Monthly Archives: June 2009

Can Data Revitalize Journalism ?

June 28, 2009 – 9:00 pm

TweetGet a demo of a Bloomberg terminal. You’ll be is blown away by the depth of available data. Thousands of statistics, historical tables, sources… Everything is available through the proprietary terminal. Bloomberg started by offering a real-time news flow dedicated to the needs of the financial community, traders, analysts, etc. Over the years, the system [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Posted in journalism, online publishing | Tagged , | Comments (19)

Web video: Microsoft, Adobe or HTML 5?

June 28, 2009 – 8:59 pm

TweetWe have yet another standards battle on our hands — you might say screens, as it concerns Web video. Or we might watch our wallets, as the fight is about who gets the biggest share of the money spent delivering multimedia on our computers, smartphones and, soon, TVs. My money is on HTML 5, co-opted [...]

Edited by Jean-Louis Gassée | Posted in software | Tagged , , , | Comments (15)

Monetizing a social network, the Skyrock case

June 21, 2009 – 4:38 pm

TweetIn the social network business, the European success story is called Skyrock. Built on top of the #1 FM radio station for 18-25 year-olds, it first expanded into a blog platform, then into a full-blown social network making full use of links users waved between themselves. In Europe, according to ComScore, Skyrock.com ranks #3 among [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Posted in advertising, radio & TV, social networks | Comments (12)

The Real iPhone 1.0

June 21, 2009 – 4:37 pm

TweetSaint Peter offers a choice of hells to a recently dematerialized high-tech tycoon (pick your favorite sinner) with a long list of transgressions. The basic one, fire, floggings, and the premium one, plenty of music, drink, food and other pleasures of the flesh. Said tycoon picks the fun venue, Saint Peter pulls a lever, the [...]

Edited by Jean-Louis Gassée | Posted in mobile internet | Tagged , | Comments (10)

The real cost of genuine journalism

June 14, 2009 – 5:51 pm

TweetUpdated with a video on PolitiFact Guide to Fact-checking The idea for this column came to me last March; I was flying back from Stockholm. Schibsted, the Norwegian media group I work for, had asked me to be part of the jury for its yearly Schibsted Journalism Award. I was both honored and curious to [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Posted in journalism, newspapers, online publishing | Comments (12)

Fun AT&T numbers

June 14, 2009 – 5:50 pm

Tweetby Jean-Louis Gassée AT&T can’t seem to catch a break. A couple of weeks ago, at All Things Digital, an industry conference, Randall Stephenson, AT&T’s Chairman, got the audience to snicker and roll eyes. The conference is held by the Wall Street Journal, led by its digital guru, Walt Mossberg and, “by invitation only”, $5K [...]

Edited by Jean-Louis Gassée | Posted in mobile internet | Tagged , | Comments (2)

The success story of a technology-enhanced media brand

June 7, 2009 – 10:07 am

Tweet‘A fan of ours wrote an iPhone application, just for the sake of it.’ How many media companies can make such a bragging statement? One does: NPR, the American National Public Radio. Bradley Flubacher, is a professional programmer who moonlights as a volunteer firefighter in a small Pennsylvania town. A few months ago, Brad decided [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Posted in online publishing, radio & TV | Tagged , | Comments (12)

Brilliant insights at the NYT

June 7, 2009 – 10:02 am

Tweet“If they start making products people don’t want, and start losing users, then Apple’s strategy will run into problems.” You can see the full NYT Business section story here. My wife and I love to read the papers in the morning. French-born, we still marvel at this American icon: the newspaper route, the nice deliveryman [...]

Edited by Jean-Louis Gassée | Posted in journalism, newspapers | Tagged | Comments (2)