August 24, 2004 - People collect all sorts of things, but banner ads are extremely unusual. Tari Akpodiete has 17,000 of them saved to her computer. Website ads for movies, books, porngraphy sites, and lots more. She display them at BannerReport.com, a site that has become a resource for people who design ads, and a bit of an Internet museum. Seeing an ad that caught her fancy one day, Ackpodiete saved it to her hard drive. One thing led to another, and an obsession was born.
August 25, 2004 - About two years ago, the recording industry and 43 states settled a lawsuit that accused record companies of inflating the cost of CDs by requiring retailers to sell them at or above a set price in order to qualify for advertising funding. As part of the the $144 million settlement, the companies agreed to provide more than $5 million worth of CDs to public libraries.
August 27, 2004 - It's called "Really Simple Syndication," or RSS for short. It's a method for reading web sites without actually visiting them, or having to subscribe to newsletters that deliver content through e-mail. You can subscribe to many major news sites with RSS, and most major blogs, too. You can even get some of your favorite comic strips.
August 30, 2004 - Life's not easy for small businesses. Either a big corporation is squeezing your future or you're scratching for money to fix some machine. Survive ten years and you're an old-timer. Last 144 years and you're a legend. The August Schell Brewing Company of New Ulm has managed that trick. The family owned business has survived war, prohibition, the Great Depression and cut-throat beer competition. Mainstreet Radio's Mark Steil reports.
September 1, 2004 - In Paris yesterday, Apple Computer unveiled its new iMac desktop computer. Disk drives and processors are tucked into a flat display less than two inches thick. With the iMac G5, the monitor is the computer.
September 2, 2004 - Nearly half of Americans online use instant messaging on the internet, according to a new survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. That amounts to 53 million people. Twelve million Americans use IM more than e-mail. The survey finds that AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Instant Messenger and other similar software is especially popular among younger adults and the tech savvy. However, Pew researcher Amanda Lenhart says IM still has a ways to go in the workplace.
September 3, 2004 -
September 10, 2004 - A public television producer turns to eBay to raise money for his film ... This is Future Tense from American Public Media. I'm Jon Gordon. Unable to find corporate underwriters, Chuck Strinz says he went deeply in debt making his film "Back on the Mississippi." The film tells stories of people and places along the Mississippi River, from St. Paul to the Quad Cities of Illinois and Iowa, and will air later this year on several public television stations across the country. It's already been shown on stations in Minnesota and Iowa.
September 21, 2004 - David Lebedoff is the author books such as "Cleaning Up," the story of the Exxon Valdez case, and "The Uncivil War: How a New Elite Is Destroying Our Democracy." Lebedoff is a graduate of the University of Minnesota.
September 27, 2004 - Mainstreet Radios Dan Gunderson reports that Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty wants to double the amount of ethanol required in gasoline sold in the state. The Governor also expects state government to cut gasoline consumption in half in the next decade. Those proposals are part of a renewable fuels initiative announced by the governor.