June 2009
82 posts
“Well, look, you have to remember that YouTube was really built on the back of...”
– NBC CEO Jeff Zucker at All Things D
May 2009
58 posts
JSJ.video →
My half-assed attempt at using Tumblr as an ad hoc CMS.
Kevin Burg did it much better when designing the photography blog From Me To You (complete with Wordpress-like “categories”).
WatchCondominance [Episode 1]
I’m not sure how I feel about this one, but people I’ve shown it to have liked it, so… maybe you will too?
If you did enjoy it, there is a Facebook page for you to join.
Relinquishing Vices
It has been a week since I’ve given up soda and my body feels like The Worst. I’ve been to the doctor and I don’t have low blood sugar, and I’ve weaned myself off my addiction by now so it isn’t any kind of deprivation symptom. People have suggested that my baseline mood is “feeling depressed”, and I don’t notice it because I’m usually up on...
Tumblr TOS Chilling Effect →
Duncan Davidson writes about the specific ways in which you’re surrendering ownership of your submitted content by accepting Tumblr’s terms of service.
It’s almost certain that the intent here is to cover Tumblr’s ass with regard to content distribution and reblogging. The technical aspects of the Internet do make it hard to talk about copyright licenses as each step in...
What Does Sotomayor Mean For Hollywood? →
The conclusion: she usually sides with media conglomerates.
In entertainment and media law, Sotomayor is best known for a 1997 opinion in Tasini v. New York Times, authored during her time as a district court judge. In that case, freelancers sued big publishers and claimed electronic rights over works repurposed on CD-ROMs and in databases. Sotomayor handed the publishers a victory in an opinion...
“Telephony is not in our wheelhouse. It’s not something I anticipate us...”
– Reggie Fils-Aime [Nintendo]
B-Roll [May 26, 2009]
A recent NYTimes article provides an overview of the mobile phone’s immense popularity and utility in South Korea. Its many uses include banking (with the phone acting as a proxy for a credit card) and school attendance (students swipe their mobile phones upon entering class). Two giant telcos, India’s Bharti and South Africa’s MTN, are planning to merge. Combined, they would...
“I am not a fan of books. I would never want a book’s autograph.”
– Kanye West
The Chinese Typewriter →
Thomas S. Mullaney introduces a history of innovation surrounding the various iterations of Chinese typewriters, as well as the baseless mockery these inventions often received in the West:
The same condescending tone pervaded media accounts in the years following, as in a Washington Post article published two years later about a newly patented machine which surpassed that of Qi. Entitled “The...
B-Roll [May 21-25, 2009]
Microsoft targeting Laptop Hunters ads to iPhones - both through ads in applications and banners on iPhone-optimized websites. MLB wins a geolocation patent to “black-out” online game broadcasts by zip code, in order to protect local TV affiliates. Louis Gray writes that Twitter search (one of the company’s planned revenue streams) is very broken - specifically its index, which...
The housepainter is singing outside my window.
Interview with Jeff Bewkes [CEO, Time Warner] on... →
I feel a little weird posting this because it was conducted a few months back. (Just got around to reading it today.) TV Everywhere is an initiative which would make all television shows available online for free to watch on your PC or mobile device - the catch is, it would only be for current cable subscribers, and you’d have to authenticate as such. Bewkes sees TV Everywhere not as a...
WatchImagine - Murat Pak
Contemplative motion design. His website contains additional, equally exquisite short works.
Tumblarity
Leaving aside my own level of affection towards the feature for a moment, I think Tumblarity is just a poorly designed feature for a blogging platform, based on the experience I’ve had with it over the past few days. Some examples:
I lose 10 points for writing 2,000 of my own words, but gain 3 for reblogging one photo. I gain Tumblarity for reblogging myself from other tumblelogs I’m...
WatchGenerally try to avoid reblogging myself, but I think it’s worth mentioning that I’ve managed to watch this pilot three times in the last 24 hours. Part of the reason is certainly that Glee is a strong antidote to my general feeling of malaise, but the show is good enough that I don’t view it as a guilty pleasure. The characterization and narrative is certainly close to...
“Braid’s point in mocking our acceptance of the narrative, however, is not mean...”
– The House Next Door has been running these great pieces of game criticism. They just posted Volume 2, and now I want to play Braid.
B-Roll [May 19-20, 2009]
Scribd, its confidence bolstered by the success of Amazon’s Kindle Store, announced its plans to launch a store with the texts its users submit. Unlike Amazon, Scribd will be giving authors 80% of revenue and the ability to set prices, as well as specify the DRM for their texts. Very cool. Google creates an algorithm that determines which of its employees are most likely to quit. YouTube...
Cola overdose can lead to paralysis →
Great way to start the day:
According to a report in the International Journal of Clinical Practice, an excess of the fizzy beverage can drop blood potassium to dangerous lows. Take, for example, the woman who drank as many as three liters daily over six years; she suffered from chronic fatigue, loss of appetite and constant vomiting until she weaned herself off the sugary elixir. Or consider the...
“Apple may not have the ability to thoroughly test iPhone applications for secret...”
– iLounge / Wired
"Lost Remote" is now on Tumblr →
It’s good! You should +Follow.
Cory Bergman founded Lost Remote in 1999 with the slogan, “The TV Revolution is Coming. Are You Ready?” For years, Cory has urged media companies to lead the way on technology before someone else does it for them. Cory is now the director of business development at msnbc.com as well as the co-founder (with his wife Kate) of the hyperlocal news...
Love Sex Magic [Jason Nevins Radio Edit] - Ciara...
“Newspaper recruiters that came to the Harvard Crimson’s job fair encouraged...”
– Bloomberg releases a somewhat unsettling story depicting the current state of The Harvard Crimson. [via PaidContent]
Old B-Roll [May 4-18, 2009]
Amazon introduces the Kindle DX. A pirated iPhone app site, iTunes Card VN, closes down. Kind of an ingenious scheme here: they were buying the applications with iTunes gift card codes that they reverse-engineered and generated using a keygen. Amazon takes a whopping 70% of newspaper subscription revenues on the Kindle. Gotta pay for that lifetime Sprint network access somehow… Both...
“In Canada, you get the sense that America is like terrible downstairs neighbors....”
– Jeffrey Rowland
WatchAndrew Keen: Web 2.0 Is Fucked [via PSFK / Rob Walker]
I found this guy to be a totally obnoxious contrarian back when he was promoting his book, yet in this video I find myself agreeing with most everything he says.
Revenge [feat. Wayne Coyne] - Danger Mouse /...
“The Zune is a great product, and the Zune Pass (as I’ve described before)...”
– Jerry Holkins [Tycho of Penny Arcade], who decided to, uh, take the rhetoric to a new level
Heartless [Cover] - Kris Allen [American Idol,...
How Do The Fools Survive - The Doobie Brothers
...
Andrew Baron Introduces "Magma" →
Magma is an entry point for online video. When you first land on the page you are presented with two sections. The top section shows you the most definitive view to date of the most popular videos on the internet. This is based on a variety of factors including, total views across duplicate videos around the internet, cumulative comments, likes, blog posts, tweets, diggs, stumbles, likes, etc.
...
