Microsoft Copies Twitter; Retreats into Jungle then Begins Quoting T.S. Eliot

“We are the hollow men

We are the stuffed men

Leaning together

Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!

Our dried voices, when

We whisper together

Are quiet and meaningless

As wind in dry grass

Or rats’ feet over broken glass

In our dry cellar

Shape without form, shade without colour,

Paralysed force, gesture without motion;”

Microsoft mentioned OfficeTalk in a March 19 posting on the Office Labs blog, calling it a vehicle that “applies the base capabilities of microblogging to a business environment, enabling employees to post their thoughts, activities, and …

… and, well, you get the idea.

via Microsoft privately testing a ‘Twitter for business’ service | All about Microsoft | ZDNet.com.

Contains Less Than 45% Real News Content

Great.

… nearly 55% of stories analysed were driven by some form of public relations. The Daily Telegraph came out on top of the league ladder with 70% of stories analysed triggered by public relations. The Sydney Morning Heraldgets the wooden spoon with (only) 42% PR-driven stories for that week.

via Over half your news is spin – Crikey.

NY Park Ave. Bank CEO Arrested

You can bet a bank CEO is going down when he tries to rip off New York’s upper crust.

When FDIC shuts down a bank they do it at the end of business on a Friday. This is what happened to Park Avenue Bank two Fridays back. Since then the regulatory body has discovered that the bank had phony CDs on record.

Since this is the first time criminal charges have been filed against someone for TARP infractions, the court and Antonucci himself are maneuvering in unchartered waters. The Park Avenue Bank was seized on Friday, March 12, making it one of three banks taken over by bank regulators. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation estimates its loss at $50.7 million for the Park Avenue Bank failure. The special inspector general assigned to oversee TARP says, “The charges today should send a powerful message to those who have tried to steal from the TARP, those who have stolen from the TARP and those who are contemplating similar fraudulent action.”

via Fraud Arrest and Certificates of Deposit.