Jonathan D. Blundell

Mark Cuban continues discussion on the new Google and Youtube venture and how it will affect companies like Apple:

While we all wonder what the content companies will do going forward with Google and Youtube, you have to wonder what Apple is thinking and how they will respond.
They have to be sitting their with eyes wide open as they watch 3 of the major record labels sign some sort of deal with Gootube that rewards them with 4k shares of stock each, worth more than 15mm dollars that from appearances will allow Gootube to offer music videos for free from the Gootube site

I’ve discussed before that people expect free content on the web. They don’t mind waiting for an ad as long as the content is free. And most people will pay a minimal price for content that’s ad free.
So it will be interesting to see where Google goes with Youtube and their other ventures.
Their ad network is their cash cow. I wonder if they’ll ever offer subscriptions or pay services for people to skip over their ads.

From the Independent Grandma for Texas campaign:

the Houston Chronicle, Chris Bell’s hometown newspaper, has just issued a strong endorsement for Carole Keeton Strayhorn for governor. “Only Carole Keeton Strayhorn,” the newspaper says, “has the experience and savvy to win election to the governorship and then use the office to improve public education and change the course of Texas for the better.”

The article can be viewed online here.

Bush is drinking again! (Late Late Show)

Craig Ferguson thinks President Bush might be drinking again.

U2 is hosting a scavenger hunt, and it’s a far cry from the kind you played as a sticky-fingered child. Bono and his merry Irish men are hosting a lyric hunt that will feature a grand prize of an all-expense-paid trip to see U2’s Vertigo tour, featuring openers Pearl Jam, at the Aloha Stadium in Honolulu — and it will be held online via websites around the world, including exclusively Dose.ca in Canada.
Banners featuring lyric excerpts from tracks on the band’s forthcoming U218 Singles, a best-of compilation, will be posted on various international websites, which fans must locate after reading clues posted on U2.com. Each excerpt will have one highlighted letter, and once fans collect all the letters, they can use them to answer a question posted on U2.com. Those who answer correctly will be eligible to enter to win the grand prize.
The great hunt begins on Monday and will run until Nov. 6.
U218 Singles will be released Nov. 21 and features songs spanning the band’s massive career, from Boy (1980) to How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004). The disc will also include two new tracks recorded at legendary Abbey Road Studios in London: “The Saints Are Coming,” featuring political punks Green Day, and a yet-to-be-titled track.

From Allafrica:

Plateau State Security Council has approved deployment of soldiers and armed policemen to maintain peace and order in Jos metropolis and environs.
Commissioner of Information, Mr Yakubu Dati, told newsmen in Jos, that the deployment was to forestall further breakdown of law and order.
Dati said the state government was responsible and would not fold its arms and watch law abiding citizens suffer.
He said “the political situation in the state was tense due to some individuals bent on destabilising the state.”

From Allafrica.com:

The speedy happening of unsavoury events in Plateau State calls for circumspection in view of its implication on constitutionalism, democracy and national stability. Plateau State is one of the volatile hot beds in the northern region that is susceptible to eruptions at the slightest provocations and this forms a salient reason why government must thread softly.
Attempts by six members of the State House of Assembly last week to convene in an attempt to forcefully impeach Governor Joshua Dariye was repelled by those averse to such move.Two persons were shot dead while the Deputy Senate-President Ibrahim Mantu’s home was razed along with some cars. Anti riot policemen and soldiers from the 3rd Armoured Division of Nigerian Army, Rukuba, Jos have been on patrol to maintain the fragile peace in the state capital.
Peace has eluded the state as the parties involved are not ready for cease-fire.This is worsened by the reported withdrawal of security details to the state governor. EFCC have for sometime been after Governor Joshua Dariye because of allegations of graft levelled against him.The 14 lawmakers loyal to him have been EFCC’s stumbling block in getting him impeached so that he can be prosecuted.