LINKS | Micropayments Don’t Work, but Everyone Has a Better Idea
Somehow, I missed the links from the latter part of last week, and have been bookmarking like crazy this last week. So, ya'll get a ton of links. Apologies for the long, long list, but I've broken it up with some good videos — and I've edited down! These are the cream of the crop from February 10th through February 20th:
Journalism Business Models
Hulu's Superbowl Ad and the Boxee Fight - O'Reilly Radar: “I’m sure Hulu is totally pissed. They pretty much said just that in a somewhat more stilted way. The real insult, though, is calling the people who made them cut Boxee off “content providers.” They…
- Why I dislike micropayments, don't mind charity, but really have a better idea Network(ed)News: What a fantastically simple idea for a journalism business model: charge for interaction with the content creator. Donate some money to the site, and the chances of your comments etc being responded…
- Walter Isaacson: You've got it all wrong | Musings of an Anonymous Geek: Theodor Nelson writes the equivalent of a very long blog post as a response to Walter Isaacson’s use of his name in his argument for micropayments for news. Essentially, Nelson wants to use a…
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Interview: Wired's Chris Anderson on the 'free' business model | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com: Chris Anderson, author of Long Tail, discusses the Freemium business model.
- Tech Tools Day 1: Tomorrow's Journalism and Journalists - The Next Newsroom Project: “Readers have never been willing to support this industry economically,” Fine said. “Her advice for anyone in the news biz was direct: ‘I know that not everyone wants to be an entrepreneur,’ Fine…
- DigiDave | Communication is Key: Journalism Beyond Newspapers - Don't Become Nonprofits - Work for Them: Dave Cohn makes a good point: journalists can market their services toward non-profits who need the press and often can’t get their message out there.
- Forget Micropayments -- Here's a Far Better Idea for Monetizing Content: Steve Outing endorses Kachingle, a micro-payment service for websites with one distinct caveat: paying is still optional. The user decides on how much they want to pay for their news, and all the…
- Will paid content work? Two cautionary tales from 2004 Nieman Journalism Lab Pushing to the Future of Journalism: Good look at the failures of the Paid Content model: LAT, and the Albuquerque Journal. End with a reminder: just because Editors think that they are entitled to make money from content, it doesn’t…
- Op-Ed Contributor - You Can't Sell News by the Slice - NYTimes.com: A New York Times op-ed on why paid content won’t work. Oh, and that even if it did, the revenue wouldn’t “save newspapers.”
- What does engagement mean for newspapers? - Eat Sleep Publish: A good summary and batch of links on why engagement on sites is important.
Top 15 of 2008: The leading regional newspaper sites shuffle their ranks Nieman Journalism Lab Pushing to the Future of Journalism: The top regional newspapers have seen a significant increase in pageviews.
- lectroid.net Blog Archive Newspapers could actually try online: Really solid advice on how to evolve your print newsroom into a real, online newsorg. Topics include: Staffing, web design, and workflow.
- Reflections of a Newsosaur: How to charge for content. Theoretically.: Alan Mutter jumps on the micropayment bandwagon as the most “logical way” to make money online. He makes the wrong assumption that “Consumers might not like being micro-nickled and nano-dimed for…
Web Journalism
- The Doc Searls Weblog : Saturday, March 24, 2007: Fantastic list of things that newspapers should do on their websites to make them more relevant to users (read: user friendly)
- How an NYT developer built a new way to read the news online: The ‘new’ interface is a great move for the Times. It does distinctly reminds me of http://newser.com and I think corrects one of the major flaws of current online newspaper design: the lack of…
Why the Nikon D3 Sucks (and What the D4 Oughta Be)
I love me the Nikon D3. It's the first camera that I've used where I feel confident going into any situation. The high ISO performance, huge LCD, dual CF card slots, 9 FPS, and 12MP files are amazing. Safe to say, Nikon hit a home run with this camera.
That said, I've got some complaints. Call it a wish list if you will. But after using this camera for about 6 months in a wide variety of situations, it's pretty safe to say that the tool isn't perfect.
With the release of the D3x, I've come to realize that Nikon is advancing technology, but is clearly holding out for the next release to do anything drastic. I might/probably am too late to get into the D4 product cycle, but nonetheless…
What could be fixed for the Nikon D4
The D90 gets the OK button right. Why can't the high ends cameras that came out after it follow suit? (Looking at you D3x)
The OK button is useless. There are two ways to confirm a command in the menu system: hit OK, or hit the center of the 4-way dial. However, most things only require you to hit the 'right' button on the 4-way dial. The OK button, aside from being repetitive, is out of the wa
I'd like to see a repeat of the D90's solution. Replace the 'push the center to confirm' option of the 4-way control with the OK button. This reduces clutter and makes menu navigating a more one-handed operation.
Hear Hear
I’m still shaking my head over the American Press Institute’s announcement of a closed-door, invitation-only emergency meeting of only CEO-level newspaper executives to, in the words of E&P “ponder ways to revive the newspaper business.”
This is the last thing the newspaper industry needs.
-BuzzMachine » Blog Archive » The last thing newspapers need
This will be a quick post. I'll get more on the topic of old media vs. new in a while but I wanted to share this little tidbit of news.
A closed door meeting by the old heads and bean-counters who have constantly failed to create any solutions for newspapers in the first place is a terrible idea. I'd present my list of what needs to be done, but I'll refer to A Photo Editor instead (the list is decent, but more on that later.)
Here are my 5 easy steps to making the transition to a new media economy:
1. Plow all of your profits back into the your company. Then get into the savings account an grab some of the profits from the 90’s when you were getting obscenely rich off your advertisers and plow some of that back into the product. Use it to make mistakes.
2. Gather all the employees you were about to fire because they don’t fit in so well with your organization or because they are too green to have mastered traditional publishing and give them promotions. Put them in charge. Gather all the people you’ve trained to say no to change and yes to whatever you say is good and fire them (ok I know this will mean there is nobody left in accounting and IT so keep a few of them around but maybe go for the junior ones).
3. Now, add staff and make everyone spend half the day doing traditional print work and half the day working on the online thing (it’s not a magazine). Make sure they try lots of crazy ideas and make lots of mistakes.
4. Invest in your contributors. You spend a tiny fraction of your production costs on the contributors yet the product without them is worthless. If you don’t start building some loyalty with your content creators they will leave you when a better deal comes along.
5. Photography is the key. Figure out how to use it. Video online is TV. We already know that works. Text online is, well, it’s great to read at a certain length but you know, it’s always going to work better printed. Photography is the perfect medium for communication online.
Change or die. It’s up to you.
-A Photo Editor – A Call For Change In The Publishing Industry (emphasis added)
How to Save Afghanistan – TIME
Our efforts in nation-building, governance and counternarcotics should be smaller and more creative. This is not because these issues are unimportant; they are vital for Afghanistan's future. But only the Afghan government has the legitimacy, the knowledge and the power to build a nation. The West's supporting role is at best limited and uncertain.
-How to Save Afghanistan - TIME
TIME's article How to Save Afghanistan is fantastically written and simply worded. It presents a surprisingly easy solution for how to fix Afghanistan – do less.
The solution is deceptively simple when you think about it. We suck at building a government. We're good at education (well, better than Afghanistan anyway). We're good at farming. We can train an army. We can build power plants. Let's stop trying to fight all these insurgents. Let's stop trying to tell the Afghans how to run their country. Let's just give them the support ask for to build their country up. If they try to build something we don't like? We don't support it.
Transforming a nation of 32 million people is a task not for the West but for Afghans.
Ooooo Shiny!
Warning: This post a rant. It is highly political, and … well, I really just want to get this off my chest.
Spurred by the continued housing crisis, turmoil in financial markets, spiking oil prices, disappearing jobs and shrinking retirement savings, the nation and its political leaders have begun to sour on the notion that the current market system [the free market] is the key to a fair, stable and efficient society.
-Americans may be losing faith in free markets - Los Angeles Times
I've blogged several times (1, 2, 3, more) in the last couple of weeks on the success of the free market in correcting downward trends in the news business. I've got a lot of faith in the law of supply and demand to eventually correct itself.
That's the keyword: eventually.
Markets don't correct themselves overnight. There is no such thing as a quick fix when it comes to economics, but it seems that the US populace has become so enamored with instant feedback that we expect everything to just happen.
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Loading a web page: just happens.
Finding out the names of Bardgelina's twins: just happens.
9 soldiers dying in Iraq Afghanistan (oh right, we already forgot about that war): just happens.
Global warming doesn't just happen.
The energyoil deficit doesn't just happen.
The Presidency eroding constitutional rights of the Congress, the Judiciary, the Press, and the People, doesn't just happen.
An economic recession doesn't just happen.
A robust economy doesn't just happen.
This society, that so needs instant gratification, needs to learn that there are limits to what technology provides.
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Just because the cell phone lets us say "I'll just call you," instead of planning ahead,
Just because you can text message, twitter, facebook status, IM, or blog,
Just because you can find, meet, date, engage, online,
Just because we can watch live pictures of our tanks rolling across foreign boarders,
It doesn't mean that technology has solved all the world's problems. Our country, our society, has a system in place that works. Yes, the system needs to be changed from time to time, we've done it a lot. But do we need to abandon our Constitution, our economic policies, our way of life just because there are bad times?
The free market works. It goes in cycles of good and bad times, but it works. It's natural. Please, please, just because we've allowed our government to abandon its system, don't think the economy needs to change. It's not worth it! It's not right!
STOP with the ADD! The grass is not always greener, and if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Try not to pick up every shiny object that comes your way, sometimes, it's a chainsaw.
MobileMe Reviewed
I've just gotten my hands on a full MobileMe account (thanks Ramon!) and I thought I'd take the opportunity to compliment and complain.
Features Not Working
As of this writing, the following features of me.com are not working.
- Backup software (download link redirects)
- According to the System Status: Homepage & Groups is currently not operating
- Still experiencing system slow downs, especially when accessing account settings.
MobileMe got off to a rocky start. The dotmac website stated that they system would be offline from 8pm-2am beginning Wednesday evening (Jul 9) to facilitate the transition. The presumption was that me.com would go live at 2am, which did not happen. Me.com went through periods of service and through Friday (the day of the iPhone 3G launch). The system became fast enough to be usable on Saturday (Jul 12, the date
It's so shiiiinyyy
Let's get this clear, me.com is pretty. Really, really pretty. It almost feels like a desktop app. You can use keyboard shortcuts just like a desktop app (replace ⌘ key with the ctrl key and you already know the keyboard shortcuts). You can drag and drop just like a desktop app. Windows slide down just like a desktop app. In case you didn't get it, it feels like a desktop app!
Switching between modules requires a load time, but actions within any one of the modules doesn't seem to incur a load time at all (very cool).
Based on SproutCore, MobileMe feels quick. Yet, there are still a few remaining speed issues. I've tried to upload over 5GB of photos to my iDisk via the desktop interface and the transfer has taken 9+ hours to get half way; reading another 9 hours to complete. (This upload later failed; twice.) Accessing the 'account settings' section of the web interface is hit or miss. Sometimes it pops right up, sometimes it just displays "loading" for eternity. No doubt, these are both symptoms of a freshly launched app, nonetheless, they are annoying.
iDisk
iDisk web interface.
The iDisk webapp works much as you'd expect. It's the same column interface that Finder has. Clicking on a folder reveals the files and directories contained. I haven't figured out the pattern yet, but sometimes the app displays a loading icon you click on a folder, and sometimes it doesn't. Also, the app gives no indication that you've clicked on an empty folder. In contrast, Finder tells the user that a directory has "0 items," the iDisk webapp has no visual indication, and frequently left me watching the computer screen hoping something would load.
The interface does not allow for previewing of files. Click on a jpg and the app will tell you that it's a jpg, but it doesn't display a thumbnail. The system also does not recognize RAW files. It would be nice to have a 'quicklook' like functionality so that a user didn't have to download a file to see what it is.
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| .jpg: no preview | .nef: not recognized |
Preferences for iDisk are extremely simple. You have the choice of displaying a 'Simple Folder Layout' - only Documents, Public and Movies are shown in iDisk home. The app behaves as you'd expect it too, and in someways is more responsive than the desktop plugin. Which is continually having connection issues. It seems that my iDisk can't stay connect for more than several hours at a time – no big deal until I try to transfer several gigabytes of files.
Deleting files on the iDisk via the desktop takes a very long time. But, the process is fast on the web app, and the changes are reflected nearly instantaneously on the desktop side.
In addition, I was surprised to see the webapp lacking two key features. 1) It is not capable of uploading directories, even though it can upload multiple files. The help instructs users to compress (zip) their directories first – what a poor solution. 2) Even though Contacts and Mail have instant search, iDisk does not. erm… makers of Spotlight – HELLO! I'd like to be able to search my files online too please. K, thanks.
I was impressed at the integration, but constantly frustrated by webapp limitations and the glacial communications times when using the desktop interface. iDisk is not ready for large file transfers but with luck, Apple will fix the bugs and speed will increase in the near future.
Gallery
Gallery web interface
Gallery is the me.com interface for hosting your photos. Think of it as the web based iPhoto.
The frontend is the same that users have come to know and love. It's extremely fast, good looking and offers a variety of options to viewers.
Uploading to Gallery
Uploads are very quick and the interface not only allows the user to upload multiple files at once, but has the option to add more files while an upload is in progress - nifty!
It's possible to sync Gallery with either Aperture or iPhoto but, in my opinion, there is one glaring sync error. Apple gives MobileMe users 20GB of storage to divide between email, iDisk, Gallery, and Backup. 20GB may seem like a lot but when all of these services are taken into account, the space goes fast. Ideally, MobileMe could offer users a complete cloud storage solution for all data. 20GB is simply not enough to accomplish that.
Following that logic, Apple should allow Gallery to use photos placed in the Pictures folder of iDisk. Not only would this ease the storage constraints, but it would simplify the interface between the two apps.
It's worth noting that Gallery has no photo editing capabilities or instant search. I don't think these are features that many users will miss, but as search is a key Apple technology and web-based photo editing is becoming more popular, it would have been nice for Apple to through those features in.
And that is as far as my complaints with Gallery go. It is otherwise and extremely well designed and extremely responsive app.
Calendar
Calendar web interface
Entering info into an event is a bit different on the web than in iCal.
Calendar isn't quite as slick as iCal, but it's still the slickest calendar interface I've seen to date. It has all the simplicity of gCal with fewer pages loads. (Less pages loaded means the app is faster.)
Notably, Calendar falls into the class of MobileMe apps that could use instant search and curiously doesn't have it.
While Calendar has no trouble syncing your iCal calendars, it does not import your subscription calendars. I can't fathom why this is, but it sure is annoying to not have holidays visible.
Aside from the different info panel (see photo, right), Calendar does maintain an interface virtually identical to iCal. This means that Calendar shares the same flaw that I find with iCal - it has poor support for ToDo items. As a simple list, ToDo is horribly uncomplicated and hard to use. There's no way to attach a todo to an event, one can't postpone todo items, and there is no method to group tasks with multiple calendars. Nonetheless, Calendar does what it's supposed to do elegantly and without trouble.
Contacts
Contacts web interface
Contacts should be the simplest app in the suite. Or at least, it makes sense to me that a simple database interface would be ease to do. …so of course, it fell to the bottom of the maintenance list.
My first sync (on Friday) caused some of my contacts to duplicate. I'm not sure why some duplicated and some didn't, but it was sure annoying and not what I expected from a first class sync app. Once I got that problem taken care of, I headed over to the webapp and tried dealing with my contacts there.
As with the rest of the me.com apps, Contacts online is very similar to contacts on the desktop. One glaring thing that is missing the smart contact groups. Normal groups show up online fine, but it's a strange thing to be missing when the instant search works so well. (whoohooo! instant search!)
One strange bug I encountered was that editing a contact name didn't always update the name in the contact list.
I won't say that Contacts is bad, far from it - it looks to be a promising web interface. But, it sure is buggy.
Mail web interface
Let me start by saying this. I really prefer desktop apps for email – I want the ability to search and write messages while offline. To accomplish this, I use Apple's Mail.app. But, I've used Yahoo, AOL, gmail, Comcast, squirrel mail, and a host (20+?) of other email webapps.
Let me say this, for all it's simplicity and flash, the new MoblieMe email app sucks. I like the instant search, but aside from that, there are a lot of serious flaws.
Mail doesn't import other email accounts. The reason I so like Mail.app is that I can have a ton of email accounts in it. I've got 6 active right now. They all do different things and I don't want them confused. Now maybe I'm unique in that respect, but I still want Mail's web interface to show those other accounts. I was quite surprised to find that it didn't. After all, gmail does it.
Mail doesn't support smart folders. Not too much of a surprise in light of Contacts not supporting smart groups, but very disappointing. But, Mail has instant search!
New Message opens a popup. Really Apple? really? Didn't you learn anything from AOL's mistakes and Gmail's success? Lets keep everything in one window, mhhhkay?
New Message doesn't auto-complete the "To:" field. Granted, I ran into this problem when I clicked on the address book, but that doesn't indicate that auot-complete wasn't working. This seems to be an obvious feature that everybody uses.
I count myself lucky that I don't depend on me.com as my primary email. The webapp is easily the weakest in the suite, and needs quick updating.
Other nifty things
In general, the help provided is very good. Clicking on a help link or pressing [ctrl+?] launches a new popup (appropriate in this case) which loads faster than OSX help windows do!
I did all of my testing in Safari Version 3.1.1 (5525.20), so your mileage in a different browser may vary. I'm very interested to know how IE deals with me.com.
You can set me.com to remember who you are for 2 weeks at a time, a good security measure.
This is way improved over dotmac.
It's possible to setup your own domain name to point to your homepage. That means you can get your iWeb site to live at its own URL.
Users can set how they divide storage between their email and their iDisk –very handy!
Aside from where I specifically mentioned, the me.com is fast. Load times are negligible and speed should only increase as Apple works out the kinks.
Syncing a computer with MobileMe is similarly speedy, I could be mistaken, but it seemed snappier than the dotmac sync.
What I really think...
I'm horribly disappointed with iDisk. I really expected better from a cloud storage solution. For now, I'm sticking with Wua.la. I don't doubt that Apple will work out the kinks, but right now, it's broken.
Gallery, Contacts and Calendar are really nifty apps that are well done, but have several bugs.
Though usable, Mail needs a lot of work. Stick with gmail, Yahoo, or a desktop client.
Now for the million dollar question. Is it worth $100 a year?
- Do you need to host a website or share you pictures online, but have little technical know-how?
- Do you already have a dotmac email address?
- Do you want a really slick way of showing off your photos and videos?
- Do you need a really simple way to sync two computers?
- Do you want a set-it-and-forget-it strategy to get an offsite backup of your most essential data?
If you answered yes to any of the above, give me.com a serious think. Note I didn't ask if you need a way to get your calendar, or contacts, or email, or photos, or data, online. There are free solutions for all of these, they're just far more manual than MobileMe.
I really appreciate the approach of MobileMe. And incase you didn't catch it, the interface is slick! I trust that once all of the bugs are worked out, life @me will be really sweet.
A totally arbitrary rating, for those that need a number: 7.45/10
Update
AppleInsider raises an interesting point that I completely missed. MobileMe is marketed as a push solution for all your devices, and it fails at this goal. Though changes made on an iPhone are apparently recognized instantly by the cloud, changes made on a Mac still need to be synced. That is not a push solution, not at all. I suspect that the next version of OSX aliviate, if not fix this issue with support for exchange built into all the necessary apps. Nonetheless, it is a severe disappointment to not have push now – as was promised. Syncing is a 2nd class solution, especially when it duplicates my contacts!
Update 2
Check out this for a great look at how Apple is fixing the problem.
I Know What I Want!
attn: John Nack
Black Stroke!
Oh, and by the way, lest I forget: yes, we’re changing the default stroke color to black. Just thought you’d want to know.
-Photoshop Insider » It's Guest Blog Wednesday Featuring: Photoshop Senior Product Manager, John Nack
Thank god! That red stroke is just plain annoying.
(Yes, that is a forum topic about the stupid red stroke default on a site dedicated to people who typically complain about broadband speeds. That choice is clearly unpopular.)
The quote ends an article that is an interesting read if you're curious about the direction Photoshop is developing.
It's written by one of the top dogs in the Adobe world, John Nack (sorry couldn't find a wikipedia page), who has a blog of his own, which is interesting reading in its own right.
Nack's article argues that Photoshop developers know what users want better than themselves. He uses the classic example of the history palette and history brush coming out of the comparatively simple user request for multiple undos.
Adobe, what's wrong? You sick?
Yet, he also protests Adobe's finite set of resources,
Much to my eternal frustration (and probably yours), we’ll never have enough time to implement even 10% of the good ideas that come our way.
…and that his team puts in a lot of backend work which doesn't immediately benefit the average user.
These things take a while. (I’m reminded of the line, “It might look like I’m doing nothing, but at the cellular level, I’m really quite busy.”)
I'm perfectly willing to grant that Adobe can't hire every developer in the world. I also grant that backend coding is a lot of hard work. And, I certainly am not going to argue that, "what customers say they want and what they actually need often differ." (By the way Mr. Nack, that "cellular level" line is used to refer to lazy people who actually are doing nothing.)
Yet, Adobe should be leading the image editing development sphere, not slowly adopting it's technology. 64-bit apps are not a new thing, Apple's Aperture has had the ability to leverage the GPU from it's first launch, Carbon is on it's way out, and Photoshop is facing all sorts of problems because Adobe hasn't ported it over yet.
What happened to the desire to lead the way? Remember when the Healing Brush was introduced in Photoshop 7? That was an awesome new feature. It also came with the shiny new file browser.
...Which is where we start to get into trouble, the file browser was poorly implemented, and its successor, Bridge, is still slow. And, It's not like a file browser is a radical new idea. It's a pretty basic thing that Adobe has only managed to get right with Lightroom.
It seems like every creative I know is on a Mac or, like most people I know, switching to one. I can't remember the last time I even saw Photoshop on a Windows box. If you're spending so much time under the hood, why can't Photoshop CS4 be 64-bit on the Mac?
Some Cough Medicine
My complaint is this: Adobe, I don't care what resources aren't available to you. You're the top dog in this market by a long shot. If you don't have resources, get them. Not having competition seems to have made you lazy, and operating at the cellular level isn't enough.
Enough with the excuses, you've proven that you can produce a great 64-bit, Cocoa, app that intelligently employs Smart Layers, utilizes the GPU, has a fast file browser, and is capable of implementing user feedback. Lightroom.
Your ability to improve upon user feedback is important, keep that up. Yet, the following disturbs me a bit:
It’s interesting that faster performance didn’t rate higher on the list. [of top ten requests] On the one hand, I’d like to take this as a good sign that our work in CS3 to speed up Photoshop’s launch time, take advantage of multi-core systems, etc. has paid off & that people are happy. On the other, there’s no such thing as “too fast,” and quicker performance is the best possible feature: there’s nothing to learn. Therefore I think all the muscle we’re pouring into R&D to leverage graphics hardware acceleration & 64-bit computing will make folks happy.
Mr. Nack, I do indeed want Photoshop to be as fast as possible. It does need to go 64-bit, it should be able to use the GPU, it should be a Cocoa app. But I expect all of this to happen without a cost to the user. Adobe via Mr. Nack seems to be resistant to adopting all of these technologies.
I hesitate to say that Photoshop is 'fast enough,' but if you're creating a list of priorities, speed isn't in the top 10. Lightroom's technologies are (7 of the 10 features in the top 10 list). A real noise filter is.
Oh sure, I want speed. I want the 3.5 gig RAM limit removed (you need 64-bit for that), but these are all things that I expect from any company that is keeping pace with technology. I also expect that once you've developed technology for one application, it can appear across all of your apps. Don't sacrifice one expectation in the name of another. They both need to happen concurrently.
Go back to surprising us with cool new features. Stay ahead of the curve instead of slightly behind. We want more surprises like the Healing Brush. We don't want to be told why waiting to get what we want is a good thing.
Adobe, you're doing better now than you ever have before. Just because you have a virtual monopoly, you don't get to slack off. There are companies biting at your heels.
Things aren't that bad…
Sure, that top 10 list wasn't a scientific sampling. Yea, it was probably weighted down by non-profesional users of Photoshop. Still, it's sampling of the market, and Adobe attention is warranted.
Photoshop is still best in class software. I still prefer Lightroom for my photo workflow needs. Adobe's efforts with Flash are highly appreciated. InDesign is my goto app for all layout work. I'll even use Bridge in a pinch.
Adobe products are fantastic, but I'm discouraged. I feel like Adobe needs a Canon.
Update:
It seems that Adobe's Acrobat Reader 9, which has just hit the wild, is a good example of Adobe getting lazy.
How I Want My Data: Locality & Cloud Aware
Boy, do I wish I had written this down first. The op-ed talks about 'syncing.' Or more appropriately, dealing with getting your data on any of your devices (smartphone, laptops, desktops, DVRs, etc…) whenever you want without any hassle.
This is something that I (and I'm sure many others) have been struggling with for a while. I personally own a boatload of devices; several computers, portable devices, and such; all of which I want to stay in sync. I've got a theoretical solution to the problem which I'll detail below.
Jon Stoke's article points out several obvious problems: there is currently no easy way to sync your data, the stop-gap solutions that exist now are poorly done and anything but set-and-forget, and that computers should be very good at performing a simple repetitive task (just like syncing files). However, Stokes forgets to tackle on important issue. Yes, I want my data to be the synced across all my devices. It's horribly inconvenient to have to deal with multiple versions of files and its a tragedy when I realize that the file that I need is not on the machine that I'm working on right now. Yet, the data that I want on each device is not identical.
The bigger issue
For instance, I've got a rather large iTunes library. Last I checked, it's over 115GB. It lives happily on my desktop which has more than enough storage available to handle that amount of frivolous data happily. The obvious problem is that I do not want all that music on my laptop which only has a 80GB hard drive, and it certainly won't all fit on my iPod Nano.
Or, take my photo library. It's as large as my music library and then some. I do want some of it on my laptop: current work, my portfolio, the images I have up on my site; but some random shoot from 3 years ago? There's no need to carry that with me (at least until SSD reach multi-terabyte capacities).
Solution
The problem is not that I need a solution to have all my data all the time. If I did or could, the solution would be fairly easy – the technology to sync two equally sized devices together already exists. No, the problem is that I want certain data to go to certain devices and not to others. My solution, and suggestion for those that can make this happen is this:
- Time Machine by Apple is a ready-made solution for syncing to devices. It already syncs one hard drive with versions itself. It can even do it across a network. All that needs to be done is to transition it from a backup utility to a sync utility. I'm no engineer, but I don't imagine it would be a very hard task to accomplish. Especially if you consider the underling technology behind time machine.
- As Stokes suggests, the 'drive' paradigm is very cumbersome once you get more than a couple of hard drives floating around. Changing this to the 'cloud' paradigm would be fantastic.Think about it like this: Google has tons (literally) of hard drives in their servers which provide the space for them to provide all their services to their millions of users. But as a user, you have no idea where your data is actually physically stored. It's somewhere, but you don't actually know where your gmail emails are stored, nor do you care.Introducing a similar solution at the personal level is a logical evolution. No, it's not really applicable to the 'average user' who only has a laptop and perhaps one external hard drive, but for small businesses or power users it could be a god-send.Again, I'm no engineer, but I imagine it working something like this:
You're home has a network setup, or at least one computer that is 'cloud-aware.' When you plug a drive into the system for the first time, it will ask you if you'd like to make this disk a part of the cloud – akin to the way Time Machine asks if you'd like to make a new disk a time machine backup drive. This is to ensure that portable storage (like a hard drive that's meant to travel with your laptop, or a flash card) won't get data stored on them that belongs in the cloud.Once configured, the cloud would be just be similar to a RAID 5 array. It handles all of your backup for you, it presents itself as one drive, if you unplug a drive from the system, or one dies, the cloud automatically compensates – all without you worrying about it.
Furthermore, the cloud is accessible to all of your devices. It's online, so if you have a password, you can get your data anywhere. Think, Back to My Mac, but simpler. If your device is connected to the internet, it automatically connects to your cloud.
Not into dealing with a mess of hard drives? Perhaps third-party companies can offer cloud storage for a price. Amazon and Google (among others) are already perfectly positioned to do this. Apple's iDisk already offers an omni-present storage space, and approaches this paradigm.
Cloud storage can help to solve many of the syncing problems, your data is always accessible, no matter where you are.
- There is one glaring disadvantage though – what if you're offline? Or what if the files are huge and would take too long (even over broadband) to access remotely?Here's where my solution gets a new twist.I propose a new kind of metadata that I'll call 'Locality.'
This is what I Imagine the interface looking like. Click for a large view.
Every file has metadata attached to it. It's how the computer knows what date it was created, who last opened it, etc... What I'm proposing is an addition that keeps track of what devices a file is supposed to be stored on. All of your devices will know about all of your other devices. Your smartphone, iPod, laptop, DVR, desktop, and so on, will all know that each other exist. That way, they will be able to automatically keep track of what data is supposed to be on each device – automatically.
The 'Save' dialog in every OS functions basically the same. It asks you what you want to name the file, where you want to put it, and the file type. A system that is 'locality-aware,' would ask you one more thing: which devices you want your data on. It could for instance, default to storing everything on your cloud. If you're offline, then it stores the file locally, until you can connect. However, the user can also decide which other devices get the data stored locally – in other words – you can decide right in a save dialog where you want to always access your data.
For example, If you're saving a new Word (or Pages) document, you can set it to save on your cloud and also go to your smartphone. The next time your computer comes in to contact with either your smartphone or your cloud, it sends that file off. That way if your smartphone contacts your cloud (more likely that it contacting your laptop) it gets the file right away.
The advantage to this system is that you can decide to keep a huge library of pictures safely on your cloud. Where it can be accessed by any of your devices, but isn't stored on them, so space isn't an issue. If you choose, however, you can tell any of your locality-aware devices to set the locality of a file however you choose. You can set some songs to go to your desktop and your iPod, but not to your smartphone.
Apple is most likely going to rebrand .Mac, mostly likely calling it "mobile me." In theory, it will tie the iPhone more closely to Mac computers via a cloud interface. Who knows, maybe Apple is on the right track.
I seriously doubt that Apple will present a solution as complete as what I've just suggested. I'm certain that my solution requires a re-wiring of an OS. Nonetheless, here's hoping that it's a step in the right direction.
For More, ‘I Told You So.’
As if the prove the now well-accepted fact that the Fourth Estate failed in its duties prior to the start of the Iraqi War and through out the Bush Administration, Scott McClellan, former press secretary, completely denounces his former bosses.
"If anything, the national press corps was probably too deferential to the White House and to the administration in regard to the most important decision facing the nation during my years in Washington, the choice over whether to go to war in Iraq," the former spokesman writes. "The collapse of the administration's rationales for war, which became apparent months after our invasion, should never have come as such a surprise. In this case, the 'liberal media' didn't live up to its reputation. If it had, the country would have been better served."
-Bush's Former Spokesman Scorches White House with Tell All Memoir | MediaCulture | AlterNet
The more that comes out, the more it becomes obvious what the failure of the press means. High level government officials broke the law. They've lied (hey, look at that I used the 'L' word) and not been held accountable. Furthermore, no one's held the press accountable.
Come to think of that… who is the press answerable to? What's the check/balance for them? The people?
I'll leave this at "food for thought" before it becomes a rant.
Update:
The press is giving this story a fantastic spin.
The media has decided to cover this story, by getting a reaction from the ... White House. I guess when in doubt, turn to the administration to see what they have to say.
Coverage could have swayed toward other former-administration insiders who have also publicly talked about the administration's lies, but instead the media went with interviews from administration officials who said McClellan is "misguided for him to make these kind of broad accusations and draw these big conclusions about the president."
Here's a link to the NY Times more balanced coverage.
Props to the AP
Video Essay: Pope Visits NYC - washingtonpost.com
A great example from the AP what a cheap piece* of video equipment can do for multimedia journalism. Good on'ya AP.
*I presume it's cheap because of the quality of the footage. (dynamic range isn't that great), but it might rather expensive.
I Don’t Support PCs
About a year ago, I read a blog post, (I wish I could remember who wrote it, I owe them a 'thank you') where the author wrote that he 'no longer supported PCs.' At the time, I thought this was amusing. The vast majority of people that I know own PCs. I've been the local tech support for as long as I can remember. Heck – I was the IT department at my middle school. I've been supporting and fixing people's PCs so much that its just expected that I can fix anything in real short order. (Sometimes I can, sometimes not.)
Reading the post, I admired the author's undertaking, but didn't think it could ever apply to me. There were just too many people that I knew that owned PCs. I kind of liked helping them out.
However, in the last 6 months a large number of people I know have been making the switch – to the point where I'm no longer the oddball out when I pull out my MacBook.
So, about a month ago, I decided to start to tell people that I just don't support PCs anymore. If they need help, they're more than welcome to go see ___mutual friend here_____ and get help, I "don't support PCs." Of course, if they wanted to go buy a Mac, I'd be happy to help them with any questions they might have.
I thought for a while that this would be a real turn-off for people. They might think that I was purposefully being unhelpful, or mean, or whatever. After all, it's not like I can't fix their issue, just that I won't. To my surprise, the reactions have been mostly: "Well, you're a bit of a Mac snob, but you're right, Macs are better. I'll go talk to ____ until I get a Mac."
Moral of the story: Not supporting PCs has made my life much easier. I have less headaches, and people seem generally open to getting a Mac.
Sidenote: Macs now hold a 6.5% market share – up from 4.4% where it's been hovering for years.
The Power of Photo Editorial Decisions
Speaking at the parade, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran was the most powerful nation in the world.
BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Iran shows off its military might
The laughable statement made by Ahmadinejad is just another in is list of half-truths and lies that he's said on the world stage.
This however, is not what I want to address. This article, which is not much more than large blurb (it has no direct quotes, is only 11 paragraphs), is accompanied by the photograph above.
Now, I can guarantee that there are shots of large missiles, tanks, and even the 200+ aircraft that flew over as part of the parade. The editor, however, chose this rather humorous picture of Iranian troops on ¿dirt bikes? It looks like they're riding two to a bike.
I think that this a perfect example of editorial bias – for the better.
Iraq: The Ten Commandments | Salon
Commandment I Thou shalt not launch preventive wars.
Commandment II Do not exaggerate the threat posed by terrorism.
Commandment III Dry up the terrorist swamp.
Commandment IV Recognize that not all terrorists are the same.
Commandment V Reject the idea of "a clash of civilizations."
Commandment VI Do not allow neoconservatives anywhere near Middle East policy.
Commandment VII Talk to Iran.
Commandment VIII Make resolving the Israeli-Palestinian crisis our top foreign-policy priority.
Commandment IX Get the media to grow a spine.
Commandment X Grow up and join the world.
Iraq: The ten commandments | Salon
That should give you a pretty good idea what the article is about. The intro is way lefty and liberal – deciding that there is no choice but the withdraw from Iraq – even if McCain is elected. The meat of the article however, is fantastic. I highly reccomend the read. The list of ten things that needs to be done is quite good in my opinion.
New and Used (Conscientious)
Jörg Colberg has a great post entilted: New and Used (Conscientious) that I quite like.
By "style" I mean, very simply, the combination of the photographer's way of work plus the end result. … With "meaning" or "contents" I am trying to describe what the photos actually say, their intended message.
A Lighter Day for Torch in Argentina – washingtonpost.com
Capping a week in which protesters snuffed the torch in Paris and forced organizers to reroute its course in San Francisco, the South American leg of the relay was more festive than disruptive. Small groups of demonstrators held signs decrying human rights abuses in China, but the most serious threats to the torch's progress Friday were a few lobbed water balloons -- easily swatted away by the Chinese security forces that jogged alongside the torch bearers.
A Lighter Day for Torch in Argentina - washingtonpost.com
Well… good news. There were protestors, and they did make themselves heard. It's a shame that they tried to put out the torch – but it's comical that their attempts were primarily using water balloons. …The security people explained before going to Argentina that the torch was propane powered and a rain storm wouldn't put it out, I doubt water balloons will have any effect – let alone enough accuracy.
Looks like the run the Argentina was uneventful, which is great, but the article did have one great quote at the end from an anonymous Chinese blogger in regards to French protestors trying to put out the torch:
"France, I thought you were a romantic and beautiful country but now I realize you are ugly and full of rubbish. No country can stop China from being strong and developing," said one anonymous online commentator.
Me thinks that the Chinese media is putting a pretty strong 'spin' on why these people are protesting. It appears that this guy believes that the West is upset at China's strength and presumable economic progress. I'm pretty sure that the protestors are upset with two things:
- China's human right's violations
- Freeing Tibet from Chinese rule
Chinese economic progress has nothing to do with it, but here's to Chinese censorship!
TIME.Com: Cheers
In reviewing my previous posts in the last month or so, I've noticed that TIME.com has frequently been the starting point for many of my posts. I remember filling out a survey that TIME had on their website back in either October or November 2007 (thereabouts), which said that TIME was attempting to drastically change their online content – for the better. I faithfully filled out the survey which asked real questions like: rate the site's multimedia content, timeliness of content, and so on.
Lo and behold, it appears that they've been good to their word. Content in the last couple of months has been fantastic. Multimedia has been very well done and timely.
So, TIME – here's to a job well done. Good on you for following through.
ABC News: Sources: ‘Principals’ OK’D Harsh Tactics
In dozens of top-secret talks and meetings in the White House, the most senior Bush administration officials discussed and approved specific details of how high-value al Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency, sources tell ABC News.
ABC News: Sources: 'Principals' OK'd Harsh Tactics
This new is a couple of days old, but … wow. I suppose this has been known/guessed at for a while now. But it's a pretty easy step here to say that 'senior administration officials' have committed a crime or two here. As a matter of fact, they certainly have.
The advisers were members of the National Security Council's Principals Committee, a select group of senior officials who met frequently to advise President Bush on issues of national security policy.
At the time, the Principals Committee included Vice President Cheney, former National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell, as well as CIA Director George Tenet and Attorney General John Ashcroft.
San Francisco Takes Olympic Torch Off-Route – washingtonpost.com
"I took my kids out of school early to see it," said Greta Keegan, waiting patiently on a curb along the announced route with Cormac, 9, and Maeve, who turned 12 on Wednesday. By 2 p.m. there was no sign of the torch
San Francisco Takes Olympic Torch Off-Route - washingtonpost.com
I thought the French were stupid when they put the Olympic torch out themselves and put it on a bus surrounded by roller-blading cops. But we Americans, have topped that. In San Francisco, they changed the route and didn't bother to tell anyone.
The whole point of the torch going through a city is so that people can see it. Hiding it for security concerns is just dumb. If people want to protest, then that's their right, for that matter, it should be encouraged!
Having the Olympics in Beijing is very controversial, the US and French governments agree (in part) with the protestors. Here's to the Brits for handling this right.
Xkcd – A Webcomic of Romance, Sarcasm, Math, and Language – By Randall Munroe
xkcd - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language - By Randall Munroe
Yea, woah. Wish I had said it that clearly.
BBC Poll: World Views US ‘More Positively’
The average percentage of people saying that the US has a positive influence has risen to 35% from 31% a year ago, according to the survey.
Maybe it's cause we're electing a new president this year?
A Comment of Mine on Creative Bits
Not that I share all the comments that I make in other forums/blogs, but I thought that this one was particularly timely as it sort of address something I've been thinking/dealing with a lot recently. Which is to say – marketing for the masses sucks. Find a niche, become the best there.
Photography ➔ Video
"The model for the future is somebody who can go out and capture content, the imagery that tells the story correctly in a narrative, and then on the back end produce it -- put it together in a program like FinalCutPro," says Pancho Bernasconi, director of photography for Getty's worldwide news division. "That's key, to have that quick turnaround. Time is always an issue, so if you have someone who can do it all themselves, that's a really attractive thing."
The Photographer As Director – American Photo
This is a really great article to read if you're considering or are in a career in photography. Mark my words. Within 10 years, the professions of photography and videography will be so fused, it will be hard to tell the difference.
Proof? Well, first off there's the progression of major news outlets towards multimedia. It's slowly becoming expected that photographers know something about audio if not video too.
Second, there's that inevitable increase in technology. The still sort of new Red One Camera, has the potential to revolutionize the way small budget films are shot – which is to say higher than HD quailty. 12mp, as a matter of fact. Yea, 12mp, that's good enough for me for stills. Once these guys figure out how to make this camera portable (as in you can record for hours without the need for a bunch of hard drive arrays tethered to the camera), there's almost no reason to shoot stills. Just shoot this sucker (the Red Five or so?) at full res at the already available 60FPS and life is good.
Lastly, I'll blame the internet. Thanks to youtube, people are so used to seeing video online, that looking at a simple photo is the least they expect. They want to be entertained, and amazed by moving pictures. It's easy enough to understand why too. There's something about movement that you just can't get from a still frame. (Visa versa is true too of course, but why have only one when you can have both?)
Right. Not too sure where to end this, except to say that this is an argument/discussion that I've been having with many people for a while now and this has really only been a splurge of thought onto the keyboard.
Appalling Spread of False Information Requires Stronger Media Accountability | MediaCulture | AlterNet
The media didn't do this kind of "immune system" work when it reported on the run-up to the Iraq war. As a result, more than 70 percent of Americans were convinced that Saddam Hussein was involved in the massacre of September 11. More than 4,000 Americans and over one million Iraqis have been killed in the violence that perhaps could have been averted with better journalism.
Article from the leftist Alternet, but addresses one of the key problems of today's media/government/world. The Press is doing a poor job of being a watch dog, the Iraq war is a case in point.
Most Americans just don't care about politics, current news, etc… that's why Paris Hilton gets as much play on CNN as the election. Mass media has to cater to their customers and not just cover the news.
And that's the problem. Major media outlets are no longer just interested in covering the news for the sake of coverage. They're about making money; and that means that there are all kinds of internal issues over what gets play. Add into this mix this administration's propensity to 'control the news' (read: lie) and the media just can't be as effective as it should be.
Dangerous times indeed.
The Wire’s War on the Drug War – TIME
First off, great photo. The lighting is great, the location is great (watch the show to really appreciate it).
The article that accompanies this photo is an editorial authored by the three writers of HBO's TV show The Wire. In it they argue the uselessness of the US drug war. Citing a statistic:
A new report by the Pew Center shows that 1 of every 100 adults in the U.S. — and 1 in 15 black men over 18 — is currently incarcerated. That's the world's highest rate of imprisonment.
I had actually run across this stat several weeks ago, thought, "Man, that's a little extreme," and then carried on with my life here in London. When put into this context though, the information just becomes annoying. So many of these prisoners are behind bars for a drug charge.
I am of the opinion the US drug policy needs to be changed. We need to explore the options behind legalizing some of the 'illegal' drugs out there today. (I'd start with cannabis, but that's just me.) And, I say this is a person who does not do drugs. At all. I enjoy a drink or two, but drugs, just like cigarettes remain on the untouchable list for me.
Our leaders? There aren't any politicians — Democrat or Republican — willing to speak truth on this. Instead, politicians compete to prove themselves more draconian than thou, to embrace America's most profound and enduring policy failure.
If asked to serve on a jury deliberating a violation of state or federal drug laws, we will vote to acquit, regardless of the evidence presented. Save for a prosecution in which acts of violence or intended violence are alleged, we will — to borrow Justice Harry Blackmun's manifesto against the death penalty — no longer tinker with the machinery of the drug war. No longer can we collaborate with a government that uses nonviolent drug offenses to fill prisons with its poorest, most damaged and most desperate citizens.
