which is from the perspective of a native Ukranian who has learned some English. If the mag is still on the shelves, pick it up. Well worth a read in the park on an afternoon.
- posted by levinson @ 6/19/2001 11:58:00 AM

 
Modern Humorist - Mayor Dad Modern Humorist has been heating up again of late, and for those of us in the NYC area, these cards are particularly amusing.

On a side note I'd like to mourn the loss of Suck Daily. One of the original blogs (before there even was such a thing) and consistently funny every day, it entertained with unusual skill and interweaved the elements of the web to add poignant and biting punch lines. RIP Suck.
- posted by levinson @ 6/15/2001 09:20:00 AM

 
Website offers Madonna ticket - for sex Another reason why the Europeans are just so much more cultured than we poor slobs on this continent. And they say decency is dying in our country?
- posted by levinson @ 6/15/2001 08:29:00 AM

 
Andre Rison To Marry Singer Lopes What do you do when a girl tattoos your number on her arm and then burns your house down? Marry her.
- posted by levinson @ 6/14/2001 10:53:00 AM

 
Salon.com Politics | Did Karl Rove violate ethics laws? Can anyone imagine the size of the furor if this had been a Clinton staffer? Sometimes I wish some of the fanatics on the left would get their own media spin machine together and make sure it's as shameless as the one on the right. Not upright citizens, mind you, the kind of guys that mirror the psychos that inhabit the fantatical right.
- posted by levinson @ 6/14/2001 09:34:00 AM

 
Watt Price Ideology? Yet another in a series of stinging rebukes from Krugman against the Bushies. These have been getting more and more pointed of late and continue to be met with the same mealy-mouthed responses. It's a good thing W doesn't throw press conferences any more, because a reporter may have the audacity to actually ask some questions about Krugman's writings. Rob would know the answer to this, but I bet the Japanese government responded in a similar manner when Krugman was railing against their foolish decisions in the early part of the last decade. We know the state of their economy of late. Beware if you choose to ignore the economist.
- posted by levinson @ 6/03/2001 12:27:00 AM

 
Salon.com Technology | FBI declines to pursue "Kaycee" Internet hoax -- Was totally taken by this one. I didn't read enough of it to notice any of the inconsistencies that were brought to light. See my earlier post for my initial reactions on this. This would have been a grand Kaufman-esque prank if played correctly. Unfortunately, Kaycee's creator was trying to do something "creative" and so the opportunity for a table turning is lost.
- posted by levinson @ 6/01/2001 12:11:00 PM