I have mixed but mostly favorable feelings about living downtown (ie. it has a few problems, but compared to living in the ‘burbs it’s paradise) but I do appreciate a fine, vitriol filled rant, and this one from local blog Alienated in Vancouver certainly fits the bill.
Quite possibly, at least in the realm of newspapers, where advertising revenue is plummeting and operating costs are rising. Businessweek points to the San Francisco Chronicle as a possible candidate for ending its print run and moving entirely online. And Print is Dead, a blog that chronicles the move from dead trees to screens,weighs in with its two cents.
Personally, I think we’re a ways off from moving everything online, despite the savings. Free dailies exist for commuters, and probably wouldn’t work in electronic form. And as of yet, there’s no decent portable e-reader (though with a few tweaks the iPhone could be that device.) Eventually I think a majority of print will move online exclusively, but as it stands we’re in a sort of limbo, much like the music industry is regarding downloads.
Well, that’s a debatable point, as a lot of net.tv is just someone talking with a bluescreen background, which reminds me more of the glory years of cable TV (which I am somewhat familiar with, having worked at an Edmonton cable station in the mid-’90’s) than anything poised to take the mantle from the big networks. Still, it’s a brave new world where anyone can produce their own television show, about anything they want, and distribute it worldwide for virtually no cost.
We’ve even run into this phenomenon ourselves with Radio Free Skaro, our podcast. Even though we cover a pretty esoteric subject (Dr Who), we’ve managed to pull in about 200 listeners per episode, and unlike television, they can and do contact us directly with praise, suggestions and assistance. Give it a couple of years, and there’ll be ways to make a few dollars at this stuff. Take that, Andrew Keen!
I’d wager that’s an almost impossible (hypothetical) state of affairs, but sci-fi author Charlie Stross gives it his best shot.
Peter Galbraith, former U.S.. diplomat and son of economic genius John Kenneth Galbraith, has written a long and well thought out essay on why the war in Iraq is over (hint: it involves the US losing.) His dad, who essentially ran the U.S. economy during World War 2, holds much the same opinion of Bush & Co.
Loopy, out of date and simply inappropriate album covers are the gift that keeps on giving. Now there’s a blog devoted solely to said albums, and the madness (NSFW) is simply hypnotizing.
With precious little in the way of new Dr. Who to chew over, Warren and Steven seize upon the fortuitously named episode #42 of this fine podcast to genuflect on Douglas Adams, not only in regards to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy but also his contributions to Dr Who to computer gaming and to pioneering work on what would become the World Wide Web. Stay hoopy, and don’t forget your towel!(feed, web, direct download)
Form Alternet, admittedly a pretty lefty source, here’s one journalist’s account of a cruise ship jaunt courtesy of the National Review. The outrageous nonsense neocons spew when they don’t think the “reality-based” community is listening has to be heard to be believed but amongst the highlights are the general consensus that the war in Iraq has been a success and that global warming doesn’t exist. Clap..clap……clap.
We can’t do the podcast tonight, but rest assured we haven’t forgotten about you, dear listeners. We plan to get some Douglas Adams/Who talk going tomorrow night, but bear with us.
The Wall Street Journal takes some time out from heavy tycoon coverage to remind us that blogs are now 10 years old. For some reason they ask the likes of geriatric wordsmith Tom Wolfe what he thinks about blogs, but it’s an interesting article nonetheless. And in related musings, Om Malik has an interesting article about the influence of blogs called “The Rise of the Immediate Media.“