Death Knell

Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade: Rick Astley performs his own Rickroll — The ultimate Rickroll or the death knell of a internet fad that has long ceased to amuse? Rick Astley was the surprise star of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in New York emerging from the back of a float to sing his 1980s hit Never Gonna Give You Up.... [Tags: 1980s, death knell, fad, macy s thanksgiving day parade, rick astley]

Rosie does not equal ratings - VIDEO — Filed under: Video, Ratings, Reality-FreeIt looks like Rosie Live has been declared dead. Her attempt at reviving the variety show format tied for the lowest-rated program of the evening.Frankly, I don't think it's necessarily a death-knell for the format so much as the host. Rosie's highly-publicized feuds have certainly soured me on watching any sort of television program hosted by her.In comparison, Stephen Colbert's A Colbert Christmas pretty much embraced the variety show format (with enough changes to keep it modern and interesting) and it was great entertainment. Granted, cable stations don't have the ratings requirements of network and the... [Tags: alec baldwin, broadway style, cable stations, celebrity, christmas]

Gregg Roughley: Has the death knell sounded for the Premier League's big-money TV deals? — Gregg Roughley: The growing popularity of watching live football online is set to spark a paradigm shift in how the Premier League sells its broadcasting rights... [Tags: death knell, live football, money, paradigm shift, popularity]

Judge Quashes RIAA Subpoena As To 3 John Does — NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "In one of the RIAA's 'John Doe' cases targeting Boston University students, after the University wrote to the Court saying that it could not identify three of the John Does 'to a reasonable degree of technical certainty,' Judge Nancy Gertner deemed the University's letter a 'motion to quash,' and granted it, quashing the subpoena as to those defendants. In the very brief docket entry (PDF) containing her decision, she noted that 'compliance with the subpoena as to the IP addresses represented by these Defendants would expose innocent parties to intrusive discovery.' There is an important lesson to be... [Tags: boston university students, colleges and universities, commentator, compliance, cops]

Ding, dong SCO is dead — A federal district judge has sounded the death knell for SCO's patent claims against Linux.... [Tags: death knell, ding dong, federal district judge, linux, patent claims]

Second Life’s Death Knell [Voices] — By Owen Thomas, Managing Editor, Valleywag Google (GOOG) has shut down Lively, a service where people log on to chat and explore 3D virtual spaces, after a few short months. The MBAs of Silicon Valley have a pat phrase for the arrival of a competitor on the scene: They say it “validates their space.” What does it say, then, that Lively is gone? It means that Second Life, the best known of these unreal universes, is doomed, too. The notion of a metaverse has long fascinated geeks. The idea of “avatars”–three-dimensional representations of the self rendered in pixels, often fantastical... [Tags: bruce sterling, competitor, death knell, dimensional representations, geeks]

Second Life's death knell [Virtual Worlds] — Google has shut down Lively, a service where people log on to chat and explore 3D virtual spaces, after a few short months. The MBAs of Silicon Valley have a pat phrase for the arrival of a competitor on the scene: They say it "validates their space." What does it say, then, that Lively is gone? It means that Second Life, the best known of these unreal universes, is doomed, too. The notion of a metaverse has long fascinated geeks. The idea of "avatars" — three-dimensional representations of the self rendered in pixels, often fantastical or surreal in nature —... [Tags: actual reality, bruce sterling, death knell, dimensional representations, google]

Ballmer says “No” to a post-Yang Yahoo buyout — Ending speculation that another Microsoft-Yahoo deal may be on the table after the exit of Jerry Yang, Steve Ballmer said at a Wednesday shareholder meeting “Let me be clear. We are done with all acquisition discussions with Yahoo.” His announcement sent Yahoo’s shares into a 20% nosedive, closing at $9.13 at days end. Ballmer did tell shareholders that Microsoft may still be open to a search deal with Yahoo but those slightly encouraging words did not soften the blow of his comments dismissing a possible acquisition. Is this really the death knell for a Microsoft-Yahoo merger? Maybe, maybe not.... [Tags: acquisition discussions, ceo, death knell, decline, encouraging words]

Johann Hari: Prince Charles rings the death-knell for the British monarchy — So the British people are going to get a President after all. He will "speak for the nation and to the nation". He will rule over us with his "knowledge and contacts and unique ability." How do we know? Because Charles Windsor has just announced - via his biographer, Jonathan Dimbleby - that he is seizing the role for himself, without an election. Explicitly citing the Presidencies of Ireland and Germany, Dimbleby says Charles intends to be a "political" King. It will be "a seismic shift in the role of the sovereign," he says, with "the potential to be politically... [Tags: best news, bevy, british monarchy, british people, bus stop]

The Story is Dead or Long Live the Story? — The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Laboratory in collaboration with several former Hollywood Executives opened the “Center for Future Storytelling” yesterday. Concerned that the traditional narrative in film - beginning, middle and end - is in danger of becoming obsolete, the Center plans to study the societal trends that are fueling these worries. Its mission is not small. “The idea, as we move forward with 21st-century storytelling, is to try to keep meaning alive,” said David Kirkpatrick, a founder of the new venture. Mr. Kirkpatrick and company are not alone in their belief that Hollywood’s ability to tell a... [Tags: brecher, business reg, david kirkpatrick, death knell, digitalization]

Necessary Ventilation: Ultimately Cheaper Than Health Care: Get out those inhalers: an ordinance... — Get out those inhalers: an ordinance introduced by the Board of Supervisors that would require developers who build near freeways and other busy thoroughfares to protect their residents from air pollution goes before the Land Use and Economic Development Committee today. But in this market, any extra chunk of change could mean the death knell for a development... [SF Examiner]... [Tags: air pollution, board of supervisors, chunk, death knell, developers]

Yellow Pages Continue Toward Fossilization — While I was at PubCon last week I had the chance to listen to Justin Sanger the founder of LocalLaunch which was purchased by Yellow Pages giant RH Donnelly in 2006. I say ‘giant’ with great trepidation these days as the entire Yellow Pages franchise continues its free fall. Justin’s presentation was easily the most passionate I saw during the 3 days of speakers at the conference and his dedication to the cause was inspiring. In fact, SMB’s (small and medium businesses), depending on their industry / vertical, really need to consider their local search options. Whether the Yellow... [Tags: blares, death knell, economic forces, economic times, fossilization]

Death Knell for Harlem Soul Food? — Photo: Bridgeport Seasoning Harlem's M&G Diner—the “Old Fashion’ But Good!” soul food spot on 125th—closed for summer vacation earlier this year, and never reopened. Elsewhere, Charles’ Southern Style Kitchen racked up a significant amount of critical violation points in an inspection last month. The restaurant closed to correct them, but hasn’t reopened since and disconnected their phone. “The current economic downturn seems to be hitting Harlem businesses particularly hard,” notes City Room. “On some blocks of Frederick Douglass Boulevard, closed storefronts outnumber businesses that remain open.” M&G Diner had been open for 40 years (occupying a couple of spaces... [Tags: bridgeport, critical violation, death knell, doh, economic downturn]

Qualcomm throws in the towel on UMB, 4G race down to LTE and WiMAX — Filed under: LTERealistically, the death knell tolled long ago for Qualcomm's stillborn Ultra Mobile Broadband initiative, its own special flavor of 4G and the logical next step in the CDMA2000 family of technologies. To make things nice and official, though, they went ahead and officially announced that they've halted development on the spec during an analysts' meeting earlier today, throwing support behind the competing LTE standard -- one of the two remaining techs vying for the hearts and minds of the world's 4G-wanting public. So where's one of the world's great patent enforcers going to collect cash now? Oh, don't... [Tags: broadband initiative, death knell, enforcers, engadget mobile, hearts and minds]

Qualcomm throws in the towel on UMB, 4G race down to LTE and WiMAX — Filed under: Cellphones, WirelessRealistically, the death knell tolled long ago for Qualcomm's stillborn Ultra Mobile Broadband initiative, its own special flavor of 4G and the logical next step in the CDMA2000 family of technologies. To make things nice and official, though, they went ahead and officially announced that they've halted development on the spec during an analysts' meeting earlier today, throwing support behind the competing LTE standard -- one of the two remaining techs vying for the hearts and minds of the world's 4G-wanting public. So where's one of the world's great patent enforcers going to collect cash now? Oh,... [Tags: broadband initiative, cellphones, death knell, enforcers, engadget]

Yahoo in Precarious Position — Analysts mixed on whether the end of its Google deal sounds the death knell for Yahoo.... [Tags: death knell, google, precarious position, yahoo]

Note to The Next Mrs. Bonaduce: Don't do it! — Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Programming, OpEd, Celebrities, Reality-FreeYou'd think that celebrity couples would start getting the picture after a while. Don't do a reality show! It's just the death knell of any marriage, and I think you can probably name a few obituaries in that category: Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey, Hulk and Linda Hogan, and Danny and Gretchen Bonaduce, to name a few. PopEater is reporting that the Bonaduce's divorce is a done deal, and he has to shell out $16K a month in spousal and child support. Guess how he's going to earn the cash -- a... [Tags: breaking bonaduce, celebrities, celebrity couples, child support, danny and gretchen]

Paul Slansky: I Was Wrong — I was convinced that the only way Barack Obama could win, the only path that didn't lead to Losertown or Wussville, was for him to channel the nation's outrage and eviscerate John McCain. In my dream scenario, Obama would have turned to him at the last debate, cited a few of the scummier examples of the campaign McCain waged, and evoked Joseph Welch's career-killing blast at Joe McCarthy: "Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?" I still get a thrill imagining the moment. Fortunately, Obama and his Davids knew better.... [Tags: american history, barack obama, civility, death knell, decade]

Wireless USB- it IS dead — When I wrote my post asking whatever happened to wireless USB our buds at GigaOM were reporting on the death of WiQuest, the major player in the Ultra-Wideband (UWB) world behind that technology.  The timing of our two posts is a bit ironic as I was writing my post about the same time that Stacey was writing hers.  She reported that the Texan company WiQuest is shutting its doors due to the inability to make UWB a viable product for the market.  According to EE Times the company couldn't resolve the technical difficulties in bringing the wireless technology to market... [Tags: adoption, buds, death knell, doors, ee times]

Hello, Google Earth -- GOOOOOOODBYE, Earthscape Basic! — Google has just announced the iPhone/iPod Touch version of their popular Google Earth program -- a version they brag to have been dreaming about even before GoogEarth's 2005 debut:"With just a swipe of your finger you can fly from Peoria to Paris to Papua New Guinea, or anywhere in between. It may be small, but it brings all the power of Google Earth to the palm of your hand, including all of the same global imagery and 3D terrain. You can even browse any of our 8 million Panoramio photos or read Wikipedia articles."The app also allows you to:... [Tags: churchill, death knell, debut, earth program, earthscape]