The new journalism at Live 8 Philly

Howard has shared news that Albert Yee has been credentialed with a press pass and will be blogging for Philly Future on Saturday! We are honored to have his terrific writing and photography on board.

We are taking a huge step Saturday and are taking a distributed approach to covering Live 8. Not only will Albert be posting to Philly Future, but he will be posting photos to his Flickr account, many of which we will highlight from its RSS feed.

In addition, our own Philly Future Philadelphia Live8 page will be pulling in Technorati’s “Live8 Philly” tagged posts and other “Live8” tagged photos from Flickr.

Highlights, as chosen by our editors, and new posts written directly for Philly Future by our site’s community, will be seen throughout the day.

Please read my post on this and Live 8 as a whole at Philly Future and share your feedback. And make sure to read Albert’s initial thoughts as he is about to take an adventure – covering the news as it happens.

Did You Know?

The House OKed a Flag Burning Ban Amendment?

That the Supreme Court ruled: Your house can be taken against your will – legally?

That Cable Companies don’t need to share their lines? (hey – unlike the telcos – from what I understand cable put these up without subsidies – but don’t listen to me – I work for a cable company).

That p2p companies that induce copyright infringement are breaking the law? (this sounds bad but maybe it’s not)

And that religious displays in certain contexts on government ground are illegal?

Neither did I without reading it on the web.

For some different views and thoughts on these matters, read Dan Gillmor.

Ad-Free Gawker and Page Six Blogs Launch

I don’t like the sounds of this, but I figured it would happen sooner or later: Adrants » Ad-Free Gawker And Page Six Blogs Launched

An anonymous blogger has launched two Blogspot-hosted Blogger blogs. One steals Gawker’s entire editorial content word for word. The other steals the Post’s Page Six content. The only thing these two blogs leave behind are the ads. In an announcement email about the Page Six Blog, the emailer claiming to be “a v” wrote, “The idea of the NY POST becoming spam peddlers has forced us to create a blog to alleviate gossip hounds of any barriers to daily trash. We don’t like registration gates and here is our method of bypassing them.”

Web Content by and for the Masses

New York Times: Web Content by and for the Masses

…Flickr, acquired this year by Yahoo, is just one example of a rapidly growing array of Web services all seeking to exploit the Internet’s power to bring people together.

From photo- and calendar-sharing services to “citizen journalist” sites and annotated satellite images, the Internet is morphing yet again. A remarkable array of software systems makes it simple to share anything instantly, and sometimes enhance it along the way.

Inexpensive to create and worldwide in reach, the new Internet services are having an impact far beyond the file sharing at issue in the Supreme Court’s decision on Monday, which focused on copyright violations using peer-to-peer software.

Indeed, the abundance of user-generated content – which includes online games, desktop video and citizen journalism sites – is reshaping the debate over file sharing. Many Internet industry executives think it poses a new kind of threat to Hollywood, the recording industry and other purveyors of proprietary content: not piracy of their work, but a compelling alternative.

The new services offer a bottom-up creative process that is shifting the flow of information away from a one-way broadcast or publishing model, giving rise to a wave of new business ventures and touching off a scramble by media and technology companies to respond.

“Sharing will be everywhere,” said Jeff Weiner, a Yahoo senior vice president in charge of the company’s search services. “It’s the next chapter of the World Wide Web.”

…”We are now entering the participation age,” Jonathan I. Schwartz, the president and chief operating officer of Sun Microsystems, said on Monday at an industry conference in San Francisco. “The really interesting thing about the network today is that individuals are starting to participate. The endpoints are starting to inform the center.”

Yahoo! is launching MyWeb.

iTunes Podcast support launched

Download the new client from Apple and iTunes will help you find, download, subscribe, and listen to podcasts on your PC. I’m using it right now at work and I gotta tell ya – if you have an iPod it’s a no-brainer, but even if you don’t you’ll love it just to listen to all that is available – and now easy to use.

Dave Winer will probably be the best source of coverage for publishers so check there for any potential impact on you.

Google Launches Video Playback Today?

John Battelle’s Searchblog: News: Google To Launch Online Video Playback This Monday

Google will not disclose the raw numbers of videos that have been
uploaded to date, but the company will make all those which were tagged
as “free” available for real time streaming through the VLC player,
which Google has modified and will make available for download Monday
morning. The company also intends to make its VLC code available to the
open source community as part of their Google code project.

BTW, in unrelated news, did you know Jim Romenesko makes $152,163 a year? From his blog? Me neither. Despite what other bloggers think, I feel it’s well deserved and it helps to show you what becoming a recognized must-read in a on demand subject is worth as a blogger.

Tom Cruise Attacks Matt Lauer on Psychiatry

A Couch Tom Cruise Won’t Jump On

…”You don’t know the history of psychiatry. I do.”

Cruise looked like a man possessed — or at least in need of an Ativan — leaning insistently forward in his chair, hammering Lauer when the host suggested that some people were actually, you know, helped when doctors prescribed psychiatric drugs. Lauer sparred with Cruise specifically over whether it made sense for Brooke Shields to have sought therapy and taken antidepressants for postpartum depression — a decision that Cruise had previously criticized.

…As a top-level celebrity believer in Scientology, Cruise has been steeped in the lingo and policies of the late church founder, L. Ron Hubbard. (Hearing Cruise use a term like “ideal scene” during his exchange with Lauer would perk up the ears of anyone who’s been in Scientology’s orbit before.)

Hubbard launched his self-help movement in the 1950s with a book called “Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health,” and from early on, he battled with psychologists and psychiatrists. Indeed, Hubbard once wrote in an internal policy statement: “Our war has been forced to become to take over absolutely the field of mental healing on this planet in all forms.”

BTW, Katie Holmes has a Scientology minder who is following her as she promotes “Batman Begins”.

And Scarlett Johansson was turned down for a role in MI:3 after she doesn’t embrace the “religion”.

Way, way more in a related thread at Metafilter.

Ok.. I’m turning tabloid.