Alec Saunders SquawkBox

How are VoIP and the RIAA related?

Courtney Love’s rant about the record companies is worth a read again.   Thanks to Dave Winer at Scripting News for posting it again.

It is, of course, the identical problem that is facing the telecommunications industry today.  Just as Napster, and MP3 technology have forever changed the recording industry, VoIP is doing the same to the telecommunications industry.  The incumbent telephone companies are in exactly the same place the the record labels were when Love’s piece was written.  

The asset the incumbents own today is the distribution system — all that copper in the ground.  The monopoly control they exert over that copper is the reason they are so profitable.  What does their world look like when they are no longer the gatekeepers to the distribution system?  All have recognized the problem.  Some are trying to have VoIP regulated, while others are tentatively embracing the technology. 

EomE and other responses to Social Networking

Fascinating stuff.  I invited Bob Frankston to link to me on LinkedIn, and while he accepted, he also responded with a pointer to his satire on the idea - the Enemy of My Enemy network.  David Weinberger dislikes the whole phenomenon altogether, and let’s us know why in The truth about why I hate Friendster.

Both Bob and David are missing the point on this, in my opinion.  David has joined everything, and complains that the networks are artificial.  Perhaps they are, but then don’t join a dating network if you’re not interested in dating.  Bob complains that the networks are like mindless stamp collections of people.  To a certain extent he’s right — lots of folks have joined with the intent of simply building a larger network than the next guy.

I’ve looked at Friendster, but it doesn’t seem like it will have any value to me, since I’m already married.  I joined Orkut, and have been lurking on some of the discussion groups.  But Orkut looks like little more than warmed over Compuserve to me. I won’t stay unless the discussion is interesting.  I have a Spoke account too, but it’s never done anything for me.  And as for Flickr… who actually WANTS to post pictures and commentary for the world. 

So what’s the lesson?  I use LinkedIn because each and every day it provides value.  Just last week, for instance, I spoke with Michael Stephens, VP of Marketing for Group Telecom/360 Networks.  That was a LinkedIn contact.  I’ve also connected with Pierre Omidyar, the Chairman of Ebay through LinkedIn.   And, many many others.

Social networking is going to divide along demographic lines associated with utility.  The answer is to figure out what communities you want to be a part of, and join them. 

Randy and Don go camping

Randy’s and Don’s algorithms are really a subset of the camping algorithm….

if type == car_camping

drive, unload, setup
for (i = 0; i < n; i++)
  sit, eat, sit, eat, fire, drink, sleep
tear down, load, drive

else

drool over latest cool gear
plan trip
buy latest cool gear
do
  pack gear, hoist pack, groan under load, practise walk with pack
  unload pack, repack with less stuff
until pack is bearable
load, drive, park, unload
for (i = 0; i < n; i++)
  eat, walk, eat, walk, eat, set up tent, sleep
load, drive

Sens to meet the Leafs in Round 1

Stage is set for Battle of Ontario as Sens and Leafs to meet in first round.

And a reprise of this excellent photo…

RIAA full of it?

According to this report, it takes 5000 downloads to impact CD sales by one unit.  The real reason for the music industry’s downturn is … drumroll please … the economy.