Archive | February, 2008

12 changes in Media

20 Feb

We Media will kick off next week in Miami.  I will be on a panel with the AP folks and others talking about the new relationship between traditional journalists and emerging non-professionals.  I will also be talking about our product plans for the next 6 months and how I think they will change the business.  In the meantime the good people at IFOCOS have put together a paper that, among other things, outlines 12 things that are changing the media landscape.

MEDIA CATHARSIS. Through personal media, people express sorrow and grief, connect
with one another, schedule services and vigils, form support groups.

SOCIAL NETWORKS: THE NEW LOCAL.
Community redefined. Shared interests extend beyond physical borders. Geography is no longer a barrier to participation. Content is created and shared as part of a community’s social currency.

CONTRIBUTION CULTURE.
Anyone can contribute to the news/information agenda or participate in the conversation. We share facts, comment, analysis, images, music.

REAL-TIME SOCIOLOGY. The science of observing societal habits and behaviors is expressed and recorded as we use pervasive media.

DERIVATIVE MYTH DEBUNKED. Everyone creates the news. Much of what is created is used and recast by traditional news outlets. Only a small percentage — less than one percent — of all news on the Internet derives from newspapers.

THE NEWS SPIRAL & THE ORGANIC STORY ARC.
News tumbles through a connected society, spiraling through media, changing as it goes, an organic story with no beginning, middle or end. What seems chaotic is actually a story arc that assumes clarity, context and meaning as it unfolds through a proliferation of sources, many accessible to anyone. The days of once-a-day publishing cycles and scheduled news broadcasts are mere supplements to a continuous stream of news and information available any time through a variety of sources and ubiquitous devices. No one owns a story.

THE MANIC MAINSTREAM. After a decade of denial, suddenly the web looks less like a threat to old media and more like a resource it can easily exploit. News outlets plunder material posted on the web as they pump their own content into the online ether.

RESPONSIBLE DISCLOSURE. A fine line emerges between full disclosure and exploitation. Television networks cross the line by showing too much of a killer’s multi-media rants too often. Good will is lost as backlash ensues.

A PLACE FOR NEWS TO HAPPEN. The Internet becomes more than merely a first draft of history. It becomes a place were news happens in real time.

SNOOZEPAPERS. A day late and many developments short, the dead-tree medium is relegated to yesterday’s news tomorrow. News organizations publish to their websites first.

DEMOCRATIZATION OF MEDIA. A vision achieved: A free press belongs to everyone, not just those who own one.

PROLIFERATION OF SOURCES. The privileged source, so coveted and protected by professional journalists, can either publish directly now or choose from a variety of outlets to get a story out.

Fidel Castro Officially Steps Down Yes--a repeat! Democrats Go to Polls in Wisconsin, Hawaii 00219 00102 00064 00072 "Hillary, Sign My Shirt!" Fidel Castro Officially Steps Down Barack PPP Supporter Gulf Coast Trailers Have Toxic Air FEMA trailers FEMA Over Graves Another senseless act Gulf Coast Trailers Have Toxic Air Gulf Coast Trailers Have Toxic Air Multimedia message 2008-02-12_19-23-58 General paralyses much of Greece General strike paralyses much of Greece History was made today the apology adelaide f the apology adelaide d the apology adelaide e General strike and marches Icy New York Not going anywhere. Attention All Voters Sample Ballot (Democratic) McCainlaughing The Protomen Australia apologises to Aboriginals in historic day of reconciliation Downtown in the snow. view from key tower's cafeteria Va., Md., DC Primaries Today NSC_9035 Pakistan blast toll rises to 27 Pakistan blast toll rises to 27 Pakistan blast toll rises to 27 Pakistan blast toll rises to 27 DSC_0009 Newtonfire011 Newtonfire037 Newtonfire085 Newtonfire141 Newtonfire197 Newtonfire201 DSC_0477 DSC_0006 DSC_0010 DSC_0026

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Is Lawrence Lessig running for Congress?

20 Feb

I’ve met Lessig a few times.  He’d have my vote.

I recently wrote a post praising Lawrence Lessig, and it looks as though he is taking the idea of running for Congress very seriously. He took a courtly, gentlemanly, and utterly devastating shot against Jackie Speier, the leading candidate, that strongly suggests to me he’s in the race. Or, as a friend tells me, this could all be an elaborate scheme to raise money for Creative Commons, a worthy cause if there ever was one.

lessig and winer IMG_2044 IMG_2041 IMG_2042 Smiling Larry Lawrence Lessig 58 pm 1/31/08 Palo Alto, California 2007-12-creativecommons-party-09 2007-12-creativecommons-party-05 Lawrence Lessig Lawrence Lessig Lawrence Lessig Lawrence Lessig Lawrence Lessig How Creativity is being strangled by the law DJ Spooky DJ Spooky Creative Commons 5th Birthday Party dj spooky at  Creative Commons 5th Birthday Party Creative Commons 5th Birthday Party Creative Commons 5th Birthday Party

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Life after Yahoo

19 Feb

For the first time, massive layoffs in the tech sector are being reported in realtime by those in the firing line.  Here is the twittering of former Yahoo employee who has turned his pink slip into a calling card. 

Article in tomorrow morning’s LA Times about twittering the Yahoo layoffs…My kid looks like a total terror: http://is.gd/1lA

about 12 hours ago
from web

300 in San Jose is the most kick ass bowling alley ever. Hanging with @jduvall and the families.

about 17 hours ago
from PocketTweets

@mattpacker Sometimes, your job tells you.

about 19 hours ago
from web
in reply to mattpacker

Just finished recording the Digital Home podcast with @donreisinger. Look for it on CNET on Wednesday. Thanks, Don!

about 19 hours ago
from web

@Edubya Pick up an LA Times tomorrow.

about 20 hours ago
from web
in reply to Edubya

Trying to figure out why iPhoto all of a sudden quit working.

about 22 hours ago
from web

My wife is trying to set up the photographer with her best friend. This is hilarious.

about 23 hours ago
from web

@jduvall is here watching the circus in my house.

about 23 hours ago
from web
in reply to jduvall

Switching to decaf for the rest of the day.

about 23 hours ago
from web

The photographer is telling me to act natural. Um…having a photographer in my house is very unnatural, dude.

10:23 AM February 18, 2008
from web

There’s a Ning Network for folks looking for jobs in the social media space: http://socialmediajobs.ning…

10:17 AM February 18, 2008
from web

I’ve got a photographer here from the LA Times. I hate having my picture taken.

10:03 AM February 18, 2008
from web

Got in an easy 5k this morning. I’m trying to add a few more days a week now that I’m not going to the office everyday.

08:55 AM February 18, 2008
from web

@donreisinger Thanks for the follow! Nice to meet you.

08:47 AM February 18, 2008
from web
in reply to donreisinger

Up early to head out for a short run.

06:44 AM February 18, 2008
from web

Grilling some sauages in the backyard. I love being able to grill outdoors in February. Woo hoo, California!

07:12 PM February 17, 2008
from PocketTweets

Standing in line at the pharmacy. Bleh.

03:30 PM February 17, 2008
from PocketTweets

@jduvall They played the Chicken Song. And we toasted to you.

08:44 AM February 17, 2008
from web
in reply to jduvall

Imagine when they first invented sliced bread. Wouldn’t you have thought that was just the greatest thing?

08:21 PM February 16, 2008
from web

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Morning news show in virtual freefall

19 Feb

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – To conquer his fear of heights, “Good Morning America” host Chris Cuomo jumped from the roof of an Atlantic City casino Tuesday morning.

As part of the ABC morning show’s series about overcoming fears, Cuomo and a stunt coordinator used cables to zip nearly 40 stories down the side of the Trump Taj Mahal.

The stunt was carried live on “Good Morning America” as a crowd of onlookers cheered from the ground.

…apologies for the smart ass headline.

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Financial Services Bloodbath

19 Feb

The NYTimes warned of the impending crisis in Credit Default Swaps this weekend.  According to their piece:

Few
Americans have heard of credit default swaps, arcane financial
instruments invented by Wall Street about a decade ago. But if the
economy keeps slowing, credit default swaps, like subprime mortgages,
may become a household term.

The
market for these securities is enormous. Since 2000, it has ballooned
from $900 billion to more than $45.5 trillion — roughly twice the size
of the entire United States stock market.

And now we’re seeing things unravel down under:

Turmoil in Credit Default Swaps and other derivatives is now affecting the Australia & New Zealand Banking Group.

Stock Market Crash

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Google warns of ‘drive by downloads’

17 Feb

Just when you thought it was safe to not go out again…

The search engine giant trained its Web crawling software on billions of Web addresses over the past year looking for malicious pages that tried to attack their visitors. They found more than 3 million of them, meaning that about one in 1,000 Web pages is malicious, according to Neils Provos, a senior staff software engineer with Google.

These Web-based attacks, called “drive-by downloads” by security experts, have become much more common in recent years as firewalls and better security practices by Microsoft have made it harder for worms and viruses to directly attack computers

In Reality, Spyware is always a threat Suspensions for alleged computer hacking

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Vancouver Start-up Index – February 2008

16 Feb

For the record, I don’t put too much faith in these metrics but it’s kind of fun to watch the Brownian motion in action:

The index ranks Vancouver-area start-ups based on an average of Alexa and Compete traffic rankings. Criteria and other details are available on the Start-up Index page.

Project Opus (Mixx Maker), EQO (Vibrator), and Kinzin (These Are My Kids) have seen ranking increases after launching Facebook applications recently. Bryght’s ranking has fallen, likely a reflection of their acquisition by Raincity Studios. Writing community Protagonize has made an impressive 8 spot jump to #12.

Sport and Web 2.0 NowPublic on CBC Radio NP News Team Meeting NP News Team Meeting NP News Team Meeting Tippett's office during Web 1.0, NYC Tippett's office during Web 2.0, Vancouver Scales and Krug Strike a Deal in China Toronto's Best Web and Tech Evangelists

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LiveUniverse Buys Revver for More than a Song (about $5M)

15 Feb

Troubled video site Revver was bought by Brad Greenspan’s LiveUniverse last night for a price “many multiples more” than the $500,000 to $1.5 million reported recently, according to a source close to the deal. Update: We now know that the price was just under $5 million, so it seems our source’s math was a little optimistic. We’ll add more if we can get more specific.

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L.A. Times names new editor in “battle for future”

15 Feb

This story appeared as one of Yahoo’s most popular news stories. This says more about the readership of the news than the purported subject of the story.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) –
The Los Angeles Times on Thursday
named its fourth editor in three years, choosing digital news
chief Russ Stanton as best suited to lead the newspaper as it
fights for survival in a new media age.

Stanton, who had headed the newspaper’s digital news report
and Web integration, replaces James O’Shea, who was fired in
January in a clash with Publisher David Hiller. Stanton was
formally named to head the country’s fourth-largest newspaper
one day after it announced 100 to 150 job cuts.

Earl-LATimes-Composing4 LA Times Weekend edition still there on Tuesday

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Yahoo in talks with News Corp.

14 Feb

The plot thickens…

Microsoft has a new competitor for Yahoo’s affections: Rupert Murdoch.

The Netco is talking to News Corp. about a potential deal that would merge Yahoo with News Corp.’s Web assets like MySpace and IGN, according to a person familiar with the situation. In return, News Corp. and a private equity firm — reported to be Providence Capital — would buy a significant stake in Yahoo.

A News Corp. spokesman declined to comment.

Chris DeWolfe and Rupert Murdoch at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco Yahoo! Japan billboard

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