Event Horizon

Google Wave

I submitted my request for a Google Wave account today and I'm eagerly waiting to hear from the Google Wavers. What is Google Wave? It's the e-mail of the future, a combination of e-mail, instant messaging, video and things we can't even imagine yet. At least that is the impression I had from watching this G4 video on it:

Video Game - E3 2009 - Attack of the Show

If I do receive my Google Wave account soon, I'll be sure to let you know if I have any invitations that I can share. Catch the Wave!

A Victory for Internet Radio

Internet radio is a subject I've blogged about before (here and here), so took notice when a court ruled today that industry attempts to gauge internet radio stations failed to show that internet radio offered the greater level of personalization over standard terrestrial radio that would justify higher royalty fees:

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said LAUNCHcast did not offer its users so much control over selecting songs for personalized Internet radio stations that the users would choose those webcasts over buying music. LAUNCHcast enabled users to create stations that played songs based on how the user rated songs, artists and albums. The appeals court cited the random nature of personalized playlists when it said LAUNCHcast was not required to pay individual licensing fees to copyright holders of each song it plays for its users. Instead, LAUNCHcast is only required to pay a statutory licensing fee set by the Copyright Royalty Board, one that tends to be cheaper and doesn't require negotiations with individual recording companies.

I'm hopeful that this ruling will mean better times for my favorite internet radio stations (Some.FM, Pandora, and Slacker) and give them less reason to add overly intrusive advertising. I believe that the industry and the courts have the situation totally backwards. They give terrestrial radio stations a break on royalties and want to impose higher rates on internet radio. And yet, when you think about it, you are far more likely to purchase music from internet radio (which identifies the song and artist and provides a convenient link for a quick purchase) than you are listening to terrestrial radio in your car, which doesn't identify the song or allow you to easily buy the music. They should seek higher rates for terrestrial radio stations to compensate for lost name recognition/buzz and lost sales. They should do that immediately before terrestrial radio is obsolete. Just my take on it.

Photo Credit: Pandora Radio

Can The Kindle Save Newspapers?

I've blogged about the future of newspapers before (here and here) and so I thought I'd take a moment to point out that it may well be that Amazon has just unveiled the future of newspapers. The new version of the Kindle promises a larger screen and capacious storage along with wireless downloads that will allow readers to have over 3,000 books and publications on a device that is thinner than a magazine. They are marketing the new and improved Kindle to students (hoping to replace textbooks) as well as newspaper and magazine subscribers. I think this is a forward looking technology, with an emphasis on future potential, because right now the device is a bit too expensive for the average student or reader. I'd like to see Amazon dramatically reduce the price and have newspaper and magazine publishers subsidize this device in order to grow their market. Because they already have content they can sell to consumers, their number one goal should be to get the device into the hands of as many people as possible. Transitioning to the Kindle would have huge benefits for major national newspapers like the New York Times and the Washington Post, they could dramatically slash printing and distribution costs. Perhaps they could buy the product from Amazon and lease them to consumers for the life of their paid subscription? Unfortunately, I fear that the major national newspapers will take a "wait and see" approach to this new technology and the moment will pass them by. Still, no one will be able to say, when the last print newspaper folds, that there were no alternatives. And it probably goes without saying that at some future point of technological convergence the Kindle will morph with the new netbooks and become an even better tool for reading and writing. Let the new age of letters begin.

Thinking About Twitter

On a day when Oprah sent her first tweet and Ashton Kutcher won his race with CNN to boast 1 million Twitter followers it's more than time to give some thought to the Twitter phenomenon. I've been on Twitter for about a year or so (say hi to me @utopian) it's not entirely new to me, but I'm as impressed as anyone with the remarkable growth of the service. I use it mostly to share links that interest me, as well as sharing the more mundane details of life. I like the idea that it's so collaborative, that you can share with others and get replies from them, and I like that it amplifies the voice of every person in the public square we call cyberspace. It doesn't mean people are shouting, it means you merely speak and someone hears you, you may speak of very important topics or trivial topics, and you will be heard, and what's more, your words may change minds and lives...if only for a moment. You can bring a smile to a readers face, you may inspire emotion or action, and that, I think, is the real power of Twitter. In the past, the average person's sphere of influence, whether in their family or around the water cooler, was limited to a small circle of people. Now, one person can share their thoughts with many and it takes only seconds. How much power does this give one person to inform, to educate, to mobilize others? Just ask any of those whose lives will be saved from malaria because of the mosquito nets purchased by Ashton Kutcher and CNN after their quest to recruit one million followers on Twitter. How will you use your Twitter power?

Another Newspaper Folds

In the news today, the death of news, in the form of the end of a major daily newspaper. I've previously noted the troubles the newspaper industry is having and so this news comes as no real surprise. Still, it seems like an important event for our culture and our way of life, to say nothing of the health of our democracy. Am I worried? No, not really, there are so many more media outlets now than there used to be that I'm taking a very contrarian view of the popular lament over the end of newspapers. The newspaper business merely needs to adjust to new market realities, I have confidence that they will survive in some form. There will always be a market for news, they just need to figure it out. Perhaps they need to stop printing newspapers, just get away from paper and save that expense and go totally digital.This report from The Business Insider points out the ridiculous cost of using dead trees to share news in the digital age:

Not that it's anything we think the New York Times Company should do, but we thought it was worth pointing out that it costs the Times about twice as much money to print and deliver the newspaper over a year as it would cost to send each of its subscribers a brand new Amazon Kindle instead. [...] What we're trying to say is that as a technology for delivering the news, newsprint isn't just expensive and inefficient; it's laughably so.

The New York Times Company is not going to send every subscriber an e-text reader, but they should immediately offer subscribers the option of receiving digital delivery instead of paper. Every newspaper should do this ASAP. And by digital I mean every conceivable form of digital delivery they can manage to negotiate a contract for. I want to go to iTunes and buy a daily paper, any paper, and read it on my cell phone or computer, and if I'm paying for it, I want the paid version to offer exclusive content not available on the free website.

Newspapers need to understand one very important thing, they have always been in the community business, and community is what Web 2.0 is all about. They need to leverage the new social networking services to rebuild on the web the local community people used to enjoy reading their local newspaper. A big city daily newspaper was like the heartbeat of a city, it reflected the culture and sensibility of the area, and that needs to be recreated on the web. A digital newspaper should be a community portal offering news, opinion, shopping and entertainment and all scaled in a manner friendly to any user at any level, from plain text to Second Life-like virtual environments. And let's not forget one-click no hassle online subscriptions with options for every budget. I'm convinced that if they take this path, they will survive. If they think they must continue to follow the old business model based on a printed product funded by advertising and meagerly supplemented by subscription fees, then they will fail.

Google Gadgets Hacked

Here is a disturbing news report about a web technology that many of us use every day (AP - Hackers target Google Gadgets):

One of the biggest problems with the so-called Web 2.0 movement has been its encouragement of oversharing - which often means underestimating security risks. Adding doodads of varying quality to a home page can add a lot of pizazz, but can also be fraught with danger, since they can open a door for hackers.

It's a threat even for the biggest Web companies, including Google Inc. (GOOG) (GOOG), whose "gadgets" - little programs like calendars or daily photo feeds that users can implant onto their personalized Google home pages - are increasingly juicy targets for hackers, two security researchers said Wednesday.

How is the average user of Google to know if a gadget has been hacked? Google needs to come up with some kind of Good Housekeeping seal of approval to let users know that gadgets have been scanned and are safe. Perhaps they can market their service and license their seal to other sites and social networking services (like Facebook) so that we can know when widgets are safe to install.

The End of the Gates Era

The man who ushered in the information age is getting set to retire (CNET - Bill Gates Big Send Off). This is not only a milestone for him, but in a very real way, it's also a milestone for us, for everyone who sits down at a PC and still relates to information in desktop terms (files and folders) has had part of their world shaped by Bill Gates. Sure, applications may be moving from the hard-drive to the internet and data from drives to clouds, but still, this is the end of an era and one well worth dwelling over.

Blog Basics

Lore Sjöberg dissects the seven basic blog posts in this Wired article. Since I've evidently been a bit uninspired of late, I guess I'll try to take these to heart.

Internet Clogs

TechDirt calls out the AP on their sensational reporting that Video Is Clogging the Pipes! I suspect this kind of tabloid reporting represents some back-room collusion designed to allow the ISPs to start charging more for less. One has to wonder if the AP reporter is getting a little something extra from Comcast. I suspect there is also some continued maneuvering going on about Congressional action on the issue of internet neutrality, using the press to get out in front of the issue before the next Congressional battle. For the record, I support internet neutrality and oppose the obvious moves on the part of ISPs to limit bandwidth and charge more for less. As TechDirt notes, there's nothing wrong with network traffic and this sudden barrage of news reports about internet video slowing the net is bogus. Thank you TechDirt for calling them out and keeping the public informed.

Secret Life of Blogs

The current edition of Wired has an article in which Matthew Hurst dissects what happens to a blog post once you hit the 'publish' button (Wired News - The Life Cycle of a Blog Post, From Servers to Spiders to Suits — to You). I think I must be doing something wrong, I'm not getting any trackbacks or comments. Hmmn.