- Because it did so well in issuing stock and taking its
business public, Facebook is now looking to branch out in another new
direction. After its bungled IPO brought charges of fraud and conspiracy theories about plots
to screw over the little guy, newly minted billionaire Mark Zuckerberg and his
crew are moving ahead with secretive plans to release its own smartphone.
According to anonymous sources with knowledge of the company’s plans, the
social networking giant has already hired more than half a dozen former Apple
engineers who worked on the iPhone. Similar reports have surfaced in the past,
including rumors in 2010 that Facebook was building software for a phone and
partnering with a third party to make the hardware. At the time, reports
claimed the phone was code-named "Buffy" and would run on a version
of Android modified to integrate Facebook's services. Nothing came of those
rumors, but they resurfaced over the weekend thanks to an interview with a
former iPhone engineer who said he recently met with Zuckerberg and spent
significant time discussing the inner workings of smartphones and the types of
chips used in the devices. From the description of their conversation, the
exchange definitely did not sound random or inconsequential, but rather a concerted
focus on a project already in motion. Rather than comment on the story,
Facebook referred back to a previous statement that said in part, "We're
working across the entire mobile industry; with operators, hardware
manufacturers, OS providers, and application developers." It is a typical
corporate BS statement that says nothing about anything. But BS or not, a
Facebook-built smartphone would be perfect for the social networking-addicted
masses, who use their Droid, iPhone or BlackBerry for Facebook-ing and tweeting
all day long anyhow. For Facebook, creating new sources of revenue with its
limited options is vital and a successful phone could do exactly that………
- Few athletes have turned back Father Time again and again
like New Jersey Devils goaltender
Martin Brodeur. The 18-year veteran is four wins from his fourth Stanley Cup
championship and has become the ultimate rarity in modern sports by spending
his entire career with the same team. As he nears a stunning fourth
championship, the questions persist as to whether this might be the last season
for the 40-year-old Brodeur. Judging by how he responded to those questions after
Monday's practice, the end is not so imminent for the veteran net
minder. "You know, I can't say
no. But I doubt it," Brodeur said about retiring after this season. "I'm
really enjoying this. Regardless of what happens this series, we made a great
step last year, and we've got a good team together, a good coaching staff, and
it's fun, you know? For me
it's all about having fun coming to the rink. Some say it's fun to retire on
top or whatever, but at the end of the day, when I'm gonna say it's over, it's
gonna be over. I'm not gonna come back. We'll see." He certainly would not
be coming back to chase personal records, as he is already the NHL's all-time
winningest goalie. He has championship rings from 1995, 2000 and 2003 and is
playing nearly as well as he ever has, posting a 31-21-4 record during the
2011-12 regular season. His playoff mark of 12-5 with a 2.04 goals-against
average, a .923 save percentage and one shutout suggest that he can still
compete at the highest level as well. He conceded that his success this season
has actually pushed back any thoughts of retirement that may have been lurking.
"The way I've enjoyed myself, having fun with the young guys, we gelled as
a team, and coming to the rink is fun. That's what I was looking for. I wasn't
having fun last year,” he explained. The Devils begin their Stanley Cup Finals
run Wednesday night at the Prudential Center against the red-hot Los Angeles
Kings……….
- Madonna and Lady Gaga are the same artist. Gaga is Madonna
2.0 in as much as anyone can be version 2.0 of a completely manufactured, artificial
and contrived act who flutters from one gimmick to another in a constant attempt
to keep herself relevant despite a total lack of musical talent. Often, such
artists don’t get along because they hate the idea of someone being just like
them and parroting their career. So how will Lady Gaga react after video
surfaced from this past weekend of Madonna rehearsing for her upcoming show in Israel when, mid-song, she burst
into a Lady Gaga song and created a
mash-up of the meat dress wearer’s lyrics with her own? The Material Skank took
her song, "Express Yourself," and combined it with Gaga’s
track "Born This Way." The footage might be a deliberate leak on the
Material Skank’s part or it may be legitimately recorded on the smartphone of a
snoop who had access to the rehearsal, but nothing says epic music quite like
an over-the-hill pop hack belting out her 1989 female-empowerment anthem interspersed
with words from Gaga’s equally awful modern-day salute to empowerment of a
different kind. The performance was ironic given the Material Skank’s previous comments
that Gaga ripped off her song and her style. "I certainly think she
references me a lot in her work," the MS said in January. "And
sometimes I think it's amusing and flattering and well done. There's a lot of
ways to look at it. I can't really be annoyed by it...because, obviously, I've
influenced her." Gaga has admitted the influence and to essentially being
the female version of Justin Timberlake, who essentially rips off Michael
Jackson’s shtick and gimmicks to fuel his awful post-man band career. Madonna
later had less-than-complimentary words about “Born This Way,” snarkily saying,
"When I heard ["Born This Way"] on the radio...I said, 'That
sounds very familiar.' It feels reductive." Reductive or fodder for the
worst musical mash-up ever crafted, one or the other……….
- Lawyer haters, today is a day to celebrate. The foundering
law firm
Dewey & Leboeuf LLP (a legal cousin of the famed Dewey, Cheatem & Howe)
filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday night and will seek approval
to liquidate its business after failing to find a merger partner. The filing is
the tombstone marking the biggest collapse of a law firm in U.S. history. Dewey
was once one of the largest law firms in the U.S., but has seen its brilliant
legal minds scurry away like rats from a sinking ship in recent months amid
concerns about compensation and a heavy debt load. Most of its roughly 300
partners have moved to other firms and a warning from senior leadership earlier
this month of the possibility the firm may shut down expedited that process.
The firm’s collapse proves yet again that the “too big to fail” mantra doesn’t
hold true in any industry and has other big-time law firms wondering if they
could be next. Before filing for bankruptcy, Dewey engaged in frantic negotiations
with other law firms to strike a deal but could not find a partner. Instead,
all but 90 employees are now without a job and those who remain are only on
hand to assist in the liquidation, which it expects to be completed in the next
few months. How did the collapse happen? Other than the predictable excuse of a
bad economy, the firm's
partnership compensation arrangements created a situation where its cash flow
was insufficient to cover expenses. "During the first quarter of 2012, the
firm was confronted with liquidity constraints that led to the precipitous
resignation of over 160 of the firm's 300 partners by May 11," the
New-York based firm said in a statement. In its filing, Dewey listed
liabilities in the range of $100 million to $500 million. It terminated 433 of
its 533 New York employees earlier this month, paving the way for its final
lurching steps toward bankruptcy. Some major legal fights loom, as a number of
former partners have already retained lawyers to represent them (ironic, yes).
Oh, and there is also the criminal probe of former firm chairman Steven Davis
that the Manhattan District Attorney's office launched in April. For those who
despise the legal profession, seeing the mega-firm that resulted from a 2007
merger between Dewey Ballantine and LeBoeuf, Lamb, Green & MacRae is a
reason to laugh. That the downfall came because senior partners had absurdly
lucrative compensation packages is funnier still. Too big to fail still means
hilarious to enjoy the demise of………..
- Who doesn’t want to see a painting of their country’s
highest-ranking political leader’s junk? Hasn’t every American president who
has ever served commissioned just such a portrait? Then why is South African President Jacob Zuma asking his country’s High
Court to issue an order that the display of the painting called "The Spear,"
by artist Brett Murray? Zuma claimed the painting violates his constitutional
right to dignity after it went on display at the Goodman Gallery, one of the
country's leading galleries, early this month. The painting has become a major
point of controversy and was defaced by vandals last week, although the motive
behind the vandalism was not clear. Following the defacing, 2,000 protesters
for the African National Congress marched to the gallery Tuesday to demonstrate
against the painting. Because the painting was part of a larger exhibition,
taking it down did not ruin the show, especially not after all of the attention
it drew for the gallery. In addition to the physical version, the gallery had
digital images of the painting on its website. Gallery spokesman Neil Dundas
met the ANC delegation at the end of its march on Tuesday and told protestors that
the painting will be taken down from the website after Tuesday. Keeping
it hanging after it was defaced would have been a bold move, given that
the fickle nature of art values could very well mean that a vandalized painting
of President Jacob Zuma with his junk exposed would be even more valuable than
the artwork in its original form…………
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