According to an article in the Independent, maybe. Recent losses posted by economic powerhouses like Sony and Panasonic bring the point home. And Apple is upending practically all of the rules with products like the iPhone (which isn’t popular in Japan, but changed the landscape everywhere else.), and many of Japan’s neighbours are catching up with better and cheaper hardware.
Wired has a few really interesting articles about how the current econopocalyopse is actually a great opportunity for small, agile companies who don’t rely on the industrial processes of yesteryear. And there’s no better example than Detroit, which has clearly hit a wall and needs to reach out and innovate immediately if it wants to survive.
Which basically boils down to “everyone, anywhere, is now a publisher.” That sounds simple, but it’s actually a radical reconfiguration of our culture, as well as a widening of the funnel that allows ideas, memes and progress to propagate. Of course, you’ve got to choke down some idiocy while you’re at it, but that’s small potatoes considering the printing press split the Catholic Church down the middle and probably caused its fair share of wars.
“The Unquiet Dead” was the episode next in line for commentary, but the intrepid investigations of the Three Who Rule have discovered a hidden message within this tale of Dickens, aliens, and reanimated corpses. Yes, it seems Russel T. Davies sees fit to force his sick preferences for matter in neither solid or liquid but gaseous(!) form down the throats of the public. Well, not on our watch, dear listener. What’s next, marriage between a glass of water and a pineapple? The mind boggles.
Yes, an infomercial for a Mac Performa. With 8 (count ‘em!) megs of RAM! Scary that my iPhone is a quantum leap in capability compared to this brick. And in actual fact, an iPhone is also many times more powerful than a Cray supercomputer of yesteryear.
There was no, repeat no news this week, save a couple of tidbit that were quite spoilery and best left to rot unless confirmed correct. Added to that was RFS dilettante “The Third Guy” was off at an event in Manchester called “Who at the Fab Cafe” (sounds made up). But while Chris had an imaginary good time, it was up to Steven, Warren and Katrina to pick up the slack and give their thoughts and opinions on “The End of the World”.
direct download: rfs139.mp3
Ok, these cats are pretty danged geeky, but how can you not like the enthused do-goodery of Shadow Hare? (Plus the cop cracking up at the 1:30 mark is pretty priceless).
I was contacted out of the blue a little while ago about a show called The Stagers on HGTV. The powers-that-be had read Freyburg.com (yes, I was as surprised as you are), and asked me if I’d be interested in posting something about the show. Being the gearhead that I am, I wanted to know what kind of cameras and editing equipment were used on a reality show, what the workflow is for cutting this sort of program, and how one goes about writing a reality series. You might say “but Freyburg? This isn’t your usual Watchmen/Apple/Obama rant!” and you’d be right. But I figure it doesn’t hurt to find out how a show I normally wouldn’t know anything about gets made, if for no other reason than the fact that it shows how any show can get made, and certain aspects of production can be adapted to more DV Rebel pursuits.
