August 28, 2008 by pmelcher.

As I was walking down the street in Manhattan earlier today, avoiding other busy pedestrians thinking about work, I noticed a bumper sticker I had never seen before. On a red background, it read : “Save the Mountains”.  Not sure if it was a serious one but regardless, it made me wonder. How come we haven’t seen a “save photography” or “save photographers” sticker yet. After all, the industry is  in more danger than mountains.

Here are a few reasons:

- Overcrowding : Like anything that we human beings like too much, we tend to use it and abuse it until there is nothing left. We are over fishing, over farming, over driving, and in the process, killing everything associated. Photography, thanks partially to Flickr, but also digital, is not only everywhere, but done by everyone. Boundaries between pros and amateurs are melting faster than the polar ice and everyone that use to have a job directly related to photography is in  more danger than Polar bears. It is not just photographers bearing the weight of the overcrowding of this field. Photo editors are also being laid off as magazines or newspapers are either shrinking or shutting down.   Photo agencies will soon also suffer from the saturated market and will start reducing staff as they will not be able to sustain their growth. After all, if photographers are seeing lesser commission, you can be sure that agencies are making less revenue.

- Technology : No one needs a photo editor at Flickr. Why? because Flickr edits itself. Newspapers website are shrinking down and more and more relying on wire service feeds. Just post the feed as it comes in, or automated it. Not very hard to do. No one really needs so many photographers either anymore.  Remote control cameras now cover what took a sleuch of photographers to do. And they don’t complain. Amateurs are shooting as well and can now very easily contribute. Although not yet successful, it would not be hard to see an agency entirely made up of amateurs. Heck !, you could get the Olympics, or the Conventions well covered by amateurs, if you organized yourself well. Thousands of eyes in every different position possible. Imagine the possibilities.

- Intellectualism : Some of our best publications have been taken over by over thinking. In a desperate effort to differentiate themselves from the commons, they  have been taken over either by “new” photojournalism or “new” fine art. Nouveau Photojournalism, we have spoken about. Holga happy reporters who seem happiest in images where you see the less. Nouveau Fine art has taken the opposite approach and is hyper realist. Close up images of uncooked eggs, deserted parking lots at night fall with heavy greenish tungsten light,  snapshot-looking photography with visible flash effects, anything that looks desperately real and slightly unappealing is in fashion. Both agree that if the image disturbs you in any manner, than it must be good. Especially if you think it is a bad photograph. Then, it is probably genius.

- Microsoft : It was a good world when Microsoft did not care about photography.  We were all left to build our own digital world with whatever tool we wanted. For a while, we had to deal with Adobe’s monopoly on photo editing, but that was disappearing. However, recently, The big Redmond giant has been working its way into the field. And we all know what that means. Nothing will ever be the same anymore. No need to explain more ( Corbis anyone?).

- Blogs and opinions : Everywhere and everyone has an opinion. Everyone is an expert. Everything and nothing is written about photography. It is exhausting. It is all over the place and nowhere. Someone should regulate it. For once thing, all the old farts that have been teaching photography in colleges for more than 20 years should be forced to retire and certainly not allowed to blog. They are frightening.  Anyone that has not sold or licensed images for a living should not be quoted on professional blogs because they try to take pictures in places where it is not allowed. It is pathetic. All these blogs are screaming for attention and readership and will write almost about anything as long as they do it everyday. Including publishing boring press releases on the size of a collection. Its obscene. stop it. It is okay not to write anything if there is nothing to say or not to publish a press release because it is stupid. Yes, I know, I do not have to read them.

All these are reasons to start a “save photography” movement. We could have fund raising parties with Karl Lagerfeld as our Keynote speaker and dance the night away. Have cool hats and T shirts with our logo. and finally, make bumper sticker that I could stick on my car…if I had a car.

who is with me ?

Posted in technology, commercial stock, magazine, multimedia, editorial, flickr, corbis | Print | 1 Comment »

August 22, 2008 by pmelcher.

I am no friend of fair use.  “Fair Use is a USA law that provides for the legal, non-licensed citation or incorporation of copyrighted material in another author’s work under a four-factor balancing test.  In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include:

1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. the amount and substantially of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.”

This law does not even require that someone get a permission from the author or, at least,  informed them of such usage. Guess common courtesy does not exist in US copyright laws. Obviously, “non- licensed” means free. Fortunately, most people do not abuse this law that is widely open to interpretation.
This law has been in existence for a long time and is to me, much more damaging then the potentially upcoming Orphan Work Bill. After all, in this case, one knows the copyright owner but is still allow to use his/her work for free and without having to be polite about it.
Created to help scholar use reference work without going bankrupt, it has become the principle doorway to common copyright infringement.
Why not offer a small $1 licensing fee for those poor scholars that cannot afford paying full price. Or a special “education” fee, like Apple does with its computers. ( mmm…you have to see how much the US University charge per year/per student . Wonder what they do with that money instead of paying artists).
The idea is that every work used should be compensated, regardless of the amount. There has been work done thus compensation should be applied.
However that is not the worst. A famous blog situated on one of these new community based portal ( no, not DigitalRailroad) has been using an insane amount of images. At first, it seemed that since it is a professional blog, created with the obvious intend to drive traffic to its Collection, it would be properly licensing these images.
Imagine my shock ( and awe) when I heard that it does not. It recently used an image from a very well known photo agency that it ripped from another online legitimate publication and used it, along others, on its blog. No permission and no money exchange.
When asked why they would use images without licensing them when they are in image licensing business?  they  responded, “I can’t answer that question.”
They did pull the image down, only to be replaced by another from another agency. Probably without permission. What compels a company that is itself in the image licensing business to not pay for images that they clearly use for promotional usage?  Especially after screaming loud and clear they would be spending over $1 million in marketing this year. Is there no % in that budget to pay for licensing other people images ?

It would be nice, and honest, for that company, to clearly define their policy on the usage of photograph and stop claiming their are the defenders of the photographers when they boldly rip images from other sites like cheap second hand robbers.

Posted in copyright, technology, license, No sense, editorial, transaction, law | Print | 3 Comments »

August 19, 2008 by pmelcher.

  According to Sellingstock.com, the CFO of A21 just quit. Left his company. Just like that. Not surprising really when you look at A21 recent  numbers. Rising cost of operations, lowering sales, the company is heading straight for a wall, head first. Amusing part is that the only two other public or ex public companies in this business have also posted negative results for the second quarter of 2008.( Jupiter and Getty). None of them have signaled community portals( Alamy or Photoshelter) as the cause of their financial suffering . Some have accused the rising price of oil ( ya, right) and, others more bluntly, the ever shifting move from traditional commercial stock to Microstock.

Even if Getty and Jupiterimages saw Microstock coming, they both underestimated its impact tremendously. It is no longer in the original 8% of existing Getty customers that istock is eating in, but rather 25% and growing. Jupiterimages is struggling to integrate their own microstock offering into photos.com hoping to elevate the price per image. Who will be the first to shut down some of its more traditional divisions in order to save the leaking ship ?

No one knows how Corbis is doing in these hard times. Surely, their Snapvillage is not a player in the microstock field, and if the public  companies revenue are any indication, they must be hurting too. In a Bill Gates kind of way. More layoff before years end ? definitely. But not just at Corbis. expect Jupiter, A21, Getty and others to lay off some weight.

There are no clear solutions for these companies. They were build with very expensive infrastructures that do not work well with lower pricing. Although Getty’s project used to be an Internet company only, they have lost their objective and have fallen  heavy into the overhead trap. When they purchased PhotoDisc, they were going to go all speed ahead in high technology/low headcount. Apparently they got sidetracked, allowing Istock, Dreamstime, Shutterstock to continue and achieve what they only dreamed of achieving. Buying Wireimage was cute but will certainly slow down their growth considerably. They have inherited a mastodon of inefficiency, who was busier to reach high market shares rather than being profitable. Results: lots of personnel, huge operation cost, a big mess and waay too many photographers. Jonathan Klein even said himself at the last Getty shareholders meeting : Mediavast was never profitable.

Everyone knows that Getty purchased Wireimage to get rid of it, not to make it grow.

The next 3 years will see the industry giants engage in any and all enterprise that will help them cut their cost to a minimum while not engaging in significant investments. Not an easy task if they want to also grow at the same time. Certainly less of an easy task when lesser size companies are starting to move on the next step. Mostly European, these companies have grown organically using the more slower pace path of reinvesting their profit. Much more careful on their investments than the big loud 3’s, they have now reach a level of financial strength that they can now start to retaliate.

Some are acquiring, others are merging. While the corporate mend their wounds, alliance are forming  in the back alleys of the industry. Interestingly enough, most have hired ex Getty, Corbis or Jupiter staffers who have learned, from within the beast, what not to do. These agencies are extremely ambitious and battle savvy. They have all they need to succeed : knowledge, relations, expertise, endurance and cash. Most will never publicize their acquisition or mergers because they couldn’t care less about what the rest of industry knows. They have drawn a very precise path and their definition of success is  far from Wall Street . Very far.

The race is far from over : Neither Getty nor Corbis have succeeded  cornering the market. In fact, both have abandon the idea as they realized it is almost impossible. While Corbis is still figuring out how to turn a profit, Getty has spend the last 10 years acquiring companies they felt they could not compete with or create internally. Like pasting dollars bills on their obvious shortcoming.

JupiterImage is surviving only thanks to its internet properties while A21 keeps on borrowing money. Neither have a bright future, not, at least , in the photo licensing world.

A reasonable expectation is that our universe is about to see its giant stars implode. They are about to break apart because, similar to  the laws of the universe, they cannot survive under their own weight. Too much manpower, bureaucracy, equipment, replacement, fiscal obligation are making them crumble.

They ate too much.

Posted in Jupiter, technology, commercial stock, finance, corbis, Royalty free, getty, Microstock | Print | No Comments »

July 29, 2008 by pmelcher.

Genius juxtaposition of images, endearing story, human, lively, photographically compelling, wonderful storytelling, the Mediastorm team does it again .

See it now before someone tells you about it:

The only negative is the music that always seem to be the same on all multimedia these days: a  lonely piano with an echo followed by a lonely string acoustic guitar. But who cares ?  When you look at it, it seems that all the pieces were made to fit prior to assembly. It looks so easy to do. And it is not. Makes you wonder how further photography can go beyond the traditional magazine layout. This is also what photo editor should learn to do if they want to keep their job relevant.

Posted in mediastorm, magazine, technology, multimedia, newspaper, editorial, photojournalism, news | Print | No Comments »

July 23, 2008 by pmelcher.

Woke up this morning to this news: “Dubai, United Arab Emirates, July 21, 2008. Celeb Arabia, subsidiary of Dubai Photographers Agency, the source for authentic celebrity images, today announces the launch of its Middle East Celebrity Photo Collection at CelebArabia.com.”

Cool, I thought… let’s discover Arabian celebrities :  The local Britney Spears or the Sheik heiress that is behaving like Paris Hilton.Who’s hot and who’s not. Well, it was quite a disappointment. The Paris Hilton of Dubai and region is…Paris Hilton.

Pretty damn disappointing.. I know that corporate America is a champion at exporting its brands and I very well know that what happens in Hollywood has more repercussion then  that annoying butterfly in the Amazon forest responsible for so many hurricanes. But still. Europe has a lot of local celebrities, so why not Dubai ? . Can’t they make more money with their celebrity rather than having to import American ones ? Sad…very sad.

However, that is not what really shocked me. The pricing is the biggest smack in my face :

Celebrity photos, and rather good ones, taken by pros, at $44,90 an image ? Ouch ! Cheaper if you buy 100 !!. Paparazzi by the pound. Not sure how it works in Dubai, but usually paparazzi images, being hard to get, sell for a premium. Maybe because they look sometimes out of focus, the “Dubainese” market considers them as midstock material ? The license seems to be “rights ready” as it is mentioned a few time on the site. If it is anything like the Getty one, that means 10 years, $44,90. an image.Well, that is a market that is dead even before being commercially interesting.

Seriously, there should be a license that people should pass before having the right to sell images. Like Real Estate agents. This is getting totally ridiculous with absolutely no sense on how the images are priced.

The pricing of images is like walking into a frat house the day after blow out party : its all over the place and it smells bad. It is embarrassing for those of us trying to make it a ligitimate business because image buyers think we follow some kind of rule.

The rule is simple these days : “My images are cheaper than the guy next door. Even if he moved out. “

Posted in magazine, technology, Pacific coast news, celebrity, license, editorial, transaction, Microstock | Print | No Comments »

July 16, 2008 by pmelcher.

“NEW YORK, Jul 15, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) — AOL announced the launch of PIXCETERA, http://www.pixcetera.com, a new site focused exclusively on top-quality photography. The site features thousands of professional images and galleries from across the AOL Network for users to browse, rate and review. In addition, AOL’s photo editors blog on trends in photography, as well as ways that readers can take better pictures.”

Double kudos to AOL for doing this !! It is the most exciting photo related website launch in years.Too bad its only wire service images. When will they learn to look elsewhere ?

Discover for yourself :

Posted in magazine, technology, web 2.0, photojournalism, slideshow, wire service, editorial | Print | No Comments »

July 15, 2008 by pmelcher.

The truth about your photo organizations is that they have either no idea what they are talking about or they have no idea  what they are doing. Either way, they are slowly becoming obsolete and useless.
Take PACA for example. The Picture Archives Council of America is preparing for its next “international” meeting to be held in New York sometime in October of this year. One of the panel they have organized for their members   is called ““What Role Will Technology Play With New Business Opportunities?”.
I had to read it twice. Does it say “will” ? Like in the future “will” ? Has anyone at PACA looked around and noticed what is already going on here and now ? How technology is running their business already. For an industry that currently runs 95% on technology ( it always did , by the way) it is a weird panel to have. But this is not the worst part.

The worst part is that they are “excited” to announce that they have secured the participation of  Ben London/Executive Director, Northwest, of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Now, I do not know this gentleman and I am sure he is a fine person but inviting the RIAA to explain what opportunities exists in technology is like asking a bear what to do in winter.

I wonder what went into the PACA committee’s collective brain who set that up : “lets find an industry that has completely missed the boat on new technologies and is currently gasping for air, for what they think about new technologies and opportunities ?”

I mean, makes complete sense, no ? The RIAA is now known worldwide for its smooth aptitude to deal with change and a prime example of what the photo industry should do. Let’s see what we can take from the RIAA lessons:

Do nothing and then sue everyone.
Desperately refuse the introduction of new technologies and stubbornly hold on to antiquated business models.
Install technology that alienates your customers so intensively that they prefer to break the law then license anything from you.
When desperation comes, jump on any new business model around and dramatically slash your prices ( think iTunes). Regret your decision 2 years later.
Keep on suing. Maybe that will cover the losses
Alienate you artists until they also leave you for new business models
Merge or die.

Rich (it is a very expensive proposition to attend this congress) and successful PACA members will come from the whole world to listen to this man explain how brilliantly the RIAA has handled technology and new business opportunities. And then, after a few drinks, when all is said and done, everyone will go home with the deep satisfaction that this was money well spend . Some will even dream of a potential merger of the RIAA and PACA,  strongly united against the advent of new technologies, new business models and plenty of lawsuits.

Mmm, I wonder why Getty Images decided to sponsor that one event ?

For the latest from PACA, please go here.

Posted in technology, commercial stock, CEPIC, PACA, getty, law, Microstock | Print | No Comments »

July 10, 2008 by pmelcher.

As per a press release of today : “Open Text Corporation (Nasdaq: OTEX; TSX: OTC), a provider of Enterprise Content Management (ECM) software, has acquired eMotion LLC from Corbis Corporation of Seattle, Washington. Open Text purchased the division for approximately US $5 million, net of cash and assets, effective July 2, 2008.eMotion is a provider of hosted business applications for managing digital media assets and marketing content. eMotion is headquartered in Seattle and has an office in Rockville, Maryland.

Corbis acquired eMotion, Inc. of San Francisco, California for an undisclosed amount in July 2005.

Corbis is a visual media provider for the creative community, licensing the widest array of award-winning contemporary, historical and entertainment photography as well as extensive collections of acclaimed illustration and footage.

Waterloo, Ontario based Open Text is a leading provider of Enterprise Content Management (ECM) software solutions. It offers a wide range of ECM products that help its customers ensure compliance with industry regulations and internal policies, controlling information flows, and helping solve other content-intensive business challenges. Open Text currently employs approximately 2,700 people worldwide.”

end of press release.

credit Techfinance.com

In 2005, Scott Wilson, CEO, eMotion said : “Corbis and eMotion’s services are a natural complement,”

Mmm. I guess not. At least not long term.

“Our clients are increasingly seeking ways to manage the still and moving imagery they use in their creative projects,” said Mark Sherman, about the deal, senior vice president of assignment & representation and emerging businesses at Corbis, at the time.

I  believe he got fired since.

One year later Business Week Magazine added ( 2006):
“A year ago, finishing off a year when revenue rose 20%, Corbis’ leaders confidently predicted that they would turn the company profitable. That didn’t happen. Instead, organic revenue growth slowed to 4%, though overall growth topped 34%. The total take was $228 million, thanks to the company’s mergers and acquisitions spree. (Getty Images grew 17.9% to $733.7 million, mostly organically, and pulled in $150 million in profits.)”
Ouch !!

the  same article continues:
“Corbis’ acquisition spree was partly aimed at placing bets in emerging markets. For instance, last July the company bought eMotion, a provider of hosted digital-asset management software. Yet image licensing remains a dominant part of its business. To boost profit potential, Corbis is beefing up its own collections and the custom-photography service, which involves assigning photographers to capture images. “end of Business Week Magazine quote.
You remember that guy from Star Wars Episode I ?  The Rasta guy with the tongue sticking out after being caught in the electric field of  Anakin’s pod racer ( do i sound like a geek right now?) ?

Well, whatever his name is, that is the Corbis management right now: tongue sticking out saying : blabadabaaaadabadaaaaa. Bladaabadaaaaaaaaaa.aaaaaaaaa.

Corbis ex- CEO, Steve Davis said, according to the Corbis press release, at the time: “In 2005 we doubled our global footprint ( How the hell do you double a footprint ? With bigger feet ?)  and rounded out our content and service offering. As a result we are the only company in the industry with the ability to provide comprehensive solutions—great content, the rights to use it, and the ability to manage it.”

And  I should add, big feet …

Shouldn’t someone have smelled E-Motion footprint at the time,because, apparently, it smelled bad. Certainly, not the sweet smell of success.

By the way, how much is a “footprint” going for these days ? 1 dollar a footprint ? what the hell is a footprint in photography ?

Gaaaaaaaaary ? any idea ? where is Gary anyways?

There he is (or was):

British Journal of Photography july 4th 2007, reports ( almost exactly a year ago):

“Days after taking on his role, Corbis’ new CEO has slashed 160 staff in 17 offices worldwide.

Gary Shenk took over from Steve Davis on Monday (02 July 2007), but the decision to cull 15% of the company’s workforce was announced late last week. The job losses are as a result of a three-month strategic review, led by Shenk and his management team, which is driven by the ambition to pull Corbis into profitability for the first time.”

and probably out of the “footprint” business.

the article continues :

“Corbis is also to sell its Digital Asset Management (DAM) division, which currently manages media libraries for large corporations. The service, which was officially launched only last summer (BJP, 16 August 2006), came about after the acquisition of eMotion in 2005. Like the Assignment Division, it has been performing well, says Perlet, and has won 25 new customers in the last 12-18 months.”

I guess ( actually, I know) Corbis hates, just painfully and  physically hates, anything that performs well.

E-Motion:

Bought in 2005,

analyzed in 2006,

destroyed in 2007,

sold in 2008.

Welcome to the club, dude.

Corbis  does it, again

Posted in Canada, technology, commercial stock, multimedia, No sense, corbis, transaction, finance, getty | Print | 1 Comment »

July 8, 2008 by pmelcher.

By now, you must have read all about the Getty Image/Flickr deal. In a nutshell, Flickr announced that Getty Images has the right to go through the Flickr collection and pick and choose the images that they want to distribute.

Now, seldom know that Flickr has been shopping around for the last two years for a way to license its content. They have approach many existing companies in order to investigate their options. I am not at liberty to say which but lets just say they are not your traditional mom and pops. But like with any huge company, time is not an issue and most potential, at first very excited, ended their conversations with a resentful puff and walking away with what everyone thought was a goldmine. When you looked closer, it is more like a coalmine. Lots of digging for little return. One huge issue, is that, although Flickr has a clear copyright policy, most people don’t care and upload whatever they want anyway. Since nothing is for sale, no copyright infringement lawsuit has ever surfaced, but most certainly a lot of “cease and desist” notices have circulated.

The second very important issue, is that Flickr has a beautiful facade, but behind it,  lies a dump yard of crappy snapshots. Their “Interrestingness” engine is a model of programming done with genius. Only the best images  surface, hiding the ugly muck below.

While these talks where going on, some mash up 2.0 companies tried to take advantage of Flickr’s API to lure users to shift platforms and take advantage of their licensing engines. That was a lost battle as Flickr monitored those links very closely and shut down  any one who  apparent motivation was money. No more than a little slap on the hand.

Getty, having a whole department in charge of making new deals could simply  not let go. These guys lose their job if they do not make any new deals. So they came out with this wackadoodle arrangement: Flick makes deal with Getty Images.

Wait a minute, Flickr doesn’t own, nor does it represent any of its content. It is only a sharing platform. How can they make a deal on behalf of their users ? They can advise them, yes, but certainly not make a deal for them. Getty will still have to ask each and everyone of them for permission to license their images. But be no fool, this has been going on for a long time. I do not know of any photo agency that has not already contacted users of Flick in order to represent their work. And those who didn’t are either fools  or not in the commercial stock business. This deal doesn’t change that, as Flickr cannot dictate anything to its users.

Furthermore only Getty, or its retarded companion Corbis, could afford such a deal. It will take them a huge time to edit through the content and find the pearls. And that is money spend, not received. Let’s say they do find a photographer with great talent, nothing guarantees them that he or she will sign up with them. Nothing at all. Or they have might have already signed with someone else. This is Gargantuan work for little return.

This deal is just a pack of hot air. We all know that Getty is no fool and that this is just a big PR balloon. It will fly, get some people very excited and overheated, and just disappear after a short sting.

What is however captivating is that Getty now officially announced, with this deal, that it can no longer trust its own suppliers or photographers with providing them with the right images. It is  also an admittance of the failure of both  their internal “creative research and intelligence” and in its long held belief that it had secured the right partnerships. To proactively and officially reach out to amateurs is sending a loud and clear message that their current content is not adapted anymore.

After thought : So what happens to those poor pro photographers schmucks who paid $50 dollars to get their images on Getty Images under the brand “Photographer’s Choice“? Let me get this straight : you’re an amateur and upload to Flickr, Getty images includes your images for free. You are a pro unwilling to upload to Flickr, maybe because you don’t want then stolen and you have to pay $50 per approve image ? It doesn’t compute

Posted in Search, license, technology, commercial stock, yahoo, web 2.0, corbis, finance, flickr, prosumer, getty | Print | No Comments »

July 7, 2008 by pmelcher.

Even in a world of quirky names, content continues to rule. Picapp, the source for free legal images for blogs, has just signed up celebrity news agency Splashnews as a new provider. Here’s the deal : 2 companies, one similar idea. How to license images to the high volume community of bloggers worldwide ( 6 billion , I believe). Also, how to license images without these images ever leaving the server, thus avoiding illegal duplication. ( Orphan work anyone ?)

Historically, Picapp was the first to launch, with a revenue sharing deal that made advertising the only source of revenue. GumGum, not far behind, launches with a similar idea. However, the user here has a choice of adverting or paying a pay per view fee.

But the business model is not enough to grab attention, you need the right content. Again, two strategies : Picapp leverages its existing relationship through Picscout and draws the big guns ( i.e Getty). Gumgum, in order to outsmart them and after looking at the blogosphere, goes for entertainment. After all, the celebrity obsessed blogs are not only the most active, but also the biggest consumers of photos. What would be a celebrity site with no images, right ? They quickly signed Pacific Coast news, Splash news and Starmax. The show can begin. And it did. While Picapp runs around making deals with blog publishers and refine their offering ( ie multi size images, hidden Picguy, etc), GumGum seems to be satisfied with their offering.And it seemed to work.

But Picapp is no dumdum. They just signed Splashnews too, realizing they where the biggest money making content provider of Gumgum. Ouch ! The result will soon be felt. One has vast offering, from sports to paparazzi celeb, while the other seems stuck in the muck. Same technology and very similar business model. Who do you think will win?

At the end, it is always the same result. Technology is not an answer in itself, it is just a pipe. You can have the greatest system in the world, if you do not have the content, you die. Think Betamax or more recently, Blu Ray. Geeks are the worst managers of their own technology as they always, always make the same mistake in believing it can overcome everything.  It can’t.

Posted in technology, gumgum, Pacific coast news, idee, license, transaction, finance, web 2.0, editorial | Print | No Comments »