Archive for April, 2003
Tuesday, April 29th, 2003
For those looking for such things, Ongoing has the best review of the Apple Music Store I've seen - succinct and insightful.
My thoughts:
99c a song seems rather high - since a 10 track CD can cost as little as $10 there is no discount for the online version, despite the ...
Posted in Computing Technology | Comments Off on Apple Music Store Review
Tuesday, April 29th, 2003
Interesting to see Spinsanity is running a pledge drive 'to help make what we do possible'. Couple moves such as this with a (Kuro5hin-hosted) case-study regarding the viability of donations as a revenue model and it is no wonder that Kelsey and Schneier's Street Performer Protocol is seeing a resurgence ...
Posted in Online communication | Comments Off on Pledge drives, funding and weblogs
Tuesday, April 29th, 2003
Interesting piece from Joi Ito about different types of internet users. He brings up McLuhan to explain why some people like Wikis and others don't. Talks about two types of users - those looking for information/data, and those more interesting in 'pretty' content. I wonder whether the dichotomy is a ...
Posted in Computing Technology | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, April 29th, 2003
I got a mail from Move On the other day calling on members to join their new campaign - an attempt to make sure Bush doesn't win in 2004. They claim that their 1.3million members can make a difference, and I am confident of their motives.
However the whole endeavour seems ...
Posted in Political activism | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, April 29th, 2003
There's been quite a bit of coverage of Argentina recently. Not only the first round of the presidential election. Something that may have passed you by was a cluster of articles - from Naomi Klein amongst others about the Brukman factory.
This was a factory that was closed up and ...
Posted in Labour issues | Comments Off on Argentina
Tuesday, April 29th, 2003
From yesterday's InterWorldRadio:
Panama has returned more than 100 refugees to Colombia against their wishes. The United Nations refugee body has condemned the repatriation, and is working with the Colombian government to help the returnees. Among them were 63 children, and some mothers who had been forced to leave their other ...
Posted in International Affairs | Comments Off on Panama repatriates Colombian refugees
Saturday, April 26th, 2003
I came across a report on Toby's political diary, documenting a raid on a restuarant in New York City. Now it's quite possible that the account is fictitious or an amalgam of a number of factual instances, but the fact that we are in an environment where we cannot dismiss ...
Posted in Society and culture | Comments Off on For those who still wonder
Saturday, April 26th, 2003
Intriguing line in yesterday's Media Briefing from the Guardian (UK):The five traditional television networks have been overtaken for the first time by the combined weight of smaller, specialist channels.The detail provides a less striking story:The total audience share for all non-terrestrial broadcasters was greater than any of the "big five" ...
Posted in Corporate media | Comments Off on Growth of niche TV channels in UK
Saturday, April 26th, 2003
The current edition of McSweeney's has quite a funny parody of Chomsky and Zinn analysing the Lord of The Rings. Choice quote:
Chomsky: How do you think these wizards build gigantic towers and mighty fortresses? Where do they get the money? Keep in mind that I do not especially regard anyone, ...
Posted in Tobacco and drugs, Trivia | Comments Off on McSweeney and Chomsky
Wednesday, April 23rd, 2003
I'll go out on a limb here in guessing the identity of the children being held by the US at Guantanamo.
In March the US captured Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. The previous September Pakistani authorities had detained his two children - aged 7 and 9! - and at the start of March ...
Posted in International law and structures | Comments Off on Children in Camp X-Ray