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July 21, 2009
Snart bryllup!
Nevnte jeg forresten at jeg er forlover? Og at jeg tenker på det hele tiden?
To av mine favorittpersoner gifter seg lørdag 25. juli! Det innebærer at dette innlegget er en pause i taleskriving, gavekjøping, kjoleprøving og pakkelistetenking.
Illustrasjon: Bill Frazzetto, Creative Commons
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Sitater fra norske blogger
"(N)år ble døde trær en forutsetning for kvalitetsjournalistikk? (...L)ike lite som man klandrer trykkerier når aviser bryter god presseskikk, kan man bebreide teknologiske plattformer for innhold publisert av brukerne," skriver Vampus i kronikken "Må papiravisene dø?". Den ble opprinnelig trykket i "Dagens Næringsliv (som vel strengt tatt er "gårsdagens" næringsliv i all den tid den er en papiravis)"
"Så hvor ble alle de kule av? Hvorfor møter jeg bare folk som forteller at de på ingen måte var hverken pene eller populære i skoletiden?" spør Frøken Makeløs i innlegget "Hvor ble det av alle de kule?" Og jeg lurer på om jeg har noen kule lesere. Jeg dropper nemlig barneskolereunion til fordel for bryllupsplanlegging med mine faktiske venner i år. Dermed mister jeg en god mulighet til å drive egen research på dette spørsmålet. Hjelp?
"Om jeg noen gang gifter meg og det skal arrangeres utdrikkingslag, vil jeg (også) hentes av Jon Almås og bli sunget for av Kåre Conradi." Det ønsker Heidi Karethe når hun skriver "ja! jeg vil danse med deg!" Godt forslag Heidi. Husk det alle sammen. Jeg arrangerte utdrikningslag for to helger siden, men jeg hentet bruden selv. Jeg håper hun synes det var greit.
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July 19, 2009
Music
Live cover of "New Slang". The original is by The Shins. This version is with Cass Lowe among others.
I got a little nervous when I noticed they were going to sample a Coldplay song towards the end, but "Don't Panic" is one of the few Coldplay songs I can deal with. Cause we live in a beautiful world...
This is the only official music video I could find by Vienna Teng on YouTube, but there are plenty of live performances. I think I read somewhere that she considers "Gravity" to be "her pop song."
I discovered Vienna Teng through Pandora, back in the good old days. One of her albums is on Spotify, and she released a new album, Inland Territory, this spring.
I mentioned God Help The Girl here, and so far, I'm not dissapointed. The album is on Spotify.
From 2:31 onwards, my white trench coat makes a new appearance. And she's wearing it with black tights and red details. I did that first! :-P
The original version of this song is by Belle & Sebastian, but I think I actually prefer the cover.
What's not to like? Norwegian music, interesting music video concept, shot in Oslo and I enjoyed seeing them live earlier this summer. And can't we all relate to that feeling of losing yourself because you're not inspired?
"I've heard about a support group... I might go. Donkeyboy is going to play."
At least part of the band is from Drammen, a city many Norwegians love to hate. But for better or worse, some of my favorite people in the world live there. And they're getting married on Saturday!!!
I know I officially have no taste when it comes to music, but that doesn't mean I can't like things.
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...
"If you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best." - Marilyn Monroe
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July 15, 2009
Oslo close-ups
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July 14, 2009
The IT news I couldn't be bothered to report on today
Today's IT news must have set some kind of boredom record. Here's what the internet had to say today.
1. Microsoft is slow
Microsoft announced that Microsoft Office is going online. I replied: "What? They haven't done that already?"
Turns out the announcement is technically old news Even if it weren't, the fact that I hadn't noticed that Microsoft Office Online didn't exist yet, proves that I don't need it, and I've been cheering for ThinkFree and Wikis for some time.
Digi reported on Microsoft's online move in Norwegian, subtly pointing out that this wasn't really sensational. Digi's Eirik Rossen writes:
"This is happening three years after Google launched Google Apps, a year and a half after Microsoft formally revealed a more web-centered strategy, and nine months after announcing their own free web applications,"
My favorite comment was from Stephen Fry on Twitter: Citing Microsoft's "We believe the web has a lot to offer in terms of connectivity", Fry says: "Wow! So ahead of the curve, MS."
2. Some people are not on Twitter
Yesterday I learned via TechCrunch that teenagers aren't using Twitter because it doesn't feel safe. At least, Matthew Robson's friends aren't using Twitter.
Robson, 15, wrote a "report" on teen media habits. Actually, he wrote a blog post about his own friends, but since he happens to be an intern at Morgan Stanley, we'll call this a report on teen media habits. And then we'll give it plenty of coverage in various online news sources.
I think TechDirt's take on this was the best. Under the headline "Teenager Talks About What His Friends Do Online; Media Flips Out", Michael Masnick writes:
"It certainly gives a decent view of what's happening in one kid's social circle. Nothing in it seems all that surprising. Kids communicate a lot on the internet. They don't buy music (oh yeah, he contradicts that "other" questionable study of the day that claimed streaming was replacing downloads by noting that his friends prefer to actually have the files, but don't pay for them). It's difficult to see why this is a big deal, but because Morgan Stanley put its logo on it, suddenly it's getting a ton of coverage from Bloomberg, The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Financial Times and others. It's as if none of them have ever thought to actually ask a teenager what kind of media and technology he or she uses. But the key point here is that while there are some useful insights raised by the kid (though, nothing too surprising) it's still just the anecdotal musings of one kid."
Part of the reason Robson's friends don't use Twitter is that they can't be bothered to pay for it. If these kids don't even know how to use Twitter for free, why should we listen to their thoughts on social media?
Furthermore, the most surprising thing I've read from Robson's "report" is that kids are afraid of putting their thoughts out on the web where everyone can read them. Hello? What about LiveJournal and MySpace and every other kind of blog? Does Robson's social circle think that blogs are private? You'd think a Morgan Stanley intern had smarter friends.
Don't get me wrong. It's great that someone is listening to what fifteen-year-olds really have to say, and I'm sure Robson has done an excellent job at explaining his thoughts. The saddest thing about this is the echo of Norwegian media's joy when they discovered Facebook as a source of information on kids. "Hurray! I can count the number of members of this fan group and come off as all insightful about the youth of today." Doesn't anyone talk to children anymore?
3. Internet addiction cannot be cured by electric shock therapy
Yes. Someone actually thought it could be.
Of course, there is a story here. It's about abuse, censorship and horrific maltreatment. But putting that aside (cringing inwardly, but even so) and thinking about the IT angle of this, I'm not really buying the obsession with internet addiction at all.
Last month, Norwegian researcher Petter Bae Brandtzæg concluded that 1 per cent of Norway's internet users suffer from internet addiction. (And yes, that time my magazine mentioned it, but we only quoted the Norwegian version of Reuters/AP)
Back to the story: The reason Brandtzæg knew these people were addicted, was because they spent more than five hours using social media per day. I'll admit I'm not an expert on addiction, but I didn't think that it was diagnosed simply by determining how much the patient is exposed to what he or she is possibly addicted to. Correct me if I'm wrong, but whether or not you're an alcoholic isn't a question of how much you drink, but why you drink and how you feel if you don't.
My job is to be online, so I feel I'm speaking with some authority here: Having a Twitter tab open in your browser for hours at a time doesn't qualify for being in need of medical assistance. But on a more fundamental level: an unhealthy habit is not a disease. Having some kind of problem does not necessarily make you sick. I'm not addicted to eating more potato chips than I should, forgetting to water my plants or buying stuff I don't need. It just happens sometimes. I don't expect anyone to cure me.
And if you think I'm being unnecessarily harsh here, think of it this way: I'm willing to take responsibility for my own constant Twitter-refreshing, in the hope that the authorities will have time to help out with peoples' real (but similarly vague) disorders like chronic fatigue, depression and phobias.
P.S. Italian bloggers are on strike today
I'm obviously sympathetic to bloggers, and I'm obviously against internet censorship. But if someone tells you to shut up, don't respond by shutting up.
I'm working full time at Teknisk Ukeblad this summer, where I write and publish technology news. But it has to be real news.
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