Tom Teodorczuk of the Guardian interviews BB guest blogger alum Clay Shirky about the future of media. For traditional media, he says, "2009 is going to be a bloodbath."
The things that the Huffington Post or the Daily Beast have are good storytelling and low costs. Newspapers are going to get more elitist and less elitist. The elitist argument is: "Be the Economist or New Yorker, a small, niche publication that says: 'We're only opening our mouths when what we say is demonstrably superior to anything else on the subject.'" The populist model is: "We're going to take all the news pieces we get and have an enormous amount of commentary. It's whatever readers want to talk about." Finding the working business model between them in that expanded range is the new challenge.
Why pay for it at all? The steady loss of advertising revenue, accelerated by the recession, has normalised the idea that it's acceptable to move to the web. Even if we have the shallowest recession and advertising comes back as it inevitably does, more of it will go to the web. I think that's it for newspapers.
Tom Teodorczuk of the Guardian interviews BB guest blogger alum Clay Shirky about the future of media. For traditional media, he says, "2009 is going to be a bloodbath." The things that the Huffington Post or the Daily Beast have are good storytelling and low costs. Newspapers are going to get more elitist and less elitist. The elitist argument is: "Be the Economist or New Yorker, a small, niche publication that says: 'We're only opening our mouths when what we say is demonstrably superior to anything else on the subject.'" The populist model is: "We're going to take all the news pieces we get and have an enormous amount of commentary. It's whatever readers want to talk about." Finding the working business model between them in that expanded range is the new challenge. Why pay for it at all? The steady loss of advertising revenue, accelerated by the recession, has normalised the idea that it's acceptable to move to the web. Even if we have the shallowest recession and advertising comes back as it inevitably does, more of it will go to the web. I think that's it for newspapers. Clay Shirky on traditional media...br clear="both" style="clear: both;"/
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a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=fdacc7c6c075527c7572f140fb913039p=1"img alt="" style="border: 0;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=fdacc7c6c075527c7572f140fb913039p=1"//a
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"The Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition has joined BlueServo in a public-private partnership to deploy the Virtual Community Watch, an innovative real-time surveillance program designed to empower the public to proactively participate in fighting border crime. The TBSC BlueServo Virtual Community Watch is a network of cameras and sensors along the Texas-Mexico border that feeds live streaming video to www.BlueServo.net. Users will log in to the BlueServo website and directly monitor suspicious criminal activity along the border via this virtual fence."
Justin Hall twittered this website: "The Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition has joined BlueServo in a public-private partnership to deploy the Virtual Community Watch, an innovative real-time surveillance program designed to empower the public to proactively participate in fighting border crime. The TBSC BlueServo Virtual Community Watch is a network of cameras and sensors along the Texas-Mexico border that feeds live streaming video to www.BlueServo.net. Users will log in to the BlueServo website and directly monitor suspicious criminal activity along the border via this virtual fence." Virtual Stake Outs - Live Border Cameras...br clear="both" style="clear: both;"/
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a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=a3e90888a91fdfaedc67c55b65bfac14p=1"img alt="" style="border: 0;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=a3e90888a91fdfaedc67c55b65bfac14p=1"//a
img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=a3e90888a91fdfaedc67c55b65bfac14" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/
Feds start wait list for DTV converter box coupons | KOMO News - Seattle, Washington | Technology — This is going to be a fiasco, you can see it coming down Broadway.
Consumers who apply for federal coupons to pay for converter boxes ahead of next month’s transition to digital television broadcasts are being placed on [...]
One of the biggest challenges for not for profits, non-governmental groups and other volunteer run organisations isn’t funding, but time. Namely, your time.
While many NGOs have harnessed the power of social and participatory media to solve old problems, many others still lack access to the critical expertise and knowledge needed to move forward. In [...]
One of the biggest challenges for not for profits, non-governmental groups and other volunteer run organisations isn’t funding, but time. Namely, your time.
While many NGOs have harnessed the power of social and participatory media to solve old problems, many others still lack access to the critical expertise and knowledge needed to move forward. In the past, those who might offer this expertise are often too busy to volunteer their time for on-site commitments. Thanks to mobile communications and some innovative thinking, a solution is now a phone call away.
Meet the Extraordinaries
The Extraordinaries turns your spare time into social good by “delivering volunteer opportunities, on-demand, to mobile phones, which can be performed on mobile phones in 20 minutes or less.”
Extraordinaries founders Jacob Colker and Ben Rigby came up with the idea to match busy people with volunteer micro-commitments wherever and whenever they may be accessed by mobile technologies.
“In essence, The Extraordinaries reduces the cost of information transfer. It allows a person with high expertise to transfer information to someone or some organization in need of that expertise at little or no cost.”
What do Bruce Pardo and Atif Irfan have in common?
In case you're not familiar with their names, let me rephrase:
What do the white guy who dressed up as Santa and killed his ex-wife and her family (and then committed suicide) and the Muslim guy who got thrown off a recent AirTran flight on suspicion of [...]
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As always, we try to bring you the best and latest in honor-payment commerce schemes. Here's one from a town called Settle in North Yorkshire, England:
A shopkeeper in North Yorkshire who wanted a day off on Boxing Day decided to leave his store open and let his customers help themselves.
Tom Algie, who runs the Practically [...]
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Patrons at Cecil's Jazz Club in West Orange, N.J., savored one of the last nights for smoking in bars and restaurants. (Photo: Marko Georgiev/The New York Times)
A journalist writing for the Financial Times complains that Britain's indoor smoking ban has resulted in more pubs closing and a decline in beer sales of 10 percent.
I [...]
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PureSolo.com is a site and free downloadable software that enables musicians to play along to a wide variety of professional, original and well-known music tracks, then record and share the music.
According to the press release, PureSolo.com was founded by a mixture of entrepreneurs who included ex-Goldman Sachs financiers, and a professional trumpeter who has played [...]
PureSolo.com is a site and free downloadable software that enables musicians to play along to a wide variety of professional, original and well-known music tracks, then record and share the music.
According to the press release, PureSolo.com was founded by a mixture of entrepreneurs who included ex-Goldman Sachs financiers, and a professional trumpeter who has played with everyone from Ray Charles, to Kylie, and albums like Pet Shop Boys ‘Very’ and Tina Turner’s ‘Simply The Best’.
What do you think? Are these the backing tracks you’ve been looking for? Go to the site, download the software, mess about with it - and come back and report!
After seeing the post on Palm’s official blog about the airing of a new episode of the History Channel’s Modern Marvels featuring the Treo line of smartphones, I promptly scheduled a recording on my DVR at 4:00PM and 9:00PM (redundancy is to ensure that I would get it!).
It’s nice to see Palm products being featured [...]
Modern Marvels
After seeing the post on Palm’s official blog about the airing of a new episode of the History Channel’s Modern Marvels featuring the Treo line of smartphones, I promptly scheduled a recording on my DVR at 4:00PM and 9:00PM (redundancy is to ensure that I would get it!).
It’s nice to see Palm products being featured on TV, right? Click on the YouTube link to watch the clip!
* At least one person got this right, Obama's Kagan hire helps Yale. A bunch. [Holy Hullabaloos]
* Paul Michel, Chief Judge of the Federal Circuit, actually explains the law. He wants it to be better. [Intellectual Property Colloquium]
* The smell of marijuana is the smell of freedom from tyranny. Or it's the smell of involuntary incarceration. It really depends on where you live. [Underdog]
* God, does anybody else remember when Wesley Snipes was kind of cool? "We should have gotten a live chicken." "Jeffrey Dahmer? I love that guy!" "This thing is bigger than Nino Brown. This is big business. This is the American way." [TaxProf Blog]
* I remember 3L year. I went to Foxwoods on my way from NYC back to Boston and won a ton of money at craps. I was in the Parody. And then my parents came to watch me graduate. I'm told other things happened as well. What a great year. [Ridiculum]
Sonnenschein is the latest firm to adopt a creative approach to associate compensation during the financial crisis. The firm announced bonuses that can go much higher then their peer firms, but also announced a salary freeze.
First the bonus news:
We are pleased to announce that Associate productivity bonuses for 2008 range from $10,000 to $70,000. The Policy and Planning Committee has approved the attached bonus schedule which, as we have discussed during recent Firmwide Associate meetings, remains unchanged from last year and includes a step up for seniority. These bonus levels will result in some of our Associates receiving significantly higher bonuses than their peers at many of the firms with whom we compete for talent and clients, and reflect our strong belief that it is important to recognize and reward our most productive Associates.
You don't often see a firm go the "significantly higher bonuses than their peers" language. Clearly, Sonnenschein wants its people to know they are valued.
However, no firm is an island in this economic storm. The salary freeze reflects that reality:
With respect to our Associate salary schedule, Policy and Planning has concluded, after consultation with our Practice Group Leaders and Office Managing Partners and consideration of marketplace and client factors that, effective January 1, 2009, Associates moving to the next class year in 2009 will continue to receive the same base compensation as they did in 2008.
As with Quinn Emanuel, the top bonuses are available for highest billers. But, if you were a top biller, the extra bonus offsets the lack of a pay raise.
But perhaps the larger point here is that every firm needs to come up with individualized answers to the economic client. Sonnenschein laid off 25 attorney, acquired 100 Thacher Proffitt attorneys, is paying very high bonuses to associates who bill more than 2450 hours, and is freezing associate salaries. Put another way, Sonnenschein is just another entity trying to navigate through the new economy as best it can until things settle down.
Read the full memo after the jump.
SONNENSCHEIN -- MEMO -- ASSOCIATE BONUSES AND SALARIES
We are grateful to each of you for your many contributions to the Firm, including the time and
passion you invest in our clients, your engagement in the Firm's diversity and pro bono initiatives, and your commitment to enhancing the communities in which we live and work.
Today, the Firm is announcing Associate productivity bonuses for 2008 and Associate compensation for 2009. Despite the global economic turmoil that has affected all sectors of the
legal industry, Sonnenschein is positioned to grow and thrive in 2009 and beyond. We have
aligned our capabilities and teams to meet projected client needs in the new economy, invested in diverse practices and client teams, and continued to focus on the creation of opportunities for
Associate training, mentoring and career advancement.
2008 Associate Bonus Program
We are pleased to announce that Associate productivity bonuses for 2008 range from $10,000 to
$70,000. The Policy and Planning Committee has approved the attached bonus schedule which,
as we have discussed during recent Firmwide Associate meetings, remains unchanged from last
year and includes a step up for seniority. These bonus levels will result in some of our Associates receiving significantly higher bonuses than their peers at many of the firms with
whom we compete for talent and clients, and reflect our strong belief that it is important to
recognize and reward our most productive Associates. Full time, on track Associates who meet
productivity levels will be paid bonuses with the end of January payroll according to our usual
schedule.
2009 Associate Salaries
With respect to our Associate salary schedule, Policy and Planning has concluded, after
consultation with our Practice Group Leaders and Office Managing Partners and consideration of
marketplace and client factors that, effective January 1, 2009, Associates moving to the next
class year in 2009 will continue to receive the same base compensation as they did in 2008.
After the first of the year, as in the past, you will receive a memo with your individual base
compensation.
As you well know, 2008 has been the most challenging year for law firms in many decades.
Lawyers and professionals at every level in the Firm -- and in our peer firms -- have been impacted by the economic turndown. However, our prudent financial management and
discipline in executing our strategic plan has allowed us to continue to attract and retain
outstanding lawyers and capitalize on growth opportunities.
Our vision is to create an environment that inspires the talent and clients that continue to fuel
Sonnenschein's success. Over the past year, 65 exceptionally talented and profitable partners
made the decision to bring their practices to Sonnenschein, and they are a key part of our
strategic expansion. In the last two years, we've added four new offices -- Charlotte, Dallas,
Silicon Valley and Zurich -- and grown both historic and new practices and offices. We will
dramatically enhance our national and international transactional and finance capabilities with
the addition of approximately 100 partners and associates from Thacher Proffitt on January 1st.
As the world has changed, we have adapted accordingly. We appreciate your continued commitment to our clients and the Firm, and look forward to a strong 2009.
Chicago, Dallas, DC, NJ, NY, SF, LA, SV and PHX
2008 Bonuses to be paid in 2009
There's SSD and there are external hard drives. Why not make an external SSD? So G-Technology released a set of external SSD today. Apparently these drives are for professionals who need fast and reliable storage that looks like a small communist era gas convector. Only they wont keep you warm and cost you a lot more money.
There’s SSD and there are external hard drives. Why not make an external SSD? So G-Technology released a set of external SSD today. Apparently these drives are for professionals who need fast and reliable storage that looks like a small communist era gas convector. Only they wont keep you warm and cost you a lot more money.
“Suggested retail pricing for the G-DRIVE mini SSD is $599 for 120GB and $1,299 for 250GB. The G-Technology G-RAID mini SSDs are $999 for 250GB and $2,199 for 500GB. All drives come with a standard three-year factory warranty.”
I wonder when will they put an ethernet port on these drives. I’d like that. Here are some specs for you, and a link for more information.
G-RAID mini SSD, contains two SSDs in RAID1/0 arrangement, 250GB combined max capacity
eSATA, FireWire 800, FireWire 400 and USB 2.0
G-RAID mini SSD, contains two SSDs in RAID1/0 arrangement, 500GB combined max capacity
The guys over at Tokyoflash have just announced their first new watch for 2009, the R75. Unlike some of Tokyoflash's other watches this one actually seems simple to read while still looking cool. Click on for a full gallery and more.
Made from stainless steel, this watch has a two-part display, binary on top and numerical digits on bottom. You can toggle between full binary or mixed modes where hours are shown in digits and minutes in binary or vice-versa. It comes in silver, black and gold with a choice of blue or white LEDs.
These things are a bit pricey though, coming in at $235.48. Now if that is too much for you, check out their online store. They have some of their older models on sale with up to 62 percent off.
Don't expect Tim Geithner to set any records when it comes to doling out the rest of the Treasury's bailout fund.img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rss/magazines_fortune/~4/ULBGK7xOyu0" height="1" width="1"/
So president-elect Barack Obama wants to make the deployment of broadband Internet networks part of a sweeping stimulus package that he hopes would create new jobs, update the nation's hospitals, schools and other facilities, and lift the United States out of recession.img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rss/magazines_fortune/~4/7l94XHQHhdg" height="1" width="1"/
So I just came across the new video from Swedish band Fever Ray at Discobelle. I watched it, not knowing anything about the band or anything. Let's just say, I may already have a favorite track and video from 2009. The song is super dramatic and moody, the perfect type of track for a gray snowy day.
The video is even darker. The theme lies somewhere in between suspense and horror. A lone boat on a river, a creepy old house that is littered with either people sleeping or dead bodies, a chick whose face is painted to look like a skull? YES PLEASE!
I've been coveting these Nike SB 720° Dunks, fashioned after Atari's vintage skating-themed arcade game 720°, since they dropped this Summer. Thanks to eBayer jcnice08 who put a pair of size 13's up for competitive bid I finally got 'em, and for a sweet price to boot!
I fucking loved the 720° arcade game back in the day and sunk many a quarter into it's boombox-bedecked, oddly-angled-joystick-having shell when I was a kid. Its groundbreakingly original subject-matter, sleek polygonal design, refreshing gameplay, killer-bee attacks and signature "skate or die" warning made for one addictive game.
The kicks themselves caught my eye with the combination of muted and bold colors and the checker-board pattern interior. Now that I got I 'em I'm happy to report they look really pretty on my feets.
New York-based emcee Bisc1, who is down with the Embedded Records crew and friendly with Imageyenation homies the Nuclear Family, released his debut album 'When Electric Night Falls' early in 2008. Fresh for '09 he's back with a fancy remixed version of the album, called 'The Strange Love Project: WENF Remixtape,' which boasts remixes from Cassettes Won't Listen, Omega One and Nuk Fammers Scott Thorough and Snafu amongst others. It also comes with a collection of complementary artwork by a whole host of artists who were tasked with interpreting Bisc's music in a visual medium.
To download the "freemixtape" you'll need to give Bisc your name and e-mail address. And if your monitor's set to a low screen resolution you might have trouble viewing the download page which requires a lot of screen space and doesn't have any scroll-bars.
New Millennium ATLiens Hollweerd are back with the follow-up to this Summer's 'Edible Phat' project, another "mixtalbum" called 'Electricity Showroom.' Once again it's another 100% free album-length download, and just like their last one it's packed with eccentric Dirty South awesomeness.
German producer/remixer Kimono Kops has graced these pages with remixes of M.I.A. and Bloc Party, but he's ringing in the New Year with an original cut of his own called "The Trade."
It's sweet, catchy, coolly detached, and yet warmly passionate, and reminds me of Depeche Mode, The Blow, Joy Division, Architecture In Helsinki and The Chromatics all at once!
With all the support and encouragement I got to buy the team, I think its appropriate to share the decision making process behind what happened and why. Buying the Cubs was a unique opportunity to own one of the most storied franchises in sports. Its a team that represents so much to so many, with [...]
With all the support and encouragement I got to buy the team, I think its appropriate to share the decision making process behind what happened and why. Buying the Cubs was a unique opportunity to own one of the most storied franchises in sports. Its a team that represents so much to so many, with such a unique legacy, that when the opportunity arose, I decided to go for it.
I’m not going to get into the numbers, or the people, or much of the process other than to say that the person I worked with at the Trib was great. The person I worked with at the Cubs did a great job as well. Nothing about the process was anything but positive when it came to the people assigned to work with me.
During the entire process I thought I had a very strong chance of being able to buy the team. I thought I could offer a competitive price. I thought I had the experience to come in and improve the business so that I could continue to invest in the product on the field without having to squeeze every nickel from Cubs fans. I also thought I could win over Major League Baseball. All told, I thought my experience in owning a team and most importantly, my commitment to always trying to win, would give me an important advantage.
From my perspective, the Cubs being a winning team was important to the seller, the Tribune company, even after they sold. When the Cubs won, the newspaper sold more copies, more people watched the games on WGN and listened on the radio, which in turn meant those mediums could sell more advertising at a higher rate. On the flipside, if the new owner was purely about making money at the expense of a winning team, it could cause the value of the seller’s other assets to decline faster than they otherwise would. Not that this would compensate for significant delta in ds;rd price, but it could break ties.
On the flipside, my dedication to winning could also make my job of getting approval with MLB baseball much harder. Some people thought it meant that I would spend on players like I did in my early days with the Mavericks. Back before I learned that sometimes GMs put keeping their jobs ahead of trying to win championships. But thats another story for another time. I had no intentions of trying to outspend the Yankees or Red Sox. There was no reason to. I didnt have to beat either of those teams unless I made it to the World Series. The only teams I had to be better than were those in the National League, and more importantly, those in my division. There were no big spending rivals close to home, so the AL East could spend themselves silly. My plans were to spend to win, not to spend for spending’s sake. IMHO, the money I could save being in the 2nd tier of payroll could be invested in scouting and development. I made this clear to any and all of the owners that I spoke to across the league. Of course that didnt stop some from trying to convince some owners otherwise.
In particular, a lot of the “intelligence” that I would be a big time spender seemed to come out of Chicago. The “conventional wisdom” of people that I talked to around the league suggested that Jerry Reinsdorf, the owner of the White Sox was going to be my primary obstacle to getting approval from MLB should I buy the Cubs. Contrary to popular belief, I think I have a good relationship with Jerry. I know I have a good relationship with all the people I deal with at the Bulls. We are probably on the same side of NBA issues 99pct of the time. I honestly don’t know what if any information was coming from Jerry, or his position on my owning a team. He was very cordial to me and made it clear that he would be happy to talk to me about anything at any time, although we never did get the chance to chat.
My sense of the entire situation was that whoever the new owner of the Cubs would be, it was in the Sox best interest for things to stay business as usual. Published TV ratings and other published measures showed that the Cubs were more popular than the Sox, yet before I even started looking at the Cubs, I knew from my discussions with people in the NBA that the Cubs and Sox were treated as equals in their business dealings. That was great for the Sox, not so good for the Cubs. Im guessing the people in the Sox organization knew, that if I bought the team, particularly at the price point that was being suggested in the papers, there was no way I would just accept parity in future business dealings. I was going to have to try to negotiate the very best deals possible for the Cubs, even if it was at the expense of the White Sox.
In my conversations with owners around the league, they seemed to understand this point. But what was most interesting to me, was that a recurring theme was that they thought I would be good for baseball. Many had talked to NBA owners who explained that I did my homework and was a good partner. That in my areas of strength, in particular technology, I would make sure I tried to contribute and help the league how and where I could. It was pretty obvious that more than a few of the owners hoped I would come in and stir things up and stand up and speak for the owners when it came to digital rights and the future of technology and how it would impact the teams and leagues profitability. They were hoping I would be the new guy to come in and take the commissioners’ arrows. Which of course I would be fine with and happy to do if it got me their confirmation vote.
The obstacles seemed to be minor, the opportunity with the Cubs significant. It really was an opportunity that I thought I could be successful with on the field, and financially. More importantly, its something I could have a blast with. The Cubs had a strong organizat
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Tuesday, 06 January 2009
There's SSD and there are external hard drives. Why not make an external SSD? So G-Technology released a set of external SSD today. Apparently these drives are for professionals who need fast and reliable storage that looks like a small communist era gas convector. Only they wont keep you warm and cost you a lot more money.
The guys over at Tokyoflash 
Even though it's sleeveless, we envision wearing two-tone frock by rag & bone year-round.
These fourteen-karat gold letterpress necklaces have a retro charm (and price tag).
Roku's new and improved Netflix Player is one of the most recession-friendly entertainment options around.
