Content Nation Speaks Out

Content Nation Speaks Out: "Robin Good's Latest News labels the main feature of blogging as 'Helping Others See Beyond The Surface.' According to Robin this 'Makes Blogs True Digital Weapons Of Mind Change.' Changing other people's minds, launching small and large Calls To Action, influencing and persuading others, providing insightful tools and pointers to facilitate self-discovery and personal understanding: these are the most powerful applications that individuals, small online publishers and passionate researchers can make of blogs today. Helping others see things from new and unconventional viewpoints. Also read at Shore Content Nation, a commentary of John Blossom on 'A World of Personal Publishers Declares Their Influential Citizenship'"

Want to get good at videogames? Hire a kid

Want to get good at videogames? Hire a kid: "By tim Brian Jepson pointed to an article about the use of remote tutoring to teach videogame skills. The article (which originally appeared in the Wall Street Journal but has since been syndicated), was hung on the dual hooks of gaming and the age of the teachers: ''When David Estalote wanted to learn to play the piano, the 27-year-old New Yorker sought out a teacher at a local music college. To learn to play golf, he took lessons from a pro at his grandfather's country club. When he recently decided he needed coaching to play a videogame better, he turned to a teenager who lives 1,200 miles away in Florida.   One afternoon recently, his 18-year-old tutor, Tom Taylor, slouched in front of a television set connected to a Microsoft Corp. Xbox machine running 'Halo 2,' a popular combat videogame. Mr. Taylor, through an Internet phone strapped over his head, snapped commands at Mr. Estalote back in New York. Mr. Estalote, a computer programmer, pays Mr. Taylor $45 an hour for help improving"

Want to get good at videogames? Hire a kid

Want to get good at videogames? Hire a kid: "By tim Brian Jepson pointed to an article about the use of remote tutoring to teach videogame skills. The article (which originally appeared in the Wall Street Journal but has since been syndicated), was hung on the dual hooks of gaming and the age of the teachers: ''When David Estalote wanted to learn to play the piano, the 27-year-old New Yorker sought out a teacher at a local music college. To learn to play golf, he took lessons from a pro at his grandfather's country club. When he recently decided he needed coaching to play a videogame better, he turned to a teenager who lives 1,200 miles away in Florida.   One afternoon recently, his 18-year-old tutor, Tom Taylor, slouched in front of a television set connected to a Microsoft Corp. Xbox machine running 'Halo 2,' a popular combat videogame. Mr. Taylor, through an Internet phone strapped over his head, snapped commands at Mr. Estalote back in New York. Mr. Estalote, a computer programmer, pays Mr. Taylor $45 an hour for help improving"

Wal-Mart Garners Attention with Social Networking Site

Wal-Mart Garners Attention with Social Networking Site: "Wal-Mart has gotten some attention this week with the launch of a social networking site loosely based on social phenomenons like MySpace. The site--called The HUB--School Your Way--focuses on the impending back to school season and coincides with the launch of the store's school clothing lines. Many responses to the release of the School Your Way site is based on Mya Frazier's scathing review of the site in Advertising Age. Among Frazier's gripes were the inauthenticity of the kids in videos on the site, the sanitzed and censored replica of MySpace that would not appeal to kids, and the focus around a clothing line that kids just don't see value in. Considering the strong degree of corporate backlash against Wal-Mart, especially by those that consider the low prices retailer as censors selling lower-quality wares, the response in the blogosphere is not surprising, and several bloggers have continued with Frazier's line of attack. Particularly, these folks are attacking the idea of trying to copy the success of a major social phenomenon in a watered-down pro"

HP Develops New Passive RFID

HP Develops New Passive RFID: "HP Labs has developed a prototypical passive tag that's long on memory and short on range, for which it has identified suitable business and consumer apps."

Jay Rosen:The People Formerly Known As "The Audience"

Jay Rosen:The People Formerly Known As "The Audience": "I 've got a new post up at P2P Foundation blog that covers quite a few Smartmobby subjects. Namely, the idea that control of media content is shifting: We really are currently witnessing an emerging change in the way people interact with “media” content. This change actually reflects the nature of the digital medium that it is taking place in: * The networked digital medium allows us to emulate and even improve on technology that previously was cost prohibitive for most people. So, publishing text, audio, and video is accessible to anyone with a computer and an internet connection. * The networked digital medium also gives us the potential for more equalized access to all content, and it gives each creator the potential for more control over what they create. Yet, it also gives the user more control over their attention. It also gives the peer production communities more control over their collective output."

Picking the energy of crowds

Picking the energy of crowds: "When we walk, we produce energy which disappears into the ground. Would it be possible to harvest this wasted energy? An architectural firm in the UK wants to use crowds as a source of renewable energy. And don't think it's a joke: controlling our indoor environments could save annually $200 billion in energy bills in the US alone. Links: Primidi, ZDNet"

YouTube Jr. w/ Profit Sharing (YouTube Killer?)

YouTube Jr. w/ Profit Sharing (YouTube Killer?): "This new site is like YouTube (and ImageShack, AlbinoBlackSheep, Google Video) etc, except we share ad revenue with content submitters. So if you upload a video and it's real popular, you'll be getting monthly kickbacks on the ad revenue the site makes. Could this be the new trend in user-submitted content sites?"