Watch this brilliant ‘videologblog’ from The Colbert Report writers:
As you might expect, it effortlessly and effectively mocks the absurd claims of the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers — which is of course a thinly veiled front for the Big Media corporations like ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX / News Corporation, Time Warner, Sony, MGM, and Time Warner, among others — and their demand that writers give up all rights and residuals for works presented online.
And don’t miss this one from The Daily Show writers:
Writers, represented by the Writers Guild of America, are simply asking to be compensated when their work is shown online (supported by advertising) or sold by the download, but Big Media has the audacity to assert that there is no additional revenue created by either one. Meanwhile, Viacom brags to Wall Street that their online businesses bring in $500,000,000 per year as it continues to pursue a $1,000,000,000 lawsuit against YouTube. Do they really think we aren’t paying attention? Or worse, that we don’t care?
Clearly, if these clips are any indication, writers can and will get along just fine without their employers. In fact, it becomes much more likely that some of them will build an audience outside of the Big Media confines, especially with those of us who sympathize with their cause, likely the very same audience of the shows Big Media pushed off the air.
And of course, I love to see my generation turn our talents loose on such ridiculously wealthy and needlessly evil incumbents. We are far more powerful than either side realizes, and these tests only make us stronger.
Speaking of which, for my next post: why I am cancelling my Facebook account and you should too — hint: Facebook is even more evil than Big Media (and that’s not even half of it).
Slowly catching up on the past two weeks…
John Gruber, on the unique constraints and enormous potential of the iPhone interface, saidbest:
The iPhone’s screen measures just 3.5 inches, but it’s now the biggest frontier in interface design.
I am so much more dependent on my iPhone after traveling for the past two weeks. It performed flawlessly. In fact, I have since become very attached to Twitter’s mobile interface (it’s much less cluttered) and I am truly blown away by the iPhone specific Facebook interface (though far from perfect, it may be the one thing that keeps me interested in Facebook, for now). I have an idea for game too, but no idea how to make it happen. =)
Fred Wilson, on the near ubiquity of Twitter and his desire (mine too) to see it work natively with Facebook, saidbest:
I want to use Twitter to update my Facebook status. I don’t update my Facebook status. I twitter it to my blog, my friends phones, and countless other places on the web. I hope that Facebook will be another of those places soon.
Easy prediction: Twitter is the next big thing for everyone. My mom will never join Facebook, but I bet she’s following my tweets by year’s end, and adding her own shortly thereafter. Without a doubt.
Khoi Vinh, on consuming information online not for convenience alone but for the opportunity to do something with it, saidbest:
But, truth be told, the lion’s share of my recreational non-fiction reading happens online now. It’s not just that the diversity of content and the immediacy of that content is so much richer online, it’s the fact that there’s so much more one can do with content when it lives online.
Even my modest attempts at joining the conversation are incredibly satisfying and richly rewarding. I find I’m much more engaged with my thoughts, more coherent in their expression, and more passionate in their application (no doubt much to my father’s dismay).
Seth Godin, on using contrast to define an identity, saidbest:
One of the hardest things to do is invent a brand with no opposite. You don’t have an anchor to play against.
Perfectly obvious, yet often forgotten, and even then rarely done well. See the following for proof.
Digby, on the overwhelming data that indicates an incredible opportunity for Democrats to change the terms of debate in America, saidbest:
But you have to be optimistic, at least, that the American people are eager to hear a new story. The question is whether the Democrats can tell it.
I have some thoughts here, as you might imagine. Now if only I can find the time…
Peter Semmelhack, on the absolute brilliance of his just-announced Fred Wilson-backed company, BUG Labs, saidbest:
So what is BUG exactly? It’s Legos meets Web services & APIs. Imagine being able to build any gadget you wanted by simply connecting simple, functional components together. Now imagine being able to easily program, share and connect these gadgets in interesting ways. In essence, we’re building an open source-based platform for programmers to build not only the applications they want but the hardware to run it on.
You had me at legos. Sign me up now!!
Umair Haque on the creative bankruptcy, strategic blunders, and epic failure of imagination of old media’s new internet plays, saidbest:
More simply: before you can worry about capturing value, you’ve gotta understand how value is created.
There is a lifetime of wisdom in that one simple sentence, and a fortune for whomever figures out how best to apply it.
John Edwards, on the dichotomy of being hopeful by nature but incredibly frustrated by world we have allowed George W. Bush to dictate, saidbest:
“I’m a naturally optimistic person who feels an outrage that should be expressed, and I think that will come across as genuine and authentic. There is no strategy to it. I just have to be myself.”
This is me to a tee. Consider yourself warned. =)
