Denver Airport is Policing the Internet

Visitors to the Denver International Airport may find themselves bored and needing to find something to entertain them besides their laptops. According to The Daily Dog, the DIA has decided to block access to web sites, on it’s free Wi-Fi that the DIA deems to be inappropriate.

Apparently, the DIA would rather deal with “infrequent complaints about blocked access, than parents complaining about how their child might see pornography. They are trying to create a family-friendly atmosphere, but the censoring of certain web sites seems like they are taking it a bit too far.

The article reports that the airport is blocking Vanity Fair’s website, the hipster site boingboing and others. Airport spokesman Chuck Cannon says officials decided to block access to potentially racy sites when the airport made its wireless Internet service free in November.

I see a huge problem with this situation. The DIA has a good point, but they are going about it in a bad way. They made their Internet service free, probably, so that everyone would have access to it. So they want everyone to have access to it, but they want to police what people can access?

I understand if the DIA wants to stop children from seeing pornography, but they limited access to Vanity Fair’s web site because of partial nudity of models? They should then remove all fashion magazines from the newsstands and the pornography available there too.

Overall, the DIA needs to not be so conservative. If they want to limit access to pornography on the Internet, I could understand that. They should stop there. They should grant access to everything but pornography. If they are so worried about the parents of children, they should remove it from the newsstands in the airport too.

Lingerie Innovator Victoria’s Secret Believes it is Too “Sexy”?

Is it possible for a lingerie company to be too sexy? The top executives at Victoria’s Secret seem to think that they have taken “sexy” too far. Is that possible?

The AP reports that Victoria’s Secret’s chief executive Sharen Turney said, “We’ve so much gotten off our heritage. We’re too sexy, and we use the word sexy a lot and really have forgotten the ultra feminine.”

Victoria’s Secret has really jumped on board and supported their strongest brand, Pink. The Daily Dog reported that the Pink line if loungewear and lingerie was created for “college-age women, and it has tried to chase it’s consumers.” This is how the brand has gotten carried away with being “sexy.”

Victoria’s Secret is aiming to go back to their roots and raise the level of superiority and class of it’s brands. Turney discussed the companies aims to improve the quality of its merchandise and “reinvent the sleepwear business.”

As a male, I feel that Victoria’s Secret has already reinvented the “sleepwear business.” Victoria’s Secret has had a huge impact in the industry. Victoria’s Secret made underwear cool. It made women want to wear sexy and hip underwear. This had begun to expand into the world of men’s underwear.

It is becoming fashionable for men to wear “sexy” underwear. Designers like Ed Hardy and  Burberry are expanding their empires to join Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren in designing high-end men’s underwear.

I understand that Victoria’s Secret wants to scale back and focus on the quality of their product, but they should not quit embracing “sexy” as their motto. They have paved the way and set the standard for fashionable underwear. Without them, Everyone, including men, would be wearing those plain old multi-packs that you find at your local Target.

Thank you Victoria’s Secret. Keep it “sexy.”

 

Prince and Soldier: A PR Move?

The media’s reports of Price Harry’s deployment to Afghanistan, were what prompted the prince’s pre-mature return home.

CNN.com reports that the young Prince was deployed to Afghanistan in December. The major news outlets had all agreed to keep the story secret to ensure the safety of Prince Harry. Last Thursday, a web site broke the news on the internet.

The British Ministry of Defense stated that, “The release of this information has put Prince Harry and those deployed at risk. The decision was primarily based on the world-wide media coverage after the story broke.”

CNN.com reported that as of Friday evening the young Prince was en route back to Great Britain.

“At the end of the day I like to sort of be a normal person, and for once I think this is about as normal as I’m ever going to get,” he said in a recent interview. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m out here as a normal JTAC on the ground and not as Prince Harry.”

The rest of the article talks about how Prince Harry was not treated any differently than any other soldier. CNN.com reports that his duties included calling in air strikes and air support when necessary, guaranteeing the accuracy of bombing on the ground, and guarding against incidents of friendly fire.

The story frames Harry as upholding the family tradition of participating in the Military. His brother, Price William, his uncle, great-grandfather and so on all have fought for Great Britain.

This article was very interesting to read. It was half news and half PR. The article depicted Harry as just another upstanding member of the royal family, when just last year the press surrounding Prince Harry was not exactly positive.

The media portrayed Harry as a party boy. He was seen going out to clubs and getting into mischievous and paparazzi worthy situations. Now the image of Prince Harry in the media has changed because he served in Afghanistan.

He seems more down to earth. This will do nothing but strengthen Britain’s love for the members of the Royal Family. Whether or not this was an intentional PR move, it ended up being great press Prince Harry.

Facebook is Everywhere

I was in Borders this evening perusing their intense and impressive magazine section. While investigating the numerous Mac-related magazines, I stumbled across a magazine that blew me out of the water: The Independent Guide to Facebook: Your Complete Guide to Social Networking. My mouth dropped.

I remember my freshman year at the University of Oregon. Facebook.com was just a social site that was mainly used as a reference for new people you were meeting on campus. It was cool because it was just for college kids. Since the site has opened up to the general public, it has had a great impact on the world of social media.

This new magazine, The Independent Guide to Facebook, is proof that Facebook.com is becoming more influential. The magazines cover boasts that it is “148 pages of Facebook Now-How!” The cover spotlights how to get your Facebook started, step-by-step help, easy-to-use tutorials and includes smart security tips. I guess my question is, Is Facebook.com that hard to operate and manage?

Social media are ever-growing and ever changing. Every time I log into my Facebook account, I see that something has changed or is in a different place on the site. If you are not on your Facebook often, you might want to log-in. I bet things are different. I guess this is where a magazine, like The Independent Guide to Facebook, would come in handy. I guess the next step is an edition of The Idiot’s Guide to Facebook to be released. Look out world, you know it is on its way.