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Your Take Roundup
Your Take Roundup::Movie Download Services Still Need Work
While pay music downloads have been a hit with Apple's iTunes and beyond, movie download services such as Movielink and CinemaNow have been slower to catch on. The problem is that these services don't offer as much selection as a DVD service such as NetFlix, and they restrict the usage of the movie on your computer. CinemaNow, for instance,...
more »Your Take
Which RSS news reader do you use and why?
We all have different ways of keeping up with the news, whether it's international events, local sports or tidbits related to our professions. Many people use RSS feed readers regularly to quickly scan the headlines from all their favorite news sites and blogs before setting off to the specific sites to read more. I'm curious which news reader (or readers)...
more »TVShift
Sleeping With the Enemy::NBC, YouTube Cross-Promotion Off to Crass Start
When I talked to my sister yesterday, she said she had been thinking of me when she saw a report on "NBC Nightly News" about the video-sharing service, YouTube. "I thought that story might interest you, because of what you write about," she said. OK, true enough, and I had heard about the recent promotional deal between NBC Universal...
more »Digging Deeper
Digging Deeper::Blogger-Anchor Brian Williams Defends Nightly Newscasts
After countless months of blissful ignorance, I finally broke down and watched the "NBC Nightly News." OK, so it was at 10:30 pm and it was really a netcast online. I still watched what looked like the evening news. It harked back to a time, perhaps 10 years ago, when I would make sure to end my work day...
more »Your Take Roundup
Your Take Roundup::You Listen to Podcasts On Your Own Time
Perhaps the term "podcasting" isn't the best way to describe these audio shows that run the gamut from talk to music. First of all, you can listen to podcasts on your home or work computer, or on any portable MP3 player you choose and not just an Apple iPod. Plus, you can listen on your car radio with the...
more »Your Take
What type of service would motivate you to download movies?
Now that downloading music through services such as iTunes has become a common approach to buying music, I wonder what it would take to convince a skeptical public to download movies in the same manner. Most people watch home movies from DVD rental services or from on-demand cable or satellite services. But the promise of downloading movies is that you...
more »BloggerCon 2006
Live from BloggerCon::Thinking Beyond Blogs
SAN FRANCISCO -- Despite my initial reaction to BloggerCon as being a room full of bloggers talking about blogging, the topics of discussion on the first day actually went beyond just blogging. The technical discussions touched on web standards and podcasting, and at one point someone even complained that the technology discussed didn't relate directly to blogs. For one...
more »BloggerCon 2006
Live from Bloggercon::From a Room Where Bloggers Blog About Blogging
SAN FRANCISCO -- If you wondered what happens when bloggers get into a room together for a conference, the unsurprising truth is that they sit around and talk about blogging while simultaneously going on their laptops to blog about it. That's the scene here at BloggerCon IV in the offices of CNET Networks in the South of Market neighborhood...
more »PoliticalShift
Campaigns 2.0::Most Senate Candidates Shy Away from Blogs, Podcasts
Can a candidate's blog or podcast make a difference in a campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2006? No one knows yet. What we do know from 2004 is that Howard Dean's groundbreaking blog didn't help elect him to the presidency -- though it did build buzz and make him a short-lived frontrunner in the Democratic race. A recent...
more »TVShift
Digging Deeper::Big Media Slowly Giving the Audience Some Control
Have you ever watched your local TV news broadcast and railed against the stream of homicides, car crashes and fires? What if you could have a say in what the station was reporting each day? John Schiumo has made that dream a reality for New Yorkers who watch the local 24-hour cable news station, NY1. Last July, Schiumo helped...
more »TVShift
Open Source Reporting::Designing an On-Demand TV Service That Beats DVDs
We are a culture that thrives on immediate satisfaction. We want what we want when we want it. So the idea that we can order any TV show or movie we want -- for a small fee or with advertising -- appeals to us immensely. Slowly, but surely, the cable and satellite operators are starting to offer "on-demand video,"...
more »Your Take Roundup
Your Take Roundup::Sports Video on Cell Phones Works in Right Situations
It's easy to ridicule the idea of watching a World Cup soccer match or baseball game on a tiny mobile phone screen. Where's the ball, who's on first, how'd they score that goal? But for the rabid displaced fans of any sport, having the tiniest video highlights in town is better than nothing at all. I asked if you...
more »Your Take
When do you listen to podcasts?
The idea behind podcasts is that you can set up your portable MP3 player to automatically get new podcasts so you can listen to them on the go. But not everyone listens to podcasts the same way. One podcast service provider, Podtrac, found that 56% of podcast listeners (and viewers of video podcasts) actually enjoy their podcasts on their computers...
more »Citizen Journalism
Opening Up the Grant Process::Help the Knight Foundation Give Away Millions
The email pitch was so cheesy, that I almost didn't open up the message, thinking it was probably a get-rich-scheme spam email: "Last Chance to Help Spend Someone Else's $$$" was the subject line. But for once, this was no empty come-on. The Knight Foundation -- started by the newspaper moguls Jack and Jim Knight -- is asking for...
more »NewspaperShift
Digging Deeper::Can Newspaper Letter Editors Stop Astroturf Onslaught?
People are so outraged by the Medicare drug program overhaul that they're writing letters to the editors of many newspapers to complain. And people are equally upset by gay marriage and are writing letters in support of the Marriage Protection Amendment. But there's one problem with these two sets of letters: Each set contains largely the same text, taken...
more »NewspaperShift
Opinion-Page Makeover::Turn NY Times Columnists Into Bloggers
Last week I tried to channel Ronald Reagan in asking New York Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. to tear down the TimesSelect pay wall. But perhaps I tried too hard to stick to the original speech, without clarifying my points well. Plus, I wonder what would happen if the Times took the opposite tack, and turned all its columnists...
more »NewspaperShift
Your Take Roundup::Newspaper Blogs Must Break Social Control of Newsroom
Something about the juxtoposition of the words "newspaper blog" doesn't ring true. Newspapers and blogs don't seem to fit together naturally unless you're thinking of a blogger who likes to rip apart the bias of a local newspaper. Yet, if you can set aside the early combative relationship between bloggers and newspaper folk (and other mainstream media types), you...
more »Your Take
Would you pay to watch sports video on your cell phone?
As the World Cup kicks off in Germany today, there are many mobile services in Europe that are promising to let people watch soccer matches or highlights as they happen. One research firm, Informa, predicted that these mobile broadcasts would bring in $300 million in revenues, particularly in soccer-mad Germany and Italy. So my question to you is whether you'd...
more »NewspaperShift
Open Letter to the Times::Mr. Sulzberger, Tear Down This (TimesSelect) Wall!
An Open Letter to New York Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. Chairman Sulzberger, if you seek peace in cyberspace, if you seek prosperity for your company, if you seek to spread ideas online: Come here to this TimesSelect gate! Mr. Sulzberger, tear down this pay wall! I understand the fear of losing print subscribers to a free website at...
more »Digging Deeper
Digging Deeper::Blogger Beware: Syndicators Might Offer a Raw Deal
Budding writers often dream of the day their words will reach a wider audience, and that they'll get paid for their hard work. And for many bloggers who toil in obscurity below the radar, the thought of having their blog posts show up on a huge newspaper site such as washingtonpost.com is enticing. But the dream doesn't always match...
more »Weblogs
Sock Puppetry::Bloggers Must Be Vigilant Against Astroturf Comments
If you run an online forum or a blog that allows readers to comment, you sometimes feel like you're having a conversation in the fog. Often people will contribute anonymously or make up names or places where they live, or even lie about their gender, age or occupation. So what can you do about it? You might require a...
more »Your Take Roundup
Your Take Roundup::We Need to Learn How to Unplug
Our lives are wired to the hilt, especially us urbanites. We have cell phones, laptops, handheld PDAs, broadband access at work and at home, and the availability of news updates at our every whim. But maybe there are times -- especially now as the weather warms up -- when we should take a technology vacation and totally unplug. So...
more »Your Take
Do you like blogs on newspaper sites?
Newspapers are in a tough spot. Their main income comes from a printed paper, which is losing readership and relevance among a younger audience. But newspaper websites are doing quite well in readership and in revenues. So the innovation for newspapers is happening on their websites, which are becoming more than just a place for repurposed print stories. Now major...
more »Tags
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