Just in case you were wondering why I’ve written so little here over the last month, it’s because I’m up to my eyeballs in deadlines. One rather unexpected event was that I got myself a literary agent, so suddenly had to put together a book proposal. More news on that as I get it. I’m also working on some stuff for this blog which I think you’ll find worth the wait, so bear with me!
Blogs on the cover of Business Week
Business Week give their readers a heads-up on blogging, going so far as even to write the piece in the style of a blog. Maybe it’s me, but I didn’t even notice it was ‘in the style of a blog’ until they said so, which should tell you something about my reading habits. I’m sure it’ll get thoroughly fisked at some point, (by someone else this time, I’m afraid), but I think it’s a reasonable 101 from a publication that might even be able to get to those people who have their head buried in the sand.
What’s more, buried at the bottom is a link to the new Business Week blog, Blogspotting. They even have permalinks, RSS, comments and trackbacks. Well done, Business Week. Now, please make sure the content is engaging, conversational, honest and gives us something different.
What the Adobe/Macromedia merger really means
This is only funny because it’s true. Somehow, I find myself hoping this Adobe/Macromedia merger doesn’t go through. Monopolies are no good for anyone.
The RIAA – truly doolally
Bram Janssen has an interesting post discussing why he thinks that the RIAA and other monopolies suffer a sort of corporate insanity.
Here’s is the Wikipedia definition of insanity:
Insanity (sometimes, madness) is the condition of being in some way mentally “out of touch” with the real world or with “normal” human functioning, often assumed to be a result of a mental illness. A person may be said to be insane for a number of reasons. In many countries’ legal systems, insanity is a legal category, designating a person as either unaware of their actions, or aware of them but unable to determine whether those actions are right or wrong.
Sounds eerily familiar, doesn’t it? Somebody call the men with the oversized butterfly nets please.
The BBC at the LSE
Up in London again today, this time to see Mark Thompson, Director General of the BBC at the London School of Economics. Should be an interesting evening. Will attempt, if not actual live blogging as I’m not sure what the wifi situation is in the Hong Kong Theatre, then at least some rabid note taking. Give Thompson a taste of just how fast and accurate bloggers can be. And, of course, I’ve got my question planned…
Murdoch speech encourages journalists to work with bloggers
Jeff Jarvis blogs Rupert Murdoch’s speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors in which he encourages them to take blogging more seriously and to start working with bloggers. Whilst technically this is good, it does give me the screaming heebiejeebies.
Apple bloggers get support from the press
The three bloggers being sued by Apple for publishing leaked information now have the support of eight US newspapers and the Associated Press, who are concerned about a dangerous precedent being set regarding the protection of journalists’ sources.
Six Store opens
Six Apart launch a range of merchandise for their devoted fans with the tagline ‘The Brits call it a spanner’. Not ‘You’re a…’?
Meetup.com introduce fees
Meetup.com have introduced fees for the use of their service:
Everyone asks “How does Meetup.com pay its bills?” That question is even more important as we plan new ways for you to grow your group and have better Meetups. To get there together, we are introducing a required small monthly Group Fee to be paid by Organizers.
Do all members pay?
No. Organizers pay the Group Fee to Meetup.com and may ask their members to chip in. It’s up to the Organizers. The fee is per group, not per person.
Organizers have already started to step down, preferring to use some other way of organising events than paying the $19 (or even the discounted $9) a month that Meetup.com are now charging. I’d love to know how many of them are now going to abandon ship and how many feel that the service provided by Meetup.com is worth the money, but I’m betting that Meetup.com aren’t going to be sharing that information any time soon.
UPDATE: MSNBC has more.
Who owns your portfolio? – A look at IP for designers
My latest article about intellectual property, copyright and Creative Commons for web designers is out today in Issue 4 of Design In-Flight. Here’s an excerpt:
Who owns your portfolio?
It might seem logical that you own the designs you create; but it’s not always true.With the advent of the first graphical internet browser came a whole new design discipline – web design – and with it came a new way of getting work. Instead of collating examples of their best work in a book to be carried from interview to interview, designers started to use websites to display their talents. Online portfolios allowed designers to include not just a set of images, but links to the finished sites so that prospective clients could examine code and functionality. Now designers of all ilks can send not a physical portfolio but a simple URI to new employers, and can promote themselves online using their website as their business card.
But the very thing that makes an online portfolio so useful – the ease with which it can be found – is also its biggest drawback, because if you include content which one of your former clients or employers thinks is infringing their copyright, they can quickly and easily find you and take action.
If you want to read the whole thing, then you can buy a copy of Design In-Flight for just $3, or you can get the first four issues for $10. Editor, Andy Arikawa has consistently drawn together some great writing from some of the industries best designers – so it’s always well worth the investment.
Other cool stuff in this issue includes: Eye on type 01, by Hrant H. Papazian; Feeling your way around grids, by Mark Boulton; and The more things stay the same, the more they change, by Molly E. Holzschlag. So run, don’t walk, and get your copy now.
(Crossposted from ChocnVodka)