Wednesday, December 27, 2017

AsiaKO.com

Come on, AsiaKO.com, who are you trying to fool?

Your article, dated October 17, 2017, is titled: "2018: THE YEAR OF THE CRYPTOCURRENCY CRAZE"

A WIRED article from December 16, 2017, is titled: "2018: THE YEAR OF THE CRYPTOCURRENCY CRAZE"

Your opening:
Every successful new technology undergoes a Cambrian Era-style explosion of growth in which we try to use it for everything. Email, search, social networking—each passed through its “this will solve all our problems!” phase before we figured out what its best applications and limitations were. With the Bitcoin bubble testing astronomical prices every day, cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology that drives them are now taking their turn in this one-tech-fits-all role.
The opening from the Wired article:
Every successful new technology undergoes a Cambrian Era-style explosion of growth in which we try to use it for everything. Email, search, social networking—each passed through its “this will solve all our problems!” phase before we figured out what its best applications and limitations were. With the Bitcoin bubble testing astronomical prices every day, cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology that drives them are now taking their turn in this one-tech-fits-all role.
Your post has an embedded link for a different WIRED article which was published December 6, which means the "October 17" date next to your byline was fudged.  So you're using somebody else's content, plus your site has AdSense ads?  That's just sketchy.

Newstime360.co

Come on, Newstime360.co, who are you trying to fool?

Your article from December 20, 2017, is title: "Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds"

A New Yorker article from February 27, 2017, is titled: "Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds"

Your opening:
In 1975, researchers at Stanford invited a group of undergraduates to take part in a study about suicide. They were presented with pairs of suicide notes. In each pair, one note had been composed by a random individual, the other by a person who had subsequently taken his own life. The students were then asked to distinguish between the genuine notes and the fake ones.
The opening from The New Yorker:
In 1975, researchers at Stanford invited a group of undergraduates to take part in a study about suicide. They were presented with pairs of suicide notes. In each pair, one note had been composed by a random individual, the other by a person who had subsequently taken his own life. The students were then asked to distinguish between the genuine notes and the fake ones.
You're using somebody else's content, and your site has AdSense ads?  That's just sketchy. 


Bloomsberg.co

Come on, Bloomsberg.co, who are you trying to fool?

Your article from December 26, 2017, is titled: "Original ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ Stars on Regrets, Triumphs and a $2 Million Snack Budget"

A Hollywood Reporter article from May 28, 2017, is titled: "Original 'Pirates of the Caribbean' Stars on Regrets, Triumphs and a $2 Million Snack Budget"

Your opening:
When Disney’s original Pirates of the Caribbean was released in 2003, the tale following a rowdy group of pirates across the seas was almost as much of an adventure behind the scenes as it was onscreen.
Under the direction of Gore Verbinski (Pirates 1-3) and Rob Marshall (Pirates 4), the quartet of films (grossing $3.73 billion worldwide) follows Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow through a swashbuckling adventure that continues with the release of the fifth installment, Dead Men Tell No Tales, which hit theaters on Friday.
The opening from the Hollywood Reporter:
When Disney's original Pirates of the Caribbean was released in 2003, the tale following a rowdy group of pirates across the seas was almost as much of an adventure behind the scenes as it was onscreen. 
Under the direction of Gore Verbinski (Pirates 1-3) and Rob Marshall (Pirates 4), the quartet of films (grossing $3.73 billion worldwide) follows Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow through a swashbuckling adventure that continues with the release of the fifth installment, Dead Men Tell No Tales, which hit theaters on Friday.
You're using somebody else's content, and your site has AdSense ads?  That's just sketchy.


BingoDot.info

Come on, Bingodot.info, who are you trying to fool?

Your article from December 21 is titled: "Netflix Orders Sequel to Will Smith’s Bright, Renews Dark."

A Comic Book Resource article from December 21 is titled: "Netflix Orders Sequel to Will Smith’s Bright, Renews Dark."

Your opening:
Netflix has been releasing plenty of new content to binge this winter, and while it hasn’t even been released, the streaming service has ordered a follow up to the movie Bright. Its recently released cult-hit series Dark has also been renewed for a second season.
The opening from Comic Book Resources:
Netflix has been releasing plenty of new content to binge this winter, and while it hasn’t even been released, the streaming service has ordered a follow up to the movie Bright. Its recently released cult-hit series Dark has also been renewed for a second season.
You're using somebody else's content, and your site has AdSense ads?  That's just sketchy.

Saturday, December 23, 2017

WWE domains

I was listening to Wrestlenomics Radio the other night, and the hosts were discussing XFL and the latest news about WWE's trademarks.  It made me think about WWE's web domains.  I don't know if Mookieghana or anyone else has explored this particular topic yet...

The XFL.com domain is registered to Lauren Dienes-Middlen, at the e-mail address Lauren.Middlen@wwecorp.com.  (The site is down right now.)  I went to Whoisology and noticed 920 domains were registered to Lauren.Middlen@wwecorp.com as of June, 2017.  Whoisology tends to lag behind other WhoIs websites in terms of updates, but its archive produces more results than similar databases.

Below are the 920 domains (after the jump break):

Thursday, December 21, 2017

TrendSetNews.com

Come on, TrendSetNews.com, who are you trying to fool?

Your article from December 19, 2017, is titled: "Here’s Courtney Love, trying to warn people about Harvey Weinstein back in 2005."

An AV Club article from October 14, 2017 is titled: "Here’s Courtney Love, trying to warn people about Harvey Weinstein back in 2005."

Your opening:
Part of the gut-churning strangeness surrounding Hollywood’s ongoing Harvey Weinstein scandal is how quickly it’s become clear that Weinstein’s alleged abuses really were an “open” secret; it’s now apparent that a lot of people knew what “Harvey” was like around women, and almost none of them said anything (outside of a handful of inside-baseball jokes) across years of painful encounters, awkward meetings, and outright (alleged) assault. Which is what makes the following clip of Courtney Love at the 2005 Comedy Central Roast Of Pamela Anderson so striking: Not only does she try, in plain English, to warn women away from Weinstein’s grasp, but she’s also very clearly nervous—an emotion we don’t typically associate with Love’s public persona—to be doing so.
The opening from AV Club:
Part of the gut-churning strangeness surrounding Hollywood’s ongoing Harvey Weinstein scandal is how quickly it’s become clear that Weinstein’s alleged abuses really were an “open” secret; it’s now apparent that a lot of people knew what “Harvey” was like around women, and almost none of them said anything (outside of a handful of inside-baseball jokes) across years of painful encounters, awkward meetings, and outright (alleged) assault. Which is what makes the following clip of Courtney Love at the 2005 Comedy Central Roast Of Pamela Anderson so striking: Not only does she try, in plain English, to warn women away from Weinstein’s grasp, but she’s also very clearly nervous—an emotion we don’t typically associate with Love’s public persona—to be doing so.
You're using somebody else's content, and your site has AdSense ads?  That's just sketchy.

VarietyWires.co

Come on, VarietyWires.co, who are you trying to fool?

Your article from December 15, 2017, is titled: "Kevin Nash to Donate Brain for CTE Research: Latest Comments and Reaction."

A Bleacher Report article from March 2, 2016, is titled: "Kevin Nash to Donate Brain for CTE Research: Latest Comments and Reaction."

Your opening:
Former WWE Superstar Kevin Nash will donate his brain and spinal cord to the CTE Center at Boston University and the Concussion Legacy Foundation after his death, he told ESPN.com’s Michael Rothstein on Wednesday.
The opening from Bleacher Report:
Former WWE Superstar Kevin Nash will donate his brain and spinal cord to the CTE Center at Boston University and the Concussion Legacy Foundation after his death, he told ESPN.com's Michael Rothstein on Wednesday. 
You're using somebody else's content, and your site has AdSense ads?  That's just sketchy.

DynastyNow.com

Come on, DynastyNow.com, who are you trying to fool?

Your article from December 11 is titled: "Netflix Isn't Killing Movies, Hollywood Studios and Theaters Are."

An Inverse article from May 19, 2017, is titled: "Netflix Isn't Killing Movies, Hollywood Studios and Theaters Are."

Your opening:
There is nothing like seeing a good movie in a movie theater. The big screen, dark room, and experiencing something profound with a group of strangers — it’s the ideal cinematic experience, a tradition handed down from generation to generation. If only there were more good movies in theaters.
The opening from Inverse:
here is nothing like seeing a good movie in a movie theater. The big screen, dark room, and experiencing something profound with a group of strangers — it’s the ideal cinematic experience, a tradition handed down from generation to generation. If only there were more good movies in theaters.
You're using somebody else's content, and your site has AdSense ads?  That's just sketchy.

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

"The Senate"

The #2 post of all time on /r/PrequelMemes is a picture of Senator Palpatine, and the title is:
The Senate. Upvote this so that people see it when they Google "The Senate".


I don't think this trick works.  Because when I google "The Senate" and check the images, that photo of Palpatine isn't anywhere near the top.  The only photo of Palpatine that appear in the first three rows is actually from KnowYourMeme.com:.

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

FoxTimeToday.com

Come on, FoxTimeToday.com, who are you trying to fool?

Your article from December 8, 2017, is titled: "Colorado's Investment In IUDs And Other Fire-And-Forget Birthcontrol Produced A 'Miracle'"

A BoingBoing article from April 9, 2017 is titled: "Colorado's investment in IUDs and other fire-and-forget birthcontrol produced a 'miracle'"

Your opening:
The Colorado Family Planning Initiative spent comparatively small sums making IUDs and other long-term birth control methods (such as implants and injections) available to women, through a “no wrong door” approach that let women start their journey through a variety of agencies, and included after-school and other counseling services, and also provided birth control to women on maternity wards before they went home with their babies.
The opening from BoingBoing:
The Colorado Family Planning Initiative spent comparatively small sums making IUDs and other long-term birth control methods (such as implants and injections) available to women, through a "no wrong door" approach that let women start their journey through a variety of agencies, and included after-school and other counseling services, and also provided birth control to women on maternity wards before they went home with their babies.
You're using somebody else's content, and your site has AdSense ads?  That's just sketchy.

Sunday, December 10, 2017

TheGolder.com

Come on, TheGolder.com, who are you trying to fool?

Your article from December 5, 2017, is titled: "7 Things You Might Not Know About Calvin and Hobbes."

A Mental Floss article from October 21, 2013, is titled: "7 Things You Might Not Know About Calvin and Hobbes."

Your opening:
Though we can’t pick your friends, we strongly encourage you to ostracize anyone who expresses disinterest or disdain for Calvin and Hobbes, the brilliant comic strip illustrated by Bill Watterson from 1985 to 1995. For the December 2013 issue of mental_floss magazine, we scored a rare interview with the famously private Mr. Watterson. Here are seven more notes about the author, the boy, and his stuffed tiger. Tuna fish sandwich and toboggan optional.
Mental Floss's opening:
Though we can’t pick your friends, we strongly encourage you to ostracize anyone who expresses disinterest or disdain for Calvin and Hobbes, the brilliant comic strip illustrated by Bill Watterson from 1985 to 1995. For the December 2013 issue of mental_floss magazine, we scored a rare interview with the famously private Mr. Watterson. Here are seven more notes about the author, the boy, and his stuffed tiger. Tuna fish sandwich and toboggan optional.
You're using somebody else's content, and your site has AdSense ads?  That's just sketchy.

Thursday, December 7, 2017

TheTimeWire.com

Come on, TheTimeWire.com, who are you trying to fool?

Your article from December 6, 2017, is titled: "Doctor Behind Vaccine-Autism Link Lose License."

A Time article from May 24, 2010, is titled: "Doctor behind vaccine-autism link loses license."

Your opening:
It took nearly six months but the General Medical Council (GMC) in the U.K. has pulled Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s license to practice medicine in the United Kingdom. 
Wakefield is the researcher who nearly single-handedly fueled parental concerns about the link between vaccines and autism.
The opening from Time:
It took nearly six months but the General Medical Council (GMC) in the U.K. has pulled Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s license to practice medicine in the United Kingdom. 
Wakefield is the researcher who nearly single-handedly fueled parental concerns about the link between vaccines and autism. 
You're using somebody else's content, and your site has AdSense ads?  That's just sketchy.

Wednesday, December 6, 2017

USATimesInc.com

Come on, USATimesInc.com, who are you trying to fool? 

Your article from December 6, 2017, is titled: "Nicolas Cage on Turning Down ‘Dumb & Dumber,’ Winning Another Oscar and the Movie that Made Him Change His Name"

A Hollywood Reporter article from February 14, 2012, is titled: "Nicolas Cage on Turning Down 'Dumb & Dumber,' Winning Another Oscar and the Movie that Made Him Change His Name"

Your opening:
Nicolas Cage may be known for his tough-guy roles in action films like Face/Off, Gone in Sixty Seconds and National Treasure. 
But, if things had gone differently, he may have been known for a very different role. 
While doing press for his upcoming Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengence (opening Feb. 17), the actor discussed a role he almost took: Jim Carrey‘s sidekick in Dumb & Dumber.
The opening from the Hollywood Reporter:
Nicolas Cage may be known for his tough-guy roles in action films like Face/Off, Gone in Sixty Seconds and National Treasure.  
But, if things had gone differently, he may have been known for a very different role. 
While doing press for his upcoming Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengence (opening Feb. 17), the actor discussed a role he almost took: Jim Carrey's sidekick in Dumb & Dumber. 
You're using somebody else's content, and your site has AdSense ads?  That's just sketchy. 

Saturday, December 2, 2017

The largest "Black Lives Matter" page on Facebook is probably a sham

There's a Black Lives Matter page on Facebook with 695,000 followers.  I'll refer to it as BlackLivesMatter1, because the URL is www.facebook.com/blacklivesmatter1.


695,000 people is a big following.  By comparison, the verified "Black Lives Matter" Facebook page has a bit over 300,000 followers.

The page's timeline is filled with memes, photos, and news headlines relevant to the Black Lives Matter movement.  However, the person running BlackLivesMatter1 has occasionally gone off message and posted items that were either false or cooked up by trolls:


BlackLivesMatter1 has also shared headlines from partisan right-wing sites like TruthFeedNews.com and USAForToday.com.  On the surface, this doesn't make sense.  It's like whoever runs BlackLivesMatter1 doesn't pay attention to the details of what they post.

Another strange feature is that, whenever BlackLivesMatter1 posts a headline, the outbound link doesn't go to the actual news source.  Instead the link goes to an aggregation site, www.blacklivesmatter.media, which has a layout similar to Reddit.  A pop-up immediately asks you to subscribe to a newsletter (see below).  After closing the pop-up, you have to scroll past two rows of AdChoices, then click the headline again to finally view the story.  My understanding is that blacklivesmatter.media and the BlackLivesMatter1 Facebook page are controlled by the same people.


The domain blacklivesmatter.media was registered by an Australian man named Ian Mackay on October 15, 2016, using the e-mail address blacklivesmatter1@hotmail.com.  I sent Ian an e-mail back in September inquiring about BlackLivesMatter1, but it wasn't until this past Monday that I finally reached him on the phone.  We had a brief, static-filled conversation.  Later, Ian e-mailed me and explained that, while he was the original owner of blacklivesmatter.media, he was "not the only person" associated with the site.  He therefore wanted to run any questions I had by some other people first.

Among other things, I was curious how much money BlackLivesMatter1 has raised through its various DonorBox pages, including (but not limited to): Black Lives MatterBlack Lives Matter MediaBlack Lives Matter MembershipStanding Rock Support, and Scholarship Program 1.  These pages don't have any ongoing tallies, but I found many examples of people sharing links to them on Twitter and Facebook:

 
BlackLivesMatter1 doesn't try to organize rallies or affect politics.  Instead, their mission is to expose racism, and they accomplish that by sharing stories on social media.  In theory, it's an admirable goal, but parts of the presentation made me suspicious.  For instance, the About section on Facebook says: "We put every spare dollar we have into paid ads on Facebook to boost the most shocking stories."  The main DonorBox page goes further, claiming:
We also help people who can't get support otherwise that are victims of hate crimes or have been affected by racism...we can't often help them financially but try our best to get them free legal advice or some place to stay with one of our network, we now also face a legal attack ourselves from the right wing media outlets trying to silence us 
In addition to soliciting donations, BlackLivesMatter1 makes money by selling items through its online shop.  The Facebook page is strewn with commerce links for t-shirts, hoodies, and baseball caps.  These orders are processed through MyBigCommerce (which is similar to Shopify), and many of the listings have a parenthetical message: "Proceeds donated to expose racism."  There's also a Patreon page for BlackLivesMatter1 (set up in September), with four patrons. 












I wound up sending Ian Mackay 10 questions, many of which focused on financial matters:  I asked if it's true BlackLivesMatter1 faces a legal attack from the right-wing media.  I asked how much money BlackLivesMatter1 has raised through its Donorbox pages.  I asked for an estimate of how much money BlackLivesMatter1 has made through the combination of AdSense, MyBigCommerce, and Patreon.  And I asked how much money BlackLivesMatter1 has spent boosting stories on Facebook.

I also lobbed some softballs, like "Do you consider yourself to be part of the Black Lives Matter movement?" and "What ethnicity are you?"

Several things happened after I sent the e-mail.  The BlackLivesMatter1 Facebook page removed its "Donate" button.  The About page on Facebook was edited, and a couple external links to blacklivesmatter.media and blacklivesmattergifts.com were deleted.  Most of the DonorBox pages disappeared.  The previous 8 months' worth of newsletters sent by BlackLivesMatter1 were erased from the email campaign archive.  And the "Donate" button was removed from the blacklivesmatter.media homepage.

I'll go out on a limb here and say those things wouldn't have happened if BlackLivesMatter1 were a legitimate group.

On Wednesday, Ian sent another e-mail:
Hi Jeremy,
As I told you I a m the original owner but there are others associated with it now as I buy and sell a lot of domain names as a hobby.  I passed your details and questions on to who I think has it now, hopefully they can help you.  I took a look at your website www.manicnews.com<http://www.manicnews.com> and I do not want my personal or any other of my details published on your website or anywhere else online or otherwise for that matter by you or anyone else, I'd like to make that clear.  Please let me know if there is anything further.
I never received an e-mail from the "others," and a follow-up exchange with Ian yielded no new information.

My hunch is that whoever currently runs BlackLivesMatter1 is trying to make some money off the back of the Black Lives Matter movement.  Still, I'm surprised the page has flown under the media's radar when you consider the current political climate.  A few months ago, CNN reported that Russian trolls were posing as Black Lives Matter activists on Facebook and Twitter.  One of the trolls' Facebook pages, Blacktivists, had 360,000 likes. which was considered a very big number by CNN's Dylan Byers.  I expected, in light of that report, that more people would start paying attention to who runs the popular activist pages on Facebook.

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

ABCNews-us.com

Another fake news website has emerged.  It's in the same mold as cnn-internationaledition.com and cnn-globalnews.com.

This latest website is www.abcnews-us.com.  Today, it printed a story alleging that Warren Buffet has significantly invested in bitcoin.  The story also ran an alleged quote from an interview Buffet gave to the Financial Times.  Here's an archive of that story: http://archive.is/eTmvh.


















I could not find any news stories mentioning that Warren Buffet had recently invested in bitcoin.  The only such "source" for this news is abcnews-us.com.

I'm not sure yet who controls abcnews-us.com.  The WhoIs record from RegistryDB.com indicates the domain was registered by "Scott Lee," using the e-mail address bigstack1000@gmail.com.  The About page for abcnews-us.com is simply a copy-and-paste from a different fake news site called the Jackson Telegraph.  All that being said, it sure seems like whoever runs abcnews-us.com is a bitcoin fan, right?

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Deadline removes article about Netflix/House of Cards

A Deadline article claimed that Netflix had removed Kevin Spacey's image from the House of Cards title card:
Spacey’s image is absent from the main menu, which now features a title card with Robin Wright’s Claire Underwood sans husband. (Oddly enough, the actress is striking an identical pose as her next-door menu neighbor, BoJack Horseman.)

The article has been removed, but I saved a cached version here: http://archive.is/ZzlWj.  My hunch is that the author, Greg Evans, read way too much into an inconsequential graphic.  In fact, when I log onto Netflix, the title card for House of Cards still shows Kevin Spacey back-to-back with Robin Wright:










An anonymous commenter added this:
Greg, sweetheart. Netflix changes it’s title boxes sometimes multiple times a day. The fact that Spacey isn’t shown in the title box right this minute doesn’t mean he won’t be tonight or tomorrow. By the way, last I checked, the title box for House of Cards showed Spacey and Wright standing back to back. Let’s not allow hysteria and paranoia to get the best of us, shall we?
Moral of the story:  Don't leap to silly conclusions.   

M. Night Shyamalan's dope website is down

I really enjoyed M. Night Shyamalan's two most-recent films: The Visit and Split.  And I'm looking forward to his next film, Glass.  (Hopefully we get a resolution for Casey's side of the story.)

It seems like M. Night Shymalan has returned to form after several years in the critics' doghouse.  But one this that hasn't returned is his interactive website:  www.MNightShyamalan.com.  Any time I visit, it gives me an error message.  

The website launched in 2009, and the whole thing was like a cryptic haunted house.  You could explore different rooms and, um, learn about M. Night's career.  Here's a screencast showing how it used to look:


Was it a victim of the coming Flash apocalypse?  

Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Netflix LEGO movies

Netflix had this notification on my profile page today:


I don't get it.  Does Netflix think that I wouldn't want to watch "LEGO Marvel Super Heroes: Avengers Reassembled!"?  Because I would.  And I did. 

Thursday, November 2, 2017

Gothamist and DNAInfo are dead???

Well that came out of nowhere: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/02/nyregion/dnainfo-gothamist-shutting-down.html

Rest assured:  We here at Manic News will NEVER be sold to a billionaire like Joe Ricketts and then get shut down.

The mystery of Semanal Media: Part 2

It's November 2nd, and I haven't seen any chatter lately about Semanal Media or the sale of LA Weekly.

I noticed back on October 18th that the domain "SemanalMedia.com" was registered to a guy named Richard Flores in Huntington Beach.  My immediate thought was that Flores was camping the domain.  However, when I sent him a joking e-mail to congratulate him on purchasing LA Weekly, he responded: "???"  That wasn't the type of response I expected.

It appears Flores registered a bunch of other domains in addition to SemanalMedia.com.  I can't draw any conclusions from this list, but perhaps somebody else can?

October 17:
`
12:52 PM: SmackOff24.com was registered to Richard Flores.

12:52 PM: SmackOff25.com was registered to Richard Flores.

7:02 PM: TheLALadyShow.com was registered to Richard Flores.

7:02 PM: TheLAWomanShow.com was registered to Richard Flores.

7:02 PM: TheLAWeeklyShow.com was registered to Richard Flores.

October 18:

3:52 PM:  The news breaks on LABusinessJournal.com that LA Weekly was sold to Semanal Media.

9:14 PM: SemanalMedia.com was registered to Richard Flores.  Within a few hours, the WhoIs information would be edited, and it now shows the domain was registered to "Domains By Proxy."

9:14 PM: SemanalMediaLLC.com was registered.

9:14 PM: SemanalMediaGroup.com was registered.

9:14 PM: SemanalMediaGroupLLC.com was registered.

11:19 PM: LAWeeklyShow.com was registered.

I already know the significance of the first two domains.  The "Smack Off" is an annual competition for fans of The Jim Rome Show.  Sports Illustrated covered this year's contest, and summed it up this way:
In the "Smack Off," callers from across the country are pitted against each other in a pseudo-battle rap format in hopes of winning Rome’s approval, taking home a $5,000 cash prize and, most importantly of all, claiming a year’s worth of bragging rights.
I don't think Flores works for Jim Rome or for CBS.  He's just really into these competitions.  Flores previously registered www.SmackOff22.com and www.SmackOff23.com, and neither site was ever utilized.  He also registered www.CloneOnClone.com in 2013, and it seems he was trying to pitch an idea for a TV segment to Jim Rome and/or Showtime:


My guess is that Flores registered the other eight domains in anticipation that they might be valuable to someone later on.  I don't know if there's a direct connection between his decision to register TheLAWeeklyShow.com and his decision to register SemanalMedia.com.

Maybe someone is planning to create a show under the LA Weekly brand?

Random notes:

1.)  This was my attempt to screenshot the WhoIs information for SemanalMedia.com with Fireshot, before it was changed: https://imgur.com/a/yuKQ4

2.)  The domain SemanalDigital.com was both dropped and registered on October 18th.  I checked various registry sites, but can't figure out who owned the domain in the days leading up to October 18th.  Furthermore, it was registered by some domain-parking service called DonDominio, and my impression is that DonDominio just snatched it up randomly because it happened to be available.

Monday, October 30, 2017

Consumerist.com is dead

Farewell, website:
https://consumerist.com/2017/10/30/please-pardon-the-interruption/

We here at Manic News will NEVER shut down. Not until the sun turns into a red giant and swallows the Earth whole.  Then we'll shut down.

Thursday, October 19, 2017

The Mystery of Semanal Media

Yesterday, news emerged that LA Weekly will be sold to Semanal Media, LLC. No one seems to know who's behind Semanal Media, although I'm more curious about who registered the domain "SemanalMedia.com."

The domain was registered last night between 9 and 10 P.M. EST, and for a few hours Google Domains included a name, e-mail address, physical address and phone number which corresponded to a specific person in California.

I e-mailed the supposed registrant and jokingly congratulated him on buying LA Weekly, and he responded with: "???"  I recapped the situation, and he said in a reply that "Weekly" was not his, and that he had "no idea about that."

I then pointed out that a couple other domains had been registered using the same name, e-mail address and phone number as were used for SemanalMedia.com, and I asked if he had registered those two earlier domains.  (For the record, I realize the information supplied on WhoIs forms is not 100% reliable, but if we're going to solve this mystery then we should all work together.)

He replied: "Weird.. thanks for the heads up"

Monday, October 16, 2017

The Newsweek network, part 6: The 33 Universal sites

33 Universal is the publisher of a variety of niche-interest websites  The company has a very "Marketing 101" feel to it, because each property is aimed at a different demographic.  And the company homepage (33Universal.com) appeals directly to advertisers:
"Highly-Related Brands" 
"Serving Loyal Consumer Audiences" 
"Reach Targeted Visitors Using High Impact Units and More"
In a 2014 essay on Medium, Ben Reeves described his experience working at IBTimes, and he said IBTimes "acquired" 33 Universal back in 2012.  Reeves didn't go into detail about which brands were part of the 33 Universal portfolio.  He only mentioned that there were 19 brands.  Of course, I wanted to figure out which brands are (or were) part of the 33 Universal portfolio.

One strategy would have been to look at the domains that used "info@33universal.com" as their administrative or registrant contact address.  The drawback with that strategy is that it could result in false positives.  For instance, TechTimes.com (profiled in Part 1) used "info@33universal.com" as its admin e-mail address in early 2013, but I don't think the website officially launched until the fall of 2013, which was after Tech Times LLC was formed.  Another website that used "info@33universal.com" was ChesterCo.com, which is the homepage for a construction company in upstate New York.  Clearly, a construction company is not the same thing as a niche-interest news site.

Instead, I looked at archived pages of 33Universal.com and copied down the exact URLs from the "Properties" page as well as from the homepage.



Two of the sites were already mentioned in Part 2:  DesignNTrend.com and FashionNStyle.com (as part of Fashion Times LLC).  Another site was mentioned in Part 3:  Latinospost.com (as part of Latin Post Company LLC).

Here are the 21 others:

1. AutoWorldNews.com -- No updates since August, 2017.  The address on the Contact page is: One Hallidie Plaza, Suite 750, San Francisco.

2. BooksNReview.com -- The "Featured Articles" on the homepage are from December, 2016.  However, the site's archives are packed with hundreds of posts from 2017 containing Amazon links.

3. CounselHeal.com -- No updates since August, 2017.  Articles are embedded with videos from Newsweek Media Group.  The address on the Contact page is 30 Broad Street,14th Floor.

4. FoodNRecipe.com  -- The articles on the homepage are from September, 2012.  The address on the Contact page is: 7 Hanover Square, 6th Floor, New York.

5. FoodWorldNews.com -- Articles on the homepage are from May, 2016, however the archives contain SEO articles on various topics.  The articles on FoodWorldNews.com are embedded with videos from Vuuo, which is a video-hosting platform created in 2015.  When I checked these sites last month, every single "Vuuo" video played a short ad for Joy, the 2015 movie starring Jennifer Lawrence.  It was like entering a time warp.  But as of yesterday, the Vuuo boxes were glitching, and they all showed a static screenshot from Selena Gomez's music video "Bad Liar."

6. FranchiseHerald.com -- Articles on the homepage are from February, 2017, and they are embedded with Vuuo boxes.  The address on the contact page is: 1133 Broadway, New York.  Franchise Herald is partners with Uwannit, which is a commerce site filled with links to Amazon.com products.  The archives section contains a bunch of SEO articles.     

7. GamenGuide.com -- No updates since August, 2017.  Articles are embedded with videos from Newsweek Media Group.  The address on the Contact page is: 115 E 57th Street, 11th Floor, New York City.

8. HNGN.com -- No updates since August, 2017.  Articles are embedded with videos from Newsweek Media Group.  The address on the About page is: 40 Wall Street, Flr 28, New York.

9. JobsNHire.com -- No updates since March, 2017.  The address on the Contact page is: 1350 Avenue of the Americas, 2nd Floor, New York City.

10. LawyerHerald.com -- No updates since April, 2017.  The address on the Contact page is: 40 Wall St., New York, NY 10005

11. MobileNApps.com -- No updates since May, 2017.  The address on the Contact page is: 30 Broad Street, 14th Floor, New York.

12. MomIsBest.com -- Defunct site.

13. NatureNPlanet.com  -- Defunct site.  The address on an archived Contact page from 2012 was 33 Whitehall Street, 7th Floor New York.

14. NatureWorldNews.com -- No updates since September, 2017.  Articles are embedded with videos from Newsweek Media Group.  The address on the Contact page is: 1441 Broadway, 6th Floor, New York City.

15. ParentHerald.com -- No updates since May, 2017.  Articles are embedded with videos from Newsweek Media Group.  The address on the Contact page is: 1441 Broadway, 6th Floor, New York City.

16. RealEstateNNews.com -- Defunct site.  In 2012, the URL would automatically redirect to iRealtyTimes.com.

17. ScienceNReview.com -- Defunct site.  From 2012 to 2014, the URL would automatically redirect to ScienceWorldReport.com.

18. ScienceWorldReport.com -- No updates since July, 2017.  The address on the Contact page is 1350 Avenue of the Americas, 2nd Floor, New York City.

19. SportsWorldReport.com -- Articles in the "Latest News" section are from January, 2017, however the Archives section contains several SEO articles--some posted as recently as September.  The articles on SportsWorldReport.com are embedded with Vuuo boxes.  Furthermore, the posts in the "Latest News" section just consist of short excerpts taken from other news sites, followed by a link to the full article:

















20. TravelersToday.com -- No updates since June, 2017.  The address on the Contact page is: One Hallidie Plaza, Suite 750, San Francisco.

21. UniversityDailyNews.com -- Defunct site.  The address from a Contact page in 2012 was 33 Whitehall street, 7th Floor, New York.  In 2013 and 2014, the URL would automatically redirect to UniversityHerald.com.

Sunday, October 15, 2017

Rdbee.com

Come on, Rdbee.com, who are you trying to fool?

Your post from October 14 is titled: "Glasgow scientists launch teacake into space."

BBC article from October 13 is titled: "Glasgow scientists launch teacake into space."

Your opening:
Thousands of people have watched a teacake voyage into space in a fun experiment. 
The launch was carried out by a team at Glasgow Science Centre (GSC), aimed at sparking people’s “imagination” in science and technology.
A camera attached to a hydrogen weather balloon broadcast Facebook Live images that were watched 33,000 times.
The opening from BBC:
Thousands of people have watched a teacake voyage into space in a fun experiment. 
The launch was carried out by a team at Glasgow Science Centre (GSC), aimed at sparking people's "imagination" in science and technology. 
A camera attached to a hydrogen weather balloon broadcast Facebook Live images that were watched 33,000 times.
You're using somebody else's content, combined with AdChoices?  That's just sketchy.

Techhgee.com

Come on, Techhgee.com, who are you trying to fool?

Your post from October 14 is titled: "Abortion should not be crime, says doctors’ union."

A BBC article from June 27, 2017, is titled: "Abortion should not be crime, says doctors' union."

Your opening:
Doctors have backed decriminalizing abortion, as momentum gathers to overhaul the 1967 Abortion Act. 
Currently women in England and Wales have to prove to a doctor that carrying on with the pregnancy is detrimental to health or well being to get permission for a termination.
Without permission, abortion is a criminal offence.
The opening from BBC:
Doctors have backed decriminalising abortion, as momentum gathers to overhaul the 1967 Abortion Act. 
Currently women in England and Wales have to prove to a doctor that carrying on with the pregnancy is detrimental to health or wellbeing to get permission for a termination. 
Without permission, abortion is a criminal offence. 
You're using somebody else's content, combined with AdChoices?  That's just sketchy.

Saturday, October 14, 2017

Peqons.com

Come on, Peqons.com, who are  you trying to fool?

Your article from earlier in October is titled: "This 22-Year-Old Is Already An Engineer With NASA."

A HuffPost article from February 3 is titled: "This 22-Year-Old Is Already An Engineer With NASA.'

Your opening:
Tiera Guinn is just 22 years old and she’s already working with NASA.  
As a Rocket Structural Design and Analysis Engineer for the Space Launch System that aerospace company Boeing is building for NASA, Guinn designs and analyzes parts of a rocket that she said will be one of the biggest and most powerful in history. 
The opening from HuffPost:
Tiera Guinn is just 22 years old and she’s already working with NASA.  
As a Rocket Structural Design and Analysis Engineer for the Space Launch System that aerospace company Boeing is building for NASA, Guinn designs and analyzes parts of a rocket that she said will be one of the biggest and most powerful in history. 
You're using somebody else's content, combined with AdChoices?  That's just sketchy.

Friday, October 13, 2017

BloomsMag.com

Come on, BloomsMag.com, who are you trying to fool?

Your article from October 10, 2017, is titled: "A Philosopher’s 350-Year-Old Trick To Get People To Change Their Minds Is Now Backed Up By Psychologists."

A Quartz article from September 11, 2016, is titled: "A philosopher’s 350-year-old trick to get people to change their minds is now backed up by psychologists."

Your first paragraph:
The 17th century philosopher Blaise Pascal is perhaps best known for Pascal’s Wager which, in the first formal use of decision theory, argued that believing in God is the most pragmatic decision. But it seems the French thinker also had a knack for psychology. As Brain Pickings points out, Pascal set out the most effective way to get someone to change their mind, centuries before experimental psychologists began to formally study persuasion:
The first paragraph from Quartz:
The 17th century philosopher Blaise Pascal is perhaps best known for Pascal’s Wager which, in the first formal use of decision theory, argued that believing in God is the most pragmatic decision. But it seems the French thinker also had a knack for psychology. As Brain Pickings points out, Pascal set out the most effective way to get someone to change their mind, centuries before experimental psychologists began to formally study persuasion:
You're using someone else's content, and you've got ads from AdChoices on your site, too?  That's just sketchy.

StarlingCity.co.uk

Come on, StarlingCity.co.uk, who are you trying to fool?

Your post from October 9 is titled: "J.J. Watt apologizes to Texans fans, Houston after devastating leg injury."

A CBS Sports article from October 9 is titled: "J.J. Watt apologizes to Texans fans, Houston after devastating leg injury."

Your first paragraph:
J.J. Watt was injured in the first quarter of the Houston Texans’ loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night. While attempting to tackle Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith, Watt went down with a knee injury that we later learned was a tibial plateau fracture. He was carted off the field and eventually taken to the hospital. 
The first paragraph from CBS Sports:
J.J. Watt was injured in the first quarter of the Houston Texans' loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night. While attempting to tackle Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith, Watt went down with a knee injury that we later learned was a tibial plateau fracture. He was carted off the field and eventually taken to the hospital.
You're using someone else's content, and you've got ads from AdChoices on your site, too?  That's just sketchy.

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

SouthernMirror.com

Did you hear about the doomsday prepper in Blue Springs, Missouri, who died after accidentally setting off his own booby trap?  What about the doomsday prepper in Monroe, Tennessee, who died after accidentally set off his own booby trap?

Both stories appeared on SouthernMirror.com.  In each story, the prepper was a  46-year-old man named Doug Curtis.  The same story also appeared on JacksonTelegraph.com, although the setting for that version was Jackson, Mississippi.

Obviously, SouthernMirror.com is a fake news site.  It's one in a long string of them.


StarlingClubs.info

Come on, StarlingClubs.info, who are you trying to fool?

Your article from October 10 is titled, "Star Trek: Discovery Cast Want Trump to Watch the Series."

A ScreenRant post from October 10 is titled, "Star Trek: Discovery Cast Want Trump to Watch the Series."

Your opening:
The cast and crew of Star Trek: Discovery is keen for President Donald Trump to watch their show, as it turns out. It’s easy to imagine the POTUS finding an affinity for Jason Isaacs’ Captain Lorca, the morally questionable “wartime leader” who leads the eponymous U.S.S. Discovery. 
Some have questioned what Lorca is hiding, and wondered whether he is the true villain of the piece, despite his status as an authority figure on the side of the supposed good guys.

The opening from ScreenRant:

The cast and crew of Star Trek: Discovery is keen for President Donald Trump to watch their show, as it turns out. It’s easy to imagine the POTUS finding an affinity for Jason Isaacs’ Captain Lorca, the morally questionable “wartime leader” who leads the eponymous U.S.S. Discovery. Some have questioned what Lorca is hiding, and wondered whether he is the true villain of the piece, despite his status as an authority figure on the side of the supposed good guys.

You're using someone else's content, and you've got AdChoices to boot?  That's just sketchy.

Saturday, September 16, 2017

The Newsweek network, Part 5: Winavo and Bizu

Here are some IBT Media sites that are no longer functioning, although they can still be viewed in archived form:

1.  Winavo.com 

Winavo.com was a tech site, and archived pages show the latest posts were made in March, 2014.  The About page said:
Winavo is a technology blog dedicated to the latest PC news, product launches and the intersection of all Microsoft platforms. We aim to provide the latest information about Windows 8 smartphones and tablets. We also cover the latest Xbox and Xbox Live news.
The header had links to DroidReport and MacRage, so it appears Winavo formed a trio of tech sites for IBT Media:


An old Contact page lists four editors and reporters:  Michael Nunez, Heriberto “Lobo” Rivera, Jordan Mammo, and Eric Chiu.  For some reason, the same four names appear on the Contact page for NatureTimes.com, which was a bit confusing when I first stumbled onto it.

Another defunct website is:

2.  Bizu.tv

Bizu.tv was dedicated to streams of business videos.  An archived page from April 4, 2015, says:
Alas, dear friends, Bizu.tv is no more. 
Thank you to our viewers, content providers and advertisers over the last two years, it has been a great ride.
Bizu.tv was featured in the 2014 IBT media kit, on a page describing video opportunities.

Thursday, September 14, 2017

Krazywolf.com

On Tuesday, the #1 post on /r/TwoXChromosomes was a Medium op-ed on the topic of contraceptives, titled: "Data Shows Contraception Lowers Abortion Rates and Saves Billions, but Why Do Republicans Continually Fight to Deny Women the Right to Birth Control."

It was submitted by /u/Miked378, and it received 19,026 upvotes.

Overall, it's an average piece of writing.  It cites a couple key statistics and it hammers home the thesis.

However, at the end of the Medium op-ed was an outbound link to an article from another site called Krazywolf.com, which bills itself as a "viral content source."  The article on Krazy Wolf has nothing to do with contraceptives.  It's about the rapper Logic performing at the VMAs.  (Note: The link was later removed from the op-ed, but it's still visible in this cache.)

My question is:  Why did an op-ed about contraceptives include a link to some random viral website?

The op-ed was written by a woman named "Claire Anderson."  Her Medium profile does not contain any biographical info, nor does it have links to other social media accounts. This was her first piece ever published on Medium.

This wasn't the first time Miked378 posted the Medium link on /r/TwoXChromosomes.  He previously posted the link on September 6, and it received 1,525 upvotes.  Miked378 later deleted his thread, but it can still be viewed in this archive.

Miked378 has since been banned from Reddit: www.reddit.com/user/miked378.

Here are some other KrazyWolf.com links posted recently on Reddit:

September 6:  A link in /r/NotTheOnion about Monopoly: 78 upvotes, later deleted.
September 7:  A link in /r/NotTheOnion about Monopoly: 2,847 upvotes, later deleted.
September 8:  A link in /r/NotTheOnion about Monopoly: 103 upvotes, submitted by /u/flembdog.
September 8:  A link in /r/NotTheOnion about Monopoly: 114 upvotes, later deleted.
September 8:  A link in /r/Science about Monopoly: 35 upvotes, submitted by /u/flembdog.

Nobody who commented on the posts in /r/TwoXChromosomes mentioned the Krazy Wolf link. To be clear, I don't have an issue with the content of the op-ed itself, nor with the content on Krazy Wolf.  I just don't understand how people can consume news and not wonder about the source of their information.

Friday, September 8, 2017

The Newsweek network part 4: CruxialCIO

CruxialCIO.com is another news site with "2017 IBT MEDIA INC" in its footer.  The About page shows the address "7 Hanover Square, Fifth Floor, New York, New York."

The most recent stories on CruxialCIO.com are from September, 2015.  Here is the site's description:
CruxialCIO is a service for top business and technology leaders worldwide, delivering ongoing professional education in the form of practical information, analysis and advice on how to best use information systems to achieve organizational goals.
I had noticed last week that there were lots of websites beginning with "cruxial" using the administrative e-mail "domains@IBTimes.com," although none of them were activee.g. CruxialSales.com and CruxialCMO.com.  

The CruxialCIO.com domain is registered to Perfect Privacy, LLC.  The admin e-mail address consists of a random string of numbers and letters, followed by "@domaindiscreet.com."  However, the same e-mail address is assigned to nine other domains:  CrucialCFO.com, IBTMediaCorp.com, CrucialCEO.com, CruxialManufacturing.com, CrucialRisk.com, CruxialRisk.com, CruxialPharma.com, CruxialHealth.com, CrucialCIO.com, CruxialCIO.com.  

None of those additional domains are active.  According to Whoisology, the CruxialCIO.com domain is set to expire on September 9, 2017, and I'm curious to see what happens in the next couple days.  Will the registration lapse, or is there somebody keeping tabs who will renew the domain?  

Monday, September 4, 2017

The Newsweek network, part 3: The Latin Post Company

Latin Post Company LLC was incorporated on December 31, 2012.  It was originally called Latinos Media Group LLC, then switched to Latino Post Company LLC in 2013 before switching to the current name in 2014.

In 2015 and 2016, Latin Post Company LLC submitted six applications for H1B visas, and those forms can be viewed on MyVisaJobs.com.  The "Employer Point of Contact" on each form was "Johnathan Davis," and his title was "Publisher."  The employer's address was 33 Whitehall Street, Floor 9.

The Latin Post doesn't appear to be doing great these days, judging by this tweet from of one of their top editors, Michael Oleaga:

Here are domains that appear to be part of the Latin Post Company:

1. LatinOne.com -- No updates since February, 2016.  The address in the Contact section is 2372 Morse Ave., Ste. 410 Irvince [sic], CA.  The About page says "LatinOne.com is a web property part of The Latin Post Company LLC based in New York City."


2. LatinoPost.com -- Redirects to LatinOne.com.

3. LatinosHealth.com -- No updates since April 27.  The Terms Of Service page says the material is provided by the Latin Post Company.  The Contact page shows the address "2372 Morse Ave., Ste. 410."


4. LatinosPost.com -- No updates since January, 2016.  Articles contain links to BoomsBeat.  The About page says "Latinos Post is part of the Latin Post Company LLC."  The Contact page shows the address "2372 Morse Ave., Ste. 410, Irvine, CA 92614."

5. LatinPost.com -- No updates since June, 2017.  Articles are embedded with videos from Newsweek Media Group.  The address on the Contact page is 40 Wall St., 28th Floor.

6. LatinPostCompany.com --  This isn't a standalone news site, but has general information about the Latin Post Company.  The page mentions five reporters in particular: Michael Oleaga, Robert Schoon, David Salazar, Milly Contreras, and Francisco Salazar.


7. LPCNetwork.com -- The homepage for a native advertising business.  An archived page from network.latinpostcompany.com gives a glimpse of LPCNetwork's strategy:  "LPC Network is an emerging platform that allows brands to feature their content across hispanic-centric web and mobile media properties in a real seamless and effective way."  It appears the business was re-branded as EasyNative, and the focus expanded beyond Hispanic-centric websites.

It seems kind of confusing that a company would publish multiple news sites with nearly-identical names.  (I mean, seriously, "LatinPost" and "LatinosPost"?)  Then again, I don't have any experience in terms of publishing news sites, so what do I really know?

Sunday, September 3, 2017

The Newsweek network, part 2: The IBTimes domains

IBTimes.com is registered to "IBTimes Media Inc."  The administrative contact e-mail address for the site is "domains@IBTimes.com," and, according to Whoisology, there are 182 domains using the same e-mail.

Some of those sites are featured in Newsweek Media Group's 2017 media kit:

1. LatinTimes.com -- Regularly updated.  Articles are embedded with Newsweek Media Group videos.

2. MedicalDaily.com -- Regularly updated.

3. Player.one -- Regularly updated.

Another domain is featured in the current IBTimes media kit:

4. iDigitalTimes.com -- Redirects to Player.one.

Here are some news sites using that e-mail address which aren't in the media kits:

5. BeautyWorldNews.com -- No updates since April, 2017.  Articles contain links to BoomsBeat.

6. Celebeat.com --  No updates since about June 30, 2017. A publication of Claire Entertainment.  Articles are embedded with videos from Newsweek Media Group.  The address on the Contact page is 30 Broad Street 14th Floor

7. DesignTimes.com --  No updates since April, 2017.

8. DroidReport.com --  No updates since July 16, 2017.  Articles are embedded with videos from Newsweek Media Group.  The address on the Contact page is 33 Universal Headquarters, 33 Whitehall Street.

9. iDesignTimes.com -- No updates since January, 2016.  The address on the About page is 40 Wall Street, Floor 28.

10. iMotorTimes.com -- No updates since April, 2017.  The address on the About page is 40 Wall Street, Floor 28.

11. iScienceTimes.com -- No updates since May, 2014.

12. MacRage.com -- No updates since May, 2014

13. MotorTimes.com -- No updates since December, 2014

14. NatureTimes.com -- No updates since January, 2016

15. ScienceTimes.com -- Regularly updated. Articles are embedded with videos from Newsweek Media Group. The address on the Contact page is 2372 Morse Ave., Ste. 410, Irvine, CA.

The following news sites are down, but still use that e-mail address.

16. DesignNTrend.com

17. FashionLedger.com

18. FashionNStyle.com

19. FashionTimes.com

20. FashionTimesCo.com

21. iRealtyTimes.com

What's kind of interesting is that the DesignNTrend website was live until a few weeks ago, and the domain isn't due to "expire" until early 2018. It's the digital equivalent of seeing a storefront go dark.  Apparently it was part of Fashion Times Co, because the Contact page includes "Fashion Times Co" in the mailing address.

Fashion Times LLC was acquired by IBT Media back in May, 2015.  When IBT Media was undergoing layoffs last year, the reports said Fashion Times was one of the brands being "consolidated," along with Latin Times, Medical Daily, and iDigitalTimes. However, a year later, the Fashion Times website has simply disappeared.

Fashion Times LLC filed two applications for H1B visas in 2015, both dated in September.  (Or, at least, the employee's start dates were in September.)  The forms listed the employer address as 30 Broad Street, Suite 1480.  The "Employer Point of Contact" was Taeok Lee, and his title was "Publisher."

Friday, September 1, 2017

The Newsweek network, part 1: Tech Times

Craig Silverman of BuzzFeed recently published an article about how the Australian version of IBTimes.com is staffed with writers based in the Philippines.  Silverman also drew a connection between IBTimes.com.au and Tune Media, which is in charge of 18 other brands, including TechPlz, The Gamer's Drop, and Citzizen Oracle.

It's a fascinating article, although I have a feeling there are even more properties that are part of the same network as International Business Times and Newsweek Media Group.

I'll begin with:

1. TechTimes.com

TechTimes.com is a news site covering the general categories of technology, science and pop culture.  The first think you'll notice upon visiting TechTimes is that every article is embedded with videos produced by Newsweek Media Group.  These videos autoplay whenever you click on an article, and they're impossible to miss:


The "About" page for Tech Times doesn't mention IBTimes or Newsweek, nor does it say who publishes Tech Times.  The corporate location is 140 Broadway, Floor 46, while the newsroom location is 33 Whitehall Street, Floor 7.  There's a masthead with 23 names of various editors and reporters, but nobody is identified as editor-in-chief. The owner is simply referred to as Tech Times LLC.

Tech Times LLC was incorporated in New York in December, 2012.  The company's original name was "iTech Post Media Group LLC," but it was changed in September, 2013.

In 2015 and 2016, Tech Times LLC submitted five visa applications to the U.S. Department of Labor. The application forms can be accessed at MyVisaJobs.com On every application form, the section for "Employer Point of Contact Information" lists the name "Johnathan Davis."  Davis's title is "Publisher," and he uses a @TechTimes.com e-mail address.

IBTimes was co-founded by Johnathan Davis and Etienne Uzac, so either there are two men named "Johnathan Davis" publishing similar websites, or it's the same guy.

As I said earlier, there are 23 names on the TechTimes masthead.  I looked for LinkedIn profiles of writers with matching names and found four writers in the U.S., all of whom have left TechTimes in recent months:  Lauren Keating, Eric Brackett, Jimmie Geddes and Cameron Koch.  I also looked at the bylines on TechTimes.com from Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, and found matching social media profiles of three writers based in the Philippines.  (The only byline for which I couldn't find a matching profile was "Allan Adamson.")

For the record, I don't believe it's inherently wrong to hire writers in the Philippines for your website.    It's not as though the "tech" beat is one that requires a writer to be in a certain location.  And if employees at TechTimes are putting in an honest day's work, then who am I to categorize them?

However, I do think there's bound to be a difference in the final product.  There are old videos on YouTube of TechTimes reporters interviewing folks on the streets of New York, and it's tough to produce those videos if your reporters are halfway around the world.  That's obvious, right?

According to TechTimes's "About" page, their editorial team "is comprised of passionate and consummate editors and writers who are based in the US, Europe, and Asia."  So there's wiggle room in terms of geographical layout.  The data on Quantcast shows TechTimes.com had 1.8 million pageviews in August, 2017, down from 9.3 million pageviews in August, 2016.

Earlier this morning, I called IBTimes's headquarters and left a message explaining that I was planning to write a blog post about the apparent connection between TechTimes and IBTimes.  I gave them my phone number and will update this post if I hear back.

Monday, August 14, 2017

DesireFeed.com

Come on, DesireFeed.com, who are you trying to fool?

Your article from August 11 is titled: "Bronx mom vows revenge as daughter, 11, recovers from horrific burns caused by prank gone wrong."

A NYDailyNews article from August 10 is titled: "Bronx mom vows revenge as daughter, 11, recovers from horrific burns caused by prank gone wrong."

Your opening:
A schoolgirl prank gone gruesomely wrong left an 11-year-old Bronx girl hospitalized with severe facial burns — and her rage-filled mom bent on revenge. 
Relatives of hospitalized Jamoneisha Merritt called Thursday for arrests in the scalding of the girl at her friend’s Bronx apartment.
The NY Daily News opening:
A schoolgirl prank gone gruesomely wrong left an 11-year-old Bronx girl hospitalized with severe facial burns — and her rage-filled mom bent on revenge. 
Relatives of hospitalized Jamoneisha Merritt called Thursday for arrests in the scalding of the girl at her friend’s Bronx apartment.
You're copying-and-pasting somebody else's content.  And you have ads from AdSense on your site, too?  That's just sketchy.

Friday, August 11, 2017

Dunham is a Democrat!

Back in November, a reporter named Michael Tracey caused controversy when he posted a screenshot of Lena Dunham's voter information.  Tracey took the info from https://voterlookup.elections.state.ny.us, and his screenshot showed Dunham was "Not enrolled in a party."  And if Dunham wasn't a registered Democrat, it raised questions about how she could have voted in the 2016 New York Democratic primary.

Dunham responded to the controversy on Twitter by saying: "I DID vote and am a registered Democrat. I used to be a registered independent before my 'political awakening.'"

It's a bit annoying how Lena Dunham couldn't state when, exactly, she registered as a Democrat.  I can tell you the exact day I registered to vote in New York:  It was February 13, 2015.

If Dunham was telling the truth, and she did register as a Democrat in time to vote during the Democratic primary, that means one of two things:

1.)  The information on the voter lookup website was more than six months out-of-date,

or:

2.)  The information on the voter lookup website was inaccurate.

Either of those scenarios strikes me as weird.  Shouldn't people be more concerned about the accuracy of their databases??

Anyway...I recently took another look at voterlookup.elections.state.ny.us, and lo and behold, Lena Dunham is now listed as a member of the Democratic party!  She did it!










This calls for a "Lena Dunham dancing" gif!


Thursday, August 10, 2017

Crocros.com

Come on, Crocros.com, who are you trying to fool?

Your article from August 10 is titled: "Motorcycle-riding execs become highway heroes."

A USA Today article from August 8 is titled: "Motorcycle-riding execs become highway heroes."

Your opening:
A group of music-industry executives helped yank 10 people from their cars just before fire raced through the scene of a multi-vehicle crash on I-24 in southern Illinois.  
A semi-truck had plowed full speed into cars that had stopped for construction on the highway near its junction with Interstate 57, causing a chain-reaction eight-car pileup shortly after noon CT Friday.
The opening from USA Today:
A group of music-industry executives helped yank 10 people from their cars just before fire raced through the scene of a multi-vehicle crash on I-24 in southern Illinois. 
A semi-truck had plowed full speed into cars that had stopped for construction on the highway near its junction with Interstate 57, causing a chain-reaction eight-car pileup shortly after noon CT Friday.
You're taking somebody else's content without giving proper credit.  And you've got a bunch of AdSense ads on your site, too?  That's just sketchy.

Thursday, August 3, 2017

HominumNews.com

Come on, HominumNews.com, who are you trying to fool?

Your article from August 2 is titled, "Erinn Hayes dies in Kevin Can Wait season two."

An article from IBTimes.com on August 2 is titled: "‘Kevin Can Wait’ Season 2 Spoilers: Erinn Hayes’ Donna Gable Will Die."

The opening of the HominumNews article:
“Kevin Can Wait” Season 2 will soon reveal that Donna Gable (Erinn Hayes) has died. 
While at the Television Critics Association summer press tour for CBS, senior executive vice president of programming Thom Sherman was asked to explain how Hayes’ departure from “Kevin Can Wait” will be written into the sitcom. “The character will have passed away,” he said. 
Sherman added that Season 2 will open with a slight time jump, but Kevin and Donna’s daughter, Kendra (Taylor Spreitler), will still be in the planning stages of her wedding.
The opening of the IBTimes article:
“Kevin Can Wait” Season 2 will soon reveal that Donna Gable (Erinn Hayes) has died. 
While at the Television Critics Association summer press tour for CBS, senior executive vice president of programming Thom Sherman was asked to explain how Hayes’ departure from “Kevin Can Wait” will be written into the sitcom. “The character will have passed away,” he said. 
Sherman added that Season 2 will open with a slight time jump, but Kevin and Donna’s daughter, Kendra (Taylor Spreitler), will still be in the planning stages of her wedding.
You're copying-and-pasting someone else's content and passing it off as your own.  And you've got ads from AdChoices and Amazon on your articles?  That's just sketchy.