January 31, 2003
Video snips
: Adam Curry is putting up a video snippet a day, but he's doing it as a part of an XML/RSS feed (not that he couldn't just put the links up on his web page, but this is cooler right now). Nevermind the delivery. Note the medium: video.
Curry has material to work with because he created a Dutch Osbournes starring his family.
One clip here.windows codecrack
I'm linked, therefore I am
: Marc Canter gives us a very good and simple chart outlining the possibilities and for online digital identity. Your ID stands at the center of:
1. My communication: email, IM, phone...
2. Shared community spaces: forums, groups...
3. My people: friends, family, colleagues...
4. My workspaces: projects...
5. My personal expression: weblogs, photos, vlogs...
6. My media: music, video, photos...
7. Apps and services: tools, catalogues...
8. My events: calendar, alerts, meetings...
9. My hardware: machines, networks, locations...
There has been a great deal of very smart chatter of about identity (led by Doc) but if, like me, you come late to this party, it's hard to pick up a cocktail and a weenie and join in the conversation. Thus, Marc's chart is terribly helpful to lay out the land. And here's his visual wishlist for an application built around this identity.
It's all about using our world's new omnipresent network (omnetwork?) to get us what we want and who we want whenever and wherever we want.windows codecrack
The lazy man's Trackback
: Blawgistan Times (an automated aggregation of law blogs) has created an elegantly easy version of Trackback: LazyBlawg reads your RSS feed. In future incarnations, we'll also be able to read your website and generate the RSS feed for you, if you don't have one. We then parse your feed for:
: Postings in the category "Blawgistan" or "Lazyblwg"
: or (if you don't have categories) postings with "BLAWGISTAN" or "LazyBlawg" in the Title Thus, one could start a blog aggregation for consumer complaints with the only requirement being (see post below) that "SUCKS" has to be in the title or the topic.
It's XML without the XML. Purists are puking, of course. But the people set the standards. And this is sure easier than either XML or Trackback. windows codecrack
New Google trick: Google consumerism (aka the Google "Sucks Index")
: I have a bad host, Featureprice. I got it through an ad on Google.
Stupid me. I should have used Google to check them out.
Searching on "Featureprice sucks" brings up all kinds of results from disgruntled customers who posted their complaints on web pages far and wide (and even a site about nothing but terrible Web hosts). If only I'd made the "Featureprice sucks" search, I would have been warned off.
And so I realize that this is a new and terribly efficient way to protect consumers: Just type in any BRAND SUCKS and search you will learn a lot.
"Sony sucks" gets some complaints.
"Panasonic sucks" gets more.
"Sears sucks" gets tons of angry posts packed with bile (and for good reason; I hate Sears after an unbroken string of horrid experiences; I have ruled that we shall never buy from Sears ever again).
"Citibank sucks" brings up Nick Denton's many complaints about the bank on all his sites.
Be careful: Don't just count the results and take that as a numerical scale of suckiness. I searched on "Hostingmatters sucks" and got results about people finding that other services (e.g. Blogger) suck and thus they were switching to Hostingmatters (Glenn Reynolds' host, by the way). The results can be both positive and negative.
So there is no neat mathematic formula that lets you translate BRAND SUCKS into an automated web-consumer-acceptance score.
But it's not hard to look at the Google abstracts and get the context in a screen or two.
So this yields two...
RULES OF GOOGLE CONSUMERISM:
1. If you hate a brand, put in on your web page in the phrase "BrandX sucks."
2. Before you buy from a major brand, search on the phrase, "BrandX sucks."
And we are empowered, we Googled consumers.windows codecrack
Links
: I had messed up Howard Sherman's link (on the right); too bad, for his blog keeps getting better and better. I was one of many who told him he had to blog; didn't know how right that was.windows codecrack
That giant blowing sound is the bubble still bursting
: Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, lawyers to the dotcom elite, pulling in the shingle, going out of business. [via Werblog]windows codecrack
Animated photos
: Some wonderful, cool photoblog work at Meine Kleine Stadt: Scroll to the right until you see the jazz musicians or, best yet, the subway scene at Berlin's Potsdamer Platz. It's a simple matter of shooting multiple images in sequence and then tying them together in an animated gif ("if it's so simple, simpleton, why don't we see you do it?" OK, simple for others, for smarter people).
This beats video for the right image: light and easy to view.
It beats photos on paper: they move; they tell a story over time.
I love it.windows codecrack
Metamorphosis.com
: The Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper [via Bloghaus] asks: Would Kafka be a weblogger today? "Went to the movies. Cried." windows codecrack
We copy edit your ass
: I had a typo in the item below. Aaron (601am) Bailey was kind enough to point it out. Typo no more.
I'm ashamed to admit that I have frequent typos -- doubly shameful because I've done time as a copy editor. But the problem is: I think fast. I talk fast. I type fast. I publish fast. Too fast, perhaps, but that's the joy of weblogs: speed.
Webloggers can beat big guys to the punch because they're light and fast and cheap. If we get something wrong, other webloggers will likely fact check our ass. If we mistype, other webloggers will be kind enough to point it out (and readers will forgive the occasional stumble). The community is the editor.
That's what makes nanomedia cheap.windows codecrack
January 30, 2003
Yawn.com
: Boy am I unimpressed so far with Tony Perkins' Always-on. Pontification without links; I can find that in lots of old-media places already, thanks (and at least the old-media joints have real reporters).windows codecrack
Lending libraries, via mail
: The Netflix model is spreading -- that is, the borrow-something-through-the-mail-and-never-pay-late-fees model. Lots of people tell Matt Haughey about such services for games. And Booksfree is a similar service for books (I just got that for my father for his birthday... today... happy birthday, Pa!). Is there such a service for music?
I can't think of any other recyclable-consumables that would lend themselves to this model (I'll use a hammer for two weeks and then send it back?)
Note that all of these can be replaced easily by digital delivery. They are only temporary consumer reactions to the inconvenience and high price of acquiring these things at retail today.windows codecrack
Or like a Big Mac without the special sauce
: Industrial Technology and Witchcraft says (complaining about William Gibson's linkless blog): Ein Blog ohne Links ist wie ein Butterbrot ohne Wurst."
Translation: A blog without links is like a roll without sausage. windows codecrack
January 29, 2003
Blogging for fun (and profit)
: A good story about trying to make blogging profitable in the Guardian. Focuses on Denton and Copeland. Quotes me. (For folks coming across the ocean from the Guardian, if you're curious about the reference to video blogs, click here.)windows codecrack
: It has become tradition among bloggers who are interviewed (as if that were not ego gratification enough) to put up the entire transcript of the interview. Now just the other day, I poo-pooed a journalist putting up all his interviews, arguing that the value he added was NOT overloading us like that. But who am I to sabotage tradition? If you care -- and you shouldn't, really, you shouldn't -- you can click on the "more" link below (for those reading a direct link to a post on the archives page, just scroll past all this blather):windows codecrack
Q: What got you interested in blogs – when did you start blogging and why? windows codecrack
A: Two answers here -- one work-related, one personal. windows codecrack
For work (I am in charge of content, technology, and strategic development for the newspaper- and magazine-related online services of Advance, the Newhouse media company): We are enamored of audience content. Forums on such topics as recipes and high-school wrestling bring in up to a third of our traffic. So we value this content. We saw blogging, early on, as a potential for new audience content, and so we invested in Pyra (which created Blogger) and another weblog company. So we watched blogging for a long time and are now beginning to try incorporating some weblogs into our sites. windows codecrack
Personally: I started my own weblog (www.buzzmachine.com) only when I had something to say and that came after September 11th, when I survived the attacks in New York (I was on the last train into the World Trade Center and stayed to report the story for our sites and papers; I was a block away from the south tower when it collapsed; I put my story up online). I could not let go of the story and since I no longer report for a living, I started my weblog. I reported more memories and observations from that days but it quickly expanded, as weblogs do, into a broader range of the things that interest me. I also quickly found that I was meeting people and making friends around this weblog. Before long, it was an addiction -- or perhaps the better metaphor was this this was a cult and I was now a member -- and so I have not stopped.windows codecrack
Q: In general, people blog because they have something to say – they’re driven by passion, not the profit motive. Consequently, some people have suggested (Clay Shirky) that no one will ever make any money from blogging on its own, that the only bloggers who make money will be those with a foot in the old media world, who may make money indirectly (I’m thinking of his essay on the mass amateurisation of publishing). Do you agree with this line of argument – or do you think there is money to be made from blogging? windows codecrack
A: In one sense, weblogs are merely a tool. Quark brought professional publishing to the masses (but you still had to know how to write and design and distribute professionally if you were going to make money using that). Weblog tools bring online publishing to the masses (and here we do not need to worry about printing and distributing to newsstands to publish). I'm also very high on new video tools (to create what I call vlogs on my site) that similarly bring the ability to create TV commentary to the masses. So Clay is absolutely right: weblogging does lead to the mass amateurization of media -- but I applaud that, for, again, I know how valuable the audience's content can be.windows codecrack
You're right that most weblogs are products of passion rather than profit. But that need not be the case. As you know, Nick Denton is starting weblogs with profit as his goal and that influenced the subject matter. Gadgets on Gizmodo.com will draw high audience interest and there's a way to make money through affiliate sales, advertising, and syndication. There's money there. There just doesn't happen to be money in political punditry.windows codecrack
I think there will be other ways to make money in and around weblogs when they reach a critical mass of audience. I can see marketing specific products to specific audiences through them, for example.windows codecrack
Q: The blogosphere has got so big now, it’s hard for mainstream business/media to ignore it. What do you think they could learn from bloggers. windows codecrack
A: Big media can learn a number of skills from bloggers: namely, that brevity is a service; swiftness adds value; and voice and opinion make media interesting. windows codecrack
I'm fond of saying that The Week magazine is a weblog (without links); that's why I am a fan of the publication. It is not afraid of being brief (while other publications think they add value by adding words -- which really only adds to the audience's exhaustion); it is quick; it has a voice. I believe we will be seeing this influence spread through other publications and media products (including TV).windows codecrack
Big-time publishers can also learn from the size of these efforts. Media (and entertainment) have to get smaller to succeed in the future (when more products compete for smaller slices of the audience and of marketing dollars). I created Entertainment Weekly and I was very proud that I started it with a smaller staff than any other magazine in Time Inc., smaller even than the company's monthly magazines. I had 60 on the content side. Now compare that with The Week in the U.S. with 24 on the entire staff. That is a good trend. windows codecrack
Q: Do you think the thin media/nanopublishing idea being explored by Nick Denton will work in the long term? windows codecrack
A: Yes, I believe it will work. At moments such as this, someone always asks whether something new will replace something old and the answer is almost always no; nanopublishing will not replace magazine publishing or mass media. It is a new opportunity. It won't make money for political punditry or for the diaries of college students. But it will work for gadgets and sex and special interests such as disease (imagine a great weblog for diabetics). It will work because it is so cheap to publish.windows codecrack
Q: What about the blogads idea – won’t advertisers want to get their ads onto the big blogs and not be too bothered by the smaller operations – in other words can this ad-supported model really work for bloggers who don’t have huge traffic levels? windows codecrack
A: Yes, this is an issue. I threw out a trial balloon many months ago suggesting the idea of starting a foundation to create a network of weblogs of sufficient size to interest advertisers but I quickly realized that this would work only in a for-profit company and the effort that would go into starting it simply would not pay off today. Hell, the Internet is still too small for some (unenlightened) advertisers; weblogs are molecular compared to that. A few things will be required for advertising to work: Weblogs would need to create an efficient ad sales and serving network and they would need to create profiles of their audiences for targeting. I don't see that happening anytime soon for the reason above. Instead, I think there is a possibility that direct marketing will work with weblogs (note Amazon sales through them).windows codecrack
Q: On a related theme, this whole idea of setting up ad networks for blogs reminds me of other operations that were set up back in the early days of the personal homepage boom. Are we in danger of re-running a lot of ideas that were tried and failed back then? Or are people older and wiser now? windows codecrack
A: I answered the first part of this above. As to the second: No, I think we have learned a great deal. We're no longer pouring millions into (and expecting billions from) such ventures. They are appropriately small now. windows codecrack
Q: In the end, what did you think of Andrew Sullivan’s Pledge Week – you were quite critical of it, but it seemed to do the business – he didn’t quite hit his target but he got enough. And he did establish the idea of readers paying for blogs they like. I have my doubts about whether anyone apart from superstar bloggers can make this model work. What do you think? windows codecrack
A: More power to him for eeking out some bucks. But clearly, this is no way to make this medium work. Perhaps it's cultural: We are not accustomed to paying licensing fees for our TV; public-TV pledge weeks grate our senses; we are more accustomed to for-profit media making a profit; that's how we pay for our media. I think begging is a bit unseemly. Either your content is unique and worth money and you can charge for it and do or not.windows codecrack
Q: Most of the questions so far have focused on the idea of blogging as online media/publishing. But blogging is changing now – moving on from the initial idea (filtering the web, providing an easy to use platform for personal expression) to something that has more to do with letting groups form, share ideas, build some sort of shared culture – via things like Moveable Type’s trackback and various variations on it. Is this something you can see the business world getting interested in? windows codecrack
A: Perhaps. From the perspective of audience and present blogs: The metaproduct of blogs will probably be data about buzz: What is the audience talking about? What do they care about? Who are the influencers? What are the trends? Bloggers already influence Google; their links are a measure of buzz. I think there will be more sophisticated means of measuring that buzz.windows codecrack
From the perspective of the tools: See my answer to your next question.windows codecrack
Q: I’m planning to speak to John Robb about the k-log idea – which is about using the weblog form to help corporations pool and manage this knowledge, I guess – do you think it will catch on? windows codecrack
A: I've done a lot of thinking about weblogs and corporate knowledge management (spurred in part by Denton) and though I think weblogs could be of value (to better package corporate content and information, to capture expertise, to publish easily within the corporation, to publish the company line), I doubt that they will be used widely because this would require a sizable change of habit inside companies, because most corporate citizens are not writers and in fact fear writing (while bloggers clearly relish it), and because corporations and their managers are (necessarily) control freaks and they will not want spontaneous publishing happening under them.windows codecrack
What is more likely, I think, is what you see from some law firms and from Jupiter recently: People in the knowledge business (as someone I quoted on my blog said recently) will use weblogs to show off their own knowledge. It makes sense for a consultant or attorney or accountant or analyst to create a blog to share and comment on information. But that's very different from internal knowledge management....windows codecrack
Q: On the subject of big businesses getting involved in blogging, do you know anything about AOL’s plans to enter the area? windows codecrack
A: Evan Williams of Pyra said on his blog that AOL is definitely sniffing here. I believe that AOL will offer blogging tools because it's just the next generation of what they already have: personal home page tools. When AOL does do this, I think the end result will be less like the weblogs we see publickly and more like LiveJournal, which is really a closed community of online friends who use weblogging tools to communicate.windows codecrack
Beyond that, however, I do think that there will come a day when everyone will have a weblog of sorts: that is, a place to store links, information, photos, and anything we'd want anyone to see. I also think that people will start adding metadata about themselves to their weblogs (there was a recent riff among webloggers about adding tags such as $single or $seeking job or $seeking programmer to their weblogs or personal pages so that search engines will allow us to create dynamic directories of people who have or want what we want; see that discussion here: http://www.buzzmachine.com/archives/2003_01.html#000564)windows codecrack
Priorities, people!
: The Bloggies "controversy" is getting out of hand. I just thought they were lame, that's all.windows codecrack
Warblogs, the sequel
: Glenn Reynolds gives you a terrific warblogroll as we roll into battle, at GlennReynolds.com.windows codecrack
The reign of the stupid
: As it turns out, the biggest loss in the history of American business and the worst deal in the history of American business and the fall that will mark the end of an era in American business -- the vaporizing of the bubble that symbolized the previous era -- are not the result of vain greed, as we've been saying about Silicon (Death) Valley. No, AOL Time Warner was the result of stupidity, plain, old, simple, avoidable stupidity. It was stupid to think that AOL was going to keep growing. It was stupid to believe that AOL was making as much money as they said. It was stupid of AOL to mistreat its customers for so long. It was stupid of Time Warner to think that its customers would give an F about a holding pen for its brands called Pathfinder, which resulted in the strategic panic and aggressive stupidity that led to the AOL deal. It was incredibly, terribly, destructively, monumentally, historically, shamefully stupid to let themselves be bought by AOL. It was just plain stupid, that's all. At least the greedy fools of Silicon Valley were smart. The fools of AOL Time Warner were just dumb.windows codecrack
Free!
" I just signed up for a free trial subscription to the LA Examiner. You should, too.windows codecrack
Naked Canadians, pasty white
: Marc Weisblott sends us news of more naked Canadians (following word that Naked News will air on Canadian TV): An almost-naked cooking show: There's a new show on the block that promises to entertain as well as...enlighten. Enter the world of cooking with two pairs of chefs, Murray Bancroft & Dena Ashbaugh and Gennaro Iorio & Eva DeViveiros, who will alternate hosting duties each week. Clad only in "strategically placed" aprons, they'll explore the relationship between sex and food in a playful, sexy, adult way -- Food as Aphrodisiacs, Breakfast in Bed for Two (or More), Dinner as Foreplay...it's all here. Move over Emeril! Pass me the oysters. windows codecrack
: And through this, I learned that Canada has a SexTV cable channel. Who'dathunkit?windows codecrack
The new boss
: An interview with the new boss at MSNBC.com, Dean Wright: More broadband, more useful news; smart on both counts.windows codecrack
Gray on gray on gray
: A New York winter day.windows codecrack
: A very nice photolog from Germany (don't worry about translating; it's all about the photos. Just click on anything that says "mehr" or "weiter"; that means more).windows codecrack
Freeing Iraq
: A new weblog on Germany's view of America and vice versa, Amiland, finds this eloquent quote: At a ceremony on Sunday, Paul Spiegel -- the president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany -- criticized the German government's position on Iraq. "One can't be a priori against war," he declared. "The concentration camps weren't freed by demonstrators." windows codecrack
One more thing... Your blood type, please
: Glenn Reynolds whines about sites requiring registration. I agree. He's not saying it's all bad; he understands we folks have to make the money to buy our suits; he's primarily complaining about sites that ask you two dozen dumb questions (to which you will give two dozen lying replies) and then still give you a bad site. When you get right down to it, some sites need to know just a kernel of information to serve ads more efficiently (and thus make money). A local site needs to know where you're from (thus what content and ads you need to see). A b-to-b site wants to know that you're in the industry. A little goes a long way.windows codecrack
The reviews are in
: The LA Examiner, from Ken Layne, Matt Welch, Dick Riordan, et al, got a good review from its whipping boy, the LATimes: Graphically, the new weekly's 52-page prototype is a handsome, highly readable package with a promising and intelligently arranged editorial format....
Taken as a whole, the Los Angeles Examiner wants to be something novel in the alternative press, what might be called the voice of the beleaguered former majority, an insurgent establishment. windows codecrack
Dear Scumbucket,
: Former TV critic Gary Deep is selling celebrity letters to him on eBay. But it's a real D-list list -- all Chicago radio "personalities," like Larry Lujack.
I can beat that from my days as a TV Critic at People, TV Guide, and Entertainment Weekly.
I have hate mail from Bill Cosby. He hated it when I said his sitcom went downhill and he regularly sent nya-nya mail.
I have a whining letter from Alan Thicke begging me to lay off him; must have been his therapist's idea.
I have a letter from Pat Sajak pissed off that I didn't like what they'd done to Wheel of Fortune.
I have thank-you notes from Rosanne [Barr]; surprised she's so well-mannered.
And I have a nice letter from David Letterman, thanking me for my support, signed, "Your friend, Dave."
Sorry, not for sale.
But I will be happy to sell you autographed first editions of Entertainment Weekly. I'll sell you lots of EW launch swag.
And I'll sell you that hat (below) worn by a former TV critic who may look down on his luck -- bad enough to sell old letter from the star -- but isn't... yet. [via Romenesko]windows codecrack
Pop culture jury psychographics
: They're doing strange things to pick juries these days:
: A friend tells me his panel for a criminal case was asked what bumperstickers they had on their cars. American flag? Fine. Police Benevolent Association sticker? Defense says, good-bye.
: In a New Jersey criminal trial, the defense laywer wanted to ask prospective jurors whether they listened to Howard Stern. He didn't want any Stern fans on his jury. The judge said he couldn't do that.
: The judge did, however, allow the lawyer to ask whether jurors watched CSI or NYPD Blue.windows codecrack
Work: The Ultimate Reality Show: The Sequel
: When I pitched work as the Ultimate Reality Show, I forgot to link to the best cast you could imagine: Just read Nick Denton's tales of ex-colleague Julie Meyer (and links to her alleged memo writing on f'd company). You know that people in that office ask themselves every day: What's worse -- this or poverty?windows codecrack
 How cold is it
: Cold enough that I don't care if I look like a dork in that hat. Colleagues dared me to put this picture up. So there.windows codecrack
January 28, 2003
Xeno
: Nick Denton came to hate San Francisco. He came to hate London. He's running a site that loves New York. I want to see him spend a week in Indianapolis.windows codecrack
Urban paranoia
: Steven Cuozzo was right on target taking on the way-over-hyped Liebeskind design for the World Trade Center: It's overblown; it's architectural show-off; it turns a huge hunk of our city into a grave; it thumbs its nose at commerce and life; it's not human. I hate it, too.
But then he takes that one step too far.
Why does he have to turn this into another "leftist" conspiracy?
Why does it have to be "leftist"?
Can't it just be stupid?
Can't it just be wrong?windows codecrack
: Meanwhile, Steven Johnson was about to be swayed by the Liebeskind wind (says he: "I generally change my opinions about these things based on what the cool kids are saying") but he's bending under the weight of the NYTimes enthusiasm for the THINK proposal.windows codecrack
Whitewash
: All New York is white but it's not snow and it's not virtue, it's salt.
Every street looks like the Bonneville Flats; I expect to see a rocket-powered car (yellow, with off-duty sign lit on top) zipping past any minute.
I'm fearing that we will soon have health-impact studies looking at what will happen to us after we have spent a frigid month inhaling salt dust: We will turn into tuna.
White, white, everywhere. It's the only time when New York looks clean: when it has been attacked by Morton's.
Gawd, I want to defrost.windows codecrack
Rescue me from my sucky host!
: It's not the last time you've heard that request.
I use a sucky service called featureprice -- terribly unreliable and terribly unresponsive service. I've had it.
The only advantage is that I get to host four domains (thus including my kids') for $16.95/month with lots of storage.
I've emailed nothingspecial, used by Welch, Layne, et al; and Hosting Matters, used by Reynolds.
Any other recommendations?
And here's a weblog wish: I wish someone would compile hosting recommendations and warnings so we can at least pool our buying power and what little clout we have to get decent service!windows codecrack
: Update: Denton's compilation of recommendations. See also the comments.windows codecrack
January 27, 2003
Work: The Ultimate Reality Show
: They haven't yet invented the perfect reality show. Here it is:
Work.
There is no better venue for venality, greed, cruelty, and all the qualities that make reality TV such a success.
And there is no better time, for with the economy in the dumper, you can bet that every office across the country is becoming meaner by the day. We'll all relate to Work: The Ultimate Reality Show.
Like every reality show, you need to find a way to level the playing field and make it interesting. I say you pick an office of a small company that's doing OK but just OK and you pit the classes against each other -- the bosses vs. the midmanagers vs. the drones. You toss an impressive winning pot of money onto the field that resets all the rules, so the lowest drone can end up earning more than bosses or the bosses can have a record year even now. And you reset the rules of winning so profit isn't the gauge (too often, it isn't anyway) but instead, politics and deceit and popularity determine the winners. So you test the workers to see whether they will tell stories on each other (employee A is nipping office supplies; do you tell?) and you have the audience vote on the winners: American Idol meets Fortune.
I'm telling you, this will be huge. Huge.windows codecrack
: Work is already entertaining. This morning, Howard Stern played with his station's general manager, Tom Chiusano, like a rat on a string. Their radio company just named a regional boss and Tom didn't get the job. Howard told Tom that he was passed over, that he was a loser, that he could not tolerate another GM being his boss, that he was going to end up quitting. With every detail, it got worse: Tom didn't even have the chance to pitch for the job. He was passed over. Twenty-three years invested in the company go pffft. That's office politics. It's every bit as dramatic as The Practice.windows codecrack
: Now see the popularity of the BBC series The Office in Britain, as reported by Gawker. It's a mock documentary about office intrigue and stupidity; it is the fictional version of the reality show I want to see. I tried to buy it at Amazon.co.uk but that wouldn't do me any good, because UK DVDs are coded so U.S. players can't play them. Drat. I want The Office! And then I want a U.S. version (because Americans fight and politic differently from Brits; they debate for the sake of debating; we fight for the sake of fighting; we're blunter).windows codecrack
: Finally, go watch Terry Tate: Office Linebacker at the Reebok site. It's an expanded version of the brilliant Super Bowl commercial: A big, mean linebacker tackles office workers to make sure they put their cover sheets on their forms and and don't steal pencils and don't play games on work time. I guarantee that every worker in every office in the country watched that commercial in hysterics and knew exactly whom, in their offices, Terry should tackle. windows codecrack
: Work may not be fun these days. Work may be hard. Work may be mean. But work is entertaining. Work is The Ultimate Reality TV.windows codecrack
: Update: The Reebok Office Linebacker spot was the most-watched among Tivo users and more than 140,000 users downloaded the expanded four-minute version by noon Monday. Hit a nerve, this did.windows codecrack
Grouch
: Richard Bennett proves my point, brilliantly.windows codecrack
Seeing double
: Kottke has a plot to make you all cross-eyed.windows codecrack
Reality journalism
: A nice Doc riff inspired by the success (in ratings and economics) of reality TV: Think of blogs as reality-based journalism. Like all these TV shows, they cost relatively little to produce, they're done largely by amateurs, and they threaten Business As Usual, with its large paid staffs, etc.
It ain't quite the same as TV, because most magazines and newspapers have paying subscribers, meaning that advertising isn't their only business (just the way they make most of their money). Commercial TV still has no direct market relationship with viewers (who pay cable and satellite companies, not show producers or networks, with the minor exception of premium channels like HBO).
So I think big-J Journalism is still safe.
But it kinda makes you think, no? windows codecrack
Once burned...
: The new head of media whopper Bertelsmann says: "For our business, the Internet has no meaning." [from Dienstraum]windows codecrack
January 26, 2003
A day in the life...
: Of a (writer/essayist/blogger) caterer Rossi.windows codecrack
Cue the National Anthem
: Celine Dion sings God Bless America at the Super Bowl. A Canadian?
Ah, now the National Anthem comes from the Dixie Chicks.
That's more like it.windows codecrack
Cue the Internationale
: Aardvark reports that the Communists made a surprising surge in the elections in Graz, Austria.windows codecrack
January 25, 2003
Sauteed blog
: I just discovered the Julie/Julia project blog and if you haven't, head over there and pull up a chair now. In it, one Julie Powell, a sef-described government drone (for renewnyc) decided to take on the challenge of cooking every recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, the 40-year-old classic from Jula Child et al -- the book and the woman who taught American how to cook (and eat). She chronicles the project in her blog -- and what a perfect venue the blog turns out to be.windows codecrack
Enough already
: Many folks are rightfully impressed with J.D. Lassica's experiment with what he calls "transparent journalism." He put up all his interviews for a story on syndicated news feeds (see his links here). Dave Winer says: Someday all reporters will do this. Hey maybe they'll skip writing the polished piece, esp when the article isn't appearing in print. ARRRGH! Noooo!
I look at J.D.'s voluminous interviews (oh, boy, did he do his homework) and I have a very different reaction: I thank God for reporters and writers who distill all this into a brief story that tells me what I need or want to know and little more. That is the value they add and I hope they never stop adding it.
When I started online news sites, lo, eight years ago, the reflex that came out of many print editors was: Gee, we can put up all the stuff we didn't have room to print; at the end of every story we can have a line that says "for more, go online..."
Well, that didn't work for two reasons: First, and most important, if you're doing your job as a reporter or editor, then you should have told most people most of what they want to know in the story you just published. If you didn't, you did it wrong. I never finish every story in the paper and I leave informationally sated; I rarely read a whole story and remain hungry for more. The second reason this didn't work is that it takes effort to put all that material online (and also worry about whether there's anything libelous or wrong in it).
I'm fine with reporters who have the time putting up their interviews and notes for those who really want more. But I warn you: Those will be few -- often too few to justify the effort. windows codecrack
Citizen Layne
: Ken Layne et al just published their prototype issue of the LA Examiner. This is huge. The only new papers starting in this country (besides the NY Sun) are ones in other languages; here's one I can read. I can't wait to see it. I wish they'd put up a few PDFs of pages so we can all bask in the glory of a newspaper launch.windows codecrack
Wear just the facts, maam
: Lost Remote reports that Naked News -- the web show that is just that, naked people reading news -- will now get on the air at Toronto's CityTV, a real innovator (they created the Speaker's Corner, in which people off the street record snippets -- opinions, songs, jokes -- and the best get on the air). Note a few trends here, born of the Internet: This is a show created on the Web that will now be on real TV. And this indicates a loosening attitude toward nudity (at least in Canada).windows codecrack
: Update: Cory Doctorow reports that CITYtv visionary -- and I do mean visionary-- Moses Znaimer may retire. He launched community station CITY-TV in 1972, creating a blueprint for interactive TV that has spread across Canada and the world. He has been the on-air host of several series and specials, including The Originals on specialty channel Bravo and TVTV: The Television Revolution.
The accompanying ego is as monumental as his legacy. His west-end Toronto backyard was rearranged in the eighties to accommodate metre-high letters spelling out "Moses." windows codecrack
January 24, 2003
The Museum of Spam
: Der Schockwellenreiter has put together a complete collection of Nigerian spam letters. Somebody, somewhere, is spending his days writing: In view of your profile I was mandated by my colegues to contact you immediately for this mutual business relationship which involed a transfer of the sum of USD18,300,000.00 (Eighteen Million, Three Hundred Thousand United States Dollars Only.)into your personal or company`s bank account for safe-keeping and subsequent dibursement among us. : BBC: The most annoying spam of 2002. windows codecrack
January 23, 2003
 Screw the envelope... Here are the winners...
: Since there is a popular uprising against this year's Bloggies, I decided to put my taste where my mouth is and award my own favorites:windows codecrack
THE JEFFIES!
They are just as meaningless as any other award, just as capricious and random and political and spiked with favor. But, just like my copyright, they are mine, all mine.
The nominees? All those guys on the right.
And the winners are (in a break with Academy tradition, I'll start with the most important first because I have a point to make and this is my show)...
: BEST BLOGGER: Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit and now MSNBC because he gives us so much -- so much information, so much entertainment, so many links, so much traffic. Yes, he's the obvious choice and that's just the point: Blackballing him from the Bloggies was the best indication of their utter bogusness. A lot of my choices are obvious -- and in this new medium, that's also the point: Awards can point to quality; they can guide newcomers to the best we offer; they can reward the leaders. That's what a credible blog award should do -- but that's not what the Bloggies are doing, for they're trying to be too hip by half, too cute by the other half. Note that I avoid the cutsy categories of the Bloggies; my categories are just as obvious -- thus, useful -- as my awards. [Note also that at most awards shows, the acceptance speeches go on forever. Here, the presenter never shuts up. But on with the show...]
: BEST LINKS: Boing Boing -- specifically Cory Doctorow's contributions. It's remarkable how a person's selections -- rather than his writing -- can have such voice and authority. He puts the H in HTML.
: MOST CURMUDGEONLY BLOGGER: Richard Bennett. Bark=bite.
: BEST NEW BLOG: Gawker. OK, so I know its founder, Nick Denton; everybody in Hollywood knows Michael Caine and they vote for him anyway. I award Gawker because it raises the bar on blogging to a professional level.
: MOST USEFUL BLOG: Gizmodo. What, two awards for Denton? That's not fair! Right. Life is unfair. So are awards.
: BEST POLITICAL BLOGGER: There are so many to choose from (about 95 percent of all bloggers). But I give the nod this year to Josh Marshall for pursuing stories with dogged determination.
: BEST LIBERAL BLOGGER: Atrios.
: BEST CONSERVATIVE BLOGGER: Kaus.
: MOST FEARLESS BLOGGER: Little Green Footballs. Love him or hate him, he's a dog with a bone.
: BEST OLD-TIME BLOGGER: I say Doc. Others would say Dave or Dave. But I say Doc.
: BEST BLOG DESIGN: Dean Allen's Textism. The man respects type in a medium that does not.
: BEST PHOTO BLOG: Quarlo.
: BEST RELIGION BLOG: HolyWeblog. (And yes, there are a surprising number of religion weblogs).
: BEST FOOD WEBLOG: The Red Kitchen.
: BEST LAW BLOG: LawMeme from Yale.
: BEST LITERARY BLOG: Woods Lot.
: BEST BLOG WRITING: Lileks. (I'm surprised I didn't have more nominees in this category but that's probably because most bloggers, real bloggers -- a club in which, admittedly, Lileks is an honorary member -- type before they write or get their writing jollies elsewhere).
: BEST MEDIA BLOG: I Want Media.
: BEST TV BLOG: Lost Remote.
: BEST MARKETKING BLOG: Marketing Fix.
: BEST BUSINESS BLOG: Corante's many-headed blog.
: BEST MEDIA COMPANY BLOG: The Guardian's Online Blog.
: BEST CORPORATE SUPPORTER OF BLOGGING: MSNBC.com.
: BEST STUDENT BLOG: Matthew Yglesias from Harvard.
: BEST GOVERNMENT BLOG: The Shifted Librarian. OK, it's a stretch to call this government work -- but then again, it's not. See what a creative and dedicated public servant can do with few resources but lots of energy.
: BEST BLOG PERSONALITY: Oliver Willis. You simply get to know the guy. He is what he blogs.
: BEST FOREIGN BLOG -- GERMAN: Der Schockwellenreiter.
: BEST FOREIGN BLOG -- JAPANESE: Joi Ito (not that I can understand the rest of them).
: BEST SEX BLOG: Raymi. It's personal.
: MOST CREATIVE BLOGGING: Tony Pierce. Sometimes, I can't figure out what he's doing. Sometimes, I can't get enough of it. But he always surprises. Always.
: BEST NEW BLOG TOOL: Technorati Link Cosmos (here's mine).
: BEST VIDEO BLOGGING (VLOGGING): Still waiting; too new.
: BEST BLOG THAT SHOULD BE BUT ISN'T: Clay Shirky -- start blogging.windows codecrack
Thanks everybody. Good night. Drive safe. windows codecrack
Sorry we had no pre-show fashion fest; bloggers are bad dressers.windows codecrack
And if I offended anybody by leaving you out, I apologize.(Layne and Welch: I disqualified you because you took long vacations; and Locke: I disqualified you because you are still MIA). windows codecrack
If you hate my list, well, then make your own. Please, make your own. That is precisely what makes blogs blogs: we pick the best; we link. windows codecrack
The truth is, we create our own awards shows every day with every link.windows codecrack
Aliteracy
: A sad but true observation on Sand in the Gears: I'm disturbed, when I fly or ride the train, by the number of people who willingly embark on a trip of an hour or more without anything to read. I read a wonderful essay once by someone who referred to such people as "aliterate." I see many of the same people every day, just sitting and staring at their hands, out the window, at their fellow passengers. Not all of them get motion sickness. I have the suspicion that some of them simply do not read. windows codecrack
Brian Eno and the Microsoft sound
: Rand discovers that Brian Eno wrote the "Microsoft sound" you hear upon the launch of Windows 95. [via Monoklon]windows codecrack
January 22, 2003
And the winner izzzzzzz
: If I ever run a newspaper, I'll have a few new rules but one of them will be: No awards. No Pulitzers. No AP awards. No prizes. Nothing. I'll tell my staff: We create this newspaper for our readers, not for fellow newspaper people with prizes in their hands.
I bring that prejudice to the Bloggies.
The other night, I watched the Golden Globes and, as always, couldn't believe that fewer than 100 foreigners are voting on awards that are causing all this ruckus.
I bring that prejudice to the Bloggies.
The Oscars are bull. Ditto the Emmys, the Grammies, the Nobel.
I bring that prejudice to the Bloggies.
So I decided not to bother with the Bloggies. I'm not boycotting. I'm not bothering. I didn't nominate. I won't vote. I don't care.
But that's nothing. You should read Dawn on the awards. She's on a tear.
Richard Bennett suggests in her comments that she/we should start a real award with real categories (instead of the ludicrious Bloggie categories ... Europe/Africa: Huh?)
I'd trust Bennett and Dawn.
But I still have a prejudice about awards.
Unless you're going to show up on a red carpet wearing skimpy nothing for Joan Rivers and her cameras, what's the f'ing point?windows codecrack
: And anyway, if bloggers are going to start an award, wouldn't they automate it to let the entire audience vote with their clicks and links? Which blogs in which categories got the most links last year? They're the real winners. Proof in the pudding. Cream rises. All that. (And, yes, Glenn Reynolds quickly gets promoted to Hall of Fame so everyone else can play.)windows codecrack
Intellectual property as property
: I'm a fool to engage a very smart attorney in a discussion of copyright, but as I said, I'm a fool. Ernie "[the other] attorney" Miller from Yale -- a ringleader of the Revenge of the Blog conference up there -- sent me thoughtful email on copyright. Click the "more" link below to see what he said and how I respond, if you wish...windows codecrack
Ernie's email to me:
I disagree strongly with the arguments claiming that copyright is "stealing" (though I think retroactive term extension, aka "rent seeking," is pretty darn close). Those that call copyright in and of itself theft are foolish.windows codecrack
However, the idea that copyright is "property" the same as any other form of property is deeply and equally flawed. It is this idea of creative works as property like any other that many rebel against, and rightly so.windows codecrack
Here are a few ways (not exhaustive) creative works are not like other forms of property:windows codecrack
1) Non-rivalrous: If I consume an apple, you can't consume the same apple. Consuming apples is a rivalrous use. However, if I have a song in my head, it takes nothing away from my use of the song for you to have the same song in your head. The use of the song is non-rivalrous.windows codecrack
This one difference alone throws a whole monkeywrench into our assumptions about what "property" is, since standard economics and common perceptions are based on our understanding of rivalrous goods.windows codecrack
Property is not property. Some property is rivalrous and should be covered by one set of rules. And some property is non-rivalrous and should be covered by another set of rules. To acknowledge this difference is not to be a communist, but a rationalist.windows codecrack
2) Non-excludable: This varies depending on many factors, but to a large degree, creative works are non-excludable. You can't really stop people from doing what they will with a work they have been exposed to. Once given, it cannot be taken back. I give you a car, I can take it back. I give you a book, I cannot take back your act of having read it.windows codecrack
Again, this changes many of the assumptions underlying traditional notions of property. Should we ignore these differences and maintain, nevertheless, that "property is property."?windows codecrack
3) Limited Times: What is up with this? Why, property is property, you don't call for a perpetual term? It is an affront to traditional notions of property law that ownership not be perpetual. Why do we tolerate this state of affairs? What is theory behind the difference? windows codecrack
4) Fair Use: I don't have a "fair use" right to borrow your car. Why do I have such a right to "borrow" your writings? What traditional notion of property supports such a broad grant of rights?windows codecrack
I could go on but, not all property is the same. In fact, I hesitate to call intellectual property "property" at all - it seems to me to be more of the form of a government license - similar to the way government licenses many other resources.windows codecrack
A sincere non-communist,
Ernie
And I responded: - First, regarding time: There clearly are different classes of property. A piece of land with a building on it is permanent and scarce and our treatment of it depends on those facts. On the other hand, my vintage 1991 Macintosh -- equally real -- loses value over time; it is a different class of property in our treatment and valuation of it. My ideas and creations are another class; their value is affected by time and distribution but not scarcity (in fact, in Hollywood, the more your property is "like" another, the better). Time, production, scarcity and other factors (e.g., the new concept of a network becoming more valuable the more members it has) all have an impact on the value of the property. They are all property, nonetheless; they all carry rights for their owners. Just because property is not permanent does not mean it is not property and does not mean that its owner does not have rights to that property. Those rights are still a fundamental, even sacred tenant of American society.windows codecrack
- Second, I disagree about the nonrivalrous nature of intellectual property. If I have a song I've written and I want to sell it to you but you don't buy it because you already bought it from somone else (or got it free!) then I have lost the rivalry for you and thus my property is worth less (or ultimately worthless). The apple that is eaten in this case is not the song but the consumer and once it is eaten it is eaten. windows codecrack
- Third, I would say that both cars and intellectual property are excludable. If I drive a new car off a showroom floor, it loses value. If you already saw my creative work before I get to sell it to you, it loses value.windows codecrack
- Fourth, fair use is a different matter altogether at least as far as I am concerned. It is a First Amendment issue: Fair Use allows me to quote and comment on creative works. It is the lifeline for both journalism and criticism as well as academics. If I cannot quote from Kangaroo Jack, I cannot fully demonstrate what a piece of shit it is. As a former critic, I hold Fair Use dearly.windows codecrack
I think we probably agree in many areas. As I've said, I don't defend Disney -- but I do defend the primary owner and creator of intellectual property and I defend their right to maximize the value of that even if it means selling to Disney. I don't necessarily defend the current time frame of copyright -- but I do want to see a counterweight against those who would reduce that time to a minimum and thus devalue all the creative works covered by it for their creators. And I'm delighted to see you say that you repudiate those who call copyright holders thieves; it is absurd (and offensive) on its face.windows codecrack
Now I am sure you will have many rational, logical, fact-filled, and quite correct answers to all my amateurish points but that's why I decided not to go to law school and instead because a media hack!
best,
jeff In the end, Ernie and I do clearly disagree about one point, the essential point: I say that intellectual property is property. The person who creates it has the rights of an owner and those rights -- and their value -- are diminished if limited. We agree to limit them but we must recognize that price. If we do not recognize these rights, then we will lose creation. I will chose not to share my creation because it's not worth my while; I will share my creation elsewhere in the world; I will work in Starbucks instead.
In no way is creation a public asset to be licensed like radio spectrum. The government NEVER owns what I create; I do. Creation is the property of its creators. If we lose sight of that, we lose creation and creators. windows codecrack
A conspiracy of the libertarian right
: Shhh. I think Glenn Reynolds is leading a conspiracy. He's trying to convince us that there's a groundswell for Gary Hart in the hope that the guy actually gets into the race so (a) they can make fun of him, (b) so they can make fun of Democrats, (c) so they can remind us of his sex life, (d) so they can remind us of Bill Clinton's sex life, (d) so George Bush can win again.
Gary Hart?
Yes, and Pee-Wee Herman's going to be his running mate.windows codecrack
January 21, 2003
New at The Week
: Long ago, I told you why I love The Week magazine. A few changes to report: They have switched to a slick paper stock, making the magazine look more American and less European (or less pulpy); a good change. Also, they have put one of the best features online: the always pithy, two-paragraph, to-the-point editor's letters by William Falk.windows codecrack
Waiting
: I can't wait for the weblog here.windows codecrack
The reviews are in
: The Shifted Librarian points us to Google Movies: Using Google's API, they find reviews and intuit the rating. It's the automated Rotten Tomatoes.windows codecrack
Republican babe?
: Also from the Presurfer (and I'm ashamed to say that he found it in my own backyard, in Jersey): The Republican Babe of the Week. I'm planning to submit my virtual model, below, to the contest for Centrist Populist Guy of the Week.windows codecrack
Baring all
: That's the virtual me. Add a gray beard. Add gray chest hair. Add glasses for bad eyes. Add ear hair (no, I shaved that). Add flat feet. Add knock knees. Add crooked teeth. Add wrinkles and worrylines. Add assorted moles. Add socks. And that's me. [via the Presufer, who looks just like me!]windows codecrack
Vlog: the road movie
: Justin Katz makes another vlog. Haven't had the chance to watch yet (work, you know); so beat me to it.windows codecrack
January 20, 2003
Vlogs go pro
: A TV pro is just as impressed with the vlogging tools from Serious Magic as I am.windows codecrack
Blog swarm
: JD says a producer wants to meet bloggers and wonders where they'll be gathering. Said producer wants to go to a conference. But it's far easier than that: Invite us to a cup of coffee and we'll be there. Invite us to a glass go half-decent wine, and you'll be stampeded. I suggest coffee at 13th and 6th...windows codecrack
I'm not joining the content collective, comrades!
:
I say that the copyright backlash is beginning; the era of Lessig worship is near an end.windows codecrack
Let's start our tour here, with Aaron's tips for authors, No. 5: Once you've recouped the cost of creating the book (and potentially the cost of writing your next one) please donate it to the public domain (i.e. give up your copyright). The copyright system was created only to increase the size of the public domain; please don't cheat the public by taking more of it than you need. "Cheat the public"?!? Anil doubted, in a comment here, that such rhetoric is swarming across blogs, but it is. And it raises my dander. Cheat, indeed. This is perverse. If I don't give you what I own, then I am the thief? No, you are the thief for demanding it. windows codecrack
Next, read the eloquent reply of Jonathan Delacour [via Haiko Hebig]: I can't fathom this. People who would be outraged if employers suggested basing salaries on the cost of rent, food, clothing, and utilities, plus a small entertainment allowance, blithely demand that authors work for cost....
This utopian idea that authors should write for love, not money, probably reflects the majority belief that writing a book is no more difficult than baking a cake. Yet I'm reminded of a New Yorker cartoon showing two people at a cocktail party. One says, "I'm writing a novel." The other replies, "Neither am I."
Delacour calls the copyright mob "accidental socialists." That echoes my sentiments, below, that all this clamoring to take copyrights away from their creators (and those to whom those creators sell their rights) is not about the creative commons but creative communism. windows codecrack
Now even Dr. Lawrence Lessig is getting the point. It took Doc to show him what the Eldred copyright case is really about, and that, in a word, is:
Property.
Well, duh, professor.
Yes, this is about a creator's right to own his property and to sell it to whomever he chooses -- even a big, evil corporate beastie. And that sale has more value if that corporate entity can make more money from that property for more years. It's called capitalism.
Says Lessig: Copyright is understood to be a form of simple property. The battle in Eldred thus sounded like a battle between pro and anti property views. On that simple scale, it was clear how the majority of the Court would vote. Not because they are conservative, but because they are Americans. We have a (generally proper) property bias in this culture that makes it extremely hard for people to think critically about the most complicated form of property out there — what most call “intellectual property.” Well, yeah. Property is property -- all the more if I create it. If I own and exploit the property I create, it's capitalism. It's American. If you make me give up my creation, my grain, my property, to the collective, it's communism. Moscow, 1918.
The good professor bristles at the fact that his movement -- movement: his word -- is being "described as 'countercultura,' 'radical,' and anti-corporate." Well, comrade prof, that's because that's exactly what you sound like.
And I'm not joining your content collective.
I own what I create. I get to sell it to whom I want. I get to exploit it as I want. Unlike all other property, I eventually do have to hand it over to society and that's fine. But the less time I have to exploit my property, the less it is worth. It's really quite simple. And Prof. Lessig is only now beginning to understand that.
Thus, I predict that we are at the beginning of the backlash, the end of Lessig worship. windows codecrack
: Mind you, I admire and appreciate those who hand their work over to the commons. Linux is spectacular; I run my business on it and we have added to the open-source movement there.
But note also that Linux is not a consumer product. I can't effectively run my own computer (or my kids' or my father's) on Linux. There are not nearly enough good consumer products to run on it. Why? Because the creators of such products cannot make enough money to make it worthwhile to create them.
This is not some right-wing screed (from a left-winger). Try going to the Author's Guild or the various collectives representing photographers or screenwriters or directors or artists and get them to hand over their rights. Good f'ing l uck. Pitchforks through the hearts, that's what you'll get, my friends.
The bottom line:
Capitalism works.
Altruism works sometimes.
Communism doesn't work.
We learned that lesson in the world. We should not forget it online.windows codecrack
: See my new copyright notice. Feel free to steal it. I hereby donate it to the copyright commons.windows codecrack
Wacky German collectors, Chapter 89
: The keychain museum. [via der Schockwellenreiter]windows codecrack
Knowledge
: Martin Roell notes Jupiter starting weblogs and says any company that sells knowledge should follow.windows codecrack
Privacy
: I don't plan to join GEOurl. I don't want people to find me.windows codecrack
January 19, 2003
Fence
: Rossi speaks for many, sitting on the fence over war.windows codecrack
Anti-anti-anti war
Atrios and Glenn Reynolds get personal (not in a bad way, in a smart way) over war protest.
Says Atrios: We should not judge a movement or an opinion by the least of its adherents.windows codecrack
Blog bits
: I added some new links (under "new" and "deutsch") to the blog-roll. Right face. Harch.windows codecrack
: Ross Mayfield has lots of great stats from LiveJournal here and here. But in his comments, I caution: I wouldn't conclude that "blogging is young" on the basis of LiveJournal stats. LiveJournal is unquestionably powerful and huge but it is an internal phenomenon; it is a community that links within and not much without (with not many links to it from without). Other bloggers -- call them "unaffiliated bloggers" -- are all about external links, both ways. Yes, it's all blogging (just to be clear I am NOT trying to draw some snotty distinction about what is "real" blogging). But LiveJournal is something more: It also holds a strong similarity to AOL's forum communities (or those on my work sites); I would expect AOL's upcoming (rumored) blogs to be more like LiveJournal's (and huge). I would say that LiveJournal is more of a community and unaffiliated blogs are more about publishing. All of which is to say: the statistics of one should not be extrapolated to the other. : Industrial Technology & Witchcraft calls Radio and antville (and Blogger) pret-a-porte blogs. Self-made systems, like der Schockwellenreiter's (and Dean Allen's, I assume) are haute couture. windows codecrack
: Jim Treacher is hanging it up. Sounds ominious.windows codecrack
: Ben Hammersley catalogues the definitions of TrackBack and its variants.windows codecrack
January 18, 2003
Mine, I tell you, mine... all mine!
: I've put up a new copyright notice, just to irritate the copyright mob.windows codecrack
: Just for the record, since I am baiting these folks, I'll repeat here what I said in a comment below: I don't defend Disney (having covered entertainment and come up against them at their control-freak worst). I also don't necessarily defend the exact number of years now given to copyright.
But I do defend copyright holders against the arch language I'm reading everywhere: That by holding onto their creations, they are thieves. Bullshit. Creation itself is generous. Creation deserves compensation. Creation has value. Authors are copyright holders, too. They are not thieves.windows codecrack
Blog heresy
: I'm sorry, but I just have to ask:
Is Lawrence Lessig overrated?
Well, the truth is, he has to be. Like Mother Theresa, he has been put up on a pedestal at nosebleed altitude. The blog admiration is blushworthy. No one is that brilliant. But Lessig doesn't blush. He has someone maintain a third-person blog (in addition to his first-personal version) covering of all his personal happenings, like a year-round Christmas letter.
Of course, he's a smart man and earnest.
But he lost the Eldred case, big time.
He was kept away from the Microsoft case for good reason; Microsoft was perfectly justified objecting to him advising the judge (and we now know what a bozo that judge was).
Now here's Lessig proposing a ludicrious and unworkable copyright tax that would unfairly burden copyright holders and their heirs and create a gargantuan federal bureacracy and, by the way, offend American First Amendment sensibilities (let's bring back the stamp tax!).
I've admired the guy but I fear that others admire him too much and I'm overdosed on the Lessig-worship. He's mortal.windows codecrack
Bar none
: Great poster-art with sly bar-code jokes from a Russian agency.windows codecrack
And keep it holy
: I hope (and pray) that we are beyond the day in America when being Jewish could hinder an American from running for the White House.
If Joe Lieberman has religious problems in his race, they may not be with his faith but with his orthodoxy. We are not an orthodox nation; we don't understand orthodxy; we don't trust it.
So it's helpful to read a definition of Lieberman's own "Modern Orthodoxy" at the always-enlightening Jewsweek.com: Modern Orthodoxy aspires to strict adherence to traditional Jewish law (keeping the Sabbath and kosher) while fully engaging in secular society...
Rabbi Barry Freundel, the spiritual leader of Georgetown's Kesher Israel and Lieberman's rabbi, believes that his congregant is fully ensconced in both worlds. "He has a willingness to fully engage modernity," says Freundel. "I don't think you could have a president from the more right-wing Orthodox camp because they don't fully embrace modernity."
The fact that he doesn't stick out may not only place him in a position to teach America what it means to be a Jew, but will teach Jews what it means to be Jewish in America. "So on Shabbat he'll walk to synagogue, there'll be kosher food in the White House," says political analyst Norman Green. "He'll be forcing a lot of conservative and reform Jews to reconsider their Jewish practices." windows codecrack
George's game
: I was giving George Bush the benefit of the doubt, thinking that he and his team were strategists. But look where we are now:
We're in a political and diplomatic (remember this word, bloggers) quagmire in Iraq. Now we have to wait -- how long? a year? -- until a gun is found with sufficient smoke to choke the objections of the world and meanwhile, the economy and the Bush presidency slide and slide more.
In North Korea, Bush has ignored the most basic lesson of parenthood that anyone learns when managing a 3-year-old: Be consistent and do what you say you're going to do. Or else you lose all your authority.
He's no strategist, I fear.
Chess is not his game.
Checkers is.windows codecrack
Always On
The Portland Business Journal [via I Want Media] reports on the start of a tech biz gang weblog under Red Herrings' Tony Perkins called Always On. It wants to be a Gawker of technology and it may grow into that but thus far, it's a bit awkward.windows codecrack
A pissing contest
: If I'm translating this correctly (and there's always a good chance I'm not) there has been a rousing media feud going on in Germany:
A writer for the "taz" newspaper reports in May that Kai Diekmann, editor of the very-tabloid Bild, had an operation to lengthen his penis (it's more poetic auf Deutsch: he had einer Operation zur Penisverlängerung") -- but that it failed.
Then Diekmann sued, seeking 30,000 Euros. I'm not sure whether he was suing because they said (a) he had the operation, (b) he needed the operation, (c) it failed. I'd love to read that brief.
Next, a judge ruled that the penis reportage was satire.
But it's not over. Now Diekmann is going to appeal and the headline writers are having fun with the words "penis" and "extension." [via Monoklon]windows codecrack
January 17, 2003
Microsoft bigots
: So Microsoft announces a dividend of $0.16 a share and the stock goes down more than 25 times that amount today alone. Can't win. Can't win.windows codecrack
Whatever happened to...
: Michael Palmer has a great idea: He's looking for an old friend and colleague; can't find him; so he's typing his name into his weblog in hopes this old pal will Google himself, find the mention, follow the link, and send an email. Simple, elegant, brilliant.
If it works, it will qualify as a new Google hack.
Call it "Google Calling."
I'll join in. I was cleaning out my basement the other day and was reminded of all kinds of names of old college and high school friends I've lost. So I'll mention their names here just to Google Call them: Jim (James) Herlihy, Steve (Steven) Paulson, Marki (Margaret) Kimble (Street), Charles (Chuck) Larrabbee, Linda Graefing, Allen Barr, Lee Fawkes, Riley Atkins, Janice Rosenberg, Linda Kattwinkel...
If you're one of these folks and you knew me: Hey, what's new? Click on the email link on the right.... [via Lockhart Steele]windows codecrack
: Update. In the comments, Anil points to earlier efforts to do the same thing, efforts that reach back in history before weblogs -- notably Andy Baio's page. Mazeltov.
I still say that weblogs have a role here. Weblogs tie many disparate functions and trends on the web together. A weblog becomes your representation of you on the web -- as Chris Pirillo said just today: Blogging is your chance to show the world what you're like. It's your own. It's nobody else's... it's life. It's life online. There comes a time very soon when your blog represents more than your opinion. It holds your links to others; your photos and videos; and the metadata for your life (you don't have a soul, you just have metadata). It is you, just you online. Importantly, this will be true not just for web sophisticates but for the masses.
Anil also scolds me (I'm used to it by now) for tying this, like too much else, to both Google and blogging. Tough cookies. A Google search is something everyone but everyone understands today -- better than "metadata" or "tags." As a card-carrying populist, I'm adamantly unapologetic about putting things into popular terms. I'm also not going to take a demerit for acting as if this is new. Of course, nothing is new. But we're all allowed to discover and share things that are new to us; that is what makes blogs and the blogging community generous and enjoyable. windows codecrack
Remember Pointcast?
: Seven years ago, Dave Winer reminds himself, he loved Pointcast.
I hated it: an unnecessary application with unnecessary complication that caused unnecessary traffic with a bad business model (remember: it was the screensaver with content and advertising; it was going to be talking to empty chairs while its consumers were away from their desks sitting on a toilet).
After watching a demo, in a fit of technology hubris (remember those days?), I said, "We can do that with nothing but a browser and a refresh." And we did.
It was a lesson we all had to learn the hard way: Take what you have and use it to the max before you go building the next thing.
Which is to say that there are ways to use the blogging tools (and video, audio, photo, and data tools) we already have that we cannot imagine yet.windows codecrack
Cold and wet
: Bare people spell out p-e-a-c-e. Well, that was useful. [via Presurfer]windows codecrack
January 16, 2003
Colors
: A nice view of winter's colors in Sweden.
: Also see a tap that spills light.windows codecrack
Cue the theme music
: It's not exactly a video weblog; it's a video introduction to a weblog (auf Deutsch). I grant, this is about as useful as a Flash intro (read: not at all) but it's kinda nice. I could see a photo blog giving us a vidsnippet a day.windows codecrack
Blog as starmaker
: Everybody go to Ken Layne and convince him to put a few chapters of his latest novel up online -- not so we can read them but so some wise publisher will spot them and give him a very big contract. It has worked before -- more than once.windows codecrack
War gaming
: The Iraqi war, in Flash.windows codecrack
January 15, 2003
Major media launch
: Big media news: Glenn Reynolds launches a new site -- GlennReynolds.com -- on MSNBC.com.
He won't be leaving Instapundit; that remains. He now writes some items each week at MSNBC... and who knows what else will sprout from this.
Read the exclusive at Kausfiles.
(Pardon me for crowing about this but I'm honored to say that I was honored to be in the right place at the right time at the genesis of this, introducing Glenn to the wonderful Joan Connell, czar of interactivity and opinion at MSNBC.com. These two good guys were meant to work with each other.)
Watch that space... for soon, Glenn will be experimenting with some new things.windows codecrack
Creative commons or creative communism?
: I'm struck by some of the rhetoric following the Eldred defeat (and, no, I won't name names or link links so as to avoid an ideological pissfest). All the haughty talk about how copyright holders are stealing what the people own... It sounds like Moscow, 1918, folks. The Internationale is playing on Real Audio. The masses are marching with pitchforks and MP3 players. The armies of the people are massing at Sunset and Vine.
I'm sorry, but I do not object to the concentration of intellectual capital almong its creators and supporters and owners. It is their right. The people do not -- the audience does not -- own what I think up or my publisher pays to publish or my producer pays to produce; we do. You have to pay for it. It's only right.
Have we not learned at least that from the Internet thus far: Content that is not valued is valueless.
Yes, the "commons" is a wonderful arena and much can be produced through sharing there and through the generosity of those who create in and for it. I support that commons. But not by force. Contributing to the commons is still the choice of those who do. It is not the right of the consumers to expect that they should own that which they consume without paying for it.
Communism's dead when it comes to steel or words or pictures or thoughts or sounds. windows codecrack
Devil's advocate
: I hate to be a contrarian on this, whistling as the long funeral cortege for the Lessig Eldred copyright case passes my way -- and I grant my conflict, being an employee of Big Media -- but I just have to say that as someone who creates for a living, I do see value in creation and in allowing me and my heirs to retain that value.
If -- if, indeed -- I ever wrote a successful book, I would want my children and grandchildren to be able to benefit from it the same as they would if I instead put my effort into buying land or a building or a company. My heirs could hold onto those forever; they can hold onto my creative legacy (whatever it is worth) for only a limited time.
Of course, I favor the notion and practice of intellectual property passing into the public domain. But I think it's wrong to portray copyright holders as thieves. Without generous protection, these creators -- and those who underwrite them by publishing and producing them -- might as well go into real estate instead.windows codecrack
Legal hubris
: Lessig today: What the Framers of our constitution did is not enough. We must do more. windows codecrack
Third legal posting in one day
: Jack Balkin, the very smart law guru at Yale, now has a blog. At the blog conference, we all worked on him and apparently, it worked.windows codecrack
Cable Noose Network
: It was no surprise to me that Walter Isaacson left CNN. Walter's a smart guy with that touch of cockiness that Time Inc. adds to even a Rhodes scholar. Like his colleagues, he's essentially a snob.
The Times story says that at CNN, he was frustrated with TV's concentration on ratings (well, that means you're frustrated with serving your audience, doesn't it?) and negotiating with stars (he was the one who switched to a star system from Ted's anonymous newsreader system) and allegedly shallow TV news (he was one of those guys who wanted to bring major reporting to Time -- when, as far as I'm concerned, Time was best when it was the precursor to The Week magazine and weblogs too: namely, a summary of others' reporting).
So why did he take the job in the first place? Got me. You should love TV and TV's audience if you're going to work in TV -- and if you don't, it will show. And it showed. CNN is dull. FoxNews isn't.
Now let me be really unfair to the guy and suggest that if Isaacson had not also muffed Pathfinder -- and with it, an online strategy for Time Inc. and thus Time Warner -- they never would have felt the need to go out and get in bed with -- and F'ed by -- AOL.
Walter's going to go to Aspen to think big thoughts. That is where he belongs.windows codecrack
East meets West; East wins
: When Reynolds referred to "coastism" tonight, I thought he was talking about this. He wasn't.windows codecrack
Where to invest (the money you no longer have)
: Nick Denton has some visionary advice on where to invest for Management Today:
: Outdoor advertising. I would broaden this to include any place-based advertising. Nick notes LCD and e-ink technology to change displays. Note also that there are now changable posters in movie theaters (I lost the link to that story). Add to this, importantly, new connectivity and networking: You can change the message anytime anywhere (that is, not just on billboards but also in stores and at checkouts and in store windows and in public places of any definition) based on the time of day; the crowd (hey, the flight from New York just came into LAX: push those I 'n' Out burgers); changes in your business (H&M and other companies change their fashions almost weekly; they could change their promotion and pricing hourly).... I have an idea for a business in this sphere but I'll save that.
: Escapes -- new pretty places for travel.
: Old skyscrapers.
: Online media. Don't laugh. Nick points out that the costs to create nanomedia are now nano; the audience is definitely here; advertising is growing.
: And short telcoms because VOIP is coming. Absolutely.
: I would add that storage technology of every description will grow (as it becomes cheaper), for we will be storing music and movies and pictures in our pockets and we will be storing our lives online. EMC rises again? And networking technology will be added to everything encased in plastic. Buy Linksys.
There will also be more freelancers and second-careerists, boosting schooling (of the vocational sort) and the companies that prepare you for it (Kaplan, et al).
And I'd keep my eye out for new food trends to steal market share from McDonald's, Burger King, et al (see my fast food vlog). Wish I could tell you what companies those are; it's not Ranch One (a good concept ruined); it's not XandoCosi (a good concept that's too expensive); you can't buy Pret a Manger (which is too bad, for I think ready-made fresh sandwiches will become standard buy-it-before-boarding fare at every airport in the country).
I'd say cable's going to do well (see Nick's telecom point above); see also whether Time Warner Cable's IPO goes well.
But what do I know? I own too damned much AOL.windows codecrack
: More place-based, dynamic advertising: in cabs.windows codecrack
Why Layne should move East
: And I mean East, not east.windows codecrack
Content is crap
: A contrarian and thoughtful column by Arnold Kling at TechCentral Station argues that the Creative Commons is not the be-all and end-all of future media; quite to the contrary: Creative Commons is based on a naive ideology that believes that raw content is gold, which then gets stolen by the evil media companies. In reality, the economics of content are that most of the value-added comes from the filtering process, not the creation process. If you want to overthrow incumbent publishers with Internet-based alternatives, you are better off starting from the assumption that Content is Crap. The middle of the column is a technical plug for Bayesian filters as a technical means to add value to online content -- enhancing the filtering weblogs perform manually -- but on the top and bottom of that is an argument in favor of big (if evil) media. windows codecrack
Yo, yo, yo Times
: There's a touch of rhetorical whiplash in the Observer's interview with Howell Raines at the Times regarding his cultural ambitions. With one breath, he says: "I posit our readership as being the most sophisticated in the country and having a Renaissance-like appetite for information"...
I haven't used "posit" in a sentence -- with a straight face -- since freshman philosophy.
In the next deep breath, Raines says: "When [Run-D.M.C.’s] Jam Master Jay was killed a few months ago, I had been following the debate in rap music about Snoop Dogg trying to revive his career by insulting Suge Knight." I love a doughy White Southern intellectual Yankee liberal newspaperman talking about how he follows hiphop.
Word, Howell! (But the word isn't "posit.") windows codecrack
: Now that I have that cheap shot out of the way..... No, this isn't another blogging exercise in Raines bashing. Overdone. A cliche already. Boring. Besides, I like the Times and I mostly like where it's headed these days.
And I'm delighted that the Times is putting more emphasis on cultural coverage and criticism again. It is of more everyday interest to more people than politics. Word!
I just hope that they don't just concentrate on performance art and ballet and that they pay attention to what America -- yes, even New York -- is watching: TV (and online).
Once, a long, long time ago, the then-editor of the Times called me about being media critic there. They never had the gumption to create that job.
They should now.
And they'd be wise to start covering online as a cultural entity: weblogs, yes, but also new design, movies of the people, language, photography, music.... We spend more time online than we do sitting in movie theaters -- or certainly sitting for ballet performances.
So I'd combine the two: Media critic and new-media critic.
Oh, that would be fun.windows codecrack
About about
: There's a trend-a-popping here. Watch how all these elements add up to 3-D Googling:windows codecrack
: First, David Galbraith suggests a standard for about-me bios on sites that can be added to blogrolls, so those often-numbing listings can have the smell of substance about them. A great idea. (Though I'm a little too stupid to know exactly what I'm supposed to do on my template and I'm too embarrassed to ask.)windows codecrack
: Next, Heiko Hebig takes it a step further and suggests that he add a <bio:marital status> field and, zap, we have an XML dating game.windows codecrack
: Haiko Hebig (no relation, I now discover) also summarizes posts about a proposed Internet Topic Exchange, which is related to where I'm going here, for it enables the creation of dynamic directories of posts/people/sites with similar interests.windows codecrack
: Now see Dan Bricklin's vision of a standard for a small- and medium-business metadata file that allows a business website to describe itself in a standardized way.windows codecrack
: I'll take this all a step further and suggest that David et al expand these standard fields to let people find each other or find the things they want: -- e.g.,
[freelance:writer], [freelance:designer], [jobsearch:editor], [expert:php]. That's the sell-side. The buy-side: [hiring:programmer], [buying:antiques]. Then there's the two-way conversation: [interest:diabetes], [learning:german], [teaching:german].windows codecrack
This doesn't replace classified ads (remember: I'm a newspaper guy) for you still need a marketplace where buyers find sellers and vice versa with maximum efficiency and currency; it doesn't replace the Yellow Pages, for they are formatted reliably and are complete; it doesn't replace eBay, either, for it doesn't bring purchasing functionality. windows codecrack
But it does allow you to create directories of interest or need. windows codecrack
It finally uses XML the way it can be used.windows codecrack
: This quickly becomes 3-D Google. Start listing the kinds of quality searches you can make: I want to find all graphic designers available in San Francisco. I want to find all online marketers of cameras. I want employers to find me. I want to find people who are also interested in 9.11 memorials. Whatever. Searches become focused and valuable. windows codecrack
Searches build instant networks.windows codecrack
: Updates: First, note that if this competes with anything, it's Ryze and its successors. The connections it makes can happen out on the network, in the open.windows codecrack
: Another update: I got email from Heiko Hebig (above) explaining that he's not the same person as Haiko Hebig (also above). They're used to this. "i know this must be confusing for everyone out there - haiko and i are (as far we know) not related, but we both live in germany, we both ended up in the field of IT and are both happy"bloggers"."windows codecrack
Separated at noon
: For just this post, Glenn Reynolds sounds like James Lileks -- a day in the life of a pundit. But, of course, Reynolds does it in just a paragraph.windows codecrack
January 14, 2003
Commoners' English
: Two nice little word moments on NPR while fighting traffic tonight:
In a report on the closing of token booths in New York, protest came not (yet) from traditionalists (who will soon lament the death of the token) but, of course, from the token-booth-attendant union, who whined about closing "token boots."
In the obit of an armadillo promoter, his pal said he was an "affectionado" of the little creatures. I am an affectionado of many things, including tokens.windows codecrack
Quotes like a butterfly...
: The Howard Stern Show invented a new game this morning: We'll give you a quote and you guess whether it came from the lips of Mike Tyson or George Bush.
Here's the sad part: It's a hard game.
The guy who played on the phone this morning, along with everyone in the studio, had trouble figuring out whether it was Bush or Tyson who said, "they've misunderestimated me" and other such gems.windows codecrack
East v. West
: Elizabeth Spiers pens the hypothetical San Francisco version of Gawker.
Guess Denton was not planning on franchising the formula to the city by the bay.windows codecrack
Photoblogs
:
A highly designed photo blog here.windows codecrack
25 days and still waiting...
: Where is Chris Locke with his new blog? Somebody knock on his door, please.
: UPDATE: Somebody knocked. He answered. He just emailed me that it was all his computer's fault (computers are the dogs of the new age; they are either man's best friend or a kid's best excuse).
I told him that that he should take the whining as a compliment.
He speaks here.windows codecrack
Run-on-blog
: I'm putting all these posts in one post because of the ISP problems I'm having (below).windows codecrack
ISP hell
: Sorry that this site has been as slow as crude in Alaska this morning. When I get hit with traffic (and not a great deal, I might add), the server sometimes crawls to a near-halt and doesn't snap out of it for hours. I am not serving any video from my server; I killed the photos from this page to reduce bandwidth. Any of you experts out there able to offer me any advice on how to deal with my host?windows codecrack
I blog and I vote
: Carla Passino reports that blogs are taking off in Italy, even among politicians: ...indeed Antonio Palmieri MP, who belongs to the ruling centre-right party Forza Italia, tries hard to demonstrate how busy he is, although the postings in his CalenDiario are often less than memorable: "Monday, January 13. I have started my week at 7.10am by opening my e-mail Inbox, where I found 23 messages, which I answered to within the hour." He then goes on to imply that 23 emails are a lot. I'd like to show him the 500+ messages in my Monday morning inbox… windows codecrack
January 13, 2003
Bizblogs
: Jupiter announces that its analysts will start blogs. Makes mountains of sense. It's a way for the analysts to show what they know. It's a perfect format for sharing and analyzing news. I predict it won't be long before stock analysts do likewise. [via Corante]windows codecrack
January 12, 2003
Harvard 101
: Phil Wolff gets Dave Winer ready for Harvard via Blockbuster.
Note how abuzz blogs are about Winer's post? Envy, pure envy. I, too, want to pull a Winer. Hint. Hint.windows codecrack
Mobs
: Bloghaus frets (auf Deutsch) that Daypop, Blogdex, and Popdex are bad for -- dangerous for -- blogging because that which rises in the ratings becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy of hype: User A likes it, thus B likes it, thus Z likes it. In others words: Is there a tyranny in the mob?
No.
Quite to the contrary, the mob has taste and judges the best and the best rises; popular opinion is not a bad thing. And, besides, the greatest asset of those indices is that they change overnight with the mob's opinions and whims. If the mob does make a mistake, it's gone with sunset. That's what makes the internet the internet: It's all about right now, not about history, but now.windows codecrack
Life, in Flash
: The life of a virtual journalist. [via The Presurfer]windows codecrack
Nya-nya-nya-nya-nya
: So Steve Case announces he's stepping down. YEAH!!!!! Out of town on a rail, bozo! Good riddance! Take your ill-gotten millions and fly off into the sunset! windows codecrack
: I was aggressively unimpressed with Case at the Foursquare conference a few weeks ago.
Sure, he built AOL. But let's be honest: an idiot could have built AOL. Right time. Right place. Right product. Stupid competition (CompuServe? The Source?)
The shame, the pity, the sin, the tragedy is that he brought down Time Warner in the process and they were stupid enough to be taken down.
In the end, AOL is a company that hates its customers (how long have you spent on hold with them?). AOL is a company that hates its shareholders (and we hate you back!!!!!!!). AOL is a company that hates its customers (look at the advertisers who overspent for underperformance). AOL is a company that hates its employees (how many fired this week?).
AOL is the devil.
Out, out, damned Case!windows codecrack
: Others reserve this bile for Microsoft. Microsoft built real value. AOL built just irritation. Bill Gates is not the devil, folks. Case is.windows codecrack
: More teeth-grinding on the topic below.windows codecrack
Living Memorials: A vlog
: I have recorded a new vlog about the plans for the 9.11 memorial -- and the need to make it an interactive memorial where we can bring what we need to bring to it.windows codecrack
Watch the vlog here (click on "9.11 memorial"). A vlog note: I shot most of the photos myself and included those photos, with links, in the transcript, below:windows codecrack
 windows codecrack
Living memorials
: As New York begins to plan its memorial to September 11th, it would be wise to learn the limitations of memorials past.windows codecrack
First, memorials made of metal and stone do not change... but their surroundings do. windows codecrack
Seventy years ago, with the best of foresight, a memorial was built on this land only to find itself choked by highways, wires, toxic dumps, and neglect. It is now an inappropriate place for a memorial. It is an insult to the memory meant to be held here. It is worse than forgetting.windows codecrack
Second, memorials do not change... but we do. windows codecrack
Who is to say today that these people praised on plaques and statues are the ones who best belong at the heart of Manhattan? Who is to say that there is not someone we admire more -- or that we still admire these people at all? Who is to say today what we will think about September 11th in 50 or 500 years?windows codecrack
Memorials are permanent. They cannot be edited as we change our minds, gain a new perspective, or find a new context for the person or event who is being remembered. windows codecrack
Unless you are a deposed dictator now relegated to scrap metal or an amusement park, once you are cast in bronze, you and your memory are frozen... forever.windows codecrack
And so how should we build our memorial to September 11th? windows codecrack
New York's Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corporation -- which is doing an admirable job planning the rebuilding of the city after its devastation -- just released its at the World Trade Center, a process that starts this spring. Its mission statement "contrasts the darkest depths of humanity and the bright light of human compassion and bravery. Remember, respect, recognize and inspire are its essential guiding themes."windows codecrack
These are good rules, but incomplete. windows codecrack
Look at the people who flock to the site of the attacks every day. Yes, they bring their cameras and souvenirs, but they also bring their own sorrow and fear and concern and pride. Any memorial should allow us to bring what we want to it. windows codecrack
That is why I so liked the Tribute in Lights last year: It was majestic and bigger than life and not made of stone or steel; it was just light and we could see in it what we chose to see.windows codecrack
Look at these people and note also their need to leave their own tributes at the site. The memorial to September 11th should be interactive. It should allow people to leave not only things but also their thoughts -- their memories, words, prayers, tributes, and hopes and their changing perspective through the years. All of this can be recorded and preserved and shared digitally. The memorial will be all the richer for this. It will be the memorial we create.windows codecrack
Our memorial should change and grow with us. It should not -- it must not -- be cold and dead, for that is the best description of those blocks today. No, the best memorial to September 11th, the most appropriate memorial for our time and times to come, will be a living memorial.windows codecrack
Wanna see my ketchup packet collection?
: Two wacky collectors not only keep weird things but scan them and put them online: A collection of airline sickness bags (it's in German; click on a continent on the left; click on "galerie" and enjoy... and see the competitor here) and a collection of purse-sized facial tissue packages.
Oh, what Ebay hath wrought!windows codecrack
The amazing der Schockenwellenreiter finds this (via his wife) here.
More collections:
: Sugar cubes (see the club meeting here and a convention here and their trade association here).
: Orange paper wrappers.
: Gum wrappers (starring an American with the world's largest gum-wrapper chain with more than 950k of the little suckers).
: Toothpaste tubes (in English), including a gallery of Close-up smiles worldwide.windows codecrack
: It's not just Germans. Here's a Brit with 2,500 plastic grocery-story shopping bags.windows codecrack
The future
: Nevermind that it's in German; the point is still obvious: Three kids -- Annika, 12; Lea, 11; Mika, 11 -- started a group weblog called Comp.kids with their observations, pictures, and book reviews. Youth will rule. [via der Schockwellenreiter]windows codecrack
January 11, 2003
The flim-flam spam man
: Just caught most of the CNBC documentary on the AOL/Time-Warner disaster. What's shocking is how many moguls spoke on camera, freely and happily, with clear distaste for AOL and Steve Case (they should have talked to a few of us Time-Warner shareholders!!!!!). The show ends up being at least sympathetic to Jerry Levin and I understand that because I knew Jerry; he is, as advertised, a smart and thoughtful man and is probably about as decent as he seems. Still, he bought a pig--worse, he let himself be bought by a pig. This has always been Time's problem. When I was there, they feared that Chris Whittle's waiting-room magazines would steal their business and so they invested in his business and lost a fortune. They didn't have an entertainment strategy and entertainment leaership and so they allowed themselves to be bought by Warner. They continually failed to come up with an online strategy and so they agreed to be bought by it. And all along, they kept trying to figure out how to spell synergy. The tragedy is not that they were stupid. The tragedy is that they squandered a fortune in talent and in shareholders' fortunes and futures. And they still have no strategy. The online efforts they've announced are pathetic; they are watching their customers leave and don't know what to offer to keep them (I've made my suggestions here before and won't bore you again). They're afraid of developing new products (I invented one of those and it took balls to launch it but now it is a $300-million-a-year-business, an asset worth X times that... but they're not inventing anything like that anymore). Sad. The House that Henry built became the House that Hype tore down. Sad. windows codecrack
: Update: Ding dong, the shit is gone, the bad old shit, the shit is gone. Ding dong, the stupid shit is gone. He's melting! He's melting!windows codecrack
That was then...
: An excellent discussion of the differences -- yes, differences -- between Japanese interment in WWII and Arab profiling in WWIII. at Instapundit.windows codecrack
Clintonus Maxiumus! Ave!
: Considering that Bill Clinton is reportedly considering going for the post of rektor of Oxford University, the Financial Times has the idea of telling the Clinton tale -- in Latin. You can't get it at the FT without paying but you can get it at Der Spiegel: Magnam gaudeam nuntio vobis. Habemus Cancellarius! Guilelmus Clinton est, quondam collegium universitatem discipulus et imperator stati americani consociati.
In res publicis et civitatis homo erectus stupendus ut in mens et in corpore. Philosophus profundus, per exemplo, 'Quae quod significatio verbi "est" est?' Even I can understand that punchline. windows codecrack
Photobloggies
: In response to the dissing of photoblogs at the Bloggies, another photoblog award at photojunkie.org. [via Heiko Hebig]windows codecrack
The death penalty
: Bravo to Gov. Ryan of Illinois for commuting death sentences across the board. For the state to take lives in our names, for the state to potentially murder in our names, is wrong and uncivilized and unjust. If you're worried about the prisoners who were on death row now having an easy time of it, I have just one suggestion: Watch Oz.windows codecrack
360
: Kurt Anderson, host of my favorite radio show, Studio 360, talks to The New Yorker's Paul Goldberger and comments on the World Trade Center designs this morning. (read here; listen here). Says Goldberger: What we really need for that site is the Eiffel tower of 21st century. Something that would use the technology of our time with the brilliance that Eiffel used the technology of the19th century to create beautiful object like that. And considering how much we do in New York need a new broadcast tower. To not do it at Ground Zero, and not use it as occasion for a very tall tower is a little crazy. : Which reminds me, I'm adding Anderson to my list of People Who Should Have Blogs. Clay Shirky leads that list. Steven Johnson used to be on it, too. windows codecrack
Eh?
: Moira Breen asks (her caps): "GREAT GOD IN HEAVEN IS THERE NOTHING I CAN DO TO WASH THE BACONY STINK OF CANADA FROM MY PUBLIC PERSONA?"windows codecrack
Plogging: The next revolution
: Victor Lams has the next generation, the next revolution, the inevitable evolution of blogging/moblogging/vlogging: Plogging.
I won't ruin his punchline. Just watch. Hilarious.windows codecrack
: I was going to put up a new vlog today -- on a serious subject -- but having just seen vlogging parodied so brilliantly, I think I'll wait a day so I don't come off as too sanctimonious, serious, and dull in contrast.
: Yet more here.windows codecrack
: Lams, of course, inspires no end of new permutations. Herewith, the blog alphabet:
A: aologging, long threatened.
B: taken
C: clogging -- cat blogging, of course.
D: dogging -- being lazy; posting too damned infrequently.
F: flogging -- also known as fisking.
G: glogging -- drunking Christmas parties by Scandinavian bloggers.
H: hogging -- what Glenn Reynolds does to bandwidth.
I: ilogging -- "i" as a prefix to any word was outlawed in December, 2001.
J: jogging -- old form of exercise.
K: klogging -- new form of exercise: rigorous dancing while pontificating until breathless.
L: llogging -- vlogging while wearing flannel shirts.
M: taken -- moblogging.
N: noggin -- kids' TV channel.
O: oggling -- what happens when certain bloggers put up new pictures of themselves.
P: see above
Q: qlogging -- blogging by quota; see discussion by Oliver Willis and Richard Bennett.
R: rlogging -- I have no frigging idea.
S: slogging -- what it feels like to read an entire day of Den Beste posts.
T: toggling -- hitting refresh on Instapundit, BoingBoing, and Drudge again and again to see what's new.
U: ulogging -- OK, this was a cute idea when it started but now I'm running out of gas.
V: mine, mine, mine.
W: wogging -- see qlogging.
X: soon to be taken by Nick Denton.
Y: because.
Zzzzz: ok, I'm tired of this idea now.windows codecrack
: Michelle also invents new forms of blogging and in her comments, we learn of nblogging -- naked blogging. Unfortunately, this came from somebody named Bill.windows codecrack
: Update: Do not walk. Put on your shoes and run to the latest development: The Clog.windows codecrack
Internet feng shui
: As Shift says, "No, for real." Feng shui tips: Make sure it has an appealing entrance area - the 'splash' screen and main menu page.
: Avoid using an internet service provider which has a bad history - for example, one which has hosted several failed sites. This would create bad feng shui even though, to 'rational' eyes, the internet service provider has not been in any way responsible for these failures....
: Only have a smallish number of carefully-selected links. Long lists of links are stagnant in appearance, and the ch'i rapidly escapes through them.
Well, so much for my design. So much for moving bits over Worldcom wires. So much for the blogroll. windows codecrack
January 10, 2003
Blogroll gone mad
: From somebody who has (a) too many friends, (b) too much time, (c) too little life, (d) a desperate need for attention. Here.windows codecrack
Fooled ya
: The Museum of Hoaxes brings you tons of torture for the gullible. There's a long list of web hoaxes, including Cadaver Inc. for fast, reliable murder-scene clean up; CheatingScum.com, a publicity stunt that seemed to solicit accusations of infidelity; Clones R Us (no, not Cloneaid, another hoax), and that's just a sampling from the C's. [via Die Zeit]windows codecrack
How to vlog
: Justin Katz has generously just put up a very comprehensive and helpful how-to vlog that shows you how he vlogs.
I promise to do likewise for my method, which, as Glenn Reynolds points out, is much simpler. It's not as powerful as Justin's method since it doesn't include links (and Justin is more clever, knowledgable, and just plain competent at this than I am) but it works.
And then you can take your pick or -- like a blogger who starts on Blogger -- you can start with one method and graduate to the next.windows codecrack
He talks. He moves. He sits.
: First, bow toward the south to congratulate Glenn Reynolds for being named the Brogan Distinguished Professor of Law.
Second, note that Glenn has installed his vlogging software. He's not ready to post his videos yet because, unlike me, he wants to do it right (if you look at mine, you'll see the wrinkles in the green screen; you'll hear my audio crack as it overloads my RAM; you'll see ill-cropped graphics....). But, take my word for it, big things will come from this. You'll all be watching your InstaTV before you know it!windows codecrack
A Day in the Life of the World
: I'm having fun watching the French Mobblog this morning just as I had fun watching Joi Ito's New Year's Eve mobblog.
It's time to ramp this up to something bigger: A web-wide project.
How about:
A Day in the Life of the World?
It's like the book projects -- except it's live; you can watch it as it happens; it's spontaneous; it's of-the-people and by-the-people; it's interactive; it's the Web.
Both these mobblogs have the technology in hand to accept photos and messages. This morning's mobblog also has a test of video posting. And, you know me, I'll push video, too.
Many of the photos on today's mobblog are fuzzy; lots are pictures of beer. But in a huge, world-wide mobblog, there would be the chance to pick the best of the best and that would motivate people to take better photos and capture more life: people, opinions, sounds, smells (yes, smells: I look at a picture of the Metro and I can smell the rubber wheels).
Just pick a momentous day -- a holiday... the start of war... next Sept. 11... -- and get as many of us to post to it as possible, capturing life, live, on the street, on that day.windows codecrack
Mob advertising
: The Wall Street Journal reports that the Dutch Coke is having teen customers create commercials; the winner will appear on TV. (Here's the Dutch Coke site, half in English so you can navigate to the commercial-creator.) Sure, it's a gimmick. But there's still a message here:
The wise marketer/advertiser/PRguy/spinmeister would pay attention to the content the audience has created here, online, with its passion, credibility, and creativity and its ability to capture the galvanic skin response of the people. That wise person would get such consumers to create advertising. You see a piece of that with Apple's switch commercials, but that's heavily produced and formatted. So take it to the next level: Have these people create the creative: Imagine a Kottke commercial for the new killer Apple laptop. Imagine Ken Layne writing the commercial for In 'n' Out Burgers. Imagine Elizabeth Spiers writing the copy for a Jonathan Franzen book ad.
Of course, it's not a long road from there to prostitution: I'll love your product if you pay me to. But I am confident that the people above would not sell out (yet) and that would give their pitching the ring of truth -- which is the most effective advertising.
This continues my view that weblogs are an effective farm team for other media teams. Bloggers can become columnists. Vloggers can become TV pundits. Photobloggers can shoot for slick magazines. Any of them can create new marketing....windows codecrack
January 09, 2003
Bitch, bitch, bitch
: Follow Me Here remains as snarky, snippy, snooty, snitty -- pick your term -- as ever.windows codecrack
Maybe Microsoft can add your personal Zeitgeist to a watch
: Raffi Krikorian takes the Zeitgeist-yourself idea and turns it into a script that can check your value online as often as you want.windows codecrack
Up and In in Disneyworld
: Cory Doctorow, the alpha blogger, is excited today: His novel is out and it's not only in bookstores but he put it up in HTML, ASCII, and PDF (why doesn't he just read it and put it up in RPA?). Go read.windows codecrack
Vlogging: Next!
: I haven't had a chance to watch yet (rushing to work) but Justin Katz is adding interactive links to video. Vlogs: The next generation.windows codecrack
: Also note that Carla Passino has translated the Italian blog vlog plug I mention below, in the comments on that post. It sounds more impressive in Italian.windows codecrack
January 08, 2003
Johnny Appleseed
: While everyone else is oohing or poo-pooing the announcements at Macworld, Steven Johnson has tangible dreams for the sleek brand: He wants Apple to create a nuclear Ipod (I'll let him describe it) so those of us who may not buy Mac may still buy Apple. A good strategy.windows codecrack
Still waiting...
: When will Chris Locke start his new blog?windows codecrack
Exposure
: Note this trend in society: Howard Stern carries a camera wherever he goes (this came out in Howard's confession that he carries a man purse with the essential items he has to have with him all day -- and a camera is one such item). I don't know what he shoots, but it would make a great book (or website): Howard's view of the world... one of the world's most photographed stars photographs...
At the same time, Ashton Kutcher, hearththrob star of That '70s Show, said he doesn't carry a man purse -- and is appalled and disappointed that Howard does -- but he, too, carries a camera as an essential.
Add to this all the phones that carry cameras and the many photoblogs (some of them great).
It's a trend, damnit: every moment of life, captured, digitized, broadcast.
Well, I just succumbed. I just bought the Minolta Dimage X (buy it here through Gizmodo) so I can carry it around all the time and take meaningless pictures, just like everyone else online (wow, a funny streetsign!) but also so I can add photos to this weblog (I've learned as every publisher does in every medium that just plain text is dull) and so I can shoot images (without rights problems) for vlogs (thus the syncopation in getting to the next one).
Say cheese, world.windows codecrack
Vlog updates
: Doktor Millenium, a frequent commenter hereabouts, has produced his own video that's quite entertaining. Dok, aka Chuck, took his video camera with him all day and set it to time-lapse to capture life in jumpcuts.windows codecrack
: Dok/Chuck also links to other sites working on video. One sets forth rules and definitions for "vogs." There is little more tedious in this world than a discussion of definitions (e.g., 90 minutes wasted while a conference panel asks and never answers, "What is a blog?"). Chuck himself asks whether vlogging is any different from webcams. I'll dare to dance the definition dance and answer: Yes, they are different. A vlog -- a video weblog -- simply has to say something, as weblogs do, only in video (which assumes that video adds something -- graphics or expression or inflection). There, that's my definition. Now I hope I don't get into tedious arguments about it.
Other video online -- such as webcams, or Dok's, or the ones from the vog manifesto author -- capture life or paint an artistic vision. That's all wonderful -- entertaining and artistic -- it's just not the same.
What I think makes video weblogs different and new is only that there is now software that enables any of us to easily create video commentary thanks to the ability to work from a script (thus making us appear more cogent and articulate than we may be while ad-libbing) and thanks to the ability to insert graphics without tools, post-production effort, or expertise.
My maiden efforts are clumsy; they're about learning the tool and the medium. Others will be more professional and creative and artful with it. This is just a start. windows codecrack
: While I'm yes-butting... Greg Beato also goes on at considerable length naysaying various aspects of vlogging and then concluding that there may be something here anyway.
Funny how this has already turned into a disruptive-technology discussion: Will radio replace newspapers; TV replace radio; Internet replace TV; bloggers replace journalism? Now it's: Will vlogging replace blogging? Of course not. That's hardly my intention or prediction. It's complementary. Blogging is, yes, of course, quicker, easier, more direct, more interactive. Blogging is forever. Vlogging adds, as I said above, graphics, expression, or inflection where that is appropriate. It's something new to explore.windows codecrack
Just call me il primo
: Justin Katz finds an Italian blog that reports on vlogging and links to him, me, and Glenn Reynolds.
Neither of us speaks Italian but I do in any case love the description of me: "Jeff Jarvis, che è considerato il primo video blogger americano..." I'm swaggering at the mere sound of it.windows codecrack
Quote of the day
: From a friend, who shall remain nameless to protect him: Oz is just like work, without the sex and violence. windows codecrack
The future is in good hands
: See these Flash movies made by fifth graders. [via Buzz]windows codecrack
Can you walk and chew blog at the same time?
: John Ellis finds a new mobblogging tool: FoneBlog, which lets you send in text, voice, and photos from your new fancy-dancy mobile phone (if your mobile phone company licenses the software and offers it to you).
So this is the next thing after Hiptop Nation. And that sounds cool. I thought Hiptop Nation was neat.
But the truth is that I've looked at Hiptop nearly every day and have yet to find a photo or post of sufficient interest to pass onto you.
So perhaps blogging on-the-run will not take off. Perhaps what makes blogging special is that it's not on-the-run; the good blogger thinks first, then types.windows codecrack
January 07, 2003
The most famous blogger
: Joan Connell, guru of interactivity and opinion at MSNBC.com, told me today that Al Roker has a blog. Sure enough, he has an online journal saying howdy to all us out here. Yes, it's about the weather and parades. But still, it's Al!
: William Gibson blogs, too.windows codecrack
January 06, 2003
I'm Don... (Hi, Don!) And I'm a... blogger
: Don McArthur gives us a wonderfully entertaining bit of video blogging on blogging. The poor man's addicted, but I won't say anything more than that; don't want ruin his punchline. Well, not that it would matter a lot at this minute because you can't see his video now. Oh, you can try, but downloading it will be about as easy as getting a lapdance in Utah. Glenn Reynolds just sent the world to McArthur's server to see his "vlog noir" and he has just one small box under his desk serving up the video and it's dying a thousand deaths. It took me about an hour to get it buffered. But it was worth the wait. And note, you vlog skeptics, that this, too, would work only in video. I sent Don email suggesting he try using the Screenblast service I use to host my vlogs until I can find them a good home. If he finds another host, go quickly. If not, be patient. When his server comes up for air, you can watch the Real version here or the Windows version here.windows codecrack
 Oz
: I'm quoted in this week's TV Guide as Tom Fontana recalls the critical reception for the premiere of his series, Oz:
For me, Oz became a microcosm of our society. And that annoyed some people. While the New York Times found the show "gripping," the former TV Guide critic Jeff Jarvis believed that Oz was "insulting."
Good, I thought. My goal was to provoke debate. I've never pretended to have any answers, only uneasy questions. By creating fictitious characters in a fictitious prison, I've tried to approximate the truth... I didn't like Oz when it premiered in 1997. I can't find my review of it now, but I remember complaining that I could not see the value in watching evil battle evil every week; there were no lessons to be learned from these empty souls; there was no sympathy to be found in this place. And if all Mr. Fontana wanted to do was provoke a reaction, well, I can't stand that performance-art M.O.: art as manipulation.
In the beginning, I took Oz to be a cynical act -- either trying to shock us with its evil or to manipulate us with its shock value.
But in time, I saw that quite to the contrary, Oz usually gave us exactly what Fontana now says he set out to deliver: truth. It is an honest show, brutally, cravenly honest. And I crave honesty on TV, in media, in entertainment, for there is too damned little of it. That is why I like Howard Stern and that is why I like so many of HBO's shows and that is why I enjoy FoxNews. They say what they think and don't fear what we think. That is far from "insulting."
Perhaps back in '97, I also had a different view of the world. Maybe I was too optimistic and refused to see Oz as the microcosm it, unfortunately, frequently is. Perhaps I was too pessimistic -- not enough of a humanist, or a populist... or a Christian -- and could not see the small flicker of humanity even in these dark souls. Whatever.
Oz is simply great entertainment. Today, I spent 20 minutes in the office reliving the great lines and scenes from last night's final-season premiere with a fellow fan. This weekend (in Church!) I shared my confession with another fan: that watching Oz has probably made us all more law-abiding citizens, for we sure as hell don't want to end up in that hell on earth, which looks worse than any hell God may have created. I'm not driving drunk. I'm not cheating on taxes. I'm not breaking any laws. So, sir, not me. I'm not going to be Hank's bitch!
I left TV Guide soon after I wrote my original review and so I never got the chance to recant my view on Oz -- or at least to acknowledge that I got sucked into the series and now find that it does have value. Depending on how you look at that, either I'm admitting I was wrong (which, as a critic, I did often) or I'm arguing the show got better. Whatever. I like Oz. I'm a fan. windows codecrack
Is Chris Locke the Hunter Thompson of blogs?
: Locke announces with great fanfare on Dec. 20 that he's starting another blog at Corante. Many bow down in gratitude. Then he disappears. The quickest birth-to-death yet in the world of blogs.windows codecrack
January 05, 2003
Paper, rock scissors... you lose
: Three young Norwegians who attacked the U.S. embassy -- with paper airplanes -- are hauled into court.windows codecrack
January 04, 2003
Reality bytes
: Le Sofa Blogger, another of my recent German discoveries, points me to a simply great site on this side of the pop cultural ocean that pulls together everything happening in reality TV: OrwellProject.com.
The casting news is captivating. The site reports: : MTV is looking for the next sorority and fraternity to be featured in 'Sorority Life' and the upcoming 'Fraternity Life.'...
: Have you ever dreamed of living a completely different life? Imagine swapping lives with a total stranger for 2 weeks.... Could you for 2 weeks play the role of wife and mother to an entirely new family? Suppose your wife left, and another woman stepped in to take her place?...
: Ever dream of going to France? Or Venezuela? How about Japan? Well dream no more because NBC wants to make your dream a reality. AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DATES is the new NBC reality dating show that will set the standard that all other shows will strive to measure up to....
: The creators of American Idol, this year's most talked about show, are staging a sensational competition to search for the ultimate All American Girl....
: Do you or someone you know have amazing toy$? Well, we're looking to feature owners of amazing mega-yachts, private planes...
: ... nationwide casting call for an upcoming reality TV series, called Rodeo Road, for MTV Networks....
: Are You Hot? The Search for America's Sexiest People, a reality series that is sure to have the entire country talking — and voting....
: "MARRIED BY AMERICA" (tentative title) is a groundbreaking reality-based show that invites the viewing audience to be your personal matchmaker. With the help of relationship experts, potential mates will be hand picked, especially for you....
: E! is launching a brand-new show, America's Favorite Houseguest ™, and we want you to be part of our hilarious new series. If you have an important family event (wedding, bar mitzvah, graduation, retirement, sweet-16 party) in the near future, America's Favorite Houseguest ™ can add some life to the party....
: The New TNN is now casting for a new reality television show to feature the next All-American TV family. We'll substitute Mom with comedienne Adrianne Frost, playing her own version of Mom. While your mom is being pampered for the weekend, Adrianne takes her place for the weekend!...
: A new show for the ABC Family Channel is in search of all you that have
ever thought "MY LIFE IS A SIT-COM". If you think you may know a family that's perfect for their very own customized situation comedy...please forward this email to them. Ah, finally, there's the one for me.
The list keeps going on and on and on.
Mark my words: The end of reality TV is soon upon us. TV always but always overdoses on its trends and the audience tires of them even as they are still being made. See blooper shows, tabloid shows, miniseries...
Once again, all you have to do is have a little faith in the audience.
In the meantime, enjoy the circus. windows codecrack
Der, die das, dems, dose
: Here's a lovely bit on language (inspired by another) from a translator: No doubt the most confounding thing for a native English speaker when attempting to learn certain languages is the notion of gender – the system of tagging inanimate objects masculine or feminine.
‘Why the hell are breasts masculine?’ he cried. Read on... windows codecrack
This comes from a translator named Gail Armstrong, whose mate happens to be Dean Allen, the author of another very adroitly written site, Textism. Oh, would I like to have dinner at their table -- mostly for the conversation but also for the food (they live in France).windows codecrack
We're a wowy-kazowy power, damnit!
: Joi Ito finds a humiliating quote from Tom DeLay to John Gibson on FoxNews: John, we're no longer a superpower. We're a super-duperpower. windows codecrack
There goes the neighborhood
: Glenn Reynolds worries (catching this bother bug from Nick Denton) that communities are bound to deteriorate. First: Slashdot sinks into a sewer of snarking. Next, he frets: Weblogs?windows codecrack
No. Relax, gentlemen. Have faith in your neighbors. Civilization is safe. windows codecrack
How can I be so confident? Lots of reasons:windows codecrack
First: Slashdot is different because it is an anarchy where the nattering nabobs of negativism (no apologies to Spiro Agnew) can take over if given a chance. It's simple sociology: The shouting snipers get the attention... until and unless somebody else -- or the community as a whole -- shouts them down or shuns them. The same thing happens in a focus group. Hell, the same thing happens in a church. (I could argue that this also happens in politics, where one side is more negative and louder than the other and thus gets more attention... but I won't do that, because I don't want this to descend into a political slapfest once I say which side I think is the loud one.)windows codecrack
Second (listen up, libertarians): This is why we need the rule of law and government to enforce it. On my day-job sites, as I have bragged here often, we have incredibly active forums getting millions of page views and countless thousands of posts each day. A few teen twits, bozos, and jerks do spray-paint on the walls in there. But we rely on the community to send us alerts and then I, the mayor of this town, send in our forum police to clean up the no-no posts (and there aren't many of them). With a little tender loving care, these communities continue to grow and prosper. Communities need governance. Slashdot has none (except the governance of the mob or its attempt at a meritocracy of sorts); that could be its downfall, yes. But I still believe that the community as a whole will rise up and save itself if it deserves to live. My last church recovered from its suicidal infighting (after I left... gee, I wonder whether that had anything to do with it). New York was saved. (Detroit wasn't.) If Slashdot goes overboard, the members will either rescue it or abandon it and it will get the fate it deserves. windows codecrack
Third, weblogs are different because they are not, purely, a community. They are media, produced by people who publish and care for -- and control -- each element. Together, they act like a community in some ways because they all talk to each other (like this). But you should really look at the world of weblogs as a newsstand on which you can pick and choose; you don't have to open up and read and buy what you don't want, what you disagree with, what you think is inferior. And if enough people ignore an inferior product, it will either fade away or just keep shouting in the forest where no one will hear the trees that rattle as a result. As Glenn points out, here it's not so easy for bozos to "inflict speech on other members of the community." That is why weblogs are such an advancement on this new thing, online content: because their creators care for them, because quality rises, because civilization rules.windows codecrack
I've been after Denton and Spiers to take advantage of more interactivity at Gawker; I am sure that its community of sophisticated readers will contribute great tips and insights that will make their jobs easier and their site even better. They need not fear marauding hordes of Huns or Slashdot (or Metafilter) snarkers; those folks will not feel comfortable in the Upper East Side that is Gawker; they will leave (or Nick and Elizabeth can shut them up because they control the site; it is not an anarchy, it is not even a democracy, it is a media property and the publisher-king rules). Similarly, I wish that Reynolds would turn on comments on Instapundit. I understand his fears, especially considering the traffic and the subject matter and the scary email I'm sure he receives. But I'm sure a few volunteers could help police it and the contribution would be worth that price. I get a few twits in my comments but, all in all, the contribution far outweighs the carping.windows codecrack
You see, I am just a populist to the marrow: I believe in the aggregate wisdom of the community. If I didn't, I couldn't like this thing we call democracy, could I?windows codecrack
: Update: Ken Layne in the comments makes typically wise and witty remarks and on further thought, I agree with him and I back off my nudging of Reynolds on turning on comments; the volume alone militates against it. My sites pay people to police; he's not-for-profit. Still, the moral of the story about the inherent strengh of community stands.windows codecrack
Prayers answered
: Holy Weblog is back.
: And here is where she was hanging out.windows codecrack
On a roll
: My office is a mess. My car is a mess. My life is a mess. But now my blogroll is less of a mess... at last.
I've highlighted my hourly and more frequent clicks, though I click on them all (almost every day) and also given you lists of media and German blogs. I killed the dead links. I added lots of new links. Now maybe I should go clean up my desk..... Naw, it's late.windows codecrack
January 03, 2003
Wake me when it starts
: Glenn Reynolds reflects exactly the American view of the upcoming Presidential race and the reason that coverage this early is just the start of an overdose: I really don't have an opinion of Edwards yet. He doesn't even trigger an irrational like or dislike in me when I see him on TV. Oh, well, I'm sure I'll hear enough about him to form an opinion long before it will actually matter. windows codecrack
Zeitgeist yourself
: Yesterday (below) I asked Google to let us query its database of queries to find out what the people want to find out, to do our own zeitgeist, about anything, anywhere, anyzeit.
Aaron Bailey at 601am did the ingenious thing and used Google's adwords calculator to do almost that.
He found:
: Glenn Reynolds: 0.2 clicks/day
: Jeff Jarvis: 0.2 clicks/day (wow, I'm tied!)
: Sex: 16,000 clicks/day (oh, well)windows codecrack
: I think this leads to a new Google game: Zeitgeist yourself. How many people look for you or your hot topics per day?
(You have to go through the pain of creating your own ad and then putting in keywords but it doesn't take long. Tips: calculate on all languages, all countries and up the cost-per-click or else anything having to do with sex will go off the charts.)windows codecrack
: I looked for some more:
: Jarvis: 48 (pretty good; nevermind how many are looking for Jarvis Cocker)
: Denton: 39 (I'm feeling cocky)
: Reynolds: 130 (Oh, well)windows codecrack
: McDonalds: 120
: Burger King: 45
No wonder BK just sold for only $1.5 billionwindows codecrack
: Stern: 250
: Imus: 12
: Grodin: 1.1
The king of all media beats all rivalswindows codecrack
: New Jersey: 650
: New York: 1,100
: California: 4,800
Where the googlers live or want to visitwindows codecrack
: Blog: 65
Not as high in the zeitgeist as you would have thought, eh?windows codecrack
: Jennifer Lopez: 1,500
: Jennifer Lopez ass: 7.5
I'm so proud of mankindwindows codecrack
: Ass: 1,100
: Porn: 3,900
: Nude: 11,000
Oh, well. At least this means Nick Denton is onto something with his sex blog.windows codecrack
Data as sperm
: Die Maus, a German TV cartoon character, has a great tutorial showing how the Internet works (auf Deutsch, unfortunately) and in it, the little packets of data moving back and forth across the world's fibre look like the sperm men in Woody Allen's Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex*... *But Were Afraid To Ask. An apt metaphor, eh? [via der Schockwellenreiter]windows codecrack
That's Trekker, damnit. How many times do I have to tell you?
: I may be late to this party (and would take it as sign of a life if so) but did we know that Google has a Klingon search? [via ein Blog]windows codecrack
January 02, 2003
That's not porn, that's work... hard work... very hard work...
: Nick Denton wants to pay somebody to look at porn -- but just the best porn -- every day.
I think Nick has that wrong; somebody should pay him for the privilege.
Denton -- who brought us Gawker the NY blog and Gizmodo the gadget blog -- now harbors fantasies about blogged porn: "Think of Nerve, with all the literary pretensions removed, and add a dash of Boing Boing." windows codecrack
: Nick had said to me that he was looking for a touch of The New Yorker. With all due respect to The New Yorker, I begged him to reconsider; it's not thumbs we want to suck. "Whatever," Nick IMed.windows codecrack
: This won't be as easy as it looks. Susannah Breslin of Reverse Cowgirl uses her BoingBoing guest shot to blog pornbloggers and it's an all-in-all unimpressive lot. You don't want to send people to sites that make them want to wash their keyboards; you don't want to send them into a bombardment of popups; you also don't want to bore them with other-worldly cartoon-sex and "erotica" that is the libidinal equivalent of a Kenny G concert; you don't want to wake up embarrassed the next morning about sophomoric word plays. Sex should be exciting (duh) and fun and sophisticated -- and certainly funny -- and in real life it is; online, it still isn't. So the hunt will be hard. Fun, but hard.windows codecrack
: At least this one should make money. So if you want to be part of a blog that pays, apply here.windows codecrack
Six degrees of blogrolling
: Ross Mayfield draws a map of the blogger community at Ryze. [via A ja!]windows codecrack
Avalanche to come. Backlash to follow.
: It's being reported again that AOL is getting ready to hand out blogging tools. I've seen rumblings that Yahoo at least should do likewise. Lots of new tools are popping up in Europe. Blogging will explode. And that will be a good thing: more power to more people. But then everyone will have a blog and no one will have one. What makes a blogs special -- nay, better -- is the quality; somebody cares about it; somebody (Atrios excepted) puts his name behind it; the best ones get the links; the cream rises. But when everyone blogs, no one will feel special. Then the old-timers will complain (as the original tech bloggers did) about the invasion. Then blogging will get on all the "out" lists. The backlash will take hold. Heavens to Mergatroid, is this the death of blogging?
No.
That quality thing will take hold. Only the good blogs -- whether from the loin of Blogger or MT or AOL or old-fashioned hand-cranked code -- will get the links; only the cream will rise; only the best survive. (And blogs can't be ruined the way Usenet was because they can't be spammed... well, except by lone certain bozo pestering certain sites' comments).
You see, I'm a populist and a snob at the same time in the same brain. I have faith in the taste of the audience.windows codecrack
Who's Googling me? Who's Googling what? Who's Googling whom?
: I wish I could query Google's data base of queries -- that is, who's Googling what and how often? This comes to mind not only because of the Google Zeitgeist, but also because, last night, I was cleaning out a bunch of too-old files in the basement, throwing away mentions and mementos of long-long friends and I started Googling them. I wonder wonder who else is Googling them. I wonder how many are Googling me? I wonder what people are Googling -- not only in terms of top searches but also in terms of more specific searches. We bloggers all delight at our search-term log entries. Oh, to get our hands on Google's. There is incredible value there to tap into the marketplace's curiosities. Please, Google, can I have that for my birthday? windows codecrack
Long lost
: As I went through those old boxes of old friends, I was also amazed at how much we all wrote letters back then (and just because my beard is white, it doesn't mean it was that long ago); more letters from more people (and thus to them) than I had any recollection. Obviously, times have changed but some things stay the same: Young people correspond. We used to do it in letters. They do it today in IM and email.windows codecrack
Bloggies
: Time for the 2003 Bloggies. Nominations open.windows codecrack
Lileks TV
: The subtle Mr. Lileks says in a comment on a post at Alex Knapp's site that Lileks TV is on the way: Believe it or not, we're working on it - I will be wasting huge amounts of StarTribune bandwidth in 2003, if all goes well. windows codecrack
Oh, no, not another list
: The Guardian looks at the trends that will be big in 2003 and it's a savvy list.windows codecrack
King of (almost) all media
: Brian Lowry names Howard Stern the media man of 2002 in the L.A. Times. Lowry is to be commended for not apologizing about listening to and liking Stern -- "one who admits as much without the customary disclaimer issued by many of his patrons, who insist they only tune in during National Public Radio pledge breaks" -- he nonetheless gives a shallow analysis of Stern's importance. He notes that the just-past year in TV "reveals a parade of programs with antecedents on Stern's radio show" and includes in his list of shameless Stern copying television's sudden interest in reality, Ozzie O., plastic surgery, and prostitution. Ah, but that misses the real contribution of Stern: Honesty. I say that Stern is also the atecedent for the success of FoxTV; he is the antidote to media oil and ooze.windows codecrack
: Why do I now say that Stern is only the king of (almost) all media? Because he still refuses to conquer the Internet. His fears: that the Internet would cut into his syndication business (but I know how it would support, not hurt him there) and that bandwidth won't support his ambitions (that has changed in the last year or so). I stand ready, willing, and able to bring Howard online. Then he will have conquered all media.windows codecrack
'The inexorable march of vlogging...'
: Justin Katz, who last vlogged to say he was skeptical about vlogging, just vlogged again and he's proving the form works with a wonderful bit of minimedia about independent music. The piece works so well precisely because it is multimedia: you hear the music he's talking about; you see the album covers; you see his boogying appreciation of one artist turn to facial disdain (you have to watch to find out why). It works, damnit, it works.
Now we just have to wait for Glenn Reynolds to install his vlogging software. And now that Lileks is back, I hope he digs into his mailbag chocked full of electrons and finds lots of calls from people screaming I Want My Lileks TV!
Meanwhile, in case you're just back, I'll plug my latest vlogs (one fast food and media cliches) here (or scroll down).windows codecrack
January 01, 2003
Separated at evolution
: Bush v. Bonzo. [via Buzz]windows codecrack
In
: The Washington Post decrees that poems are out and blogs are in. Poems were in?windows codecrack
Advice to Democratic pundits
: The NYTimes today sums up the Democrats' media lament that they don't have their own FoxNews or Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity, and it reports on nascent efforts to start a liberal foundation a la Heritage; find liberal broadcast pundits; and maybe even start a cable channel.
Some advice:windows codecrack
1. Go to Roger Ailes at FoxNews and call his bluff about being the "fair and balanced" network by pushing him to try out an unabashed liberal on his air. I'd bet he'd do it because Ailes knows good TV; he knows entertainment and he knows that entertainment -- whether politics or a love story or professional wrestling -- needs two sides to succeed. This gives his stars a new opponent right on their air and vice versa. I don't mean they should recreate the old CNN right-v.-left shoutouts; I mean they should create a new show and build up a new O'Reilly. It will only strengthen Fox (and O'Reilly). windows codecrack
2. If Ailes won't do it, then you need to find your own political impressario. Go back and read Michael Wolff's superb column on Ailes and you will realize that Fox started with the vision and visionary, Ailes, not with its on-air talent. Who is that person? Sadly, I don't know. It is NOT any of the usual suspects from Hollywood (where liberal cliches are born). If you have trouble, call Ted Turner; he's liberal now; he knows TV; he is surely frustrated being trapped in the company of fools at AOL; he'd be eager to help.windows codecrack
2. Find a liberal pundit who is telegenic, intelligent, entertaining, funny, self-assured, and outspoken but is not (like, alas, too many liberals) pompous, esoteric, dutiful, politically correct, cautious, droning, and dull (read: No Al Gore!). You want the smug self-confidence of an O'Reilley -- not, for God's sake, the oozing superiority of Phil Donahue. And you want someone new and fresh. windows codecrack
3. Look to weblogs for that very pundit. I'd start the search with Joshua Micah Marshall; after watching him at Yale not long ago, I'd say he fits the bill. There are others (perhaps Atrios would take off the mask for a camera). The advantage of searching among weblogs is that you can find out what the candidate has to say about most anything; you can decide whether he or she is quick afoot (as bloggers must be); you can see whether they know how to interact with the audience and take and give punches. Weblogs should be the farm team for TV punditry -- and, of course, newspaper columnizing. (That's why I've been playing with vlogging and that is what I think the relationship of vlogs to blogs will be, to answer Glenn's question.) windows codecrack
4. Search your Democratic soul (and search hard for your liberal sense of humor) and build up the courage to create a new kind of liberal (or return to an old kind): Abandon political correctness with dispatch and disdain. Hold to your convictions without fear of offending even your fellow party members and especially your (dull) party leaders. This tiptoeing has made liberals boring and unresponsive (read Wolff's column again and, if you feel like it, read my take on fun conservatives vs. dull liberals). And at the very same time that liberals beccame dull, media (thanks to a new generation in the audience and thanks to the audience having a voice in the Internet) have become blunt and direct -- and entertaining. That is the gap you have to close: not the credibility gap, not the generation gap, not the gender gap but the entertainment gap. You have to be willing to say something!windows codecrack
5. Or just call me.windows codecrack
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JEFF JARVIS is former TV critic for TV Guide and People, creator of Entertainment Weekly, Sunday editor and associate publisher of the NY Daily News, and a columnist on the San Francisco Examiner. He was until recently president & creative director of Advance.net, the online arm of Advance Publications. Now he is working with The New York Times Company at About.com on content development and strategy and consulting for Advance, Fairchild, and the City University of New York's new Graduate School of Journalism, where he lead the creation of the curriculum for the new media program. He says he is at work on a book.
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