Fall term has started — I haven’t written about the MSFT/EU case — and there’s lots going on with media ownership (Jena 6 as springboard for minority ownership issues). But I’m not gonna write about any of that stuff that I should be writing about.
Instead, I’m launching a new category: cool and off-beat YouTube videos that make me smile. 
Maybe sometime this quarter I’ll also clean up my categories and rework the blog with tags.
When you create your first blog post in WordPress, there is one “category” option (over there on the top right of the administrative screen). We don’t ever want to use that default to categorize a post!
Categories are not to be confused with “tags” (a more modern, Web 2.0 concept). Think of categories as major subject headings. If you are in one of my classes, chances are you will be a discussion leader at some point in time. Thus I have you create a category, “discussion leader.” Read the rest of this entry »
The Democratic Party is truly experimenting with citizen media this election cycle. On Wednesday, they held an “online debate” that consisted of Charlie Rose, PBS, asking questions and recording answers. The questions, of course, came from online voters. Sponsors: The Huffington Post, Slate (owned by the Washington Post) and Yahoo! .
Interested voters can now create “mash ups” using Yahoo!’s online video hosting/editing service, Jumpcut (requires Yahoo! ID). Start by reviewing candidate statements on various issues.
Read the rest of this entry »
The Financial Times reports that Apple is negotiating with Hollywood to rent movies online; the company current sells movies for purchase and download. This would put Apple in competition (of sorts) with Netflix, which provides instant viewing of movies if you own a PC; Amazon, which also provides instant viewing of movies with its Unbox store if you own a PC or Tivo; and Microsoft xBox Live. Apparently Macs, Linux and RePlayTV folks need not apply.
The FT continues:
A film would cost $2.99 for a 30-day rental. Its digital rights-management software would allow films to be moved from a computer to at least one other device such as the video iPod or iPhone. The software would prevent movies being copied.
The Guardian reports that Facebook has opened a London office and hopes to have 60,000 registered members by the end of the year. This would be “at least 3% growth each week and 200,000 new users every day.” Supposedly, the page views are 50 per visitor per day! I certainly don’t spend that much time on Facebook! I don’t spend that much time at any one site.
Facebook officials continue to argue that this is not a social networking site, but “a utility, a communications tool, and a social graph that maps the real world actions of its users.”
kegill
kegill2
seaphotog