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09 Nov 2009 10:55

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Biz: Daily poll: Is Comcast’s possible buy of NBC Universal good or bad?

  • By the end of the week, it’s likely that GE and Comcast will have agreed on a deal to give most of NBC Universal to the cable company. Owning a chunk of the content pie is something that Comcast has been angling for – most famously, they tried making a deal for Disney back in the day. But is it good for consumers? Vote above.source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

04 Nov 2009 10:55

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U.S.: Vermont wants to get you drunker than any other state

  • 16% the legal alcohol-by-volume cap for beer in Verdrunk source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Oct 2009 13:30

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Tech: Hulu’s bending to broadcasters, probably charging soon. NOOO!

  • It’s time to start getting paid for broadcast content online. I think a free model is a very difficult way to capture the value of our content. I think what we need to do is deliver that content to consumers in a way where they will appreciate the value.
  • News Corp. Deputy Chairman Chase Carey • Describing the necessity to make a really smart and cool service incredibly lame and not awesome. Carey’s talking about Hulu, of course, and he hopes to see the company charge for some of the same content that’s available for free over the airwaves in 2010. However, it could get worse as time goes on – with the possibility of Comcast taking over NBC Universal, they could stick an even deeper fork into one of big media’s best forays into the online world. Don’t screw this up, jerks. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 4 Comments • Permalink

12 Oct 2009 11:02

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Tech: The content industry’s long history of fearing new technology

  • Under such conditions, the tide of amateurism cannot but recede until there will be left only the mechanical device and the professional executant.
  • John Philip Sousa • In a 1906 article titled “The Menace of Mechanical Music,” making a passionate argument against the use of the player piano and the gramophone. In a way, he was right – people don’t sing kum-bay-ya around the campfire much anymore – but even he admitted his claims rang a little alarmist. Ars Technica has a great article covering the ways that mainstream content creators have freaked out over new technology. Other new ideas scorned? The photocopier, the VCR, home taping, MP3s, DVRs and Digital TV and radio. Amusing read. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Oct 2009 12:30

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Biz: Dear Associated Press: Our boycott of you is still freaking on

  • We content creators have been too slow to react to the free exploitation of news by third parties without input or permission.
  • Associated Press Chief Executive Tom Curley • Discussing the idea of charging search engines money for finding their content. Rupert Murdoch of News Corp. is also on board. May we just say, as the Associated Press looks to screw over the entire Internet with its greed and lack of foresight, we would like to welcome our new Reuters overlords. (In case you’re wondering: We’re going to continue to post stuff from News Corp., because, come on, Glenn Beck!) • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

22 Sep 2009 10:52

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Biz: The online news micropayments debate begins anew

One one side: Folks like NewsCloud’s Jeff Reifman, who say micropayments can work. On the other: Smart guy Clay Shirky, telling everyone they’re dreaming. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jul 2009 17:57

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Biz, Politics, Tech: AP’s news wrappers: Our brains just imploded, guys

ap0724
  • Wow, and we thought the Republicans’ health care graphic was bad. Basically, if we’re reading this right: The Associated Press needs to convince its members to agree to put digital wrappers on their content, wrappers that are a) invisible to consumers and b) can be tracked on the Internet. Um, OK. We don’t know if they know something about the ASCII type spec that we don’t, but what they’re describing sounds impossible to do with copy and pasting.source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

20 Jul 2009 12:36

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Biz, Tech: Has the RIAA finally come around to seeing DRM as bad?

  • All DRM has ever done is annoy consumers who actually paid for their music. No single piece of DRM has ever stopped anyone from pirating music, it’s quite the opposite as the music industry now realizes.
  • TorrentFreak’s Ernesto • Discussing the demise of the Recording Industry Association of America’s reliance on digital rights management to protect its content. In recent months, the music industry group has abandoned the approach: In an upcoming issue of SCMagazine, chief spokesperson Jonathan Lamy says, “DRM is dead, isn’t it?” That sounds pretty definitive to us. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Apr 2009 23:54

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U.S.: Barbara A. Ringer, the queen of fair use in copyright

  • The basic human rights of individual authors throughout the world are being sacrificed more and more on the altar of … the technological revolution.
  • Barbara A. Ringer • In a 1975 speech discussing the rights of authors in the use of content. It’s crazy, by the way, because it seems her comments would be even more relevant now than they were 34 years ago. Ringer, by the way, is the author behind the Copyright Act of 1976, which both gave copyright-holders more rights in retaining copyright and established the very fair use that allows us to quote this article from The Washington Post. She’s kind of our hero, and makes the Library of Congress seem vaguely awesome. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Apr 2009 20:44

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Tech: The New York Times puts left foot in, out of URL-shortening game

  • An ultra-hip trend It started with TinyURL. Then Twitter came along, making the need for URL shortening services even greater. Between is.gd and Bit.ly and dozens of other URL shorteners, it’s now the cool thing to do. So it only makes sense that the New York Times would get in on that action with NYTurl.com, which some of their developers created. source
  • An ultra-hip trend It started with TinyURL. Then Twitter came along, making the need for URL shortening services even greater. Between is.gd and Bit.ly and dozens of other URL shorteners, it’s now the cool thing to do. So it only makes sense that the New York Times would get in on that action with NYTurl.com, which some of their developers created.
  • Now you see it, now you don’t Unfortunately, the site was getting abused by people using the service for non-NYT-related content, and if you go to the page now, it says, “Taken down for now due to abuse.” When we saw that, we elicited a very loud laugh, because it’s not often the New York Times has egg on their face in a clearly embarrassing way like this. LOL. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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