An online revenue model for independent content producers

12 April 2010

Independent online publishers, content producers, and bloggers, who are looking for a way to earn an income, or make money online, could do worse than take a few cues from Daring Fireball, the website of John Gruber, who lives and breathes all things Apple.

Daring Fireball serves over two million page views, and generates an estimated revenue of US$15-20,000 each month, making Gruber’s methods well worth scrutinising. Let’s find out how we, as independent content producers, can do likewise.

Become a member of a private advertising network

Daring Fireball is part of The Deck, a private ad network created by Jim Coudal. Collectively, member websites have a very large audience made up mainly of creative, web and design professionals.

Members, who are admitted by invitation only, are required to display an image 120 by 90 pixels in size, and cannot carry any other forms of advertising on their website.

When you consider that 26 advertisers pay US$7900 per month, to advertise across 43 member sites though, the return, even allowing for The Deck’s cut, is going be very worthwhile.

Sell weekly sponsorship slots on your RSS feed

Gruber estimates that in excess of 150,000 readers (though the actual number is probably far higher) subscribe to Daring Fireball’s RSS feed, and this level of interest has allowed him to offer exclusive weekly sponsorship at US$3,500 a slot.

Do the maths there, that’s an income of US14,000 every four weeks, not bad at all for a one person operation.

A number of other high profile bloggers have attempted to monetise their RSS feeds, many of whom incidentally are members of “The Deck”, though very few have emulated Daring Fireball’s success.

A recent discussion with Jason Kottke on The Pipeline, Dan Benjamin’s online radio show, both conceded that Gruber is one the few people to make RSS feed sponsorship work.

Sell merchandise and website memberships

Daring Fireball offers readers the chance to become members for a cost of US$19 annually.

While membership isn’t worth much in itself though, aside from gaining access to a separate RSS feed which apparently includes a few extra items not published to the main feed, it is really a way for supporters of the site to make a contribution should they wish to.

T-shirts are also sold, they are usually made available once a year, and with a purchase comes an automatic one year membership.

The income from t-shirt sales and memberships, while handy, would be far less than that generated by “The Deck” membership and RSS sponsorships though.

Leverage your online profile to earn income offline

Someone with the high profile of John Gruber could probably do well on the speaking and appearance circuit, so there are definitely opportunities in that regard.

Don’t charge your readers a cent to access your website

Despite publishing one of the most highly regarded news and information resources of all things Apple and Mac, Daring Fireball does not charge the casual reader anything to visit the site.

Sure, the super-motivated can take out a US$19 annual membership, or buy a t-shirt, but there is no compulsion whatsoever to do so.

I want a piece of the action, what do I do next?

Who wouldn’t want to be an independent online content producer earning in the region of $20,000 a month? I’d happily settle for a quarter of that amount.

Without telling you how to go about it, I can say that there are two important things you need to do, and that both require inordinate amounts of time and effort.

One is always to work on boosting your profile (marketing and promotion), the other is producing quality, useful, content.

While nowhere near the traffic levels of Daring Fireball, it’s my thought that an independent online publisher could make a reasonable, self supporting, income from around 30,000 unique visitors a day.

At least it’s a nice round number to aim for.

Originally published Monday 12 April 2010.

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How to make your own green tea… matcha cappuccinos

23 March 2010

A green tea cappuccino, that’s a new one for me, and I had the chance to try one of these beverages while out road tripping last week. I jotted down a few notes while our host prepared the drinks, so should you wish to indulge, here’s the recipe.

You certainly don’t need a coffee-making machine to whip up a green tea cappuccino. A kettle, tea cups, a mixing jug or cup, and a cordless hand-held milk frother, will do the trick, along with:

• Near boiled water
• Warmed, but not excessively hot, milk
• Matcha green tea powder

And now to brew:

• Place two heaped dessert spoons of green tea powder per tea cup into the mixing jug
• Pour a third of a cup of near, but not fully, boiling water, per tea cup, into the mixing jug
• Blend the tea powder and water for a minute until foam forms on top of the mixture with the milk frother
• Pour an equal measure of the mixture into each tea cup
• Pour the warmed milk to the mixing jug and froth
• Add the frothed milk to the tea cups
• Serve and enjoy

If like me, you’re a big drinker of both green tea and cappuccinos, you may find the green tea cappuccino takes some getting used to. Worth it though.

Update: a video of the brewing process (thanks to the ever vigilant Coffee Girl).

Originally published Tuesday 23 March 2010, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.

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Tips for artists arranging their own art exhibition and opening

8 March 2010

Ask anyone what they like the best about going to an art show and most people will tell you it’s the opening night party.

And who can blame them, after all what better way is there to spend an evening, than enjoying some brand new art while partying?

So while from a show-goer’s point of view the opening night party seems like a straightforward process — placing a collection of artworks in a gallery and then laying on refreshments and live music — there’s a lot more to staging an exhibition, even a smaller show, than meets the eye.

Months, possibly years, of planning and organising go into some shows and their opening night party, so in the interests of imbuing the curious with an appreciation of the process, here it is, a step by step guide to planning and staging an exhibition.

Planning

You might be surprised at the amount of planning an exhibition requires. Factors such as venues, budgets, funding, sponsorship, advertising and promotion, catering, and possibly insurance, all need careful consideration.

Lead times can vary greatly as a result, with some shows taking a year or more to set up, while others can be arranged within a couple of months.

Budgets, sponsorship, and funding

Staging an exhibition can be expensive, and you will need to ensure you have sufficient funding, whether private, or through sponsorships, to cover the cost of things like catering, promotion, printing, and gallery space.

While established artists may be able to find sponsors to cover costs, as their larger following ensures a reasonable degree of exposure for their backers, new or emerging artists may not be so fortunate, and will have to rely on savings, or help from family or friends.

Check around though.It may be possible to obtain funding through arts grants, and sometimes municipal councils or community groups may offer some assistance staging a show, whether it be providing a venue, or publicity.

Artists at some exhibitions I have been to sometimes ask a for small (gold coin) contribution to help cover costs, a portion of which they usually donate to charity.

Finding a gallery

Gallery space is competitive, and can be hard to secure, especially if you want to exhibit at an established, well known, venue.

You will also need to weigh-up the amount, nature, and size, of work to be exhibited, against the availability of suitable galleries.

Other things to consider are whether the gallery operates on a commission basis, taking a percentage on works sold, or charges a fixed fee for holding a show.

Also, depending on your location, since regulations vary from place to place, are insurance matters, both public liability, and cover for items on show.

Look out also for alternative venues, such as cafes or bookshops for instance, which may offer wall space, and would surely be happy to collect a commission on any works sold.

Given the potential for publicity and custom, cafe and bookshop owners may possibly be prepared to provide other forms of support for your show as well.

A theme and a name for the exhibition

Your show will need a name and a theme. It’s worth taking some time to think this over.

Pricing your artworks

This is one of the more difficult steps in the process of planning an art show.

The amount you can ask for an artwork will depend on a number of factors including your reputation or standing as an artist. Obviously the more regarded your work, the more you can ask.

Another is the arrangement you have with the gallery exhibiting your work. Most galleries take a commission on works sold during an exhibition. While this cut varies, sometimes greatly, rates of about twenty-five to up to fifty percent are reasonably common.

Don’t be afraid to negotiate on the commission either. If you believe you will sell a lot of your work, you may be able to haggle a slightly lower rate.

To set a price you will need to work out much you would like to receive, against how much you think someone will pay, less the commission asked for by the exhibiting gallery.

Printing

Once you have funding, a venue, and a theme worked out, you can start arranging the printing of promotional flyers and brochures, title cards, and a list or catalogue of items you’ll be exhibiting.

If money is tight you may be able to reduce some printing costs by doing some of the work yourself.

Great looking catalogues and title cards can be produced with a word-processor, the use of good fonts, some careful page layout, and a reasonable quality printer.

If you know someone with calligraphy skills see if they can make title cards for your works.

Promote and advertise

There’s quite a few options when it comes to promoting shows, many of which are low-cost, or free.

Social networking sites, such as Facebook, make it easy for members to create pages for events, such as an exhibition opening, and issue invitations to their contacts.

There’s also art focused discussion forums, and you could even consider approaching arts bloggers to see if they will help the spread the word. Be careful not to wear out your welcome, or take anything for granted here though.

Setting up a page on a photo-sharing site, such as Flickr, and posting photos of your work is also a good way to generate some ongoing profile.

If your budget permits, consider printing flyers to post on community notice boards. Local shops may also be happy to display these for you. Also think about writing a press release to send to local and community magazines and newspapers.

I’ve received a number of invitations to exhibition openings through (snail) mail, so if time and money allows, have some invitations printed and then gather up a list of people to post them to.

Finally, invite as many people as you can, however you can, to the opening. Not only will they appreciate a drink and snack, they’ll also add some atmosphere, and make your attendance numbers look good. Nothing says success more than a well attended show opening.

Food, beverages, and catering

A big part of the opening night of any exhibition is the food, drink and party atmosphere, but you don’t need to go overboard.

Offering guests a choice between a red and white wine, and water (and juice or soft drinks, if you really want to push the boat out) is quite acceptable.

If you have a generous sponsor, or even just a catering sponsor, you may also be able to lay on beer and some finger food.

Other entertainment

Many of the openings I’ve been to have some sort of live music, and given the atmosphere a DJ, or even a band, can add to proceedings, this is something well worth thinking about.

If money, or floor space dictates otherwise, the only option may be background music. Whatever you do, choose music that is light and upbeat, and generates a good vibe.

Opening times

Most of the shows I go to usually open on Wednesdays, Thursdays, or Fridays. Thursday seems to be the most common day, it’s not too early in the week, and not too close to the weekend.

If possible, avoid weekend openings, or early in the week, times that people usually have other plans.

An early evening opening of around 6pm is probably a good all round time. Most your guests will be on the way home form work by then, yet it is still early enough for them to fit your show in around other plans they have for later in the evening.

Photos

You will definitely want a photographic record of the opening, so try and arrange for someone to take photos through out the evening.

Post the photos to your Flickr or Facebook pages, and also use them when you write about about the opening on your blog later.

And enjoy

The opening night, and exhibition itself, will probably be over in what feels like no time, especially when compared to the months of prior planning and preparation, so be sure to take a little time out to enjoy your own exhibition.

Good luck with it.

Originally published Monday 8 March 2010, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.

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What might have happened if the internet was not invented?

1 March 2010

The other week, an article written in 1995 by Clifford Stoll who — in short — could see no future for the internet, resurfaced.

While events obviously took a different course, Stoll’s words started me wondering about a world without an internet, and what our lives in 2010 might be like in the absence of this “most trendy and oversold community”, as Stoll put it.

And faster than Marty McFly and Doc Brown can conjure up an alternative timeline, here we are, a day in my life, in an un-wired, web-less, 2010.

The day begins like this, as always…

I go down to my letter box. There are three letters, a bill, two magazines, and the daily newspaper. A prominently placed front-page article boasts of a circulation increase of 0.1%, according to the latest readership audit.

Over breakfast I continue scanning the paper. The music industry is on the war path. Again. They can’t seem to shut down the groups who are bootlegging albums, by burning them onto DVDs and then selling them for — quite literally — a song on the street.

Before settling into the day’s work I quickly reply to the letters I’ve received, this is a breeze since nowadays people mostly only write letters that are a paragraph or two long. And given they now only cost five cents to send, literally millions are exchanged daily in Australia.

Getting down to work, I need to do some research

I work from home as a freelance writer. I work for a number of what are called street magazines, which are independently produced publications.

Sometimes several people operate them, sometimes they are the work of one person, an editor, who also relies on contributions from freelance writers.

But more on street magazines later.

I work using a computerised pad like device about the size of an A4 sheet of paper. The top section has a screen, while the lower part has a keypad.

I can send output to either a printer, via fax (the Victorian age technology has really stood the test of time), or save it as a text file to a floppy disc, which I can courier to whomever I’m writing for.

I have two article deadlines in two days time, and will need to spend a couple of hours at the local library doing some research for them.

Some of those street magazines are quality rags

Some of the more popular publications do really well, and thanks to their numerous sponsors, turn out top-shelf editions each week.

People like Jason Kottke, Karen Cheng, John Gruber, and Duncan Macleod who runs a zine called The Inspiration Room, are considered some of the big names in street magazine publishing.

What makes one street magazine more popular than another? I have no idea really. Quality content for sure, but I think luck has a lot to do with it also. That hasn’t stopped a large number of hopefuls from publishing street magazines on how to publish street magazines though.

Clearly these sorts of publications don’t bother the established newspapers though, who are after all, boasting of increases in their readership.

Producing your own street magazine is also easy

Self publishing really caught on with the advent of photo-copy print machines, and because they are so cheap and easy to operate, they can be found in most corner stores, newsagents, and supermarkets.

The whole process is incredibly simple. You write content using your computer’s word-processor, and then, when finished, export the file to a floppy disc. Then it’s away to the nearest photo-copy print machine.

You simply insert the floppy disc in the yellow slot, select from a number of print-out (or publishing) options, insert some money, and a few minutes later you are a published author, proudly holding your paperback — which is usually A5 size by the way — in your hands.

Sites that offer photo-copy printing services also allow you to place your publications in vending shelves, for a small fee. Your readers can then come along and pick up your latest work.

Cafes, bars, cinemas, and even public transport services, also have distribution facilities, so publishers with good advertising revenue can afford to widely circulate their magazines.

Instead of Facebook and social networks

The way you meet people in this world is truly weird.

Case in point. I was just over at the supermarket when a girl smiled and waved at me. This puzzled me as she didn’t look familiar, so I asked if I knew her from somewhere. She looked perplexed. “I was just wondering if you wanted to be friends,” she said.

Maybe it was the way I was looking at her, as if she had stepped out of a flying saucer or some such.

“Well, what do you expect me to do? Send you a photo, a bio, and a list of my friends to you, or something? Come on, what sort of world do you think we live in? The Star Trek universe?”

We ended up shrugging at each other and went our separate ways.

Coffee meetings and face to face networking

Today is when the weekly writers coffee group meets. We get together every week to chat, network, and compare notes.

One guy there today was in a very excitable mood though, “you know, this is far more than people sitting in a cafe chatting, exchanging information and tips, it’s a… I don’t know, er, community network, a like, social network, you know?”

A social network? That sounds kind of cool. We all nodded meaningfully, and resumed our random chatter.

Instead of Twitter, micro-blogging, and text messaging

On returning home from the coffee group, there are a stack of “slips” in my letter box.

Slips are a micro revolution in what I call — for want of a better term — instant communication. Basically people can send 150 character messages to each other via the postal service.

In Australia for example you pay $100 a month and can send up to 500 slips. To send one you call the Post Office service centre, where a communications consultant transcribes your message, and then faxes it to the post office nearest to where the recipient lives.

Slips are delivered through out the day, though not so often in rural areas, by people who drive around in very distinct red and blue striped vans.

The big advantage of slips is in their brevity. People often can’t be bothered making a phone call or writing a letter, especially if they only want to tell their friends what they had for lunch or where they were at a certain time, so slips really took off.

Designed to be recycled, and printed on fax paper with a special ink that fades after a few days, they have also proved a boon for postal services worldwide as a result of their popularity.

Advertising is also carried on the back of slips, making the concept a veritable gold mine.

The future of the future is still televised

I watch as someone called Steve Jobs walks onto a stage at a trade show with a pad like device very similar to what I use. Except it has what Jobs’ refers to as a dongle attached to it.

The “dongle”, which is about the size of a packet of chewing gum, is a wireless transmitting device that allow computers to talk to each other, and also share information and files. It will change the very essence of our lives, Jobs says.

We’ll be able to buy music and movie files through the dongle somehow, publish street magazines “online”, and even meet people the same way. Yeah, right.

Quite a few people in the audience are clearly excited by what he is saying. But not me. Such a thing will never catch on.

I flick the TV off, and as I take delivery of the day’s last batch of slips, prepare to spend the rest of the evening reading through the growing pile of street magazines that I subscribe to.

An “online” world?

I couldn’t possibly imagine living in such a place. If you disagree though, please send me a slip or letter. Good night.

Originally published Monday 1 March 2010, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.

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Webstock 2010 conference bags

22 February 2010

I’ve been looking through some of the photos* from last week’s Webstock conference in Wellington, and of all things a picture of this year’s Webstock computer carry bag, above, caught my eye.

This has to be the best one yet, I already have the 2008 and 2009 bags, so here’s hoping I can get hold of this year’s as well.

* some photos are dated March 2009, I’m not sure why, a camera’s incorrect date setting possibly?

Originally published Monday 22 February 2010, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.

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Classical recital etiquette protocols? Thought you’d never ask

22 February 2010

Classical, or chamber, music recitals were not events I went along to a whole lot until I was introduced to the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) last year.

Going to see a band, either in concert or at the local pub, seems — to me — like something that requires no thought it’s so natural, but what about a classical music performance, isn’t that, you know, different?

Aren’t there dress codes (top hat and tails?) and other protocols to be observed? Or, you’ve been asked to go along to a show with the company’s CEO, have no idea what happens, and are keen not to distinguish yourself for the wrong reasons?

I’m pretty sure I’m not the only person to have ever wondered about such things, so here we go, a guide and some tips to the etiquette and protocols of attending classical music recitals.

What’s the dress code, what should I wear?

This seems to be the main concern of many first time recital-goers, and I’m pleased to report that top hat and tails are generally not necessary.

For me though, someone who only wears a suit once in a Blue Moon, dressing up is part of the fun of going along to a recital. I don’t usually bother with a tie though, I only wear those once every couple of Blue Moons, but at the very least think “smart casual” if wondering what to wear.

Be punctual, there’s nothing worse than being shut out

The best idea is to plan to arrive early.

There’s an important difference between going to a movie and being late, and a recital and being late, the recital is a live performance.

Unlike their big screen counterparts, live performers find it a lot harder to ignore the distraction of latecomers trying to find their seat, which is invariably at the front of the house.

Then there’s the matter of trampling on the toes of audience members sharing your row, and blocking the view of others behind.

In all likelihood though, if you are late, you’ll be barred from entering the auditorium, until there is a significant break in the music, or at intermission.

So, arrive early, have a drink at the bar, and acquaint yourself with the show program, while you wait for curtain up.

Applause, when do I clap?

While pauses during a song or composition are common to all musical genres, classical music is replete with silences and breaks. This can often confuse those unfamiliar with the music being performed, who often think it is complete, and start clapping.

You don’t want to be that person. Unless you are well acquainted with the music, wait until everyone else is applauding before you join in.

Also watch the performers for end-of-play cues, members of the ACO for example usually raise their violin or cello bows above their heads at the conclusion of a piece.

Photos, recording, and mobile phones

Taking photos and video recording during a recital are generally a big no no. A few snaps of the concert hall, and empty stage, before the performance may be ok though, but the check show program, or ask someone, before you pull your camera out.

Needless to say mobile phones should be switched off or set to silent mode.

Take some time out at intermission

Most recitals have an intermission break after about 45 minutes, which tend to last for about 20 minutes. If you need to go to the bathroom, or return an urgent call from the boss, intermission is the time.

It’s also a good idea to get up and stretch your legs, the show will be a little more enjoyable if you don’t feel restless.

How long does the show usually last?

While it depends on the pieces being performed, recitals tend to run for about 90 minutes with a 20 minute intermission about half way through, so all up, about two hours. The show program should have the exact times of the performances.

Read the show program

I’ve mentioned the show program a few times, and trust me, it’s a good idea to read through it, especially if you are not a regular recital goer. They usually include details of recital and intermission times, and of course information about the music being played.

There’s nothing like looking as if you know what you are doing.

Originally published Monday 22 February 2010.

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How does the Oscar nomination and voting process work?

16 February 2010

NOTE: this is a legacy article published in 2010. Much of the information presented is likely now out of date.

While the movie buff in me takes an avid interest in who wins what in the Academy Awards each year, I’ve never given much thought to how a film reaches the winning list, aside from the fact it must be good — or reasonably good — and was favoured by members of the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), who preside over the venerable award.

And as it turns out, after doing a little research into the process, garnering an AMPAS member’s favour is the very first thing a film must do, if it is to set itself along the Oscar winning pathway.

Favour, choices, AMPAS branches, and nominations

The nomination process commences when each of the 5,777 members of AMPAS, or the Academy, are asked to select their favourite eligible ¹ films — usually five — from the preceding year.

The Academy is split into 15 branches, which represent the various aspects of the film production process, and include actors, directors, writers, producers, and visual effects branches, to name a few.

Branch members are only able to nominate “in-house” however. For instance members of the Writers Branch can only nominate film writers for an award, they cannot, for example, choose actors or directors.

Member numbers can vary across branches, and the Academy as a whole, from year to year, and this can have an effect on the overall process, but more on that shortly.

Preferential voting and magic numbers

The choices made by branch members, which are ranked preferentially from one to five, are sent to accounting and auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), who then count the selections — manually — and after much sifting of paper, eventually determine the top five choices — or nominations — in each Oscar category.

To be in the running a film must receive at least one number one ranking from a member, or it is eliminated from the count. PwC go through all the votes, or selections, short-listing the top five number one ranked films in each category.

Taking the Animated Feature Film category as an example, here’s how the nomination selection process might work. This year the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch of the AMPAS has 340 members.

PwC divides this number by 6 ², which equals about 56. To make the grade therefore, a film must secure at least 56 number one votes from members of this branch.

For example 63 members might have selected “Coraline” as their first choice. Another 62 might have chosen “Fantastic Mr. Fox” as their first choice, another 61 “The Princess and the Frog”, 60 “The Secret of Kells”, and finally 57 “Up” ³.

Any other animated features that may have been voted as a top choice by members of the branch are now eliminated, as they did not receive enough votes to make the top five in the category.

It gets complicated — sometimes very complicated — however if five movies do not reach the minimum vote threshold, and this is where the preferential voting system comes into play.

They [the PwC team] then look at the piles still left on the table and get rid of the one with the smallest amount of votes, redistributing them to other piles ranked on the 2nd favourite film on the ballots. If the number 2 choice has already been eliminated then they go to the 3rd choice and so on. Once that’s taken place they count again, if a film hits the magic number it’s taken off the table and is a nominee.

Changes to the number of Best Picture nominations

This year, for the first time since 1943, there are ten movies competing for the Best Picture gong, rather than the usual five, meaning the PwC team would have short-listed the top ten, rather than top five, number one voted films for this category.

The Visual Effects and Make Up categories are the only other exceptions to the five nominations per category rule this year, each sporting three contenders.

Voting and electing the winners

The final voting process is relatively similar to the nomination process.

Once nominations have been finalised, Academy members are sent ballot papers, and again using a preferential voting system, make their selections.

At this stage though, just two people at PwC are involved in counting the votes, and they remain the only ones to know the final results, until the winners are announced on Oscars night.

Controversy in Best Picture decisions

For all its mathematical precision, there is still no guarantee that the best film will be accorded the Best Picture award. 2005’s Brokeback Mountain, a superbly made movie in my opinion, could be considered a case in point.

Despite winning a slew of other film awards, and five Oscar nominations, it nevertheless missed the Best Picture award. It was suggested the Academy shunned the movie in the final round of voting as members were uncomfortable with a gay love story.

After “Brokeback Mountain” won an unprecedented number of precursor awards for best picture — 26 — it entered the Oscars with the most nominations and was considered a shoo-in to win best picture. That is, until the majority of its members — straight, ole, self-absorbed, guy geezers, as legend has it — refused to embrace the gay movie and so they gave their top prize to “Crash.”

That said, “Crash” was still a very good film.

And, to date, no science fiction or animated films, have received a Best Picture award, suggesting the Academy prefers only certain film genres.

Other factors influencing Oscar nominations

While nominations ultimately boil down to the individual tastes of the Academy’s 5,777 members, certain factors may sway their decision.

For example in 2008 sociologists from Harvard University, and the University of California, found female actors appearing in dramas, rather than comedies, were more likely than their contemporaries to score an Oscar nomination.

Academy Award nominations tend to go to performers in dramas, who are female, who have been nominated in the past and who command a high rank in the movie-credit pecking order.

And finally if I were a member of the Academy…

My ten choices — for Best Picture — this year would be:

• An Education
• Up
• The Road
• Up in the Air
• Watchmen
• Star Trek (a long shot, but…)
• Looking For Eric
• (500) Days of Summer
• Beautiful Kate
• Is Anybody There?

These are not, unfortunately, ranked preferentially (though “An Education” would still be very near the top), plus I’m not 100 per-cent sure that all titles are eligible for this year’s awards.

And just so you know, this year’s Oscar awards take place on Sunday, 7 March, 2010, or Monday afternoon, 8 March, as it will be in this part of the world.

(Sources: Wikipedia, Radio 1 Movies Blog, Academy Of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Live Science, Gold Derby.)

Originally published Tuesday 16 February 2010.

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Book launch: Futuretainment by Mike Walsh, Sydney, 1 December 2009

2 December 2009

Last night Mike Walsh launched his new book Futuretainment – which looks at the future of media and marketing – at the Hotel CBD in Sydney. He spoke with technology journalist Brad Howarth, and offered a few of his insights into advertising and marketing, particularly in Asia, together with a couple of trend predictions for 2010.

• People born after 1994 are digital “naturals”. They have never lived in a world without web browsers.
• “Naturals” have never known a time when they cannot access decent content somewhere online.
• Content producers and creators (copy-righters) such as musicians are effectively marketers.
• Musicians, for example, encourage “content theft”… they don\’t make revenue from recorded music, that comes from sales of merchandise, live performances, etc.
• Social networks drive TV programming. People increasingly watch what is forwarded to them (videos, links to videos).
• Viewers are deciding what they will watch, not the TV networks.
• How will content producers make money? Become a celebrity… cue Ashton Kutcher and his declaration to become “the next new-media mogul“.
• Japan excels at producing content for mobile phones.
• The Chinese know how to make money with social networks. QQ, a Chinese variation of Facebook, made US$1 billion last year.
• In Korea people watch more TV shows on mobile phones than a television.
• Digital consumers in Asia are generally very tech savvy, have access to unlimited bandwidth, and have little regard for copyright.
• Ninety per cent of Chinese internet users have broadband, which is considerably faster than that available in Australia.
• Augmented reality will put consumers in control by way of real time product and service reviews and critiques.

Originally published Wednesday 2 December 2009, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.

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Australia, books, legacy, Mike Walsh, technology, trends

There was once a place called Doggerland in Europe

3 September 2009

A landmass that connected what is now Great Britain to continental Europe, once existed up until about eight and half thousand years ago, and is known as Doggerland… at least by more contemporary geologists and scientists, that is.

Map/illustration by National Geographic Magazine staff.

Originally published Tuesday 3 September 2013.

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geology, history, legacy

You can travel no further back in time than 1955

18 August 2009

The Time Traveler’s Wife is the latest in a long line of time travel themed movies, and according to physicist Dave Goldberg, makes for a more realistic representation of time travel than most of the (fiction) served to date.

But this is interesting, time travel is (theoretically) only possible to points in time where a time machine already exists, according to Goldberg.

In other words, for Marty McFly to travel from 1985 to back to 1955, as he did in Back to the Future, a DeLorean like time machine would already need to have been in existence in 1955…

According to Einstein’s picture of the universe, space and time are curved and very closely related to each other. This means that traveling through time would be much like traveling through a tunnel in space — in which case you’d need both an entrance and an exit. As a time traveler, you can’t visit an era unless there’s already a time machine when you get there — an off-ramp. This helps explain why we’re not visited by time-traveling tourists from our own future. Futuristic humans don’t drop in for dinner because we haven’t yet invented time travel.

Of course the concept of time travel — in the form of the Flux Capacitor — did exist in 1955, it simply hadn’t taken physical form… does that count?

Originally published Tuesday 18 August 2009, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.

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film, legacy, physics, science, science fiction