Montana InBusinessMonthly articles

My May, 2011 Missoulian InBusinessMonthly column

It seems like all things come down to money, and there is currently a kerfluffle that may or may not change the quality and economics of the world of online writing and journalism. It’s generated talk and recrimination and a huge lawsuit worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

The lawsuit was brought by a writer who worked for free for a website – he was one of many writers for the site – and helped it grow and get to the point of drawing a billion page views a month and becoming worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

The site and company in question is the Huffington Post (commonly known as HuffPo, huffingtonpost.com). And HuffPo recently sold to America Online (AOL) for $315 million in order to expand AOL’s online journalistic reach.

There’s a lot of hyperbole on all sides of the story and the lawsuit. And while the big picture is clear (what is the value of writing and journalism?), what the case may or may not determine is up for grabs.

The press release from the plaintiff’s law firm quotes the lead plaintiff, Jonathan Tasini: “Arianna Huffington is pursuing the Wal-Martization of creative content and a Third World class of creative people. … Actually, that is unfair to Wal-Mart because at least Wal-Mart pays its workers something for the value those workers create. In Huffington’s business model, economic gain is only reserved for her.”

And Arianna Huffington responded at huffingtonpost.com this way: “The suit touches on so many important issues about the current state of the media. … First, let’s look at the merits of the case: There are none.”

Huffington says all those writers and bloggers were contributing to HuffPo as volunteers, on their own time and not under assignment. They were free to come and go as they wished, and got the benefits of exposure for their work on a national scale.

I can’t get into the legal arguments, but the big picture is clear: What is writing and journalism on the Web worth?

Huffington seems to make that clear when writing in her defense: “The key point that the lawsuit completely ignores (or perhaps fails to understand) is how new media, new technologies, and the linked economy have changed the game, enabling millions of people to shift their focus from passive observation to active participation – from couch potato to self-expression.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/huffington-post-lawsuit_b_848942.html

That’s true. HuffPo and many other sites encourage communication and discussion and give writers and journalists exposure they probably couldn’t get on their own.

But the “new media” is also worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and some know that better than others, like Huffington, who sold HuffPo for $315 million. (What made HuffPo worth that much? Ad revenue brought in by readers clicking on ads on the website.)

What’s worse than the money and the lawsuit is what the AOL and HuffPo buyout promotes, Tim Rutten wrote in an opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times: http://articles.latimes.com/2011/feb/09/opinion/la-oe-rutten-column-huffington-aol-20110209

“Whatever the ultimate impact of AOL’s $315 million acquisition of the Huffington Post on the new-media landscape, it’s already clear that the merger will push more journalists more deeply into the tragically expanding low-wage sector of our increasingly brutal economy.”

Rutten also wrote: “To grasp the Huffington Post’s business model, picture a galley rowed by slaves and commanded by pirates.” That line garnered lots of blowback for his questionable metaphor.

Can the issues of the value of online creative content and journalism be reduced to that kind of relationship?

A 5/01/11 update: AOL, Huffington Post Seek Another 8,000 Free Bloggers – Wired.com

My April, 2011 Missoulian InBusinessMonthly column

The Verizon iPhone came out in the first part of February, and if you didn’t jump in right away and are still considering one, you should think about the basic differences between the two iPhone options – AT&T and Verizon – to decide which might be best for you.

The basic difference is the type of cellular network each carrier uses and the capabilities of those networks, even though they are both iPhones: AT&T uses GSM cell technology, while Verizon uses CDMA cell technology.

(The calling and data plans, return policies and handset upgrades are constantly changing between AT&T and Verizon, so I’ll leave those for you to decide.)

What CDMA and GSM mean isn’t really the point here; the bottom line is differences in phone and data functionality that affect traveling out of the U.S. and being able to talk and use the Web at the same time.

Do you need to be able to travel with the phone? According to David Pogue (in his review for the New York Times; see link), “The Verizon (GSM) iPhone works in about 40 countries, including Mexico, Canada and China; AT&T (CDMA) phones, on the other hand, work in 220 countries.”

So if you are just going to roam around Montana and North America, Verizon has better coverage. But outside of North America, AT&T is the better choice. In both cases, the roaming costs while away from your home turf will be big, he warns.

Do you need to use the Web at the same time as you talk on the phone? You can do that with an AT&T iPhone; you can’t with a Verizon iPhone.

Pogue writes that, “You can’t talk on an CDMA phone while you’re online. That is, if you’re on a call, you can’t simultaneously check a Web site or send e-mail over the cellular network.”

He continues: “If the top of your screen says ‘3G,’ an indication that you’re in a high-speed Internet area of Verizon’s network, incoming calls take priority and interrupt your online connection. If you’re online in an older, 2G area, you stay online and the call goes directly to voice mail.”

This is unless you are within range of a Wi-fi hotspot. Then you can use Wi-fi for Internet and talk on the phone at the same time, because the iPhone is using the cell network for the call and the Wi-fi for the Internet access.

Pogue points out a feature that only the Verizon iPhone offers: the Personal Hotspot, where the iPhone becomes a Wi-Fi base station for up to five other laptops or devices. But, if you get a call, he warns, the Personal Hotspot feature cuts off Wi-Fi until you hang up the phone.

But dropping calls – or not – might be most important to users. Both Walt Mossberg of All Things Digital at the Wall Street Journal and Pogue say the same thing: Verizon doesn’t drop calls.

See Pogue’s review here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/technology/personaltech/03pogue.html ; and Mossberg’s review here: http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20110202/verizon-apple-iphone4-review/

Pogue also wonders if the crush of iPhone traffic on Verizon’s network will degrade service, as it did with AT&T. Other reviews already show that Verizon’s data download speeds are slower than AT&T’s.

Consumer Reports has also weighed in, saying that the Verizon iPhone still suffers from the older iPhone “death grip” and you still have to hold the handset in a certain way to get good reception. The publication still can’t recommend it; see http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/search.htm?query=iphone.

And one last point: There has been a new iPhone model each July for the last few years. iPhone 5 rumors have already begun with a guessed-at release date in July. Do you want to get an iPhone 4 now or wait another few months to see what’s new with the iPhone 5?