As reported on the BBC News website, UK furniture store Habitat (not to be confused with Habitat for Humanity) used Iran hashtags to drive Twitter users to its products. According to the site, keywords such as “Iran” and “Mousavi” were added to Habitat’s Twitter messages so people searching for those subjects would see the firm’s advertisements. (Thanks to @Ayfray for retweeting this story.)
The first song from the new album by hip Swedish indie rockers Peter Bjorn and John was premiered on Kanye West’s blog yesterday.
I haven’t come up with a Sign of the Apocalypse in a while because, well, there’ve been so damn many of them. But here’s one from Sarah Palin, from the same speech last week where she talked about visiting the “pro-America” states:
“At those times on the campaign trail when sometimes it’s easy to get a little bit discouraged, when, you know, when you happen to turn on the news when your campaign staffers will let you turn on the news,” she said, prompting laughter from the group. “Usually they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, don’t watch. You’re going to, you know, you’re going to get depressed.’”
I’m a little late with this one, but it’s not often you get a *literal* sign of the Apocalypse. I saw this sign broadcast during John McCain’s acceptance speech at the Republican Convention last week and the smartypants at Gawker picked up on it:
As reported on MacDailyNews, software developper Armin Heinrich has created a $999 iPhone app, simply called “I Am Rich.” The app, which Heinrich claims has “no hidden function,” displays a small red ruby to “always remind you (and others when you show it to them) that you were able to afford this.” You might want to turn off 1-click purchasing… (Update: This app has now been removed from the iTunes Store.)
Larry King interviews – and performs with — Mötley Crüe on tonight’s Larry King Live.
From today’s Globe and Mail:
“Strolling down the street in Manhattan, I suddenly hear a woman’s voice,” Clive Thompson writes in Wired magazine. “‘Who's there? Who’s there?’ she whispers. I look around but can’t figure out where it’s coming from. It seems to emanate from inside my skull. Was I going nuts? Nope. I had simply encountered a new advertising medium: hypersonic sound. It broadcasts audio in a focused beam, so that only a person standing directly in its path hears the message. In this case, the cable channel A&E was using the technology to promote a show about, naturally, the paranormal. I’m a geek, so my first reaction was, ‘Cool!’ But it also felt creepy.”
Court TV recently installed the “audio spotlight devices” in ceilings of bookstores to promote the network’s new murder-mystery show. A voice, whispering, “Hey, you, can you hear me? Do you ever think about murder?” was beamed toward customers as they browsed the mystery section in several independent bookstores in New York.
From a Reuters story printed in today’s Globe and Mail:
Can’t bear to let Fido rest in peace? This Korean company will clone him
RNL Bio, a South Korean biotech company is offering dog owners the chance to clone their pet through a service that can cost up to $148,000 (U.S.) for a puppy.
“These days, dogs are treated like family members. There are many owners who would rather clone a favourite pet than adopt a new one after it dies,” RNL Bio president Ra Jeong-chan said.
In an article in today’s Globe and Mail, Mitt Romney explains why he has “suspended” his losing campaign for the Republican presidential nomination:
“If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win,” Romney told the annual gathering of the Conservative Political Action Conference, a conclave of hardcore conservatives.Disgusting.
“In this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror.”
As reported in today’s Globe and Mail, Forbes.com recently published their first-ever list of the most influential celebrity children. A pair of one-year-olds topped the chart, with Shiloh Jolie-Pitt (Brangelina’s biological daughter) besting Tom and Kate’s girl, Suri Cruise (pictured). Told of the news, Suri apparently started bawling and crying out for Mommy.
