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In Defense of Blogging

7 October 2011, 4:33 am

It’s been awhile … so long that I almost forgot my password for posting to this blog. In the interim, I’ve often thought about what the use is for continuing this blog … and my reasons for not continuing are myriad such as: no one reads it; it takes time (and money) to keep it up and most pertinent … there are other more “cool” forms of social media that do the job as good if not better. But within the last two weeks I came across to article that pushed me back (ever so slightly) into the continuing. The first article (see here) touches on what I think many old-school bloggers have run up against, namely Web 2.0 applications such as Twiiter, Facebook, G+ that have for all intents and purposes removed the need for keeping a blog. But what the author stresses (and I agree with) is that all those new fangled apps basically produce content for companies that don’t give a f*** about you except that they need you to continue to create content for them and data that they use (or sell) for their own purposes. While we (most of the blogger nation whose sites attract little attention) cannot abandon those newer manifestations of social interactivity, we shouldn’t give in totally. Indeed, we should continue to create our own content, controllable completely to us and use the TwitBook+s of the world to funnel traffic back to our sites. This gives us control. This gives us independence. This ensures that we continue to have a stake in a free, open and continuously developing Internet (as opposed to closed world of Android and Apple as described here.) The second article was by a fellow blogger who was contemplating the benefits of blogging vs. Web 2.0 social media. In the end he decided (and again I agree) that the advantages of blogging included time to reflect, time to summarize and the chance to have deeper conversation with other. These were exactly the points I had hopes to attain when starting this blog so many years ago and that I hope I can rekindle again by posting more often to this space. In the end, this blog is all about me and thinking through some of the multitude of data that I am bombarded with daily. Perhaps more posting will focus my mind so that when I do tweet, I’ll actually know what I am talking about.

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Make Mine Marvel?

27 June 2011, 12:40 am

Of course these court battles are about money. They also force the modern entertainment industry to reckon with the often amoral practices of the old comics workshops. And they raise deeper questions about how to credit creative works produced at a time when even the most talented artists were treated as serfs.

When I was a kid … comics was my life. If I wasn’t reading them, I was buying them, thinking about them or discussing them with my friends and fellow comic collectors. As I’ve gotten older while the comic addition has abated I still find myself interested in the stories and characters that fascinated me when I was a kid including the occasionally purchase of a interesting title. But as I’ve gotten older I’ve also learned about the inner workings of the company’s that so held sway over me1 and its that knowledge that has kept me from more intensely reconnecting with the stories and characters that fascinated me so much when I was a kid. A couple of issues I have is that (1) comics nowadays seem a bit overpriced and focused mainly on the art (which is important) rather than on the story (which is most important). (2) While a couple of the book-to-film productions have been good2 most have sucked and been focused on the more one-dimensional/boring characters of the super-hero universe (read: Thor and Captain America). Now I come across this story of the old comic houses stingily holding back on giving up some of the millions of dollars to the heirs of the artists that they manipulated and cheated out of their own creations.

Marvel Superheroes and the Fathers of Invention

  1. Marvel and DC mainly [↩]
  2. Iron Man 1, Batman: Dark Knight [↩]
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Good Guys

6 April 2011, 7:40 am

[h]e fulminated against the complacent, lazy and otherwise obstructive practices of the N.G.O. world: at the preciousness of groups like Médecins Sans Frontières, which refuse on principle to work with the military, “even though the military is the single most effective organization that’s been here to date!”; at the pompous blustering in aid-group cluster meetings, “where everyone’s trying to show how much they know, but no one’s just reporting their actions, their problems and, you know, figuring out who can help”; at the feebleness of charities that drop out of tough camp management work on the grounds that camps are not “sustainable” projects. “Sustainability! It’s the ultimate cliché — and the ultimate excuse for N.G.O.’s that just want to move on to the next trendy, fundable job.”

If you ever worked in an international non-governmental organization, you’d appreciate Penn’s frankness and that some of his ideas ring absolutely true.

The Accidental Activist

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“To the Cloud”

12 January 2011, 11:02 pm

Today, RealNetworks announced Unifi, a multimedia-centric cloud service that aggregates your photos, music, and video files from across multiple devices and online services. In other words, instead of having to keep track of multiple media libraries, you get a single online interface for organizing and accessing your content. Better yet, there are no restrictions on the type of content or its location, so the service will pull from absolutely any library and any device.

As a hyper-mobile professional, I’ve been looking for safe, secure and convenient off-shore storage since calling something cloud meant the fuzzy white stuff on the sky. I have tried a variety of services such as Netdocuments (circa 1999), now defunct-Ekno (for e-mail and photos), soon to be shuttered Deli.ic.ious (for bookmarks) and most recently Dropbox (for everything). Dropbox has set the standard but sometimes it takes forever to acesss large files like videos or music. Naturally, I was intrigued by RealNetworks announcement of Unifi. I sounds like everything that I need. especially in allowing access from a variety of devices, allowing uploads from a variety of devices and finally providing a user-friendly UI to view/enjoy your content Will have to check it out. More hopefully later on this.

CES: RealNetworks Attempts to Unifi the Cloud

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A Global Village

18 December 2010, 8:47 pm

With aid, trade, green technology and peace its fully possible that everyone can make it to the healthy and wealthy corner.

A great lesson on the benefits of an increasing international cooperation and globalization.

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With Chrome OS “Always Online” is a Snap

14 December 2010, 7:52 am

A while back I blogged about how I was considering making the next computer I purchase one operating on Chrome OS. But as Google offered little more than a few whispers here and there … I was beginning to wonder if Chrome OS was just another vaporware candidate. Accordingly, I was quite excited to hear, of Google’s announcement last Tuesday that it will be distributing a Chrome OS laptap for beta review. From the explanation given on the Chrome OS and via sundry reviews around the web, the laptop and OS is looking to be better than I thought. While I do have privacy and security concerns about succumbing totally to “the cloud” (read: look what happened to Wikileaks) it seems with enough diligence one could craft a formidable albeit imperfect protective practice. On the other hand, for a person that truly does live on the web, as I blooged before, it seems life the perfect hardware/software for me. Naturally, I signed up for Google’s Pilot Program but even if I’m not chosen … I’ll still be one of the first in line for the “to market” version.

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The Streaming Singularity

7 December 2010, 7:46 pm

I love movies and TV but the problem is living abroad tends to limit my accessibility to both. Now the last time I was in the US, a couple of movie and TV streaming services1 came out that seemed like great ideas at the time2 but due to bandwidth problems in the US and limits on access to them from abroad, they quickly fell into disuse and rarely clicked links on my sidebar. But now a confluence of events has made them (all three) the hub of my entertainment experience. First, the advancement of VPN software technology has allowed me to “appear” to be in the US when I am in reality elsewhere. This resolves my obstacle if gaining access to the above-mentioned sites. Second, all sites have seemingly upgraded their bandwidth/delivery methods which lessens the stuttering so common in streaming video. Finally, each has added a ton of content that which taken separately is alright but taken together as one big Hu-Fan-Flix megasite satisfies almost any video need I have. Indeed, with a total payout for the the pay services for HuluPlus and Netflix Instant with the free offerings from Fancast3 of under $25, I am seriously considering keeping this set-up rather than subscribe to cable when I eventually move back to the US. For now however, after years of slim-pickins in the desert of traditional movie/TV platform options, it,s great to swim in the oasis of online streaming media.

  1. Hulu, Fancast and Netflix [↩]
  2. and I was among the early adapters of each [↩]
  3. as well as the ton of independent content from such sites as Youtube and blip.tv [↩]
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Your Fired in 140 Characters

30 September 2010, 7:56 pm

In an statement, Nasr called her own remarks “simplistic,” saying she’s learned a “good lesson on why 140 characters should not be used to comment on controversial or sensitive issues, especially those dealing with the Middle East.”

If you’ve ever doubted the growing importance of social media and the influence it is having on and in society, this story should give your pause.

Octavia Nasr Leaving CNN After Controversial Hezbollah Tweet

UPDATE: Here’s another story about how sometimes social media and work just don’t mix.

Moulitsas is a prominent and influential liberal blogger and a regular on MSNBC’s popular “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” but it looks like Olbermann will no longer be allowed to have Kos on his show, because of this Twitter fight.

Everyone at MSNBC is such a baby

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One man’s social media is another …

30 September 2010, 7:55 pm

This is a bit dated but interesting perspective on “social media and the law” from Mark Cuban’s brother and attorney Brian Cuban.

Viewpoint: “New Laws of Social Media”

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The Coming Age of Social Media Regulation?

30 September 2010, 7:54 pm

… the accompanying PDF sent out to employees is 48 pages of internal corporate terrorism, laying out detailed rules that govern each and every part of an employee’s life, should it have any tangential connection whatsoever to Viacom business. That includes personal blogs …

As far as I can tell, Viacom is the only company, so far, with such a strict policy but, as the article suggests, this may be the beginning of a trend in business. Perhaps, then the community needs to push for built in flexibility for social media policies before the hardened of Viacom becomes the norm.

Viacom/MTV Issues Intense Employee Gag Order, Basically Takes Ownership of Blogs, Thoughts

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