Advertising Age writer, Simon Dumenco, aka: The Media Guy, bitch-slapped AOL’s The Huffington Post for stealing data from his story, then providing a “disingenuous link” to his June post titled, “Poor Steve Jobs Had to Go Head to Head With Weinergate . . .”

It seems The Huffington Post picked the story up, cherrypicked the best data and wrapped it up with a flaccid, “See more stats from Ad Age here” link.

THP has thrived by “aggregating” and “curating” content from real publications with real reporters, real editors and real overhead. The New York Times‘ Bill Keller calls it piracy. Here in Fort Worth, we have another word for “aggregating” and “curating.” It’s called rustling and Arianna has assembled an impressive herd since launching THP a few years ago.

When accused of piracy/theft/plagiarism/rustling, etc., Huffington’s defense is that THP’s link drives traffic to the offended sites. It’s this point that Dumenco disputes and disproves with Google Analytics numbers.

The numbers, unlike Huffington, don’t lie.

Read the entire Dumenco story to see The Huffington Post‘s apology for getting caught.

Stealing from an artist is nasty. But when an artist steals from another artist, that’s reprehensible. It seems that Rihanna is being accused of stealing from a 19-year-old Parisian fashion photographer, Philipp Paulus.

Check out the story on the Photo District News website.

My favorite quote from Paulus: “Why a worldwide celebrity is not able to afford a creative director…is incomprehensible to me.”

Tom Martin, the New Orleans-based marketing sage, uses external microphones and interchangeable lenses on his iPhone to create video for all his interviews.

Interchangeable lenses, lavalier mics??? Who knew? Okay, well I didn’t.

In addition to having his own company, Converse Digital, Martin blogs for AdAge.com.

Martin is working on a series of interviews with digital thought leaders and is shooting all the interviews with the iPhone.

I had the pleasure of working for Showtime’s “Inside the NFL” crew yesterday at Superbowl XLV. Great bunch of folks out of NYC and L.A., who hired me to cover their day’s behind-the-scenes operations at Media Day.

I photographed host James Brown, as well as their on-air talent Cris Collinsworth, Phil Simms and Warren Sapp from noon till 8 p.m. Some of those images are up on the “Inside the NFL” website now.

Great clients. Great experience.

The only problem I encountered came when I attempted to depart the stadium. The S.A.F.E. security firm, the company responsible for Superbowl security, had blocked off all but one exit and the media shuttle, the one I arrived on at noon, had shut down earlier in the day. I’d been assured by the shuttle driver that the shuttle was running “24 hours.”

I was parked at Lot J at The Ballpark at Arlington three-quarters of a mile away, which isn’t a bad hike, even with 60 lbs., of equipment–unless it’s 10 degrees and the streets are covered with ice. The crack security team from S.A.F.E. wouldn’t allow me to leave from the gate closest to The Ballpark at Arlington. When I asked why, I was told “Because that’s not the exit that’s open.” When I asked a S.A.F.E. minion if he could shuttle me to the gate–not my car–in his golf cart, he told me, “No way, that’s an insurance liablity.” I suppose walking around Jerry’s stadium on a sheet of ice is much safer than riding in a golf cart.

And I can bear witness to the fact that it’s a long-assed hike around Cowboys Stadium from Collins Street to Lot J at The Ballpark at Arlington, even on a sunny day.

Needless to say, there are a few kinks that the crack team at S.A.F.E. needs to iron out before Sunday.

Common courtesy might be one of them. And maybe a new website.

One of my students emailed me a link to a slideshow featuring Time magazine’s top 10 list of doctored photos. Conspicuous in its absence is Time‘s famous distortion of the OJ Simpson image on its June 27, 1994 cover.

Upon publication Time was criticized by minority groups for altering the photograph to make Simpson appear more “sinister.” Newsweek‘s cover photo ran unaltered, making Time‘s treatment all the more blatant. The uproar was so intense that Time immediately pulled the first cover and published a second, more accurate photo.

Time also neglected to include the infamous moving pyramid image in the slideshow, published by National Geographic magazine on its February 1982 cover.

Time, however, had no problem including the covers of TV Guide and Newsweek in the slideshow for similar, yet less egregious, transgressions. I think Time is selling itself short because the OJ cover is certainly in my, and most photojournalists’, top five.

“INSITE” arrived unannounced in my email this morning and it’s a typically snazzy Neiman’s presentation. The Jason Wu interview on page 2 is a quick 10-questions that left me wanting to know more. A “shop Jason Wu” link at the end of the Q&A would have been handy. Granted, there’s a half page “shop Jason Wu” image on the same page that links to his wares but for usability’s sake, it needs to be in the Q&A.

Page 3′s “The Definitive Piece This Fall: The Over-The-Knee Boot” sports a quick video intro of a leggy NYC model crossing the street and it’s an eye-catcher, and again, I want more but it dumps me onto a page where I can select from a menu of designer boots. I need more cowbell. Who says the over-the-knee boot is the definitive piece this fall? Seems like an excellent opportunity to quote Anna or any number of fashion high-priestesses who’ll tell me WHY it’s the definitive piece this fall. I’m here, I’m shopping, ENGAGE ME!!!

Which brings us to Page 4′s “Outside the Box: Gift (shouldn’t that be ‘Gifts’???) for the Newlyweds” needs some clever “Daily Candy-ish” banter to liven it up. I’m married, but definitely not ENGAGED!

On page 5, the Father’s Day video, “Of Mouse and Man” is a clever and ENGAGING pitch that showcases a variety of gorgeous manly neckties. It’s so cool I’d like to email it to my friends, but because Neiman’s didn’t give me that option and because it’s a Flash video with no link, I won’t, or can’t. Note to “INSITE” team: Make it viral. Gimme a link I can email!!!

Page 6 is pure advertising, but that’s okay, they’re trying to sell me stuff–it’s Neiman’s and I expect that but if this is an e-zine, then let’s keep a decent content-to-advertising ratio. In eight pages, I’m gonna allow you one or two that are pure sales pitch.

Page 7 is a calendar. Okay.

Page 8 is a teaser to the upcoming issue, but nowhere am I told if this is a daily, weekly or monthly ezine. Why is that? Why doesn’t Neiman’s want me to know when to expect the next issue?

Nowhere in the email announcing the debut of “INSITE” am I told ANYTHING about the publication. It’s simply a VERY DISTRACTING Flash image that quite literally flickers off and on caused me concern that my broadband connection was failing. Lose the flicker. Just because we CAN do something “cool” with Flash, doesn’t mean we SHOULD.

Debut-wise, “INSITE” has descended the staircase without doing a face-plant but she’s gonna need to make up points during the interview and curtsey events. She needs to speak to us and let us know how smart she is. She needs more CONTENT.

She needs more cowbell.

So Getty Images sells a photograph of Erik Curran, a soldier, to St. Martin’s Press.

St. Martin’s Press publishes it on the cover of “Killer Elite”, a book about a super-secret U.S. Army Special Forces team. The book is currently selling on Amazon at $16.47. Curran files a suit naming Amazon and Getty Images (for starters) contending he did not grant permission for his photograph to be used.

No response yet from the folks at Getty, so I’m not going to assign blame just yet, but if Erik Curran didn’t sign a release, Getty’s gonna have to sign a check.

Note to Getty: See Russell Christoff v. Nestle USA.