AlwaysOn OnMedia has a series of short pitches by new companies. I came in on Vringo.com, which plays a clip of your choice when you ring someone. The Vringo guy shows a clip of the people dancing to “Shout” in “The Wedding Crashers” and of the “Whaaaaaatzup?” Bud commercial. It thus seems to be an attempt to make cellphones even more annoying.

Voodoo Vox “is pioneering a breakthrough advertising channel: In-call advertising.” [Uh-oh] They have a clickthrough rate of 14%. “Monetizing phone calls for a diverse network of high call volume industries”: Radio/TV stations, directory asistance, call centers, VOIP telcos, etc. Their site says they create “interactive audio ads dynamically inserted into appropriate spots in various types of telephone calls.” [What exactly is an appropriate spot in a call to insert an ad? I'd say it's 5 seconds after I've hung up.] Their ads auto-target particular demographics. He concludes: “If you have a phone call, I can monetize today.” (Surprisingly, the firm is in North Adams, Mass., home of Ethan Zuckermans ’round the world.)

Now a panel reviews the presentations. [Tags: onmedia07 alwayson media marketing advertising ]

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AlwaysOn OnMedia is a well-run affair with great coffee, fresh fruit, and men wearing actual suits. We’re sitting in a large room in the Mandarin Oriental, a hotel so hoity-toity that its lobby consists of a person who greets you and shows you to the elevators. I feel a bit like an anthropologist here, although I do recognize some friendly faces I’m looking forward to re-connecting with.

The conference is about monetizing communications. I like money and I like it when Net companies make lots of it. It’s not my native idiom, but I have a phrase book that covers the most important areas (”Good morning/afternoon/evening. I am looking for an angel,” and “May I monetize that for you?”).

You can watch the webstream here, which is a nice service. (I’m on a panel at the end about PR on the Web. ) [Tags: onmedia07 alwayson media ]

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Siderean, a faceted classification company, has announced a patent for what it calls “relational navigation.”

Faceted classification lets a user browse a field in typical hierarchical fashion—like navigating through the nested folders on your desktop—except the hierarchy is created dynamically as the user decides which property matters to her now. So, instead of having a fixed taxonomy that first divides all books into fiction and non-fiction, and then subdivides them by language and then by year, with a faceted classification, a user might decide first to find all the works written in the 19th century, then drill down to the non-fiction, etc. It has taxonomy’s virtue of guiding navigation without its vice of having to present the user with one and only one path through the taxonomy.

Faceted classification and taxonomies both work by showing the user narrower and narrower results . That’s often what we want, but in this crazy world, we may also want to leap off the branch we’ve walked onto. Siderean’s relational nav shows context from branches outside of the path you’ve walked. Siderean refers to this as the ability to “pivot,” as in a database pivot.

Techniques that let us play with the dialectic between narrowing our focus and expanding it—searching and discovering—are all to the good. The faceted classification industry overall is up to important and exciting stuff. [Tags: everything_is_miscellaneous taxonomy faceted_classification facets siderean ]

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I’ve been using Kaspersky Anti-Hacker as my firewall primarily because it stays out of my way just enough.

But I just did some semi-controlled experiments trying to figure out why I’m getting less than a quarter the bandwidth I’m paying for (using my ISP’s bandwidth speed test, which is consistent with DSLReports’s). I’ve tried lots of variables, but the biggest one so far is Kaspersky. If I have it set to Medium strictness, I get a third of my rated speed. If I set it to allow all (i.e., sort of off), the volume of bits almost doubles. If I go to Settings and turn the Intrusion Detection System to off, it goes up another third, getting me close to half the bandwidth I’m paying for.

In Safe Mode — yes, it’s XP — I get 66-75% of my rated bandwidth. So I’m continue to cycle through lots of the other programs that get loaded when I start up—putting them back in one by one and restarting. But, it’s in an inexact process since my ISP doesn’t deliver a steady stream of bits to me under the best of circumstances.

By the way, you know what’s a pain in the ass? Cycling through lots of the other programs that get loaded when I start up—putting them back in one by one and restarting.

Do other firewalls reduce bandwidth less? [Tags: firewalls bandwidth kaspersky]

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[NOTE: There are no plot spoilers in what follows, although I do talk about the general balance of the elements of the movie. I also assume you know the movie's basic premise, as explained in any capsule review of it.]

Pan’s Labyrinth wasn’t simply not as good as I’d expected. I actually think it’s not good. Put differently: It’s a bad movie. In my opinion.

From the reviews and promotional interviews, I expected it to have two threads that reflect on one another: a story about the Spanish Civil War and a girl’s escape into a fairy tale world. In fact, this is a war story with a few occasional and relatively brief fantasy interludes. Neither story is worth watching.

The war story is hideously violent. Disgustingly even sadistically violent. But so is war, so this might be appropriate, except that the war story is also hideously cliched and shallow. The bad guy is one-dimensional. The brave freedom fighters manage to be even less than that. They are The Brave Hero, The Feisty Heroine, The Guy Who Stutters, The Rest of the Guys. The ending is very movie-ish. If the war story were shown without the fantasy elements, it’d be laughed out of town (except for the parts where audience is gagging).

The fantasy segments are, frankly, not all that original or interesting either. The characters are stock, which I’m sure is the point since they come from the imagination of an eleven-year-old. (There is one baddy who does something cool with eyeballs, although it will be familiar to kids who watched Nickelodeon’s Real Monsters cartoons.) But that doesn’t make it any better for the audience. If the fantasy segments were shown without the war story, they’d make a not all that arresting short subject. (The girl, Ivana Baquero, is a fabulous actor, though.)

Ah, but these two stories are intertwined, you say. They reflect on one another. The girl’s escape into fantasy is oh-so-poignant because of the violence of the world around her. The violence breaks through our softening of it via stories. That’s the theory, anyway. But it didn’t work for me. The fantasy didn’t intensify, illuminate or condition the war story. The war story was so cartoon-y already that the fantasy couldn’t touch it.

My wife and son both really liked it. It got an almost unprecedented 96% positives at RottenTomatoes . So, I’m probably wrong. But, heck, that’s what we have blogs for: To be wrong in public. [Tags: pan's_labyrinth movies reviews]

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MetaGlossary is a definition aggregator that scrapes online glossaries and other sources. It’s got about 2,000,000 English words and phrases, and is particular useful when the words are new or you’re looking for a phrase. (Try “truthiness,” “alternative fuels“, “mission accomplished,” or “miserable failure.”)

Until today it’s been algorithmically driven. The new version of the beta lets anyone suggest a new or improved definition. You can also give a thumbs up or down to an existing definition.

It’s a good start. It’ll be fascinating to see what other social structures emerge. E.g., do we need to be able to edit existing definitions? A way to indicate that two definitions are good but need to be forked? More of a reputation system? It’ll be fun to watch this site… [Tags: metaglossary wikis dictionaries web2.0 everything_is_miscellaneous ]

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Inside Google Book Search writes about a mashup of digitized books and Google Maps, that plots on maps place references in books. Click and get a snippet of the text. Very cool. (Thanks for the link, RageBoy.) [Tags: libraries books everything_is_miscellaneous taxonomy maps mashups web2 ]

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Steven Levy is looking for suggestions for the best tech writing—on dead trees or blogs—of 2006 for an anthology he’s editing called “Lesbian Blood Vampires from Mars.” (Just kidding. It’s called Best Technology Writing.) Here’s where you send your nominations.

I have a terrible time coming up with lists. Asked a question such as “What was the best tech writing you read all year?” or “Quick, what are the four most influential sites on the Web” or “Name your children,” my brain freezes like I had just speed-guzzled a 48-ounce Slushie. I know I read some great tech writing this year. Damned if I can recall it. I get as far as Grumpy, Dopey and Sneezy, and then I’m out. [Tags: writing steven_levy]

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I gave Midomi a quick whirl this morning. It searches for songs based on melodies you hum to it. Fun idea, but it took me six tries before it got one right. It thought my rendition of the opening of Beethoven’s Fifth was the 59th St. Bridge song by Simon and Garfunkel, and it thought my rendition of the 59th St. Bridge Song was Oh Daddy by Fleetwood Mac. Midomi offers to play the matched portion of the song (recorded by users, which is rather charming), and in no cases were the match and the matchee recognizably the same, except presumably in some computer algorithmic sense. It did get, “Doe, a Deer” right. Unfortunately, that’s the one song whose name is embedded in its melody.

I’m no Mariah Carey, but I’m within the bell curve of normalcy for singing on key. Even so, I played the opening notes of the 59th Street song on my keyboard, with my mic laid on top of it. That apparently is Only a Dream in Rio by James Taylor. And Beethoven’s Fifth on the keyboard Midomi thinks is the melody to How Deep Is Your Love.

If I’m missing the point, I’m sure you’ll set me straight. [Tags: midomi everything_is_miscellaneous music search]

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Andy Carvin has posted the video he shot for Rocketboom of the DC antiwar rally. He managed interviews with some of the Big Names there, including Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon, Jesse Jackson, Maxine Waters, and Dennis Kucinich.

The best line I thought came from Penn: “The death tolls are binding, and we’re going to have counter that with a binding resolution.” [Tags: iraq protest rocketboom andy_carvin politics]

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Eric Scheid (in an email) notes that LinkedIn now is enabling users to pose questions to their social network. Only members can respond. They’re also limiting how many questions you can ask per month. Interestingly, you’re only allowed to give one answer to any one question. Lots of interesting results may accrue… [Tags: linkedin social_networks everything_is_miscellaneous ]

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Seb Schmoller notes a research project by Steve Graham at Durham University exploring how many institutions now routinely use software to sort customers/users/citizens. Stephen writes:

…in the UK, software now organise everything from call centre phone queues, the prioritisation (and stalling) of Internet traffic, the identification and tracking of those deemed ‘risky’ or ‘threatening’ on commercial shopping streets, people’s access to premium (electronically-tolled) areas of urban roads, the allocation of financial and insurance services, the geography of shops and bank branches, and the experience of energy markets.

His project will explore how software is being used to sort us, the social assumptions behind it, how those assumptions are embedded in the code, and the practice’s social and political implications.

Great topic.

[Tags: everything_is_miscellaneous taxonomy seb_schmoller steve_graham sociology ]

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Mitchell Baker has posted a draft of the Mozilla Manifesto. (There’s discussion of it here.) Here are the principles:

1. The Internet is an integral part of modern life — a key component in education, communication, collaboration, business, entertainment and society as a whole.2. The Internet is a global public resource that must remain open and accessible.3. The Internet should enrich the lives of individual human beings.

4. Individuals’ security on the Internet is fundamental and cannot be treated as optional.

5. Individuals must have the ability to shape their own experiences on the Internet.

6. The effectiveness of the Internet as a public resource depends upon technological interoperability, innovation and decentralized participation worldwide.7. Free and open source software promotes the development of the Internet as a public resource.8. Transparent community-based development processes promote participation, accountability, and trust.9. Commercial involvement in the development of the Internet brings many benefits; a balance between commercial goals and public benefit is critical.10. Magnifying the public benefit aspects of the Internet is an important goal, worthy of time, attention and commitment.

There isn’t a sentence in it with which I disagree. And that’s the problem. It’s not disagreeable enough. I can imagine all sorts of organizations that I think are doing harm to the Net signing onto the first five principles without even checking with marketing first. The only two that would give anyone pause are #6 and #7 (although the telcos would have to do claim that—as per #5—making international phone calls counts as “decentralized participation worldwide”). Even then, they could say they are happy to have other people doing open source work, because that’s part of the balance that #9 endorses.

So, I guess I’d be more enthusiastic about the principles if they had more bite. Name the threats to principles #1-5. Declare that its openness in process and standards should make open source software the first choice to be considered when organizations serving the public good are making software decisions. Denounce the use of software patents. I hate to be, well, disagreeable about a set of principles I agree with, produced by a group I admire and whose software I use and am grateful for every day, but imo the manifesto needs to be more than a pat on the back and a big group hug. [Tags: open_source mozilla digital_rights everything_is_miscellaneous]

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Ah comedy! What else is as truthy?

And, on a much smaller scale, here’s someone watching an AT&T repair guy through his window. [Tags: at&t stephen_colbert telecommunications ]

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Harvard Business Review’s annual list of big ideas—as well as the rest of the issue—is online for free until Feb. 26. I bat cleanup — does that mean “go last”? — with a critique of “accountabalism,” right after Clay Shirky’s defense of “Ready, Fire, Aim,” and well after Linda Stone’s “Living with Continuous Partial Attention,” and seventeen others. [Tags: hbr clay_shirky linda_stone accountability]

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Hillary announces her campaign is a conversation. But her site looks like a re-direct from www.RiskAvoidance.com. It’s the site of a front-runner thinking the goal is hers if she just doesn’t make any mistakes. Thus, her kick-off conversation (”Let the conversation begin,” as if we were waiting for her) is a TV-style interview answering safe questions with safer answers. Take her very first question: What do you say to someone who says this country isn’t ready for a woman president. Clinton’s answer: “Well, we won’t know until we try.” Whaaaa? Was it too risky to give an unabashed answer even to this question? [An hour later: Aha. I misunderstood. Clinton was answering about electability whereas I took the question to be about competency. It was still an uninspired answer, though.]

Edwards’ site is that of a challenger. It reads like a dare. Anyone can blog there, and the conversation on the site shows it. In last night’s webcast, Edwards seemed so intent on proving that it was unscripted that it wouldn’t have surprised me if he had turned on a sports broadcast to show it was live. And you could see the moment of resolve when he would decide to extend a satisfactory answer onto riskier ground. The devilish little angel on his shoulder kept whispering, “Go for it, John. Sin boldly!”

If Edwards becomes the front-runner and then the nominee, every sane political advisor and every seasoned campaign veteran on his staff will insist that he flick that angel away. Lock in the message, lock down the site. “You’re ahead, John. Nothing between you and the White House but a gaffe.” And the moment a candidate hears the grinding of the infernal machinery in those tempting voices will be an inflection point.

This isn’t about campaign techniques. It’s about democracy, because when a candidate controls her campaign, that means she in fact is being controlled. One coin, two sides. To control is to be controlled. The need to be timid in one’s views, to vette every comment, to make only tested jokes, to say nothing that will diminish the flow of cash, all these enslave the candidate. These forces can turn an outspoken Vietnam war hero into a tight-lipped, humorless, mealy-mouthed tree stump. Really, it can.

But democracy is about how a brawling nation of passionate, outspoken citizens can nevertheless live together. There are lots of ways a citizenry in disagreement can come to governance, including monarchies and tyrannies. What makes democracy different isn’t that it achieves governance but it does so while enabling and encouraging the diversity of thought, behavior and speech.

We all believe that, but you wouldn’t know that from how we run our political campaigns. They’re better models of TV production than of democracy in action. And they will be until a campaign like Edwards’ can move all the way to victory without surrendering to the anti-democratic, fear-based temptation of control.

Before you ask, why do I refer to Sen. Clinton by her first name but to Sen. Edwards by his last? Because “Clinton” is ambiguous in a way that “Edwards” is not.

[Tags: politics john_edwards hillary_clinton john_kerry e-democracy media ]

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I’m watching the John Edwards webcast in which he’s taking questions about the State of the Union address, and I’m liking it a lot. [The following is a choppy account. Sorry.]

He begins by saying that the State of the Union and the media coverage of it was all about theater. We have to get past that, he says. Nor can we can’t look to the president to solve our problems. We the people have to do it. Bottom up.

He immediately talks about our moral obligation as a country. First on the list: Dafur.

Every American should have health care, he says. Universal health care. Period. (Go, JE!) We should build on the existing system, he says, but everyone ought to have it.

It is clear that in this opening statement, he’s speaking from the heart. And the “production values” promote this: It’s him in front of an exposed brick wall, answering questions read by a young woman at a bare table and a Mac.

Congress ought not fund the escalation, he says. “We cannot send 20,000 more men and women into this crossfire.” We shouldn’t treat this as a political question, he says, but as matter of doing the right, moral thing.

The fact that the Sunnis have been locked out of the government is the most powerful foundation of the violence there, he says. The McCain doctrine