“If the best band in the world doesn’t want a part of us, I’m not sure what’s left for this business.”
Radiohead have announced the release of their new album ‘In Rainbows’ on the 10th October. They’re doing it on their own without a record label as a pay-as-much-as-you-want download and a fancy expensive CD/vinyl/book behemoth. This is pretty fundamental stuff: the record companies know it, and are scared of it. Time (which features the above quote from an anonymous exec) and many others are discussing what it all means.
Investment in the web grows in the UK and Ireland
Now, more than ever, is the time to fine tune your brilliant web idea that will change the world – or at least get bought by Yahoo/Google/Microsoft/News Corp. Techcrunch UK (which has recently relaunched) discusses a study that shows growth in venture capital in the UK and Ireland. So, if you ever thought that it might be difficult to get venture capital unless you were based in Silicon Valley, now is the time to dust down your ideas.
Update: Venture Beat has more about how venture capital is leaving Silicon Valley.
The older web
The New York Times has an article up about how the web’s users are getting older, and (as with other areas of the media) people are realising how they can be a more important and valuable audience than the much desired youth audience.
Facebook takes over
Facebook seems to be everywhere at the moment. Everyone suddenly seems to be using it, it’s all over the newspapers and television news, and weblogs debate whether it is the new MySpace/Google/Microsoft/AOL. Recently there has been talk of Facebook bankruptcy and fatigue, but while the discussion is interesting, we love it here at FoxLand where it seems to have taken over from email, texting, Twitter, Flickr, MySpace and instant messaging. And that’s only in the last 2 months or so that we’ve used it.
How not to display artwork on the web
A post from Lines & Colors, a blog about artists and illustrators, on the frustration of many artist’s websites, but there are many points that ring true for anyone.
Google Map Street View – an invasion of privacy?
Google’s Street View, a new Google Maps feature that uses vehicle cameras to take 360 degree street-level views of major urban areas (so far only in the US), has set the Web buzzing with talk about its privacy implications. The photos are so detailed that one lady, whose cat Monty is clearly visible sitting in her living room window, contacted Google and asked for the image to be removed. “The next step might be seeing books on my shelf. If the government was doing this, people would be outraged,” said the perplexed Ms. Kalin-Casey from Oakland, CA.
Websites are making the most of the images captured too. The Wired blog has started a contest on the most interesting photos found using the new Google Tool that now includes sunbathing coeds, alleged drug deals, and the Google van itself. And the site LaudonTech.com showed an image of a man entering a pornographic bookstore in Oakland, but his face was not visible.
It does raise an interesting question: should Google be allowed to publish detailed intimate snap shots on the internet of people’s private lives? The images are taken in a public place so legally Google is doing nothing wrong – but is it right ethically? Well, we can’t answer that. But what we can do is marvel at Google’s technology.
6 June, 2007
Anti-advertising
Naresh Ramchandani discusses the much linked to website by Miranda July advertising her book “No one belongs here more than you” in The Guardian. He makes the case that it is important sometimes to do things simply, with an individual humour and creativity, rather than going for the big slick advertising schtick.
Where news sites could go next…
Jeff Jarvis in The Guardian discusses the papers recent homepage redesign and where news websites might go next (registration required).
Uncanny valley of web design
A discussion as to why web appilcations should not try too hard to look like a desktop application by Bill Higgins (via Signal vs. Noise).
Creating for the Web
Jakob Nielsen, Matt Mullenweg (WordPress), Lynda Weinman and others discuss what is required to ‘create for the web’.
Jakob Nielsen on Web 2.0
Nothing Earth-shatteringly new, but it always says something about an idea when the BBC deigns it is interesting enough to cover. Jakob Nielsen talks about the dangers of “Web 2.0” sites ignoring good practice, in the rush to ‘innovate’.
WordPress is 4 years old: “I’m not a millionaire, and may never be”
WordPress, a wildly popular open-source blogging and simple content management tool, is 4 years old. Matt Mullenweg, the founding developer, but very much not the owner or only developer, discusses the development of WordPress and people’s expectations of him being a ‘Web 2.0 trailblazer’.
Transport for London redesign
One of my ongoing frustrations over the last few years is how difficult the Transport for London website is. Trying to comprehend the complex structure just to find out whether the Hammersmith and City Line is working at the weekend was always a chore – even though I had fought my way through it many many times before. So finally, in the last few days, Transport for London has updated their site with a brand new structure and visual design. I’m not too excited about the ’Web 2.0’-style visuals, but it is very easy to understand, and I can now find out if the tube is going to be useful at the weekend in moments.
How to improve typography on the web
We’re sticklers for detail, but getting typography to work well on the web is not easy. Or, as Mark Boulton and Clearleft put it, typography sucks on the web – and they have a SXSW presentation online that goes into detail of how to improve it.
Twittering
Twitter has recently been taking off, as Jack Schofield notes on the Guardian Technology Blog. Twitter enables groups of people to be in constant contact with their social group by sending tiny text messages to the Twitter site, such as “I’m getting on a train to Hampstead” or “I’m watching the football”. If you still don’t understand what I’m on about, take a look at this graphic on Mashable. Frankly, it sounds like my worst nightmare – even worse than having a Blackberry. I am in contact enough with the world through this blog, Messenger, iChat, email, the phone, Skype and even when I actually talk face-to-face with people. That said, I would not be surprised if this time next year I’ll be texting to Twitter from my Blackberry about how much I was mistaken.