Clever: The Most Interesting Man Once Threw a Party So Exclusive Even He Wasn't There

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Excerpt:

"You know who he is. Right now, he's probably luging Mount Everest or quail hunting in Tunisia. He is the only man alive able to tweet 141 characters. Once, he saw a quadruple rainbow and hiked on, unimpressed. He is...The Most Interesting Man in the World. And last night, he threw a party.

As legend has it, the Dos Equis frontman "jettisoned his belongings" after his personal aircraft malfunctioned during a "routine circumnavigation of the world." Of course, it is "well known that the Most Interesting Man is a collector of priceless artifacts," and these items must be found. Called the Most Interesting Cargo Hunt, the Dos Equis-sponsored event was based entirely around this story, and like his perfectly crafted lines, every detail of the gathering was fine-tuned. It serves as an innovative example of how viral marketing has legs beyond social media and other traditional avenues."

When Netflix Knocks Out Blockbuster, Blame Canada | Fast Company

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Excerpt:

"Ah, Canada. The true north, strong and free, as its anthem sings. Here, Blockbuster's Canadian subsidiary is indeed strong--at least, much stronger than it is in the U.S.--and free--or at least, debt-free. Unlike its American counterpart, which is mired in nearly $1 billion of debt, Blockbuster Canada Co. has remained strong, with more than 450 stores and annual sales around $400 million. But don't expect this success story to last too much longer--Netflix is expanding north, in a move that could seriously damage Blockbuster's Canadian operations.

Netflix announced today that it will be launching a streaming-only service in Canada this fall. It's main competitors up north will be Blockbuster and Zip.ca, a privately owned kiosk and DVD-mailing service that's a spitting image of Netflix (just check out its homepage), but without Netflix's killer online-streaming capability. "The future really is streaming," says Steve Swasey, VP of corporate communications at Netflix. "Netflix is growing very robustly in the U.S., and we hope that our neighbors up north will enjoy the service."

Swasey says Netflix chose Canada for several reasons. Besides it's close proximity to the U.S., Canada benefits from having a high-broadband penetration, close to 75%, which is obviously crucial for launching a streaming service...."

read more:

http://www.fastcompany.com/1671681/launch-of-netflix-canada-spells-big-troubl...

whoa! 'There's still 12 minutes of new Lost left to see, starring Ben Linus and Hurley!' thanx unkledanger!

"You thought you were at last finished with Lost...but Lost isn't yet done with you. The upcoming sixth season and complete series DVDs will feature an all-new, 12 minute vignette featuring Ben and Hurley. And yes, it will answer questions!

Michael Emerson and Jorge Garcia are both reprising their roles for the DVD extra, which involves their characters taking over as the island's new overseers. The image up top is from the new mini-episode. What we know about the short is almost entirely confined to an interview with Michael Emerson, in which he simply states:" .....

read more deets after that cliffhanger at:

http://io9.com/5589855/theres-still-12-minutes-of-new-lost-left-to-see-starri...

A hidden world, growing beyond control: Washington Post launches investigative site 'Top secret America

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Excerpt:

'The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work....'

Find more:

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/articles/a-hidden-world...

what the????? '70,000 Blogs Shut Down by U.S. Law Enforcement'

The gist of the conversation on the discussion board initially indicated that copyright infringement might have been the motivation. Torrent services, like Bittorrent, are the frequent target of legal actions as they are an efficient way to share large amounts of information, such as television shows or movies. This does not appear to be the case, however. The owner stated that the service dealt with copyright issues without prior problems.

"(I) got C&D letters from copyright owners to remove pages with links to torrent/rapidshare. I always handle such abuse reports within 24 hours and remove such material."

url blocked.jpgBurstNET responded that "this was not a typical case, in which suspension and notification would be the norm." A spokesperson for the company later told CNET that this case had nothing to do with copyright violations.

On the discussion board, a BurstNET representative subsequently said:

"Simply put: We cannot give him his data nor can we provide any other details. By stating this, most would recognize that something serious is afoot...This is the last post we will make on this subject."

As things currently stand:

  • 70,000 people have been cut off from their blogs
  • The law enforcement agency involved has not been identified
  • The alleged wrongdoing on the part of the platform has not been made public

That "something serious is afoot" is a description, not an explanation. Keeping this sort of thing private may be warranted, at least when it comes to the details. But the sensible thing for this unnamed agency to do, if in fact it exists and is an actor in this drama, would be for it to issue an official statement with at least some verifiable information in it.

URL blocked graphic by Wesley Fryer