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Hot on the heels of my MiniRant(tm) about the Internet and empowering Joe User, I have just discovered Flash Mobs. The very embodiment of spontaneous and overwhelming group action powered by the ‘net, these things sound like a lot of fun.

The idea is that someone suggests a crazy thing for a crowd to do (usually on their ‘blog). Then, a whole bunch of people appear at the agreed time and place and just _do_ it. For example (from cheesebikini.com):

A flash mob went down today in Rome, as an estimated 100 to 300 people flooded a books and music megastore. They asked employees for nonexistent books. They broke into a round of spontaneous applause. Then they dispersed.

The ‘net rules. For more tasty Flash Mob action, check out Satan’s Laundromat.

I really hope this is the start of something big.

If you think Linux geeks make too much of a big deal over what operating system people use, this article might change your mind. It manages to weave together cross-media ownership, spectrum licensing, Linux and the Internet in a way that is not just cohesive, but frightening.

The author doesn’t say much that is new to the tech community, but draws together a number of separate threads that have a powerful cumulative effect. Since the dot-com crunch it has become all-too-easy to forget the potential we once saw in the ‘net, as a totally free and open marketplace of ideas, products and raw information, with all the power concentrated at the edges, in the hands of the general public. Anyone could make a server, plug it in, and run their own online store.

Recent moves by the major media players, who have blindly swallowed most of the information ecosystem in the US, indicate that they are gradually shifting the tide back to the one-way-pipe days of TV and radio. At the same time, they are attempting to return copyright law to something like that of the medieval Stationers’ Company, which for a time controlled almost all printing and copyrights in England. They seem to have conveniently turned their backs on the very laws and free market that spawned them in the first place.

Linux is mentioned mostly as a positive result of the new, empowering, Internet-driven market place, even while SCO tries to drive back its adoption through patents and contracts for technologies that it never developed, and in all likelihood doesn’t truly own. It is a striking example of the clash between the the ‘net as a level playing field, and the relatively new notion of “Intellectual Property”, as practised by traditional companies attempting to stem the new wave of openness. To an extent, I sympathise with companies like SCO - they’ve had their business model whipped out from under them. However, in the long run, I strongly believe projects such as Linux will be of benefit to the IT industry and society as a whole, by providing a ubiquitous set of basic services on top of which applications can be built, without restricting use to those with the cash to pay for commercial equivalents - provided the ‘net stays free enough for development to continue.

Anyway, you should read it if you care about keeping the ‘net free

I’m a nerd.

No, I’m not sure you understand. I’m a truly massive nerd.

This is why when I read that IBM has written some office applications (i.e. Word Processor, Spreadsheet etc) using only cross-platform DHTML, I fell off my chair crying with laughter.

Check it out: The future, as seen from 1996. Try that with Netscape Gold 3.0.

CD Baby is an awesome site dedicated to profiting from unfortunate stoners helping independant artists distribute their music. They have a surprisingly simple but effective business model:

• Pay them $40 (US) to encode your CD (artists keep all copyrights, rights to non-digital distribution, and can leave at any time with 30 days notice)
• They distribute it to Rhapsody, iTunes, and other digital distribution outlets
• For every dollar made, 9c goes to CDBaby, 91c goes to the artist
• Profit!

I’m sure there are caveats and catches, but it still sounds a lot better than the traditional model:

• Get signed by music label
• They distribute CD, all expenses incurred are culled from any royalties you make
• Artists don’t actually own their own music, copyrights, or distribution rights - these go to the label
• Artists get a couple of cents in the dollar, but are left with crippling debts
• Label goons tie up artists’ grandmothers and slowly break their fingers to blackmail artists back into the studio
• Artists die alcoholic and alone

My plan for goldsounds.com was always to turn it into a music site, so don’t be surprised if you see a CD-baby-ish business model appear. I like it a lot.

In a recent post, Matt’s blog wisely pointed us to the Bulwer-Lytton Awards, granted to the most “impressive” openings to imaginary novels. I loved this one:

Colin grabbed the switchgear and slammed the spritely Vauxhall Vixen into a lower gear as he screamed through the roundabout heading toward the familiar pink rowhouse in Puking-On-The-Wold, his mind filled with the image of his comely Olive, dressed in some lacy underthing, waiting on the couch with only a smile and a cucumber sandwich, hoping that his lunch hour would provide sufficient time for both a naughty little romp and a digestive biscuit.

It reminds me of everything my Dad would love in a novel. If he ever read them.