Stand to attention

"Two things strike me. He mentions playlists as replacing the CD, and allieviating the constant decision of what track to play next. To me playlists are interesting because they are what directs your attention. I believe there is money in attention. Lots of money. I've written before that the only money in traditional telephony (without the addition of new presence etc. features) is in managing the ring and interrupting the user's attention. To me, the playlist is the thing for sale in a music store - the music comes for free. Indeed, if you're a really cool person, you can sell your playlist. This is, in effect, what a DJ does."

Web site offers after-death e-mail

"But a Spanish Internet company is breaking fresh ground on the Web by offering people the chance to write one last e-mail, complete with video clip or photo attachments, and send it to loved ones, friends or even enemies after the person who wrote it is dead."

Less than a Decade

"The second? That the consumers who make the biggest difference (the busy ones, the ones who earn a lot, spend a lot, vote, talk a lot and change things) are the ones most likely to be online and least likely to watch TV. Yes, Oprah is still far more powerful than Yahoo. But at the same time, Drudge and Jeff Bezos and Doc Searls are way more influential than their offline cousins."

Earthlink Says Keep the Net Open

"'EarthLink believes an open Internet is a good Internet. An open Internet means users have full end-to-end connectivity to say to each other whatever it is they say, be that voice, video, or other data exchanges, without the help of mediating servers in the middle whenever possible. We believe that if peer-to-peer flourishes, the Internet flourishes.'"

The Voice over IP Insurrection

"It only took ten years after the arrival of the commercial Internet for most people to get an email address. The same outcome seems likely with regard to VoIP telephone numbers. In any case, the challenge of producing a low cost VoIP version of traditional telephone call seems largely solved. The most interesting developments remain to come as VoIP enables capabilities that go beyond the plain old telephone call. With the price of the traditional telephone call going to zero, there will be enormous incentives to offer more value."

Virtual Post-it Notes

"'WorldBoard is a proposed planetary augmented reality system that facilitates innovative ways of associating information with places. Short-term, the goal is to allow users to post messages on any of the six faces of every cubic meter (a hundred billion billion cubic meters) of space humans might go on this planet (see personal web pages when you look at someone's office door; label interesting plants and rocks on nature trails). Long-term WorldBoard allows users to experience any information in any place, co-registered with reality.'"

Michael Song on Chinese music industry

"My 'take-away' was that in a market where the record industry basically doesn't function, artists and agents are going to be pushing the cutting edge of music business models and might in fact discover the post DRM/RIAA business model before Hollywood does. Obviously, it helps to have a huge growing market such as China, but I think it would make sense for artists and music industry people to keep an eye on China for breakthroughs in the music business."