- Blog
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Stock markets booming. Stock exchanges failing
Stock exchanges evolved from informal institutions – places where blokes in top-hats swapped cash and promises. Since those early days they’ve acquired some respectability – although they’re still stuffed with barrow boys and upper class spivs – and, in addition to providing the majority of the world economy’s capital for business, they do a lot…
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These men could make it all better for the music business
At yesterday’s Beyond The Soundbytes music biz conference I ran into Paul Sanders, a major blast from the past (like it says on his web site: “since 1994”) and the man behind State51 and all sorts of other music-related online thingies. Anyway, he was with Paul Hitchman, his partner in Playlouder, a clever broadband ‘Music…
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A small masterpiece from La La Land
My favourite comment for ages. Not spam, just completely mad…
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From acceptance to accommodation
So I went down to Carlton House Terrace for a MusicTank conference called Beyond the Soundbytes. Fascinating. There’s a sort of melancholy thrill to be had from watching an industry nervously coming to terms with its possible extinction. Media orthodoxy says that new forms don’t replace the old ones, they just amend and inflect them,…
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More information about that eBay widget
Like I said the other day we’re looking for someone to develop a clean, usable web widget for eBay. We’ve had a number of promising responses to our request but I’ve now got a nice two-page tech spec for the widget from Jay, our tech head, so if this gets you interested, do drop me…
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Reaching for my gun
I’m writing some think pieces for a new web site from the DCMS’s Culture Online. I started with one about the future of radio and the second one is about the death of copyright. I’m working on one now about the sick and inverted trend towards writing about ourselves which I’m provisionally calling “Autobiography is…
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The evolution of the API
I don’t pretend to understand how it works but I do like the look of Mashery. If APIs are going to transform business, if they’re going to become a feature of everyday organisational interaction, if we’re going to start saying ‘API’ as a kind of shorthand for the swapping of functions and data in our…
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Comedy characters
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Wow
Supernaturally vivid photo-real illustrations from Japan. Link courtesy Things (I think).
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Widgets are hot
Ivan’s in California engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the competition at Widgets Live. Here in London Jay’s been judging the BBC Backstage widget competition. Entries had to make use of the Beeb’s various feeds and services. Most of them are desktop widgets but Jay’s already stuffed one of them into the Snipperoo Directory because it’s…