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Google nixes shared stuff, mobile ad site

More casualties of Google's belt-tightening are surfacing as the search and ad giant pares away projects that don't pass muster: Shared Stuff and AdWords business pages for mobile ads.

"This service will no longer be available after 3/30/2009," said a note on Shared Stuff, which let people publish Web links, videos, and Knol articles, then share them with contacts. "If you want another way to share videos, you can use the 'Share' link below each YouTube video. You can also create a public Google Site if you want to share Web sites and … Read more

Fujitsu: No U.S. LifeBook4Life program, for now

Fujitsu Siemens delivered an early holiday present to its U.K. customers late last week when it announced the "LifeBook4Life" program.

Essentially, anyone in the U.K. who buys a select LifeBook laptop and a three-year warranty will be entitled to trade the system in for a replacement laptop (of "comparable specification and value," with a 10 percent adjustment for inflation) after three years--and continue trading in LifeBooks every three years for the rest of his or her life. For free.

Sweet, no?

Naturally, we wondered if and when this particular idea would cross the pond … Read more

The 404 128: Where Jeff's not late

Apologies for the late start, but Jeff was with some good ole folks from Sony. Today, Russ Frushtick from UGO.com joins us today to talk about video games and the such. Justin has to leave early because of an unexpected meeting, but MTI dawns his superhero shorts to save the day. Along the way, we talk a lot about boobs. I mean a lot. And how not to make chocolate at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. EPISODE 128 Download today's podcast

Free Chronotebooks at the Muji Times Square store this Friday!

To celebrate the opening of their newest Times Square flagship location, Japanese retail store MUJI will give away 500 "Chronotebooks," their unique take on the classic (read: boring) paper planner.

MUJI's second store in New York, located at 620 Eighth Avenue, will offer exactly 2,170 items at the time of the opening, and all products will share the same strict MUJI rule: no branding. The name "MUJI" comes from the Japanese word "Mujirushi Ryohin" that essentially means quality without a name. Some people call MUJI the Japanese IKEA, but I'm not … Read more

Where you don't mess with the Yu-Tang Clan

YU-TANG CLAN AIN'T NOTHING TO BUCK WITH! Founding members the Yza, Method Man, and Ghostface Killah (aka Tony Starks) keep it cutty and explore tech's first format war; skyrocketing Wii Fit prices; losing water on film; and our culture's lousy obsession with movie remakes. McLovin and Sr. Sean Connery also stop in to discuss Mr. BAKalar's questionable fashion choices. EPISODE 104 Download today's podcast

Bits from Beyond Binary--Dec. 13, 2007

Activision sued over 'Guitar Hero' for Wii--Suit follows admission by Activision that the Wii version of Guitar Hero III was outputting mono, rather than the advertised stereo sound. Office 2007 SP1 autoinstalls confuse Vista, XP users--While most users won't get the Office service pack automatically for some time, beta testers of Vista Service Pack 1 are having the update pushed automatically. Microsoft's Ministry of Truth--Blogger Long Zheng noted last week that Microsoft is hiring for a Director of Windows Client Disclosure, a position designed to making sure there are "zero surprises," when it … Read more

Rethinking consumption with 'The Story of Stuff'

Reading about Al Gore's Nobel Peace Prize this week while juggling holiday shopping gave me a severe case of cognitive dissonance about consumption. This feeling intensified today when the viral video The Story of Stuff arrived in my e-mail inbox.

The Story of Stuff illustrates the consumption chain and aims to reframe our conversation from unlimited production and consumption to sustainability and equity. The video is quite engaging, and I was impressed by its simplicity and effectiveness. No flashy graphics or sensational techniques, just simple line animation accompanying a 20-minute video lecture by sustainability expert Annie Leonard.

The story of this project is an interesting case study of viral video. Leonard has more than 20 years of experience studying factories and dumps around the world--giving her deep knowledge of sustainability issues, but not exactly a visible platform to launch a movement. Enter the video: according to Leonard's blog, The Story of Stuff has been viewed by more than 100,000 people since it was launched last week. … Read more

Bits from Beyond Binary--Dec. 12, 2007

Here's a collection of links from the "Stuff I'm reading" section. To see these as they post, come back to the Beyond Binary blog and check out the right-hand column. I recommend doing it ten times a day, but, the digest below is here for those that have other things to do:

Are Microsoft-served ads slowing down Web sites?--Blogger Long Zheng noticed that his recent visits to Digg had been slowed by ad requests to MSN. He did some more, well digging, and found that some other sites with MSN-served ads are also sluggish. (istartedsomething) … Read more