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Mon, 22 Apr 2013 00:48:15 +0100

Moonpie was taken: Tech Companies are Developing TV’s that Watch You

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 04:55:07 +0000

Moonpie was taken: Tech Companies are Developing TV’s that Watch You:

Verizon Files Patent for Creepy Device To Watch You While You Watch TV

Picture this: You’re having an argument with your partner while watching television, and suddenly an advertisement comes on for marriage counseling. Or maybe you’re doing some weightlifting while a…

(via The Media Blog: Newspapers and a changing audience)

Mon, 09 May 2011 09:10:30 +0100

(via The Media Blog: Newspapers and a changing audience)

Spotify takes on iTunes

Wed, 04 May 2011 09:59:56 +0100

Spotify takes on iTunes:

A significant update of the Spotify player sees it take on iTunes to become the user’s primary digital music management and download tool.

Through a new ‘devices’ tool in the Spotify client sidebar, users can now manage their iPod collection via the player (rather than via iTunes), syncing all their downloads.

The updated software will scan a user’s digital music collection on their iPod when it is plugged in and import all tracks on it (from their hard drive) into the Spotify player.

Tied into this is a push towards consumers buying MP3s and discounts being offered for multiple track playlist-based purchases with a single-click buying option within the player. Users can buy 10 tracks from £7.99, 15 tracks for £9.99, 40 tracks for £25 and 100 tracks for £50.

To do this, Spotify has built its own download store and struck direct deals with the labels and aggregators. The download option was previously handled by 7digital, but this has now been taken in house.

A Spotify spokesperson told Music Week, “7digital has been a great partner for the past year and a half. However, in order for us to launch a fully-rounded user experience we need to manage the entire process including the download service.”

Spotify has placed playlist creation and sharing as a key part of its appeal but much of that activity has taken place through third-party sites such as ShareMyPlaylists. This move now sees the company look to monetise playlists as well as open a new revenue source for users on the free tier.

Previously the Spotify smartphone app could only be activated by Premium users to synch playlists over Wi-Fi but updated Android and iPhone apps will allow all users - including those on the free tier - to purchase MP3 playlists and wirelessly add them to their devices. The hope, clearly, is that all users (free and premium) will come to regard Spotify as their default digital music player rather than something that sits alongside the dominant iTunes player.

Spotify CEO and co-founder Daniel Ek said, “From today, Spotify really is the only music player you’ll ever need. Our users don’t want to have to switch between music players, but they do want to take their playlists with them wherever they go, on a wider range of devices, more simply and at a price they can afford. Now we’ve made that possible on one of the world’s most popular consumer devices.”

This comes as Spotify cuts back the number of hours users on its free tier can access to 10 a month and as it gears up to launch in the US.

Spotify recently announced it has over 1m paying subscribers across seven European markets - equal to 15% of its active user base.

WikiLeaks cable reveals the US offered to pay $500,000 to New Zealand if New Zealand would let the US write a copyright enforcement law for its music industry:

Tue, 03 May 2011 10:21:08 +0100

WikiLeaks cable reveals the US offered to pay $500,000 to New Zealand if New Zealand would let the US write a copyright enforcement law for its music industry::

terryblakey:

Hey US Congress, please stop trying to write our laws for us, we’re all grown up people capable of governing ourselves without your help (or bribery).

"further developed types of media never replace the existing modes of media and their usage patterns...."

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 23:33:57 +0100

“further developed types of media never replace the existing modes of media and their usage patterns. Instead, a convergence takes place in their field, leading to a different way and field of use for these older forms.”

- Riepl’s law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (via iamdanw)

"In the last five years, full-fledged adults have seemingly given up the telephone — land line,..."

Sun, 20 Mar 2011 21:41:21 +0000

“In the last five years, full-fledged adults have seemingly given up the telephone — land line, mobile, voice mail and all. According to Nielsen Media, even on cellphones, voice spending has been trending downward, with text spending expected to surpass it within three years.”

- Don’t Call Me, I Won’t Call You - NYTimes.com (via ohgrowup)

"In the last five years, full-fledged adults have seemingly given up the telephone — land line,..."

Sun, 20 Mar 2011 21:41:11 +0000

The Newspaper Guild Calls for HuffPo Boycott : CJR

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 00:08:48 +0000

The Newspaper Guild Calls for HuffPo Boycott : CJR:

inadvisable:

copyeditor:

The Newspaper Guild of America, which represents 26,000 media workers across the country, has called for a strike of unpaid writers against The Huffington Post. The Guild is joining the art publication Visual Arts Source, which represents fifty artists and had also called for a boycott several weeks prior.

Well!

joelaz: The Newspaper Business Implodes, via...

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 20:54:56 +0000

joelaz:

The Newspaper Business Implodes, via BusinessInsider.com

paulbradshaw: Which Papers In The UK Are Winning The Digital...

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:46:52 +0000

paulbradshaw:

Which Papers In The UK Are Winning The Digital Revenue Race? | paidContent:UK

ebooks on borrowed time

Sun, 06 Mar 2011 22:59:06 +0000

ebooks on borrowed time:

nostrich:

Ebooks were supposed to be indestructible. Where you had disk-space, you had literature – in perpetuity. Which is bad news for publishers now deprived of that extra round of sales revenue engendered by books being dropped in baths.

HarperCollins has got wise to this: it has announced that US libraries will be allowed to lend ebooks only up to 26 times. Its sales president, Josh Marwell, believes that’s only fair: 26, he claims, is the average number of loans a print book would survive before having to be replaced. HarperCollins UK won’t rule out applying this ebook strategy to British libraries - and should it do so, it can expect a frustrated reaction. “Clearly, printed books last a lot longer than 26 loans,” says Philip Bradley, vice-president of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals.

This is the dumbest shit I have ever read. (I work for Collins — the British half of HarperCollins — incidentally, and this is far from the dumbest shit they are guilty of.)

Nokia: We depend on uninformed customers, deception preserves brand value and uncompetitive software will keep us competitive

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 21:55:57 +0000

Nokia: We depend on uninformed customers, deception preserves brand value and uncompetitive software will keep us competitive:

“Millions of consumers are oblivious to the announcements that we have made,” she said. Those consumers value Nokia’s brand, she said, and will continue to buy devices provided the company keeps making competitive products.

infoneer-pulse: Piracy once again fails to get in way of record...

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 23:28:49 +0000

infoneer-pulse:

Piracy once again fails to get in way of record box office

The movie business has—yet again—run up record numbers at the box office. In 2010, theaters around the world reported a combined total revenue of $31.8 billion, up 8 percent from 2009. While the industry certainly has its share of piracy problems, they aren’t affecting box office receipts.

Those receipts are up even as the number of people buying tickets has declined. In the US and Canadian markets, the total number of tickets sold fell by 5 percent last year, but theater owners made up for the decline by raising prices an average of 39¢. The motion picture industry would like to assure you that movies remain a very good deal.

» via ars technica

"By 1920, one journalism critic noted, there were nearly a thousand ‘bureaus of propaganda’ in..."

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 20:50:51 +0000

“By 1920, one journalism critic noted, there were nearly a thousand ‘bureaus of propaganda’ in Washington modeled on the war experience. Figures circulated among journalists that 50 percent or 60 percent of stories even in The New York Times were inspired by press agents. The new Pulitzer School of Journalism at Columbia was churning out more graduates for the PR industry than for the newspaper business. The publicity agent, philosopher John Dewey wrote in 1929, ‘is perhaps the most significant symbol of our present social life’ (Dewey, 1930: 43; Schudson, 1978: l2l–59).11”

- News & Current Affairs: Schudson on Objectivity (via paulbradshaw)

Schudson is such an irredeemable liberal.

US starts Farsi Twitter account aimed at Iranians

Sun, 13 Feb 2011 23:48:37 +0000

US starts Farsi Twitter account aimed at Iranians:

infoneer-pulse:

The U.S. State Department began sending Twitter messages in Farsi on Sunday in the hopes of reaching social media users in Iran.

On the Twitter account, USA darFarsi, the department told Iranians, “We want to join in your conversation.”

The second and third tweets were more pointed. The State Department accused Iran’s government of illegalizing dissent while praising Egyptian protesters for the same activities.

» via Yahoo! News

thedailywhat: Early Bird Special: Neil Gaiman in Dr. Download...

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 14:56:51 +0000

thedailywhat:

Early Bird Special: Neil Gaiman in Dr. Download or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Online Piracy.

[c|a.]

The Newsonomics of Mr. Murdoch's Daily

Sat, 22 Jan 2011 22:12:25 +0000

The Newsonomics of Mr. Murdoch's Daily:

So if the cost run-rate is about $15 to $18 million a year, and subscription revenues net at $7 million, News Corp. would need $8 to $11 million a year in ad revenues to break even. Certainly possible, if that 200,000 number is hit and sustained, but also a tough proposition as tablet newbies sample widely and are confronted by a world of paid choices.

modernandmaterialthings: Pew released some new data on music...

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 13:42:21 +0000

modernandmaterialthings:

Pew released some new data on music streaming and downloads. I compiled a new chart illustrating the findings. Only one-third of Internet users in America have purchased music through the Web.

Via The Society Page’s “Cyborgology”

How great is this chart? Marshall Amps are amazing.

"Google isn’t a web application company—they’re an advertising company. That’s what they do best, and..."

Sun, 09 Jan 2011 16:51:50 +0000

“Google isn’t a web application company—they’re an advertising company. That’s what they do best, and that’s what drives their company. Of Google’s $23.6 billion of revenue in 2009, all but $760 million of it was derived from advertising, and nearly 70 percent of it was from Google’s own websites.”

- Android Isn’t About Building a Mobile Platform | TightWind (via shaneguiter)