Public Address

Hard News: Crowds and Communities: an internet discussion

Russell Brown — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:12:00 +1300

I've written before that since its very birth, the internet has advanced through "a pattern of motivated individuals and mobilised communities." The benevolent dictators who created the first technical protocols had their work underwritten by the crowds who organised themselves around the template. It was a raging, unlikely success.
In more recent years, we've seen the crowds move the earth. Last month's push back against the SOPA and PIPA laws was effective precisely because it was a crowd action. It also involved a form of obstructive protest that is by definition a crowd action -- the distributed denial of service...

Hard News: Staying Alive

Russell Brown — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:51:00 +1300

I ride a bike in Auckland. I have an obvious interest in the drivers with whom I share the roads taking care and being aware of my presence. My life depends on it. But I cannot find it in me to be angry at either Glenn Becker, who faced a charge this week of carelessly use of his car causing the death of 27 year-old Jane Bishop on Tamaki Drive, or the judge who dismissed the case yesterday.
When I read this report on Tuesday, I wondered whether there would be a conviction, and perhaps whether there should be. When...

Hard News: Review: Lana Del Rey, 'Born To Die'

Russell Brown — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:39:00 +1300

When the clip for Lana Del Rey's 'Video Games' arrived quietly on the internet, it seemed too good to be true. Its gorgeous, pouting composer seemed to have come from nowhere; her grainy montage of filmic images seemed to summon memories we never knew we had.
And the song. Oh, the song. From the distant church bell that signalled its arrival to its swelling strings and that vulnerable, all-too-experienced voice that wouldn't have lasted a round on Idol, it seemed to announce a new underground queen.
The reality was otherwise.
For the indie chin-strokers, it's as if they saw that...

Capture: Laneway 2012

Jackson Perry — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:24:00 +1300

Too soon?
Having just recovered from the Big Day Out, a group of us ventured to Laneway on Monday, in the third venue in as many years, Wynyard Quarter. Much has been said about the queues, the heat, and there was certainly an apparent lack of access to sunblock, but I went for the bands. And, from where I was standing, they were brilliant.
I'll be back. Few shade clothes and trees would be good next time. In case no one mentioned it.

Hard News: Getting to the bottom of Apple and human cost

Russell Brown — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:55:00 +1300

The New York Times' front-page story, In China, Human Costs Are Built Into an iPad, is important not just because it has raised the issue of the labour practices behind Apple's products, but because it goes some way towards explaining what makes Apple any different from any other consumer electronics or computer company.
Because make no mistake: the Chinese factories where parts are made and assembled into products? Everyone uses them. CNet's Larry Dignan published this chart showing where the revenue comes from for Hon Hai, the parent company of the manufacturing giant Foxconn:

Dignan fumed:

Analysts estimate that Apple...

Capture: The Robots Are Here!

Martin Horspool — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:00:00 +1300

Introducing...
In the first guest post of 2012, we welcome Martin Horspool to Capture.
Robot Road Trip
Robot builder and photographer Martin Horspool has placed some of his favourite robots amongst photos that he has taken from around New Zealand. The result is an amusing blend of retro charm and classic Kiwiana.
He enjoys getting amongst interesting groups of people, usually near old motorbikes or cars, looking for photo opportunities. He has published a book of these which can be previewed here. Robot Road Trip. You can visit his website here www.buggyrobot.com

Hard News: Finally, the Teapot Tape?

Russell Brown — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:31:00 +1300

On YouTub, Soundcloud and BitTorrent. Appears to be what it says on the label. Feel free to analyse, transcribe, clean up, ignore, whatever.
Update 3: Now that I'm back in the house, I've restored the link to the recording on Soundcloud. See media lawyer Steven Price's reasoning on this here. Scoop is also providing the link.
Update 2: I've removed the links to YouTube and Soundcloud. Sorry to be a pain, but I'm going out for a few hours and I won't be in a position to act with dispatch in removing them should that prove to be urgently necessary...

Hard News: The Mega Conspiracy

Russell Brown — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 08:58:00 +1300

Amid the storm of commentary since Friday's Megaupload raids, one issue has been oddly absent: what about the customers, paying or otherwise, who use the site for its ostensible purpose -- as an online locker for files they own or are permitted to copy? What if Kanye, Will.I.Am and Snoop Dogg had some choice beats stashed away -- as they imply in the video for The Megaupload Song?
Well, they'd be out of luck. On the basis of untested allegations about the activities of what in the FBI indictment that formed the legal basis for the raids calls "the Mega...

Capture: Big Day Over and Out.

Thanks Big Day Out
I wasn't planning to go to this year's BDO, until it was announced this would be the last. Some suggested I was being sucked in, but who cares, I was there, and it was... pretty good.
There'll be plenty of post mortems elsewhere, so this is just a few captures from the day, in the hope others will dig up their photographic memories of this or previous BDOs to share.
Capture away.

Hard News: #BDOMemories

Russell Brown — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:15:00 +1300

Did the Big Day Out promoters announce that Friday's show would be the last in Auckland in an attempt to juice up flagging sales? Of course they did. And fair enough. There will actually be people who'll want to buy tickets for the show because there won't be another one like it. That's okay.
I do also believe that it really is the end. The brand is over in New Zealand. So it's worth looking back at what this event has been for us.
I wrote a feature for Unlimited about the business of the Big Day Out in 2000...