Another one bites the dust......

First Apple's Chief Executive, Steve Jobs, resigned due to stock option irregularities and now C|Net's CEO, Shelby Bonnie, has resigned for the same, yet more serious, reason. According to Digital Music News, unlike Jobs, Bonnie appears to have been a recipient of the backdated options. Jobs, although not directly involved in the mess at Apple, was aware that it was going on. Now, where have we heard that before? What has happened to integrity in today's world? At times it is almost too depressing and discouraging to even read or hear the news. If politicians and heads of companies aren't the culprits themselves, they know the practice is taking place and yet do nothing.

I suppose it stems from greed and the desire for more and more money, which leads to more and more power, but people like this have to be intelligent individuals. Doesn't it occur to them that they are unlikely to get by with their dishonesty and deception?

What a sad state the world appears to be in. If it wasn't for efforts like "Rock for Darfur" to remind us that greed is not the only force driving human beings, it would almost be too much to take!

"Rock for Darfur"

MySpace has not only had a change in user population, but apparently is also working on changing its reputation. Most often cited as the online community through which adult predators seek their teenage victims, in discussions I have heard, MySpace is rarely talked about in any positive sense; they are usually condemned as the vehicle for adult predators to find their prey.

According to Oct. 11 Digital Music News Daily Snapshot, MySpace is initiating a humanitarian outreach program for Sudan, in conjunction with relief organization Oxfam. The program, "Rock for Darfur," will feature concerts by well-known artists with part of the proceeds going to the relief efforts, and endorsements and pleas for assistance from stars such as Samuel L. Jackson and George Clooney.

This should help the reputation of MySpace in the eyes of some people and can certainly bring massive awareness to the horrors occuring in Sudan. This may also be a reflection of the change in the age of the user population now seen in MySpace.

This is said to be the largest philanthropic effort by MySpace to date. Whatever the motivating factor for this effort, I believe it is a good move on the part of MySpace and certainly a much needed project for the people of Sudan. Way to go, MySpace!

First radio commercial with profanity pulled

Only a week after it began airing on Sirius Satellite Radio, the ad for Sinus Buster - the "first ever radio commercial with profanity," according to SiCap Industries, developer of the product - has been pulled; actually the offensive word has just been removed from the ad. Digital Music News reports that SiCap Industries president, Wayne Perry, commented that they did not want to "put Sirius in a sticky situation," and "give their enemies a venue for complaints."

I don't understand this decision. Not that I am an advocate of profanity in the media, but it seems to me that they are "wimping out." Since Sirius is subscription-based radio and free from FCC restrictions covering terrestrial radio stations, wouldn't listeners of relatively unregulated radio expect that they might hear language they would not on most other radio stations? If Howard Stern gets by with some of his crudeness on Sirius, why is an ad with the s-word any different?

Individuals chose to pay for it and chose to listen to it. I may be wrong, but if Satellite radio audiences decrease, I think it will be due to reasons other than profanity - in a commercial or used by Howard Stern.