Friday, April 29, 2005
Podcasting the future of radio?
Wired has a news story this week about a radio station in San Francisco that is ceasing conventional broadcasting and will instead make its programmes available for download only. This is a cost effective way of reaching a worldwide audience. On the left hand side of the above link are more useful articles on podcasting and the longroadmedia blog has further links.
The information underclass
Columnist Bill Thompson argues today for digital TV set top boxes to be used as a means of ensuring all households have basic access to the internet. Internet access is arguably as fundamental to modern homes as a telephone connection once was, and electricity before that. There is a growing underclass who are disadvantaged as a result of poor access to technology; there are campaigns to improve access for all.
Thursday, April 28, 2005
Sample NMT essay
Gaming is good for you (in Sweden)
There's new evidence that gaming is good for children, despite worries that it just trains them to be violent (if very dexterous) adults. As mentioned previously, games have been shown to be beneficial, and online games in particular can be very sociable (and increasingly popular), which could be worrying if the digital divide persists. Clearly parents owe it to their children to provide a broadband connection and a copy of Halo 2.
Monday, April 25, 2005
Moore's law
Jack Schofield of The Guardian has a good article on Moore's law, with further links at the bottom of the page. The BBC has a similar offering. The law is a useful explanation of frustration facing users of new media technologies: obsolence. Having to upgrade your equipment frequently appears to owe more to science than a conspiracy to fleece consumers...
Friday, April 22, 2005
Is there a delivery charge?
Sony plans to allow users to spend real money on things that don't exist. Okay, that's not quite right: they're planning to facilitate the online trading of virtual items for real money. The links on the right of the BBC page are also useful in demonstrating just how popular - and profitable - online games can be. It might not be straight forward, though, as this very funny blog entry demonstrates.
When being bad is good
You'd be forgiven for being confused about the situation regarding online music distribution: it's either really bad for the industry or a sign of rejuvenation. If the original (free and some would say illegal) Napster hadn't demonstrated that large numbers of internet users had a strong desire for receiving music via download, would iTunes and the like have been so popular? The same principle appears to apply to TV programme downloads (mentioned previously) - another example of audiences overcoming a lack of legitimate provision. The on-demand future is brought closer the more institutions have to cater for these desires.
Don't read this
At the risk of adding to it, a modern complaint is that there is simply too much information out there. Maybe new media technologies are addictive? If you suspect you are, take the Guardian's quiz. As well as that, it could be argued that they require a lot of attention and money just to operate, rather than 'just working' - just think about how many times updates need installing, accessories become required and so on. The iPod is an example of one product that has an enormous range of add-ons, not including the need for computer upgrades and the like. It hasn't dampened enthusiasm for them, though. Not at all.
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