Technology

Pottermore: Harry Potter Ebooks Out!

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The long-promised eBooks (and more) are available at the site!

So of course, you can bet we’re going to watch this one – because there’s not much out there like “Pottermore”, so it’s kind of a giant lab experiment.

Thoughts:

  • I think there will be attempts to do more “Pottermores” no matter what the success of the site – the model is interesting enough and amorphous enough for people to give it a go.  If it works is a bit of a question.
  • Meanwhile GigaOm chimes in with a great article on what publishers can learn from Pottermore, and points out DRM *is not your friend*.
  • Building on that issue, one of the flamingly, neon-bright obvious things from Pottermore is that people respond to a good property, a place to gather, and response.  The entire “walled garden” model of publishing is missing the fact you have an economy/culture building on connectivity.
  • The Pottermore site may seem complex, but consider how fast sites can be put together these days – so it may be easy to create “lesser Pottermores.”
  • I could see people building web/media careers on creating “Pottermore” like sites.  Of course, if someone founded a business to easily make these central sites for indie media properties . . .
  • Pottermore represents a multimedia exploration that is only just starting.  What if a site with books tied into an MMO?  Films?  DLC?

– Steven Savage

 

How Cable Companies Can Adapt . . . Maybe

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So I killed my cable.  Dead.  Gone.  No more.  Hulu, Netflix, and gizmos for me, thanks very much, that’s how I’ll get my video.

So now, based on my experience that cable is unnecessary (and financially unsound) for most households, what can cable companies do to become something more modern and useful?  What does it mean for us?

(This, by the way, assumes said companies will embrace change.  Cable companies have ,at times, followed in the steps of others, but I can’t say they’ve actually been enthused or active dealing with change.  But one can hope.)

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Yahoo Continues To Commit Suicie

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Apparently they’re laying off a research team that others want to snatch up.

Now I could go on a usual rant, but let me just note the takeaways here:

  • Don’t send a resume to Yahoo, it’s clear they’re not a good choice.
  • If Yahoo keeps shedding/loosing people it may make employment slightly harder as people snatch up their talent.
  • This tells me they’re giving up on innovation for now – paired with their lawsuit it makes me honestly suspicious they’re looking at some kind of litigation/licensing model.
  • When Yahoo finally implodes one way or another, watch for the reaction.

– Steven Savage