About Me 0100: Online Money Making Opportunities

7 comments:

Alan Mairson
at 3:03 pm, December 15, 2010

Spot on, Mr. Winer.

My only question: Do you think the Groupon model would work only for *local* news organizations?

Since June 2009, I’ve been championing the idea that National Geographic magazine could organize an international Groupon-like buying club that would equip & empower an army of digital Davids — and give them a reason to join the National Geographic Society.

That is, instead of selling 5 million pairs of eyeballs to Nikon for a magazine advertisement, National Geographic should say to Nikon: “We just polled our members, who are fully networked, and 2,500 of them want to buy a new Nikon D-40 this month. How much per unit if we buy in bulk?”

Members would not only get a great deal. They’d be connected to other people learning to use the same gear AND they’d have a platform where they could contribute their work to the journal-ism of the organization.

You think that could work? Please see:

http://societymatters.org/2010/12/02/opportunity-awaits/

Ted
at 6:00 am, December 16, 2010

It all comes down to that last graf. But it occurs to me more and more that as news organizations still think of themselves as content creators, we’re ill-equipped to execute the next idea, no matter how simple, when going up against startups that take the best ideas and run with them from Step 1.

For example – the Groupon concept was out there before Groupon, and a lot of news organizations were offering half price discounts on any number of items – food, sporting goods, etc. They were on the cusp on executing exactly what Groupon has done.

Except for two things – they were outsourcing almost all of the execution to third parties, and because they were focused on their own localities, usually, they never really pondered the offerings on a larger scale. (Why would they? They were already outsourcing the parts they’d need to execute on a larger scale.)

Seems like we need to move from new business development to new business development. (Easy to say – hard to do.) And until we are more able to do that, we’ll continue to miss the opportunities that might be right in front of our noses.

Tom Crowl
at 10:36 am, December 16, 2010

RE “That’s the question news people never seem to ask. How can we create something that has a market? If they asked that question instead, they would restructure their activity. Because there are things similar to news that have generated huge wealth. Not hidden, in plain sight.”

The Market IS THERE! The problem is that the mechanism hasn’t been there to address the transaction problem.

This problem (which extends also into the political participation sphere especially) is directly linked to neglected scaling issues in this new landscape… and the capabilities required for Commons-oriented transactions in that space… and why that requires a viable, simple and secure MICRO-transaction.

The Commons-dedicated Account Network:

A self-supporting , Commons-owned neutral network of accounts for both political and charitable monetary contribution… which for fundamental reasons of scale must allow a viable micro-transaction (think x-box points for action in the Commons).

(I note that journalism is often a for-profit enterprise and that this presents a complicating factor. I believe this is an addressable issue.)

Re-Igniting the Enlightenment: On Building Landscapes for Decision

http://culturalengineer.blogspot.com/2010/12/re-igniting-enlightenment-on-building.html

LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/in/culturalengineer

At its root, a civilization (or any social organism) is a product of individual and group decisions (ideas+actions) operating within the confines of the physical environment and natural law. we then see culture as the expression of this “social energy”.

Money was developed originally as a technology for the allocation of excess social energy where complexity (and loss of various forms of proximity) required conventions beyond the less formalized methods of a hunter-gatherer group.

I believe this suggest some re-thinking about the nature of money and capital (and capital creation) but that’s another story…

The point here is that the nature of this “social energy” in a scaled organism requires that the exchange of this energy NOT be bound by transaction costs or other complications IN AREAS RELATED TO COMMONS-DEDICATED FUNCTIONS ESPECIALLY…

These particular areas of exchange actually pre-date the need for or existence of the commercial transaction and require special attention.

Paul Spence
at 4:17 pm, December 28, 2010

Most Internet users are way too young now to understand the analogy, but Winer makes a good point – the genie is already out of the bottle. Why isn’t NewsCorp doing due diligence on Groupon?

Trackbacks:

Why a digital first strategy is important
at 3:16 pm, December 15, 2010

Dave Winer has a great analogy about the way News companies are fighting the wrong war.

Why NGS should embrace the Groupon model (cont'd) | Society Matters
at 4:09 pm, December 15, 2010

part of the Nieman Journalism Lab’s preview of 2011, web pioneer Dave Winer hits a note that’s a favorite of ours here at Society

Why did news organizations not build Groupon before Groupon? — YANKEE 2.0
at 6:20 am, December 16, 2010

his “There’s no good place for a new Maginot Line for the news”, he concludes with a line that resonated with me. It seems there’s still time for a philosophy

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Do a search for "zombie" on your video game marketplace of choice and you're bound to find tens of offerings. There are no shortage of opportunities to wipe out the walking dead in the interactive space these days. "Super Stardust" (and its HD descendant) developer Housemarque wants you to think that it makes no difference, there's more than enough reason to push those body counts higher.

Their just-released PlayStation 3-exclusive dual stick shooter "Dead Nation" sure makes a convincing argument.

The Basics

Zombies. They're here. The kind of Here that's everywhere really. The apocalyptic Here. And you're the only person who seems to be immune. Or people, but it makes no difference. It's you and a whole mess of walking dead. There's a story geared around making all of those problems go away, but the thrust of it all is this: hundreds of zombies press their way towards one or two players and only an arsenal's worth of ammunition stands between you and a gruesome Death By Zombie.

The Highs

Strength In Numbers, But Also Variety

The nation of dead is a diverse bunch. Averages Joes and Janes, cops, firemen, soldiers, gangbangers, hospital patients, clowns (complete with amusing re-death noises), Hazmat suit-wearing scientists and horde after horde of skeletal one-shot-kill decomps. Then there are the "special" zombies-- a couple of tanks, a trundling goo zombie (think "Left 4 Dead" boomers, sans vomit), acid-spitting baby zombies (there's your puke), a shrieking behemoth that calls in hordes... all of them there to make your life more difficult.

Guns & Ammo

Fortunately, your arsenal for dealing with this undead cast of thousands is equally diverse. Each level opens up an increasing number of weapons for purchase, all of which can be upgraded in several categories. Mundane options like your starting rifle and the always-handy SMG are soon replaced by wackier offerings, such as a spinning blade-firing cannon and a chain lightning gun. Secondary weapons come in the form of flares, grenades, mines and the like. The more destructive ones will emit a beeping noise that draws in the horde.

Tag-Team

"Dead Nation" supports local and online co-op for two players. The static image cutscenes change to reflect a team effort, but the game is largely unchanged beyond that. Unless you count the increased number of zombies trying to kill you. Co-op adds a lot of strategy and fun to the experience, helping to combat what little repetition there is.

Death By The Numbers

There's also a cool combo scoring system-- as your body count rises, across multiple levels even as long as it's a single sitting, so too does your score multiplier. Let a zombie in close enough to do some damage and the multiplier dips. Each level also has a set of benchmarks that you can beat for even more points. It's all tallied up on a global leaderboard broken down by nation. And fellow Americans, I'm happy to report that we gamers here in the U.S. are the top zombie killers in the world. For now.

A Beautiful Death

The pretty, red (BLOOD red) ribbon that completes this package is the gorgeous presentation. Housemarque did some beautiful things with light and shadow, and sometimes fog, all within a series of gritty, realistic-looking urban environments. The levels are laid out perfectly, mazes made up of exploded vehicles and debris, all of it hiding chests and car trunks (oh yes, open every one you see) filled with money, score multipliers, ammo and armor pieces. The atmosphere is perfect as well, from the effective use of sound to the devilishly designed zombie spawn locations. Be wary of any chest you see at the end of a dark alley.

The Lows

Zombie Overkill?

With the exception of an occasionally wonky camera, the only thing that's really wrong with "Dead Nation" is the zombie focus, and that's entirely subjective. Needless to say, if you feel burnt out on the walking dead, this game isn't for you.

No Online Voice Chat...Yet

At present, there's no way to communicate with other players online. It's a surprising omission, but one that the developers have said is coming via a patch. Unfortunately there's no date for said patch, so if you're looking to pick this up for its online co-op, know that you may need a cell phone if you wanna coordinate.

The Verdict

Housemarque miraculously managed to put a fresh twist on the crush of zombie-killing games by applying the same formula that was so effective for them with "Super Stardust." One could argue that "Call of Duty: Blacks Ops" beat them to the market with its "Dead Ops Arcade" mode, but don't make this mistake of comparing the two as equals. "Dead Nation" is a full 8-10 hour experience with plenty of depth and replay potential. As long as you're not too burnt out on the subject, "Dead Nation" is an exceptional dual stick shooter that every PS3 owner ought to pick up.

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Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Online Money Making Opportunities

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