Gift Giving Revisited

by | Dec 28, 2005 | Uncategorized

<p>You may remember [gh:node/268|this post on the Disutility of Gift Giving] well, Gothamist has post today about [l:http://www.gothamist.com/archives/2005/12/28/too_late.php|gift giving] in the big apple, and the [l:http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycwasteless/html/recycling/holiday_tips.shtml|Sanitation Department's suggestions for less wasteful gift giving]. Here are their suggestions:<br /> <cite> – Give homemade gifts, such as cookies, handcrafts, or framed photos.<br /> – Give entertainment, such as museum memberships; tickets to movies, theater, concerts, or sporting events; gift certificates to a favorite restaurant.<br /> – Give learning, such as language or music lessons; classes in cooking, photography, or other favorite hobbies.<br /> – Give your time or talent: personalized coupons that offer free services, such as baby-sitting, pet-sitting, computer help, or home repairs.<br /> – Give fitness, such as gym memberships, personal training sessions, or classes in yoga, pilates, or dance.<br /> – Give pampering, such as a massage, facial, manicure, or pedicure.</cite></p> <p>Way to go DOS! but didn't they get the memo? if we don't shop, the Terrorists will...

You know I hate Starbucks

by | Dec 27, 2005 | Uncategorized

<p>But some people take it a step further. A bunch of international bloggers have launched the [l:http://greenlagirl.com/2005/12/03/starbucks-challenge-30-demand-an-answer-2|Starbucks Challenge]. They go into starbucks and ask for the Fair Trade blend. Tunrs out they weren't having universal luck finding it.</p> <p>[l:http://greenlagirl.com/2005/12/23/response-from-starbucks|Here is their exchange with SB HQ].</p> <p>Regardless of what Starbucks does about their coffee purchasing, or staff benefits… I still think their coffee sucks, and I still don't like that they are homogenizing coffee culture the globe over. I'll take an indipendent cup of coffee over starbucks any...

Music Industry Gets hit with the Long Tail

by | Dec 27, 2005 | Uncategorized

Today’s NYT carries an article that sites further evidence that the major music labels are getting creamed by indie music and net distribution and promotion methods. In a world of broadband connections, 60-gigabyte MP3 players and custom playlists, consumers have perhaps more power than ever to indulge their curiosities beyond the music that is presented through the industry’s established outlets, primarily radio stations and MTV. “It’s not as easy to shove something down people’s throats anymore and make them buy it. It’s not even that they are smarter; they just have everything at their fingertips. They can go find something that’s cool and different. They go tell people about it and it just starts spreading.” There are several signs that as more consumers develop the habit of exploring music online they are drawn to other musical choices besides hitmakers at the top of the Billboard chart – a trend that suggests more of the independent labels’ repertory will find an audience. And here comes the long tail! On the Rhapsody subscription music service, for example, the 100 most popular artists account for only about 24 percent of the music that consumers chose to play from its catalog last month, said Tim Quirk, Rhapsody’s executive editor. In the brick-and-mortar world, he estimates, the 100 most popular acts might account for more than 48 percent of a mass retailer’s sales. 2005 will be the year that the music business truly changed. Breakout acts like Clap Your hands and say yeah showed that blogs and a little free access to your music can help propel you towards success. Sony may have mortally...

Face recognition on your cameraphone?

by | Dec 24, 2005 | Uncategorized

This is by way of World Changing, Jamais Cascio quotes from an article in New Scientist Technology: The concept… is based on a central server that registers details sent by the phone when the photo is taken. These include the nearest cellphone mast, the strength of the call signal and the time the photo was taken. […] …in tests Davis and his team found that by combining [facial recognition software] with context information the system could correctly identify people 60 per cent of the time. The context information can also be combined with image-recognition software to identify places within photos. 60% recognition? Not useful, yet — but that’s why it’s still in the labs and not on your phone. This is just the sort of thing that will get much better, much faster than some might expect. Get ready. I am not sure that I am particularly happy about this technological development. While I think that autotagging, particularly autogeotagging is pretty damn cool, the idea that some cellphone camera is going to know it just took a picture of me at street protest is pretty creapy. I know that we already live in a surveilance state and here in New York, the police photograph and video people from the skies and streets… but the idea that every cameraphone out there becomes part of this network that the government could tap into is downright...