Dave

Why I still read newspapers

Despite being an avid reader of RSS feeds – not just from blogs, but other sites like newspapers, and other new organisations – I still get a newspaper every day. I guess this runs somewhat contrary to the idea that the use of web technology to deliver news will eventually mean the death of the printed press.

So why do I still buy newspapers, when all the content I am interested in is available free online?

Well, there is the obvious thing about how nice it is to have a newspaper in your hands, sticky ink and all. But for me, the main thing is that having the paper in front of me makes me read stuff that I’m not necessarily interested in.

One of the main things on here is the business news. It’s actually quite interesting, who is buying who and what’s going on in the stock markets and stuff. I don’t really understand it, but it’s still good reading. Now, if I am reading a newspaper online, I wouldn’t go near the business section, because it isn’t one of my main interests.

Charlie Brooker on Macs

Charlie Brooker, TV reviewing god, has a pop at the ‘I’m a Mac’ ad campaign with his usual savagery:

The ads are adapted from a near-identical American campaign – the only difference is the use of Mitchell and Webb. They are a logical choice in one sense (everyone likes them), but a curious choice in another, since they are best known for the television series Peep Show – probably the best sitcom of the past five years – in which Mitchell plays a repressed, neurotic underdog, and Webb plays a selfish, self-regarding poseur. So when you see the ads, you think, “PCs are a bit rubbish yet ultimately lovable, whereas Macs are just smug, preening tossers.” In other words, it is a devastatingly accurate campaign.

Genius.

A Million Penguins

Penguin, the publishers, have unleashed a cool idea: a novel written on a wiki. There’s a blog just for the project, too. Great that they are using open source tools: WordPress and MediaWiki.

The main Penguin blog (Typepad, boo) notes that:

Over the next six weeks we want to see whether a community can really get together, put creative differences aside (or sort them out through discussion) and produce a novel. We honestly don’t know how this is going to turn out – it’s an experiment. Some disciplines rely completely on collaboration, while others – the writing of a novel, for example – have traditionally been the work of an individual working in isolation. But with collaboration, crowdsourcing and the ‘wisdom of the crowds’ being buzz words du jour, we thought we might as well see if these new trends can be applied to a less obvious sphere than, say, software development.

Fair play to them.

[tags]penguin, a million penguins, wiki[/tags]

Scoble and PayPerPost

Robert Scoble has enraged many in the blogosphere by accepting an invitation to speak to a conference organised and sponsored by PayPerPost – everyone’s most hated blog-related company.

I know this conference will be controversial — one way to get discussions among bloggers broiling is to bring up PayPerPost. Certainly more controversial than speaking at Gnomedex, LIFT, or Northern Voice or something like that.

Why do it then? Cause I’m a capitalist and because I think that blog advertising is something that we should talk about. Disclosure is something those of us who accept payments are figuring out how to do. I didn’t do it well last weekend. Microsoft didn’t do it well when they handed out laptops. And I’m still not that satisfied by PayPerPost’s disclosure policy either. I’m sure we’re far from seeing the last controversy here

Unsuprisingly, he is getting a kicking in the comments. His co-author and friend Shel Israel doesn’t hold back himself:

I am personally dosappointed that you have chosen to do this. To me Pay for Post represents everything that the book you and I wrote opposes. I wish you would change your mind. This will not help your reputation.

One more thought, Robert. You taught me the standards for blogging that I adhere to. It is what you taught me that makes me so passionately oppose Pay per Post, who have shown themselves to be the sidewalk hookers of the blogosphere. Robert, I really hope you cancel. In the long run, you will be doing PodTech a service.

It seems like Scoble is on a mission to destroy the goodwill he has built up for himself, what with this and last week’s hissy fit. Very strange behaviour.

[tags]scoble, payperpost, shel israel[/tags]

Mac and PC

I really couldn’t think of a better pair than Mitchell and Webb to do the Mac and PC thing for the Apple adverts.

Still, they’re a bit annoying. The ads, I mean, not Mitchell and Webb. All this stuff about how Macs can do video and podcasts and other fun stuff, while PCs are only capable of spreadsheets, and that kind of guff. Now, I’m no Windows fan – I spend 80% of my computing time in Ubuntu – but this just isn’t true.

The only difference is that Apple provides the software within the box as standard, the form of ILife. PCs come with all sorts of stuff, depending on the manufacturer, not all of it good. You have to hunt out the decent stuff yourself, which I suppose is the problem for many people.

It reminds me of the early 90s, when the Atari ST was promoted as this amazing music computer, simply becuase it had MIDI built in from the off. The Amiga was a far better system as far as everything, including music, was concerned, but because you had to spend ten quid on a MIDI adaptor, no one bothered. Pah.

[tags]apple, mac and pc, mitchell and webb[/tags]

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