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Media Usage
Bridging the Divide::Kudos to Telcos for Bringing DSL to Masses
A few years back, I angrily canceled my DSL and local telephone service with SBC after their horrible customer service and slamming technique drove me away. I likely muttered something like this under my breath: "Hell will freeze over before I'll say something positive about telephone companies." Consider it frozen. After poring over the numbers from the latest survey...
more »Digging Deeper
Digging Deeper::Chinese Entrepreneur Downplays Censorship Problem in China
When Google launched its web search engine in China, and admitted having to censor search results, we made a big stink about it here in the U.S. And when Microsoft admitted to censoring its MSN Spaces blogs in China, we made a big stink about it. And when any American technology company was found to have collaborated with the...
more »BookShift
Your Take Roundup::Books Don't Need Digital Reinvention, But...
The promise of digital books or e-books or the universal library is that we can have all the books ever printed available on any device to read. While it's an idea that sounds good in theory, many of you were skeptical that the good old book really needs to be reinvented, scanned and put onto an electronic device. Perhaps...
more »Your Take
With the Memorial Day weekend upon us in the States, and summer around the corner, this is a time when we typically take vacations and unplug from the work world when possible. But with always-on technology around nearly every bend, are we always getting away from technology when we take vacations? Maybe it's time for us to really unplug and...
more »Media Usage
Screen Babies::What Do Kids Lose, Gain from Screen Time?
It's easy to get angry and self-righteous when hearing the results of a study like the recent one from the Kaiser Family Foundation about young kids' media usage. The facts come spewing off your tongue as if you're a preacher in a room full of sinners: 61% of babies aged 1 year or younger watch screen media (TV, videos,...
more »World View
Digging Deeper::Blogs, Wiki, Google Bomb Used to Free Egyptian Activist
Last August, when I was working on a story for Online Journalism Review about activists using technology to organize protests in Egypt, I made the mistake of focusing too much on blogs. One of the people I interviewed, Alaa Abd El Fattah, was quick to pounce on me for asking about blogs and only blogs, when Egyptians were using...
more »Legal Drama
Sock Puppetry::Are Blog Commenters Paid in Net Neutrality Debate?
When I posed a question to my readers on March 31 -- Should the government regulate Net neutrality? -- I was surprised to see how many readers opposed Net neutrality regulation. In the Your Take Roundup the following week, I even headlined it, "People Wary of Government in Net Neutrality Debate." Now word is spreading through the blogosphere that...
more »Your Take Roundup
Your Take Roundup::YouTube Just the Start for Video Sharing
It's easy to lose yourself in all the video at YouTube. You watch one music video, which leads to a spoof video, which leads to a stupid pet trick, which leads...who knows where. Before you know it, it's time to leave work. Free time just evaporates when you're immersed in a viral video site like YouTube or iFilm, where...
more »Your Take
Should books be reinvented in a digital format?
Books are the oldest of the old media. So for a number of years, people have been dreaming of ways to update books for the Digital Age, from special portable displays to e-ink. But there's something simple about books that's hard to top -- the words printed on paper, the small form factor, the ease of borrowing and reselling them....
more »Satellite Radio
RIAAin't::Lawsuits Will Not Win Digital Music War
The music and film industries have control issues. For decades, they have been the ones in control. They have told us -- the listeners and viewers -- when and where we can consume their products. They have dictated the terms. Then along came digital technology, and those businesses lost control to technology companies and the people who could now...
more »Guides
Digging Deeper::Your Guide to Blogging
From time to time, I'm going to try to give an overview of one broad new-media topic, annotated with online resources and plenty of tips. The idea is to help you understand the topic, learn the jargon, and hopefully consider participating in some way -- even if it's all new to you. The first topic is the one I'm...
more »Open Source Reporting
Open Source Reporting::Living Your Life Online Has Benefits
Back in late March, I detailed some of the ways that computers and the Internet had changed my life. I use Google News to check breaking news. I use online services such as Evite to organize face-to-face activities. I communicate with more people through email than by phone or in person. I buy gifts online. Then I asked you...
more »MusicShift
Your Take Roundup::Do-It-Yourself Ways to Find Good Music
Just as the Internet and technology have changed the way people get their news, the same can be said about finding good music. At one time in our unconnected, non-Internet past, we had to listen closely to the radio, studiously writing down artist names and song titles, and then going in search of the music at local record stores...
more »Your Take
What do you think about YouTube and other video sharing sites?
Viral video sites seem to be multiplying like rabbits these days. The idea is that you can upload your digital video to show the world, then people can watch them, comment on them, email them to friends, and spoof them. The most popular of these sites is YouTube, with the motto "Broadcast Yourself." YouTube says it serves up 40 million...
more »MovieShift
Early Opt-Out'er::Why I Cancelled Netflix
Sometimes I'm not the earliest adopter of new technology trends. I got a cell phone much later than my friends. I got Windows 98 in the year 2000. I got a DVD player only a few years ago, and only recently got a digital video recorder (DVR). But perhaps I can be an "early opt-out'er," a person who's early...
more »Digging Deeper
Digging Deeper::Reuters Looks to Provide 'Spine of Truth' to Blogosphere
In the brave new world of citizen media -- with bloggers, podcasters and video journalists doing it themselves -- what role does the musty old wire service play? An important one, if it can stay relevant, honest and transparent. Because if you eliminate the tell-it-like-it-is wire stories from the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France Presse, it's very difficult...
more »Your Take Roundup
Your Take Roundup::Newspapers Are Far From Dead
When I was in London last week, I saw just how connected the populace was in the teeming, multi-cultural city. Everywhere I walked, people were listening to iPods or talking on cell phones or texting their friends. Even San Francisco, where I live, doesn't measure up to the way Londoners are plugged in. But when I went down to...
more »Your Take
How do you find out about good music?
It used to be that we relied on commercial radio to hear new music by artists we like. But with stale formats and ever-more advertisements, FM radio is losing its allure. Now we can subscribe to and download podcasts or listen to millions of Internet radio stations or pay for satellite radio. Amazon and other online stores suggest artists based...
more »Live from London::We Media's World Tour from Reuters
LONDON -- First, the good news. I can report that the halls of the We Media conference were buzzing today with people slagging the overproduced Big Media lovefest at the BBC yesterday, and heaping praise on the second day's global focus and more intimate setting at Reuters' headquarters in Canary Wharf on the east side of London. Today, the...
more »Citizen Journalism
Live from London::We Media, Me Too Media and Them Media
LONDON -- It's exciting to be in a room -- well, actually a glitzy BBC TV studio -- with a group of top media executives, consultants, think-tankers and gadflys for a day of discussion about We Media or citizen journalism. Much of the discussion was about how Big Media is embracing the new democratization of media online with citizen-shot...
more »Live from London::Which Media Do You Trust?
LONDON -- I am your on-the-scene correspondent this week from London, where I am currently in a BBC TV studio listening to various people discuss citizen journalism at the We Media Forum. The conference bills itself thusly: "No ordinary conference, We Media is about how we create a better-informed society by collaborating with one another." The big news early...
more »Digging Deeper
Digging Deeper::'I Want Media' Site Awash in Digital News
I recently got an email newsletter from the I Want Media site, and nearly every single story highlighted was related in some way to technology and the Internet disrupting the traditional media business. I Want Media is mainly an aggregator of media business news -- meaning it points to and summarizes articles from other sites. The stories are broken...
more »DVR
Cool Factor::Slingbox Lets You Place-Shift Your TV
With some gadgets, there's a "wow" factor that you can milk with each person you encounter. But when the "wow"s wear off, you're sitting there with a device that doesn't always have an everyday purpose. That's my feeling with the Slingbox, a cool device that lets you watch your home TV -- including your TiVo or digital video recorder...
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