- Give Nokia credit for attempting to give the people what
they want. What the people want, clearly, is more ways and means to watch their
favorite entertainment content on their mobile devices…or so says Nokia and Vodafone UK. The two companies have partnered up to offer free Netflix
on all Lumia 1020 purchases, a deal that will include one year's worth of
Netflix for those who purchase the Windows Phone on Vodafone. The arrangement
isn't final yet because Nokia is still signing a deal with Microsoft for the
latter to purchase its devices and services division, but everything is
expected to be in place soon for the offer of free Netflix on all Lumia 1020 purchases to
become available. As part of this clever plan, Nokia is hoping to become more
competitive in Europe despite a market rife with established competition. One
single offer may not be enough to win the battle, but serving up an opportunity
for those who purchase a new Lumia Windows Phone on Vodafone is a smart first
step. Doing so just ahead of the holiday shopping season is even smarter and
despite its relatively small presence on the U.S. smartphone market, Windows
Phone is doing well enough in the U.K. even after arriving to the party late.
So far, it has managed to score 10 percent of the market and with additional hardware
on the way and all manner of gimmicks and promotions behind the push, maybe a
phone based on the world’s worst operating system has a chance to do some
damage and sell a few units to Europeans before they too clue in to just how
much all things Windows truly suck………
- Thanks for clarifying, Georgia Tech student and Phi Kappa Tau
fraternity member Matthew. Matthew, whose name somehow remains unknown in the
age of social media exposing everything and everyone remotely worthwhile, is
the piece of crap who recently sent an email that educated fellow fraternity
members on "luring rapebait" and contained several references to
using alcohol as a means of sexual persuasion, hasn’t won a lot of fans on a
local or national level. In fact, there has been a smidge of backlash from
websites, news organizations and on-campus organizations, leading Matthew to
(sort of) step forward and issue a (half-assed) apology. Following pledges by
the university to investigate and the suspension of the campus chapter of the
fraternity by Phi Kappa Tau, Matthew explained in his (bullsh*t) mea culpa that
he was his chapter's social chair and wrote the original message as a joke –
one he now admits never have been written in the first place. "Misogynistic
behavior is everywhere online and unfortunately, my attempt to ridicule it in
an immature and outrageous satire backfired terribly and in a manner I
mistakenly underestimated," he wrote in Technique, Georgia Tech's student
newspaper. He then explained the origin of the e-mail's central term,
"rapebait," is an "internal fraternity joke." How this was
supposed to make anything better is uncertain, but it should definitely help
further the already sterling image of frat boys as enlightened,
forward-thinking citizens of the world. "I know I cannot fix all the
damage I have done, but I will strive to become a better man as I work through
this episode in my life," Matthew added in his newspaper mini-manifesto.
Stay classy, Mateo…….
- Torii Hunter is
a real man’s major leaguer. He is on record as not wearing a protective cup
while on the field and after Sunday night, it’s clear he’ll do damn near
anything to win a game. Hunter was on the wrong end of the highlight play of Game
2 of the American League Championship Series, when he crashed headfirst over
the right-field wall while attempting to catch David Ortiz's game-tying grand
slam in the eighth inning. As a Boston police officer went viral for
celebrating the home run just feet from the spot where he laid in a heap on the
ground, Hunter said he never considered leaving the game. "This is the
postseason," Hunter said despite being bruised and bloodied. "I'd die
on the field for this. You're not going to take me off this field."
His competitive hyperbole aside, Hunter was adamant that he would have done
whatever it took to match the catch. "I was trying my best to just stop
that ball from going over the fence," he continued. "I'd sacrifice my
body if I have to. I've done that my whole career." Great efforts or not,
the Tigers lost 6-5 and headed home tied 1-1 in the best-of-7 series. If
anything can give a team solace and hope after a late-game collapse to lose a
big game, it’s a nine-time Gold Glove winner saying at the age of 38 that he’s
still willing to impale himself on outfield fences to make plays. Hunter may
have been telling a different story had he received more than bruises on his
side and a scratch on the back of his head that was bleeding from the
collision, but he escaped (relatively) unscathed. A cynic might point out that
Hunter is batting just .138 this postseason, but an optimist would counter than
finding dudes willing to attack walls and die on the field in the name of a
championship adds a few points to that average………..
- Want to learn to play guitar from a punk rock legend? If
you live in or near New York City or can get to Manhattan two weeks from
yesterday, this is your golden chance. None other than Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo is
offering free guitar lessons to students in New York and as a member of an
iconic punk band that rose to fame in NYC during punk’s early days, the offer
is a fitting one. Ranaldo released his new album “Last Night on Earth” alongside
The Dust earlier this year and he will stage a guitar workshop on Oct. 28 at
New York’s Other Music. He announced the clinic via a post on Matador Records'
Matablog. "Lee will be hosting his first Guitar Clinic, having a
discussion and demonstration of his weapon of choice,” the post reads. “What’s
more, you’ll not only walk away with a new found respect for and knowledge of
the Axe, you’ll also walk away with a signed poster." Guitar lessons AND a
signed poster? That, friends, is a win. Offering the lessons is a way of
bringing the year full circle for Ranaldo after two guitars stolen at a Sonic
Youth gig 13 years ago were returned to he and frontman Thurston Moore a few
months ago. Back in 1999, a rented truck full of the band’s equipment was
stolen in the middle of the night before a festival appearance in Orange County
and the instruments mysteriously turned up years later in Belgium. Sadly, Sonic
Youth remains on an extended break after Moore and Kim Gordon announced in 2011
that they were separating after 27 years of marriage. Sonic Youth’s return may
be in question, but it’s good to see one of its members giving back and passing
rock on to the next generation in the meantime……..
- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! The sh*t just got real in Moscow,
where rioters
smashed shop windows, stormed a warehouse and clashed with police in a display
of unbridled rage following the killing of a young ethnic Russian widely blamed
on a man from the Caucasus region. The incident was the largest outbreak of
anti-migrant unrest in the Russian capital in three years and many
demonstrators showed true class and dignity by chanting racist slogans and vandalizing
shops and other sites known for employing migrant workers in the southern
Biryulyovo area. Sure, some mild-mannered losers initially gathered and protested
peacefully, demanding justice over the killing, but they were just the warm-up
act for a truly inspired group of young men who began smashing windows in a
shopping center and briefly set it on fire. A YouTube video posted in the
aftermath of the riot showed these rage-aholics chanting "White Power!"
as they forced their way into the shopping center. They were met by riot police
who tried to stop their progress and make arrests, only to be pelted with glass
bottles. Officers responded with their riot batons and while that proved more
effective, the rioters still left a sea of overturned cars and smashed fruit
stalls in their wake as they left. Once they broke off from the mob scene at
the mall, dozens of rioters stormed into a vegetable warehouse employing
migrants from the Caucasus and Central Asia. The crowd eventually grew to
several thousand and Moscow police said several officers were wounded. Around
380 people were detained as sporadic clashes and arrests continued into the
night. Predictably, dictator/President Vladimir Putin's human rights
council criticized law enforcement bodies for not doing enough to prevent the
attacks on businesses employing migrants. Whatever you say, comrades………
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