TV vs Internet …

On December 15, 2010December 16, 2010 By Rick McIn internet, product complaints1 Comment

Americans are now spending as many hours online as they do in front of their TV screens, according to a survey released by Forrester on Monday.

The average American now spends roughly 13 hours per week using the Internet and watching TV offline, Forrester finds, based on its survey of more than 30,000 customers. …

Mashable

I still think network TV viewership could drop off a cliff some day soon. Tiered TV packages are crappy. TV commercials are crappy. It’s only inertia and bad internet access that’s keeping traditional TV alive.

UPDATE: … Some have contested the TV numbers, saying the average American is still watching the boob tube 4-5hrs/ day.

But many of those hours the TV is simply on in the background, me thinks.

Bill of Rights in Cyberspace

On December 11, 2010December 10, 2010 By Rick McIn government, internet, things getting worse1 Comment

There are many Bills of Rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, for example.

Jeff Jarvis is working on a Bill of Rights for the internet:

I. We have the right to connect.
II. We have the right to speak freely.
III. We have the right to assemble and act.
IV. Information should be public by default, secret by necessity.
V. What is public is a public good.
VI. All bits are created equal.
VII. The internet shall be operated openly.

I think he’s more on the right track than anyone else.

Corporations often try to deny you those rights to maximize their profits. Especially internet service providers.

Politicians try to deny you those rights when corporate lobbyists buy their votes.

Citizens will have to demand their “rights” online, or they’ll be eroded. … Imagine a nation where you must log-in to the internet with a passport, and the only website you can access is the Central Propaganda Department.

Things are getting worse on the internet right now. I’d like to think it will sort itself out in the end. Eventually people will demand freedom. Politicians will still pocket money from lobbyists, but explain they can only do so much.

on loneliness – Roger Ebert

On November 17, 2010November 17, 2010 By Rick McIn health & fitness, internet, things getting better, things getting worseLeave a comment

I’ve almost never felt “lonely”.

It’s a condition I know nothing about.

Film critic Roger Ebert, a bit of an internet shut-in himself, has read 80,000 comments on his blog. Many, he tells, are from lonely people looking for connection with strangers.

… For days I’ve been reading waves of messages from the lonesome, the shy, the alone, the depressed. Some who live as virtual hermits. Some who have few or no friends. Some who rarely speak with their families. Some who have never dated, or ever had sex. Some who consider it a good day when they never speak to anyone. Some who are sad to be alone. Some who are relieved. Some who can’t do it any other way. …

A meeting of solitudes

He reflects on loneliness in that post, and an earlier one – All the lonely people.

… After all that, Roger’s not sure whether or not the internet actually helps the lonely.

need a passport to get on the internet?

On November 6, 2010November 6, 2010 By Rick McIn government, internet, things getting worse1 Comment

One day we’ll wish we listened more closely to Cory Doctorow and Harvard professor Lawrence Lessig, two spokesmen who can explain today why your internet freedom is at risk. And why copyright law is the beginning of the end.

Thought provoking.

One entertaining example of the benefits of free internet: a TED talk –Re-examining the remix

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube (20min).

There’s a war happening right now and most people don’t realize it. Dinosaurs fighting change. … I really hope dinosaurs go extinct.

Governments have a big role to play in deciding internet freedom. Many of the American politicians who supported a free internet lost in the mid-term election. It looks bad in the USA.

In transit at the Beijing airport yesterday I had to swipe my passport to access the internet, same as in Rome earlier this summer. Is that the future of your internet?

The Johnny Cash Project

On October 17, 2010 By Rick McIn internet, musicLeave a comment

In the last years of his life, and now after his death, Johnny has become one of our most important musical artists.

Click PLAY or watch one version of the “project” on YouTube.

The Johnny Cash Project is a global collective art project, and we would love for you to participate. Through this website, we invite you to share your vision of Johnny Cash, as he lives on in your mind’s eye. Working with a single image as a template, and using a custom drawing tool, you’ll create a unique and personal portrait of Johnny. Your work will then be combined with art from participants around the world, and integrated into a collective whole: a music video for “Ain’t No Grave”, rising from a sea of one-of-a-kind portraits.

Strung together and played in sequence over the song, the portraits will create a moving, ever evolving homage to this beloved musical icon. What’s more, as new people discover and contribute to the project, this living portrait will continue to transform and grow, so it’s virtually never the same video twice.

Go to http://www.thejohnnycashproject.com to participate!

LOVE Google Reader fullscreen mode

On September 25, 2010September 19, 2010 By Rick McIn Google, internet, product endorsementsLeave a comment

People often ask me how I can track so many different sites online: gymnastics and hiking.

I can’t.

Google Reader, a website, does it for me.

They’ve added a killer feature that I’ll use 400 times a day:

… we thought we should give our users a chance to maximize their screen space whenever possible… thus fullscreen mode was born. You can toggle the fullscreen mode through the ‘f’ key. Additionally, you can use ‘shift + u’ to show and hide the navigation panel so you can easily change what you’re reading without leaving fullscreen mode. …

… Mostly you use 5 keyboard shortcuts: j, k, o, f, and u

Easy.

… it’s Software Freedom Day

On September 18, 2010September 17, 2010 By Rick McIn internet, product endorsements2 Comments

Saturday, Sept. 18th, 2010

I love open source software, especially Wikipedia. And WordPress.org.

In fact, I’m nervous adopting anything aside from open source software.

Anything can go wrong with proprietary software. And does.

… an annual worldwide celebration of Free Software. SFD is a public education effort with the aim of increasing awareness of Free Software and its virtues, and encouraging its use.

Software Freedom Day was established in 2004 …

Our vision is to empower all people to freely connect, create and share in a digital world that is participatory, transparent, and sustainable.

Software Freedom Day

social networks from MOBILE devices

On August 28, 2010August 26, 2010 By Rick McIn internet, product endorsementsLeave a comment

This infographic, created by Jesse Thomas of digital creative agency Jess3, shows the relative size of social networks and online services …, and also shows the proportion of their user base that access the service via a mobile device.

GigaOM