At the RSA Music and Technology Event last month, Paul Sanders of State 51 described a scenario ten years from now where more music than you could listen to in a lifetime will be available on demand wherever you want it (at home, on the street, in your car). As he elaborated, the question then […]
Month: February 2004
Notes for broadband service providers
I was at the ISP Forum most of last week, representing Wired Workplace. The main theme of the event, which is close to our hearts, is how to make a profit from selling broadband services. Here are a few headline facts and opinions (most, but not all of them, are taken from a briefing by […]
Online Business Networking
After six months developing this site, I can tell I’m not a natural ‘blogger.’ I find it difficult to write in ‘bite size’ chunks: if I’m going to cover something, I want to do the ‘full meal’ and say all the things I have to say about the topic. So, I’m at my most bloggish […]
Douglas Coupland play: September 10
Douglas Coupland is scheduled to perform his first play September 10 at the RSC in Stratford-on-Avon in October. Neither the news page on his web site nor a Google search reveal any more details at the time of writing. Whereas his recent novels have been preoccupied with how people respond to trauma, the title suggests […]
Digital versus analogue
This article reports how the American Society of Cinematographers is responding to digital cinema (with thanks to the E-cinema Alert for this link). While they seem to be embracing digital cinema, it’s interesting to read the comment that ‘major’ movies are expected to be shot on film for many years yet: “The studios are not, […]
Review of John Cage weekend
Here’s a review of the John Cage Uncaged weekend festival that I wrote a few weeks ago. In hindsight perhaps it was inevitable that the most successful parts of the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s long weekend dedicated to John Cage would be the music that was made in the intervals between the headline concerts. Cage and […]
Why digitise cultural collections?
The Facet Publishing web site currently has a free download of the first chapter of Lorna Hughes’ recent book, Digitizing Collections: strategic issues for the information manager. This 28-page chapter introduces the costs and benefits of digitisation in a very straightforward and easy-to-read manner. The book appears to be aimed mainly at curators, librarians and […]
Yoko Ono – Odyssey of a cockroach
I was sent an invitation to the press view of this installation — apparently by accident, but they let me in anyway — so I thought I’d write about it. Here’s the ‘virtual tour‘ and here are the details of the installation’s current showing. Cockroaches are a strong and resilient species; they will probably outlast […]
Social software and venture capital
I’m considering doing a proper review posting on ‘social software’ at some point — sites like Ryze, LinkedIn, Friendster, and the one I use, Ecademy, which provide means to broaden your network of contacts. But in the meantime, I recommend the admirably cynical comments of Venture Capitalist Jon Staenberg on the sector. Sample quotes: “Let’s […]
Usability of Online Content
I read the paper A Usability Study for Promoting eContent in Higher Education because the title promises a lot — how to optimise the usability of all that stuff we put online, so that people can learn from it — and I wanted to see whether the authors would pull it off. I think the […]