If we keep monkeying with the way we treat content (blurring lines between advertising and news, cutting newshole way down, burying important yet unsexy stories, etc.) because we think the content is responsible for the lack of money made in our industry, we are dooming ourselves. I am not saying that the way we do content is perfect or doesn’t need work. I am saying that it’s possible — nay, likely — that in a better economy (that didn’t also hit at the same time as a total paradigm shift in information transmission), we would not appear to be in the throes of death. Because people would be advertising as robustly as ever, people would have extra cash to spend on internet experimentation, our space wouldn’t be shrinking and therefore making it look like we don’t have things to put into the paper, etc. etc. etc.
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Google Touts Chrome’s Speed in New Ads
Nashville Water Supply ‘Critically Low’
Nashville is still reeling from massive flooding that has leveled much of the city and surrounding areas. Today, the news from the city got worse. NPR’s Lee Hill:
City officials in Nashville say the area’s water supply is now “critically low” after a weekend storm dumped a record 13 inches of rainfall over two days.
Because of potential shortages, the city’s Metro Water Services utility urges residents to cut down on taking showers and is now directing its customers to “use water for drinking and food preparation only.”
AT&T Lowest in Customer Satisfaction; iPhone Keeping Customers From Leaving
As in previous ChangeWave surveys, Verizon remains the clear industry leader in customer satisfaction – with nearly half of Verizon’s customers (49%) saying they are Very Satisfied with their cellular service. We note that Sprint/Nextel (35%) is now second in terms of customer satisfaction, with T-Mobile (23%) and AT&T (23%) lagging well behind.
And:
AT&T’s low churn rate – despite its relatively poor Very Satisfied rating and its high percentage of dropped calls – is attributable to the huge advantage it continues to maintain as the exclusive U.S. service provider for the Apple iPhone.
FCC to Overhaul ISPs
Phone and cable companies opposed the FCC reclassifying regulation of Internet lines under Title 2 of the Communications Act, which was written for traditional phone networks and includes provisions such as rate regulations.
Internet providers fear the agency could try to impose rate controls or require them to share their networks with rivals and warned the decision could prompt them to stop investing in new Internet lines. FCC officials say Mr. Genachowski’s proposal won’t suggest that and that the agency will propose only applying some parts of Title 2 rules to Internet lines.
Mac Pro Audio Update 1.1
This update addresses an audio anomaly that some customers may hear coming from inside their Mac Pro computer when using FireWire audio devices.
I know of at least one machine doing this — hopefully this update will address it.
Cupidtino
Cupidtino, a new online date-finding service for Apple fans:
Cupidtino is a beautiful new dating site created for fans of Apple products by fans of Apple products! Why? Diehard Mac & Apple fans often have a lot in common – personalities, creative professions, a similar sense of style and aesthetics, taste, and of course a love for technology. We believe these are enough reasons for two people to meet and fall in love, and so we created the first Mac-inspired dating site to help you find other Machearts around you.
Microsoft Kin Dissapoints
The Kin wasn’t designed for early adopters of the most cutting edge hardware – that’s obvious. What it was designed to do, however, was work really well doing a couple of key tasks, most of them centered around social networking, photos and video, and some overarching concept of capturing your mobile / digital life in a whole new and easy manner. Lofty goals indeed for a product like this, and unfortunately for everyone, Microsoft misses the mark by a long shot. It’s not even close.
The Deal on H.264
Engagdet blogger Nilay Patel breaks it down:
There’s a crucial difference between “open” and “free” here. Although H.264 is an open standard, in that it was developed by a consortium of companies and anyone can make and sell an encoder or decoder, it’s not free – you’ve got to pay for a royalty fee to use it, and the rates are set by the MPEG-LA, which collects payments and distributes them to its members.
MarsEdit 3 Released
It is here, and it is stunning.
[…]
Daniel is an absurdly talented developer for the Mac, and MarsEdit 3 is a rock solid piece of software. It is one of the most-used, most-important, and most-beloved applications I own.
Indeed. I’ve used MarsEdit since I launched ForkBombr, and upgraded this morning without a second’s hesitation.
The Dark Knight
David Airey has put together a wonderful tour of the history of the Batman logo:
Pictures of Nashville Flood
The Tennessean has posted over 100 photos taken around the Nashville area of record-setting floodwater. Memphis really dodged the bullet this weekend.