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fieldnotes

  1. November 22nd, 2009
    Advertising, like tourism, tends to kill the thing it loves over time because it suffers from tragedy of the commons effects … and its usual response to the lessening impact of Ads is to increase the volume. Which upsets more people….
  2. November 22nd, 2009
    Our blogs are already affiliated-linked up to the eyeballs, our TV shows are product-placed to hell, radio has succumbed to payola, even our schools are brought to you by the letters COCA COL and A. Human conversation is the last area of communication to hold out against the relentless march of commercialisation and it’s our duty, as humans, to make sure it stays that way. So, screw consensus. And shame on me for starting to lean towards it yesterday. Give me ad-free conversation, or give me death.
  3. November 19th, 2009
    Check out pictures from our annual Betaday09!

    Check out pictures from our annual Betaday09!

  4. October 26th, 2009

    Looking for a Flash Developer

    betaworks is looking for a Flash Developer for some contract work.  Please email jessica @ betaworks.com.

  5. October 14th, 2009
    Existing search engines (which thought of themselves as portals) believed that search quality wasn’t very important (regular people can’t tell the difference), and that search wasn’t very valuable anyway, since it sends people away from your site. Google’s success came in large part from recognizing that others were wrong on both points.
  6. October 8th, 2009
    Social media doesn’t mean the death of TV advertising, but it does place it into context. Broadcast is a powerful medium for rapidly raising awareness, but the reality of media fragmentation means that to get real engagement requires your customers to do the distribution for you. And that, quite frankly, is not easy. The trick of turning audiences into advocates requires more than just savvy media planning or bribing people with free iPods.
  7. October 8th, 2009
    So there I was standing on stage in front of 700 of my peers. I’d spent the last two days preparing for the presentation. I’d spent the last week getting our software ready to show. I’d spent the last 4 months and my life savings to build a company. I’d spent the last decade trying and failing and learning and saving to get this chance, and I had about a 50% of getting up on stage and having everything I’d worked for blow up in my face.
    Ryan Janssen, in a great story about preparing for the first live demo of Set Jam
  8. October 5th, 2009
    mikehudack:

chetgulland:
She pulled it out of her purse, pushed a button, and there was WiFi

    mikehudack:

    chetgulland:

    She pulled it out of her purse, pushed a button, and there was WiFi
  9. October 2nd, 2009
    The ‘Net always wears the corporate-welfare incumbents down eventually. And last generation never understand that Open Dimes replace Closed Dollars until it’s way too late.
  10. September 23rd, 2009

    Ship it good.

    betashop:

    If you’ve got an idea

    You must ship it.

    When a problem comes along

    You must ship it.

    Don’t know what to do?

    You must ship it.

    When somethings going wrong

    You must ship it.

    Now ship it.

    Into shape.

    Shape it up.

    Get straight.

    Go forward.

    Move ahead.

    Try to detect it.

    Its not too late.

    To ship it.


    Ship it good.

    When a good time turns around

    You must ship it.

    You will never live it down

    Unless you ship it.

    No one gets away

    Until they ship it.


    I say ship it

    Ship it good.


    I say ship it

    Ship it good.

    When a problem comes along
    You must ship it
    Before the cream sits out too long
    You must ship it
    When somethings going wrong
    You must ship it

    Now ship it
    Into shape
    Shape it up
    Get straight
    Go forward
    Move ahead
    Try to detect it
    Its not too late
    To ship it
    Into shape
    Shape it up
    Get straight
    Go forward
    Move ahead
    Try to detect it
    Its not too late
    To ship it


    Ship it good!