Charlie Brooker on how to save newspapers

You know what'll save newspapers? Magic coins. Yes, magic coins. And I've just invented them

Hello reader. Where are you reading this? In the paper? On the website? On an iPhone?

Is the Guardian even available on the iPhone? Bet it is. There's probably even a little downloadable application that lets you turn the pages by tilting it to one side. After all, there's an "app" for everything. There's one that turns the iPhone into a motion-sensitive light sabre: it makes wooshy Star Wars noises as you swipe it around. Really passes the time during the unrelenting march to the grave, that.

I'm unmoved in the face of friends screaming at me to join the iPhone cult. It's horrible. Here are a few iPhone apps I'd like to see:

1. An app that makes the iPhone scream 'I'VE GOT AN IPHONE!' each time the user pulls it out of their pocket. Once activated, it would be impossible to switch off. The only way to stop the constant embarrassment would be to repeatedly crack the device against a wall, or preferably your own face, until it shattered.

2. An app billed as a "comical toilet paper simulator". You switch it on, pretend to "wipe" your backside, and hey presto: the screen appears smeared with virtual pixilated poo. But – ho ho – just like the screaming iPhone app above, it's a permanent booby trap. Once you've performed your first comical wipe, in a frankly desperate bid to impress your non-iPhone-owning friends, it's impossible for the screen to revert to its original state. Instead, you're left with no option but to go home and cry.

3. An app that makes your iPhone unexpectedly oscillate and explode halfway through a conversation to a loved one, sending thousands of miniscule shards of plastic and silicon hurtling into your ear canal like a swarm of angry pins. As a bonus, the detonation also blasts your hand apart like a spent casing. Why? Because you bought an iPhone, silly.

Still, there's a good chance you're reading this on an LCD display of some description, rather than on paper. There are advantages and drawbacks to both platforms. The paper version can be rolled up, scribbled on, and read on the tube. If I write something obnoxious – something about the hilarious inherent low-self-esteem of iPhone owners, perhaps – the page can be torn out, screwed into a ball and thrown across the room, thus providing a slender amount of catharsis. (Come to think of it, iPhone owners can probably download an app that makes a satisfying "thwock" sound as they bat the paper ball across the room with their ridiculous handheld toys). Paper is tactile, and that's a plus. Trouble is, you have to pay for it.

Not so online. In Webland, it's yours for free. Better still, the byline pictures are slightly smaller, so there's less chance you'll be sick. But it isn't tactile. Here, catharsis comes in the form of interactive feedback – so if (for example) you're a uniquely inadequate, unfulfilled and unattractive sort of man, and the article you're reading happens to have been written by a woman – any woman – you can vent your annoyance in a series of inadvertently revealing messages, then masturbate into a sock. (This describes 33% of all messages on all news websites. Check if you don't believe me.)

Still, at least the misogynists know what's making them angry. There's an astounding level of unfocused rage on the internet, which is weird considering it's full of people getting something for nothing. Films, TV shows, music, newspaper reports . . . none of it costing a penny.

But newspapers won't be free for ever. At least that's what Rupert Murdoch thinks, and he's probably evil enough to know. Last week he announced the Sun and the Times are to start charging for their online editions. But will it work?

Nope. Not until someone perfects a system of universal online micro-payments once and for all. Some simple means of easily "tossing a penny in a cup" for the internet is required. Everyone knows it; no one's managed to crack it. Sure, there are systems such as PayPal (familiar to anyone who's used eBay), but they're fiddly and boring. What's needed is something universal and user-friendly.

But more than that, it should be fun.

That's right. It should be intrinsically fun to spend money. How? Huh? Wuh? Listen. If you ask me, one potential answer to the newspaper industry's woes lies somewhere in videogame design. A simple payment system shouldn't just be easy to set up: it should be intrinsically satisfying to use. It should feel positively Nintendo. Look at the Wii. Look at the micro-games in Rhythm Paradise, or Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, both on the Nintendo DS. That's how online payments should work. They should have the illusion of being tactile.

On your desktop: a cartoon purse filled with fat gold coins. Pull out a penny. It shimmers on the screen. Drag it toward a "coin slot" situated right there on the web page you want to view, and drop it in. It disappears with a satisfying ker-chunk. And you're in. If you're feeling cavalier, you can throw your coin toward the slot; with practice it won't bounce off the rim. And hey, iPhone users: we'll even let you play. You can "fling" coins from your phone directly on to the screen.

One page costs one penny: not too off-putting for anyone – and crucially, the teeny spoonful of fun and satisfaction you derived from playing with that virtual coin each time is worth the penny anyway.

Has anyone else thought of this already? If not, consider it patented right now, by me. I'll settle for 0.001% of every penny spent for all eternity, thanks. And now, over to the Dragons.

Article by Charlie Brooker via The Guardian

Murdoch to charge for news website access

Guardian News article about media mogul Rupert Murdoch's plans to charge for news website access

In what can only be seen as an 'interesting' move, Rupert Murdoch has announced that you will have to pay to access The Sun, The Times and News Of The World websites as of next year.

Currently all of these websites offer free access to stories that are in their newspaper equivalents that day, but this is all set to change according to Murdoch.

Murdoch's words seem to be spurred on by a $3.4bn (£2bn) net loss for News Corporation for the financial year to June. This is something that has been put down to restructuring, writedowns and a slump in commercial revenue.

It is unlikely that people would be prepared to pay for news which can readily be accessed on other news channel sites however could this lead the precedent for future pay per view news access bu other news organisations?

Full article can be read here

Facebook at five: The toughest challenge is yet to come - Telegraph

How long before the popularity of Facebook fades? An article in the Telegraph, comments on the future of Facebook: Facebook at five: The toughest challenge is yet to come - Telegraph: "For many internet users, especially youngsters, having a Facebook account is as important as having a mobile phone. Social events are organised through Facebook's pages, and it is used by millions to share photos and videos.
However, the next five years look a lot tougher for Facebook. The honeymoon period is well and truly over, and there is anecdotal evidence, at least, that 'Facebook fatigue' is setting in with some users. The greatest difficulty the website faces is 'user stickiness' – remaining sufficiently dynamic, interesting and relevant to retain its members"

Are government ministers allowed to poke, tweet and use social media? | Technology | The Guardian

An article in The Guardian: asks : Are government ministers allowed to poke, tweet and use social media? "This week, the government's Power of Information taskforce set out a list of 25 urgent actions for the public sector machine - from Downing Street to local councils and NHS organisations - to take to embrace social networking, blogging and other such phenomena."

Exclusive: YouTube Will Soon Let Big Content Partners Bring Their Own Ads

Exclusive report from Tech crunch, You Tube are currently making plans to allow the big media giants to profit from advertising revenue. This is a big step for the future of broadcasting and points the way forward in terms of the industry.

"Big media companies have always had a love-hate relationship with YouTube. They don’t know whether to sue YouTube for abetting copyright infringement or get in bed with it because it is the biggest Web video game in town. YouTube is trying to convince them that love is better than war by giving them a cut of advertising revenues from their videos that appear on YouTube, regardless of who put them there."
read more on Techcrunch:

The information Revolution

YouTube goes live to take on TV

YouTube, the popular video sharing website, is set to challenge established TV broadcasters by offering its own live channels. The plans would enable YouTube's millions of users to chat from their bedrooms, perform music or report on a breaking news story to a worldwide audience in real time. A birthday party or wedding could be broadcast live to family and friends who are unable to attend. The truly committed could start a 24-hour 'lifecast' of their daily activities reminiscent of television's Big Brother.Read More| Technology | The Observer

Blogging - The Twilight Zone

Blogging....what's it for, why do we do it?

Its a sort of twilight zone really.

I really didn't think that anyone would actually visit my blog let alone read the content and yesterday somebody commented on a story a posted!!! This is a rarity in my little world, someone actually took the time to read what I had written. Blogging is a strange concept to which I have yet to find my own little niche. Its personal and yet impersonal, a brief glimpse into the minds of some or random,irrelevant babblings (in my case). I blog therefore i am but what does it actually mean?

The Oxford English dictionary defines it as:

(weblog)- frequently updated web site consisting of personal observations, excerpts from other sources, etc., typically run by a single person, and usually with hyperlinks to other sites; an online journal or diary.


The site Blogger gives many variations on how a blog may be defined -

A blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world.

Your blog is whatever you want it to be. There are millions of them, in all shapes and sizes, and there are no real rules.

In simple terms, a blog is a web site, where you write stuff on an ongoing basis. New stuff shows up at the top, so your visitors can read what's new. Then they comment on it or link to it or email you. Or not.

And that is where is the problem starts for me. How do visitors know you exist? What do they expect when they hit your page? Its all a big mystery to me.....but it cheers the little cockles of my heart when you know that you have reached out to at least one or two readers who have actually taken the time to read what you have written and let you know by posting their own thoughts or observations. I am making it my new year resolution to post my own comments or thoughts on blogs that interest me. I may too be the one to cheer up the writers days and spread a little happiness as I go. To all my fellow bloggers, interaction is the future, so put down your garlic bread and cakes of cheese and embrace the world of conversation.

Andrew Keen on New Media - Media, News - The Independent

Andrew Keen on New Media - Media, News - The Independent
Interesting article by andrew Keen on the growth of new media with particular reference to Wiki and how it is being embraced around the world

ICANN Watch - Questions that everyone should be asking

To reach another person on the Internet you have to type an address into your computer - a name or a number. That address has to be unique so computers know where to find each other. ICANN coordinates these unique identifiers across the world. Without that coordination we wouldn't have one global Internet.

ICANN was formed in 1998. It is a not-for-profit partnership of people from all over the world dedicated to keeping the Internet secure, stable and interoperable. It promotes competition and develops policy on the Internet’s unique identifiers.read more on the ICANN website

ICANN Watch say however

ICANN says that it is private, non-profit, consensus-based, California corporation charged with technical coordination of the Internet. Some others, including some of the people behind this web site, worry that ICANN has a somewhat manipulable idea of what constitutes a consensus, or that ICANN's close relationship with the U.S. Department of Commerce might make it a "state actor" under U.S. law-- a formally private body that has the same legal obligations to provide due process and non-discrimination as a government agency. read more on ICANN Watch website

This is worrying for the future of a free and open internet. Censorship of the internet is already a highly controversial topic and more people need to be made aware of the role of ICANN and the close relationship it shares with the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Operation: Budding Genius: Censorship of New Media

Operation: Budding Genius: Censorship of New Media

Censorship of New Media

New Media Technology is advancing rapidly . The use of multimedia platforms to distribute and share information is something to which many are accustomed to. It is inevitable, that in this new information society, a minority of users will abuse this privilege by publishing libellous or copyrighted material, albeit not always deliberately. General consensus of social norms and common sense by the majority of the online community means unsavoury or offensive material found on the Internet is ignored. I believe in free speech and understand that one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist. No one should dictate what anyone says, even if it is not always appropriate or conventional. At present there are debates about control and censorship of the Internet and I wonder how long it will be before there are calls for all online content to be subject to approval by strict draconian rulings and guidelines. Surveillance and collection of data by government is already in force and if sanctions are imposed, democratic thought processes will be assigned to the history books.

The notion of a Ministry of Truth is something which I fear will become a reality, and our right to free speech is rapidly disappearing .

For further debates about online censorship see http://current.com/topics/75917592_censorship