Successful Blog

Net Neutrality 8-1-2006

by

Net Neutrality Links

I’m adding this link to the Net Neutrality Page.

More networked journalism: All for one, one for all

Imagine this from the vision of Tom Evslin: What if all our Skype widgets had a button that allowed us to test and report the speed at which our Skype voice packets were being allowed through by our ISPs. What if then — following the 1 percent rule — just 400,000 of Skype’s 40-million-plus regular users hit that button and reported in how Skype’s — and other applications’ packets — were treated by their ISPs.

This would produce an incredible data base showing whether ISPs are, indeed, discriminating against certain packets and applications to advantage their own. I suspect Cablevision of playing wack-a-mole with my Skype because it works fine on slower lines elsewhere but horribly when I try to do interviews with the Guardian or the BBC (which prefer Skype) from home. But I have absolutely no way of knowing whether this is true. . . .

Now a reporter could take that data and go to ISPs to find out their side and get a good story out of this that has a big impact — one way or the other — on the net neutrality debate. Is there a smoking gun of discrimination to favor ISPs own packets? Or not? Let’s find out and report it.

Now, of course, there is also a sort of Heisenberg principle (using the bastardized definition of it) at work here: When the reporter calls, the ISP may say, ‘Oh, this is a mistake. We don’t discriminate.’ And whatever was switched on gets switched off. Or this could happen simply when the ISPs notice that they are being watched by the magic button. So the act of reporting affects the news reported (but then, it often does).

Now a journalist might say that this ruins the story. But the essential role of reporting remains in force: Journalism is a watchdog and now companies know that their customers are their watchdogs. Every customer is now a reporter.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related
NET NEUTRALITY PAGE

Chartreuse Offers $1000 for NEW ORLEANS Story

by

Prince Puts Up His Own Money

Prince Campbell got an email from Katrina Victims saying that FEMA wouldn’t let them talk to reporters. It bothered him. He posted the email on his blog, but the memory of it wouldn’t go away. He had to do something. So today he made an offer — $1000, a rental car, a place to stay, and a fine video camera to go down there and get the real story.

Look at it as a vacation that matters. . . .

Prince said. I’ll post the story on this site and some others.. . .

Let’s do something important.

The comments that followed raised the ante.

Minic Rivera Says:
July 31st, 2006 at 10:33 am
The Blogging Times would like to sponsor $250 for this noble plan of getting the truth out.

Matt Says:
July 31st, 2006 at 12:40 pm
I’m in for $250. I think we can do a true citizens media event here.

Matty

Andy H Says:
July 31st, 2006 at 3:26 pm
Andy Hagans Link Building LLC is in for 100usd. [/cheapskate]

Several people volunteered for the job. Several more applauded the idea. Maybe as many said it was crazy and a waste of money, stating that the story has been done and that it’s easy enough to check out without going there.

I wrote the 54th comment a few minutes ago.

Liz Strauss Says:
July 31st, 2006 at 10:15 pm
It seems that some folks have total faith in the media . . . that’s an interesting thought to me. I guess working in publishing has jaded that part of this Pollyanna.

My dad always said don’t believe anything you hear and only half of what you see.

My dad was a really smart man, too. He wuold have liked you a lot, Chartreuse.

What do you think?

–ME “Liz” Strauss”
The “Got Milk?” Man, Chartreuse, & Liz Singing in Harmony
chartreuse (Beta) Thinks Outside the Knee Jerk Reaction
The Mysteries of Chartreuse BETA

Interview 7.1: Meet Cat Wentworth, World Designer

by

Meet Cat

I first saw Cat’s Blog, (click this shot to visit it) . . .

I discovered Designers who blog when I was looking for great designers to feature. Then she submitted her blog for the Link Leak Blog-to Show that Successful Blog held earlier this year. I was delighted to meet her and a new friendship was forged.

Now I get a chance to share this amazing woman and designer with you.

I sent Cat a number of questions that I figured she might answer over a number of days and they came back in a number of minutes. . . . That shows a lot about who she is.

Today we’ll explore how she got started.

Hi Cat! Where’d you grow up and how did you end up in that part of the world? What’s it like for a blogger there?

Ok, that’s three questions.
a) Where’d you grow up
My parents were expats (expatriates) so I grew up overseas. Not all the time as in between we were stationed in places such as Fairbanks, Alaska where I lucked out and lived through the great Alaskan earthquake. Sadly, my aunt who was visiting did not. Our last posting was Blenheim, New Zealand. I will always remember the land of the long white cloud as god’s country. Kiwi’s are a very lucky people.

b) how did you end up in that part of the world?
France was too expensive so I took off for warmer, more amenable lands.

c) What’s it like for a blogger there?
Lonely at times as the US is asleep for the majority of my day, and whooping it up when I’m asleep. But it also means I get a lot done.

What got you started in online design?

When I decided to relocate from Brunei, I realised working in web would be more practical than print, which was my entry into the world of design. To explain, in Brunei I had local clients and a range of off-station clients. With a possible move to another country (and perhaps another after that) working 100% via the intenet made more sense.

So that’s how Cat got to be a world online designer. Next we find out how Cat faced diversity to become a blogger.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related articles
Interview 6: Blogging Pro’s David Peralty
Interview 5. Meet Peter Chen: Blogspot Expert for New Bloggers
Interview 4. Johan Sundkvist Knows Minimalist
Interview 3 Patrick Makes California a Black Hole

10 Reasons Creative Folks Make Us Crazy

by

As Business Looks for Creative Thinkers — Look Out!

Creativity at Work

In this age of innovation, Business Schools look to fill theirs eats with more right brain creative people. Folks are beginning to take notice of the value and power of the off the wall idea.

Business Week.com devotes an entire section to innovation and creativity and companies have titles such as Idea Czar on their organizational chart. Tom_Peters asks “Where are the freaks in your company?” and goes on to say that they’re the ones who have the ideas.

Yeah, but how do you deal with someone who is one way one minute and the opposite the next? How do you tell a creative person from someone who just irritates you?

What are the traits that creative folks have in common? Are we all creative? Is there anyone who’s not? Can I boost my creativity? Am I a creative freak? Questions follow creativity — what is it, how does it work, and how do we access our Creativity at Work to make our brand and business stronger? [Read more…]

Net Neutrality 7-31-2006

by

Net Neutrality Links

I’m adding this link to the Net Neutrality Page.

What’s Microsoft Afraid Of?

Reuters reported last week that the Free Enterprise Action Fund – which holds more than 4,000 shares of Microsoft stock – wants the company to explain its rationale for supporting Net neutrality. The fund wants to put a proposal before shareholders, for an up-or-down vote at the next meeting, which would direct Microsoft management to prepare a report “analyzing the business and economic rationale, regulatory impacts, legal liabilities and any effects on product development and customers” of Net neutrality.

Sounds reasonable enough.

But Reuters reports that Microsoft has “asked the Securities and Exchange Commission if it could exclude the proposal from its annual shareholder vote without facing enforcement action by the agency.”

“What is Microsoft afraid of,” asks Tom Borelli, a portfolio manager at the Free Enterprise Action Fund.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related
NET NEUTRALITY PAGE

Great Find: Film Loop

by

Add some Action to Your Blog

While I was out at Blogher this weekend, I watched the demonstration for a great product.

Great Find: Film Loop

Permalink: http://blog.filmloop.com/

Audience/Topic: All Bloggers

Content: Film loop is an HTML looping tool that can be added to any blog. Put it in your header or within a post.You can use it to showcase photos. Click on a picture to stop and look more closely. It’s easy to use. Just drag and drop photos from your files. Then capture the HTML code for the loop. You can share the loop and allow others to add their photos.

You can also get creative and put jpgs of your latest posts in the loop, hyperlink the jpgs to the post, and let them crawl across the top of your blog for readers to have easy access. Be careful if you try this, it has the potential of being quite distracting. Use product scans. Add captions if you want to. This is a powerful tool that you’ll find a wealth of uses for in your blogging business. Be sure to check out the many blogs in the post that are in the demo. To see the demo, click the title below.

film loop

Thanks to the film loop team for the many demonstrations!

–ME “Liz” Strauss