“The View From the Phlipside” is a media commentary program airing on WRFA-LP, Jamestown NY. It can be heard Monday through Friday around 7:30 AM. The following are scripts which may not exactly match the aired version of the program. Mostly because the host may suddenly choose to add or subtract words at a moment’s notice. WRFA-LP is not responsible for any such silliness or the opinions expressed. You can listen to a live stream of WRFA or find a podcast of this program at wrfalp.com. Copyright 2013-18 by Jay Phillippi. All Rights Reserved. You like what you see and hear? Drop me a line and we can talk.
Programs from the week of October 21, 2018
This Week’s Podcast
My name is Jay Phillippi and I’ve spent my life in and around the media. TV, radio, the movies and more. I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View from the Phlipside.
Return of An Old Friend
One of the great joys of the digital media age is that there are so many more sources of media. The problem is that one of the great problems of the digital media age is that there are so many sources of media! Even worse is that they all seem to require a different piece of technology or software to access. Now you spend all your time juggling between applications and boxes, instead of enjoying the media that is available.
We’re going through that right now as the cord cutting movement takes us into the OTT and streaming video age. Which boxes do you need to get which channels, feeds, stream and services? It’s not new though. We’ve been living with many of those same issues if you’re into music and other forms of audio entertainment. About the time I think I’ve found something that I like, another option shows up that doesn’t play well with what I have. It’s frustrating.
So I read with interest that an old friend may be coming back with the intent to solve this very problem. Back in the day, if you asked your favorite digital audio geek friend for a recommendation of which software application to use, my bet is that in the first three or four suggestions would be Winamp. Originally released in 1997, the media player was very popular because of its customizability. It developed a dedicated fan base. Later owners didn’t manage to maintain the quality when Winamp 2 or 3 was released in the early 2000’s. Apple’s iTunes put a further dent into the popularity of the application.
Well, according to a recent press release, 2019 will see a brand new all-encompassing version launch. Winamp 6 is reaching for the stars. The promise is that it will offer a “…complete listening experience”, covering audio files you have on your home computer, plus podcasts, files in the cloud, streaming radio stations, even customized playlists. ALL your audio, no matter where you get it from. Plus it would be built with both mobile and desktop in mind so that it would be one stop listening, no matter where you are.
There are still questions about how they intend to make all this magic happen. Accessing all the different forms through a single access point is an enormous task.
If they can make sure it’s secure and easy to setup and use, it could be a game changer. It could bring a little order to the jumble of modern media life.
Facebook Dumpster Fire
I swear to you, I keep expecting things to get better for Facebook. With each story about how things continue to burn in the dumpster fire that has been 2018 for the social media monster, I’m sure that it will be the last one. Sadly, the opposite is happening. The bad news is increasing and I’m having to touch on multiple mishaps.
There is a new lawsuit adding fuel to this fire. Advertisers who use the platform are suing Facebook because the company inflated the numbers on how long users pay attention to video. A couple years ago, there was a lot of talk about a “pivot to video”. The idea was that since viewers spent so much time watching videos, that’s where the advertising dollars should go. The average user was watching more videos for longer. Turns out that Facebook had played with the numbers. In simplest terms, they eliminated all the shortest views (those under three seconds). Now they admit they may have “miscalculated” by up to 80%. The lawsuit finds that number laughably low, putting the miss between 150 and 900%.
It’s not just advertisers who may have been played in all this. Publishing platforms like news outlets may have invested a lot of time and money into content that was never going to recoup the costs.
Speaking of ads, it appears that spam advertising may have been the cause of the huge data breach that was also revealed recently. This despite the ongoing assurances by the platform that they are working diligently to cleanse themselves of these unclear spirits.
All of which is certain to a significant part of the foundation of a move by major investors to shove Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to the sidelines. Investing groups representing several states, retirement funds and major asset management companies that own some big dollar pieces of Facebook stock, have filed a proposal to create a new, independent chairman for the company. They state that given the size of the presence in our national life filled by Facebook, it can’t be any one man’s vision leading the way. A chairman should be tasked with protecting the best interests of the shareholders, the users and our national interests.
It’s a tough sell since the Big Z is still the majority shareholder and controls the board. As I’ve been saying for awhile, there are serious questions lurking about how this behemoth is being run.
You have to wonder how much bigger the dumpster fire can get before it burns itself to the ground.
Blockchain and Journalism
I am about to bite off way more than I can chew in this short program. So I beg forgiveness in advance for some very simplistic definitions. Feel free to fill in after I’m done.
The future of journalism has been a recurring topic here for years. One exciting new possibility is bring blockchain technology, the foundation of the modern digital money called cryptocurrency, to journalism. OK, simplistic definition of blockchain. Think of it as a public record that is checked and verified by many different people before it is permitted to be made permanent. Anything from monetary values to information can be stored on a blockchain. The advantage is that once the whatever is included, it is virtually hackproof by anyone.
I’m pretty sure I’ve touched on the concept before. A company called “Civil Media” is trying to bring blockchain and cryptocurrency to the journalistic world as a way to raise funds for the support of the reporting and as a way of restoring trust in the journalism being done.
The goal was to sell digital currency. The technical name for that is “cryptocurrency”, which is based, again, on blockchain technology and is protected through the use of cryptographic code, which makes it more secure. The best known cryptocurrency is called Bitcoin, which you have probably at least heard of. Civil Media’s cryptocurrency goes by initials, CVL. When you buy CVL, you are A: Making an investment, just like buying stocks or bonds, B: Investing in journalism startups, and C: Getting the ability to vote on the quality of the work being done by the startups.
That all sounds pretty complicated, and the ICO, or initial coin offering, by Civil Media didn’t live up to projections. The goal was $8 million, and the deadline figure last week only came to $1.4 million. That’s the bad news. Investors will be given several options, including moving their investment to a new, and simpler, offering coming later this year.
The good news is that Civil Media has already made agreements with 14 newsrooms to receive funding under this system. And those newsrooms, along with four new additions, will be getting a second round of funding in advance of the second ICO. Forbes has also agreed to experiment with the system. All of that is very good news indeed.
All of which creates the opportunity for an exciting future for journalism and the vitally important role it serves in our free society.
And that is very good news indeed.
Call that the View From the Phlipside
Copyright Jay Phillippi, 2018
Theme music for “The View From the Phlipside” and “TVFTP – Podcast” is “Hustle”
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
Stories Are My Life 
Thank you so much for sharing. Keep updating your blog. It will very useful to the many users. F5 LTM Training | F5 ASM Training | Wireshark Training
LikeLike