Indifference to MLB'S all-star changes, Tech Takeover Time! and hypocrisy in China

- Is it bad that I don’t give a rat’s ass about Bud Selig making changes to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game? Ever since the infamous 7-7, 11-inning tie in Milwaukee in 2002, when both teams ran out of pitchers, I haven’t been able to muster much enthusiasm for the mid-summer classic. That didn’t change when Selig made the lame-tastic decision to award World Series home-field advantage to the team that won the game. That decision was supposed to “make it count,” but in reality is just pissed a lot of people off because a bunch of scrub all-stars from teams with no hope to make the postseason were likely to decide home field in the World Series in the late innings of an all-star game after all of the players from good teams were out of the contest. As such, I just don’t care one way or the other that All-Star rosters will be expanded again by Selig's special committee for on-field matters, with each team bringing 34 players to the July 13 game in Anaheim, Calif. Rosters expanded to 32 players, including 12 pitchers, in 2003. Last summer, that number went up to 33, including 13 pitchers per league. The obvious hope was that teams wouldn’t run out of pitchers late in the game and thus no more ties or the potential for positions players to take the mound in an über-long game and blow out their arm. The choice to expand the rosters to 34 was explained by noted drunk and committee member Tony LaRussa, who expounded on the idea thusly: "I think they're serious about it being a true competition. To do that, if the game goes extra innings you have to be able to compete. This way you've got an extra guy you can protect." Whatever you say, T. Make the rosters 50 guys for all I care; it doesn’t matter. Make it just like feel-good youth sports leagues where everyone gets a medal or trophy, no one is ever left out and no score it kept. Give every team two all-stars so no one will have to travel to the game alone for all I care. Nor do I give a crap that the committee has implemented a new rule stating that a designated hitter will be used in the All-Star Game every year, including in NL cities. The DH has been used since 1989 when the All-Star Game was played in AL ballparks, but in NL parks, the prevailing rule that pitchers bat as in NL games has been enforced. "I think that's a great idea," La Russa said. "You go through a lot of needless scorecard work, it's unnecessary." Again….whatev. Oh, and that rule that each manager may designate a position player who will be eligible for re-entry to the game if the final position player -- at any position -- is injured, yeah, I think you know my response to that one too………..

- Tech Takeover Time! Tech Takeover Time! Dammit, it just doesn’t have the same cache as Riot Watch!, does it? Oh well, can’t say I didn’t give it a shot. Either way, the reality is that Hewlett-Packard announced Wednesday that it would purchase faltering smart phone maker Palm for $1.2 billion. HP is generally known for subpar, crappy computers and quality printers, but now wants to move into the smartphone business and will do so by snapping up Palm for $5.70 a share in cash, a 23-percent premium over Palm's closing price of $4.64 on Wednesday. After the deal was announced, shares of Palm rose 28 percent, while shares of HP fell less than 1 percent." Palm's innovative operating system provides an ideal platform to expand HP's mobility strategy and create a unique HP experience spanning multiple mobile connected devices," Todd Bradley, vice president of HP, wrote in a prepared statement HP is looking to increase its market share in the smartphone market and that the deal represents a "significant opportunity for profitable growth." For Palm, the takeover was a long time coming. Rumors had been swirling for months about who would buy it and HP finally stepped up to the plate. Sales of Palm’s Pre and Pixi smart phones have sagged lately and hopes were not high that the company could turn things around. The frontrunner in the buying war had been Taiwan's HTC had been a rumored favorite to take over the company, largely because Palm's patents could have aided HTC in its legal throwdown with Apple. However, HTC went out of its way to say repeatedly last week that it had not interest in buying palm. Being bought by HP is the final chapter in a sad fall for Palm, which debuted its Pre smart phone in January 2009 as projected challengers for Apple's iPhone. However, a terrible marketing campaign and a n exclusive contract with lower-profile wireless carrier Sprint torpedoed those hopes and with a scarcity of apps and the success of new competitors like Google's Android mobile platform knocked Palm down even further on the smartphone totem pole. Even bringing the Pre and its smaller cousin, the Pixi, to No. 1 mobile carrier Verizon Wireless, wasn’t enough to save Palm. Palm Chief Executive Jon Rubinstein admitted that 2010 sales would be "well below" forecasts and investors responded by slashing the stock's value by half in less than a month. Now that it has Palm, the questions are many for HP. See, most HP smart phones run Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system, and the company is already committed to launching phones in the fall with the new Windows Phone 7 OS. What will become of Palm's WebOS operating system? HP said it plans to use the operating system in non-smart phone devices, like tablets and perhaps television sets, but its run on Palm smartphones is likely over. Will HP be able to salvage the brand and turn a profit? If the partnership matches the quality level of HP computers, the answer is a definitive “no.” If it can approximate the level of HP printers, scanners and copiers, I give it a hearty “maybe”……………

- Let it be known that Burger King will stop at nothing to expand its fast-food empire and no, I’m not referring to those commercials where the Burger King king breaks into McDonald’s headquarters to steal the recipe for the Egg McMuffin, although this announcement does have loose ties to those spots. No, I’m actually talking about the fast-food chain’s new test run for brunch fare in Massachusetts and Florida. Depending on how things go in those two locales, the concept may then be rolled out nationally. The brunch menu will feature a breakfast sandwich of eggs, cheese, tomato, ham, bacon and smoky tomato sauce served on Ciabatta bread, Whoppers (not usually available in the morning) and the BK Mimosa -- a nonalcoholic take of the classic cocktail with Sprite standing in for champagne. Sadly, an actual mimosa with real alcohol probably would have put the idea over the top, but way to go BK execs, playing it conservative. Basically, this brunch push is a stab at reinventing Burger King's breakfast menu, which looks to be a major competitor in the early-morning junk-food race with McDonald's. John Schaufelberger, Burger King's senior vice president of global product marketing and innovation, explained the thinking behind BK ‘s brunch. "[This initiative] allows us to meet strong consumer demand," Schaufelberger said. "The idea of Mimosas and brunch go hand in hand, and we thought it would be a clever and unique way to enhance our morning beverage offerings." Predictably, worrywart groups such as Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and the Marin Institute are cranky about the mimosa part of things, but these teetotalers need to shut their yaps and get on board with the idea because my hope (and I think the hope of many Americans) is that this concept will eventually expand to the point that kegs and eggs are on the menu at everyone’s local Burger King…………

- Hypocrisy runs deep in China, where Communism rules and a country with 17 of the world’s 20 most-polluted cities in terms of air quality is hosting an exposition trying to promote the concept of green technology and construction throughout China. The Shanghai World Expo, opening this weekend, has a theme “Better Cities, Better Life,” but the actual practices and execution of those ideals within China certainly do not match the catchy slogan. Claiming to aspire to sustainable urban development practices with state-of-the-art energy and water saving features is swell, but unless and until those promises are realized, it’s all just talk. Anyone can host a huge international event that will go on for six months, but erecting nearly 200 booths and buildings just for that six-month run doesn’t exactly scream environmental responsibility, does it? Heck, rather than spend $164 million to construct a massive national/corporate pavilion, as Saudi Arabia has done for the event, why not pour that money into, I don’t know, actual projects to benefit the environment directly? Yes, there are good stories like the ZED Pavilion, which hailed as China’s first “zero carbon emissions” building. Critics point to the fact that with the exception of just a few Chinese pavilions, all of the structures built for the expo are slated for removal or demolition after it closes on Oct. 31. Worse still, China has known it would host the show for 10 years and this is the best plan it could come up with. I don’t know if there will be massive scrambling to put a happy face on China’s horrific environmental landscape prior to the event as there was before the 2008 Olympic Games, but I would expect no less from China. Perhaps a few of the projects undertaken for the expo will provide long-term benefits - new roads, tunnels and bridges and a major expansion of the city’s public transit systems - and that’s great, but I wonder if these projects were done using green building techniques. But hey, maybe I’m just being too negative here. After all, an in-depth 2009 environmental assessment of the Expo by the United Nations Environment Program was mostly positive about the progress made ahead of the Expo opening, including “the success of Shanghai in decoupling growth with worsening pollution.” So maybe this will all turn out for the best, but something tells me it’s going to have little to no impact at all…………

- What to do when your once-red-hot band has suddenly become passé on the alternative rock scene and people have grown tired of your act? For Brandon Flowers, the lead singer of Las Vegas-based band The Killers, the obvious answer is to release your first solo album. Flowers will do just that later this year, with the announcement coming by a Killers fan site on a Twitter post. The Tweet directs followers to the band's official website, thekillersmusic.com, where the site’s opening page reveals the title of the solo album, "Flamingo." Fans can sign up for email updates and one is left to assume that similar information will be available on the companion site brandonflowersmusic.com, which has also been created. The band as a whole appears to be behind the project, as they themselves hinted at the solo album a few days ago in a Twitter post, telling followers to check their website for "big updates." Beyond the name and existence of the project, the band and its representation weren’t willing to give up any other details. No release date has been set and there is no word on whether the style and vibe of the album will be similar to Flowers’ work with The Killers or if it will represent a departure in which he explores his own musical vision, the one all band members have yet aren’t able to fully embrace in order to work within the framework of the band and achieve common success. It’s been a tough few months both for Flowers and the band as they called off multiple tour dates in Australia and Asia in January and February due to the death of Flowers' mother. The band used that opening to announce that they were taking a break from touring. They were adamant that the band was not breaking up and that fans could expect to see them back on the road sooner rather than later. As for whether the solo album soars or sinks…….hard to say, but the band as a unit hasn’t exactly been churning out musical gold its past two albums, so I’m not holding out a ton of hope…………