Radiohead not actually the messiah … remember when I told you so?
The Capital Times Solution: More Info, Fewer Brains
April 28, 2008What do you do when there is more information out there than there are qualified brains to produce it? Apparently, you increase the information while firing 30% of your brains.
The NYT reports (via SAI) that The Capital Times in Madison Wisconsin is going wholly online.
That all sounds pretty logical, people get their news online, sure, I get that. What doesn’t make any sense is
The Capital Times will operate a nearly continuous Web newsroom
plus
More than 20 members of the newsroom staff lost their jobs
So, congratulations Madison, the quality of your news was just reduced by 30%. The good news is, you’ll be getting that 60%-effort (cue 3-D graphics and thundering voice) Con…c-c-c-c-cConcakconnnnnCONSTANTLY. Lucky you, Madison.
Don’t pull your dongs out just yet, rest of the country, because those digit-eyed kids over at Silicon Alley Insider are convinced that the New York Times, Washington Post and everyone else who still filters our information for us are headed for the same fate.
Today, the Internet will publish more news, with fewer Brains.
Questions Answered
April 21, 2008It’s no secret that I hate the Internet, and the future. Everyone is always so quick to tell me that it’s time to embrace it or die, and I tell everyone to suck it. Seriously, I say the phrase “suck it” quite a bit in conversation, but never is it more deserved than when looking over the annual reports for the respective entertainment industry sectors from 2007.
Video Games: $7.4 Billion
Box Office: $9.63 Billion
Music Sales (everything): $10.3 Billion
Radio (ad sales): $21.3 Billion
DVD/Home Video: $24.3 Billion
And Finally…
Books: $35.69 Billion
Suck it, The Future.
(sources: MPAA, RIAA, BISG, EMA, RAB)
MiTB Forum Day
April 21, 2008Welcome to the Monday after 4/20, which, in the Entertainment industry is like the day after Bastille Day in France – so I’m not planning on getting much done. You’re all a bunch of fucking hippies.
So I’m going to pose a question, and the four of you can discuss:
The Guardian reported that 58% of music is stolen via swarm in the US. Duh; so since everyone is just-as or more-broke than they used to be:
What are people spending their money on these days, if not Music?
I say porkbeilies, but then, I’m bat-shit insane.
Hilarious Video Post
April 17, 2008Everyone wants to make some money on the Internet – but it’s so confusing! It’s such a big, scary place, but companies know they have to get in on that shit. It’s the future, right? So who’s going to help these poor, mega-retailers who are gung-ho to lose their panties on the Internet?
Sure you could start a company like ForSee Results and land million-dollar contracts to tell companies like Danskin that their sales will increase if people can change the color of the leotard picture – but that’s only going to last so long.
Eventually some Intern at Danskin is going to speak up and say, “hey, I’ll tell you obvious shit all day for $200,” and all the technometephorical-pun-company-names in the world aren’t going to keep you in business.
To emphasize the hilarity; the patent-pending MiTB context swap:
Let’s say you’re walking around town, hangin’ out and you think, “I could be doing this walking around town thing a little better … but geezo if I don’t know what I’m doing wrong!”
Just then you spot my little cardboard stand. I’ve crossed out “Lemonade” and written, “Advice.” Okay, to be more accurate of an example, I’ve written, “WalkLightenment,” and I’ve painted everything up reeeeeeal pretty like, and there are some blinking lights, and gourmet coffee by my waiting-bucket.
You approach WalkLightenment LLC and ask me how you can walk around town better. I say, “well, we’ll get to that – but first let me explain my process.”
“We’ll walk around town together, and I’ll ask everyone we see what they think would improve your experience, then I’ll record all the opinions …”
You stop me and ask, “wait, can’t I walk around town and ask people myself?”
“You haven’t let me finish! I then place those results into a very complex algorithm, and return to you with real-life advice, or En-Walk-Vice as we like to call it.”
“You had me at Complex Algorithm,” you say, “how much is this gonna run me?”
“$80,000, and it should take about 20 minutes.”
We go through the process, walking around, asking people, submitting results to complex algorithms and analysis and I proudly present to you my findings:
WalkLightenment LLC
OFFICIAL REPORT
- Tie your shoes
Panic at the Identity Theft
April 16, 2008Today Yahoo’s tech-news section was headed by a huge “news item (which really means advertisement) about Identity Theft

Local FOX networks all over the country are Ex-Ex-Ex-EXPOSING IDENTIY THEFT, and there were even commercials during the Superbowl to help you avoid the horrors of Identity Theft. That’s right, people are capitalizing “Identity Theft.”
MiTB Guideline #130: If someone made up a new word/phrase to describe it, and then capitalized said word/phrase, it’s probably just as ridiculous as God.
Obviously, something that is so terribly terrifying as to warrant capitalization, also warrants a few hundred start-up dot-coms to protect you from it while you spend money at other start-up dot-coms
Google is choked with paid and unpaid links to these wonderful, helpful little companies … even companies that are going to help you select an Identity Theft company, which is extra helpful

Unfortunately I choked on them as well when trying to find actual statistics about this Identity Theft. Following Guideline #130, I assumed that much like Terrorism, Gun Violence and Global Warming, this is a simple case of general panic and “Julies” from Minnesota blaming the subscription to roundandbrown.com on a thief instead of their husband.
After weeding through the countless websites offering valuable statistics about “every 28 minutes someone’s identity is stolen … so, um… for $19.95 each month we’ll protect you from that,” I found a page with some actual numbers.
Sho ’nuff (Source: ePaynews.com)
So according to the numbers, only %15 of online credit card fraud, is from credit cards that are stolen online. The vast majority of fraud is committed the old fashioned way: you got drunk and left your card in the bar, toilet or stripper.
If you never considered hiring someone to follow you around and slap you every time you said, “this round of PatrĂ³n is on me … and you can keep it open,” then you don’t need an Identity Theft company, no matter how hard they capitalize it.
I wonder if the king of these Lightning Rod Salesmen, that dude who put his Social Security number up during the Super Bowl, is going to be pissed when he realizes that he paid my Taxes this year.
Weblation: why you’re only an idiot if someone isn’t (anyone).
April 14, 2008When Buzznet bought Stereogum, everyone was mostly concerned with the fact that Buzznet is funded by Universal (through Interscope) and how that was going to influence their editorial content. Honestly though, do you really care? You’re getting your information from the Internet; this isn’t exactly the New England Journal of Medicine.
What you really should of thought was, “did they just buy a blog?” If you read that aloud, it should sound a little funny – because it is. Buzznet, however, in their apparent mission to crack my shit up, was not going to be content with a little funny. Now, they’ve purchased another blog from a blogger who has previously blogged about how no one should ever buy blogs.
Me: “That’s pretty hilarious”
Buzznet: “Wait … we’ve not yet begun to retarded.”
From an email by Gawker editor Nick Denton, leaked by Gawker
Music audiences are fragmented across genres; Maura’s Idolator gave Stereogum a good run, but a group with a whole array of music sites will command more attention from record labels than we could.
Meaning, as a grande finale, Buzznet has purchased a failing blog, from a blogger, who writes about not buying blogs, who believes they will turn it around by selling advertising to record labels …
who are buying blogs.
UK officially more gullible than US
April 9, 2008Variety Reports that Online Ad dollars will overtake television in the United Kingdom by 2009.
Everyone sure is doing a lot of research on how much money advertisers are spending online, but where is the research about the return on that investment?
That’s right, Internet, I question your validity. I say you are not the future despite your name being irrationally capitalized not unlike God. There is, however, a creepy similarity to the mass-blind-faith in the Internet to religion.
Someone with a PhD should write a paper.
I told you so, and other stuff
April 4, 2008First, Google AdWords is on the decline. They’ve posted a revenue decline of %3 for February and are expecting another dip in March. For those of you who don’t think %3 sounds like all that much of a dip, remember that we’re talking about Billions of dollars here. Three percent for Google is the equivalent of two Detroits and a Nabisco. The problem is, and it’s one that I whine about often, that the only Google who makes money is Google. The advertisers almost make money. Sure, there are a few exceptions, few enough for Google to include them in their TV commercials, but
Twiddy may not be the average AdWords user, however. A sale to Twiddy is worth tens of thousands of dollars, maybe more if he can get a repeat vacation home renter. He’s not that sensitive to the cost per potential customer. That’s not necessarily the case for someone selling lower-margin items such as $10 vinyl records or a $20 book. – Newsweek
No Google, it’s not the same.
The Music Industry comes up with a plan to legalize P2P.
Spearheaded by Warner Music Group, the plan aims to get internet service providers to pay a few dollars per user per month into a fund that would then be divided among rights holders. – Wired
Well, it certainly is an idea? Until now the whiney masses have been pointing their blame sticks solely at the music industry for being the evil king on top of the mountain, while they sign their $100/month check to Comcast, or AT&T. Whine about whatever you want, but the fact of the matter is that these pipes are owned by about three dudes.We can theorize all day about who’s fucking who but those three dudes suckling at the teet of all of your moms. They’re making money off of P2P, they’re making money off of Pirated films, they’re making money off of Legal films and music, they’re making money off your stupid blog. They get paid for all the shitty content that you make for free on the Internet, and they’re getting a check for every episode of LOST.
It’s about time someone pointed the finger at them. Essentially, this program would work like ASCAP or BMI does for radio and TV. If you write a song, and it’s played on the radio, it’s recognized that Mr. Radio Station is making money because of the content you created, and they pay a fee for that. All the fees are collected by the rights associations and distributed to the appropriate creators. In this case, replace “play” with “download” and “Mr. Radio Station” with “Fucktwat ISP.”
This sounds like the most logical idea to date, but it’s still crap. Rights organizations work for TV and Radio because they’re “pushed” mediums. So, if your song is played, it’s played by someone for everyone. One decision, many listeners. The problem with this idea, is The Problem; on this blog, the Internet is always The Problem. If this deal goes through, a few simple lines of applescript later, I’m the #1 download in the country. Suck it, Sir Elton John … that ASCAP check is alllll mine.
Moving on, Michigan wants Film Industry … I told you so.
Oh and, SKA 4th wave 2008 … I told you so.
Someday I’m going to turn this uncanny knowledge of the future into arranging the purchase of a fancy automobile of some sort. In the meantime, I’ll predict for free on the Internet.
Posted by c007km 