A few things I found interesting this morning. First, Doc weighs in on his propensity to listening to satellite radio and his preference of Sirius over XM. But more important is his overview of a Times article than reviews radio options which ironically doesn't even mention AM and FM -- the old stalwarts.
[...] The truth is, licensed over-the-air broadcasting, which Michael Powell and the FCC made such a big deal about "saving" with their relaxation of ownership rules in June, is slowly dying in the "marketplace" where users continue to have approximately zero influence on receiver design decisions. The radio manufacturers gave up on AM a long time ago. There's almost no way to get a good AM radio anymore, even if you want one [...] So today, unless you get a high-end FM-only tuner, the FM section of your new home entertainment system can't compete on performance specs with a good analog tuner or receiver built twenty-five years ago. Back in those days, the audio stores and salons went out of their way to get good signals into the units on display. Today you're lucky if there's an antenna hooked up at all [...] But back then FM radio was still a living, vital medium. Now it's just a vending machine for ClearChannel.
My past ranting and opinions on Clear Channel's contribution to radio can be found here, here and here.
What I found interesting in Scoble's answer was number two in his ordered list:
[...]
2) If I put them on my blog, I know that Google will be able to help me find them later on.
This is probably an overlooked benefit of Google and blogging. Today after reading Doc's post on Radio, I jumped to Google and quickly found my three posts I wrote about Clear Channel from month's ago. This saved me perhaps an hour of time trying to dig up old material, find permalinks and embed into my post.
Secondly, i liked Scoble's number nine; number nine; number nine:
[...]
9) I enjoy learning about conversational marketing. I really do believe that blogging will someday be a "new PR arm" of most major corporations. By blogging every day, I can learn a set of "best practices" that I can teach to others at Microsoft and at other corporations.
I've been long discussing the use of Weblogs in corporate America -- especially in the marketing communications department. It's only a matter of time.
2:34:23 PM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
Wow. Can't tell whether Davis is posturing to take attention away from the Total Recall campaign and the short lived stall for the October 7th election. Maybe he's trying to make a mark. Some kinda mark.
But Davis signed a bill yesterday that calls for a hard no-tolerance stance toward that pesky unsolicited email we all seem to get every five minutes. And while I'm typically against such broad-reaching legislation, I guess I've been numbed and beaten up by the amount of spam that gets through my filters -- let alone the stuff the winds up in the cesspool called Junk Mail on my Mac.
[...] "We are saying that unsolicited e-mail cannot be sent and there are no loopholes," said Kevin Murray, the Democratic state senator from Los Angeles who sponsored the bill. [...] The law would fine spammers $1,000 for each unsolicited message sent up to $1 million for each campaign
And while the industry where I earn my living is up in arms about the bill's restrictive measures, I welcome the effort but worry about what it will cost to enforce it. Frankly, I'm one of those odd internet users who feel that the best way to end spam and the pour excuses for communication incubated by the simplicity and low effort of pushing "send" on your email app, is to simply charge per email. Remember those silly petition hoaxes you received over the last few years calling for immediate measures to stop "the government" from taxing or charging "postage" per email? I think I earned more than a few second looks or even enemies when I sent the petition back with alterations suggesting we support per email charges. I believe that most of us would think a bit more about the content of our email, the volume we send and the mindless mode of "cc'ing" everyone in your address book.
But the chances of my fantasy becoming reality are nil. So in the meantime, I'll support this legislation and hope that a cost-effective method for enforcement is implemented. And while other states have passed or are considering similar legislation, California will lead the way and as a result email boxes nationwide would be reduced.
[...] "California represents up to 20 percent of the e-mail that is sent or received," said J. Trevor Hughes, the executive director, of the Network Advertising Initiative, a group of technology companies that send e-mail for marketers. "Instead of trying to segregate the California e-mail addresses, many of our members are going to make the California standard the lowest common denominator."
How many unsolicited messages did you receive today? Leave your answer in the comments section below.
2:32:16 PM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
I spent most of the day in LA today at the Los Angeles Country Museum of Art where two exhibits were winding down their final days in Los Angeles. The first was a sampling of Old Masters, Impressionists and Modern art of French Masterworks from The Pushkin Museum of Fine Art in Moscow. Among the highlights were Monet's White Lilies, and works from Picasso, Degas, Renoir, Cezanne, Matisse and Van Gogh. Many of these paintings shown for the first time in Los Angeles.
What struck me perhaps strongest was Van Gogh's Prison Courtyard. While the jpg here hardly does justice to the color, lighting and mood of this dark work Vincent painted while he was in the asylum at Saint Rémy. Perhaps one of his last paintings, e died less than six months later. The dark, depressing mood reminded me a bit of one of his earliest works, The Potato Eaters, which I was lucky to see at the National Gallery a couple years ago. Both of these paintings are far from the Sunflowers and Daisies one thinks of when Van Gogh's name is mentioned. Here the one prisoner who's gaze captures the viewer seems almost a self-portrait of Van Gogh with his light hair and resemblance to the artist. Trapped in an asylum, prison or life. And wandering in circles. Wow. It always has amazed me that the great and famous Dutch painter painted for less than 8 years, yet in those 8 years a body of work that has captured the imagination of artists, collectors and casual fans for generations.
The other exhibit at LACMA was paintings and sculpture from Modigliani. While I appreciate his work, especially his nudes, I found that painting after painting were portraits of mostly women with their hands folded. Long faces and dark colorless or grey eyes. Some are quite intriguing. But there's no diversity here. I guess you'd have to say he had his "look" or his "brand image" and stuck to it. Consistently and focused, you know for sure it's Madigliani. Perhaps of more interest to me were his sculptures. These tended to draw on the long faces of his paintings, but you could definitely detect an influence from African and tribal art as the angular and geometric shapes pointed to such influence.
If you find yourself in Los Angeles before October 13th, 2003 take a few hours out of your time and visit LACMA. The exhibits are truly great.
1:32:42 AM permalink | | trackback disabled due to spam
where two exhibits were winding down their final days in Los Angeles. The first was a sampling of
colorless or grey eyes. Some are quite intriguing. But there's no diversity here. I guess you'd have to say he had his "look" or his "brand image" and stuck to it. Consistently and focused, you know for sure it's Madigliani. Perhaps of more interest to me were his sculptures. These tended to draw on the long faces of his paintings, but you could definitely detect an influence from African and tribal art as the angular and geometric shapes pointed to such influence. 
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