I am psyched…I just received Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets through Bookmooch, the crazy-cool book trading service that I use (here’s my info and book listing. If you like what you see, create an account, rack up some points, and mooch away!). I’ve been looking forward to reading this book for quite some time…I’ll let you all know what I think.

And yes, I’m trying out my Amazon Associates referral thingie…if the pop-out thing is irritating, let me know. I’m back and forth on it; I don’t actually need it to use the referral link. UPDATE: irritation, though cool, IMO. Took it out. Click through to make me my phat loot.

Civil Liberties Groups Sue Homeland Security for Records on Intrusive Questioning and Searches of U.S. Travelers — I am 100% behind this, and very, very proud to be a card-carrying (and T-shirt wearing!) EFF member. Our government’s irrational zeal to do whatever is necessary to keep us safe has gone unchecked and unfettered for far too long. I really appreciate these organizations for stepping up to defend our liberties.

thanks to boingboing for the link

I just want to go on record with this…I’m holding off on my machinima experimentation for now. I have some cool ideas…but I have too many cool ideas right now! Some coding, some blogging, some writing, and machinima to boot. The deciding factor is that all the others are, at their core, text, while machinima is going to require me to bootstrap an entire new tech kit of video, framework, movie direction, etc. It’s something I’m excited to do, but I’ve got to dig in for now and move forward on something, vs. doing prep work on everything. Experience wins, for now.

But not for forever…maybe only six months or so. I’ve got plenty of machinima links (also at ma.gnolia), and I’m going to keep watching and adding to them. I’ll be back!

(A Million Flowers post)

Magnatune: To be honest, Magnatune probably should have been my first example, but I think I had Amie Street on the brain the other day. (that’s not a crack against Amie Street, though…heck, I think I’ll just shut up about this now. I like ’em both).

Magnatune is pretty much the poster child for doing EVERYTHING right in the music space…it’s really an amazing label. Magnatune has from day 1 sold all music with no DRM, and they make every format imaginable available; MP3s of various qualities, FLAC, up to raw WAV duplicates of the master CD. You can choose and all of them. You can also re-download anything from your catalog if you need to (computer crash, etc.)…just make sure to give them your email address when purchasing, and they’ll re-send you the download link at any time. It’s like they trust you or something…

In fact, they do more than trust you. They ask a favor of you; they ask you to share your purchases with your buddies. Yep…Magnatune explicitly asks you to forward along your download email to 3 friends you think will like it! Crazy like a fox…I’ve had friends make purchases there based on my share, which is of course the point.

Magnatune certainly isn’t a mainstream label, but I find that an advantage, to be honest. The founder (John Buckman) sells music he likes…classical, world, ambient, electronica, rock…there’s a little bit for just about everyone, though you certainly won’t find Britney Spears or The Beatles. (Which is good, imo.) And since you can stream every single song for free, you know what you’re getting. Many people just use Magnatune’s streams to find new artists and enjoy great background music. Find something there you like, click over to the artist’s page, listen to your heart’s content, then make the purchase!

Oh, that’s right; I haven’t even yet mentioned the payment model. For any album, you choose your own price! The range is (US) $5-18…and 50% of whatever you pay goes directly to the artist. You lose nothing by paying less other than karma…you gain nothing by paying more other than knowing that you’re supporting a great label and an artist you like. I usually pay $8-10, depending on the length of the album, and how much I like it.

Give Magnatune a try…it’s listings encourage exploration and discovery. I predict you’ll find something you like.

There’s a reason Magnatune is so cool…the founder, John Buckman is a really, really smart guy, with ethics to boot. Buckman sold Lyris (mailing list/email marketing software) several years back, and made his Internet fortune. Like many entrepreneurs, he couldn’t stay out of the ring for long, but his ideas about the music industry and experiences with his wife releasing her own CD inspired him to start Magnatune. He hasn’t stopped there, though…I also use his crazy-cool book swapping service Bookmooch, I read both his and his wife’s blog (she’s also awesome, and a very talented musician), and generally think the world of the guy. People like John Buckman inspire me to try great things. Thanks, John.

In Senate, a White House Victory on Eavesdropping — I don’t know what to say. I literally don’t know what to say. I’ve rewritten this several times…I can’t vote against Harry Reid, but I can damn sure NEVER give anyone involved with him one red cent. That reminds me, I need to go give Chris Dodd some more money again later today.

UPDATE: Just a clarification; when I say I can’t vote against Harry Reid, that’s simply because I’m not a citizen of Nevada. I would if I could!

Glenn Greenwald, among others, is keeping close track of Harry Reid’s kowtow to the security bogeyman by backing retroactive FISA immunity. Many people (including myself) are honestly wondering if someone’s got Pictures Of Something They Shouldn’t…Reid is so dead-set on pushing this through for Bush that he’s making Senator Dodd and the others who want to filibuster literally do so…no virtual holds allowed. I have no real problem with that; it’s a long, celebrated senatorial tradition. But Reid is letting Republican lawmakers place virtual holds on Democratic sponsored legislation! I guess fair dealing is what Reid wants to be known for…but sheesh! *grin*

And Senator Reid certainly has a right to be concerned…not only is the short-term fix from the summer about to expire (and for noodley pasta’s sake, we don’t want to be seen as soft on terrorism), but everyone who’s anyone is ALREADY at Davos, and the plane is waiting!! How unfair to keep Senators with invites from the beautiful people!!

*sigh* Some days, I’m convinced the game is already over. I just want to stop the ride and get off.

Let A Million Flowers Bloom: It is absolutely fascinating to watch the dinosaurs of old media, the weasel-quick proto-mammals of the new Net media, and their Frankenstein zombie children cavort about. I love it. This is such an interesting and exciting time to be involved in watching or creating media. Movies, music, books, new formats; doesn’t matter. Information technology really truly has changed things.

There are many, many…MANY websites, pundits, and academics discussing this; I’m aware of that. I can’t (and won’t try) to match the intellectual sweep of Yochai Benkler’s book, The Wealth of Networks, or the “come-to-Jesus” bitchslap of Ryan Sholin or Bob Lefsetz . But I’m still interested in putting my thoughts down, and putting my own spin on things, and giving everyone a look at the places and people that I think really show what’s happening here. A personal touch, as it were. And that is, after all, what we’re really talking about.

Zero Cost Creation and Distribution

I think 2007 was finally the year that this started to sink in most everywhere (F/OSS bloomed some time ago via this model, of course). Screw patronage, screw industrialists…today, we don’t need these guys to bankroll our creativity. We can just do it, ala Wealth of Networks. Creation and distribution costs are low enough that the initial outlay of capital is minuscule. So even if your “success” is 1/10,000th of one of today’s hits, the resulting attention can, if properly channeled, allow a creator to actually make it on their own. The network effect makes true independent media work. It’s early days still, but interesting stuff is happening.

The Long Tail, aggregation, and the editor

Much of this “Long Tail” sort of indymedia actually moves through the Network via word-of-mouth and personal recommendations through friends and social netoworks…but there are other methods. Meme aggregators like TechMeme and recommendation engines like Pandora provide mechanical means by which people can find additional media once they know something they like. But I also agree with those making the point that a new resurgence for real-life editors is in the offing. Often, a person with the just the right tastes is what I want giving me recommendations. A mechanical algorithm struggles to take choices out of the “if you liked this, you’ll like this” model, whereas a veteran critic understands taste, and can pick something out of a completely different genre, with a dissimilar style, that Still Just Works.

The fortunate thing is that we can have our cake and eat it too! *grin* So find people whose links you trust, and sum them with a good recommendation tool. All the sugar, and twice the caffeine.

Example: Amie Street

A great example of both influences is Amie Street. I’ve dug Amie Street for a long time now, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth mentioning again! The funny thing is that in some senses it’s a fairly “vanilla” version of the things to come…it works off of an established model, with a twist. Quite a twist, of course…all music on Amie Street starts out free, and the price increases (to $0.98) as it is purchased and it’s popularity increases. Because of the fact that the cost of digital music creation is now very nearly zero, this model works.

Amie Street showcases the role of the editor/critic through it’s recommendation model…you have a finite number of “RECs” in your account, and you can use them to recommend an song (along with an optional description). Doing so allows you to earn free music as the song gains in price…and the earlier you get in, the more it’s potentially worth (note: only up to 0.98 here…you’re not going to retire on song RECs. But the renumeration does reward careful evaluation, and it will earn you more music!) It doesn’t take much to make a difference in your account when songs cost 30 cents.

So not only do you have a chance you try a great deal free and extremely cheap music (many songs are available from $0.10-0.30), but discovering another user with similar tastes and high “street cred” (a measure of how well songs they’ve REC’d have improved in price) gives you custom music suggestions to boot. Vive la web!

If you like music, give Amie Street a try. My username there is kkennedy: unless you like 80s-style pop or electronica, I’m probably not your new music critic…but you never know! More examples to come. And feel free to comment with suggestions of your own, folks…

Pixel Qi: About us — I believe that looking at computers in a new, holistic, systemic way, with a clean-sheet approach to computer design – rather than incrementally increasing the horsepower of the CPU – is critical to bringing computing and Internet access to more than the 1 billion affluent who now are its beneficiaries. The key is a new generation of low-cost, low power, durable, networked computers, leveraging open-design principles.. Mary Lou Jepsen invented the OLPC XO’s amazing LED display, so she’s not just talking smack…she’s a technical genius (former CTO of Intel’s Display Division, among other things), and obviously a brilliant visionary. Pixel Qi is talking $75 laptop now, and rethinking the entire platform…and talking about commerical sales. This is critical; it allows sales to support them and the humanitarian efforts of the OLPC, by reducing costs and bringing in revenue. A person and a company to watch.

It’s been around for a bit, but Gerd Leonhard just posted a great link to a YouTube video called: Did You Know? Shift Happens. Really excellent overview of some of the implications of change in our modern society.

There’s nothing to panic about; the point about the number of Chinese honor students is valid…but so is the fact that there are just as many Chinese substandard students (ie, as many as ALL American students). It’s a numbers thing. I actually like the video more and more as it progresses; the US vs. them bits start to fall away, and the message focuses on change, it’s implications, and the need for improving our attitudes towards learning (continual, lifelong). Plus, a nod towards the Singularity there at the end doesn’t hurt! Good stuff.

UPDATE: found the creator’s (Karl Fisch) blog, and there is a bit of an update to the video that adds some graphic jazziness, and apparently tones down the confrontational bits a tad. He’s created a basic wiki as well (shifthappens) to collect some of the source data and the various presentation versions. I also added his blog to my feedreader, as this is clearly a Dude That Gets It.