Friday, February 17
A Multi-Tiered Internet? Bad Idea! Should the internet be reconfigured to allow internet companies to provide premium access for some content? It's a very bad idea. "After all, once we get away from the idea that the pipes just move bits around without really caring what data is being transmitted, it's a small step to discriminating against some forms of content and then targeting specific sites, services or users. Instead of an "end-to-end" network, we would end up with something more like the phone network, along with a complicated array of charging schemes for "0800", "0845" and "0871" sites." BBC 02/12/06
Posted: 02/17/2006 7:07 am
Want To Make Better Decisions? Don't Think So Much Tests show thinking about difficult decisions too much causes bad choices. "The problem with thinking about things consciously is that you can only focus on a few things at once. In the face of a complex decision this can lead to giving certain factors undue importance. Thinking about something several times is also likely to produce slightly different evaluations, highlighting inconsistencies. Participants who chose their favourite poster among a set of five after thorough contemplation showed less post-choice satisfaction than participants who only looked at them briefly." The Guardian (UK) 02/17/06
Posted: 02/17/2006 6:56 am
Unattractive: The Face Of Crime Researchers say that unattractive people have a tendency to commit more crime than attractive people. "We find that unattractive individuals commit more crime in comparison to average-looking ones, and very attractive individuals commit less crime in comparison to those who are average-looking." Washington Post 02/16/06
Posted: 02/17/2006 6:42 am
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A New Era For The Photography Market? "When Sotheby's announced this week that 'The Pond — Moonlight,' a platinum print by Edward Steichen owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, had sold for almost $3 million to an anonymous buyer, it was as if continents had shifted in the photography world." The New York Times 02/17/06
Posted: 02/17/2006 7:26 am
The Museum Muhammads - What To Do? Many museums have depictions of Muhammad in their collections. So what to do now that the cartoon controversy has escalated? Los Angeles Times 02/17/06
Posted: 02/17/2006 7:17 am
LA In NY Los Angeles art dealers say they're under-represented in the annual New York Armory Show. "This year, a group of L.A. dealers have had enough. They’ve organized their own show — called L.A. Art — in New York the same days as the Armory Show, March 9-13. The organizer of the show, says the bias against L.A. dealers left them with no choice. 'Absolutely, Los Angeles is underrepresented'.” LAWeekly 02/16/06
Posted: 02/16/2006 8:08 pm
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More China In SF Symphony Future? "Chinese musicians and musical institutions appear ready to enter a newer and more integrated relationship with the international musical community. And the San Francisco Symphony -- looking toward the Pacific Rim as any institution must that is situated on the American West Coast -- must surely be thinking about its role in that integration. This was an underlying theme of the recent tour, giving it a slightly different tone from the orchestra's visits to the major cities of Europe or the United States." San Francisco Chronicle 02/17/06
Posted: 02/17/2006 7:35 am
Amazon's New Digital Music Strategy "Amazon, the world's No. 1 online retailer, is in advanced talks with the four global music companies about a digital-music service with a range of features designed to set it apart. Among them: Amazon-branded portable music players, designed and built for the retailer, and a subscription service that would deeply discount and preload those devices with songs, not unlike mobile phones that are included with subscription plans as part of the deal." Wall Street Journal 02/16/06
Posted: 02/17/2006 6:40 am
Sydney Takes Big Risk On Vienna Phil "The Vienna Philharmonic, one of the world's great orchestras, will play four concerts in Sydney in September at a cost of nearly $2 million, most of which will be borne by the Opera House. To break even it will need to sell 90 per cent of tickets, which range from $85 to $295 - more than double the price of the best seats in the Sydney Symphony's most expensive concert this year." Sydney Morning Herald 02/17/06
Posted: 02/16/2006 7:58 pm
Disney Settles on Lion King Tune The family of the composer of The Lion Sleeps Tonight have settled their suit with Disney. "The relatives of South African Solomon Linda, who wrote the original Zulu tune, settled with the US owners of the copyright who had loaned it to Disney. The dispute over royalties arose when the song was used in The Lion King." BBC 02/16/06
Posted: 02/16/2006 7:32 pm
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The Cartoons: Anatomy Of A Crisis "Protests have erupted in an arc stretching from Europe through Africa to East Asia and, at times, the United States. About a dozen people have died in Afghanistan; five have been killed this week in Pakistan. Muslim journalists were arrested for publishing the cartoons in Jordan, Algeria and Yemen. European countries have evacuated the staffs of embassies and nongovernmental organizations, Muslim countries have withdrawn ambassadors, and Danish exports that average more than $1 billion a year have dried up in a span of weeks." Washington Post 02/16/06
Posted: 02/17/2006 7:10 am
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The Last Chorister (He's 90) Charles Tomlin is 90 years old and is still a regular member of his church choir in Glauster. Why? He's the only chorister left. Mr Tomlin formed the choir in 1946 when he moved to nearby Tewkesbury. The Guardian (UK) 02/16/06
Posted: 02/16/2006 9:38 pm
Where Is Dale In Chihuly Inc? Dale Chihuly is the star of the modern glass movement. But now he's suing a former employee who used to blow glass for him, raising questions about Chihuly's artistic role in what has become Chihuly Inc. The Stranger (Seattle) 02/16/06
Posted: 02/16/2006 9:12 pm
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Scottish Theatre's Funding In Danger? A highly political Scottish theatre says political pressure has been put on the arts council to cut its funding. "The company said it had evidence that council members were being advised to end its funding at a meeting later this month. Taking its name from the 1960s statistic which asserted that 7% of the population owned 84% of its wealth, the company was founded by playwright John McGrath." BBC 02/16/06
Posted: 02/16/2006 7:27 pm
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Police Almost Had Stolen Munches Norwegian police were only a few steps away from two two stolen Edvard Munch paintings last year, but didn't know it. "A month after the thieves struck, police were following a suspect, 30-year-old Stian Skjold, when he met another man at a gas station and the two drove to a farmhouse outside Oslo. Police didn't know at the time that the paintings were hidden in an abandoned bus on the farm." Toronto Star 02/15/06
Posted: 02/16/2006 10:01 pm
Self-Publishing Goes Mainstream "The technology to self-publish, using print-on-demand facilities, has been around for years but is now getting cheaper and easier with the publisher doing everything from the ISBN number to placing your tome on Amazon. Judging by the number of self-publishing websites, it may not be long before we reach the tipping point of mass adoption." The Guardian (UK) 02/16/06
Posted: 02/16/2006 9:48 pm
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So Demanding - The Video-When-You-Want-It World "The phenomenon of appointment TV, where viewers in vast numbers mold their personal schedules to a network's, is pretty rare these days. It's mostly a relic of an era before home VCRs gave the audience a measure of scheduling control. An explosion of newly liberating innovations (streaming video and mobisodes; podcasts, vlogs and TiVo) gives you ever more power over what you see and hear — and better access to it, as it spreads everywhere. It's a gold rush, all right, across the digital universe, with bazillions of dollars riding on which gadgetry and content strike the public's fancy." Los Angeles Times 02/17/06
Posted: 02/17/2006 7:22 am
HBO Wants To Ban Viewers From Recording Its Shows "HBO has joined a recent FCC filing in which it argues that its video-on-demand programming-and all 'Subscription Video On Demand' services-should fall into the category of 'Copy Never.' In a broadcast-flagged world, that translate into consumers not being able to record on-demand broadcasts by HBO. No TiVo, no VCR, no video capturing on your PC, no nada." ArsTechnica 02/07/06
Posted: 02/17/2006 6:53 am
Counting Up The Time Shifters Nielsen is now breaking down its rating information by how many viewers watch shows live and how many times shift with digital recorders. Why does it matter? Many of the time shifters zip through the commercials, making them less valuable to advertisers. The New York Times 02/13/06
Posted: 02/17/2006 6:49 am
London Pirates - Now On Air Pirate radio is booming in London. "The more established stations with sizeable followings are able to kit out a studio and buy a transmitter for less than £3,000, while raking in up to £5,000 a week in advertising revenue. In addition to advertising income, up and coming DJs are charged a fee of between £10 and £20 an hour for the privilege of playing and the stations often have links to local nightclubs. At weekends there are now more than 80 pirate radio stations operating in London and more than 150 around the country." The Guardian (UK) 02/17/06
Posted: 02/17/2006 6:46 am
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Edwards To Leave Dance Theatre Workshop Cathy Edwards, artistic director of Dance Theater Workshop since 2003 and a central figure in the New York modern-dance community, is to step down on June 30... The New York Times 02/17/06
Posted: 02/17/2006 7:13 am
Paul Kaine To Lead Cincinnati Ballet Paul Kaine, currently director of the Nashville Ballet, has been chosen as executive director of the Cincinnati Ballet. Kaine "brings to the Cincinnati company more than 20 years of experience in performing arts administration, development, marketing and the creation of educational outreach programs." Cincinnati Post 02/16/06
Posted: 02/16/2006 10:49 pm
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