The (Bi-)Weekly ‘Loper – August 19, 2007

While you were trying desperately to stay out of the godsdammed heat, here’s what we were looking at:

• YearlyKos is Dead, Long Live Netroots Nation – Our man Ronin Kurosawa reports from the YearlyKos Convention in Chicago. Er, Second Life.
• My iPhone Crash – It seems to be all better now, thanks for asking.
• My Heart Starts Pumping, My Fists Start Pumping – Kassia discusses her long-time love for Patti Smith.
• Joining The Patti Smith Fan Club – In the first installment of “Medialoper Classic,” I write about the first time I saw Patti Smith in concert — it was 1996, so this isn’t a “I was there before you were there, nyah, nyah” thingie — and just how amazing it was.
• Google Video Debacle Demonstrates the Need for Consumer Protection Laws – You know all of those digital download websites where they force you to login to keep watching things you’ve purchased or you download music that only plays on certain devices? This right here is a) why these things suck total ass. Thanks, Google, for providing such an object lesson!!
• Why Universal’s Dissing of iTunes Doesn’t Really Matter – Because nobody knows what artist is on what label anymore, and the online music space is so fracked up that one more thing like this just doesn’t matter.
• The False War: HD DVD versus Blu Ray – I’d love to have something pithy to write about this, but I’m too busy digitizing my old Beta tapes, and don’t ever plan on making a choice like that ever again.
• A Tribute To Coffee – Kirk channels Agent Cooper — Season 1 Agent Cooper — and discusses why he likes his coffee.
• Wireless In San Diego — Kirk rails against the San Diego Hilton confusing Broadband with Wireless. I’d like to point out that this is the same braintrust that gave us Paris Hilton, and ask why he is funding her in the first place?