Month: August 2001

I just stumbled on Res Magazine, “the Future of Filmmaking.” It covers the burgeoning world of digital video based filmmaking, and seems fairly interesting. After perusing a few of the articles they have on-line it seems that the magazine has a more professional focus, profiling already-successful actors, directors and producers who are working in DV,…

A Loss to the Pirate Radio World: Kirk Trummel, RIP. Kirk Trummel worked in and wrote about the shortwave pirate radio scene for years, co-authoring the “Pirate Radio Survival Guide.” I personally enjoyed his writing, comments and advice that he published on the Free Radio Network. Kirk died on Aug. 15 from terminal pancreatic cancer…

Food for thought: MIT’s Technology Review has this article on “Taming the Web,” that deconstructs the myth that “information wants to be free,” by critically examining the assumptions about the Internet which underlie it, but, in fact, may not be as iron clad as popularly believed: Nonetheless, the claim that the Internet is ungovernable by…

I know I toot the horn of the Indymedia movement frequently here, but I still want to recommend that you check out the IMC Radio Network site if you’re looking for links and pointers to good independent radio reporting and programming. The site has an especially good and well annotated set of links to grassroots…

Russian Gov’t Retakes Control of Media According to the RFE/RL Newswire, “Russian President Vladimir Putin signed on 13 August a decree reestablishing federal government control over all of the Russia’s broadcasting and relay stations for television and radio signals by consolidating them under the management of a single government corporation.” Defending the decree, the Russian…

How Good is that CD-R? CD Freaks have this nice little article on CD-R media quality, and how to determine where a CD-R was made and how good or reliable it might be.

Tell me again about the media’s liberal bias: “CNN, which is on record saying it wants to lure major star power to its ranks, is talking to ultra-popular conservative radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh,” says USA Today.

Alternative to MP3 Relased On Friday the newest version of the Ogg Vorbis music compression format was released. Unlike mp3, Ogg Vorbis is completely open source with source and binaries available for Linux and Windows right now. Ogg Vorbis was created because, although it has become the format of choice for exchanging music online, the…

More on Michael Powell Tom Paine.com has another look at FCC Chair Michael Powell, taking a closer look at his political connections, especially those he has with Sen. McCain and Sen. Billy Tauzin and the broadcast industry. Despite his reformist stance, McCain is still one of the biggest recipients of broadcast industry campaign dollars, and…

The Man at the Top of the FCC–38 Years Old with a Lot of Friends Salon’s excellent media reporter Eric Boehlman gives this critical bio of FCC Chair Michael Powell, and his rise to the top of the FCC before age 40. A choice quote reveals much: “To recap, here is the list of friends…