“We only offer content* at 6:00-6:30 p.m” – Rex Sortgatz Ha! * blacklisted buzzword
Author Archives: Garrick van Buren
Joe Urban on Denver’s Public Transit
“The bottom line is that good transit is frequent, affordable, easy to use and takes you where you want to go.” – Sam Newberg Sam really likes Denver. Unlike some other friends of mine. Personally, I’ve never been. Just around. Airport, Boulder, Broomfield. Though I’m always happy to hear when public transit works. I’m optimistic, …
Doc and Hugh, To the Rescue
Because I’m such a Doc Searls and Hugh MacLeod fan, I re-subscribed to a podcast I long ago dismissed (only because I couldn’t download the individual files from the podsh** website.) Looks like I’m not the only one regretting this decision: “Attention Doc Searls: if you ever create your own podcast, please let us know. …
In Need of a Rural Internet-ification Administration
This country is vast. “Miles and miles of little more than telephone line”, I wrote last summer after half-cross country road trip. The costs of providing and maintaining that infrastructure miles and miles between neighbors is baffling to me. Let along the fact we electrified the cornfields 70 years ago. But, unlike energy – we …
Continue reading “In Need of a Rural Internet-ification Administration”
Measuring What You Can’t Automate
“[I] think how much better it would be if we could just measure how much people care.” – Dave Slusher Like Dave, I don’t understand the fascination with measuring downloads. Well, I take that back – I understand it for producers trying to woo advertisers. I don’t understand why advertisers would want to base their …
Monetizing Robots, Duckies, and Amanda
Modern day troubadour Jonathan Coulton is the latest cult-of-personality on Ze Frank‘s GimmeSomeCandy micropayment platform. In related news – Amanda Congdon announced new projects with ABC News and HBO. Duckies, robots, and bananas for everyone!
Blogging as Image Control
“Leonsis is what you might call a defensive blogger. His main goal isn’t to enter into a ‘conversation’ with the AOL ‘community,’ but just to gain more control over the results that show up when people google him.” – Nick Carr If you have blog and it isn’t the first thing that comes up in …
Computers and Cars: Differences and Similarities
Driving around this weekend with the family and the dome light in the car wouldn’t turn off. An irritation for sure, but not as serious an issue as the speedometer, tachometer, or odometer not functioning at all. Freaky. Scouring through the owners manual while still on the road, we came up with nothing. Not even …
Continue reading “Computers and Cars: Differences and Similarities”
Studying Buggywhips
“‘Go forth and make media,’ I told the group. ‘You want to be a journalist, be one! There’s no badge that makes you one, no degree, no license (thank God and the founding fathers), no credentials and no special anointing from the New York Times. So just do it.’ This again drew a few moans …
The 5 Needs of Internet Tools
“So why did YouTube catch on? Simple — free storage.” – Dave Winer Exactly. In YouTube’s case, I’d also throw in format conversion. Converting video into a format that is small and viewable by anyone with a Flash player is a opaque and geeky process. The reason they clicked – they did the conversion and …