liberal

Google to require two-way data-sharing street

Google is putting its data liberation philosophy to work in a direct slap at Facebook.

Techcrunch noticed last night that Google made a subtle change to a paragraph in the guidelines that govern how external services can let their users import contacts data from Google. Now those services will have to allow their users to export that data in a manner similar to how Google handles data export, which means Facebook will have to change its policy if it wants to allow users to morph Gmail contacts with Facebook friends.

Facebook has long resisted the notion of allowing people to … Read more

New political apps for your Android device

Just in time for the midterm elections, app developer Handmark has launched two new political news apps, one aimed at liberals and the other at conservatives. PolitiCaster Left and Politicaster Right popped up in the Android Marketplace today and can be downloaded for free as both are ad-supported.

Each app compiles national and local political news from hundreds of sources in a single, tabbed interface, offering content customized for the opposing viewpoints. As the names suggest, PolitiCaster Left pulls a feed from liberal sites and blogs, such as Huffington Post, Daily Kos, and Think Progress. Similarly, PolitiCaster Right features commentary … Read more

Digg controversy buries journalistic objectivity

Are conservatives gaming Digg? Probably, but there are two sides to any story.

A report by liberal news organization AlterNet claimed on Thursday that conservatives are "burying" stories on the news aggregator. "A group of influential conservative members of the behemoth social media site Digg.com have just been caught red-handed in a widespread campaign of censorship, having multiple accounts, upvote padding, and deliberately trying to ban progressives."

Conservatives--in this case, "Digg Patriots"--"cheat" by voting down Digg submissions with a liberal bent, AlterNet claims. "This model also made it very susceptible to external gaming whereby users from certain groups attempt to push their viewpoint or articles to the front page to give them traction."

I'm not going to argue with the basics of the report because this sort of thing goes on with both conservative and liberal groups. (AlterNet could have easily expanded the scope of "certain groups" to include liberals but chose not to.) I am going to take issue, however, with its tenor and balance, as it was implied by some blogs that the AlterNet findings were coming from a neutral source.

Specifically, when AlterNet inserts a paragraph listing all of the things Digg Patriots allegedly hate, then claims generally in the last sentence that Digg Patriots "just love to hate," Alternet forfeits any claim to balance--and possibly veracity.

I visit Digg's front door often, and what I usually find is hardly proof that conservative groups are succeeding in any way. Here's a very unscientific sampling of what I've found as some of the most-dugg (top 10) submissions as I randomly visited the Digg front door during the last few days. "Fox News is shockingly old" and "Conservapedia:E=mc2 Is A Liberal Conspiracy and "Liberals Start F*** Tea Party Campaign." (I've omitted the last ink because the original headline uses three letters of a four-letter expletive.)

A September 2008 report from PBS titled "Digg Puts Focus on Politics, Bringing Charges of Liberal Bias" says:… Read more

BookLiberator kit frees books from physical media

In the future, a fully digitized civilization will look back at our paperback books in much the same way as we see stone tablets now, archaic and wholly unnecessary. While e-books are slowly overtaking paper copies in popularity, there remains a problem: why should I pay for a digital version if I already have the book?

Of course, one can scan in every single volume in the personal library, but the BookLiberator DIY kit hopes to make the process much simpler. By fixing dual point-and-shoot cameras to a glass frame, you can store two pages at a time as images … Read more

Congressional commission focuses on China's cyberwar capability

In war and possibly in peace, China will wage cyberwar to control the information flow and dominate the battle space, according to a new report compiled for a congressional commission.

Chinese military strategists see information dominance as the key to overall success in future conflicts and will continue to expand the country's computer network exploitation capabilities, according to the report, titled "Capability of the People's Republic of China to Conduct Cyber Warfare and Computer Network Exploitation." The report was prepared for the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission under contract by Northrop Grumman's … Read more

BOL 1063: Buzzed Out Loud

Lots of stories with buzz today, including a new Archos Android tablet, the launch of Zune HD, and voice chat on Facebook. Of course, Joe the pilot in Honolulu sent us some good, old-fashioned Filipino whiskey and rum. So Cooley makes us pause and do a tasting. Poor Natali gets left out, though. Sad.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 1063

Microsoft hopes to turn it around with Zune HD http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10352801-93.html http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2009/09/zune_stops_squirting_and_adds_features_people_might_actually_use.html

Archos store is down--you … Read more

Opening up in self-interest of Google, Microsoft

Microsoft is launching an open-source foundation. Google is promising to keep user data portable. Both moves seem to cut against the financial self-interest of the two technology giants. Have the gods gone crazy, or are the business strategies of the industry's biggest players more subtle than "Embrace. Extend. Extinguish"?

With a steady adoption of open-source business and development strategies, Microsoft has gone from open-source hater to open-source embracer in just a couple of years:

Created its own open-source foundation, the CodePlex Foundation. Launched CodePlex, an open-source project-hosting site. Started actively contributing to outside open-source projects, including those of the Apache Software Foundation, … Read more

Google data liberation project adds Docs, Sites

Google is adding two new products to its data liberation effort, hoping to draw wider attention to the concept that users should be able to take their data wherever they go.

The company formally announced the Data Liberation Front Monday, although the group has been around for at least two years. A cheeky play on the Judean People's Front from the Monty Python classic "Life of Brian" (although, technically, Brian joined the People's Front of Judea), the DLF is the group within Google that is charged with finding ways to make it easier for users of … Read more

Best political sites: Liberal, conservative, and nonpartisan

Now that the U.S. has witnessed a peaceful transfer of power, some in the country are saying that it's time to unite. And while that may be possible for some, others still frequent political commentary sites that aim to sway public opinion in one way or another.

There are people on both sides of the political fence--left or right--that use the following sites as sources for their own political understanding and to help them formulate their own agenda. To those folks, these biased sites provide value. But to some, nonpartisan sites are important and they want to hear the unbiased truth. Either way, politics is an extremely contentious business. And whether you're looking for liberal-leaning posts on the greatness of President Obama or conservative discussions on the problems with the president's stimulus package, you can find it all in the following sites.

Conservative sites

Drudge Report Drudge Report may just be a collection of links, but critics say they tend to lean to the right. Perhaps that's because Matt Drudge, the site's founder, became famous by being the first source to break the Monica Lewinsky scandal after Newsweek decided not to publish it.

Since then, Drudge Report has become a daily haven for conservatives who want to take aim at liberals. It works: Drudge Report has over 3 million unique visitors each month, according to its internal figures. Conservative rating: 4 out of 5

Michelle Malkin Michelle Malkin may be just one person, but her conservative punditry has ignited fierce debate across the Web.

Malkin first started as a newspaper reporter over a decade ago. Since then, she has become a well-known conservative thinker, nationally-syndicated columnist, and author of three antiliberal books. She updates her blog daily with antiliberal and right-leaning opinions. Conservative rating: 5 out 5

National Review Online National Review Online is the online version of the conservative magazine of the same name. Designed for the Republican or conservative, the site features news, commentary, and opinion on some of the most important political happenings of the day.

The National Review is widely considered one of the most influential conservative publications in the world and as it explains in its "About" page, it constantly aims at providing the "right's take" on political issues facing the world. Conservative rating: 4 out of 5

TownHall The self-proclaimed, "No. 1 conservative Web site," TownHall provides political commentary and analysis from more than 100 leading conservative columnists to "amplify those conservative voices in America's political debates."

TownHall takes aim at the barriers between news and opinion and provides an arena for conservatives to espouse their opinions on the state of the world. The site is often updated with discussions on why President Obama's policies may hurt the world. Conservative rating: 5 out 5… Read more