Freyburg

…is the title of my latest article over at Mac | Life. It’s already getting some vigorous debate from Flash defenders and detractors, so join in with your two cents, wouldya?.

Wired Magazine has an interesting profile of the developers who created Google’s Chrome browser, an attempt by the search megalith to crush IE and revamp the way we access the web. Do we need another browser? I’d say no, since Firefox does pretty much anything I need but what the hell do I know? Here’s some thoughts about Chrome from the rest of the web, and it looks like Chrome is the next step towards a Google OS.

An interesting breakdown of the content, people and weirdness of YouTube. Haven’t watched all of it yet, but I hope the lecturer gets into the rank stupidity of most of the commenters.

After checking out the english version of Al Jazeera has some decent viewing in the form of podcasts of its more popular shows, like Listening Post and Riz Khan. I’ve noticed that a bunch of the on-air talent are former BBC (and other British media) staffers, and their programming is generally as thorough as the Beeb’s better news shows (and of course way better than most American news programs.) Worth checking out, fellow news addicts.

Something’s been bugging me for the last little while about the amatuerization of media. While you probably won’t find a bigger proponent of the democratization of tools for creating media and distribution methods than myself, and while there’s never been a better time for someone with an idea and a camcorder to go out and make media, it’s pretty disappointing to me that what catches on with the general public isn’t thoughtful or unique creations but gossip and nonsense. Witness the rise of Perez Hilton, chronicled in the latest issue of Wired. Hilton’s blogging consists of mindless gossip wrapped in an infantile bow of terrible writing, and yet his site makes on the order of 50k a day in advertising. And Julia Allison’s Nonsociety is about…what, exactly? Nothing but navel-gazing and the craven pursuit of fame for fame’s sake.

But we can’t blame vain, shallow people for being who they are. It’s our own damn fault for falling prey to the same craven impulses they wallow in and enabling them. For further spite and bile, check out this Huffington Post article about female New York bloggers, and how they’re cheating themselves by writing about superficial nonsense and staring at their own reflection.

Well, what they really did was take a different poll about web microcelebrity and turn it around to focus on the negative results. Unsurprisingly, attention sponge Julia Allison ranked first, with her former boyfriend Jacob Lodwick close behind. I’d agree with the placement of most of the other people on the list, including Scoble and iJustine, though I dunno what Veronica Belmont ever did to anyone to raise such ire. Ditto for Tron Guy; I’ve heard that anyone who’s met him in person comes away amazed at how pleasant he is…despite the wacky outfit.

This one’s about the iPhone Underground.

Digg, along with its scrappy competitor Reddit, is an interesting idea that has one fundamental flaw; it’s driven by idiots. The whole idea behind Digg is that the users vote on what news is important. That’s fine in theory, but in practice you get a lot of dumb links to dumb things, such as the endless Ron Paul links that festooned Digg’s front page months ago, despite Paul not having a chance in hell of securing the Republican nomination.

Polymeme aims to avoid that trap. The service tracks buzz, but shapes the result into something somewhat more intellectually pleasing than Digg. I’m intrigued, and I’ll keep checking it out for now.

The great thing about Web video is that with the tumbling cost of hardware, software and distribution, anyone can make a video. But practically no-one is making a buck at it, if this story in the San Francisco Chronicle is to be believed. In fact, many web video creators are using their work as a calling card to get into the TV and film industry, where there are still paychecks to be had. Makes sense, and that’s why I work in mainstream media and do web stuff on the side….I try to do the web stuff for fun and my own education, and if it helps further my career in one direction or another, so much the better.

Here’s some video from the House of Parliament where Jim Prentice, the Minister of Industry and the main force behind the pending copyright atrocity known as Bill C61 gets smacked a good one.

And here’s a link to an interview from Search Engine, CBC’s internet culture show, where Prentice fails to defend C61 and hangs up on the host.

By the way, Search Engine will not be back in September. As usual, the CBC has produced something of value and decided not to do anything with it. Clap clap…clap. Here’s some reaction from blogs and the Globe and Mail.