Wednesday, December 1, 2004
CANADIAN INFLUENCEHere's something the Canadian government might want to try: put pressure on Cuba to release the 24 journalists and writers who have been in prison there for more than a year. Apparently, Spanish interest in Cuba was responsible for this week's release of writer Raul Rivero. According to an AP report published in today's Vancouver Sun:
Internationally renowned dissident writer Raul Rivero was unexpectedly freed from prison Tuesday, the latest in a wave of surprise releases after a new warming of relations with Spain. The freeing of Rivero and four other political prisoners in two days appears aimed at showing Spain's new socialist government that Fidel Castro's communist regime is willing to clean up its human rights record to help thaw its icy relations with the rest of Europe. Canada is important to Cuba. According to a fairly recent report from the Canadian embassy in Cuba:
Cuba acquired a new importance for Canadian investors and exporters in the 1990s, encouraged by the approval of Cuba's new foreign investment law. Canadian firms became the second largest source of foreign investment in Cuba.... Today, 80% of Cuba's exports to Canada consist of nickel and cobalt for refining at the Fort Saskatchewan plant. Sherritt International went on to play a key role with the Ministry of Basic Industries in developing Cuba's unexploited oil and gas reserves along the north coast of Havana and Matanzas provinces.... Today, tourism is the greatest single source of financial flows between Canada and Cuba.... In 2003, more than 400,000 Canadians are expected to visit the island — making Canada the most important country of origin for tourists to Cuba. This huge flow of tourists also attracts a wide range of Canadian businesses interested in selling their products to Cuban buyers.
Given the importance of investment and tourist spending by Canadians, surely our government can join Spain and others in convincing Cuba that it's in its best interest to release the journalists and unclench the iron fist of government control over the media. |
...AND WE'RE LIVE
Canada now has the iTunes Music Store, which is only big news to (1) Apple users who (2) are willing to pay 99 cents a song to download music legally. It went live sometime this evening while I was out eating sushi and I can't help think I made it happen by going online and purchasing an iPod this afternoon. If I'd known that's what they were waiting for, I'd have bought it earlier. |
NOW BLOGGING: MICROSOFT USERSMicrosoft has unleashed a free consumer blogging service, as it tries to keep up with Google (which purchased Blogger earlier this year), in the battle for the desktop. According to the Wall Street Journal (paid subscription):
Called MSN Spaces, the service will allow consumers to create Web logs, or blogs, that include pictures, music and text....The Microsoft service is aimed at those mainstream consumers. MSN Spaces lets users set up a personal Web site that can be shared with either a limited list of contacts or the general public. The service has tools for publishing online journals with links to other Web sites and to photos. Users of the service will be allowed to post as much as 10 megabytes of digital images -- the equivalent of as many as 250 photos -- to their MSN Spaces site. Personally, I don't think the world needs a Microsoft blogging platform. Given its domination over the computer screen, it's a threat to a number of new services being offered by companies like Flick'r. Then again, Microsoft is following a familiar path here: don't innovate, jump all over a trend and try to use your size difference and the ubiquity of your brand to seize the biggest piece of the market. No links in this post. It seems unfair to readers to link to a paid subscription site like WSJ, given that readers can't access the content. And given the sentiments above, you can figure out why there's no link to Microsoft. Is that a little juvenile and petty? Yeah, but it's my blog. UPDATE: A post by Staci at Paid Content on the new MSN blogging service points out the blogs tie in with MSN's mail and instant messaging services. Staci writes:
Translated that means making MSN as sticky as possible so users spend most of their online time there and bring others with them. This goes far beyond the portal concept; Microsft doesn't want you to use MSN as a gateway -- it wants you to live there. 6:25:04 PM LINK TO THIS POST |
AND THE WORLD SOBBEDOne more sign the world is a strange, strange place: spam sushi.
SOURCE: OTTMAR LIEBERT |
NEW SEARCH TOOLSinging Fish is a new internet search tool that'll help you track down legal audio and video. You can restrict your searches by format and categories. Search results offer direct links to playable content, list format and give you the length of the individual items.
I did test searches for singers Marisa Monte and Daniela Mercury, which brought up links to the short song samples you find at online CD stores, QuickTime music videos and radio interviews. |
FROZEN APPLESNovember has passed without the iTunes Music Store coming to life in Canada, despite Steve Job's October announcement. A brief report at Macworld:
Apple Computer Inc. confirmed for MacCentral on Wednesday that the Canadian iTunes Music Store has been delayed. Company representatives declined to comment on a specific timeframe for the store, but said in a statement that it would be very soon. There was no indication from Apple on what caused the Canadian iTunes Music Store not to open as scheduled. It seems unlikely the problem is a technical one, leading to the suspicion that it's Canadian music right holders that are causing the delay. UPDATE: According to one source (sorry, I was surfing too fast and can't source this), it's not a rights issue. The report said an agreement between Apple and the Canadian Musical Rights Reproduction Associatio has been signed, although details haven't been announced. If so, the delay doesn't make much sense. What's up, Apple? And, an Apple of a different sort: fans of the angst-driven singer/songwriter Fiona Apple have launched an internet- and mail-based campaign to convince Sony to release her third album, which was recorded in 2003 but never released. The campaign involves a mass mailing of:
...a fake apple, a real apple, a photo OF an apple, a piece of paper with an apple sticker, a sketch of an apple, even an apple pie — be creative! — to Andy Lack at Sony with a note attached. You can write a real letter or just scribble "Free Fiona!" on the envelope — whatever you want. 11:37:17 AM LINK TO THIS POST |
GIVE 'EM WHAT THEY WANTIn the mid-1980s, a lot of newspapers came down with bad cases of focus-groupitis, relying on some of the tools used to market soup and new toys to try and decide what they should be. (The focus group likes entertainment stories? Let's give 'em gossip on the front page.) OnlineJournalism.com reports on a 21st century version:
A newspaper in Chile decides what stories to print by observing the number of clicks they get online, reports The Christian Science Monitor. The newspaper, Las Ultimas Noticias (The Latest News), has become Chile's most widely read. If a story gets only a few clicks, it's considered dead. It could be argued this is a good way to deal with the flood of information out there. If a newspaper is going to whittle the flood down to a manageable stream, putting the readers in charge is an efficient way to do it.
It could also be argued that putting the readers in charge risks a further descent into the trivial. Consider today's most-viewed stories list at Yahoo: number one is the failure of a royal marriage in Bahrain and number three is the Ken Jennings' loss on Jeopardy. (Number two is actual hard news — the Iraqi president's support for elections in January.) |
Last update: 12/26/04; 7:03:25 AM .
