Category: Quotes

September 2, 2011

Arrington is the future of what we used to call journalism

I happen to think journalism was a response to publishing being expensive. It cost a lot of money to push bits around the net before there was a net. They had to have huge capital-intensive printing plants, fleets of trucks and delivery boys with paper routes. Now we can hear directly from the sources and build our own news networks. It’s still early days for this, and it wasn’t that long ago that we depended on journalists for the news. But in a generation or two we won’t be employing people to gather news for us. It’ll work differently.

Dave Winer – Arrington is the future of what we used to call journalism.

August 21, 2011

Sources Go Direct in today’s news

I’ve been saying this for fifteen years. It’s one of those ideas that at first seems unbelievable, then you realize it means freedom and responsibility in a whole different way. Sources Go Direct is the biggest single change in the way news works in the age of the Internet.

Dave Winer – Sources Go Direct in today’s news.

August 15, 2011

BART braces for evening protest

Johnson said riders “don’t have the right to free speech inside the fare gates.” BART’s cutoff of cell-phone service Thursday in anticipation of a possible protest, he said, represented a “minor inconvenience” to customers.

…The agency did not jam cell signals, which is illegal, but shut off the system – which Johnson said is allowable under an agreement with several major phone service providers that pay rent to BART.

Linton Johnson, BART spokesman – BART braces for evening protest.

August 11, 2011

Startup Weekend pep talk: It ain’t the code

Customers don’t patronize companies on the basis of the difficulty of the code or the unit test coverage percentage or whether you used Bodoni instead of Times New Roman on the home page. In fact I’ve made millions of dollars on companies with hideously ugly websites and buggy code. Those things are actually not the most important things. Real life is a startup contest too.

Jason Cohen – Startup Weekend pep talk: It ain’t the code.

August 4, 2011

We just want to read

How many people are subscribers to The New Yorker iPad app that don’t actually read for whatever reason? If the app were easier to use and quicker to access, then you’d have users, not just subscribers. And users tell their friends about the recent article they read; users read the app in front of their co-workers during lunch break; users actually get invested in the app. If you can garner the attention of your subscriber base, and not just their money, then your road to growth gets significantly easier.

Shawn Blanc – We just want to read.

July 31, 2011

A little truth leaks out

What’s remarkable about [David Frum, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, and Paul Krugman], what gives me hope that there may be a way out of the bigger mess, of which this month’s meltdown is just a sympton, is that finally blogging is effectively routing around MSM. If you want to hear from smart people who know what they’re talking about, and who aren’t spinning, you can.

This is why blogging is important.

Dave Winer – A little truth leaks out.

July 29, 2011

Just a myth

The key word, I think, is spiritual. Mythological brands make a spiritual connection with the user, delivering something that we can’t find on our own… or, at the very least, giving us a slate we can use to write our own spirituality on.

People use a Dell. They are an Apple.

Seth Godin – Just a myth.

July 27, 2011

Why Google cares if you use your real name

There’s a very simple business reason why Google cares if they have your real name. It means it’s possible to cross-relate your account with your buying behavior with their partners, who might be banks, retailers, supermarkets, hospitals, airlines. To connect with your use of cell phones that might be running their mobile operating system. To provide identity in a commerce-ready way. And to give them information about what you do on the Internet, without obfuscation of pseudonyms.

Simply put, a real name is worth more than a fake one.

Dave Winer – Why Google cares if you use your real name.

July 24, 2011

The end of client services

Basically, to create anything meaningful in digital media, you need to think in terms of a product, not just a story.

Khoi Vinh – The end of client services.

July 17, 2011

I’ve been jonesing to go to a baseball game…

Many of my friends misjudge it, thinking sport needs to be swift like a basketball game, or intense and concentrated like a football game. But baseball is more of an experience to have than a spectacle to see. It’s called a park for a reason: it’s a place of leisure, (hell, stretching is built into the format), and an opportunity to just be present.

Frank Chimero – I’ve been jonesing to go to a baseball game…