Typically, San Francisco’s first weekend in October belongs to Fleet Week and the Blue Angels. The air show is a feast for the eyes, nerve-wracking at times, and always eardrum-shattering when the fighter jets race by right overhead. This year, though, the Blue Angels were a no-show, thanks to Uncle Sam’s budget issues. In fact, […]
While the media world – jaws agape – has been trying to understand why Jeff Bezos would buy the Washington Post, much of the focus has been on the Amazon founder’s desire to buy influence around Capitol Hill. Perhaps. My guess is that’s more of an add-on. Bezos is far too intelligent to believe in […]
How’s this for irony? The machine we invented to help us better manage the complexities of human life has somehow turned things around and is remaking our human world in its own image. More and more, it seems, we live in binary times. There are only two states – on and off – and we’re […]
It didn’t have to be like this – we knew what was coming: the music industry showed the way. Still, when readers turned their attention from paper to the Internet, most traditional media companies (mine included) ended up getting caught like deer in the headlights. To this day, many keep clinging to ancient business models […]
As iPods and smartphones put music in every pocket, somewhere along the way headphones became a fashion statement. When I reviewed the original Beats by Dr. Dre for Ubergizmo.com back in 2008, it was mostly die-hard audiophiles who were willing to fork over $300 or more for a really good set of personal on-ear musicians […]
Two of my favorite radio stations recently shut down, more or less out of the blue: NME Radio and Q Radio in London, both spin-offs of popular music magazines. I liked them for their mix of alt rock, indie, and Brit pop – but I have to admit that, in both cases, I didn’t even […]
At least when you’re a bird… This one is tweeting its heart out at San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf.
Here’s a perfectly legal kind of money laundering. Back in the 1930s, when high-society women were typically wearing white gloves, the director of San Francisco’s St. Francis Hotel decided to have every coin washed squeaky clean before it was handed out again. The tradition has been been upheld ever since. The man in charge, Rob […]
