by Stephen Hume

A medieval gem-cutter once set out to exploit pilgrims viewing holy relics. These relics were so old and fragile -or possibly so phoney -that the faithful could view them only from a distance.

The plan was to sell pilgrims mirrors that would capture reflections of the relics, thus staying with the observer forever. Plague ended the pilgrimage and the gem-cutter was stuck with product but no market.

Then, a brainwave. He’d pay off creditors with revenue from a machine he’d devise to copy manuscripts that required armies of monks.

Johannes Gutenberg’s mechanical printing press produced 3,600 pages in a day where a monk in the scriptorium produced four.

But people didn’t use Gutenberg’s press to reproduce only religious works. They printed philosophy, fiction, political tracts, experiments, observations, dissents, arguments, plays, poems, financial statements and pornography, history and eyewitness accounts of great events.

Gutenberg’s invention shattered the power of feudal lords, reconfigured the global economy, and triggered the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation and the scientific and industrial revolutions.

Read the rest of this article from the Vancouver Sun.

“The internet is a copy machine. At its most foundational level, it copies every action, every character, every thought we make while we ride upon it. In order to send a message from one corner of the internet to another, the protocols of communication demand that the whole message be copied along the way several times.

IT companies make a lot of money selling equipment that facilitates this ceaseless copying. Every bit of data ever produced on any computer is copied somewhere. The digital economy is thus run on a river of copies. Unlike the mass-produced reproductions of the machine age, these copies are not just cheap, they are free.”

Read this article from Kevin Kelly.

“If marketing mavens want to reach younger moviegoers when promoting their films, they need to embrace social networks or risk being ignored.

That was the overall message of Moviegoers 2010, the first report on moviegoing habits produced by Stradella Road, the entertainment marketing firm founded by former New Line Web guru Gordon Paddison that hopes to assist film marketers in determining how to reach consumers over the next decade.”

Read this article from Variety.

“There’s something to be said for face to face contact. But time is short and there’s hell of a lot of people/customers to get to in an ever decreasing 24-hour day. But for those of us, who thrive on knowing who we’re talking to, understanding what people are about or just connecting with others, the answer is here and it’s online video.

Online video viewing and usage is fast becoming one of the fastest growing Internet trends, with Hitwise reporting UK Internet traffic to Video websites has increased by 40.7% over the last 12 months. Websites like YouTube and BBC iPlayer are among the top most popular websites and You Tube alone has 15 hours of video uploaded to its site every minute.

This trend demonstrates that – one, video is now a key component on the online landscape and two; that consumers are using and behaving differently on the web. Where once inaccessible, video is now within their grasp as faster broadband connections have made it easier for audiences to engage with this channel. After all, it’s everyone’s opportunity to 15 minutes of fame. “

Read rest of article from BT Tradespace.

“Garnter says the bridge to the future with social networks will be with roles with origins in the social sciences. Better understanding of the Web will require skill sets more closely aligned with sociology, psychology and other behavioral-centric sciences.”

Read this article from Don E. Sears.

Read this article from Internet-Marketing-Model.

“In pursuit of a paid model for content, many businesses offer newsletters for a fee or ebooks. These models offer pros and cons. Some organizations send out two newsletters: fee and free. The free version has the basic, watered-down contents found in the fee version to entice readers into wanting more and paying for it. But is it worth the time and energy to do this?

Ebooks are also a way for businesses to make money. But do they sell when it’s been proven that people prefer reading printed copy to electronic text? Read on to hear from several experts in the field about what people are willing to pay for and whether or not offering fee-based content is right for your organization.”

This article is from PC World.

“We scoured the Internet to come up with 101 innovative, entirely free downloads and services. Here’s the whole collection.” Read article.

This article is from The Province.

“Growing numbers of American seniors are going online, chipping away at the dominance of 18- to 44-year-olds who comprise half the Web population, according to a study released Wednesday. Since 2005, the population segment that has made the largest online gains in the United States is the 70- to 75-year-old age group, the Washington-based Pew Research Center said.” Read rest of article.

This article is from Dosh Dosh.

“t’s the first month of a new year and at this time I’m itching to start new web ventures both for fun and profit. I usually do up a list of possible startup and site ideas and narrow them down into those with the highest potential. But success depends on execution and not just plans so I tend not to be too hung up about having a complete vision of what I want.” Read rest of article.