May 2009
16 posts
We need better Free critics
Mike Masnick rounds up the current crop of half-hearted attacks on Free. Sadly most haven’t bothered to read the articles or book and just imagine what a very bad book on Free might say and then oppose it. Invariably, all land the zinger “After all, every student of economics knows that there’s no such thing as a free lunch.” Hopefully the release of the book in July will...
"Is Free the New Black?"
A CNBC show on Free. Totally incoherent, with people talking past each other, promoting their own companies and themselves and a witless host trying to land zingers and be “provocative”. As I said, a CNBC show.
FTC: you must disclose when you blog about free...
From Gawker: “The FTC is issuing new “guidelines” that tell bloggers that they have to disclose when they’re writing about free crap that companies send them. This is a good rule but mostly unenforceable. Anyone can be a blogger and they’re the softest targets for flacks looking for good reviews. But then again the FTC sent me that t-shirt, so don’t believe a...
New science books to be available Free online
From Slashdot: “Bloomsbury Publishing, best known for the Harry Potter books, has announced a new series of science books that will be available for free online. Bloomsbury thinks they can make enough money off of hard-copy sales to turn a ‘small profit.’ The online version will be covered by a Creative Commons license which allows free non-commercial use. They’ve already...
My comment on P2P Long Tail report
From Epicenter report on P2P research that found a lognormal, not powerlaw distribution of music demand: ““I suspect that says as much about P2P technology as it does about music,” Anderson said. “If just a few people are sharing a file, it makes it harder to find and get.“This research, which looks quite good, suggests that the nature of P2P music is that it follows the lognormal model,” he...
Free ebooks increased physical sales 11%
From Simon Owens: “John Hilton, a doctoral candidate in Instructional Psychology and Technology at Brigham Young University, crunched the numbers to determine whether releasing books through Creative Commons and other methods really does benefit authors and publishers. He found that four titles recently released for free by Random House saw an 11 percent increase in sales in the eight weeks...
Seth Godin on "Too much free"
Seth was one of the first people to really understand the power of free online and remains one of the smartest: “Free online has two distinct elements, then. Breakthrough free, like the first free ebook or the first free email service, and sample-this free, which decreases the cost of trial and lowers boundaries of the spread of an idea. But they shouldn’t be confused. As the market for free...
NYT exec on the problem with charging online
Another good one from PaidContent. Scott Heekin-Canedy, president and GM of the Times Media Group: “The Times has charged for online content twice in the 13-year history of NYTimes.com. There is no doubt that we could convert NYTimes.com to a paid content site, and there is likewise no doubt that it would be greatly diminished as an advertising venue.”
Murdoch creating global team to pursue freemium
The media tycoon wants to explore the premium (paid) side of the freemimum equation across all his content properties. From Paid Content: ‘A month after saying online readers’ dependence on free content is “going to have to change somehow”, News Corp.’s Rupert Murdoch has now “set up a global team, based in New York, London, and Sydney, to create a system for...
Free iPhone apps doing well with ad model
From TechCrunch (good piece; read it all): AdWhirl, an iPhone advertising platform, has released data that suggests the ad model on the iPhone is better than analysts had thought. From the TechCrunch article: “According to co-founder Sam Yam, one of the fundamental flaws in the Pinch Media report is that it assumes that applications only show a single ad impression per user interaction (in...
Dreams of Free electricty for all sank Tesla's...
From the NYT: “In 1901, Nikola Tesla began work on a global system of giant towers meant to relay through the air not only news, stock reports and even pictures but also, unbeknown to investors such as J. Pierpont Morgan, free electricity for one and all….The towers would transmit not only information around the globe, he wrote the financier in July 1903, but also electric power. “I should not...
Coldplay joins the crowd giving away free music at...
From the BBC: “Coldplay are to give away a free CD at every remaining live show in 2009, the band have announced. Starting with the group’s first North American tour date in Florida on 15 May, fans will be given a copy of nine-track album LeftRightLeftRightLeft. The band said the giveaway was meant as a “recession-busting mark of gratitude” to their fans for supporting...
Free Frisbee vs free checking (the $1,500...
A cool MSN Money article on the psychology of different kinds of Free, in this case to offers from competing banks. “The two banks had very different methods of attracting students. One displayed a sign that said “free checking.” The other was handing out Frisbees. My choice was easy. I wanted the Frisbee. (Free checking? How boring.)” Years, later, when she added up the...
Zynga building a $100m business on Freemium games
From Business Week: “The site has annual sales of about $100 million, according to several people close to the company. The site gets some revenue from selling ads, but mostly from the 2% to 10% of users who pay $1 an hour to play premium games or buy virtual goods…..Playdom is the other giant of the space, reportedly generating almost $50 million in revenue. “
Businesses earn goodwill by giving services away...
I’m sitting at a videoshoot with Watts Wacker, who is the feature subject of this USA Today story on giving away services for free in a downturn to earn goodwill that will pay back in better times.
Play Left 4 Dead free for 24 hours
Steam, the fast-growing online delivery system for high-end videogames, is offering the hit zombie game Left 4 Dead free for 24 hours. It’s the whole game, and you can get as far as your skills will take you in a day. After that, you’ve got to pay to continue.
