NAPSTER OFFERS FREE DOWNLOAD OF THE DAY

Free Download of the Day offers music fans a free MP3, which is compatible with a range of MP3 players including all iPod models, from an emerging or established artist each day of the year.

"Napster's Free Download of the Day will feature the best up-and-coming bands and a few surprises from some big stars," said Matthew Adell, vice president of music services for Napster. "We believe a new, free MP3 each day will be exciting for music fans and will prove to be a great way to create awareness for artists and value for marketers, who can work with Napster to associate their brands with this great music."

VERIZON WIRELESS CUSTOMERS CAN "BOO"- GIE WITH SPOOKY RING TONES

This Halloween, Verizon Wireless customers can personalize their wireless phones with "spooktacular" ring tones and Ringback Tones. Customers with Get It Now(R)-enabled handsets can select tunes from classic Halloween horror films and songs right on their wireless phones. Some available tones are:
* Tubular Bells (Theme from The Exorcist)
* Werewolves of London (Warren Zevon)
* Bewitched (Theme)
* Time Warp (The Rocky Horror Show)
* Halloween (Siouxsie And The Banshees)
* The Storm (Theme from Bram Stoker's Dracula)
* Science Fiction Double Feature (The Rocky Horror Show)
* Thriller (Michael Jackson)

HALLOWEEN CANDY WEB SEARCH STATS ON LYCOS

The top five most-searched candy treats this Halloween season on the Lycos search engine are:
1. Dots
2. Snickers Bars
3. Hershey's Chocolate
4. Licorice Sticks
5. Nerds

VOICES SELECT | ADVOCACY |

VIDEO THE VOTE
In 2000 and 2004, problems plagued the polls in different parts of the country: long lines, eligible voters turned away, voter intimidation, misallocation and malfunctioning of voting equipment. They were underreported on Election Day. Days and weeks later, a more complete picture of voter disenfranchisement emerged—but it was too late. The elections were over and the media had moved on. Starting this election, citizen journalists—people like you and I—will document problems as they occur. We'll play them online, spread word through blogs and partner websites, doing our part to make sure the full story of our elections is told.

VOICES SELECT | CLASSIC MOVIE|

THE THRILL OF IT ALL
This romantic comedy directed by Norman Jewison, written by Carl Reiner and Larry Gelbert, starring Doris Day and James Garner takes us into the farcical world of television and advertising in the early 60's. Happily married Beverly Boyer is the ultimate affluent housewife, but her life is about to change dramatically when her obstetrician husband takes her to a dinner party where she meets the president of a soap company. Beverly charms him with her simple family story and is asked to become the TV pitchwoman for his product. After the ads air, Beverly becomes a celebrity and is stopped everywhere she goes to the chagrin of her husband. This movie is humorous in illustrating the classic problems surrounding marriage, raising a family while working, and gender roles. The acting is first-rate and there's product placement aplenty by Palmolive! Very current issues!

CALL FOR CHANGE:

IT'S TOO CLOSE NOT TO CALL
This year, victory will come down to voter turnout. We've found the Democratic-leaning people who often don't vote in mid-term elections like this one. If we can just get these “unlikely voters” to vote, they'll provide a winning margin in a whole bunch of races.

Over 30 races are in a dead heat – margins of a few thousand or few hundred votes. We’ve tested these calls, and we know they work – the people we talk to are much more likely to turn out. Your calls could tip the balance – but we're in a daily struggle to make sure we're reaching more voters than the Republicans’ infamous turnout program. Can you help?

TO WIKIPEDIA OR NOT TO WIKIPEDIA?

I have to confess, I like Wikipedia. I think everyone probably knows what Wikipedia is— but just in case—Wikipedia is an online encylopedia that anyone can enter facts and figures or create an article. Or as their tagline succinctly states, " the free enclopedia that anyone can edit." Many articles are written by several people. Once I went to Wikipedia to look up some really silly subject that I can't even recall now, but what astonished me was that it was incorrect. Perhaps what bothered me even more was my naivete, it wasn't apparent to me at the time that anyone could add any type of information. And I thought I was savvy! If anyone can edit it, there's bound to be errors and incorrect information. But the cool thing is anyone can dispute the information and correct it. I still go to Wikipedia, but now I double check my facts elsewhere—always a good idea. An interesting article was just published in the Chronicle of Higher Education entitled Can Wikipedia Ever Make the Grade? Turns out some high profile studies show that the site does a pretty decent job at getting the facts straight. Especially when the subject is science. Last year the journal Nature found in a study of factual accuracy that Britannica averaged three errors and Wikipedia averaged four on the same subject. Britannica rebutted the study stating that it was loaded with errors. "Well isn't that special!" Healthy competition for encyclopedias is a good thing. They can only get better from here. Here's one example of why Wikipedia is good source, compare Britannica's description of podcasting and Wikipedia's description of podcasting. Which is more useful?

NEW YORKER WINS BEST COVER OF THE YEAR

A New Yorker magazine cover depicting President Bush being flooded in the Oval Office after Hurricane Katrina has been chosen by a panel of the nation’s magazine editors and designers as the best cover of the year. The illustration shows the waters rising around Mr. Bush and his top appointees as the flood from New Orleans engulfs the White House, which was criticized for failing to respond promptly and fully to the disaster. Read Story

VOICES SELECT | TV|

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO SESAME STREET In Bangladesh, Sesame Workshop worked with local producers, artists and experts to create Sisimpur, an all-inclusive neighborhood that was neither rural nor urban, rich nor poor; a place where Hindus, Muslims and Christians could live together in harmony regardless of education or gender. In creating Ikri’s World, the team found a way for traditional puppets to exist side-by-side with Western-styled Muppets, and community gathering places such as the banyan tree, tea and sweet shops established cultural icons, making the television program Sisimpur truly Bangladeshi. Check viewing schedule.

HOMEGROWN ROCKER HELPS THIS TOWN

by Hillary Roberts, Voices of Hope Contributor, Founder, Project Linus NJ, Inc.

In the small fishing village of Keyport, New Jersey residents are banding together to help fix playgrounds and parks in disrepair. A grassroots effort calling themselves, "Open Hearts for Keyport Parks" has taken on the renovation project. The volunteers are banding together with local rocker, Jon Caspi, on the first fundraiser - a benefit concert.

Last year, Jon Caspi helped put Keyport on the map with the release of his CD entitled "This Town." This time around, the man who many residents jokingly refer to as "Keyport's next mayor" and who recently had a sandwich named after him by a diner in town, will celebrate the release of his latest CD, "I'm Not Angry... Anymore" and give the proceeds from the show to "Open Hearts for Keyport Parks". Read Story

HOW WILL HISTORY JUDGE US AD CAMPAIGN

60 Minutes showed an interesting piece on Darfur and recently Barack Obama was on Oprah speaking about the genocide as well. Here is Save Darfur's lastest advertising campaign "How will history judge us?"

Transcript:
How will history judge us? If they are killed. If he is starved. If she is raped... again. Genocide is ravaging Darfur. 400,000 dead. 2.5 million displaced. Saving Darfur will take immediate action by strong UN peacekeeping. And that will take leadership from President Bush. President Bush stop the genocide now.

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY'S HIP HOP SYMPOSIUM

Princeton University's Cornel West, rapper Talib Kweli, and U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters of California join a panel of hip-hop artists and academics to explore the role of hip-hop in America. Listen to the Hip Hop Symposium held on the Princeton Campus.

Panelists Include:
- Jeffery Johnson, Black Entertainment Television (BET)
- Rosa Clemente, hip-hop journalist, activist and community organizer
- Bakari Kitwana, author, freelance journalist, former editor-in-chief of The Source Magazine and co-founder of the first National Hip-Hop Political Convention
- Talib Kweli, hip-hop artist
- Cornel West, Princeton University Professor of Religion
- U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, Democratic representative of California's 35th District
- Maria McMath, Princeton University PhD candidate in anthropology

VOICES SELECT | Cool NonProfit |

CityKids |


CITYKIDS REPRESENTS A SAFE HAVEN FOR YOUTH. Recently I attended a few workshops at the Center 4 Arts Conference and they were terrific. One workshop was given by Taina McField, a young woman who participated in a program with CityKids when she was a teen. CityKids develops experiential exercises and one that we participated in was an assumption exercise. We worked in groups of 3-4 and were handed (3) 5 x 7 photocopied portraits of different types of people, ie: a policeman, a transvestite, a man with makeup on, etc. Simultaneously we were given a sheet of paper that held 2 statements: "People assume I am" and "just because..." As a group we had to fill in the blanks making judgments about our pictures. Although people in the workshop wanted to be politically correct, it was virtually impossible. We were fortunate to see a brief snapshot of what one City Kids group created for their own project. They went out on the street and asked to take ordinary people's photo and then had them fill in the assumption statements about themselves. The participants were shown with their photos and assumptions in a gallery show open to the public. What a great project! CityKids is available to hold a workshop in your community or school. Contact them.

Did you know that there are global youth culture marketing intelligence companies offering street credible data? These companies measure trends and mainstream subcultures. Sometimes we don't realize, or we forget that these type of companies exist and are selling information to the media, entertainment companies and retailers. One such company is Label Networks. But their research is interesting. The Fall Report '06 clearly indicate that the youth culture are empowered through personal communication and a 'lifetime' of technology resulting in greater consumer control, which is influencing trends in fashion, sports, music, entertainment, advertising, marketing, and lifestyle choices.

Their recent youth consumer study revealed:

70.5% of 13-30-year-olds believe that MySpace is an internet fad

Top electronic devices you cannot live without�
27.7% Cell Phone
27% Computer
23.2% iPod

Skateboarding is the top sport females 13-24-years-old want to learn the most. Percentages age higher than males for 3rd year in a row.

Top Future Concerns: Relationships, Happiness, Work; Terrorism dropped most because as young people explained, We just live with it--Terrorism is always there and we're used to it�

42.4% say they communicate mostly through IM Average # of Texts Per Day, IM, SMS = 11

Another study by Universal McCann, a 13 billion dollar advertising agency with over 3000 employees in 100 countries, 'The New Digital Divide' concludes that consumers are increasingly relying on non-traditional platforms for entertainment, news, social interactions, shopping, and other daily activities.

Research they collected showed:

Yahoo, AOL and MSN Messenger are among the top Internet services in terms of awareness and use by ages16-3 and

Nearly 40% of the 16-34 group have met someone face to face after meeting on the Internet. Get Report

JibJab's at it again. They sure are a smart pair of guys. This viral video company known for it's scathing political lampooning and viewpoints are now creating a comedy series, sponsored by Verizon for the web and cell phones. One of the best known JibJab projects was "This Land is Your Land," with President Bush and Democratic candidate John Kerry. They have jokes and silly things on their website now, but I'd love to see more of the old satirizing.

VOICES SELECT |Website| COA News | is a non-profit online news network featuring diverse, credible independent news and current affairs. COA News can best be described as the portal to independent news media.

VOICES SELECT |Film | Black Gold | Multinational coffee companies now rule our shopping malls and supermarkets and dominate the industry worth over $80 billion, making coffee the most valuable trading commodity in the world after oil. But while we continue to pay for our lattes and cappuccinos, the price paid to coffee farmers remains so low that many have been forced to abandon their coffee fields.

Nowhere is this paradox more evident than in Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee. Tadesse Meskela is one man on a mission to save his 74,000 struggling coffee farmers from bankruptcy. As his farmers strive to harvest some of the highest quality coffee beans on the international market, Tadesse travels the world in an attempt to find buyers willing to pay a fair price.

Against the backdrop of Tadesse's journey to London and Seattle, the enormous power of the multinational players that dominate the world's coffee trade becomes apparent. New York commodity traders, the international coffee exchanges, and the double dealings of trade ministers at the World Trade Organisation reveal the many challenges Tadesse faces in his quest for a long term solution for his farmers. Watch Trailer

VOICES MAGAZINE SELECT | Good Magazine | Founder, Ben Goldhirsh sees a growing number of people tied together not by age, career, background, or circumstance, but by a shared interest. This revolves around a passion for potential mixed with fierce pragmatism and creative engagement. We sum all this up as the sensibility of giving a damn. But to shorten it, he's calling it GOOD. For while so much of today's media is taking up our space, dumbing us down, and impeding our productivity, GOOD exists to add value.