Consumer Products and Services

"Battleship": Soak up the Beautiful Bombast

A First Listen to The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends, Feat. Ke$ha, Erykah Badu, Bon Iver and More

I loved, loved the Flaming Lips' Embryonic, and find The Soft Bulletin to be a pretty magical cornucopia. Pretty big fan of 1995's Clouds Taste Metallic as well. Yet I've never considered for even a second if the Lips could be one of my Favorite Bands. They might've struck gold three-ish times, but ... More >>

Mixed Milk Cheeses: The Tasty Joys of Combining Goat and Cow

Often, cheese makers blend milk from different animals to create flavors a single milk can't provide. La Tur, a three milk cheese (sheep, cow and goat) from Caseficio dell'Alta Langa in Italy, is an exceptional example.  But sheep- and goat-milk cheese producers blend milk for a functional re ... More >>

SF Weekly Letters

Often, cheese makers blend milk from different animals to create flavors a single milk can't provide. La Tur, a three milk cheese (sheep, cow and goat) from Caseficio dell'Alta Langa in Italy, is an exceptional example.  But sheep- and goat-milk cheese producers blend milk for a functional re ... More >>

The Cup Runneth Over: S.F.'s America's Cup Decision Looms

Often, cheese makers blend milk from different animals to create flavors a single milk can't provide. La Tur, a three milk cheese (sheep, cow and goat) from Caseficio dell'Alta Langa in Italy, is an exceptional example.  But sheep- and goat-milk cheese producers blend milk for a functional re ... More >>

Image Expo 2012: Berkeley Publisher to Spotlight Creator-Owned Comics at February Event

With WonderCon temporarily relocating to Anaheim in 2012 due to the Moscone remodel, Bay Area comics creators, publishers, and fans despaired of going without a major con in the region during the coming year. But Image Comics has come to the rescue. The Berkeley-based publisher of The Walking Dead, ... More >>

Groove Merchant: Show Preview

With WonderCon temporarily relocating to Anaheim in 2012 due to the Moscone remodel, Bay Area comics creators, publishers, and fans despaired of going without a major con in the region during the coming year. But Image Comics has come to the rescue. The Berkeley-based publisher of The Walking Dead, ... More >>

J Rosé's New Clear Bottle Helps Holidays Sparkle

Holiday party e-vites are filling our inboxs, and the calendar is already looking like a mostly completed crossword puzzle with lots of full boxes and only inconvenient white space. All those parties means hostess gifts, or, if you are the host or hostess, the gift of expectation -- the expectation ... More >>

Fresh Eats: Cameron Hughes' Lot 300 Cabernet Sauvignon Is a Delicious Bargain

Holiday party e-vites are filling our inboxs, and the calendar is already looking like a mostly completed crossword puzzle with lots of full boxes and only inconvenient white space. All those parties means hostess gifts, or, if you are the host or hostess, the gift of expectation -- the expectation ... More >>

Commercial-Free Future

Holiday party e-vites are filling our inboxs, and the calendar is already looking like a mostly completed crossword puzzle with lots of full boxes and only inconvenient white space. All those parties means hostess gifts, or, if you are the host or hostess, the gift of expectation -- the expectation ... More >>

Phil Anschutz to Sell the San Francisco Examiner

Does this mean they will stop endorsing Tea Party Republicans?​Clarity Media Group announced today that it will sell the San Francisco Examiner -- the city's daily free tabloid. Phil Anschutz, the evangelical media mogul, announced that his Denver-based company has agreed to sell the Ex to Black P ... More >>

U.S. Supreme Court Hearing Challenge to California's Pig Protection Law

​Two years ago, President Obama signed a federal law that that would keep "downed" cows -- animals brought to the slaughterhouse too sick or weak to stand -- out of the human food chain. Other animals -- well, the humans who eat them, really -- haven't had the same kind of federal protections, wh ... More >>

What Exactly Is a Tech Company?

​Fast Company has published what might be the best, clearest look at the how the contours of the tech landscape are shaping themselves, and how that landscape has come to be dominated by four companies. I was alerted to the article via a tweet by Chronicle tech reporter Casey Newton who characte ... More >>

Google Thumbs Nose at Antitrust Regulators

​You can't say Google doesn't have balls. Despite increasingly heavy antitrust scrutiny by the federal government, the Internet behemoth is charging ahead with a deal that brings all kinds of potential for cornering a market. It will pay $12.5 billion for Motorola Mobility, a leading maker of hand ... More >>

South Bay Store Manager Accused of Filming Female Shoppers in Dressing Room

passing time at work ​In May, SF Weekly told readers about Nicholas Springer, the 26-year-old "pervert" who was busted filming up women's skirts and dresses at a downtown farmer's market in Marin. Now, we are going to tell you about another alleged peeping tom in the South Bay. David Meyer, a 29-y ... More >>

New California Law Gives Brewery Tasting Rooms a Break

Jason HenryDrake's Barrel House in San Leandro was built expensively under the old law​You walk into a brewery tasting room and order a sample. The beer is delicious, but you can't help noticing that the brewery doesn't have washable tile flooring and the cashier isn't far from the dishwasher. ... More >>

Dinner Costs 5 Percent More Than It Did a Year Ago

Even Botoxed models register shock at how expensive food has gotten.​According to USA Today, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics just reported that the price of food eaten at home -- as opposed to in restaurants -- increased 4.7 percent from June 2010 to 2011. According to the bureau's national ... More >>

Dogpatch WineWorks Replaces Crushpad

​Since Crushpad left San Francisco last year for Wine Country, folks wanting to make their own wine in town have had to go it alone -- which, in most cases, meant not making wine. And ripe smells in the Dogpatch neighborhood unfortunately haven't been coming from fermenting grapes. But now, t ... More >>

Online Publishers Not Happy About Being Cut Off Over Amazon.com Sales Tax Scrap

For many online publishers, Amazon has closed up shop.​Thousands of Californians learned yesterday that Amazon would no longer be paying them to participate in Amazon's affiliate marketing program. The reason? The proposed state budget includes a measure that would force Amazon to pay sales tax on ... More >>

Amazon to Cut Out California Associates over Sales Tax Dispute

Nice little business you've got going there. It would be a shame if anything happened to it​Internet retail giant Amazon.com informed California-based Web sites, which make money via referring buyers, that they'll soon be cut out if the state forces the Amazon to pay sales tax, as proposed in the ... More >>

Posting Copyrighted Music to YouTube Might Soon Earn You Jail Time

​You might want to think twice before posting that video of your cat "dancing" to a Lady Gaga song. Not just because nobody wants to see it, but because it might earn you a few years in the Federal pen. Yesterday the Senate Judiciary Committee recommended a bill for the Senate that would ma ... More >>

Unpacking Pandora's 'Risk Factors'

​Every time a company offers stock to the public, it must submit a form called an S-1 to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The form must provide a prospectus, which includes financial information as well as the risks potential investors would face in buying shares. Because lawyers and accoun ... More >>

California Culinary Academy: SF Weekly Exposé Spawns $40 Million Settlement

Some students are getting their money back.​In 2007, SF Weekly investigative reporter Eliza Strickland ran a blockbuster story, demonstrating how the California Culinary Academy urged students to take on tens of thousands of dollars in government loans to pay for what many graduates considered sub ... More >>

The Recording Academy Vows To Change the Grammys' Boring Ways

The Recording Academy​Remember when Steve Stoute took out that full-page ad in the New York Times after the Grammys a couple of weeks ago? Well the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences was listening, as it's issued a public statement, co-signed by Stoute, promising to change its bo ... More >>

Pomplamoose Calls the Tune

No record deal? No CDs? No problem. How Pomplamoose is modifying the music industry.

Heartswork Winery WELL REaD 2009 California Red

At $5.99, this is one bottle that defies the common wisdom that no-sulfites-added wines justify a higher price.​A molecule called sulfur dioxide ― aka sulfites, a common preservative ― has become the crux of an ongoing disagreement between two schools of winemakers. Those who vouch for the ... More >>

Anything That Moves

At $5.99, this is one bottle that defies the common wisdom that no-sulfites-added wines justify a higher price.​A molecule called sulfur dioxide ― aka sulfites, a common preservative ― has become the crux of an ongoing disagreement between two schools of winemakers. Those who vouch for the ... More >>

Levi's Suing Dolce & Gabbana For Copying Pocket Stitching

Copy this at your own risk. ​Levi's is suing another fashion label for trademark infringement alleging it copied the Levi's double- arch stitching design and ribbon tab on the back pocket. The San Francisco-based jeans company filed a lawsuit in federal court in San Francisco Wednesday against Ita ... More >>

Welcome to the Music Industry, 2011: Records Don't Sell, Touring Can Make Bank, and Major Labels Are (Mostly) Useless

​For whatever reason, today seems to be the day that the music industry reminds us that it's still in total upheaval. Soundscan tells us that relatively few people actually bought music in 2010, unless they were fans of Eminem and Katy Perry. Dave Matthews spent the last 10 years collecting $500 ... More >>

Michael Jackson, Zombie

The dark art of posthumous releases

SF MusicTech: Has Over-Tweeting Killed the Mystery Around Musicians?

​​The only discernable displays of emotion at yesterday's S.F. MusicTech Summit -- the seventh such gathering of musicians, techies, and industry types -- came during the artist panel at the end of the day. Moderator Tamara Conniff (founder of The Comet and former editor-in-chief of Billboa ... More >>

Radical Shopping

​​The only discernable displays of emotion at yesterday's S.F. MusicTech Summit -- the seventh such gathering of musicians, techies, and industry types -- came during the artist panel at the end of the day. Moderator Tamara Conniff (founder of The Comet and former editor-in-chief of Billboa ... More >>

KPFA Axes Its Morning Show, Drama Ensues

Time for more controversey at KPFA...​Any Berkeley journalist comes to dread two assignments: the school board and KPFA. It's difficult to cover any of the myriad twists and turns of KPFA and Pacifica Radio's salvos at one another without tumbling down the rabbit hole and tracing everything back t ... More >>

Dueling Dubs

Time for more controversey at KPFA...​Any Berkeley journalist comes to dread two assignments: the school board and KPFA. It's difficult to cover any of the myriad twists and turns of KPFA and Pacifica Radio's salvos at one another without tumbling down the rabbit hole and tracing everything back t ... More >>

Ninja Tune celebrates 20 years of influential electronica

Time for more controversey at KPFA...​Any Berkeley journalist comes to dread two assignments: the school board and KPFA. It's difficult to cover any of the myriad twists and turns of KPFA and Pacifica Radio's salvos at one another without tumbling down the rabbit hole and tracing everything back t ... More >>

Whipped and Gagged

Is government spending obscene? Well, it paid to train S&M filmmakers.

Don't You Cry

Is government spending obscene? Well, it paid to train S&M filmmakers.

Sony Cuts PS3 Game Maker Fees: About time, you assholes

Is government spending obscene? Well, it paid to train S&M filmmakers.

Lead For Lunch: California Public Health Dept. Promotes Healthy Eating, Brain Damage

Is government spending obscene? Well, it paid to train S&M filmmakers.

Lead For Lunch: California Public Health Dept. Promotes Healthy Eating, Brain Damage

Is government spending obscene? Well, it paid to train S&M filmmakers.

Matt Smith Picks on... Believers (Steve Jobs, God, Mac Users: Beware)

Is government spending obscene? Well, it paid to train S&M filmmakers.

Next Big Things

The five biggest attention-getters at E3.

Letters to the Editor

Week of Wednesday, December 14, 2005

A Tomb of One's Own

A course that explains how to celebrate and dispose of a dead loved one at home seems creepy. And then interesting. And then as natural as death itself.

The Revolutionary Test for Lung Cancer

... the medical establishment doesn’t want you to have. Yet.

Are You There God? It's Me, Marc

Standup comic Marc Maron writes a sharp, funny memoir about his life as a Jew

Letters to the Editor

Your Sorry Ash; Sour Charity

Funeral Family Feud

After decades of war, the Duggan clan of morticians are still giving one another grief

Unspun

After decades of war, the Duggan clan of morticians are still giving one another grief