is blogging worth losing your job?

People often ask me why I don't blog about experiences at my place of employment, or my employer's events, or even former places of employment - the truth is, I always saw it as a form of 'netiquette not to, or better yet a conflict of interest, but in reality, people get fired over that shit, especially if blogging about dissatisfactions at work or company secrets. In my case, since my website uses my real name, and also contains elements other than my blog, it would just be bad business for this chick.

In the blog world, the firing of an employee who blogs about their job is called "dooce." This woman, unfortunately, was the case example. Most recently, it happened to a google employee, a Delta Airlines employee, a Friendster employee, and even our beloved Karsh.

My advice: Don't do it, unless you really hate your job, and have loads of money saved up to balance out your life. Blogging about your company or blogging anything that could reflect poorly on your company or your career, just isn't worth being terminated over, even though I'm sure "Free Speech" will be tested by this issue.

You might think no one at your job even knows you're blogging, but you just can't assume such things, especially if your blog has risen to the top of search engines.

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i'm leaking all over

"Piggy Bank" - 50 Cent

Read my take on The Massacre and find another leak

And I found another link to the Disco Inferno video - since everybody seems to want to see that

Remember be smart - right click on the link and save link as and you can have your very own version of the video to play at will - you know you wanna

But still - I've got pent up commentary about this video, about Essence's Take Back The Music campaign - and more about hip-hop misogyny - it's coming

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can any mag fill honey's shoes?

First there was Honey - an Essence for the hip hop feminist. First brought to you by Harris Publications through the vision of Kierna Mayo and and Joicelyn Dingle in 1999, then a buyout from Keith Clinkscales and his Vanguarde Media ushered in a new direction for the quarterly turned 10 issues per year fashion magazine. With Amy Dubois Barnett at the helm, the magazine grew expnentially - the multiculti ladies aged 18 - 34 were loving it. In 2003 Michaela Davis took the reigns, heading the book more in a Lucky or Cargo direction, but soon after, Vanguarde went belly up. There was a void left to fill. And for the record, the advertising pages were never much to write home about, though the content and demand for the publication from consumers remained outstanding.

Enter the fabulous Suede, which on February 23 announced it was halting publication of the 4 issue-old ethnic woman's book due to high production costs. And this is just as the magazine was to become a full on monthly pub. For some reason the brand could not attract the advertisers that its overhead commanded. It also never filled Honey's shoes, as critics argued it was out of touch with the public it hoped to connect with. Read More @ daily

And now there's Vibe for the ladies, seeing that the official Vibe reaches as large a male demographic as a female one, who are often turned off by content targeted directly to the ladies. Also, the publisher seeks to increase fashion and beauty ad pages that it can't attract in it's other publication. Set to print only two times this year, the debut issue released with much fanfare at a packed party at Frederick's in Manhattan last week. The future for this one still hangs in the balance.

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50 pushes release date up

Who is leaking The Massacre? Perhaps it's 50 his own self. He leaked "Disco Inferno" and I'm sure his hand was in leaking the video too. (I would put it on my own server and link to it, but nah, I'm not trying to waste my bandwidth.) In the meantime, he's pushing The Massacre release date up to March 3 - since the tracks are leaking all over the place. The full album leaked too, but personally I think 50 and some of the producers are doing all the leaking. Shit, I ougta' do my own leak, for a limited time of course. 50 Cent - "Ski Mask Way" (produced by Disco D) Track 10 off The Massacre.

Addendum: And here's the track listing I have thus far for the album, with my one liner commentary following ...

1. Intro (Produced by Eminem) - gunshots and lullabies baby

2. In My Hood (Produced by C. Styles and Bang Out) - sounds like he's still tryin' to get rich or die tryin'

3. This is 50 (Produced by Black Jeruz and Sha Money XL) - gangsta' talk over some minimalist rolling keyboard melodies

4. I'm Supposed To Die Tonight (Produced by Eminem) - eerie sounding West Coast NWA - type joint

5. Piggy Bank (Produced by Needlz) - usual 50 hilarious beef

6. Gatman and Robbin' (Produced by and Featuring Eminem) - sounds a lot like batman with more guntalk but on some very Slim Shady vibe

7. Candy Shop (Produced by Scott Storch Featuring Olivia) - reminds us of Lil Kim's Magic Stick doesn't it

8. Out Of Control (Produced by Dr. Dre and Mike Elizondo) - Strafe's "Set It Off" sung from 50s lips though it's supposed to be another "In Da' Club" it's not

9. Get In My Car (Produced by Hi-Tek) - the track's production is hooooot as 50 does a PIMP part II

10. Ski Mask Way (Produced by Disco D) - do we really believe he's still going around being a stick-up kid? but anyway this track is so dark - bluesy sounding - hot

11. A Baltimore Love Thing (Produced by Cue Beats) - here he reveals his genius - he's the drugs you love

12. Ryder Music (Produced by Hi Tek) - another dope production job - definitely for the riding G's - cool and laid back - and 50 gets a lil introspective

13. Disco Inferno (Produced by C. Styles and Bang Out) - a true sexual party track

14. Just A Lil Bit (Produced by Scott Storch) - a fun sounding teasing sexual joint

15. Gunz Come Out (Produced by Dr. Dre and Mike Mike Elizondo) - have you ever seen the movie Warriors?

16. My Toy Soldier (Produced by Eminem featuring Tony Yayo) - starts off sounding like the circus and the lyrics get into egotistical territory

17. Position of Power (produced by jonathan jr rotem) - a tale of money and power from the east to the west

18. Build You Up (produced by scott storch and featuring jamie foxx) - an actual love song in the tradition of 21 Questions

19. Gad Gave Me My Style (produced by Needlz) - introspective - with a message - props to god

20. So Amazing (produced by jonathan jr rotem and featuring olivia) - R&B sex track on a real sensual intimacy tip

21. I Don't Need Em (produced by Buckwild) - drug tales over ghostfaces' "metal lungies"

22. Hate It Or Love It Remix (produced by cool and dre and featuring g unit) - this should've been a 50 song to begin with

Overall opinion - It feels like Game's Documentary should have been a 50 album. This one is alright but not great, though it's not sophomore slumpish either. It kinda' does what Eminem's Encore does, shows that once a rapper becomes a business man and has several projects in his hands his own project will suffer. Whereas GRODT contained tracks that you wanted to bang in the club and the hooks were ingrained in your head whether you needed that or not, Massacre is more like a mixtape - a street album featuring strategically placed tracks for the ladies.

update 3.2.05: see straight bangin's take on recently released interscope projects

update 3.3.05: you could just go over to mtv.com and listen to the leak

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john lee finally has a blog

i've been meaning to post about this since adding him to my blogfam listing - if you don't know who john lee is, let me give you a quick history lesson

1. He was one of the first black faces to appear on a cover of WIRED back in dec '94 for being a major hacker

2. Then in the urban boom of the dot.com days, john did this anonymous stealth launch of urbanexpose.com, under the pseudonym Crispus Attucks. it was one of the most visited and talked about sites in its days - it was a major headache to and for various urban media properties

3. In 2004 John penned a dramatic essay for Africana.com, entiteld "Blogging While (Anti) Black" that caused much heated controversy

These are just a few of the things that's gotten this cat from Brooklyn noticed on the media radar - there are far too many things about John to mention - you'd have to know him to know him

Perhaps you should visit his blog cobbled together by his own method of php - it figures he'd not be one to use one of those out-the-box blogger templating software systems

I guess it's time to post my original BlackPlanet.com interview with him over at my other space blackthoughtware.org

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sidekick hackers play durty

lucky for me i'm not a celebrity - just to think how easily someone would be able to hack my sidekick...

you've probably heard of Nicolas Jacobsen, the 22-year-old, who hacked TMobile last fall by now. Well he pleaded guilty on Tuesday, according to New York's Daily News and The Register. unfortunately for the simple life star and hotel heiress, paris hilton, her Sidekick was prime target of this attack, among other things government related. it appears that all of her contact info - address book, notes, etc. are out there for the world to see. for some reason the folks at MSNBC thought she had a blackberry, but we've all seen the photos of the bejeweled sidekick II and know that folks like she and Lindsay Lohan got these devices before they even came out on consumer market.

Engadget, the web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics tells the hacking story in more detail and even provides a link to what was contained on her sidekick II. (tip: moving through the contents takes long download time and porn ads interspersed between those load times. sometimes there are 2 many people on the site, and it will appear that the link isn't working.)

this has even become a topic of conversation over at MobileRead Networks.

hmm, all this plus all the celebrity life antics on vh1 makes me think americans have to find something better to do with our time. y r we so celebrity obsessed?

and double hmmm....should i be changing my tmobile account? are sidekick's just as fragile as windows?

SecurityFocus first reported the Tmobile hack back in January, which reports access to secret service email as well as celebrites' accounts. Tmobile never told me that my account was at stake - hmm...

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life in the fast lane...

with not a lot of time to write in the diary lately - i'm going to do this a lil differently for this post

bascially a list approach to what's up in my life

Latest & Upcoming Project(s)
- 2 (simultaneous) site relaunches
- Writing Book Proposal
- Speaking @ SXSW Interactive "Blogging While Black"
- Facilitating convo with Coco Fusco @ Bronx Museum

Latest & Current Reads
- Can't Stop Won't Stop - by Jeff Chang (best hip hop book ever)
- Beyond The Down Low - by Keith Boykin (already a NYT bestseller)
- The Tipping Point & Blink - by Malcolm Gladwell

Hottest Singles To Recently End Up On My iTunes
- Three Kings (Mayhem remix) - Mayhem ft. T.I., Slim Thug & Bun B
- So Much More - Fat Joe
- Talk of N.Y. - Nas
- Dirty Harry - Gorillaz

...Maybe next time I'll actually add descriptions

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website looking for asst producer

Assistant Producer – TENNIS.com

Introduction: The Web site of TENNIS Magazine is looking for an Assistant Producer to help manage the site. At least two years' combined experience of editorial and Web production work is necessary. Position is located in Manhattan. Relocation is not offered. Salary commensurate with experience.

Duties: Responsible for production and editorial duties on TENNIS Magazine's Web site. This includes preparing magazine content for the Web, editing articles, updating elements such as the TV schedule and site traffic reports, managing ad campaigns, and creating in-house ad graphics. Additional responsibilities include publishing content to the site, providing general assistance to the site Director. Reports to the General Manager. This position presents the opportunity to expand content management and editorial skills.

Requirements:
Great communication skills and work ethic
Ability to work independently and as part of a team
Editorial experience: Writing for Web and/or print; excellent spelling/grammar; design sense for creating gifs/jpgs.
Software/Web experience: Word, Excel, FTP, HTML; knowledge of Adobe Photoshop and Quark Express a bonus
Interest in tennis

TO APPLY:
Email cover letter and resume to Liza Horan at liza@tennis.com

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da hip-hop feminists bout to shut 50 down

we all know the real deal - though the label brought us candy shop and its video (which is light porn, all unto itself, though i don't get olivia's dance scene) - 50 wanted the streets to have disco inferno - and so it leaked to radio and now this video is leaking all over the net. it's beyond nelly's tip drill and i'm not even sure that you'll see it on bet uncut. someone will probably take it down before you even see it. just like those damn mp3s everyone's linking to on that youshareit.com service.

right now i'm trying to find it's artistic merits. but in about a day or two, i'm sure i'll have some womanist rant about all of this.

02.04.05 update: but you also have to look at the video for candy shop to be really clear in your points of view - though i don't think they'll change much

and he hangs out w/bart simpson too

hmm...

update: here's a new link to disco inferno video - and if you're smart you'll simply right click and save, 'cuz most of the time these links stop working after bandwidth is used up

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napster 2 Go announced

I kept hearing about this at Midemnet in Cannes, but now it's an official announcement. I just don't know that this subscriber model is gonna' take off.

-Tobi Elkin, Just An Online Minute, Mediapost

Finally there is some competition for the iPod and Apple's iTunes music store.

Napster took aim at Apple yesterday, announcing the debut of a portable music subscription service called Napster To Go. Napster will charge subscribers $15 a month for access to an all-you-can-eat selection of music.

Apple's iTunes charges 99 cents to download a track that users purchase to own. The key difference is that Napster's plan lets music fans rent as much music as they want for $15 a month. Copy-protection software from Microsoft enables services such as Napster's to transfer music to portable devices while also prohibiting subscribers from making permanent copies.

Napster supports Napster To Go with a $30 million ad campaign including a Super Bowl TV spot. The spot asks music fans to compare the costs of spending $10,000 to buy and upload 10,000 tracks from Apple's iTunes music store to an iPod with the $15 fee Napster charges to place the same number of songs on Napster-compatible players such as Samsung's iRiver.

Apple has sold more than 230 million tracks and about 10 million iPods to date; it has 70 percent market share.

What are the prospects for subscription music services? Would people rather rent than own? We'll have to wait and see how this market shapes up. It sounds like a cool idea, though. Too bad we can't try Napster's new plan with our iPod. Damn, there's that compatibility issue again.

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no more online VOD

In the New York Times today...

"The Universal Music Group of Vivendi Universal says it will no longer provide music videos free, or at a nominal cost, to Internet and cable television services that are building a potentially giant business by playing videos on demand. Universal does not want to repeat what it considers the music industry's ill-fated decision in the 1980's to provide free videos to MTV." read more

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