a test of the metaWebLog API

AT&T drops iPhone from webpage

apitester — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 04:21:21 +0000

WordPress.com is working again

Rumors that Apple is wearing the pants a little too often in their iPhone relationship with AT&T have received a boost, now that the wireless carrier seems to have stopped promoting the pricey phone on their main page barely a month after its June 29th launch. While we know that Apple negotiated an unprecedented deal for a percentage of every iPhone customer’s monthly contract, many suspect AT&T is becoming less and less happy with the rest of Apple’s plans. Note, for example, the iPhone’s lack of any integration with AT&T’s profitable video, audio and ringtone offerings – all things that Apple either sells through their iTunes Store right now or, in the case of ringtones, is widely expected to with a future software update. The more software and media-based services Apple prepares to unleash, the more monthly, revolving revenue passes by AT&T’s bottom line.

Boss Kills Employees who Asked for Raises

apitester — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 18:09:28 +0000

clipped from www.cnn.com

EAST POINT, Georgia (AP) — The owner of a car dealership has been accused of killing two employees because they kept asking for pay raises.

Milinavicius, who was having financial problems, told police he shot the two Thursday after they kept asking for more pay, said police in East Point, which is just outside Atlanta.

“He told us that he was under a lot of stress,” East Point police Capt. Russell Popham said. “Unfortunately, he decided to take his anger out with violence.”

Canadian marine scientists discover quirky creatures

apitester — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 17:08:39 +0000

clipped from www.cbc.ca

One of the creatures discovered in the underwater gully.

An octopus with ears like an elephant? Scallops that hang like bats? Yup, they’re real and they live off the East Coast.

The creatures were found after Canadian marine scientists fitted the coast guard ship Hudson with Canada’s most powerful deep-sea diving robot, and sent it to explore water too deep for humans.

“It was looking into areas that we have never gone before. Isn’t that how it goes?”�asked lead scientist Ellen Kenchington of�the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Halifax.

It may sound like something out of Star Trek or a Jules Verne novel, but�the team of 20 marine scientists stayed closer to home, venturing out in the Sable gully marine protected area and other regions off Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

The octopus was spotted on the second dive at 2,500 metres. When the robot got close enough, the researchers could see the metre-long octopus had fins near its eyes.

Canadian marine scientists discover quirky creatures

apitester — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 16:58:12 +0000

clipped from www.cbc.ca

One of the creatures discovered in the underwater gully.

An octopus with ears like an elephant? Scallops that hang like bats? Yup, they’re real and they live off the East Coast.

The creatures were found after Canadian marine scientists fitted the coast guard ship Hudson with Canada’s most powerful deep-sea diving robot, and sent it to explore water too deep for humans.

“It was looking into areas that we have never gone before. Isn’t that how it goes?”�asked lead scientist Ellen Kenchington of�the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Halifax.

The octopus was spotted on the second dive at 2,500 metres. When the robot got close enough, the researchers could see the metre-long octopus had fins near its eyes.

What is in this picture ?

apitester — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 19:50:42 +0000

clipped from www.abc.net.au

Have a guess

•I spread myself around the globe by utilising insects, birds, mammals, and the weather
•While my existence is beneficial, in spring many curse me

•My presence can help scientists work out the deposition dates of ancient rock assemblages and help forensic detectives solve crimes.

�What am I?

clipped from www.abc.net.au

Have a guess

•I am alive
•I am an integral part of you

•In classical Greek medicine, I was associated with air, springtime, and a merry personality

�What am I?

clipped from www.abc.net.au

Have a guess

•Rarely seen, I am a common coastal inhabitant
•I live in sediment and often build tube-like burrows

•I reproduce by dropping my tail, which contains my sexual-organs

�What am I?

clipped from www.abc.net.au

Have a guess

•I was discovered in 1976
•I was the subject of a 2000 movie starring Gary Sinise

•I was once believed to be evidence of alien life

�What am I

clipped from www.abc.net.au

Have a guess

•I am microscopic in size
•I am part of an amphibious animal

•I am undergoing an essential life process

�What am I?

The Future: A Facebook “Pay Per News Feed Click”?!

apitester — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 23:39:17 +0000

First of all, if you haven’t read this post yet do so now. Great insight into the future of monetizing Facebook and the Facebook developers and marketers dilemma.

To be honest I had never thought that deeply about Facebook News Feed Optimization, I actually didn’t even know that Facebook has their own algorithms, just like Google, which determines what feeds are displayed on our home page. Looking back on my news feed click behavior I realize I click more on the unique applications that my friends are using than on my friends themselves. This is probably why I get more and more “applications” updates in my news feed.

clipped from www.insidefacebook.com

Facebook owns your most important marketing channels: the News Feed, Notifications, and Messages. And marketers and application developers have analagous marketing options with Facebook as with Google on the open web:

NFO (News Feed Optimization) – convincing Facebook to display the Feed items that your application publishes in your users’ friends’ News Feeds.

it’s probably only a matter of time before the same type of people who created PayPerPost set up a new type of shop to game Facebook: in a world where individual behavior matters most, I’m sure you will soon be able to buy not only application distribution, but also News Feed clicks, hoping that Facebook will believe that your feed items really are that interesting.

The Future: A Facebook “Pay Per News Feed Click”?!

apitester — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 23:39:16 +0000

First of all, if you haven’t read this post yet do so now. Great insight into the future of monetizing Facebook and the Facebook developers and marketers dilemma.

clipped from www.insidefacebook.com

NFO (News Feed Optimization) – convincing Facebook to display the Feed items that your application publishes in your users’ friends’ News Feeds.

Sweden Has Cheapest Broadband

apitester — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 20:32:34 +0000

Where does your country rank in terms of speed and price? –Ann Rafalko

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk

CHEAPEST ENTRY LEVEL BROADBAND PER MONTH*

Sweden $10.79

Denmark $11.11

Switzerland $12.53

US $15.93

France $16.36

Netherlands $16.85

New Zealand $16.86

Italy $17.63

Ireland $18.18

Finland $19.49

*Source: OECD. Figures for October 2006

Broadband users in 30 of the world’s most developed countries are getting greatly differing speeds and prices, according to a report.

The report said countries that had switched to fibre networks had the best speeds at the lowest prices.

Man robs bank dressed as a tree

apitester — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 20:19:55 +0000

clipped from www.dailymail.co.uk

Sky-high oil prices signal higher rates

apitester — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 18:05:18 +0000

clipped from observer.guardian.co.uk

A prolonged period of higher rates would raise the risk of a hard landing in the booming housing market. E

There is already evidence that higher borrowing costs are causing pain for UK Plc. Analysis by accountants Ernst and Young shows UK firms issued 191 profit warnings in the first half of the year – 13 per cent higher than the same period a year ago. The impact of higher oil prices on inflation could be compounded by the rising costs of other commodities. World food prices, in particular, have shot up as farm land is gobbled up to grow subsidised biofuels, and droughts in Australia exacerbate shortages.

The summer energy price spike is also likely to frustrate the hopes of US investors for a confidence-boosting rate cut from the Federal Reserve over the next few months. Kona Haque, senior commodities editor at the Economist Intelligence Unit, predicts that the cost of oil will remain around $70 a barrel for the rest of the year, and throughout 2008