Zadi Diaz,new media producer and more erudite than most at explaining what she does,posted several interesting theses, little short of Cluetrain's 95,but not a million miles away in spirit when dealing with those that buy eyeballs for people that appear to still be conducting business from back in the 1960's.

Zadi Diaz - Home - Advertising is FAIL. Communication is WIN.

3. STOP calling people consumers!
People are not mindless drones waiting to consume. We are all people hoping to
connect and you are hopefully facilitators of conversation. As soon as
we change the language we will change the action.

I'm wondering if we are missing out on a large part of the problem here,and that's with those "consumers" Oh hell I'm being contradictory
but if you can give me a few seconds to work out my confusion I'm sure it's all going to be OK in the end.

There clearly are consumers, though not self-identifying and maybe it's better to remove this learned behavior at the source? Would it not be more useful inoculating those on the receiving end of the advertiser's missives, at least giving a framework for understanding what's going on would be a start?

Take iPhone3Gs and Video as an example. Youtube saw a huge increase in videos that were posted. Does this strike anyone as creatives all having a new tool or the marketed-to masses waiting to be told that video online is indeed cool and they have Apple's permission? What was stopping them before? 

In other words are people using what's fed to them?

Yes it's an issue complicated by data plans and that most decent phones for video,aren't subsidized but it's not been hard to avail yourself of expression via video in the last two years but even that didn't appear to be easy enough. Seriously most of the article makes very good points for trying to sell to those whose lives are interwoven with the net, but as long as there's more and more people from the old-school getting on line I fear we're stuck with this until it's no  longer a viable audience to talk at rather than talk with.

        

I really need to get my browser to display  "anonymous coward" whenever it quotes  those paid by a state,with public funds,that wont use their real name while they go about their day protecting their investment, er consumers especially when they spout crap like this.

"The essential point of our case is consumer choice," said the spokesman. "

Really?

I never had an issue changing the browser, adding different grips to a gun, upgrading the lighting on my vehicle etc. There is no choice in which nanny superstate you live in, other thanby  leaving  which I didn't find that hard to though it was a lot harder than swapping IE for Opera.

I wish MS had gone further and just told Europe to sit on a  Mac/ Penguin or come up with it's own OS?   You can't win a war of appeasement with anyone that sets themselves up as a monopoly on competitive practices.The one part of mercantilism via corporation that annoys me is their acquiesence rather than withdrawal from hostile markets.

It's the old joke

Why is there only one Monopolies Commission?

BBC NEWS | Technology | Windows 7 pricing gets unveiled

A Commission spokesman dismissed Microsoft's claim that it was taking the action to comply with European laws.

        

Over the past months I have made fewer posts than usual.There are several reasons for this but mostly it’s been negative reinforcement that anything that I write only gathers negative comments based on the formatting,length and typos rather than on the merits of the ideas contained within.

Via Robert Anton Wilson’s creations “Hagbard Celine” I believe truth often comes from fictional sources, cartoons and even cereal packets,is the belief that communication is only possible between equals and is contained within the explanation of  his second law

  "Accurate communication is only possible in a non-punishing situation."

How many situations like that arise? 

That may explain the planet a  little better but it’s not helping me.  The question that I would like to have answered is this.At which point do I benefit from everyone else's communication skills? E.G.; it seems like addressing the correct audience is a one-way-street.

In other words I can haz herd immunity ?

        

Douglas Rushkoff takes a look at how training consumers doesn't always work out the way you planned.

Apple’s Army of Whiners - Page 1 - The Daily Beast

No it's not just for the title ,which I like, it's an interesting reflection on many of the "old" Apple sticker-ed cars of activists I see that excoriate corporations but can't seem to apply it to those that make their pc. It's double-think different with those infinitely loopy types

        

Why would this make depressing reading for some? For some reason the left leaning always assume a person that doesn't use,own or even have a desire to do either. Health care is another such 'must-have'  regardless of the wishes of those that have it thrust upon them.

Being online is not a requirement for a happy life and the thought of millions of new,uncared for computers dropping hazardous waste in terms of viruses,trojans and other mal-ware onto the net just fills me with joy. 

The internet doesn't have to look like a computer and if the idea of getting people online is so that they are more efficient citizens, wait a minute aren't we meant to be in charge of those expense-forging vermin? It would make sense to approach the issue by either using some kind of inbuilt device to a phone or TV either that or cheaper to wait for them to die-out

BBC NEWS | Technology | Free broadband won't entice all

Some 43% of adults who currently do not have internet access would remain disconnected even if they were given a free PC and broadband connection.

        

You can read all about the new iPhone 3gs on other fine sites such as MobileCrunch. New phone, same old network.  I love the iPhone but  it's a co-dependent relationship that I'm ready to move on from.

The big news?  While some have touted the ability to buy or rent movies over the air this is hardly worth noting.Oh ok note away.  Using an iPhone to watch movies designed for the large screen is something I just can't do. Hell I believe we should divide up society by those that buy  pan and scanned ( e.g., full-screen) movies and the rest of us.  

Video creation is by far the most interesting addition,that and a the removal of the POS lens / imager they've had the balls to call a camera in the current incarnation.  iPhone is the most popular source of images on Flickr and it's likely that we're likely to see the same effect on video sites though I can't imagine the sound quality making this a pleasant device to produce anything on.

However using a neat bit of sound / timeline syncing tool that was demoed a while back at the New Media Expo  this could be very interesting as a video camera with the sound synced to the source. E.G., think of 100's of people in the same space being able to knock an ad-hoc conference video together.

  Heck I can think of a Matrix like bullet-time effect if you could get 20 or so of your friends together with iPhones and an app to sync their shutters.  Production , not consumption would really be thinking different my little  corporate f(r)iends

        

You Tube XL,  the merging of the living room set with the  Oh wait, that's  not at all what it is. It's a skin that looks pretty when shown on a large screen.  Yes it shows You Tube content on a large screen, like having a really big monitor.  

Shame the compressed video and even worse audio depredations on most of the content make this a non starter.  Small crap x screen size = larger crap.

The digital TV transition has been "traumatic" enough for people but I'd like to see it go further.There's a lot of spectrum going to waste,off hours, 24-7 on religious channels,  and I am wondering why we can't use that as a channel to record our programs in advance for later watching. Yep it's Tivo but not as we know it.Seems odd to limit the transmission to real time recording for most content that really doesn't need a full HD stream.

This waiting for 10pm PST to come along to release a show that was tweeted/ spoiled by many on the East coast viewing is reason enough to do away with the idea of scheduling and appointment TV.  Oh then the networks get to control their own DVR channel rather than adding in the add skipping joy of a Tivo. Maybe they can charge too? Seriously if you are paying $10 or so for Tivo I bet you'd pay $10 each  a year for major networks, $10 more than they get at present from OTA broadcast.
 



 



 

        

MY god it's full of  douchebags! </Dave>   Social marketing types anyway. That's the fate the below entry from the Readwriteweb blog posits as being the likely result of our aggregate life-stream data.

Web 3.0 Might Be Really Stupid

The patterns of activity in that data offer a unique opportunity to learn about ourselves - individually, in groups and as a society. Unfortunately, that opportunity may not be taken advantage of. A better title of this post might be If Web 3.0 Is Poetry, Will Anyone But Marketers Read It?

Oh we'll be taken advantage of , as much as we allow anyway, for the chance to stick yet another piece of bling on our profile.Yet the "good" use of this aggregation as a kind of  silicon mirror of introspection poses larger questions.

I want software that will tell me: "On Wednesdays you tend to post messages a lot in the morning, despite the fact that you have a lot of meetings. You post a lot about your health,too. Is work making you feel unhealthy?"

Fan as I am of tech, sign me up for some dsp in my eyes and ears  please,  having the web look out for you as K.I.T.T would do for Michael Knight,is a service I wasn't looking forward to.Why?  Abuse potential seems the most obvious. Want to get paranoid?

"Hey look at the angry posts from Citizen 23  better bring them in for a nice chat and medication"    I'll take no thank you Alex, my droog, for $300.
 

        

The title may be a little too strident.E.G.,close is 2010 until you realize just how long these jokers have taken to produce a copy of decades old tech.The Internet and GPS could possibly be too important to leave to the State?

At one time Europe was asked to back off making a GPS replacement for civilian use due to the USA's need to be all snug and cozy even going as far as to say that they'd  down the birds if a hostile power was trying to use it. Europe went ahead with  Galileo and should be fully operational  in 2013. Russia and China have their own systems, GlONASS and COMPASS respectively, so it's not like the world would end if the US one ceased being useful. I bet that just pisses a lot of people off.  

Most stories appear to neglect that there's more than one solution available.. and they call this news.. ha!

GPS system 'close to breakdown' | Technology | guardian.co.uk

It has become one of the staples of modern, hi-tech life: using satellite navigation tools built into your car or mobile phone to find your way from A to B. But experts have warned that the system may be close to breakdown.

        

I probably only learned one interesting thing at the Phoenix Social media club , before my distaste for the balance of people wanting to sell you on things outweighed those that don't want to be sold too. I.E., those on my side of the fence.

That interesting thing was a statement as to the fragility of Google's hegemony and the likely source of their decline.It's not an other search engine but more a negation of the need to have a search site as a destination but we'd be utilizing the search features within our forums and online-communities.  While he did not single out Google specifically the bold phrase "search is dead" certainly didn't sit well with the SEO crowd.  

What if I decide to follow someone on twitter or facebook who is a guru on the types of cars Im interested in buying ? Could I not just query them and get a response and referral to a site that gives me the information Im looking for ?  Mark Cuban's blog

An idea that I've been prattling on about to any that would listen ( not a large number) over the last year has been the community as the search engine. Google is,for the most part, great when it comes to locating information of a static nature, books, maps, quotes,reviews etc. Where it totally sucks is in the area of commerce.  Try searching for car parts. In my case for a great little car that no one likes, Suzuki Aerio SX , and you will see many results claiming to have the parts, then you drill down through the model, year, maker and whoops just kidding.  They'd gamed the request to create a page with crap info.. WHY?   Why the hell would I think oh you don't have Suzuki parts I'll just buy one for a Dodge instead.? It's moronic and it's why I believe I am right on this

There's a forum for the Aerio owner called Aerio style  and a search of that gets you info on which people really have parts, have good service, prices and occassionally both Yes that's a specialized case but it's what we've been doing since markets first formed. Ask the person that you trust with experience. Trust?  Google's really not too good at that part judging by the dodgy autoparts friends it wants to introduce me to.

Ironically I found Aerio Style via Google I never said they'd die just that search as we know it today isn't serving us well and when that happens? Search Altavista , Hotbot and lycos for answers.