Google has released an amazing video that captures the major highlights of the year (while also acting as a great showcase for their various services, especially Google+.)
With the announcement of “The Protester” as Time’s 2011 Person of the Year, it made me realise that its been a bad year for dictators.
Osama Bin Laden is gone. Ghadaffi is gone. Mubarak is gone. Vladimir Putin is facing huge protests from his citizens. Fidel Castro has disappeared and his brother is introducing economic and social reforms. Stephen Harper is, well, technically not a dictator but increasingly acting like one.
The ensuing debate is quite interesting with lots asking questions about what Wikipedia is and what its purpose is – some claiming that Wikipedia’s culture of “neutrality” must extend beyond the site’s content while others point out that the very concept of an open, free encyclopedia that is accessible to anyone is a pretty radical political statement in and of itself.
Echoing the unique marketing methods of Radiohead and other musicians who’ve tried various ways to connect more directly with their fans, comedian Louis CK self-funded the production of a concert video last Saturday which he also streamed directly on his web site and where, for the low low price of $5, you could both stream and download the DRM video up to two times after it’s initial broadcast.
To those who might wish to “torrent” this video: look, I don’t really get the whole “torrent” thing. I don’t know enough about it to judge either way. But I’d just like you to consider this: I made this video extremely easy to use against well-informed advice. I was told that it would be easier to torrent the way I made it, but I chose to do it this way anyway, because I want it to be easy for people to watch and enjoy this video in any way they want without “corporate” restrictions. Please bear in mind that I am not a company or a corporation. I’m just some guy. I paid for the production and posting of this video with my own money. I would like to be able to post more material to the fans in this way, which makes it cheaper for the buyer and more pleasant for me. So, please help me keep this being a good idea. I can’t stop you from torrenting; all I can do is politely ask you to pay your five little dollars, enjoy the video, and let other people find it in the same way.”
Sincerely, Louis C.K.
As someone on Reddit pointed out, often piracy isn’t a theft problem as an access/trust problem. If you make it easy for people to purchase your content and trust them with it (eg. no DRM), they will do this. I’m not a major fan of Louis CK but threw my $5 at him because, hey, beyond supporting this approach in general, I also get a full concert video for less than a fancy coffee at Starbucks. How cool is that?
On the other end of the spectrum (or maybe not?), Amazon has released a controversial app and offered users $5 discounts to go into stores and send back pricing information from bricks and mortar competitors. MetaFilter has a good discussion about the ethics of this, how it further undercuts traditional bookstores as well as where libraries/used bookstores also fit into this new world where business-as-usual approaches (media companies, traditional publishers) are being pushed out of the way by new, tech-based approaches (direct from artists and/or new media companies.)
I don’t know how long it’s been around but Bagism.com is one of the first sites I visited regularly on the Internet back in the mid to late 1990’s. I haven’t thought of that site for years until thinking about a good way to capture today’s sad anniversary. I’m sure it’s not what John meant when he sang “We all shine on” but in many ways, it reflects that sentiment – how Lennon continues to influence music, politics and culture to this day. Whenever they do one of those “Most Influential People of the 20th Century” lists, I always think Lennon deserves a spot.
I was going to do a “one month since the provincial election” post but couldn’t find a giant “What The Fuck Was That?” graphic (which is pretty much all I could think to say about that beatdown, even a month later anyhow!)
Our Hawaii trip is just over a month away and I’ve been poring over sites from TripAdvisor to YouTube to MetaFilter to Reddit to TripIt to UrbanSpoon to Yelp and more looking for tips and tricks for our trip – all of which gets copied into a Google Document I’ve created including, starting last night, a tentative itinerary of the most essential sites, restaurants and activities we want to do.
(Don’t think I’m being too anal though – “Beach Day” is on there about half a dozen times! The itinerary is mostly just to help wrap my head around the options and make sure we don’t forget anything.)
