Cable Taking a Chunk out of the FCC?

brian on 2007.12.12 at 10:12 pm

Just as the FCC was getting close to actually regulating the cable industry, comes a cable-industry backed proposal in Congress to continue to duck their regulation.

There’s currently a rule that says the FCC can regulate the cable industry when cable is available to 70% of U.S. households and 70% of those households that have the opportunity to subscribe, do.

Well we’re almost there. Unless (surprise!) a Republican from Tennessee has her say about it. Would it surprise you that she’s received a great deal of money from that industry in her career? Me, neither.

Posted in: Technology · Politics · Media

0 Comments

Awesome Friday Videos

brian on 2007.12.07 at 09:44 pm

The first trailer for the Wachowski Brother’s (Matrix trilogy, V for Vendetta)adaptation of the cult classic Japanese Anime series, Speed Racer has been released, including HD.

Speed Racer first trailer

Secondly, Amazingly amusing Norton Anti-Virus Ad/mini-shows. These are ~5 minutes each and make two parts of a psuedo-Japanese kids show (subtitles in English, kitsch in Japanese). Awesome.

When you make commercials this cool, people use their DVRs to record them, not skip them.

Posted in: Movies · Media

0 Comments

Suppot Local FM!

brian on 2007.06.25 at 07:08 pm

There’s a bill in Congress to allow low-power FM stations for local broadcasting. If you think that’s a good idea like I do, you can follow the following link to voice your support to your representitives:

Support Local, Low-Power FM Radio

Posted in: Music · Politics · Media

0 Comments

News Writing for the Web

brian on 2007.05.12 at 08:29 pm

Cory Bergman – How to Write for the Web – Lost Remote

I’ve been mulling over a “future of local news” post for a long time for this blog. I worked on it for a while today, some of my inspiration comes from Lost Remote. They’re an awesome resource for old media types looking to do the web right, or people watching old media crawl into the brave new world.

I wanted to get this link out now, because I don’t know how many revisions its going to take to get my long piece out the door saying what I want it to say.

If you’re interested in writing in a journalistic style, this guide is heavily grounded in the proper newspaper style, but a little more casual like the web. Quality advice.

Posted in: Media · Web

0 Comments

Rush: Ten Times Worse than Imus

brian on 2007.04.24 at 08:54 pm

This is unbelievable.

If Imus got fired (something I disagreed with), then I guess Rush should be hung?

Rush Limbaugh plays “Barak the Magic Negro” on his show. Listen for yourself.

If Rush is not forced off the air, then there really is no justice. Absolutely unacceptable. Imus or no Imus. But certainly with Imus.

UPDATE: I found out about this very late. This happened prior to Imus, March 19.

Posted in: Politics · Media

0 Comments

National Geographic Doesn't Understand Podcasts

brian on 2007.04.10 at 09:06 pm

I really enjoy the content National Geographic produces. They create some amazing things. However, they need to learn about podcasting.

I’ve been listening to NatGeo podcasts for a couple weeks now, and boy do they bug me. There’s some great content in there, but to get to it, you have to listen to a deluge of blaring orchastral music (many times louder than NPR, and the music isn’t nearly as interesting) then you have to listen to a host with a near-characterization of a radio voice advertise the upcoming topics which will happen in about five minutes. Of course, they would be happening now if we weren’t listening to this damn list of story pitches.

Then they mix in some lame segments where they talk really briefly to someone who talks as if he’s in his early 20s… as far as I can tell, that’s his only reason for being… they must think only teens listen?

My advice, if I were asked how to improve the NatGeo podcasts: drop the intros, or make them just the titles of the segments, shorten the music until its just long enough to serve it’s purpose of story-spacer. Stop the radio-announcer impression, and speak as if I had your voice in my ear bud… which is to say, as if you had something cool to read me out of the National Geographic Magazine. Express the famous National Geographic personality that makes your magazine so great. Don’t pretend to be Fox telling NatGeo stories.

To summarize, relax. You’re on the internet.

FWIW – I’ve only been listening to the NatGeo News Podcast. There are several others also available that I have not listened to.

Posted in: Media · Web

0 Comments

Blogging Involves People, Thus Inherently Broken

brian on 2007.04.10 at 08:29 pm

Many present the idea of a blogging code.

I ask, why not just have a “humanity code?”

This will be forgotten within months. Humanity will continue on the same. In the same vein, I don’t think Imus should be fired. People will say stupid things. Sometimes they will mean them, sometimes they just are temporarily idiotic. I don’t think Don Imus is a racist. Just an idiot. Occasionally. He does host some high-quality political banter some times. Baby meet bath water. If it’s OK to say “nappy headed hos” in a rap song on the radio, then Don Imus should be in no danger of firing.

Posted in: Media · Web

0 Comments

Blogumentary

brian on 2007.03.12 at 11:07 pm

I just finished watching “Blogumentary” a film by Chuck Olsen. You may recognize that name if you’ve watched Rocketboom, where he is an occasional contributor, or if you’re really into the vlogs, he is also Minnesota Stories.

In truth, I was bored and had had the Google Video Player link sitting on my desktop for about two months staring up at me “Blogumentary.gvp” as if it were lonely. Other icons came and went, but this one held fast. I figured I’d give it a click, be bored after five minutes and be able to finally toss that sorry file into the trash can.

One hour five minutes later, that didn’t happen.

I’d like to recommend this film to people in our audience who fall in to two categories. First, if there’s anyone in the audience who has a blog they don’t write at much, or perhaps someone who is thinking about writing one. Maybe you use Facebook or MySpace, or maybe you just casually read some blogs, but you’re not an alpha-blog-geek. Perhaps you’re a professionally trained writer and you’re tempted to “do the right thing” and start a blog. I encourage you to watch the film. I think you’ll get a great background in blogs, and be inspired.

Second, if you were a fan of the Howard Dean presidential campaign, you’ll really enjoy the section on the first campaign blog (Howard’s) and how the internet changed the face of American politics forever. Includes significant and insightful interview time with Joe Trippi, and footage inside the Dean HQ. Makes me want to cry this many years later, how much promise that campaign had, all ruined by a media smear campaign that may not be matched again in my lifetime. Coverage starts at about the 40 minute mark. Don’t think this is an unbalanced documentary, though. Chuck spends equal time with the people who think the New York Times is in the business of printing Democratic propaganda and that Democrats rule the media — the guys at PowerLineBlog.com

[Transgression: This has nothing to do this the movie, skip to the next paragraph before this gets ugly… Question: if the Democrats have free reign in the media, then how would they have let it get this bad? Why would Democrats continue to look like bozos? People who think this also think people who believe climate change is a real threat have a hidden agenda. Yah, they’re going to get rich saving those spotted owls… somehow… and when we figure it out…]

I don’t really have more to say about the film other than it was excellent. I encourage anyone to see it, if you are a web geek, you’ll see and hear “famous” web people in the flesh, instead of in phosphor, which is cool in and of itself. Go watch now. The video quality was excellent and the streaming of the data was flawless over WiFi to my beloved MacBookPro.

Posted in: Movies · Media · Web

0 Comments

Media censorship by the US Military

brian on 2007.03.11 at 02:46 pm

Lamest excuse, ever:

A top ranking military official in Afghanistan said photographs or video taken by “untrained people” might “capture visual details that are not as they originally were.”

Why should the military be afraid of a guy and a camera in a public place in a country that is not the United States? Even if they have a legitimate reason, this stinks so badly of the things that our country is supposed to so strongly stand against. Bad message to send to the world. Much worse than the actual images.

Posted in: Media

0 Comments

Mac and TiVo Users Rejoice: You're Screwed!

brian on 2007.01.08 at 11:26 pm

The biggest insult to Mac users who are also TiVo users wasn’t that we’ve gone without TiVoToGo software while Windows users had it for free. Nope.

The biggest insult (beside the $800 price tag plus additional subscription charges for a Series III which is simply insulting to any human being) is that TiVo has released MacTivoToGo today… but it costs $99. And is still free for PC users.

Dear TiVO, drop dead. I’m not buying a Series III, I’m not buying MTTG (which wouldn’t even work on a Series III) and perhaps the only other money you’ll ever get out of me is a trickle of the coin I drop into my Comcast subscription.

It’s a damn shame. TiVO should be a much a better company. They should compare to Apple: make awesome products and have an awesome community supporting you. But their business practices are downright unethical.

It’s no wonder you’re always on the verge of going out of business: you have no idea what you’re doing. You’re floundering about like a fish out of water. I’ll no longer shed a tear if you go bankrupt. Hopefully an intelligent company will hire your designers and programmers. Or, God willing, someone will snap up your company, hand out pink slips to your whole business team, and keep your brand, selling your wonderful and innovative products at reasonable prices.

Posted in: Technology · Television · Media

0 Comments

Obama on OnPoint

brian on 2006.11.04 at 06:10 pm

If you missed Senator Barak Obama on NPR’s OnPoint a week or so ago, you can listen to it steaming on that site, or you can download the podcast. But, it’s already down from the iTunes Store (looks like they only keep a limited number of them up there) but it is still available at Odeo.

It was a good interview.

Personally, I think it would be a bit premature for Barak to run for President. But if he were the nominee, I’d vote for him, and I think he’d do a fine job. In fact, I strongly hope he does run eventually, but I think he could use another round in Washington, D.C. first.

Posted in: Politics · Media

0 Comments

Need a blog job?

brian on 2006.09.27 at 10:19 pm

Hey, if I were qualified (lets say these aren’t necessary qualifications if you were any other genre of org) I’d apply for it, but look, NPR is hiring an official blogger.

Host (Blogs), NPR News & Administration Hosts and writes for blog that serves as users’ daily guide to the events of the day and notable stories on the network and the Web; uses news judgment and a lively prose style to present a singular perspective, writing and reporting original items and drawing other NPR reporter/correspondents and listeners into analysis and discussion; may also host a podcast of the day’s top on-air stories; and may serve as a public representative of National Public Radio, Inc. Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and experience. At least five years of journalism experience, preferably daily news; familiarity with the blog form and a passionate desire to join the blogger “A” list; demonstrated excellence as a writer and storyteller; demonstrated ability to communicate in a sparkling personality and unique perspectives in writing; demonstrated ability to understand the difference between having an attitude and taking a (political) stand in the written word; a broad range of general news knowledge; well-developed curiosity in a wide range of subjects; ability to work quickly and efficiently under deadline pressure; ability and willingness to relocate; proven ability to consistently work well with others, demonstrating at all times respect for the diverse constituencies at NPR and within the public radio system; and a desire to be part of a new NPR venture. Prefer broadcast experience, the ability to be a voice of a podcast; previous blog writing experience; and familiarity with and an appreciation for public broadcasting.

So, go ready your resume. And your references, you’ll need to contact them. You always forget about them till the last minute…

Posted in: Media · Web

1 Comments

Join the Boycott on ABC

brian on 2006.09.08 at 08:17 pm

Have you heard about the irresponsible fictionalize account of the 9/11 attack that ABC is airing? I personally am furious. ABC has been my favorite network for a long time, I’ve watched World News Tonight on ABC since I was 5 years old. Now my trust has been betrayed in the interest of controversy and partisanship.

Below is the email I sent ABC via the Think Progress website, through an email from freepress.net

Robert A. Iger
President and CEO, The Walt Disney Company

Dear Mr. Iger:

I’m very disappointed that you would make the horrendous choice to air a fictionalized, polarizing and politicized account of the events of a horrific event so recent in our country’s history, and so close to the 5th year anniversary — could confuse fiction with the truth (and your information has been determined directly contrary to the truth as stated by the 9/11 Commission) which could have an adverse effect on people’s perception of reality when they go to vote in primaries and elections that are now starting in our midterm elections. This ENTIRELY irresponsible of your company.

I haven’t determined what I will do personally about this, but right now I’m beginning with boycotting your World News Tonight, which is really sad because Charlie Gibson is by far my favorite news personality on any channel. But it’s the one thing I watch regularly on ABC.

I will not buy any more TV shows of ABC’s on iTunes. And I may write to all your advertisers to inform them of this as well. Additionally, I will be blogging this commentary on my blog, recently.rainweb.net, and talking about this at the blogging conference I’m going to with over 300 other influential bloggers this weekend. I will encourage them to blog about and join in the boycott as well.

Below this note is some boilerplate that I agree with wholeheartedly.

It has come to my attention that ABC plans to air a two-part mini-series called “The Path to 9/11” on September 10 and September 11. Accounts of advance screenings indicate that this program places primary responsibility for the attacks of 9/11 on the Clinton administration while whitewashing the failures of the Bush administration. This assertion is not supported by the 9/11 Commission Report upon which the program is purportedly based. This partisan misrepresentation of history is not surprising given that the movie was written by Cyrus Nowrasteh, an avowed conservative.

It is wrong for ABC to play politics with the facts of 9/11 by providing a national platform to present his distorted view of history. I am unwilling to whitewash the truth. The events that led to 9/11 are important topics for discussion and debate. But it’s a debate that must be conducted honestly.

I am asking ABC to either fix the many inaccuracies contained in the program – or to not air it.

I would appreciate a prompt reply to my e-mail.

I would encourage you to tell ABC what you think of their actions, as well.

Posted in: Movies · Media

1 Comments

Good video

brian on 2006.09.06 at 09:49 pm

Watched Ze Frank’s 2004 appearance at TED today. Unfortunately there’s no download for it, just a Google Video. Of course, if you use Google Video Player, you could watch it outside of the browser.

Also, Scoble linked up TurnHere.com which has a ton of cool videos of people showing off their local communities. And the videos, about 4 mins each, flow into the next episode, so you don’t even have to “pick up the remote.” Check it out.

Posted in: Media · Web

3 Comments

CurrentTV

brian on 2006.07.22 at 12:50 am

Al Gore is everywhere these days. One of his current positions is as founder of CurrentTV, a cable video channel found on many digital cable systems and a website.

I watched it for the first time for about a half-hour last night, and I must say that I was impressed. It gave the feel of a collection of really well-done video blogs.

In August 2005 we launched a TV network with content created by, for and with an 18-34 year-old audience. Our unique programming shows young adults what’s going on in their world, in their voice and from their perspective. With a substantial portion of the network’s content provided by our viewers, we’re the first TV network in history whose programming is supplied and selected in part by the very audience who watches it. Current is available in 29 million cable and satellite TV homes.

Their on screen motion graphics were something to behold. All the edginess of MTV graphics, without out all the tackiness (OK, that’s a little bit of a shot at MTV, some of their stuff is well done. But I like Current’s better)

Current.tv is also something that’s visually impressive, but it could use a little clarity. In general, though, an impressive display all around.

Something to be aware of.

Hey, maybe they should hire Amanda Cogdon for some lighter side stuff. Nothing says video blog better than the face of the movement herself… and she’s in need of a West Coast job…

Posted in: Politics · Television · Media · Web

0 Comments

NPR and PBS under sneak attack again

brian on 2006.06.08 at 03:31 pm

Yes, the Republicans are attacking Sesame Street yet again, trying to destroy all funding for the only sound source of media in the country, by trying to axe all funding for NPR and PBS!

Stand up to these bullies and defend our only unbiased news source!

Can you imagine a child growing up without Sesame Street?

Posted in: Politics · Media

0 Comments

NBC gets a clue

brian on 2006.03.08 at 11:33 pm

NBC is catching on. First all their involvement with the iTunes store, and now this.

NBC Video

Now, instead of searching the web for “borrowed” NBC highlights, you can go to the source! We’ve taken your viral favorites and gathered them into one convenient location. Watch. React. Tell a friend.

YES!

Posted in: Technology · Media · Web

0 Comments

Advice to the Grey Lady

brian on 2006.01.27 at 12:32 am

The other day, I came to the end of my rope.

I enjoy reading David Pogue’s work. I was happy when he announced a while back that he would be beginning a blog at the New York Times.

It has thus far been so-so. David’s a pro writer, so I suppose I expected more, but I suppose since he’s a pro writer, he writes so much stuff all over the place, there isn’t much left over for the blog. The tid-bits that fall through to this his last bastion of word and thought though, are enjoyable.

I thus subscribe to his RSS feed. This is where my frustration began. His feed supplies only a title… not much to go on when deciding whether to click through to the piles of advertising that surrounds David’s work on the Times’ site. Annoying.

But when you arrive and want to actually stay and read his blog, well, they make that difficult, too. Say I follow one link in. Then I want to get to the main blog page, or the next or previous entry.

No links.

Maybe I’ll hack the URL, and just shorten it down to the section’s root.

Nope – the URL string is a dynamic fake.

I was upset, so I sent David an email. I figured if other readers were annoyed, eventually something would change.

“I’ll pass this along, Brian. All of this is way beyond me, but I will admit that I get a lot of complaint mail along similar lines!”

It was really nice for David to write me back. Even if it didn’t change, a little human touch goes a long way.

But, I may have had more influence than I had hoped. A day or two later, David writes again,

“Hey Brian, your email has lit a fire under some people at the Times. These are only baby steps, but they wrote…”

and there was a little more. Basically it says they were addressing the concerns I raised in my original email. Now, as soon as they roll out, I’ll feel like a feedback loop from your average Joe all the way to the most respected news organization in the world is beginning to become more responsive. Excellent.

Posted in: Media · Web

0 Comments

New Legislation in Washington

brian on 2005.12.02 at 06:29 am

Two pieces of legislation pending in Washington. We’ll start with the more serious of the two.

By creating a federal agency shielded from public scrutiny, some lawmakers think they can speed the development and testing of new drugs and vaccines needed to respond to a bioterrorist attack or super-flu pandemic.

The proposed Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency, or BARDA, would be exempt from long-standing open records and meetings laws that apply to most government departments, according to legislation approved Oct. 18 by the Senate health committee. “AP report”:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051202/ap_on_go_ot/vaccine_agency

This is a bad idea. The government that we pay for should be open to our scrutiny.

Number two, on the lighter side, is a la carte options for cable and satellite television.

A la carte would allow cable subscribers to pick and pay for individual channels rather than being forced to buy packages. A parent, for example, could pick Nickelodeon and the Cartoon Network — and not have to take MTV or other channels they may find objectionable as part of a bundled package. “AP report”:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051202/ap_on_en_tv/cable_indecency

This is a good idea. If you buy a house, you’re not forced to take all the furnishings inside. If you go to buy groceries, you’re not forced to take whatever the supermarket puts into the basket. Why should I have to buy five Christian religion channels, 10 foreign language channels, 10 children’s channels, five shopping channels, or anything else I wouldn’t otherwise support? Consumer choice is always a good idea.

Interesting twist, conservatives in Congress are for the a la carte option. Normally, they would be against anything that tells a business how to do business despite the government’s role of keeping businesses in line. The interest in a la carte for conservatives is seen in the quote above, people who don’t want to see MTV or CNN or anything but religious channels can simply opt out of them.

Most cable companies (but notably not all) are expectedly against a la carte, stating that it would thin the choices in television programming. I’m tired of the cable companies choosing my programming. I bought a TiVo to filter out all the junk that’s on my TV. But, I refuse to buy the highest, most expensive cable packages just to get the Outdoor Life Network, or Speed Channel. You can keep the religious, foreign and children’s channels… give me the WRC and Le Tour de France. And cut my bill while you’re at it.

Posted in: Politics · Science · Media · Recent Events

0 Comments

A look inside North Korea

brian on 2005.11.22 at 12:20 pm

There’s an interesting interview with a Time Magazine photographer on WBUR.org He received rare access to the closed country, termed the Hermit Kingdom in the story.

The link at WBUR has both both the interview in Real Audio format and a link to the flash gallery on time.com.

Posted in: Photography · Media

0 Comments

Aardvark'd DVD

brian on 2005.11.21 at 12:33 pm

Watched Joel Spolsky’s documentary trailer today on Google Video. Looks like an outstanding film I’d very much like to see. However, I will not be buying the $20 DVD.

To me, to see a film once is not worth $20. I have no desire to keep a copy of this potentially interesting film, and even if I loved it, I would never watch it again, and thus have no need for hard copy.

I might go to a movie theater once or twice a year, and own no DVD movies I bought myself. I put my money where my mouth is. I do watch movies when they come to the small screen, but would watch more if I were allowed more control of where and when I could watch them. I would call this an untapped market.

I’m certainly not saying everyone (or anyone) shares my views, but I feel Joel, as a leading software business mind, is missing on a big opportunity. Funny that its lacking considering his last entry on digital media distribution!

I would have, in his shoes, chosen an H.264 download (with BitTorrent ) option alongside the DVD purchase option. There will be folk who want to keep a high-quality hardcopy, and they should get to have that. $20 is reasonable for that.

However, I would like to download a copy for a more digestible $5. I think the sheer volume of downloads would offset any cannibalization of the DVD sales, in addition to the saved costs due to no packaging, two rounds of shipping, manufacturing… and BitTorrent would make the bandwidth very reasonable (ask Cringely ). Sounds lucrative.

Afraid of piracy? Well, the tools to buy that DVD and change it into the format I described above exist in abundance. People will invite friends over to watch the movie, even! Gasp!

If anything, a legal download provides a reasonable and easy alternative to piracy. It’s working for Apple right now. I don’t think FairPlay will be the end all of digital media rights management, but its a solid, first reasonable and reasonably successful attempt. The only thing I’d add to a download like Joel’s would be the downloader’s email address, which the downloader would a) know was attached, b) have to enter into the purchasing webpage to get emailed a link to the torrent file.

Yes there are easy ways around these small features, but that’s the point. They keep honest people honest… if you share this on P2P nets and we see it, we’ll know you put it here. You can’t worry about those who will just strip it out, because of the DVD ripping issue I mentioned above.

Piracy will be a given, but you can’t criminalize all your customers because of it. Give reasonable people reasonable options to stay above board, and this will put the piracy percentage to its minimum. That will net you all the profit you deserve.

I cannot believe that digital delivery was not strongly considered by Joel. He’s a sharp mind. So even if we don’t get a downloadable option, I’d hope he’d post his thoughts on what made him go traditional in this case on his blog.

Joel, I look forward to seeing your film, if you give me the opportunity to!

Posted in: Technology · Software · Movies · Media · Web

0 Comments

Guns Germs and Steel

brian on 2005.07.15 at 11:40 pm

If I make another PBS post, I may have to start a new category. I really enjoy watching PBS specials, but I get so hot and cold with it. It seems every other month they put on a bunch of shows I want to see… and then the next month it’s all British masterpiece mysteries… ugh.

I tend to be more interested in their science, anthropology and nature shows. Some good travel and cooking shows, but I don’t TiVO those, just watch them if they’re on.

Anyhow I enjoyed Jared Diamond’s Guns Germs and Steel. The first of the three episodes is showing this week. Here’s a snippet:

Based on Jared Diamond’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book of the same name, Guns, Germs and Steel traces humanity’s journey over the last 13,000 years – from the dawn of farming at the end of the last Ice Age to the realities of life in the twenty-first century.

Inspired by a question put to him on the island of Papua New Guinea more than thirty years ago, Diamond embarks on a world-wide quest to understand the roots of global inequality.

• Why were Europeans the ones to conquer so much of our planet?
• Why didn’t the Chinese, or the Inca, become masters of the globe instead?
• Why did cities first evolve in the Middle East?
• Why did farming never emerge in Australia?

• And why are the tropics now the capital of global poverty?

Go forth and view.

Posted in: Science · Television · Media

2 Comments

Nerd TV

brian on 2005.07.15 at 11:19 pm

In my previous post I mentioned watching PBS content on their website. This post will be about a much less depressing topic.

Nerd TV. My favorite general tech pundit, Robert X. Cringely, is going to have an entire series only for viewing online, starting in September.

Check it out. I’m excited. Now for something completely random:

I believe RXC is the same person as Food Network’s Alton Brown. All it takes is one great wig. Prove me wrong.

Posted in: Technology · Media

0 Comments

Private Warriors

brian on 2005.07.15 at 10:54 pm

I just finished watching an episode of PBS’s Frontline called Private Warriors. It details what’s going on with the Pentagon’s use of contractors in its wars.

The US has traditionally used contractors to ferry cargo across the world to it, or provide provisions, etc. But never has the government used so many contractors in so many positions. In fact, contractors are the second largest force in Iraq.

There are tens of thousands of contractors in US war zones right now. Many carrying guns. But none of those gun-toting people have accountability outside of being fired. None of them have the intelligence or communications that soldiers in their positions would have. If someone dies, who is responsible when someone dies? Or kills an Iraqi? And if one of those contractors who is doing a very important security detail decides he wants to go home… can. A soldier cannot just decide to leave his watchtower without repercussion.

Most importantly however, is the fact that an Iraqi doesn’t know who is a US Soldier representing the citizens of the United States… and who is an unaccountable contractor.

Clearly there is a place for contractors, but perhaps when we take a look at who we have in there and what they’re doing, that maybe we should reconsider exactly what’s going on over there.

You can go to PBS’s website and watch the entire episode, free. Well, since PBS is partially funded by your tax dollars, you’ve already paid for it. It’s a great resource and I would hope more of their episodes get archived there.

Come to think of it… since many in the government are trying to cut the funding of PBS, perhaps they’re doing to good of a job. Get this info before they shut ‘em down.

Posted in: Politics · Media · Recent Events

1 Comments

Citizens Respond to London Attacks

brian on 2005.07.07 at 10:41 am

In light of this morning’s bombing attacks in London, you may be interested in the web community’s reaction, and one place to look would be on Flickr. There is a London Bomb Blasts group with (at this moment) 200 pictures.

It kinda sucks that a good number of the pics are TV captures and web page screen shots. But it’s the in-betweens that are golden citizen photographic journalism.

One interesting pic that is a screen shot is this one

Well, the picture is uninteresting, other than the BBC site is swamped… but the comments are cool… BBC employees are responding to the picture, and commenting on server load.

You’re not going to get this on TV, radio or in newspapers.

Update: See also WikiNews and WikiPedia for more outstanding citizen-based reporting.

Posted in: Photography · Media · Web · Recent Events

0 Comments

Myspace in the news

jake on 2005.05.13 at 03:30 pm

There are a couple things in the news about Myspace. Before I get into their discussions I’d like to talk about my experience with this social software. I’d like to point you to my profile, but they’re not functional right now. Which is my biggest gripe with the service currently. I realize that they’re a very large site and have seen explosive growth but as far as I can tell the underlying structure is flawed.

The pages load fairly slow and the HTML is right out of 1999. The tables wouldn’t bother me so much if the site had at least valid code.

They allow you to hack your profile page and adjust colors or add in backgrounds, etc. And while trying to work with the code I actually found one spot that I couldn’t adjust because the tag soup was so atrocious. We’re talking incorrect nesting here.

I’m not saying the developers don’t have a lot to handle, and they’re probably more worried about keeping the servers online than cleaning up the code, but they’re not gonna last long without bringing the quality level up a couple notches.. Heck I still use the site regularly. I just can’t take them serious when the code is as mature as the thirteen year olds (claiming they’re sixteen) rambling on and acting “cool.”

Which is a nice segue for the first Myspace article. MSNBC brings up Myspace a few times in their article discussing how kids are revealing too much information on the Internet. Nobody seems to be telling them that posting provocative photos and revealing information such as your full name and hometown is not a good idea. Though it seems to be moving away from chat rooms and IM in discussions and heading over to personal weblogs.

I’m smart enough to know that I should only give out Brian’s information.

The other article is Tom Coates commending Myspace for surpassing Friendster. Apparently he was quoted in a Guardian article on the subject. Good for you Tom.

I wish I was quoted in a newspaper, but usually my posts just turn into rants like above. I’m not as cool or well spoken as Tom.

Posted in: Media · Web

0 Comments

Meet Our Media

brian on 2005.03.23 at 09:40 am

This should be interesting: OurMedia.org

We provide free storage and free bandwidth for your videos, audio files, photos, text or software. Forever. No catches.

Very interesting. Could be a great backend for local grassroots media efforts, like Universal Hub aspires to be. Additionally, OurMedia is actually a Drupal front end for the Internet Archive.

Posted in: Technology · Media · Web

0 Comments

ClearPlay is on the road to becoming legal

jake on 2005.03.09 at 10:38 am

Engadget has a little post about ClearPlay. Hollywood wasn’t too happy that consumers could edit out objectionable content from their DVD’s. Again, I would not buy such a product, but if others want to then it should not be a problem.

Too bad this didn’t go further and stop all this junk about skipping over commercials. I record a TV show, I should be able to edit out commercials when I view it. If Tivo can do it for me without me having to manually edit an mpeg file then even better.

Posted in: Technology · Politics · Media

0 Comments

Bostonian Apprentice

brian on 2005.01.31 at 11:59 am

Speaking of The Apprentice, does one of these guys look familiar? Six degrees disclosure, I am 4 degrees from he. No, I don’t know him, or the degree closest to him at all. But I do enjoy his presence on the show, and we’re pulling for him! (Even though everyone knows the taping is already complete)

Posted in: Media

0 Comments

Legalizing TV Torrents

brian on 2005.01.31 at 11:16 am

I read somewhere this morning that networks were investigating how much a viewer might pay (per view) for their favorite show that they can watch when they want to. This made think about when people have to use BitTorrent to download their favorite show when the networks change their schedules to put your two favorite shows on at the same time, and you don’t have a dual-tuner TiVO to get on the record/watch goodness.

The result of the torrent would be a high-quality version of the show, with commercials conveniently extracted. Since TV is clearly supported by advertising and advertising judged by ratings (which don’t count BT downloads, obviously)... this is a recipe for disaster for your favorite show: if everyone BTs the show, and doesn’t watch it over the cable box, there’s no ratings for the show, and it gets dropped, despite the unmeasured popularity of the show itself.

What if, instead of charging micropayments, the networks simply followed Salon’s highly successful lead of day passes where any reader can have full access to a pay-for -content piece after watching a short, but highly-targeted ad. In the case of a TV episode, I’d say one of these ads for access to a network-hosted torrent (which of course, would route people away from pirate-torrent sites which would indirectly reduce pirate content’s popularity).

If I had a legal way of downloading an episode of my favorite show in exchange for a day-pass-esque few minutes, I certainly feel it would be a fair exchange, a fair payment, if you would. Would you?

There is a demo available! Someone (and I’m not suggesting you or anyone try this) could try this experiment at home. Locate an episode of NBC’s “The Apprentice” online and download via BT. Then go to Yahoo!‘s online Apprentice shill site. Look around, check out tie-ins to BK, Levis, Pepsi, Genworth, all the other companies that are pimped on the show, or pick up a Donald Trump Bobblehead doll.. I’d say that constitutes fair trade… NBC/Yahoo! Get you only a click or two away from buying their products… much more beneficial to them than a sign on top of a computer screen that says “Yahoo! Local.” Eyes and clicks. I’d almost guarantee a bump of purchases. And enjoy the show!

Posted in: Technology · Media

17 Comments

Wrestle Control of your TV

brian on 2004.12.01 at 10:48 pm

"If this thing didn't run Windows, I'd be all over it in a second":http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/entry/377/alienware_dhs_2 . Seriously, Linux DVR hackers... get to work. This is the only thing that can save us from the corporations coming together and ruling what we watch on TV... so long as "Alienware":http://www.alienware.com/main_home_entertainment.aspx can stay up and independent, and someone can put _anything_ but Windows Media Center.

And while they're out there... mind as well enable some open formats (MPEG4 etc) and toss that Intel chip for something that runs cooler... but I'd deal with the first two of the three as a first step...

Posted in: Technology · Television · Media

0 Comments

Grey Album for the Eyes

brian on 2004.11.17 at 10:09 am

Can I get an encore?

Someone has taken the time to create a music video for DJ Danger Mouse's Beatles White Album / Jay-Z's Black Album mashup.

Beautiful. See it before the man shuts the art down.

The Grey Video

Posted in: Music · Media · Web

0 Comments

Change the Tone

brian on 2004.11.14 at 07:58 pm

One of the things I love about NetNewsWire's beta is that it shows you what has changed in a feed if it's altered from its original form. For example, on Yahoo! News Presidential Politics AP feed, it posted this excerpt:

AP - Nearly two weeks after John Kerry conceded the election and President Bush laid out his agenda, New Mexico has not finished counting its votes.

But that was pulled and replaced with...

AP - Nearly two weeks after John Kerry conceded the election and President Bush laid out his agenda, New Mexico is among several states that have yet to determine the winner's margin of victory

What does that say about the Associated Press's editorial process?

It adds clarity about the number of states in which voting issues remain. But, in the first one, whereas the blurb is very politics neutral, what do you think of the second one? In my opinion, it goes from neutral, to pro-Republican, because it seems to reinforce the message that "despite the serious and widespread questions left about the recent voting process, we should realize that all this work is just solidifying that Bush is your legitimate leader, there's no chance that these irregularities could have helped him in a significant way... or even tipped the scales towards him, even if the many of irregularities that occurred, happened in traditionally liberal districts, like minority communities."

What's it say to you?

Posted in: Technology · Politics · Media

0 Comments

Marketing can be scary.

jake on 2004.10.19 at 04:12 pm

Coke vs. Pepsi

I've never really had a preference in the whole Coke vs. Pepsi battle. I pretty much grab whatever is available. And if both are available I grab Dr. Pepper. Apparently the general populace has a much harder time with this whole decision. And after scientists tested with a sample of both Pepsi and Coke drinkers they found they could predict by mapping the brain beforehand.

Simply looking at a person's brain scan, the scientists were able to predict which soft drink the individual concerned was likely to prefer. "We were stunned by how easy this was," Dr Montague said.

This all apparently has something to do with brand recognition.

When asked to taste blind, they showed no preference. However, when the participants were shown company logos before they drank, the Coke label, the more famous of the two, had a dramatic impact: three-quarters of the tasters declared they preferred Coke.

From: Blues News

Posted in: Science · Media

0 Comments

Doctrow on DRM

brian on 2004.06.18 at 12:35 am

Cory Doctrow had the unique opportunity to go to Microsoft and give a lecture telling them that DRM is bad. Everything that they were investing millions in is wrong. You should go read the text of his speech. It's brilliant. If M$ breaks down the gate, everyone else can follow, and evolution can get past its current copyright stumbling block.

Posted in: Technology · Media

0 Comments

O'Franken Factor

brian on 2004.06.01 at 01:57 pm

Today is the first time I've listened to The O'Franken Factor, on AirAmerica, an answer to the right-wing view point that rules AM Radio (and FM-Talk, as the genre now has some FM stations). Oddly enough, Franken's show doesn't play in the Boston market. Isn't Boston a "liberal haven?" The capital of "Taxachusetts?" Oddly enough, the local talk radio landscape is made up of 96.9 Right-wing Talk (they do get points for carrying Imus, however), and WBUR, one of the local NPR affiliates (which contrary to some opinion, is not a liberal power. They do host Boston-based Car Talk, however.)

As expected, the show is entertaining. Even if you're not liberal, it's fun because Franken is funny. You can tune in at airamericaradio.com, using the Real Player, even if it doesn't play on your local airwaves. Got to love the internet. Well, there's something that could get better... it could be QuickTime. ;-) Actually, the quality has been very good, the best experience I've had with Real products. Also, if you have satellite radio, AirAmerica plays on both XM and Sirius networks, or soon, the audio will be on Dish Network's digital music selection.

Posted in: Media

1 Comments

The Worst Kind of Propaganda

brian on 2004.02.27 at 12:45 am

Bush Backs New Terrorism TV Series.

...government agencies have rallied their resources and support behind the vision of DHS--The Series, including President G. W. Bush and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, who both endorse and contribute sound bites to the introductions of the series."

When asked to elaborate on Bush and Ridge's involvement, show representatives told E! Online, "They love it. They think it is fantastic,"

Posted in: Politics · Television · Media

0 Comments

The Media are Always Right

brian on 2004.02.24 at 12:29 pm

We Have the Power (via Matthew Gross, from CQ)

Establishment Media
WE HAVE THE POWER
Dean Press Corps 2004
— T-Shirt given to Dr. Dean by the Press Corp

"You certainly do have the power" — Dean, same day, as they gave him the T-shirt.

Posted in: Politics · Media

0 Comments

TiVO To Go Feedback

brian on 2004.02.23 at 11:37 pm

TiVo wants to know what you want. This is a great chance to feedback on the future of the TiVo. Remember ask for extra-special Mac support! The basis of the research is the possibility of transferring video to and from your PC to your TiVo, including DVD recording. It would involve a physical key (USB dongle) to allow play back on non-TiVO devices. They also ask about if you'd like to edit your video.

What did I want? Here's a summary of the stuff I suggested in the free-form sections...

• First, I want to be able to edit any video with iMovie, and be able to burn through iDVD.
• TiVOToGo must respect me, and not treat me like a criminal. I want to use my media, and have 100% control.
• Standard formats! Steer clear of proprietary. MPEG & DV formats. (MPEG 4, specifically-- this would also address the lack off AAC support in the Home Media Option). Open source stuff would be cool, too.
• Network enabling is important. I would want to be able to stream across a home network (802.11g should have enough bandwidth, if the video is compressed in MPEG4). I would LOVE to stream video from my TiVO across the internet. Watch something while I'm on lunch at work, you know, make the Digital Media Server, an actual server.

Go put in your two cents.

Posted in: Technology · Media

0 Comments

Grey Tuesday

brian on 2004.02.19 at 10:08 pm

If you haven't heard, the biggest thing in Hip Hop right now is "The Grey Album," a remix of Jay-Z's "The Black Album" a cappella vocals over top of DJ Danger Mouse's amazing remix of The Beatles (yes, The Beatles) "The White Album." I finally found the work last night and downloaded it. Very interesting, even if Hip Hop isn't your main genre.

Now, you'll notice that I downloaded it, and didn't buy it. That's because I can't buy it, it's not for sale. It's a free work of art. That works like this: Jay-Z and his producers decided to release a version of his final album, with out any of the instrumentals, allowing others to remix the work. Since that, there have been a few notable releases, for example, "The Brown Album," which remixes Jay over top of jazz samples. I hear its very good (its next on my find list).

DJ DangerMouse wanted to remix Jay-Z, using nothing but samples derived from perhaps the most famous album of all time. What you may not know is that now a days, you must pay a royalty to anyone you sample in a remix or Hip Hop tune. A far cry from the early, ground breaking work of the Beastie Boys in "Paul's Boutique." Such an album simply could not be made today, as the licensing fees would be astronomical. This is why "The Grey Album" was released on the Internet, without any direct benefit to DJ DM. He couldn't possibly afford to license those samples, so he didn't attempt to make a profit from it. It's not unlike a band playing a cover tune. An example, if the Dave Matthews Band plays "All Along the Watchtower" by Bob Dylan in concert, they don't have to pay a royalty (in my understanding) since they're not advertising that they're playing someone else's music, and are only covering one of his songs. This isn't the sole reason, or even a major fact as to why someone would buy a ticket to see them play. Hence, they don't owe a royalty. However, if they want to include that same song on their latest live album, the same song would need to have royalties since the album is selling his song as part of the advertised product.

Now in this case, DJ DM isn't making any money (he's certainly upping his recognition, though, but he could have done that by covering Ricky Martin in an American Idol audition, too, while not paying a royalty) on the work of The Beatles. He is doing a few other things, that have positive economic benefits. First of all, I don't know of many Hip Hop fans who regularly listen to the Beatles. This promotes their work in a less penetrated market, makes them current to a younger generation. Secondly, it spreads the work of Jay-Z to people who might not have even bought (or even listened to) any Jay-Z album, who simply can't believe, and must listen for themselves to, a Hip Hop album built masterfully upon a rock 'n' roll standard.

I find myself in the second group. I've always felt that Jay Z was a talented lyricist, although I don't necessarily care much for boastfulness, so I never invested much in him as an artist, per se. I had respect for him as a performer. Now, having listened to his words, I now know he has something to say (along side the token "bitches" and "ho's" "playas" "coca" "hustlers" etc.) , and I very well may invest in some of his work, most of all, ""The Black Album," since I now want to hear the original. I want to know what the hell HOVA stands for (yeah, I've heard the song, but I never listened closely enough to know that it serves as an AKA for him).

Why do we still listen to the music of the 1600's, 1800's? Because the music of Beethoven, Bach, Holst lives on because its constantly replayed and reinterpreted by modern orchestras and conductors. "Borrowing from another artwork--as jazz musicians did in the 1930s and Looney Tunes illustrators did in 1940s--will now land you in court." (quote from Illegal Art's site) However, most things in the 1900s will not receive the same immortality. They will perish due to the fatal repression of today's constrictive copyright. Most artists get their inspiration from other artists. A classic quote is "Good Artists Borrow, Great Artists Steal."

The Grey Album is great art.

EMI is cracking down on the free distribution of this work. Grey Tuesday is a day of civil disobedience, February 24, 2004, where many websites will ban together to distribute the album in a sign of solidarity against short-sighted, artistically-asphyxiating copyrights. Join in. Get your copy at (aptly named) Illegal Art. Enjoy. Support art. Support artistic freedom.

Posted in: Music · Media

0 Comments

ESPN Reporter Goes GaGa in interview of Stefan Lessard

brian on 2004.01.28 at 11:32 am

ESPN (uh, EXPN, for eXtreme! sports! EXTREME!!) reporter Mary Buckheit goes crazy when she meets Stefan Lessard, bassist for the Dave Matthews Band at the Winter X-Games. Not a bad article once you sort through they 'teenaged-girl-meets-hunky-hero-star' junk.

[PS- Stefan loves his iPod and the iTunes Music Store...]

Posted in: Music · Media · Web

0 Comments

Feedback on CNN's NH Primary Coverage

brian on 2004.01.28 at 12:04 am

To wolf@cnn.com

To the point: wow, Bob Novak is a moron. Dean, dead? Well, gee, wasn't it two weeks ago that Kerry was dead? Yeah, you guys are brilliant. How about less "commentary" and "analysis," which are really "biased opinion" (Novak, as a hard-core conservative sounds like he's writing Dean's epitaph since he's scared of him, and wants to convince Dems to defeat their strongest fighter. That way he'll continue to get tips from inside the White House so he can out more CIA operatives and endanger their lives and those of the Americans they work for. All while upping Novak's personal standing and perhaps wealth. )

Weak.

How about some more news? The candidates in their own words, not sound bites? How about investigating their claims, reporting facts? How did you guys let Bush off the hook for going AWOL from the Texas Air National Guard, but even tonight keep playing the Dean Scream? Is this Fair and Balanced? In the Fox News sense, absolutely. The "scream" is not pertinent. It's not news. You're skipping things that actually matter to Americans, and cramming junk down their throats.

I'm happy for myself, since you're junk news reporting during the primaries turned me on to CSPAN. However, since most people don't even know what CSPAN is, I am scared for the future of America that only knows its news through your distorted lens. You've lost this viewer. And I tell all my friends.

Brian Christiansen

Brookline, MA

[weblog note: I sent this right before posting it here. I don't feel like annotating it, in typical weblog style. It's likely all things you've seen before.]

Posted in: Politics · Television · Media

0 Comments

O'Reilly vs. NPR

brian on 2003.10.08 at 09:54 pm

Bill O’Reilly has a new book out. He did an interview with Terry Gross of NPR’s Fresh Air to promote it. NPR has posted the entire, uncut interview on their site (WindowsMedia format). O’Reilly is claiming the interviewer attacked him, while weeks ago when she interviewed Al Franken (who wrote a satirical book taking figures like O’Reilly to task) she didn’t attack him.

Well I listened to the entire interview, which O’Reilly claims is just another case of the liberal media’s bias, and I fail to see her attacks. She asked interesting questions about his personal beliefs about religion and state relations, Vietnam, his relations with his father, the environment, and other topics. Granted, she certainly doesn’t give him a free pass, nor did she attempt to sell his book, but I thought the interview was actually very good. While Gross took a congenial tone the entire time, O’Reilly assumed his typical rottweiler tone, even on the most straight forward questions, acting as if you don’t see things his way, then you are quite plainly a “pinhead.” O’Reilly’s childish antics ended the interview early, by taking his toys and going home. These can be heard past the 38 minute mark.

O’Reilly got super defensive when Gross attempted to read an excerpt of a review of O’Reilly’s book that O’Reilly didn’t favor. This lead to his accusations of being attacked. Anything that disagrees with O’Reilly is a personal attack against him, which is “what’s wrong with this country” and you will be then labeled a “pinhead” on his show the next day. Oh, the irony. He really has no idea…

By the way, only paying members can comment on O’Reilly’s site. that should ensure no dissenting opinions nicely. Sounds “fair and balanced” to me.

Posted in: Politics · Media

0 Comments

BBC grasps the potential of the net

brian on 2003.08.25 at 09:55 pm

In an announcement that hopefully will influence the future of the Internet in all nations, the BBC has announced its intent to release all of its media holdings, online, free for private use. Let's hope everyone else catches on.

Posted in: Media · Web

0 Comments

PBS: Lessig v. RIAA, interpretations

brian on 2003.06.13 at 11:55 pm

PBS Online has an excellent piece with Prof. Lawrence Lessig and the RIAA's Matt Oppenheim going to back and forth to answer tough questions on copyright, DCMA, fair-use, P2P, and the like. Very informative. The RIAA, while still obviously more interested in profit versus progress, sounds the most level headed I've ever heard it.

Posted in: Technology · Music · Politics · Media · Web

0 Comments

Eldred Legislation: Public Domain Enhancement Act

brian on 2003.06.03 at 11:10 pm

Lessig and Eldred are working on getting legislation, Public Domain Enhancement Act, passed in Congress allowing people and companies to extend copyrights for $1, if they choose. Others may let them lapse, to enrich the public domain. Here's a petition Lessig has started...

If I were to email this to you, it'd look like this:

Dear Friends,

I have just read and signed the online petition:

"Reclaim the Public Domain"

hosted on the web by PetitionOnline.com, the free online petition
service, at:

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/eldred/

I personally agree with what this petition says, and I think you might agree, too. If you can spare a moment, please take a look, and consider signing yourself.

Posted in: Politics · Media

0 Comments

FCC does it anyway

brian on 2003.06.02 at 10:30 pm

Today, as expected, the FCC went ahead with its changes to media conglomeration rules, against bipartisan objection. Now it's up to the Congress to do something, as this is the American public's only recourse.

Washington Post's Story.

Dan Gilmor's Take.

Posted in: Politics · Television · Media

0 Comments