Jersey State Photo Fumble

Big Fish's Frank declined to comment on the copyright violation charge. He said his company took the photo off the site, apologized and will continue to work with the Schundler campaign through Tuesday's primary.

It's unclear whether the doctored photo will come back to haunt Schundler with any ferocity, and if he loses the take-no-prisoners GOP primary race, he won't have to worry about it at all. But 10-minute errors like these are the ones that tend to develop a long shelf life thanks to bloggers and the Internet, and Schundler could find to his dismay that this is the goof that keeps on giving.

On a sidenote: Schundler seems to be having all sorts of trouble with his outside help. In the Times story, Schundler defended a recent mailing he sent out criticizing Forrester's property tax proposal that included the line: "Forrester could have used his wealth to do good instead of evil."

Here's the Times reporting on the fallout this caused at a candidate's debate on Sunday: "Mr. Schundler backed off, saying that he had wanted to revise the line to reflect his belief that Mr. Forrester should be acting more constructively, and not destructively, but that the person who printed the mailer had not followed his instructions. John J. Murphy, a Morris County freeholder, responded with disbelief. 'Blame it on the printer?' he asked. 'Are you blaming it on the printer?' Mr. Schundler replied: 'It was a printing error.' Then, trying to move on, he asked: 'Why aren't we talking about property taxes? Homeland security? Why aren't we talking about homeland security?'"

Because it's not as fun, that's why.

North Korea, Briefly Unwired

Who knew? North Koreans in 2003 and 2004 were allowed to use cell phones, the Christian Science Monitor reported deep down in an article about signs of change in the reclusive and notoriously repressive communist dictatorship. In a section of the article about an increase in private-car ownership in the Hermit Kingdom, the reporter, who was traveling incognito in Pyongyang, reported this: "[North Koreans] do talk with nostalgia of the brief period in 2003 and 2004 when cellphones were allowed. Without explanation, the government last year forbade their use, and a Japanese friend in Pyongyang says service hasn't resumed. 'We really loved carrying the mobile phones around,' said a young, state- certified tour guide."

The story noted the cell phone episode as part of a halting series of steps toward encouraging some, well, capitalist practices: "Around the city, older women sell chewing gum, chocolate, and balloons made in China. Ice cream vendors sell dollops of frozen product in bright foam packaging. Grilled sweet potato and tea are found in small booths." It also provided this footnote that proves that North Koreans can emulate some of our cell phone customer service representatives: "The shop clerks, in behavior reminiscent of China 20 years ago, seem uninterested in actually serving customers."

When It's Not Good Enough for TV...

... Put it on the Internet. The New York Times reported that the WB Network's failed show " Pepsi Smash" will get a second shot at success on Yahoo's Web site. The program attracted 1.3 million visitors in eight episodes last year, the Times reported. That's a pretty sorry showing for TV, but the numbers game works differently online. More from the Times: "But that still leaves the question of whether a television program that struggled to find an audience will perform any better online. 'If all they're doing is taking the TV show and maybe cutting it up in different ways, but using the same logo and the same theme songs, that doesn't make sense to me,' said Todd Chanko, an analyst at Jupiter Research."

Chanko has a good point. Trash on TV is trash online, but at least on the Internet the landfill is bottomless.

Baby On Line

Almost a quarter of all nursery school-aged children have spent time online, according to a report released last week by the Education Department. Here's more on that report from the Associated Press: "The numbers underscore a trend in which the largest group of new users of the Internet are kids 2 to 5. At school and home, children are viewing Web sites with interactive stories and animated lessons that teach letters, numbers and rhymes."

Not only that, two-thirds of nursery school children and 80 percent of kindergartners have used computers for one thing or another, according to the report. "Educators say such access needs scrutiny. Beyond blocking inappropriate content, schools must be certain the lessons they choose are based on research and geared to the developmental stage of the children, experts say," the AP reported. That means no eBay until they learn how to process a credit card.

Flying? Maybe. Surfing? Surely.

United Airlines's employee pension plan is in tatters and questions continue to loom about whether the company will remain airborne, but it knows that it can handle in-flight Internet access. More from the Wall Street Journal : "Under the proposal, high-speed Wi-Fi connections would start becoming available on United planes next year, allowing travelers with Wi-Fi-equipped laptop computers to access the Internet from cruising altitude." The Journal said a number of hurdles remain, but if the plan were approved, it would be the first American carrier to join the WiFi ranks. Those now include Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines.

Opera, Clarified

In Friday's column about RSS, I noted that people have to pay to use the Opera browser. Shame on me, as I knew better. You can use Opera for free -- you just have to put up with some advertising. If you pay, the ads go away. Thank you all for your Elektra-fying notes on this.

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