As blogs become more mainstream and increasingly seen as credible sources of information, more people are asking questions such as: “Are bloggers journalists?” or “How can newspapers thrive/survive amid community journalism and blogging?”. Dave Winer, who has played a leading role in the development of RSS, OMPL and podcasting, waded into the fray recently during an interview with Rocketboom.com's Amanda Congdon. I haven't seen the clip but he seemed to suggest the difference between a journalist and a blogger is journalists write for money, while amateurs do it for love. He also said amateurs have “less conflict of interest and less reason not to tell [the] truth than if you have to pay the bills and please somebody else” (hat tip to Poynter On line). It's certainly a different viewpoint but Winer has never been one for taking the easy way out. But he does raise an excellent point about how traditional media such as newspapers and magazines survive within Journalism 2.0. Obviously, they need to embrace blogging and podcasts as additional tools to distribute information – much like they have adopted Web sites. Fundamentally, however, traditional media have to leverage their biggest and best assets: their brands, credibility and resources.Over the past 50 to 100 years, newspapers have developed strong brands that resonate with consumers. Whether it's the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall St. Journal or Peterborough Examiner, newspapers have a solid, well-entrenched presences within their communities. And for the most part, I think people trust newspapers or at least see them as credible sources of information (even if surveys suggest many people don't trust journalists) at a time when there are more doubts about what's accurate on the Web if anyone can publish something. So rather than dismiss the blogs, podcasts and video blogs and/or worry about their business models, traditional media must leverage the technology and have their reporters embrace these new tools. For those who choose to ignore the new tools, it's been nice knowing you.
Addendum: The future of media/journalism is one of the four streams being explored at the mesh conference in Toronto on May 15/16.
What About a "LadyBag" for Men?
The Discovery Channel has a story about a new purse – the Ladybag – developed by researchers at Vancouver's Simon Fraser University that uses RFID technology to alert the owner if they leave the house without their wallet or keys. "We came up with the bag because we thought that all of us would use it," said Ginny Mesina, one of six women who worked on the Ladybag's creation. What about morphing the technology for a men's wallet? It would be amazing if the same technology could be used to locate missing wallets and/or keys – solving an age-old problem that has put tremendous stress on relationships around the world. Can you imagine no longer having to say "Have you seen my wallet?" or "Where are my keys". Now that would be very cool!
Net Neutrality Ignorance
The Net Neutrality campaign (a.k.a. Save the Internet) to keep the Internet tollgate-free and/or tier-free continues to gain momentum. What's troubling, however, is Om Malik's contention that many start-ups and Silicon Valley companies and fairly of the issue and why it matters. One of the Silicon Valley's weaknesses is a lack of political savviness. Sure, many companies and executives donate money to politicians and political parties but there does not seem to be a well-organized and effective lobbying team that can be turned on in Washington when needed. Peter Chester suggests a reason for the lack of activity among the bigger players such as Yahoo, Google and Microsoft is they have relationship with carriers and cablecos that they don't want to damage. As a result, the Net Neutrality "battle" is being won by AT&T and Bell South, which want to slap new fees on content and service providers to cover the costs of building and maintaining their high-speed networks. Net neutrality opponents such as Dave Weinberger argue this fee structure will kill innovation, creativity, free speech and open markets.
  In Canada, the Net Neutrality issue is sitting in limbo as the regulator and the broadband service providers wait to see how things evolve in the U.S. – a typically cautious Canadian approach to anything contentious. There are growing indications, however, carriers such as Telus and Bell and cablecos such as Rogers would love to install downstream tollgates or packet prioritization fees.
 While there are compelling arguments on both sides of the Net Neutrality issue, people should be aware it will have a dramatic impact on how the Web evolves. If bigger service and content providers have an economic advantage in the New Web, it could mean that smaller, more innovative companies will be creatively neutered. What happens when a hot Web 2.0 start-up (e.g. MySpace.com) comes out of nowhere only to discover its success is problematic because of the tollgate fees involved. Before everyone jumps on the tollgate bandwagon, these are issues that need to be thought through.
Update: The Save the Internet coalition is holding a press conference today at 1 p.m. that will include news that Vinton Cerf is coming on board. It is somewhat amusing to read Save the Internet's over-the-top contention that "Without Net Neutrality, issue organizations would essentially have to pay protection money to dominant Internet providers or risk that their Web sites were not as fully functional as corporate sites".
Update II: Public Knowledge has a short video explaining the pro-side of the Net Neutrality debate. (hat tip to IP Democracy)
Tags: Net Neutrality, Vinton Cerf
Slingbox: Cool But Set-Up is Challenging
My brother, Sean, finally came over to help set up the Slingbox. The installation process, which included upgrading the SlingPlayer and the firmware, took about 45 minutes and required far more brainpower than what's normally available on a Sunday afternoon. In other words, the Slingbox is not for the Luddite or people with an aversion to anything that isn't plug-n-plug. But once you finish, the Slingbox is totally impressive. It really evolutionizes the TV-watching experience – much the same way the remote control did. I just wonder about my productivity at work now that I can watch my TV and access the PVR with all those unwatched episodes of The Sopranos. The Sunday shift, which can be very, very quiet, may never be the same!
Perhaps the biggest issue/challenge facing Slingbox is the size of the potential user base. The device is a natural for road warriors who want to watch their home TV from a hotel room, airport or airplanes; it's got potential for people who want to watch TV at the office but how big is that audience?; and there's probably a market among people who want to watch TV on their laptops at home – although how many bosses would tolerate and/or promote it? But are there enough users within these groups for Slingmedia to create a viable business that sells 100s of thousands of Slingboxes? That's an awful lot of hardware at $249 a pop but the VCs who recently gave the company $46.6-million must think otherwise. So how will Slingbox generate enough revenue to give its investors the ROI they want? Will it be hardware or will it also be about delivering content over the Web?
Update: For more on setting up the Slingbox, check out sMorty71. Time Europe has a story on the Slingbox, highlighted by a delicious lede “Tivo? That's so last year”, while USA Today's personal tech columnist Edward Baig has a story recounting the technical issues he experienced while setting up the Slingbox (He also enthusiastically raves about the service.) Jim Courtney also weighs in on being interviewed by a CBC reporter, who read his blog post on watching the Winter Olympics from a Starbucks in Palm Springs.
Update II: Perhaps the “killer app” for the Slingbox is the ability to remotely program your PVR. Say, for example, you forget to set up the PVR to record American Idol; the Slingbox makes it easy to do it from work. Amazing!
Tags: Slingbox, TV
Bloggers & Lawsuits
Jeff Jarvis touches upon a subject today that I have been think about recently: bloggers getting sued for libel. As blogs become more mainstream and popular, it's inevitable some people will start to be sued by those who object to criticism, etc. As a newspaper journalist, I'm legally protected (I believe the proper term is indemification) if I'm sued by the National Post's libel insurance. Most bloggers, however, don't have this kind of protection so a lawsuit – even if it's a nuisance suit – can be financially draining. You have to wonder if an entrepreneurial lawyer will see this as an opportunity (or maybe somone has already done it) to create an insurance policy for bloggers who want legal protection from libel? For bloggers interested in learning more about this issue, the Electronic Freedom Foundation as a legal guide.
Note: Just to be clear, I'm only protected legally from libel for stories written for the National Post. Like many bloggers, I don't have the same protection on this blog.
Podcast #3: Google Juggernaut, Tech Boom, Corel IPO
Hey, it's Friday so time for another podcast. I was hoping to use some cool intro music from Penmachine but still need to learn more about Propoganda. In any event, here's an outline of today's podcast:
0:00 to 0:45…..Intro
0:45 to 4:45…..Google's first-quarter results, stock performance
4: 45 to 6:45….Is this another tech boom?
6:45 to 9:30…..Why is Corel going public again; what does Vonage's stalled IPO suggest?
9:30 to 11:45…The end of the VHS tape?
Note: The sound quality isn't perfect. Turns out, I'm using a bad microphone. That will be fixed by next week's show. By the way, the podcast feed can be found here.
