VideoNuze tells us that Google is planning to provide ad-supported “high-quality video” (from Fox’s “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane) to affiliated websites. For free. The websites help distribute the content (a long tail distribution model). Google, MacFarlane and the website proprietor split the revenue.
Lest you think only big guys can play, consider Jambo Media — 12 employees, two years old, video syndication with 2 million views per day. Like Google, Jambo relies on affiliates to distribute the videos.
Amazon popularized this concept when it launched its affiliate program in 1996. In that program, website proprietors who linked to Amazon offerings got a small cut of any direct link sales.
PenguinGroup tells us that Don Tapscott has updated Wikinomics (”expanded” edition, not “second” edition) with “a new introduction and a new chapter.” Great. But for those of us who bought the original book, why not make these two chapters available as a PDF for free or for a nominal fee?
I wandered over to the book’s website to see if they were offering these updates. Nope. The “sneak peak” link (pdf) is from the 2006 edition of the book, even though the webpage text focuses on the “expanded edition.”
When Sam Harris updated The End of Faith (hardcover to softcover transition) and added an afterward, I sent him an email and said, “It would be lovely if those of us who have the hardback could read theafterward that is part of the paperback … without having to buy anothercopy of the book.” Sam kindly sent me a PDF of the new chapter. Wonder if Tapscott will do the same thing? I’ll let you know if he does.
x-posted to summer’s economics class blog
Anecdotal evidence suggests that some black-hat advertisers are using automated tools to fool Craigslist into thinking that multiple site visitors are complaining about “offensive” or “false ads”…. as a way to drum the competition out of the free space.
Using an obscure oversight authority, Thursday night the Senate “disapproved” a recent Federal Communications Commission rule which would relax restrictions on media ownership; it was a voice vote. President Bush has threatened a veto (pdf).
New York recently implemented a law that requires online retailers, even if they have no physical presence in the state, to collect sales tax on shipments to NY residents and businesses. Amazon is challenging the constitutionality of the law, which is known colloquially as the “Amazon Tax.”
NY State is basing its law on the fact that Amazon has many “affiliates” with addresses in New York. Amazon pays affiliates a small commission on sales that originate from a link on the affiliate web site. Does this payment make the affiliate an “agent” of Amazon or is the affiliate being paid for what is, in effect, an ad that worked?
Across the pond the BBC is calling for government “intervention in the market in order to ensure everyone has access to broadband internet.”
[We] would like to emphasise the importance of considering the case for a new definition of universal service aims in a higher-speed future. There is a need to scope the case for public intervention to ensure all parts of the UK have access to modern broadband networks, even in areas where it may be commercially unattractive. For if broadband delivers social value that goes beyond private value, then it will be essential to ensure that no-one is left out.
In the US, the FCC Chair told Congress that Comcast was blocking peer-to-peer traffic even when there was no network congestion, contrary to what Comcast had told the FCC.
Then there’s the Dave Winer Comcast story from last week. With no warning, Comcast cut off his service, not once, but twice. The company threatened to send workers to his house to put a regulator on his router.
Winer pays $180/mo for his combined Comcast offerings, which includes its “power boost” internet service. He’s an edge case, but his usage is legal.
To be expected, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), of “the Internet as a series of tubes” fame, opposes any network neutrality bill. Regulation, of course is “unwarranted.” Media companies, telecoms and television services are three of the top 20 industries buying the Senate seat for Stevens.
From the looks of this video (shared Tuesday at the NAA/ASNE conference) Kodak is making the same sort of transformation that IBM has done at least twice. (tip) Watch and share (sit tight the first 15 seconds… it’s not what it first appears to be!)
What’s remarkable in this age of corporate plundering (by senior management) is that the current leadership seems to be pro-active (that’s the McClatchy editorial spin): Read the rest of this entry »
A five-year Standish Group study estimates that open source software is pulling $60 billion — about 6 percent — from the bottom line of proprietary software firms.
Studies of this nature are often flawed because they assume that those using software A would have purchased software Z. No details of methodology in the press release, which seems designed to generate scary headlines. (tip via Twitter)
A reminder: open source software itself generates revenue. An IDC study estimates that “$21 billion in revenues came from the Linux ecosystem in 2007 alone.”
Without a doubt, the open source model is disruptive to established organizations. However, disruptive does not necessarily mean “bad” for society as a whole.
Go take a look at Ten Thousand Cents …. a crowd sourcing project (using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk) that allowed thousands of individuals to “paint” a tiny part of an image of a $100 bill. Check out the “new” image (the piece of art) as well as a nicely-done video (hosted on Vimeo - see my whine about the technology in the comments) showing steps of the process.
The project explores the circumstances we live in, a new and uncharted combination of digital labor markets, “crowdsourcing,” “virtual economies,” and digital reproduction.
The two artist/producers are selling reproductions for $100 each, with the proceeds going to the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project. (A good cause!)
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