links for 2009-11-25

"Yeah, in an article about how people can’t afford their homes, you show me an ad about buying an 'iconic residential masterpiece' in Boca Raton. And when I don’t click on that, because it has nothing to do with my interests, you call me a freeloader."

"So, in summary - Spotify, 1 million listeners = £100 royalty + £1000 fee + maximum shareablity. Radio 1, 1 million listeners = £9.18. That’s it. Spotify isn’t by any stretch perfect. I’ve written about this before. But it’s not the disaster this bogus, statistically questionable, piss-poor journalism is making out. Just to repeat, the headline here is that in an age when people can Torrent whatever they want, Lady Gaga’s digital strategy has netted her 20,000,000 paid downloads. An ocean-liner filled with WIN is sailing her way."

"Dr Who has thrown his backing behind the Matt's Match campaign, urging as many people as possible to help save the life of his childhood friend. Matt Smith, the man chosen as the next Dr Who, has backed the campaign to find a bone marrow match for 15-year-old Northampton School for Boys pupil, Matt Herbert. The 27-year-old actor, who is from Northampton, also went to NSB and grew up in the same road as his younger friend Matt."

"The vicar of an Anglo-Catholic church has received a threatening phone call warning him of violence if his parish goes over to Rome – and his noticeboard has been defaced with the words 'C of E No Pope' daubed across it in white paint. Fr David Waller of St Saviour’s, Walthamstow, discovered the vandalism on Sunday morning as he prepared for Mass. Then he found the a message waiting for him on his answering machine threatening him with physical violence". Someone remind me what year this is again?

"Tivo is re-entering the UK market through a partnership with Virgin Media, the cable operator, six years after the US group gave up selling its digital video recorders in Britain". I never sucessfully coaxed my old Tivo box back into life when we moved back to the UK. I have Sky+ now, but I do miss the automagically recorded content I would never remember to program.

"The spectral PC Brigade is such a brilliant construction. Somehow they are responsible for other people's decisions; they're so scary and so omnipotent that they can force people into pandering to their views, whether they want to or not."

Should be required reading for anyone who doesn't understand why user experience design is vital for digital product success.

"The guidelines repeatedly emphasize that an editorial employee's professional and personal life 'will merge online' regardless of personal or technological efforts to separate them. "Even if you use privacy tools (determining who can view your page or profile, for instance), assume that everything you write, exchange or receive on a social media site is public,' the guidelines say". Not just public, but safer to assume it is permanent too