Archive for October 24th, 2007
It seems that Google has recently changed their PageRank algorithm. A number of sites have experienced a significant drop in PageRank as a result.
- Boing Boing: Was 9, now 7.
- Engadget: Was 7, now 5.
- Forbes.com: Was 7, now 5.
- New Scientist: Was 7, now 5.
Early reports suggest that sites which sell or exchange links are most affected. However sites that don’t fall into this category have also experienced a drop in PageRank.
This is a potentially devastating change for sites that rely heavily on search traffic. Post here if this affects you, or if you have any further insight.
This article provided by sitepoint.com.
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Posted by: in Hollywood news
Filed under: Action & Adventure, Horror, New Releases, Sony, Theatrical Reviews, Fandom, New in Theaters
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Ever wondered what it would be like to see every vampire movie ever made, all rolled into one? If so, 30 Days of Night is for you — it’s got a little bit of everything. For Dracula-lovers, there’s a hillbilly Renfield, played by everyone’s new favorite actor, Ben Foster. His arrival in town at the outset, with a shambling gait and greasy-roadie haircut, foreshadows the arrival of some nameless master who he’s bound to displease in some way. The vampires, when they arrive, turn out not to be Hungarian sophisticates, but feral beasts who look like a cross between a cougar and Marilyn Manson. They take their movement cues from The Lost Boys, attacking from out of frame and grabbing their prey up into space or yanking them into a dark corner. Instead of sucking blood, they tear their victims’ limbs apart as easily as restaurant rolls. An apparent nod to the Blade series also creeps in, when the vamps begin speaking some erudite, subtitled language and spouting faux-profound aphorisms like “things which can be broken must be broken!”
On top of this heady mishmash of genre staples there’s a nifty overarching conceit, taken from the comic on which 30 Days is based — the location of the carnage is a remote town in Seward’s Folly, where the sun doesn’t shine for a full month. (Why did it take vampires so long to hear about this place? And mightn’ it have been more interesting if all the world’s vampires came gunning for this place, instead of a handful? But that’s neither here nor there.) The vamps that do descend on the snowy Alaskan hamlet must go head to head with two pretty local cops, played by Josh Hartnett and Melissa George, and one of the best things about 30 Days is that it acknowledges straightaway that the humans are physically no match for the vampires. Those who survive the initial assault must scramble into hiding places to save their necks and what follows is a sort of ‘Anne Frank vampire film’, with Hartnett and George and a ragtag group holing up in an abandoned attic and waiting for the vamp patrols to move on.
Continue reading Review: 30 Days of Night
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Filed under: Cellphones
 Interesting. Were you at all curious to know how many of the 1.4m iPhones Apple’s sold went to US T-Mobile customers and exporters “with the intention to unlock” the handsets? Well, there’s no way anyone will ever know for sure, but on today’s Apple Q4 earnings call Apple COO Tim Cook (or we think that was Tim Cook) stated that “Apple estimates 250,000 iPhones were sold with intention to unlock,” and that “many of those sales happened after the price cut”. Definitely not an insignificant number of iPhones not on Apple-authorized networks paying out serious coin for the privilege, so is it any wonder Cupertino’s working so hard to lock this stuff down?
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
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Filed under: Contests and Giveaways
If you’re lucky enough, you’ll be able to play Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction on your PS3 this week. To celebrate Ratchet’s jump into the next generation, we’re giving away tons of swag, including a giant movie-styled poster, t-shirts and various pieces of concept art. We’re giving away prizes to three readers … so how do you sign up?
To enter, simply go through our gallery and tell us which picture’s your favorite. The comment must be left before October 25th, 5PM EST. You may enter only once. Three (3) winners will be selected in a random drawing. Three (3) winners will receive a Ratchet & Clank Future movie-styled poster, a limited edition piece of Ratchet & Clank Future concept art, and a Ratchet & Clank Future t-shirt (No ARV). Click here for complete Official Rules. You must be a US resident, age 18 or older to enter.
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Filed under: News
Most American music listeners know of the band Korn. Some remember the highlights of their career, like appearing on South Park and the hilarious antics that ensued. Whether or not you like their music, Korn has made video game buzz today by recording a song they say was “inspired by” the upcoming shooter Haze. The song’s launch is going to coincide with the game’s release, so you know it’s a little more than inspiration on the band’s part. Conspiracy theorists, unite!
The song, entitled “Haze”, will act as a “testament to the synergy possibilities between music and video games, which often share the same audience,” says Ubisoft’s Christian Salomon. Also speaking out is Korn’s singer Jonathan Davis, who rehearsedly exclaimed “Gaming for me is a religion and Haze is the shit! I had to come up with a track that can hit up that kind of rush I get from the game and I think we really rocked it!!” The double exclamation marks are, of course, to emphasize how much the band “rocked it”. Well, take it however you like, but it seems the marketing train for Haze is underway. But will it pay off?
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Filed under: Computers, iPhone
It’s the best news iPhone owners have gotten since signing up for their two-year contracts: Steve Jobs has finally, and officially, announced that outside developers will be allowed to create programs for the device — something Apple has been strictly against since the product’s formal announcement last June.
This is not to say that the decision comes from the kindness of Apple’s heart: There has been a huge uproar from prospective developers and owners since day one, and the restriction has even lead to some lawsuits.
The kit for developers won’t be available until February, with the company supposedly trying to figure out how to make the iPhone an open system without exposing it to viruses, spyware, and the like. Of course, giving third-party developers the go-ahead will also put more pressure on Apple to make their own software better.
So really, we all win. High fives all around.
From Reuters
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Filed under: Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Apple Inc (AAPL), Coca-Cola (KO), Intel (INTC), CIT Group (CIT), Research in Motion (RIMM), Cramer on BloggingStocks
 TheStreet.com’s Jim Cramer says stocks like CIT need to avoided, not growth stories like Google, Apple and RIM.
At Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) (Cramer’s Take) they are not ring-fencing. They aren’t ring fencing at Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) (Cramer’s Take) either. Or Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) (Cramer’s Take). Or Coke (NYSE: KO) (Cramer’s Take), for that matter.
What’s ring-fencing? It’s the term being used by financial institutions to keep the mortgage portfolios away from the rest of a company’s loan exposure. I first heard it on the CIT (NYSE: CIT) (Cramer’s Take) conference call, a company that for lack of a better analogy, really whiffed at the home mortgage game when things got tough. Actually it’s not the first time I ever heard the term. We had some long horns at a farm in New Jersey. We had to ring fence them so they didn’t gore and kill our horses.
CIT’s not a cattle ranch. It’s a lender.
On its conference call, where it had to issue equity to cover dividends, you could tell there was a real sense of relief from management. As one of the hardest hit non-bank mortgage originators that is still solvent, CIT put together what amounts to a rescue package that allowed them to sell most of their mortgage portfolio to Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) (Cramer’s Take) to save their balance sheet and allow them to continue to lend to commercial businesses, particularly transportation companies, their true forte. I am sure if you own CIT you are thrilled that everything worked out and all you did was experience a giant loss on your stock’s value.
But if you are trying to choose between stocks, you want to ring fence CIT. You want to stay as far away from this kind of company as possible even if you believe they have cordoned off mortgages because, alas, who needs it? You buy a company like this because it throws off excess cash that is then used to offer a hefty dividend and buy back stock. Some growth — not shrinkage - ain’t bad either.
But CIT offered the exact opposite of all of those.
The shock of that kind of reversal makes you realize how precious a clean growth story is, one that is consistent and can’t really “blow up” in a quarter. One that has much less risk to it.
When we look at what has happened in the credit markets, we are now pricing in risk better, by accepting that some borrowers are going to be deadbeats and making them pay up, not down, for financing.
In the stock market we are re-evaluating risk, too. And we don’t want it. Especially when the reward seems downright minuscule!
When people ask me how come we can play so much for a RIM (NASDAQ: RIMM) (Cramer’s Take) or an Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) (Cramer’s Take) or a Google think of ring-fencing. Then you will know that they just might be worth buying even up at these prices.
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Jim Cramer is a director and co-founder of TheStreet.com. He contributes daily market commentary for TheStreet.com’s sites and serves as an adviser to the company’s CEO. At the time of publication, Cramer had no positions in stocks mentioned.
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When the Pokémon craze was in full swing, I always figured that Pikachu and most of the other creatures were either male, or completely androgynous. Apparently I was wrong:
That, or Pikachu has a really big belly button. Either way, the Japanese have a strange way of teaching their children about anatomy.
Found at seesaa.net.
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Awesome paper toys to download and assemble. You also have the choice with a different style of paper toys!
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Filed under: Vegetables, Books, Trends, Health & Medical
 Author Mark Bittman has a new book out, How To Cook Everything Vegetarian, sort of a sequel ot his hit How To Cook Everything (or, more accurately, the next book in the series), and in this interview with Publisher’s Weekly, he says that even though he eats meat, he finds himself eating less these days, and thinks more and more people will eat this way.
Continue reading Mark Bittman thinks more and more of us will become vegetarians
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