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February 2009

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• 02.27.09
  From a distance, it looks an intriguing clash – top-down at CUNY in the East, bottom-up at Berkeley in the West… Advertising, General, Journalism | (2)

  For obvious reasons - having done the KnightNews Challenge, having followed the progress of the winner Adrian Holovaty and his EveryBlock platform and having watched Rob Curley push the envelope with his Loudon County efforts out of the Washington Post... http://outwithabang.rickwaghorn.co.uk/?p=85 ... we've always kept an interested eye on the US local start-up scene. And next out of the blocks comes 'Mission Local' - as in www.missionlocal.org - out of Berkeley's J-School; funded, helpfully, by $500,000 from the Ford Foundation. http://journalism.berkeley.edu/program/grants/ford.html It looks an exciting proposition. And as the San Francisco Chronicle looks all set to be the first major US city newspaper to tumble and ...

  Tagged: Addiply, Adrian Holovaty, CUNY, EveryBlock, KnightNews Challenge, MissionLocal
  
• 02.26.09
  Two pints at The Artichoke later and the world suddenly looks a different place; should it be app first, browser later? General, Journalism | (2)

  The Artichoke at Brome now needs a second blue plaque, me thinks. http://outwithabang.rickwaghorn.co.uk/?p=20 A bit of background before we get to the 'light bulb' moment. Our Ian has been otherwise engaged of late; he of Addiply-build fame, has been banging out Apple iPhone apps... the latest of which is 'Cocktails Made Easy'. The lad from the WSJ certainly liked it... http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123336498619035515.html And having sat there in the corner table at The Artichoke this lunchtime and seen it in action on Ian's iPhone, I can see why. The fact that you can touch a 'cabinet' button and find out what cocktails you can still make from their 500-strong ...

  Tagged: Addiply, Apple iPhone, MyFootballWriter.com
  
• 02.25.09
  Two new words for our Addiply revolution – caveat vendor. And why, hopefully, the world might belong to those that live in the Era of Pixelization. Advertising, General, MFW | (3)

  Having finally got my Twitter-ass into gear and kick-started www.twitter.com/MrRickWaghorn into life - as opposed to servicing 'backchat and #ncfc's needs via my alter ego @MFWrickw - I duly stumbled on what the rest of the world was talking about tonight. Or rather what @craigmcginty and @vagueware were. This... http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/17-03/wp_reboot I must admit I've skimmed through the last three or four pages. There was enough lines in the opening page to keep me amused on a Wednesday night; to even drag me away from Grand Designs. The one about 'caveat vendor' replacing 'the old doctrine of caveat emptor...', for example. 'In other words, 'Let the seller ...

  Tagged: Addiply, Craig McGinty, MyFootballWriter, twadservices.co.uk
  
• 02.23.09
  Chapter 11 now filed in the story of Fred The Shred, Brian P Tierney and Philly Media. Kiss good-bye to more of our millions, folks.. General, Journalism | (1)

  I suspect that in the ever-lengthening rap sheet we can lay at the door of 'Fred The Shred' and his fellow clowns at the Royal Bank of Scotland, this particular piece of news will get lost - after all, it's not billions we're talking here. Just hundreds of millions. Of our money. Going down the proverbial toilet... http://recoveringjournalist.typepad.com/recovering_journalist/2009/02/the-philadelphia-storys-latest-chapter-11.html Because the story of some sweet-talking Philadelphia-Irish charmer called Brian P Tierney and the men from RBS is a subject that's been dear to our hearts for a while now... http://outwithabang.rickwaghorn.co.uk/?p=142 And then again... http://outwithabang.rickwaghorn.co.uk/?p=161 Because someone, somewhere needs to be 'outed' as the person who - as late ...

  Tagged: Johnston Press, Royal Bank of Scotland
  
• 02.21.09
  One big, small step in the right direction as the battle flag of the new republic unfurls over South Devon Advertising, General | (0)

  To carry on this week's revolutionary theme - and Mr Greenslade's sense that, perhaps, the funding of new media [big and small] might have to gird its loins, swallow hard and accept a post-capitalist model along not-very-much-by-way-of-a-profit lines - the People's Republic of South Devon chimes beautifully with these times. More so than for anyone hoping for a divvie off their ITV shares in 2009, me thinks. www.peoplesrepublicofsouthdevon.co.uk They are one of our latest 'addiply' beta triallists; and a very welcome addition to the fold they are. If only for the whole revolutionry zest and zeal they bring to the local start-up scene. What is ...

  Tagged: Addiply, Google, Peoples Republic of South Devon
  
• 02.19.09
  Is that the first whiff of real revolution in your nostrils, Roy? Empowerment to the masses – and lay down your secret, short-hand code… General, Journalism | (2)

  This was interesting on a number of accounts; as was Roy's recent, er, 'mis-understanding' with the sub-editing world of which my Mrs is still, just, a proud and defiant part. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2009/feb/18/newspapers-local-newspapers Because the fact that Roy is now dusting off his 60s roots and finding that first, intoxicating whiff of revolution in his nostrils is - for me - exactly where we're at right now. And have been for a while, in fairness. The last great redoubt of an Industrial Age is cracking and splintering before us; the workers - subs included - now control both the means of production (a mobile phone... ) ...

  Tagged: audioboo, Halifax Piece Hall, Roy Greenslade
  
• 02.18.09
  Big government sees big media as the only people with a ‘credible’ answer to their PSB needs. Well, that’s the future in safe hands then… General, Journalism | (2)

  We've kind of touched on this before; or rather Ms Kiss did... that in amidst all the hand-wringing and quizzical 'Er, what next...?' looks that accompanied Lord Carter's first stab at a vision for 'Digital Britain', there was barely a mention for anyone on the independent start-up scene. Us VIPs, weren't even a blip on their radar. http://outwithabang.rickwaghorn.co.uk/?p=235 This was Jemima's big line... ‘The report seemed fixed on pushing traditional media companies to transform for this demand. ‘The future for the BBC, for Channel 4, for local newspapers and for radio - the report is focused on helping these behemoths plan for the future, yet ...

  Tagged: Digital Britain, Lord Carter, PSB
  
• 02.18.09
  What would Google do when it comes to a hyper-local community news site? They’d get Uncle Jeff to advise on www.patch.com… A gauntlet delivered. General, Journalism | (1)

  AOL now restored... let's roll... Thanks to two of the usual suspects for pointing me in the direction of this new, hyper-local baby. www.patch.com The fact that 'Patch' comes with the names J Jarvis and Google attached - or in the background mix - merely adds to the interest, as Pete spotted... http://blogs.pressgazette.co.uk/mediamoney/2009/02/17/google-to-us-newspapers-we-could-acquire-you-but-whats-the-point/ Jeff, Google and OWAB have had a long and colourful history; I remain unrepentently in the WTFDGD school of thought when it comes to Google's AdSense and hyper-local/hyper-niche advertising - a lesson we learned the hard way, as ever... http://outwithabang.rickwaghorn.co.uk/?p=106 ... but the fact that both appear to be in the Patch-work mix, so ...

  Tagged: Google, Jeff Jarvis, MyLocalWriter.com
  
• 02.14.09
  Dear OFT, What we’d love to do is build some bigger silos. No objections, eh? Lots of love, The Newspaper Society General, Journalism | (0)

  Tis now an AOL fault, apparently. They've got a recorded message on their helpline admitting as much. Personally, as big a fan of Loddon's conservation area as I am, I'd not have any objections to a 3G digital phone mast being discretely slapped on top of the 16th Century church tower... Here we go. Again. The Newspaper Society is now looking for the regulatory green light to build themselves bigger silos, not better networks... http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/feb/13/local-media-ownership-review-launched That what Trinity and Johnston et al desperately need is for the Sunderland Echo to be consumed by the Valleys of the Tyne and the Tees and to become ...

  Tagged: Digital Britain, Newspaper Society
  
• 02.13.09
  A new tiny toy for everyone to play with as I sit in the cafe at Morrisons (Beccles)… #OWAB. Tis, after all, the ‘Age of Participation’. General, MLW | (0)

  The trouble with our AOL being down - and it's now BT's fault, apparently - is that I'm now having to work from a new 'office', aka the cafe at Morrison's, Beccles. Cos Loddon being a conservation area, we don't do mobile phone signals either. So the 3G data card doesn't work either... Put the two together and my attempts to keep a lid on our spam-folder-come-comments queue swiftly flies over the four-figure mark. So it's just as well, perhaps, that our Neil has been a-tinkering again beneath the bonnet of late and we've now got ourselves a little #-tag Twitter thing going ...

  Tagged: backchat, MyLocalWriter.com, Twitter
  

• « Previous Entries

recent posts

• If we are, indeed, to let 1,000 Personalised Newspapers bloom perhaps there are better ways of monetising My #Loddon Daily
• This weekend, all eyes are on BBC vs Sky; round two. Maybe more eyes should be on STVLocal. That’s interesting…
• The Children will indeed inherit this digital Earth of ours; ‘TV’ will be a play thing in the palm of their hand…
• If Starbucks are building localised doorways and channels through their coffee shops, can’t we do the same into rural communities?
• OK, as austerity bites ever deeper into our daily lives lets go round this block again: planning application or lollipop lady?
• The genius that is Google is not in doubt; not up for debate or question. But ‘It’s complicated…’ as FaceBook would say.
• Give people the tools and they will build… if Cameron’s ‘Big Society’ is to be made flesh, we have to look to the heavens. To the wifi clouds above our head.