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.

Thanks to David Rothman at TeleRead for the link to an interesting story: Validators, by Andy Oram. In the vein of Richard Stallman’s The Right to Read, or portions of David Brin’s Earth, Oram’s short story investigates the repercussions of a society in which a group, the Validators, serve as trusted arbiters and advocates of the truth. Of course…there’s always the problem of watching the watchers, and the story digs into the implications. It’s a bit rough around the edges, and the ending is abrupt, but the ideas are good. The challenges of such issues as distributed trust metrics, megadata mining, and information society economics are well-represented here. It’s worth a read.

Sorry it’s been quiet…the holidays make it tough to keep up at
times. But I hope everyone is doing well, and looking forward to the
new year…I know I am. I have some semi-big plans, and I’ve started to
FINALLY get my groove on with some of my personal projects! And
once I get started, it always seems to be easier to keep the momentum
going.

More info as we move along. I think I’ll finally even get another
podcast out this weekend; I probably will ramble a bit about my plans
there.

For those of you who think I’ve completely lost the whole libertarian mojo, consider my response to King County Housing Authority to start smoking ban…which is…WTF??? (yeah, yeah, it’s public housing, blah, blah. I hope that’s not anyone’s defence who approves of this, because these people CLEARLY do not want to stop.)

Thanks to The Agitator for the link! (I think thanks, anyway…it kinda just makes me cranky. But not sick like torture stories, so that’s something…)

Well, Chris Dodd started his filibuster of the FISA bill including telecom immunity this morning; the first true filibuster in 15 years, apparently. Good show, Senator Dodd! And I had promised myself that I would contribute to your presidential campaign if you had to step up for this…so I just did! As I said on your website when contributing, thanks for standing up for transparency and the rule of law. (Note: CSPAN2 has the live feed of the filibuster…I love this stuff! First motion for cloture at noon…if this one fails, then it gets really fun. *grin*)

UPDATE: Doh! I really don’t know the Senate rules very well. Looks like the filibuster won’t start (if necessary) until later today. *shrug* Oh well…Dodd’s still on board, and his comments this morning were inspiring.

UPDATE 2: Sonofabitch. Reid postponed it until January. It’s certainly not over, but you’ve gotta call that one a (at least tactical) victory. I listened to several hours of the debate today off and on (go CSPAN), and it was well worth it. I listened to Senators Sessions (R-AL) and Hatch (R-UT) go all out with their reasoning for granting telecom immunity. I honestly gave them a chance…and was less than impressed. Conversely, Senators Feingold (D-WI) and Dodd (D-CN) both really wowed me. I’d love to have either one as a senator. ( And no, I haven’t just became a bleeding heart Democrat. I don’t agree with everything either Feingold or Dodd say, and yes, there are Republicans whom I respect. But not many, and especially not on this issue.)