links for 2008-11-25

"I can understand the logic in forcing people to use something rather than letting them immediately opt-out, if you’re convinced it’s better for them. As I joked with Google on the call, it’s the kind of argument I’ll do with my kids when they say they don’t want to go to something like ski school. I send them anyway, despite the complaints, and in the end, they’re glad they know how to ski."

Steve Herrmann: The researchers described each person as having a 'news ecosystem', where an individual might read several papers, hear news on the radio, look at various websites and/or TV channels for news. The habits of the modern news consumer were described as 'increasingly eclectic and multiplatform'. From the comments: "Where do you dream up this tosh?"

"There now seems to be no coherent message being applied across the Underground system. What you're being told about Bank and Monument depends on where you are...Is this deliberate misinformation, or just disjoint[ed] incompetence? TfL appear so keen to keep crowds away from Bank/Monument that they're willing to spread false rumours and incomplete advice."

"In other words, for every 300 complaints, the PCC ruled on only one. Based on these odds, your chances of receiving an adjudication, should you complain, are about the same as Togo's of winning the World Cup"

"The Mail article calls the image – which shows the disgraced singer holding a bag with a superimposed child’s face popping out of the top – 'sick' and 'appalling'. But obviously not so 'sick' and 'appalling' that the Mail felt unable to share the picture with its readers. A helpful sub even put a red circle around the child’s face to assist those slow or short-sighted readers struggling to be offended". Hilarious.

"I still remain amazed at how many library folks are unaware of (or choose to ignore) exactly how Google makes billions of dollars in profit alone every year. You serve your primary customer and Google's primary customer is not library end users (or searchers at all)".

"Roll Deep have released a video mocking the BNP after a list of members of the right-wing party was recently leaked". Now the BNP/Grime mash-up

"Welcome to the new Depeche Mode web site. Thanks for your patience as we continue to make our web site better and better. We will work towards bringing back many of the old features you've come to love as well as new and exciting ones". Wow - entire massive Depeche Mode website with tons and tons of quality archive material zapped and replaced with shallow brochureware for the new tour. Why would you do that?

"When you run your own blog, there's a lot of imaginary pressure to publish constantly, to be witty, to be good, and nobody can live with that". Oh, really? I hadn't noticed, what with my controlled minimal blog output ;-)

"Archant’s EDP24 site has released a new local business directory complete with search results plotted on a Google map, which can be refined by distance". See, now this is more like the kind of thing we need to be seeing from the regionals.

"Meanwhile, the current architecture of media content regulation in the UK – PCC, Ofcom, BBC Trust – looks increasingly unsustainable in the long term, as the frontiers which these organisations patrol dissolve under the pressure of media convergence". Thoughtful speech, even it does describe new media as "new-fangled", which I believe it officially ceased to be in 1997.

"I'm thinking of manufacturing an egg timer that has plastic pound signs pouring through it instead of sand. That should focus my questions". That would make a useful desktop widget - anyone know of one?