Archive for September, 2008

Pandora founder appeals to music fans to fight big radio

Posted in Industry News on September 27th, 2008 by Michael Tippett – Be the first to comment

I just got this email from the folks at Pandora.  They are waging a valiant fight against some big radio interests who want to stifle innovation in online music.  If you value the fantastic service Pandora provides please help them out.  M.

______

Hi, it’s Tim from Pandora;

After a yearlong negotiation, Pandora, SoundExchange and the RIAA are finally optimistic about reaching an agreement on royalties that would save Pandora and Internet radio.  But just as we’ve gotten close, large traditional broadcast radio companies have launched a covert lobbying campaign to sabotage our progress.

Yesterday, Congressman Jay Inslee, and several co-sponsors, introduced legislation to give us the extra time we need but the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), which represents radio broadcasters such as Clear Channel, has begun intensively pressuring lawmakers to kill the bill. We have just days to keep this from collapsing.

This is a blatant attempt by large radio companies to suffocate the webcasting industry that is just beginning to offer an alternative to their monopoly of the airwaves.

Please call your Congressperson right now and ask them to support H.R. 7084, the Webcaster Settlement Act of 2008 – and to not capitulate to pressure from the NAB.  Congress is currently working extended hours, so even calls this evening and over the weekend should get answered.

If the phone is busy, please try again until you get through. These calls really do make a difference.

Representative Carolyn Maloney: 202-225-7944
 
Thanks so much for you ongoing support.
 
Tim

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Poll: Who won the debate?

Posted in Industry News on September 27th, 2008 by Michael Tippett – Be the first to comment

At midnight (PST) almost 3/4 of though Obama carried the night.

OXFORD, Miss. — John McCain and Barack Obama stood behind identical wooden lecterns Friday night on the stage of a performing arts center at the University of Mississippi for the first of three scheduled debates with less than six weeks remaining until Election Day. The two vice presidential candidates will meet next week for their only debate.

Source: mlive.com via mtippett

Wall Street Protest 2 DSC_0057

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Web 2.0 Challenges Traditional Government Communications

Posted in Industry News on September 26th, 2008 by Michael Tippett – Be the first to comment

A mention of NowPublic’s roll in the emerging new news environment.

TLDNR – If you’re over 20 years old, you probably have no idea what this means. It’s an acronym for “too long, did not read,” and text messaging users type it to describe most of the information that comes from traditional news sources. These young people want their information now, and they often want it in clusters of no more than 140 words.

Source: govtech.com

Innovative communicators have long recognized the need to get their messages out using the new technology. While The New York Times and The Washington Post struggle with falling circulation and loss of advertisers, new communicators are moving ahead in leaps and bounds.

One such innovator is NowPublic.com, a user-generated social news Web site. The company is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, and was founded by Michael Tippett, Leonard Brody and Michael Meyers in 2005. In addition to user-contributed content, NowPublic has a content-sharing agreement with The Associated Press. Time magazine named NowPublic one of the top 50 Web sites of 2007.

Source: govtech.com

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Site Fixes on Sept. 17, 2008

Posted in Industry News on September 17th, 2008 by Jordan – Be the first to comment

We’ve been taking the site offline for a few moments at a time this morning in order to fix our search indexing. All should be back to normal within the hour.Thanks for your patience.-Jordan and the NowPublic staff 

Online mashups map relief for Gustav victims

Posted in Industry News on September 1st, 2008 by Michael Tippett – Be the first to comment

Some interesting new developments in the way the people are responding to Gustav.

This map contains an aggregation from several user-contributed and official sources of shelters, evacuation centers, and weather information. This map is being developed for the Hurricane Gustav Wiki.

Source: crescentmaps.org via mtippett

Gustav Evacuation: Lonely Puppy 2

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