December 2008
57 posts
Podcast business models: a research paper →
Wrote this earlier in the year and just realised that, as 2008 draws to a close, it’d be a shame not to unleash it on the world under a Creative Commons licence. Maybe someone will stumble across the wise words of one of my interviewees via Google and find them useful. Which is why I’m linking to it here.
Anyone else use Tipjoy? →
I’ve been trying out the “online tipjar” system for a while, as this and micropayments etc. are areas that I’m really interested in. Seems to work fine for sending and receiving money, but I’ve yet to see how good it really is from a “social” perspective.
So is there anyone on here that also uses Tipjoy? Let’s be friends :-)
Girls who rock
My 8 year old girl cousin loves Avril Lavigne, is learning to play the guitar and wants nothing more than to be a “rock star”. Always keen to encourage this sort of ambition, I’m making her a CD of required femme-rock listening.
What do you reckon of the tracklisting? Any vital tunes I’ve missed?
1. The Ting Tings - Great DJ 2. Blondie - Heart of Glass 3. Paramore -...
Jonathan is going to a post-punk postcard fair in... →
Amazon's "online window-shopping" beta →
Slap some sort of recommendation engine algorithm and social network integration on this and BAM, you’ve got the future of online retail. Maybe. Dunno. But it’s pretty.
“Top-slicing the licence fee is an option that is going to have to remain on the...”
– Andy Burnham
This quote from the Culture Secretary seems to have been overlooked amongst the growing “internet age ratings” kerfuffle.
UK Culture Secretary Andy Burnham says "let's give... →
Of course, it’s not that simple. MP for West Bromich Tom Watson has asked for people’s views on the issue, and a huge number of comments has followed on his blog. A particular highlight for me though was John Handelaar’s comment. He points out that Burnham says:
“Leaving your child for two hours unregulated on the internet is not something you can do.”
JH then adds:
...
Dolphins Evolve Opposable Thumbs →
“Oh, shit” says humanity.
(from The Onion, bien sûr)
tristanjay7 says:
This reminds me of the funky Mandarin compounds where conjoined antonyms refer to the continuum they are opposed on.
eg. the compound “big”+”small” means “size”, “long”+”short” means “length”, father”+”mother” means “parents”, “left”+”right” means...
“With Woolworths also going, [Zavvi’s closure] means that supermarkets will...”
– Popjustice
Never watched this show. I probably should.
House: Nonconformity, right. I can’t remember the last time I saw a 20-something kid with a tattoo of an Asian letter on his wrist. You are one wicked free thinker. You want to be a rebel? Stop being cool. Wear a pocket protector like he does and get a haircut. Like the Asian kids who don’t leave the library for 20 hours stretches, they’re the ones who don’t care what you think. Sayonara.
Wilson: So should I go through all the resumes looking for Asian names?
House: Actually, the Asian kids are probably just responding to parental pressure, but my point is still valid.
BBC: Starbucks in Ethiopia coffee vow →
I used to hate Starbucks for moral reasons (and because they were a good shorthand for everything I despised as a 17-year-old quasi-socialist.) They’ve gotten better in recent years though in this respect.
Now I just hate them because they’re overpriced, serve crap coffee, are devoid of atmosphere/individuality, and are normally full of idiots.
Jonathan spat out Plath and Pinter. But the latter... →
Home, staying with my parents
I love the fact that even before 8:00am my Dad and I manage conversations that include phrases like “I’m no statistician, but…” and “possession is nine tenths of the law”.
My Mum doesn’t :-)
Jonathan is en route to London, and will be there... →
"Apple has effectively gotten into the business of... →
Is this over-reactionary scaremongering? Or a genuine cause for concern? Either way, the power Apple now wields is beginning to get worrying.
But I just find it difficult to judge when it’s a story on the Boing Boing blog. Cory Doctorow, as clever, insightful and correct as he often is, sometimes has too much of a hippy-idealist stance for (even) my liking.
(There’s a permanent...
“I’ve abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system.”
– Dubya. Quote-worthy to the last.
Just joined Get Satisfaction →
I’ve of course come across the “people-powered customer service” site before, but it’s only now that I’ve bothered to sign up and properly have a look. I do so as a result of a request from Union Square Ventures’ (Tumblr and Boxee funders) Fred Wilson that people on the Boxee alpha test sign up and leave their suggestions on how the open-source media centre app...
Wikipedia never ceases to amaze me →
It has a list of popular views on the question “What is the meaning of life?”.
Jonathan hates administrating his life, but has... →
What We Talk About At Media Parties
Other Reporter: Who was that who just said hi to me?
Me: [redacted].
Other Reporter: Didn't he just get laid off?
Me: No, he just fired a bunch of people.
Other Reporter: I knew it was one or the other.
200 digital music startups from 2008 →
Amazing list. Proof if it were needed that this area is slightly competitive! And when you see them all in a list like this, some of the poor ideas people have been convinced by are rather shocking.
(Although, it’s not really fair to call them all “startups” - many are simply fun mash-up projects.)
“A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams.”
– John Barrymore
(via randominternet)
Best news to hit my world in a while... →
I only wish it were true when I was writing my dissertation. About 11,000 of its 13,000 words were written sat on the sofa in Liverpool’s FACT café.
I ♥ Pret a Manger.
Music distributors: EPIC FAIL →
Is this the final nail in the coffin of physical formats?
“When I was twenty, I worried what everything thought of me. When I turned forty,...”
– Bob Hope
(via hangmanblues)
“Don’t you sometimes long to be CEO of a company like Sony Ericsson, Samsung,...”
– Stephen Fry (via deplorableword)
Chinese girl gets "kiss of deaf" →
Quality punnage by the Beeb on this bizarre story of “a young Chinese woman who was left partially deaf following a passionate kiss from her boyfriend”.
I’d actually quite enjoy seeing the Daily Mail scaremonger about this one…
Dumb Shit My Coworker Says →
Cheers to davereed for the heads-up on this new Tumblr tumblelog. It’s impossible not to laugh at lines like:
“Her pronounciation of ‘crudites’ was just too much for me to handle”.
riazm says:
Synaesthesia
Photographic memory
Aspergers
Immunity to hangovers
Ambidextrousness
Are all things that do exist, but when people claim to have them, are generally lies.
Good point. Add “OCD” to that list. And, although real cases are more common with these than most of the above, people often claim to be “ADD” or “bipolar” with no medical...
Santogold and Diplo - “Guns of...
Got a mention in The Guardian... →
Well, their online media blog. Nevertheless - ah, fame at last! If a very dubious kind of fleeting, social media geek-fame.
I tweeted about Tony Benn apparently joining Twitter (quite wittily, I felt). The alleged Mr Benn was later proven to be an imposter. Grauniad journalist Jemima Kiss quoted said tweet, mis-spelling my name in the process. Which isn’t the first time the word...