I am used to my stuff being stolen, not that I like it—ideas, analyses, blog posts and news stories. Probably my Flickr photos frequently get lifted, too. I’m no great shakes photographer, so it pains but a little. The writing hurts more. But for good photographers like Thomas Hawk, Flickr theft is a bigger deal. Some people see Creative Commons, even All Rights Reserved, as license to steal; if it’s on the Web and freely available, it must be free.
This morning I tweeted: “I put Beatles albums in my daughter’s iTunes library years ago. Suddenly, now that Beatles are top iTunes downloads, she’s listening.” That succinctly explains what The Beatles get from the exclusive distribution deal with Apple. There are millions of Millennials who aren’t acquainted with Beatles music, and they might never be with their parents listening to it. But everything changes if their friends are Beatling.
On Nov. 19, 2010, the Economist released mobile apps for iPad and iPhone. I received email notification the same day and new print issue with info about the apps a few hours later. Economist charges one fee to subscribers. My print subscription provides access to online content and now to the mobile apps. That’s exactly the right approach. So why are so many other publishers doing digital wrong?
Big business plays the kind of blame game that makes four year-olds crying “He made me do it!” seemingly mature. So, I’m not surprised that yesterday before the US Senate Committee on Banking, House & Urban Affairs, Bank of America’s Barbara Desoer blamed investors for the financial institution’s inability to modify more mortgages. It’s not her fault!—she claims. She makes a strange distinction between investors and shareholders, in the process casting blame as misdirection from a much larger problem: Banks and other lenders mishandling mortgage/foreclosure paperwork.
If you’re one of those offensive people who talk on the cell phone in bathrooms—particularly public loos—your behavior stinks more than your poop. There may not be more appropriate place to assert that you’re on my shit list, bud. Bathroom phone calling is bad etiquette by just about any measure.
I cringe when walking by a public toilet stall and hearing someone talking into their cell phone. I’ve heard men taking what clearly are business calls. Oh, please! I’d fire your ass, for sitting it on the toilet seat and talking to me (your client or boss). Could toilet talking be the real reason for noise-cancelling cell phones or Bluetooth earpieces? Surely someone will hear you doing your toilet business—or that of the person in the next stall—while you’re taking the call.
On Friday, Keith Olbermann essentially got the boot from MSNBC for making three undisclosed political contributions—or that’s how I interpret suspended without pay. The donations violated MSNBC policies designed to prevent any apparent (or even actual) conflict of interest. For someone who does cover politics (Hey, wasn’t that Keith headlining election-night coverage?), it’s not unreasonable that there be no apparent bias.
The National Geographic post “Halloween Costume Pictures: Spooky Styles a Century Ago” inspired my own photo essay. National Geo credits the first image “photograph copyright DaZo Vintage Stock Photos, Images.com, Corbis”. The other images also […]
The Wall Street Journal‘s number of the week is startling. “107: How many months it would take to sell banks’ current and shadow inventory of foreclosed homes.” If Journal reporter Mark Whitehouse is right, banks will need 9 years to clear their foreclosure inventory. But I wonder. Could it be longer?
My answer is yes. Artificially created debt is cholesterol clogging the arteries of consumer spending. The economy that created the debt is gone. Only by surgically removing debt can Americans freely spend, thus pumping fresh blood to the heart of the U.S. economy. But, hey, I’m no economist, although in 2005 I rightly predicted the housing bubble’s collapse and much of the aftermath. Surely such insight is worth something.
On Friday, I wrote a review of “The Social Network“. Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig did one better for The New Republic: “Sorkin vs. Zuckerberg—‘The Social Network’ is wonderful entertainment, but its message is actually kind of evil“. Lawrence is insightful as always, although he expects too much of the film’s writer and director. Nevertheless, he makes spot-on observations about what Facebook represents for future entrepreneurs like co-founder Mark Zuckerberg. The film is seemingly a morality tale about moral ambiguity. What’s lost is Zuckerberg’s ingenuity and the network that allowed it to flourish.
Earlier today, Michael Gartenberg, my boss from when we both worked at JupiterResearch, retweeted Pete Bernard’s “development goodness,” which linked to Sam Jarawan post “Why I love Windows Phone 7 Development.” Somebody has got to save the world from all this goodness.
What a simply smart idea—set up outside the grocery store and collect food donations for the needy. September 5, 2010, I spotted Mama’s Pantry in front of Ralph’s supermarket in San Diego, Calif.’s Hillcrest neighborhood. on. The concept of fundraising food shoppers is so mind-boggling sensible, it’s stunning more charities don’t go to the food source—the local market.