Jon DiPietro is Domesticating IT

Weekly High Five lists the most interesting, compelling, and/or useful links of each week.

This week’s High Five is about protecting and promoting content.

#5: DMCA Muscle Kills DVD Copying, for Real

I’ve been covering several different lawsuits in which the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) is prosecuting a scorched earth assault against its own customers guilty of piracy.  While those arguments are about the punishment fitting the crime, this story is much more disturbing because it deals a serious body blow to the “fair use” aspect of copyright protection.  This is the principal that makes it legal to make a copy of a CD (music, program, or otherwise) for your own personal backup purposes.  However, in this case a judge has ruled that the crime exists in the breaking or bypassing of any encryption.

Link: Wired

#4: Bogus Copyright Claim Silences Yet Another Larry Lessig YouTube Presentation

This story is a preview of things to come.  In previous “High Five” posts, I’ve linked to articles about legislation that could threaten net neutrality by compelling Internet Service Providers to police their user base for copyright violations.  If forced to do so, it will lead to several undesirable side effects.  First, and most obvious, it will increase prices as these service providers will have to invest in additional resources to police their own customers (not to mention insurance policies for increased risk).  Second, it will lead to far more restrictive policies as their terms of use will no doubt give them final say in what is or is not acceptable – legal standards will not be applicable because they will be more concerned with avoiding litigation than their own users’ rights.  Finally, this story is obviously an example of an automated software application that is simply looking for digital footprints and stomping them out with extreme prejudice and no room for fair use.

Link: TechDirt

#3: Apple Stacks The Deck Against Amazon’s Kindle App

It’s no great secret that the true source of success for many devices is the “killer app.”  The most famous example is VisiCalc for the Apple II.  The real secret to Apple’s domination of the personal MP3 player market was the iTunes store.  This article discusses the potential impact of the iPad’s e-reader application being directly linked to the iStore, and how a couple of mouse clips could be a serious impediment to Amazon’s Kindle Reader application.

Link: Business Insider

#2: How The Newspaper Business Killed Itself

John Dvorak is no shrinking violet, and has been making bold assertions and predictions for many years.  In this article, he makes the case that the New York Times’ decision to begin charging for online access is another example of the industry shooting itself in the foot.  Like most brash pundits’ predictions, the vast majority of his predictions prove not to be true and I actually disagree with his opinion on this latest move by the times.  So why am I including it?  Because in describing the newspaper business’ past sins, he uses the simplest and single best metaphor I’ve read on the subject.  After describing how publishers reacted to declining revenues as a result of underestimating the effects of online classifieds by laying off beat writers, he concludes that “It was like attempting to fix a flat by letting the air out of the rest of the tires.”  Perfect.

Link: PC Magazine

#1: What The Heck Is Inbound Marketing (and how you can maximize it) With Brian Halligan

“Inbound Marketing” is the single most important concept that will determine the degree to which businesses, associations and individuals will be able to spread their ideas and gain visibility.  In this interview, David Garland speaks with Hubspot CEO Brian Halligan, who literally wrote the book on Inbound Marketing.  If you take the time to watch this video (and I hope you do), I encourage you to think about the concept of inbound marketing for your own personal online identity as well as that of your organization’s.

Link: The Rise to the Top

Feel free to provide your thoughts and/or contributions…

Continue Reading

Weekly High Five lists the most interesting, compelling, and/or useful links of each week.

The theme for this week’s High Five is, “Content Wars.”  Wrangling continues over copyright protection, and content creators continue to struggle with delivery channels and monetization.

#5: Apple Courts Publishers, While Kindle Adds Apps

The e-reader market is heating up nicely.  Apple’s expected announcement of a new tablet computer is igniting a battle “for the hearts and minds of book publishers, authors, and readers.”

Link: New York Times

#4: $675,000 RIAA File Sharing Verdict Is ‘Unreasonable’

A defendant has asked the U.S. Disctrict Court in Massachusetts to either retry the case or reduce the fine of $22,500 per song.  This comes on the heels of a $1.92 million judgement last year against a woman who downloaded 24 songs.  These shocking verdicts are raising the volume of calls for Congress to change the laws, but a Justice Department dominated by RIAA lawyers and lobbyists it seems that the entertainment industry’s stormtroopers will continue to patrol the Internet for the foreseeable future.

Link: Wired

#3: Open Letter From OK Go, regarding non-embeddable YouTube videos

OK Go is a rock band that just wants to make music and share it with their fans.  In a thoughtful post on their web site, they explain the intricacies of publishing music videos in the current Internet climate.  Shockingly, they declare that “crazy as it may seem, it’s now far harder for bands to make videos accessible online than it was four years ago.”  Like the aging Hippie reluctantly pulling the lever for a Republican, YouTube is finding itself answering to new constituents in its quest for monetization.  The soundtrack to this drama would surely include Roger Daltry’s voice; “I hope I die before I get old.”

Link: OK Go’s User Forum

#2: YouTube Will Start Charging for Some Videos

On the heels of the OK Go story, we learn that YouTube will begin experimenting with paid content.  They plan to charge users around $5 to view independent films from the 2009 and 2010 Sundance Film Festivals.

Link: ReadWriteWeb

#1: New York Times Ready to Charge Online Readers

In the latest chess game between newspapers, readers, and search engines, the New York Times announced this week that it is planning to charge readers.  Their approach will differ from the Wall Street Journal, which charges based on premium content.  Instead, the Times plans to charge by volume, which will ostensibly allow the casual visitor to find an article on Google, for example, and have full access to read the article.  It’s a novel idea and not without some technical hurdles to be overcome.  It seems to me that it strikes a fair balance between the free exchange of ideas and making a living.  I will be rooting for it to succeed.

Link: New York Magazine

Feel free to provide your thoughts and/or contributions…

Continue Reading

Weekly High Five lists the most interesting, compelling, and/or useful links of each week.

This week’s High Five is as close as I’m going to get to any sort of “best of,” “worst of,” or “top x” post for the new year.  Rather, it’s a look forward that may be best described as “The Times They Are A Changin’.”

#5: It Was a Facebook Christmas; Site Hits #1 in US For First Time

This is an important milestone that I think is going to largely be brushed aside as an interesting but not terribly surprising fact.  When Facebook is a more common destination than Google, it’s worth taking note.  Why?  We all know what Willie Sutton’s answer would be; “Go where the money is… and go there often.” (That’s right, apparently he never really said the quote that is most commonly attributed to him.)  Facebook is where the people are, which means the money and opportunity are both there (see “The Future of Software Is… Facebook?!?!“).

Link: Read Write Web

#4: Apple Tablet Will Launch in 2010 — This Time, For Sure

Last week’s High Five included a story about downloads for the Amazon Kindle eclipsing “real” book sales on Christmas day.  This is illustrative of the size and scope of the move away from printed materials to e-books and the rumored announcement of a new product from Apple is likely the next battle ground in the “Print v. Digital” war.

Link: PC World

#3: Adding Fees and Fences on Media Sites

The battle for paid versus free content will loom large over the next decade.  Though I have my own opinions about what may or may not happen, the truth is that the combination of technology developments and innovation are too complex and fickle to predict.  It will be fascinating to see how this turns out, but as Clay Shirky predicts, it may take as long as fifty years to fully play itself out.

Link: New York Times

#2: Twitter and Me! Why It’s The Only Social Media Tool I Use.

Explaining Twitter is hard.  This article is written by a self-described “tech entrepreneur trapped in academia” and is hands-down the best articulation of Twitter’s value proposition (for non-celebrities) I’ve ever read.  It’s a short article and I highly recommend it if you a) don’t “get” Twitter or b) have an opinion of it that ranges anywhere between negative and neutral.

Link: Tech Crunch

#1: My only prediction for 2010 and it ain’t pretty

Are our copyright laws under assault?  Is the entertainment industry on the brink of stealing the Internet from us?  I’m not sure because I don’t know enough about it right now, but I do know two things: 1) The entertainment industry is on my list of the slimiest, least trustworthy groups of people I know and they are teaming up with the supreme ruler of slimy organizations; the US Congress. 2) I will be paying attention to this story.

Link: The Inquisitr

Feel free to provide your thoughts and/or contributions…

Continue Reading

Weekly High Five lists the most interesting, compelling, and/or useful links of each week.

Well, because of the holidays this was a very slow news week!  Nevertheless, I’ve been able to assemble a list of interesting links, but with no particular theme.

#5: Average Net user now online 13 hours per week

From the “We Kinda Knew That Already” department, statistics show that 80% of adults spend some time online every week (excluding email) and that they spend an average of 13 hours there.   The most active demographic is 30 – 39 year olds.

Link: CNET

#4: Amazon Sold More Kindle Books Than Physical Books On Xmas

From the “Long Tail Pricing Model” department, Amazon continues to change the landscape of consumerism.  Much like recording artists are learning that (lower cost) online downloads are earning them more revenue than ever, authors may soon find out that they too can earn more money from higher volume sales of lower margin products.

Link: The Business Insider

#3: What a Bestselling Author Can Teach You
About Hooking Your Readers

From the “Better Communication Through Storytelling” department and on the heels of my recent post, “ABC: Always Be Collecting” comes this handy article that provides some insight on how to hook your readers.  I think this is applicable beyond the scope of blogging and can be leveraged in emails, memos, job postings, etc…

Link: Copyblogger

#2: 10 non-PowerPoint books that can help you create better presentations

From the “Coming Attractions” department, this post contains a list of books recommended by presentation revolutionary Garr Reynolds.  I’ll be publishing a very interesting post tomorrow about how dramatically my presentation style has been influence by his book “Presentation Zen.”  Be sure to check out all of the before and after screen shots that illustrate this step change by incorporating principles of design and storytelling.

Link: Presentation Zen

#1: Online Footprint Survey

From the “Shameless Self-promotion” department, I am asking readers to fill out this short survey about their online profile.  The winner will be announced on the Domesticating IT Facebook fan page.

Link: Survey Monkey

Feel free to provide your thoughts and/or contributions…

Continue Reading

Weekly High Five lists the most interesting, compelling, and/or useful links of each week.

This week’s High Five is all about technology as a the unstoppable force in shaping market trends.  The markets include computers, communication, entertainment, publication, and social networking.

#5: Windows 7 sales exceed Vista sales by 234%

Windows Vista is a Microsoft product failure arguably only eclipsed by Windows Me.  The cleansing process has begun with the release of Windows 7, a clear improvement.  I successfully upgraded a laptop this week and the process was smooth and error-free.

Link: The Windows Blog

#4: Skype, Founders Settlement in the Works

Skype is a fantastic VOIP (voice over IP) service that was purchased by eBay.  The complicated case centered around eBay’s plan to spin off Skype and threatened the service itself.  As of the this writing, it is widely being reported that the settlement has been reached and we Skype fans can breath much easier.

Link: GigaOm

#3: Creative’s next big thing is a Zii MediaBook

As someone who is an avid reader and intrigued by e-readers but put off by their price, competition is a great thing.  Amazon’s Kindle is under attack from Barnes & Noble and now Creative.

Let the content wars begin!

Link: EpiZENter

#2: Best Buy Prepares for the Post-DVD Era

This is a company that just “gets it.” They are not afraid of change. In fact, it seems to me they are addicted to it.

Link: The New York Times

#1: The chat room/forum problem (& an apology to @Technosailor)

Robert Scoble is one of the pioneers of blogging as a corporate communication platform and is as about as authoritative as you can get in that area.  This article is a very interesting retelling of the history of forums and chat rooms, with lessons learned and how they apply to the current landscape of social networks.  One of the most interesting aspects of this article is watching how his own opinions about services like Twitter and FriendFeed have changed and why he thinks Twitter will not devolve the way chat rooms and forums did.

Link: Scobleizer

Feel free to provide your thoughts and/or contributions…

Continue Reading