Australian Open 1976 & John Newcombe

Newk has just finished a quarter final match against Ross Case which he won 6-4, 6-4, 6-1.  Somehow, I was sitting in a box seat at court side and a family friend lent me his 35mm camera which was the first time I had used one.  From then on I was hooked.  In those years, the Australian Open was...

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The Death of the Copyright Agency

The combined impacts of technology, legislation and judicial decisions on copyright licensing are beginning to show how rights licensing agencies are likely to face a difficult time extending their current business models in the future. In Canada, Access Copyright (AC) has struggled to impose a new pricing model on universities which accords a high per student fee for unlimited access for publisher...

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MediaWeek (V7, N34): Georgia Tech MOOC'd, Renting from Amazon, City Hall Library, + More

NYTimes on Georgia Tech's approach to MOOCsAlthough it is just one degree at one university, the prospect of a prestigious low-cost degree program has generated great interest. Some educators think the leap from individual noncredit courses to full degree programs could signal the next phase in the evolution of MOOCs — and bring real change to higher education. “Perhaps Zvi Galil and Sebastian...

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American Accessories in Kings Cross

There's still a sordid underbelly to London's Kings Cross area.  I wasn't interested in going inside and neither was she although I think she had other things in mi...

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Ten (+One) Newish Publishing Technology Start-ups

Sellfy is an e-commerce platform that enables anyone to sell digital products directly to their fans and followers using just a link. Whether it's an e-book, music, video, photos, software, or any other type of digital content, just upload your product, enter the price and start selling on Twitter, Facebook or your own website. Sellfy takes care of file storage, payment processing and product...

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MediaWeek (V7, No 33) Belle de Jour and "Boy", Thoughts on Pricing, DA Information Administration + More

Girl: I am a prostitute! Man: I never knew. Now I look stupid! Indeed. (Daily Mail)At first Owen was unaware that he was in a relationship with the anonymous blogger, who was gathering thousands of readers with apparently true tales of prostitution. He says: ‘I knew she was writing a blog as she was often typing away but she said it was science fiction and I believed her. I didn’t read it and I...

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MediaWeek (V7, N32): Detective Fiction, Barnes & Noble + More

Why detective fiction works from New Statesman:This may or may not be a good thing. These days, you can comfortably inhabit the world of eccentric amateur detectives and embittered private eyes all year round, in the company of learned fellow travellers, on television, at the cinema, in books and online. There are murder mystery weekends and endless box sets; in classrooms, at conferences and...

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Hong Kong Housing 1969: Kai Tak Approach

When I first saw this photo I assumed it had been taken from a building across the street from this particular slum (and, what someone was doing in this neighborhood would have been a different story);  however, this is actually taken out of the window a a plane - probably a 707 - coming in to land at what...

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