“Now the news waits for us to go get it”

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“The idea that we should just sit there and watch as someone reads the news to us is — now that we see the alternatives — quaint at best, condescending at worst. Why the hell should we ever have let Dan Rather decide what’s important to us and how we should should look at it? How did we ever tolerate listening to the news from him without taking the opportunity to talk back?”

“It’s the top-down, one-way, one-size-fits-all news-extruding machine that’s ready for the mothballs. It’s the old view of delivering the news that’s antiquated. We no longer wait for the news to come to us; now the news waits for us to go get it. We are in control.”

Jeff Jarvis on the death of the Dan Rathers of news… what should rise in their place.

SanDisk Digital Music Player

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I gave some serious thought to purchasing an iPod or similar digital audio device. But the buggers cost $300-400 and I didn’t want to pay that much. And I don’t have 10,000 mp3 files, anyway. But I have started downloading and listening to interviews from IT Conversations.

Listening to these on my laptop was somewhat limiting so I sprung for a SanDisk Digital Music Player. This little gem has 512 meg of (flash) storage and will play for 15 hours on a single AAA battery. It was on sale at Best Buy for about $120 and I can take it back if I don’t like it.

So when would you use a device like this? Today I went to see National Treasure and got there about 15 minutes before the movie began. Popped in my ear-buds and listened to the first part of a talk by Richard Florida (The Rise of the Creative Class).

It got me thinking again about this whole podcasting thing. The stuff I’m interested in will never be broadcast on a traditional radio station. Or, if it is, I’m unlikely to know about it or pick up that station. But the IT Conversations website has hundreds of hours of content that I’m very interested in. And I can go and get it whenever I want. And listen to it whenever and where ever I want.

Radio programmers have always been about trying to find the right combination of music, news, talk, whatever… that would appeal to the greatest number of people within their coverage area. Lowest common denominator. That doesn’t work for me anymore. I want to listen to what I’m interested in. When I want to listen to it. Where ever I might be. The web makes this possible.

The Trio Channel

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Last night I discovered Trio (pop, culture, tv). I’m prone to endless channel surfing so I don’t know how I’ve missed this but I happend upon “Parking Lot.”

Spawned by the classic 1980s underground film “Heavy Metal Parking Lot,” Trio travels to the parking lots and convention grounds of America’s favorite pop culture events to hear fans express their devotion. And they never show any of the performances. Just fans in the parking lot, before and after. Very weird.

I’m going to try to catch some of Trio’s “Dysfunctional Family Thanksgiving” marathon, including:

  • Almost Elvis takes you into the world of Elvis impersonators. Their daily trials and tribulations and a pilgrimage to Memphis for the “Elvis Impersonator World Championships.”
  • The Devil’s Playground follows a group of Amish teens in their Rumspringa period as they venture into the world of their ‘English’ peers.

Stalking Sheryl Crow

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On Monday Sheryl Crow gave testimony in a case against Ambrose Kappos, 38, a one-time Navy diver charged with stalking the singer during a 16-month period. At one point in Kappos’ nearly two-hour testimony, Assistant District Attorney Christopher Hill asked him if he is a “fan” of the singer. “I don’t think that’s a very good term,” Kappos replied. “Maybe … spiritual twin. … Maybe I’m crazy and delusional. Maybe they need to lock me up.” Uh, yeah. Maybe.

A more balanced, decentralized lifestyle

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“The Internet will reestablish a more balanced, decentralized lifestyle. In the physical world, you win by being big, with economies of scale in manufacturing, worldwide distribution, and branding. In the virtual world, you win by being good: Automation reduces the benefits of scale, the Internet equalizes distribution, and reputation follows from quality rather than incessantly repeated slogans. The switch from centralization to decentralization goes to the heart of the human experience. And because the switch will drive up quality, it will tend to be a force for good.” [Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox, November 22, 2004]

I no longer believe in politicians, large institutions, and organized religion…just to name a few. One thing (?) in which I believe strongly is the Internet and it’s potential for improving (saving?) mankind. I can’t make an intelligent case for that belief but Jakob Nielsen makes a good running start at it.

Tattoovertising

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TatAd will pay consumers to wear a tattoo and become walking billboard for products. The company matches people based on where they live and their lifestyle with marketers who have expressed an interest in the medium. Those selected will then be tattooed with the logo of the advertiser. The company reports 800 sign ups.

One more example of why this is such a great time to be alive. If you are even a little interested in advertising, you should check out AdRants.com

William Gibson quoting Martin Luther King

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“I call on every man and woman of good will all over America today …to take a stand on this issue. Tomorrow may be too late. The book may close. Don’t let anyone make you think that God chose America as his divine messianic force, to be a sort of policeman of the whole world. God has a way of standing before the nations with judgment, and it seems that I can hear God saying to America ‘You are too arrogant! If you don’t change your ways, I will rise up and break the backbone of your power! And I will place it in the hands of a nation that doesn’t even know my name. Be still and know that I am God.'”

— Martin Luther King, 4 April 1967 (one year before his assassination)

William Gibson on Creationism

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“Re Creationism, I must point out an unfortunate subtext that’s no longer quite so obvious. Having grown up in the previous iteration of the rural American south, I know that what *really* smarted about Darwin, down there, was the logical implication that blacks and whites are descended from a common ancestor. Butt-ugly, but there it is. That was the first objection to evolutionary theory that I ever heard, and it was a very common one, in fact the most common. That it was counter to Genesis seemed merely convenient, in the face of an anthropoid grand-uncle in the woodpile.”

Your money or your life

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My friend Sunny insists this is a true story: A man committed a series of armed robberies in Liberty (Missouri) this weekend. However one of his attempts was aborted. He went into a CiCi’s Pizza and crowded in front of a bunch of kids to tell the guy behind the counter that it was a robbery and to turn over all the money or he would be killed. The counter guy said that surely the robber wouldn’t do that in front of a bunch of kids. The would-be-robber restated that he was serious, it was a robbery and that he would kill the counter guy unless he turned over all the money. The counter guy then said, “Dude, I’m thiry-one years old and working in a pizza joint. My life can’t get any worse, so do what you have to do.” The robber left emty handed.