news

Must Read: Digital Comics Roundup

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The gang at Comic Book Resources put together this fantastic roundup of the state of digital comics.  Go read it anyway or I'll make you watch "The Last Airbender."  For those who did, or are undeterred by my threats, big takeaways:

  • iAuthor has a LOT of people thinking about comics on the iBookstore.  Pay attention to this, it could shift the battleground over digital publishing.
  • Graphic.ly is going to do self-publishing.
  • Pay attention to Robot Media.  They seem to be expanding a lot.

– Steven Savage

Nitendo To Launch Own Network

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Well, it finally happened – Nintendo is doing its own network.  Not clear if it's in time for the Wii U launch or what, but a welcome addition to the company.  Well, in short, it's a needed one.

Of course details seem scarce, but let's be honest – Nintendo has to do this to keep up.  It's not something new, it's something they have no choice but to do.

Now a few things:

  • Is this going to be a minimal-network or are they going to do anything different with it?  Nintendo's "do different" ability has served them well in the past (you think we'd have Kinect without the Wii?).  They may leave people unimpressed or suddenly have competitors scrambling to keep up.
  • They may use this to steal the thunder of competitors.  Watch when the announcements occur.
  • How much is made – and how much has to be built.  There may be job opportunities here.
  • How do you get things distributed between this new network?  Developers should keep up on this.

– Steven Savage

 

 

If You Want To Know Why News Is Dying, Here’s Why

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The New York times want's readers feedback on if it should challenge "facts" stated by politicians and the like.

Yes, basically it's "should we still be stenographers with some separate fact checking" versus "should we report when people are lying."  The comments are RICHLY satisfying.

And if you wondered why some news is dying and much of the rest of it (at least in the US) is utter crap, let me show this as an example.  It's stenography.  Just writing stuff down, occasionally with fake "balance" so you don't annoy people and end up in a storm of false publicity – as opposed to actually doing news (and enjoying the fact controversy might bring subscriptions).

Hell, there's a magazine basically making itself out of user generated content.

When we discuss journalism -or any form of media – our ideas of it are often calcified, years out of date, etc.  When we deal with the culture behind media and information, sometimes it's its own little clique, now ignorant of the world or even it's role in it.

This is where the internet has seriously changed things.  Among the B.S., gated mental communities, porn, and ads is the ability to communicate and get things out more than anyone could imagine.  This is not just challenging the status quo – it's making people aware there is one.

I gave up on "mainstream" news years ago.  Now with a mix of aggregators, sites, blogs, and other resources I keep up on things.  This guy here is one of the examples of why I easily made that move.

I think there's a future for smarter, more truthful, more hard-hitting, and more useful news.  If anyone will deliver it is the question -and who is capable of thinking out of their comfortable little boxes and doing it.

Maybe it's you.

– Steven Savage