duncanriley.com

Author: admin

  • Perez to be a test case for Bloggers

    TMZ.com reports on news that Mario Lavandeira, aka Perez Hilton is being sued by a Hollywood photo agency for $7.5m US for copyright infringement. (I believe I read elsewhere the agency was X17).

    Admittedly Perez goes a lot further than other blogs in posting pictures taken from elsewhere, however the case could present a chilling effect moment for bloggers who use photographs from other sites under fairuse if Perez loses. Indeed, success could result in a raft of similar lawsuits against blogs and blog networks who use photographs in a similar way. One to watch.

  • The page view is safe for now

    Steve Rubel writes that the Page View is on it’s last legs, because Ajax and DHTML markup will mean that visitors to a page will no longer necessarily call a page from the server. I don’t agree. Sure, with my Web 2.0 cheer squad hat on, I get and support the idea of attention, however with my marketing trained hat on, as much as attention and not needing to load a page to view more is the future, it also lacks one critical feature: metrics. How do you start measuring attention? with page views you’ve got a tangible, a fairly universally accepted metric to use when selling inventory, or vice versa when you’re buying inventory. Page views won’t die until such time someone comes up with a universally acceptable way of measuring attention. If time the equation? possibly, and I guess one day we’ll see. Personally, despite what the Web 2.0 cheer squad might say, I’m don’t think that time is anywhere in the next year or 2.

  • Australia’s Funniest Home Videos: Glen Milne attacks Stephen Mayne

    This would be hysterical, if only for the fact that Glen Milne (the chap doing the attacking) is regarded as one of Australia’s leading political journalists. I guess journalists shouldn’t hit the piss, right?

  • Don’t Digg this

    Steve Rubel reports on yet another example of Digg coming after mashup and fan sites that dare use the word “digg” in their title. You just can’t be a good Web 2.0 citizen and go around threatening to sue everyone…it just shouldn’t and doesn’t work that way. I’m just waiting till they sue a site with the word “digger” in it. We’ve got a pile of great diggers here, many of which could do a great raid on Digg’s headquarters I guess….and given that with recent reports that US spies are spying on Australian businesses and using this information to benefit American businesses, we’d be edging close to being in some sort of conflict with the Yanks anyway I’d guess. Bring it on 🙂

  • Valleywag is an eyesore!

    Zoli writes that the new version of Valleywag is an eyesore. He’s right. WTF was Nick Denton thinking? Further proof that gay stereotypes are wrong, because not all gay men have a strong sense of style and fashion…indeed, I think if Nick Denton launches any more makeovers like this the only thing people will be sending him for Christmas are guide dogs! 🙂

  • What next, and a final word on silence

    Just catching up on some 2 weeks worth of reading, strangely enough some of it about myself. A couple of people have asked “what next”, the simple answer is I don’t know at this stage. I’ve spoken to a couple of people about different things, and I’ve got as many emails to follow up on as well. Given it’s less than one month to Christmas (that’s Christmas, not the holidays ppl!…that was really annoying in the States) I’m not going to rush anything, although I might start exploring a few different ideas and things, some with others, some by myself. Not surprisingly, I won’t be doing a blog network again, not only because I’ve probably got a dose of once bitten, twice shy, but because legally I can’t…which isn’t a bad thing I think given I honestly think the boat has probably sailed there now anyway. Either way, once I do start doing some new things, I will share.

    And a final word, I’ve read some of the speculation in relation to my departure from b5media, a couple of people wanting to know more, and one person even going so far as to imply I’m a hypocrite (in as many words) given how big I am on disclosure and being upfront about things. What I will say is that there is a legal reason to my silence, and as much as I wish I could come clean and speak the truth but I can’t go into the details.

  • Does Size Matter in the global economy?

    An interesting observation I’ve made while I was away: size sometimes is different. It’s odd, but it’s the little things you notice: the fact that the toilets are full of water and are low to the ground, that 10c coins are smaller than 5c coins….and in North America a broadsheet newspaper isn’t the same size as it is in Australia. The National Post in Canada…or the NY Times for that matter are suppose to be broadsheets….but they aren’t….they’re more like tall sheets as opposed to broadsheets, they’re the same height as an Australian broadsheet (think the SMH or The Australian) but width wise their like a tabloid. Bizarre to me, but it shows the point that although we call something an Apple in one part of the world, the Apple may be different in another part of it. Does size matter? In design, is a layout that you like going to be acceptable elsewhere? From font size, line spacing…catering to the various screen widths. Food for thought.

  • Google purges porn?

    Dude, Where?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s My Porn?: SEO Blackhat Blog

    Quadszilla is reporting some serious changes in the Google algo which has resulted in porn sites being purged from the index, both in full and in part, a move that it bound to upset a lot of people in the adult blogging business as well as the mainstream side. I suppose the other question that arises is why? Is Google now censoring it’s .com page results to cater to the American Government in the same way it censors political speech on it’s .cn page to cater to the Chinese Government? Strange move, and I’m sure there will be a lot more to be said on the subject in the coming weeks.

  • Where’s the snow

    Back in Toronto again, and I can honestly say that I’ve never been colder in my life. It was 0c (32f) when I landed….and still no bloody snow, and allegedly down to -5 tonight. I’ve travelled across the world and I’ve still not seen snow, mind you at this temperature I’m entitled to it….sooooo coooold. Leaving Thursday for HK, and home Sunday. I lose a day there somewhere, but getting a little homesick now. She who must be obeyed keeps telling me how hot it is there. It got warm from the beginning of September so for the first time in a couple of years it looks like a long, hot summer. Heat/ Cold…hmmmmm…given the lovely AC I’ve got installed in my home I think I might side with the warm side :-). More soon.

  • For the want of a Caramel Tim Tam

    Sunday, Newark NJ. The US is great but I’ve had enough now, and still a week till I get home. I’m back to Toronto tomorrow and I’m not looking forward to it. Ashame really I don’t have the rest of the week in New York, you’d need that and more just to see everything. Great people, amazing place….but on the other hand it also reminds me fully the advantages of living essentially in the country as opposed to a city, commuting everywhere is a pain. Sorry again to everyone I haven’t gotten back to on email, or people expecting some more comment on things going on, travelling is like that, particularly without a laptop…now if only I could work out how to upload from the phone the pics I’ve taken. Statue of Liberty is big. Very big. Indeed, is there anything in NY that isn’t big? 🙂