“Because small payment systems are always discussed in conversations by and for publishers, readers are assigned no independent role. In every micropayments fantasy, there is a sentence or section asserting that what the publishers want will be just fine with us, and, critically, that we will be possessed of no desires of our own that would interfere with that fantasy.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, the media business is being turned upside down by our new freedoms and our new roles. We’re not just readers anymore, or listeners or viewers. We’re not customers and we’re certainly not consumers. We’re users. We don’t consume content, we use it, and mostly what we use it for is to support our conversations with one another, because we’re media outlets now too. When I am talking about some event that just happened, whether it’s an earthquake or a basketball game, whether the conversation is in email or Facebook or Twitter, I want to link to what I’m talking about, and I want my friends to be able to read it easily, and to share it with their friends.”

Why Small Payments Won’t Save Publishers « Clay Shirky.

“If there was any doubt in your mind that the iPhone is the next disruptive viral platform, it is.”

iMafia’s Charles Ju: How We Launched a Social Game on the iPhone.

Head to head BlackBerry Storm vs. Apple iPhone 3G comparator on Obsessable

So it’s official — I’m seriously sweating the BlackBerry Storm. This is made only slightly troubling by the fact that I have about 10 months left on my iPhone contract with AT&T. Having owned multiple phones on different carriers before there are pluses and minuses to consider:

Plus:

• You are almost never without service
• Take advantage of free in-network calling on multiple carriers
• Have extra voice minutes on one phone or another almost all the time
• If you forget to charge one phone you probably have the other one available in the meantime
• Get to play with two gadgets! You can take advantage of the best features of each and use each one for what it does best.

Minus:

• Starting with the most obvious: two phone bills every month
• Either deal with the hassle of carrying both phones around at all times, or deal with the inevitability of people calling you on the phone you don’t happen to have with you just then
• Deal with syncing 2 phones and keeping track of media in two places
• Packing 2 chargers and miscellaneous accessories while travelling
• The weaknesses of one device aren’t always complemented by the strengths of the other

Overall it depends on your needs but for me, I tend to miss having the benefits of two phones more than I get annoyed by the hassles of maintaining them. I recently ended a second Verizon plan with the Treo 700p and already miss having a second device enough to be seriously contemplating the Storm. My other big and convenient excuse is my AT&T service at my country home is so close to non-existent that it’s not always practical to use the iPhone as my only cell phone. I’ve been using a zBoost cell repeater for the past 18 months to great effect but either something’s changed in the signal or the device such that it’s been less effective for the past couple of months. I’ve made up for that with Skype Out but the thought of having no mission critical emergency communication when the internet or power is out is troubling. All of which is a lot of practical excuse to justify picking up the sexy Storm on Friday but, you know, lots of people have unusual hobbies…

Also having a bit of gadget lust over the Flip Mino HD CK just reviewed, although I’d like to check out the quality of the video recording on the Storm because I don’t really need HD quality — I just want something easily portable that can capture video on the fly at unexpected moments at a quality level high enough to not look totally embarassingly pixelated on YouTube. If such a thing can happen inside the phone I already cart around, more the better.

[Thanks, Brian!]

So much to be awed by from last night’s election and I’m still unpacking it all. Some notables:

• The first African-American President of the Unites States of America. I hope this goes a long way toward starting to heal the rift still left behind by the history of slavery in this country and white society’s lack of reparations.
• John McCain’s extremely classy concession speech (and some dunderhead Republican booers)
• Obama won an unprecedented number of battleground and traditionally Republican states including Ohio, Virginia, Florida, Pennsylvania and Indiana.
• A record number of young voters turned out to vote in this election, many for the first time. Up 6% in participation from 2004 for 18 to 29-year-olds.

For me the evening was emotional and awe-inspiring. Between Twitter, Facebook, SMS, voice and a constant stream of news from various sources I felt both plugged in and informed as well as surrounded by friends and other exuberant Obama supporters experiencing a profound moment in history together. That point is made even more poignant by the fact that the Obama campaign itself made brilliant strategic use of the internet and social media to reach out to a more diverse audience of new voters, youth voters, voters of color, and apathetic voters who were finally moved by a candidate who listens carefully, responds mindfully, and speaks authentically a message of re-unification for a country ideologically divided and facing great challenges.

Last night many Americans felt the power of the democratic process in a way we have not felt passionately about in some time. For me it feels like a re-awakening, an indication of the hunger for growth and self-actualization in America’s citizenry, and a powerful groundswell of hope for things to come.

On a much lighter note… after the break I’ve collected some “Obamagery” — user-created or mashed up visual expression of our new President.

Continue Reading »

Great op-ed over on The Escapist about the recent zombie invasion in World of Warcraft.

… and I’m not even a car enthusiast.

Brilliant 8-years later political comedy and reenactment of a popular Budwieser commercial that ran in 2000. Here’s the story of how the show was produced in 9 days for about $6500 and became a viral hit.

Here’s the original:

As the MC indicates, this clearly represents the decline of Western civilization as we know it. Which means it’s totally awesome on a stick.

[Via BoingBoing, thx Galen!]

At first glance one might file this in the “is this really necessary” department, but Mr. Green Genes (… ok awesome) is more a “proof of concept” of the ability to introduce new genes in a way that’s harmless to the organism. Researchers added the fluorescene gene lovingly named “enhanced green fluorescence protein” to the cat’s DNA as a marker that would easily demonstrate the success of the therapy — under UV light the animal glows a spooky green that indicates the new gene is being expressed without having any adverse effect on the cat’s health.

This particular gene therapy is a precursor to successful development of “knockout gene” therapy that could combat genetic diseases in humans by effectively turning the bad, mutant genes off and replacing them with genes that work normally. It’s also Mr. Green Genes’ ticket to being the most sought after Halloween cat on the planet.

[Via Kurzweilai.net]