Sunday, September 27, 2009
Today I felt I could do with a break from the Internet, that I would resist venturing online and scrolling my frequent websites for updates. That I would go cold turkey and resist the instinctive pull to flick on my upgraded laptop. Besides the playback of the annual Prime Time Emmy Awards was featuring on SKY TV channel 'the Box'.
Hosted by ‘How I Met Your Mother’ sitcom actor Neil Patrick Harris the ceremony was highly entertaining but remarkably mentioned a lot of social media content and hinted on the impact it may have on television entertainment in the future…whenever that may be. It was the most joked about/talked about subject besides the nominations and award winners. Uncertainty of just where the long time broadcast networks fitted in the ever-growing shadow of the new communications persona was covered in a range of parodies.
Funniest of all was a reference to the merits and demerits of both media sources presented in the form of a hostage-taking/boycott of the show scenario. The skit involved Neal Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillon (Two Guys and a Girl) ‘visiting’ the awards venue as Dr Horrible and Captain Hammer by taking over the show’s high-definition coverage. Their threats of wanting to destroy the Television Network was met with appreciation as the implications of web reliance were highlighted when the Dr Evil- type interference was halted by the Buffering of the web cast and a flashing low battery on the screen of the evil pairs laptop.
Slightly second, but right up there was another technology angled spoof involving the ever delightful talk show host Jimmy Fallon using an auto tune, popular with RnB singers Kanye West and the like, to announce the original music and lyrics nominees. His fall and consequential injuring of his back was made humorous by his computerised voice.
So even though I wasn’t online I could not get away from the subject of YouTube and the jargon that goes with the Internet and web applications. It is apparent that social media is becoming more compulsory, pushed upon its feeble users.
In saying that I have some ground-breaking news.
This fundamental piece of news is hard to describe in great detail. It is still being refined but is rather exciting and has the potential to wipe the floor with the existent inter web market. So it is only fair that I share what has been brought to my attention.
The link explains everything you need to know about this ambitious invention so I will keep this contribution short.
All I will say is this, there is a reason this has not been done before and it is no mean feat. But prepare to get excited or at least impressed and click here.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Before the likes of these social media 'phenomenons' a death of a distinctive someone would be heard first by radio or television broadcasts. Now with the extent of pace the internet is moving at they are more likely to be discovered online via social media networks Twitter or Facebook.
With the internet being more current then the 6pm news slot or hourly radio headlines, social media seems to be the reliable informant of a renowned person’s passing. Think back…how was it that you heard about Michael Jackson’s death? Could it possibly have been from a text/posted message on your twitter page?
Take Heath Ledger for instance. Because of his age and vitality I did not for a second believe it was true. It wasn’t until I went to the MSN homepage and saw the article in black and white, that the reality hit me. Which is another thing, what is it about humans that causes us to be emotionally affected by a death of someone we never met? Is it some morbid interest in the celebration of a deceased life or is it the loss of talent we are saddened by?
Anyway, rumours are always running of celebs falling off cliffs in
A couple of weeks back while following Tweets on Twitter, I discovered that Les Paul had died. My sister had mentioned it to me in passing but usually when a celeb is reported to have died I suspect it to be a rumour until proven otherwise. So when curiosity compelled me to click on the most common tweets link, I was amazed to see the number of people who had dedicated their respects to a man potentially famous before their existence on something so impersonal as Twitter. Les Paul had died a few days previous to my discovery but already hyperlinks of his memorial service were being flittered around the internet space. Even now as I log on to twitter.com to retrieve examples of the ludicrous tweets concerned with the folk musician, the Les Paul tweets are still coming. They are varying between dedications, declarations, notifications from various nations. Guitar sales are taking place, there’s always someone taking advantage….
“RIP to Patrick Swayze if reports are actually true. Along with DJ AM, Les Paul, King MJ, Farrah Fawcett, Steve McNair who all died this year” was posted a mere day ago. It seems to be a common tweet to accumulate all the high profile deaths and summarise them.
“AmburreLynn Farrah fawcett, Michael Jackson, Billy Mays, LesPaul, Now Patrick Swayze.. Why is everyone dying! r.i.p patrick.” – This tweet is an example of loss with reality, “why is everyone dying?” seriously? Not all of these people died of natural causes, many factors were apparent. Some people dramatise too much.
And just where is the dire need to jump online and post a comment like “Rest In Peace namesake” coming from? Is it an incontrollable urge to join the bandwagon of flooded ‘mourners’. Is it hip to be mournful of a celebrity death? I am being just by using the term ‘bandwagon’as it seems people are commenting on these deaths in order to get kudos from their followers.
Going back to Les Paul, the greatest way I knew of the man was through the guitar named after him that was made an icon. Musicians as epic as Mick Jones (The Clash), Slash (Guns ‘n’ Roses) and Marc Bolan (T-Rex) have invested in the named guitars, Jones when googled for images, is frequently photographed playing a white Les Paul. A signature piece.
Just yesterday I was informed of actor Patrick Swayze’s end to his battle with Pancreatic cancer and the source, was Facebook via hearsay. Just like the development of citizen journalism over the recent years, the instantaneous ‘sharing’ of tragic news is vastly increasing the net-surfer’s awareness. They are becoming more knowledgeable on the subject of who has died in the entertainment industry.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Social Networking: A Colossal Waste What's the buzz? Yahoo Buzz's FAQ tells me energetically to
How many social networks is too many? If you thought that Myspace, Twitter and Facebook was where it stopped, prepare to be mistaken. Just by chance, 29 social networks were discovered on blogger.com when the “share” option was clicked on. The three rulers of the internet social network: Facebook. Myspace and Twitter had a space to themselves but then there were all these smaller-known network icons that until then were non-existant on my internet radar.
I clicked on every single of those 29 social network icons and now I am full of "about us" information.
Here's how I summed each of them up:
"Users like you provide all of the content and decide, through voting, what's good (thumbs up ) and what's junk (thumbs down ). How would they work? Reddit explains, "Links that receive community approval bubble up towards #1, so the front page is constantly in motion and (hopefully) filled with fresh, interesting links." Reddit is made up of hundreds of sub-communities, focused on a specific topic. There's a reddit for science, a reddit for music...you get the point.
"Buzz up! Discover! Vote! Comment! Submit!"
Apparently thorough Buzz you can find the most remarkable stories on the web.
Vote for your favorite stories to give them the attention they deserve. Tell the Buzz community your thoughts about various stories. And add any story found by you on the Web.
Technorati collects, organizes, and distributes the global online conversation.
In addition to blog searches, Technorati lets users scan for top videos, photos, news articles, games, movies and books. The photo search offers the option of having a visual of what people are talking about at the moment. A unique addition is the Technorati 100, a respected list ranking the top 100 bloggers using a unique authority index.
Propeller is a social news portal, it is programmed by the audience. Members post links to stories from all over the Web. Once the link has been posted, you can vote on it, comment on it, share it with friends, or bookmark it to read later. It claims to make the news more fun this way.
Founded by veterans of Disney, ESPN, and other media organizations, the mission of Newsvine is to "bring together big and little media in a way which respects established journalism and empowers the individual at the same time."
once a user, you can read stories from established media organizations like the Associated Press and ESPN plus other individual contributors.
Xanga is a blogging community where a collaboration of user blogs are posted and categorized. Appears to be monitored but some deeply personal issues are shared on the site. So scroll carefully.
Magnolia is a by-invitation community bookmarking service. It closed earlier this year after its hard-drive became corrupted and its founder has blogged that its database cannot be recovered. However it is hoping to start up again in late Summer to a select cliental.
The difference with BlinkList is that it thinks of itself as a tool and lets you save local copies of cool websites to your account so you never have to worry about losing them. You can access them when offline and can follow your friends. Look at what they look at. 
BlogMarks is a collaborative link management project based on sharing and key-word tagging. It is an open and free technology, you can access your favorite URL's from any computer and share with friends.
Faves.com’s was bluedotcom, and is now a free website. It delivers personalized recommendations and through the Topic Network, Faves.com users are connected to other members who make the highest quality recommendations in their respective areas of interest.
Simpy is a social bookmarking service. With Simpy, you can save, tag and search your own bookmarks and notes or browse and search other users' links/tags. You can be open and share or keep them private.
Simpy helps you find like-minded people, discover new sites, publish your bookmarks, detect and eliminate link-rot.
YiGG is a Social News Community focusing on German speaking users. The interface is similar to that of Digg. http://blog.yigg.de/
Emmy award-winning Current TV has been the world's leading peer-to-peer news and information network. (According to the site) Current is the only 24/7 cable and satellite television network and Internet site produced and programmed in collaboration with its audience. It connects young adults with what is going on in their world, from their perspective.
It is the first fully integrated web and TV platform where users can participate in shaping news and information, ensuring it is compelling and relevant to them. Oh yeah and Al Gore (AKA, An Inconvenient Truth) is the chairman of the company.
DealsPlus is a user-generated online social shopping community. It offers great bargains on all types of items provided by users every day.
Sphinn is a social site for search and interactive marketers. Sphinn's designed to allow you to share and discover news stories, take part in discussions, discover events and network with others.
kirtsy.com
is a social media "platform of pure goodness. A plaza for the peachy. A portal to the pretty. A place to find cool things. To read smart scoop. To connect with fab ideas, exceptional people, useful information, excellent products. All of it. And more." I guess this is a more feminine option of the many networking/bookmarking outlets.
TreeHugger is dedicated to driving sustainability mainstream. It strives to be a "one-stop shop for green news, solutions, and product information." It knows variety is the spice of life, so all you need to go green can be found in their blog, weekly and daily newsletters, weekly video segments, weekly radio show and user-generated blog, Hugg.
In her entry, Cummings quotes OMD Emerging Media Strategy Supervisor Anthony Acquisti (New York) as saying,"While My Space and Facebook get all the attention, social media focused on topics as remote as knitting or bird watching can be a strong branding target these days." So branding is the draw card. Cummings interpreted Acquisti's words to mean that the sites that are segmented can offer unique campaign opportunities to brands.
Say you had a product that would enhance the experience of a bird watcher, say binoculars with a super-zoom...you could work in with a social media specialised in that subject and inadvertedly get exposure to your niche market. Not a bad idea.
On a sidenote, during the process of tracking down these social network icons even MORE networks were found. By all means go forth and investigate further but at your own time's peril.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
There was a lot of law suits filed, a lot of ill feelings amongst Harvard social networkers, and I guess when you add a thirst for power and money you’ve got a potential drama slash biopic slash progressive film.
Just what am I on about? The story of the world's most popular social network of course. That's right, Facebook is in the process of being scripted into a feature film.
Production starts in October. But why? What's so interesting about a guy borrowing $ 1,ooo and setting up a social network site that everyone happened to like? Well, quite a lot if you go by Ben Mezrich's published book "The Accidental Billionaires".
For those who haven't read it or are not familiar with the nitty gritty parts, the New York Post describe it as a tale of "Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal" and describe its founders as "megalomaniac". Perhaps the Incubus song of the same name could feature on the accompanying soundtrack.
In "Accidental Millionaires" Mezrich brushes the technical aspects of facebook aside and focuses more on the relationship of its founders: Harvard sophmore Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin. Zuckerberg was said to be the socially inept one, brilliant with computers but not so much people.
It was Zuckerberg's pre-facebook project 'facemash' (a rating website for the Harvard co-eds) that helped him on his way. 'facemash' drew attention from three other students looking to start a social network, and once done with them, Zuckerb erg moved on to his own idea. One he would run with the assistance of his friend, dear Saverin, and from the luxury of his dorm room.
For the full story you have to either read the book or wait for the movie. But the disintegration of the friendship between Zuckerberg and Saverin is helplessly interesting.
The name of the film will not be definite until the trailer comes out but word is through the cyber rumour mill THE SOCIAL NETWORK is the said title for the amalgamated scandal and soap opera drama. However the producer of the film may be of surprise to some. He is none other than actor Kevin Spacey! So what would Spacey want with a film like this? According to slashfilm.com (the reel news on film) Spacey met the author of Accidental Millionaires re: Ben Mezrich on the set of 21 (suspense drama based on true story where Harvard students loot a casino by outwitting the system. Kate Bosworth features in it and it is fairly recent...released 2006.) Anyway, spacey thought Mezrich had a a gift for finding “high-energy, strange-but-true tales."
Facebook movie script writer Aaron Sorkin (TV Political Drama ‘The West Wing’) has been given the task of rewriting the story. Sorkin couldn’t refuse and yet according to an interview on the mashable website, he doesn’t know how to explain why he couldn’t say no. Apparently by page 28 of the book he had said YES, so there must be some reason.
If you want to look into it more, check out these links: Facebook Movie to Start Production in October and Facebook Movie Writer Named.
Are we to expect the next trilogy to fill Twilight's boots to be the trials and tribulations of social network makers? "Coming Soon to a cinema near you, a tale of genuis and addiction and sequel to the box office hit Welcome to Facebook; BEBO: The e-true internet story."
Monday, August 24, 2009
The internet is consuming the consumers people. It is insane. Not only is it providing an accessible form of endless hours of entertainment, now it is pelting us with advertisements after advertisements. But most intriguing of all is that the net is being presented to its user as a giant blank canvas. You just have to know what sites to go to.
It can be thought of as... something of a diary. But not like that of the conventional diary where we write our innermost desires and keep hidden from prying eyes. This is a public diary with a no bar attitude towards privacy. Anything and everything is published and can be shared, divulged, tweeted, wall posted, commented and direct messaged to anyone and everyone.
Some have looked upon the internet and the socia media slash networking thread as a source for a more prompt Agony Aunt or Tips and Tricks column. Unlike the Dear Molly magazine writers who take a week to reply and publish their response to your trying dilemna, sites such as about.com and wikihow.com are more reliable to have the answer for you right here and right now. But because anyone can post and edit articles on wikihow, the answer may not be right.
You see the little thing known as the internet is vastly morphing into a cyber surfer's go-to-man. Advice is growing ever popular on the web. How to get Pregnant; How to survive an Avalanche; How to Teach a Toddler Manners; How to Behave at a Funeral...these are just some of the excessive questions we must be asking for someone to feel a need to post Steps, Tips and Warnings on a social help site.
This is reflective of our impatient need to know everything. We want instant information and instant advice. Discovery Channel programmes such as Myth Busters and How Things Work have been produced to fill the void and need for questions to be answered. Would a gun really explode if left in an oven and would its bullets shatter the glass of the door? Are bulls really prone to charging at the colour red? Can you cling to a swerving car without falling off? What really would happen if you filled a house full of popcorn and then set it off with explosives? Can a tin of biscuit dough explode in a hot car and potentionally hit the driver in the head?
It is likely that at some stage when using your beloved search engine (whether it being google or dogpile) to find an answer to a question a link to google questions may pop up. This is a forum page where people type questions and wait for a response from the wise fellow users. So the social help sites of wikihow and about.com have taken that and switched it around. Instead of waiting for a reply the user can go on their said websites and look for the already written answers.
However with all these articles on a combination of trivial and vital information, the user has to sift through all the bad articles to get to the worthwhile blog columns. Fortunately this wasn't the case today: http://www.wikihow.com/Run-up-a-Wall-and-Flip.
What helpful advice have you gained from the web?
Saturday, August 8, 2009
One of New Zealand's talented performers was quoted on TV3's BIG NIGHT IN, in reference to the talent contest, saying "They better vote or Aunty will give them a smack." To which the presenter answered "We don't do that anymore." This left the singer to try and redeem herself by saying she meant it "2009 styles." She then finished off with the hand signal of peace.
Hmm.
The referendum on everybody’s lips has been given its due day. On August 21 the stance on a review of smacking’s place in New Zealand will be tallied.
”Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?”
I believe not. Green MP Sue Bradford has believed that the number of child abuse cases will die down if a smack can no longer be justified as a reason to discipline a child. I get where Bradford is coming from, but do not believe the removal of this kind of corrective discipline will solve things. It is not the smack of a hand or bum that is of concern, it is the failure for some parents to contain their rage and are lashing out at people smaller than them. With the Nia Glassie case, that child suffered far worse then the convential smacked backside. Those people were not teaching her a lesson, they were deliberately causing her harm. There is a difference and while eliminating the right to use reasonable force may seem like the right action, it will not prevent those who do not follow the law anyway. Nia Glassie’s predator’s were not concerned with the law when they came up with inventive ways to torture her.
As the deadline looms, the debate is growing evermore. “Children should have a say.” Was the gist of one NZ Herald article where the Children’s Commission has jumped in on the talk. Which is a good point. Those that are eligible to vote on the subject are in the 18 years and onwards bracket. Meaning they are likely to not need correctional discipline, they are more likely to be parents/future parents performing the discipline… so where does this leave the kids?
A few years back, in 2000, Britain was having the same discussion and children protested in the street. There has been nothing like that here. It was interesting to discover that in the US at that time, the stance on smacking varied across the states, some still allowing the cane method.
The smack is banned in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Austria, Cyprus, Croatia and Latvia. Italy, Germany, Bulgaria, Belgium and the Republic of Ireland have legislations against physically rebuking (telling-off) children.
Since the removal from our Crimes Act of the statutory defense, the use of “
reasonable force” to correct a child, most parents have felt uneasy about what to do when their child plays up. The message from those all for banning the slap from the hand is to look at alternative methods to correct bad behaviour. Time out being the major one. Those for the removal of the smack seem to hold the belief that a child associates their parents with pain and do not make the link between bad behaviour and a sharp smack.
Being a receiver of the traditional parental discipline myself, a smack always distracted me from continuing to act out and taught me about consequences. Of course it hurt, but only at the time and a little while afterwards, but I knew that if I didn’t want to feel that pain again I needed to behave myself.
This anti-smacking palaver if it stays will hold parents in reprimand for trying to teach their kids boundaries and the meaning of consequences. This bill could be likened to the attitude “all will be punished until the culprit owes up”. These parents who mean no malevolence towards their kids will be put on a stand if this bill does go through again.
As this poster shows, in the year 2000, parents were finding they had to defend themselves for trying to maintain order in their household.
The Honorable Helen Clark and John Key took this into account and agreed upon a carried amendment to go with the bill in 1997. This amendment allowed police the discretion to not prosecute if the parent’s actions were assessed as being minor.
This amendment would also deal with kids who would go running to social services or threaten to get CYFS onto their folk after receiving a smack for swearing, stealing, disobeying etc.
That is something to be considered…
The bill, first introduced in 2005, has been a divider of Parliament and the public. Just two years ago, the child discipline bill passed through Government . And now? Now, the loud response from the public is that it needs to be reviewed. John Key has been given no choice but to heed to the public’s word. Though he is sitting on the fence on this one, he is not going to vote but let the public have their say. A wise political move.
I’m not saying smacking should be the first line of action when disciplining kids…I believe that smacking should be a sometimes thing and used when necessary. So the bill needs rewording, most definitely, but banning the hand all together will not decrease violent acts on children. Though it would eliminate the use of a smack as an excuse for child abuse, it will not stop those unable to control their emotions. Sad, but true.
According to the official website we can expect the preliminary results to be made public knowledge by 8.30pm on the Friday. The target time for the final result will be a five day wait and expected to be known by 5pm of the following Tuesday. So set your alarms and sit tight and hope this will be an end (an end for now) to the ongoing debate.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Paul Henry, the journo of our small nation, has returned from a brief stint in the States. Between interviewing the Honorable Helen Clark on her new position with United Nations in New York; the slick reporter managed to squeeze in some Las Vegas. A discussion on what to do in Vegas was of note during last week’s TVONE Breakfast show. According to Henry and his interviewee it is a guarantee that Nevada’s neon-city has entertainment to feed the masses. One of their must sees is one of the six Cirque du Soleil shows. And no, that was not a typo and there is nothing wrong with your eyes. Cirque is going permanent.
On top of this discovery, Cirque du Soleil (colossal touring circus entity) has recently gained approval to set up at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. On August 4, the city council of LA was reported to have injected $32 million into the production in the hope that it will bring more employment to its people. See: http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_12992810
The venue that is host to the biggest awards show in the Hollywood entertainment industry…the Academy Awards…will be home to the troop for 48 weeks of the year, from 2012 leaving the remaining weeks to prepare and present the Oscars.
Cirque as mentioned has six permanent shows already in Las Vegas and just last year opened its first permanent production in Macau, Asia.
So, while presenting simultaneously on a world tour scale, (Cirque’s Dralion is playing in Auckland) the artistic group seems to be angling at world domination.
The circus that started out with just a tent was founded by a Canadian who consequently is gearing up to venture into space. Cirque’s move to have 19 shows in total (9 permanent) leads to the debate of the benefits of permanence.
It sounds ideal to have the circus stay in town but what if other events were made permanent? What if every Saturday night there was a All Blacks vs. Wallabies rugby test? Now, to most this would be exciting but think about the sport section of the newspaper, the coverage on ONE News and 3News. How thin it would be besides the constant renaming of the team starting off the bench, reports of player injuries and team trials. The players would have to be rotated to maintain fitness and what about the public? Rugby tests in New Zealand are exhausting to watch. The expectation and anticipation, imagine going through that process every Saturday night. Not to mention when we would witness a loss. When the All Blacks lose the nation mourns. The public would be put through a constant and emotional wringer if this was to be.
Another event to consider is the farewell tours of a favourite band. Imagine if these type of gigs were a permanent fixture. Permanence can shatter the illusion or significance of something. Some feel a permanent tan would be a solution, some even have considered tattooing themselves brown to give the illusion of a year-round tan. This would not be a solution, we are only human therefore we will always desire what we don’t have.
This may lead to a what would you rather discussion but what are your thoughts on permanence?
Check out this site http://wouldyourather.co.uk/ or its competitor http://www.wouldyouprefer.co.uk/ and try and answer with permanence in mind.
For you networkers check out this game: http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=7730584433&topic=12912&post=181635
