ipod touch.

Oh god I played with an iPod touch for 10 mins at the Eaton Centre yesterday.

I know it's first gen, I know it's overpriced, I know no sane person browses the internet on a 3 inch screen.

I Want One. Desperately.

(For extra geek points, first think I did with it? Surfed to BrokenGent and saw how it was navigated via multi-touch.)

Apple has developed a severely customer unfriendly business model in it's non-pc business, and yet they continue to grow based on an unmatched ability to create pure consumer lust.

I am Steve Jobs' bitch, and I have a problem.

which came first, the lawsuit or pain and suffering?

Hi all. Too little too late, I know.

But when someone so misunderstands law that they sue the creative commons for misuse of a CC licensed picture, I feel I must comment

Thanks to the filthy assistant for this link, which got me onto the trail.

The gist of it is, Virgin Australia misuses a picture that was CC licensed off of flickr. An image being free to use does not mean the model has signed a release for international promotional use. This is, as the French say, a big time mistake on the part of the mid to low-level internal promotions guy/gal at Virgin, who misunderstood the 'some rights reserved' approach as some kind of carte blanche -- take note, this is usually why happens when someone tries to make information free -- because business can't see freedom of use without seeing opportunity.

This is not the point, because a google search for 'flickr virgin australia' will explain enough opinions on this, in enough detail that I need not bother.

The issue is that the family, and moreover the lawyers they have hired, somehow think that the Creative Commons Foundation, or the EFF, or whoever is going to butt heads in court, either 1) has enough money to be worth suing, or 2) has ANY RELATION to the problem encountered.

If you take something as situation specific as a type of creator control license, and ignore the limitations, don't be shocked if issues arise. You don't sue the soap company because unwashed hands are dirty. You don't sue the Creative Commons because someone ignored another, vaguely related law.

When I read Lessig's Free Culture, he made the point that a society in which power comes from having enough money to lawyer issues out over the course of years is not all that just, at least in terms of people vs rich people, or people vs corporations. This is just another incident that makes me think law is an issue of throwing feces at the wall to see who will pay you a settlement first.

It's late and I'm tired, so I ask forgiveness on my lack of clarity, or my misunderstanding of any legal ramifications. Merci.

sentences are the new paragraphs.

This came up randomly in the last LTI, but I think it has merit. The statement 'sentences are the new paragraphs' started out as a joke, but it is getting the job done as a 'medium is the message' style incomplete encapsulation.

Moving information is becoming cheaper, more intuitive, and largely seamless. If we go back to looking at letters, nonverbal long distance communication had to be of a certain importance to justify it. You wouldn't write a letter to someone if the only thing you had to say was 'I read a book today. Disappointing. Love you, Blank.' Letters require a certain amount of content to justify them.

This informed email, in that many earlier adopters send long emails. I personally find myself padding them at times, because I have an expectation of length. There's no physical reason for this, as email is more or less instantaneous, but it relates to the connection to traditional mail that is presumed. A letter, perceptually, has to be a full letter. An email, however, can be a few sentences and still fit into the little box I (and I assume we) have defined for it.

Instant messenger fits into a different world, because it's supposed to be direct, instant back and forth communication. It's conversational. There is no defined 'right' size for each message.

Twitter, Pownce, and Facebook status are the current end point of the lowering entry level to justify communication. Unfocused, sentence-length, and not aimed at any individual, they get sent not because they are important, but because they are expressive and additive. It reminds me of conversations had in creative writing classes, about how short a story could be while remaining a story. The common example is Hemingway's 'For Sale: Baby shoes, never used.' Which isn't a story, it's an allusion. This is what Twitter, Pownce, etc, the world of microblogging I suppose, fulfills. It's the venue where someone can write ' grande long americano. life is good.' and consider it justified use.

Sentences are the new Paragraphs; meaning that the level of justification needed for communication has dropped, due to lowering cost of entry, ease of use, and social role.

The interesting this is that this doesn't necessarily stunt communication in the least. It just requires that people use much of it as additive, rather than a complete experience. You can understand me just by reading my blog, or my journal, or personal conversations. Adding my pownce, my facebook and my flickr works quite well if you have context, though.

Just a thought.

liveblogging the inconsequential (2)

3:46pm - There is another hour and 14 minutes left in the work day. I shall attempt to chronicle the next 14.

3:47 - Am feeling the effects of having converted from milk-based Starbucks products to the more reasonably priced triple long Americano,

3:48 - Minor confusion of whether I was talking about something present, or something past. Since I'm relaying a phone message, this is far from simple to clarify.

3:50 - I did not make a single PDF mag this summer. I tried. I have a lot of work in progress to deal with. But I have not. So, going to repurpose some blog content and start on it tonight. In other words: that Helio post is now going to be a Helio article. Of sorts.

3:53 - Email sent out to a friend (and sometime reader) who is looking out for me. As with most of my emails, it contains insults, innuendo, and a thank-you for putting up with me.

3:54 - Okay, the thank you was for a favour, not for mere tolerance.

3:55 - Pownce is still cool. I got bored with it, but it serves a purpose that I previously used livejournal for. Sentences are the new paragraphs.

3:57 - Can someone put 'Sentences are the new Paragraphs' on a shirt for me? I feel like I just encapsulated something very depressingly web2.0.

4:00 - I have reached my inconsequential liveblogging limit. Thanks for playing along.

[This is in the LTI Tradition, explained Here.]

laughing at microsoft - becoming common in my life.

Two posts in one day? Something disruptive must have happened.

I recall, earlier this summer, a conversation with a friend, relating to the UX of the iPod, and what could trump it. This pops back into my mind because the iPod touch is basically forcing me to laugh at microsoft.

The Zune was interesting because it had a big screen (a beautiful screen, from everything I've heard) and wi-fi. These were the features that everyone saw and started muttering 'iPod killer' over. And with good reason. When bitching about the iPod's UX (which took some thinking, but there were still complaints) my major problems were 1) no search mechanism on the ipod itself other than scrolling, 2) have to be hooked to a computer to download music. This discussion went immediately to how simple it would have been for MSFT to address at least one of these issues, if they hadn't put so much effort into appeasing the DRM lust held by music labels, tv networks, movie studios, et al.

I'm not laughing at Microsoft because they are releasing a new set of Zunes into a marketplace that refuses to stay static long enough for them to play it safe. I'm laughing at Microsoft because the Zune proves, to me at least, that they can no longer even steal ideas and improve on them effectively. The fact that there was a wi-fi enabled, bigger screened competitor available for so long, and they managed to make it less appealing not in spite of the wi-fi, but BECAUSE of it, boggles the mind.

And then Apple walks back into the throne room and says 'Oh yeah, wi-fi, cute idea. Maybe we'll let people use it for what they want, and what it can do'.

I'm laughing because the idea of being able to download music directly to your music player is actually somewhat revolutionary in the current western marketplace. I'm laughing because I want it so badly.

i know, i know...

I am a terrible blogger. I've been working on a post on Helio's latest campaign for about 3 weeks, but I just haven't had the time what with renovations at home, and work, and upcoming crazy media event season type stuff.

But I have to make a simple comment on the new iPod touch - they are going to make a pile of money.

Things that sucked about the iPhone: U.S. only, AT&T only, no 3G, apparently unimpressive phone features.

Things that are still an issue on the iPod touch: no 3G, but it's a wi-fi iPod, not a goddamn phone, quit bitching.

Does it replace an iPod classic? Not in the least. First off, I can't imagine it'll be easy to use blind, and second, anyone with a 16 GB music / movie collection is not taking advantage of their hard drive space effectively. This is an additive product, and it speaks directly to the reptile brain of everyone who 1) really, really wanted an iPhone and 2) didn't care so much about the phone part.

I have a feeling this is a sector even larger than the people who were counting on Stevie J to save them from the tyrrany of Nokia, or whatever.

Time to start saving. Time to figure out what 16 GB of content is most essential for me to have at all times.

Time to swear to never, ever buy music at a Starbucks, just because it's the album or single of the month.