Doh. I just laid off my business model

Each day brings another story that publishers are lurching to the business model that will save newspapers: charging for online content. Yet, each day brings news of additional buyouts and layoffs in newsrooms. Sometime soon, the publishers are going to figure out the next problem: they neither have enough good content that’s worth selling nor […]

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Clemens, Kindle and Congress: History rhymes

History may not repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme, observed Samuel Clemens. I was reminded of Clemens’ vision and failures amid this week’s hoopla over the new Kindle as well a Congressional hearing held today on the crisis in newspapers. Clemens was a visionary who foresaw the age of invention. He wrote a glorious […]

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When the ad is better than the news

Remember when The Times ran those profitable, short “liners,” commercial and personal ads, at the bottom of front-page news columns in the print editions? It took years for editors to get them off. Times change. See today’s homepage. BTB: I captured the musical iPhone animation with Jing, new software to grab images and video off […]

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Another slant on the news. But how true?

True/Slant, an “original news content network” by “new journalists” (which, in this case, are displaced journalists; apologies to Tom Wolfe), has launched in “open alpha,” which apparently means “very rough; no revenue.” “News is more than what happens (an old newspaper aphorism),” say the founders, former newsies at America Online who worked at a variety […]

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Lightning

It’s been four days since a frumpy, unemployed church worker who’s “never been kissed” sang “I Dreamed a Dream” on Britain’s Got Talent. You want fast?: 12 million+ You Tube views (2.5m within 72 hourss), 5 fan sites, Bebo fan club, Facebook fan club, fans forum, interviews on BBC and CBS, and a Susan Boyle […]

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Kristoff and the Sea of Stories

Just when I think The New York Times is beginning to understand the concept of story in a connected society, Nicholas Kristoff invokes the old “Daily Me” cliche in an op-ed column. God save us from ourselves, so says Nick. God save us from Kristoff. He ought to know better than to conjure up a […]

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Legends of the fall

Two recent metaphors, both good, from the long, sad conversation about newspapers. From South By Southwest, author Stephen Berlin Johnson’s ecosystem metaphor (pick it up at the second chapter) with chart. Or full video. And the map from latest The New York Times story that tells it all. Dale PeskinDale is co-founder emeritus of We […]

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Me to everyone: Be wary of the virtual nothing

As I was walking down the stairs I met a man who wasn’t there He wasn’t there again today I wish, I wish he’d stay away I just joined me2everyone.com, a new social network from the UK that many voices on the Internet say will not only be bigger than Google, but will also provide […]

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Full circle

From The Economist: “A piece of the American experience has faded away. Fisher-Price, the toy company that used to market them, has just eliminated almost all the View-Master titles that have been a staple of young lives for almost 70 years.” I first discovered the world in 3-D on a paper disc and a plastic […]

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