Micropatron gifts (L@@K L@@K)

Grok Headline matches for Micropatron gifts (L@@K L@@K)

I'm a Kottke.org micropatron

I'm a Kottke.org micropatron 03/14/2005 05:58 PM
On Tuesday, Jason Kottke announced that he was devoting himself full-time to working on maintaining his weblog, and asking for his readers to support him financially so he could do so. There was, of course, a lot of attention and a lot of discussion, since Jason is arguably the most...

Micropatron follow-up report: how things
went

Micropatron follow-up report: how things
went 04/10/2005 12:56 PM

People have been asking and I have been promising, so here it is: the "how the kottke.org micropatron fund drive went" post. And then we shall never speak of it again until, maybe, next February.

(Oh, a quick note about the gift giveaway. I have distributed all the gifts, so if I contacted you about winning one and you wrote back, whatever gift you received should be on its way to you shortly, either via email or snail mail. If you haven't received anything or don't received anything in the next week or so, drop me an email and I'll follow up with the lackabout that's in charge of distributing your particular gift. Thanks!)

Instead of just droning on for many paragraphs about the fund drive, how much I made, the lessons learned, etc., I'm going to show you this graph that sums up the whole thing...and then I'm going to drone on for many paragraphs about the fund drive, how much I made, the lessons learned, etc. etc.

Note: This "graph" is not actually from the data and is not to scale. But the general trends and zones are fairly accurate. Plus, it's kinda purty with the blue there.

(And before we get going, I'd again like to thank everyone who has contributed to the site so far. I really appreciate it.)

So that's how much money came in over the three week fund drive period. As you can see, there was a rush at the beginning (over half of the total amount came in during the first 48 hours), followed by a small-but-steady stream of contributions until the end of the drive. The curve blasted through the "I have to move back in with my parents" barrier within the first few hours and exceeded the point at which I could each something besides ramen noodles for every meal sometime during the second day.

The most I got from any one individual was $500, with a couple more people giving $200 or more. The majority of people gave the suggested amount of $30, which demonstrates the power of suggestion but leaves me wondering what people would have "priced" the site at had they been given no suggested amount. (My guess from the responses is that $30 was artifically high, but not too far off as an average. But that's just a guess.) Four people contributed two cents or less, either as a joke ("here's my two cents") or as the equivalent of leaving your waiter a penny tip for crappy service, but since PayPal takes the first 30 cents of any payment, I didn't see any of it. Two people handed me their contributions in person at SXSW and it was fun to able to thank them in the flesh.

And a bunch of people gave $1-5 each, usually accompanied by a very nice note that said something like they wished they could afford more because they really wanted to support me but money was tight or they were in college or grad school or something like that. Those were my favorite contributions to receive because it shows that there are people out there who value media and think about what kinds of media they want to support financially, even though they may not be able to afford it. And that they chose to support kottke.org makes me feel good about my efforts here. (And also nervous because I feel the need to really kick some ass to put their scarce dollars to good use.)

As I mentioned in my initial post about all this, my goal was to make "about 1/3 to 1/2 of my former yearly salary to support my efforts here for a year" and I very nearly reached that goal, although not quite as you can see from the graph. But it's close enough that I'm not going to worry too much about it and I won't need to supplement my income with any freelance work, which means I can focus on the site full-time, something I'm very pleased about. I probably could have made more had I pushed harder or guilted people into giving a little more to "put me over the top".

Near the end of the drive, a friend commented to me that he was impressed at how restrained I had been in not pimping the fund drive out to the max. A better salesman than I could have made a lot more, I think...maybe even double. (Then again, a better salesman would probably do the whole site differently and I'm not sure it would be quite the same, you know?) But I knew that the regular kottke.org readers would read what I had to say about why their contribution was important to me and the site, consider what it meant to them, and then make a decision...no coercion necessary.

And finally, the answer to the $64,000 question: is this a sustainable business model for independent media on the Web? The short answer is probably no, with a few caveats. I did make enough to support myself for a year, but I'm already worried about next year (if I decide to ask for contributions again at that point) because there's going to be the inevitable drop-off in year-over-year contributions. I think several people who contributed this time around did so as an experiment or as "back payment" for the previous 6-7 years of content and may not be so likely to contribute next time. And some are going to decide it's not worth it to them to keep up their "subscription".

Some who didn't contribute may look at the site's performance over the next year and decide to contribute the second time around, but all things remaining equal, I think the overall amount of contributions for the second year will be 1/2 to 2/3 the first year's amount. However, now that I'm focusing on the site full-time, the traffic will probably increase over the next year, which will add to the pool of available contributors, but it would probably need to increase quite a bit to make up the difference.

Looking at the numbers, less than 1/3 of a percent of my current average monthly unique visitors contributed to kottke.org...that's less than 1 in 300. I expected more than that, but I think it's difficult to "sell" media in an environment where people are increasingly not paying directly for media. Most media is bought for viewers/readers by advertisers, making it either free or much cheaper than it would be. We pay for cable (and most of us are paying for a ton of channels we don't even watch), but NBC is free and they support themselves by advertising to their viewers. Magazines are heavily ad-supported...an issue of Vogue or Wired would probably be $30 if they didn't run ads. Most of the commerical media on the Web is free and supported by banner and text ads. Many movies are subsidized by marketing tie-ins and cross-promotions and movie theatres make their money by getting people into the theatre to munch on popcorn & candy and view the ever-growing amount of ads they show you before the previews (more ads!) start. And those smaller movies that you love because they don't suck like the big Hollywood films? They wouldn't even be made if they weren't subsidized by the Shrek 2s of the world bringing hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide. Plus, when Coke runs an ad on TV or in a magazine, you may not be paying a lot for that show or magazine, but you're probably paying a lot more for that can of Coke.

But anyway, it's all indirect so people don't think too much about it, and so it's difficult, I think, to get people to support media directly (myself included...I certainly don't want to pay $30 an issue for Wired). Difficult, but certainly not impossible.

So and but anyhoo, where does that leave the folks who want to do reader/viewer supported media? Can you actually blog for a living and not plaster ads all over your site? Here are a few suggestions from what I've learned so far:

1. Consider advertising. No, really. If you're ok with the trade-offs involved, it's easier, more stable, and more lucrative. There's a reason media is heavily supported by ads.

2. Think community (or cult of personality). The more investment people have in a site, the more they will be willing to pay for it. There are a lot of people who have been reading kottke.org for a long time (thanks!) and are probably fairly invested in it, but compare that to any of the popular political sites or knitting sites or other topic or event-based sites that intensely involve their readers (through various means) and make them feel as though they are part of a group. kottke.org doesn't have much of a community associated with it or a rabid following and I don't polarize people the way some of the political blogs do, so my "earning power" is limited, but that's not what the site is about. But if you site is about community and/or getting people rallied around a cause or something, you're going to have an easier time raising funds.

3. Be committed to growing traffic. That's not one of my top priorities here[1], but if your primary goal is making money, increasing traffic is the best way to do that. (How? Posting more often is the easiest way. If you can, get Slashdotted...that'll get you more traffic that the front page of the New York Times.) If you're doing something like subscriptions or contributions, you've always got to replace the people that you're going to lose for whatever reason.

4. Keep costs low. Duh. I guess what I mean by this is because you can run most types of blogs from anywhere, if you live in Brazil, the Czech Republic, Malaysia, or India, you're going to have an easier time supporting yourself than if you live in a big city in the US...as long as you have reliable high speed internet access. Bad news for Americans, Japanese, Europeans, and those who live in other places with a high cost of living...unless you're in high school and still living on your parent's dime.

And that's about it for now...that's more than I wanted to write, but once I get rambling... If anyone is interested, the contribution form is still available for use and will be available for the next few months, but I just won't be bothering you about it.

[1] Are you getting the sense that I don't treat this site as a business too much? Good, because I don't. Most of that stuff I wrote above (traffic, the "price" of the site, conversion rates, etc.) doesn't factor into how I think about the site at all. The fund drive was, for me, a fairly uncomfortable undertaking that I would have liked to avoid if I didn't need to support myself financially with it. The day that kottke.org becomes a real business that focuses on profit first (instead of the pseudo-business labor-of-love it is now) is the day the site will probably start to suck[2]. Instead, I'm going to do my best in setting a course I think is favorable for the site and hope that there's a way to support myself with it along the way.

[2] The wiseacres in the back will no doubt exclaim at this point, "start to suck? Ha, you're long past that!"

Quick micropatron gift note

Quick micropatron gift note 03/23/2005 10:23 AM

I've begun the process of informing the winners of the micropatron gifts via email. So if you contributed $30 or more during the fund drive, watch the email address you have listed at PayPal for an email in the next couple of days.

For the rest of you, here's a fun board game that combines Tetris with Go.

Micropatron follow-up report: how things
went (kottke.org)

Micropatron follow-up report: how things
went (kottke.org) 04/11/2005 03:49 AM
Micropatron follow-up report: how things went (kottke.org) .. Jason Kottke's micropatron followup .. updates his readers

kottke.org/05/04/micropatron-report
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Gifts I gave, Gifts I got

Gifts I gave, Gifts I got 12/31/2003 10:54 AM
This holiday edition of Wardriver Wednesday looks at the mobile technology that was found under my Christmas tree this year—both for me and from me. Maybe it will give you some ideas on how to spend any Christmas money you received or gift return cash you acquired.

Like Pixels? Check out MacDesign

"Shopping & Gifts"

"Shopping & Gifts" 06/03/2004 05:04 AM

Birthday gifts

Birthday gifts 04/09/2004 04:02 PM
On birthdays I like to give a gift. If I had a new beta of NetNewsWire to post, I would, but it’s not quite there yet. Instead I’ll just tell you a little about it.

After doing an upgrade just about every month last year, we needed to take a little longer to do a bigger upgrade, to add a bunch of new features.

I’m not going to tell you about all the new features today, but I will talk about two of them. (There are many more... this just scratches the surface.)

Browsing in place

This is perhaps the most-requested feature, the ability to view pages directly in NetNewsWire.

Some notes about this feature...

1. NetNewsWire already uses Web Kit (the Safari HTML renderer) to render item descriptions—in the current version, there is extra code to prevent browsing-in-place from working. So the first step in making this work was to remove code, which is not what you’d normally expect when adding a new feature.

2. NetNewsWire, like many newsreaders, is a hybrid of email/Usenet apps and browsers. This feature is at the very intersection of these two types of applications, which makes it quite a user interface challenge.

3. Even though this feature is requested so often, and even though it’s demonstrably useful, a number of NetNewsWire testers were against having it appear at all. They’re in the camp that says, “Each app should do just one thing and do it well.” I’m in the same camp, by the way—the disagreement comes in when you try to define what “just one thing” is. In the case of newsreaders, it’s increasingly obvious that browsing is part of that “one thing” that a newsreader does. But, just so you know, this feature is an option.

Weblog editor overhaul

The new weblog editor is a 99% re-do. The user interface has been completely redesigned, and most of the under-the-hood code has been rewritten.

There are several goals:

1. Make the weblog editor easier to use and, at the same time, more powerful, with a more intuitive and more aesthetic interface.

2. Fix bugs (things like categories not always showing up).

3. Support more of the special features of various weblog systems (things like image uploading, support for Movable Type and TypePad keywords, etc.).

4. Make the text editor itself more powerful.

5. Add some other new features which I’m going to leave as a surprise for now.

Anyway...

There are lots of other new features to talk about...

But for now I’m just going to get back to work.

Last-Minute Gifts for Dad

Last-Minute Gifts for Dad 06/16/2004 10:02 AM
It's never too late to buy a present when you have the Internet at the ready.

Affordable Gifts

Affordable Gifts 12/17/2004 06:32 PM
In a round-up of affordable holiday gifts, Julio Ojeda-Zapata writes in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, “The iTunes cards, in $15 and $25 denominations, are good for the purchase and download of individual tracks. Get the cards at local Apple retail stores and at Target, Best Buy, Circuit City and CompUSA stores, or snag them online at store.apple.com or Amazon.com. The online Apple store offers paper or electronic gift certificates good for iTunes purchases, too.” [Dec 14]

And speaking of gifts

And speaking of gifts 12/19/2004 03:40 PM
So the most significant change in my technology-related life in the last year is the elimination of spam without a white-list technology. I used to use Mailblocks for my main account, but Marc Perkel convinced me to try his own Bayesian spam filter. I'm on record saying such systems could never work. I was wrong. Marc's system is amazing. I get endless email. His system filters the mail into three boxes -- my inbox, a low probability box, and a high probability box. I have never found a mistake in the high probability box, so I no longer look at it. I very rarely find a mistake in the low probability box, so I scan it about once a week (maybe 1% error). And it is almost fun to get an error in my inbox, reminding me that there still is this problem of spam out there. Anyway, I'm giving Marc's spam filter service to my family for Christmas (no, they don't read my blog). And I'd recommend it to anyone else out there looking for a gift (note, I don't have any financial interest in this). As Marc described to me:

I sell it as a service. I can do it several ways. If someone wants a single email address I can give them a something@marxmail.net account. $25/year. Or I can host their email domain for $95/year. Or I can be a front end spam filter where I clean it and pass it on to their existing email server $75/year.

You can reach him for at this MarxMail address.

Finding tech gifts for less than $50

Finding tech gifts for less than $50 12/23/2003 02:40 AM
Washington Times Dec 23 2003 1:44AM ET

Last Minute Gifts for the Holidays

Last Minute Gifts for the Holidays 07/25/2004 12:54 PM
G4 Tech TV Jul 25 2004 5:07PM GMT

Your Apple/Mac Holiday Gifts

Your Apple/Mac Holiday Gifts 12/25/2004 11:28 PM

Help With High-Tech Gifts

Help With High-Tech Gifts 12/29/2003 04:07 PM
CBS News Dec 29 2003 2:28PM ET

Holiday Gifts for .Mac Members

Holiday Gifts for .Mac Members 12/02/2003 01:36 AM
Apple has announced new benefits for .Mac members, just in time to help you create fantastic Holiday movies. Going Digital with iMovie and iDVD Learn how to create movies with this new training course produced by Apple. It covers everything you need to know including shooting your movie, editing it, getting it online, and sharing it with friends and family. Free Sound Effects from Skywalker Sound These sound effects will spice up any movie, and they're available exclusively to .Mac members via the new Members Only folder of your iDisk. Free Soundtracks from Freeplay Now you can add professional music to your movies with these soundtracks. Encoded in AAC format, and available in your Members Only folder. For more details, visit the .Mac homepage.

IRS to eye intellectual property gifts

IRS to eye intellectual property gifts 12/22/2003 07:40 PM
AP via Seattle Post Intelligencer Dec 22 2003 5:44PM ET

IRS to Eye Intellectual Property Gifts

IRS to Eye Intellectual Property Gifts 12/22/2003 05:24 PM
AP via Newsday Dec 22 2003 4:51PM ET

Christmas Gifts for Geeks

Christmas Gifts for Geeks 12/15/2003 11:43 AM
scottfi writes "The shopping season is just about over and I'm always on the lookout for the cool geek gadget to get friends and family (or myself). What cool ...

Widgets to Consider for Holiday Gifts

Widgets to Consider for Holiday Gifts 12/08/2003 04:47 PM
AP via Daily Press Dec 8 2003 3:03PM ET

U.S. Military Hospitals Flooded With
Gifts (AP)

U.S. Military Hospitals Flooded With
Gifts (AP) 01/01/2005 08:25 AM
AP - For the two principal military hospitals treating American troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, there has been too much of a good thing this holiday season.

I will not write about the Giftmas gifts
I bought

I will not write about the Giftmas gifts
I bought 12/22/2004 12:59 AM
Because there are family members reading this little site now (and have been for a while). However, I will say that I was pleasantly surprised at how "normal" the two retail establishments I visited this evening were. Neither felt crowded, featured those annoying bell ringers, and the checkout lines were minimal. Maybe I should have waited a few more days... :-)...

The MUG update: ideas for last-minute
gifts

The MUG update: ideas for last-minute
gifts 12/22/2004 01:43 AM
Leading off the news at The Macintosh User Group (MUG) Center this week, editor Chuck Joiner notes that the site features a page full of gift ideas for the Mac user in your life. He welcomes additions to the list. You might also find something among the new vendor offers also just added to the site -- the special deals are available only to MUG members, and the additions include offerings from O'Reilly, Micromat, the Apple MUG Store and more.

Man Accused of Stealing Day Care's Gifts
(AP)

Man Accused of Stealing Day Care's Gifts
(AP) 12/24/2004 01:13 PM
AP - A father was charged with burglary and grand theft after he took presents from underneath a day care's Christmas tree, police said.

Dad Tries to Sell Christmas Gifts on
EBay (AP)

Dad Tries to Sell Christmas Gifts on
EBay (AP) 12/25/2004 04:58 PM
AP - The kids were naughty, Dad put the presents on eBay instead of under the tree — and Mom's been crying ever since. Now, even the tree's down.

Teachers' Christmas Gifts Can Be Strange
(AP)

Teachers' Christmas Gifts Can Be Strange
(AP) 12/25/2004 05:14 PM
AP - Middle school teacher ReBecca Kutcher remembers the sixth-grader who gave her a necklace for Christmas with what she thought was a cubic zirconia.

Time to buy your Secret Santa Gifts

Time to buy your Secret Santa Gifts 12/19/2004 03:55 PM
I got the email today about my Secret Santa gift recipient. He's a Blog-Keeping, Mac-Using, iPod-Loving Liberal. And no, it's no one I'm married to; in fact, it's someone I've never even heard of before. So now I have to...

Police: Man Burns Down Home Over No
Gifts (AP)

Police: Man Burns Down Home Over No
Gifts (AP) 12/28/2004 05:07 PM
AP - A man angry that he got no presents for Christmas burned down his parents' house early the next morning, police said.

Flickr Gives Gifts to Pro Account
Holders

Flickr Gives Gifts to Pro Account
Holders 04/19/2005 08:47 AM

Remember when Flickr said they'd reward the people who had bought pro accounts after they were bought by Yahoo? I got an email last night with details:

1. Double what you paid for! Your original 1 year pro account has been doubled to 2 years, and your new expiry date is Nov 22, 2006.

2. More capacity! Now you can upload 2 GB per month.

3. 2 free Pro Accounts to give away to your friends! This won't be activated for a day or two, but when it is, you'll see a note on your home page telling you what to do.

Thanks, Flickr!

Home Page [Flickr]

Christmas Gifts, Food, Arrive at ISS

Christmas Gifts, Food, Arrive at ISS 12/27/2004 05:42 PM
Sci-Tech Today Dec 27 2004 9:05PM GMT

Tech Gifts a Luddite Will Love

Tech Gifts a Luddite Will Love 12/09/2003 06:13 AM
What to buy for the dad who loves movies but still can't program a VCR? Is there any hope for these non-geeky relatives? Check out our techie gift guide for non-techie types. By Katie Dean.

Fun games for kids as holiday gifts

Fun games for kids as holiday gifts 12/04/2003 09:38 AM
SiliconValley.com Dec 4 2003 8:44AM ET

Vodafone plans 10 3G Christmas gifts

Vodafone plans 10 3G Christmas gifts 09/22/2004 02:23 PM
infoSync Sep 22 2004 6:38PM GMT

Gifts.com launches as shopping portal

Gifts.com launches as shopping portal 03/23/2005 12:43 AM
InternetRetailer.com Mar 23 2005 4:54AM GMT

Geek Books as Holiday Gifts

Geek Books as Holiday Gifts 12/19/2004 03:51 PM
Slashdot Dec 19 2004 2:05AM GMT

'Virtual Girlfriend' Demands Gifts (AP)

'Virtual Girlfriend' Demands Gifts (AP) 08/27/2004 01:59 PM
AP - She needs to be coddled with sweet talk and pampered with gifts, but you'll never see her in the flesh. A Hong Kong company has developed a "virtual girlfriend" for new cell phones with video capability.

Gifts for the Gay Heavy Equipment
Operator

Gifts for the Gay Heavy Equipment
Operator 04/19/2004 04:19 AM

amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/listmania/list-browse/-/3PNYYBVH90CKZ/102 -3003204-8996911
track this site | 3 links

Technology makes great gifts for
everyone

Technology makes great gifts for
everyone 12/02/2003 01:49 AM
SiliconValley.com Nov 30 2003 6:32AM ET

Boy Who Lost Foul Ball to Man Gets Gifts
(AP)

Boy Who Lost Foul Ball to Man Gets Gifts
(AP) 06/16/2004 10:05 AM
AP - A 4-year-old boy who lost a foul ball to a not-so-grown-up adult is getting a windfall worthy of a game-winning home run hitter.

BSNL's new year gifts of GPRS, MMS, WAP
to customers in J-K

BSNL's new year gifts of GPRS, MMS, WAP
to customers in J-K 12/29/2004 07:29 AM
Press Trust of India Dec 29 2004 11:44AM GMT
Grok Description matches for Micropatron gifts (L@@K L@@K)
GrokA matches for Micropatron gifts (L@@K L@@K)

BitTorrent is dead. Long live
BitTorrent?

BitTorrent is dead. Long live
BitTorrent? 01/05/2005 01:38 PM
ZDNet Jan 5 2005 5:09PM GMT

Bram: BitTorrent use up, it's not all
warez

Bram: BitTorrent use up, it's not all
warez 01/07/2005 04:41 AM
Cory Doctorow: Bram Cohen, the creator of BitTorrent, notes, "I'd like to point out that although a number of very large BitTorrent-based web sites have been taken down recently, downloads of BitTorrent have only gone down slightly. There's a widespread belief that BitTorrent is used almost exclusively for warez, probably a perception of people who themselves use it almost exclusively for warez, but that impression is simply untrue." Link (via Waxy)

"BitTorrent computer download"

"BitTorrent computer download" 03/27/2005 06:21 PM

Induce hearings video as a Bittorrent
download: QED

Induce hearings video as a Bittorrent
download: QED 07/30/2004 05:06 AM
Orrin Hatch wants to ban P2P networks that are used for music-sharing, claiming that their non-infringing uses are negligible. He even held hearings on his Induce bill to make the point. Video of those hearings are now available on a P2P system called Bittorrent that allows lots of people to simultaneously download large files by portioning out the burden of serving parts of the file to everyone who's trying to get a copy.

Download a copy of the hearings for yourself, participate in the democratic process, and in so doing, prove that their conclusions were utterly bogus. Torrent Link

The BitTorrent P2P file-sharing system

The BitTorrent P2P file-sharing system 12/19/2004 03:20 PM
Analysis Detailed measurement study

The BitTorrent P2P file-sharing system.

The BitTorrent P2P file-sharing system. 12/19/2004 03:32 PM
The Register: The BitTorrent P2P file-sharing system. Now this is interesting; The Register is publishing scientific papers next to regular articles. Maybe there is some hope.

BitTorrent v4.0.1

BitTorrent v4.0.1 03/25/2005 09:08 PM
BitTorrent is a protocol designed for transferring files. It is peer-to-peer in nature, as users connect to each other directly to send and receive portions of the file. However, there is a central server (called a tracker) which coordinates the action of all such peers. The tracker only manages connections, it does not have any knowledge of the contents of the files being distributed, and therefore a large number of users can be supported with relatively limited tracker bandwidth. [Freeware 3.6 MB]

BitTorrent Will Not Go Away

BitTorrent Will Not Go Away 03/17/2005 03:08 AM
There was an article I read in Yahoo News from the Washington Post on BitTorrents. It explains that too many legit uses exist for BitTorrent for the service to be shut down. The MPAA is admitting that there are good and bad uses for BitTorrent and that they will only go after people that are helping users to download illegal movies. It's good to see a mianstream media outlet like the Washington Post understand the real concept and design behind BitTorrents.

This represents a shift from previous practices, in which the MPAA, the Recording Industry Association of America (news - web sites) and other groups have tried to have entire products -- for example, the first Diamond Rio MP3 player or the networked ReplayTV (news - web sites) video recorder -- taken off the market.One reason for this change of heart may be that in BitTorrent, unlike many other file-sharing programs, legitimate use doesn't amount to a token minority. It's central to this program's existence. Developers of versions of the Linux (news - web sites) operating system were some of the first to jump on BitTorrent as a way to ship out vast amounts of data. A Linux distribution can easily span four CD-ROMs; instead, companies such as Red Hat offer BitTorrent downloads of their work.

BitTorrent

BitTorrent 06/09/2004 10:03 PM
The new BitTorrent 3.4.2 for OS X has an all-new GUI that makes it easier to keep track of multiple downloads.

BitTorrent 4.0.1

BitTorrent 4.0.1 04/02/2005 12:57 AM
The key to cheap file distribution.

No - 911 will not be available on
bittorrent - yet

No - 911 will not be available on
bittorrent - yet 05/27/2004 03:10 AM

The Doc Searls Weblog

Doc makes it very clear.  I just liked this story so much - I ran it anyway - but alas - it's true - it was fake....

Panning for gold in the bitstream 

Brian Dear says Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11," which won the Palme D'Or at Cannes, will be distributed via BitTorrent:

In a stunning move, controversial documentary filmmaker Michael Moore announced today that his latest film, "Fahrenheit 9/11", will be released by BitTorrent, the popular peer-to-peer file-sharing network.

From Brian's Denounce.com.

[Later...] Once again, we need to point out that Denounce is a satire site. Hence the name. Here's the disclaimer, from top right on the index page:

Recognized around the world as the best source for completely fictional news and information.

When you're not looking for a reliable, accurate site for industry news, there's only one place to go: Denounce.

All fake. All the time.

Founded in 1980. Eight years before The Onion. Deal with it.

BitTorrent++

BitTorrent++ 06/07/2004 04:32 AM
BT++ Back In Development

Reviving BitTorrent

Reviving BitTorrent 01/06/2005 12:27 AM
CNET Asia Jan 6 2005 4:47AM GMT

The BitTorrent Effect

The BitTorrent Effect 12/28/2004 11:11 PM
Wired News Dec 29 2004 2:44AM GMT

Bittorrent marketplace

Bittorrent marketplace 04/10/2005 12:37 PM
Prodigem, a legal torrent site, has announced a marketplace that will let you upload a file and sell bittorrent access to it. So, if you had, say, a video of your band performing its hit "Download Me, Baby, and Then Why Doncha Set Me Free?" that you wanted to sell, you'd upload it to Prodigem Marketplace and slap a price on it. Prodigem takes 10% plus the PayPal fee and passes the rest on to you. It's DRM-free once you've downloaded it: It's just a file that you can redistribute as you see fit. And they're contemplating an interesting licensing...

BitTorrent for Dummies: On its way

BitTorrent for Dummies: On its way 03/19/2005 03:08 AM
My February 26 post pleading for BitTorrent for Dummies bore fruit. First, Travis Smith pointed me to the project, and then Kris Krug emailed me. Kris is one of the authors of the forthcoming book. One way or another, I'm...

Professional BitTorrent?

Professional BitTorrent? 08/31/2004 04:28 AM
A startup, Atzio, is now claiming that they have the first peer-to-peer internet platform for television, apparently ignoring something like BitTorrent. Of course, the technology can basically be described as... BitTorrent with copy protection (how innovative). Plus, they only allow a select group of clients to seed material on the network, making it less likely that people will bother to download the software to make it possible for all this P2P television distribution. The company's own website, amusingly, claims it's having trouble handling all the traffic from the news of their launch -- which might raise some concerns from a company telling the entertainment industry they can handle the distribution of large files in great demand. Still, you have to wonder how effective this sort of solution is. The whole point of their system is you want more people getting and redistributing the content, but then they throw in this copy protection, which is almost laughable considering the system doesn't work if people aren't copying from you while you're copying from others. Besides, if you're a content producer, why bother paying this startup (and I assume they want money) to put your content on their network, when it's easier to just create a torrent, and get it out there -- where a lot more people already have BitTorrent clients.

BitTorrent 4.0.1 for Mac OS X released.

BitTorrent 4.0.1 for Mac OS X released. 04/02/2005 12:48 AM
MacCentral: Bi tTorrent 4.0.1 for Mac OS X released. I've been beta testing this for a while; it's like the old version but even better.

ABC [Yet Another Bittorrent Client]

ABC [Yet Another Bittorrent Client] 11/06/2003 12:23 PM
ABC [Yet Another Bittorrent Client] Version 2.6 Released!!

BitTorrent t-shirt

BitTorrent t-shirt 06/29/2004 11:31 PM
There's now a BitTorrent t-shirt to complement your Buccaneer-American shirt.

Net-BitTorrent-LibBTT-0.010

Net-BitTorrent-LibBTT-0.010 06/25/2004 12:39 AM

Examining Bittorrent

Examining Bittorrent 12/19/2004 03:51 PM
Slashdot Dec 19 2004 2:12AM GMT

Net-BitTorrent-LibBTT-0.0.8

Net-BitTorrent-LibBTT-0.0.8 06/20/2004 11:55 PM

Everything you ever wanted to know about
BitTorrent

Everything you ever wanted to know about
BitTorrent 07/04/2004 06:59 PM

I have used BitTorrent quite a bit and really like it's performance for those big downloads. If you are not up to speed on BitTorrent this Faq is the place to start. [BitTorrent Faq]

Top Tip: Is BitTorrent dangerous?

Top Tip: Is BitTorrent dangerous? 04/12/2004 02:14 AM
I was intersted in using bittorrent but was afraid it was like Kazzaa and would end up with massive viruses and hackers. Is this true, will this most likly occur?

A new hope for BitTorrent?

A new hope for BitTorrent? 01/05/2005 08:14 AM
Unreleased Exeem could make BitTorrent more lawsuit-resistant, but questions remain.

BitTorrent 3.4.2 (Stable)

BitTorrent 3.4.2 (Stable) 05/15/2004 07:11 AM
A content delivery tool that makes distributing very large files possible.

bittorrent is nice, but...

bittorrent is nice, but... 01/08/2004 08:18 PM

...there's always a 'but' isn't there?

I had attempted to use BitTorrent a couple of times before, but never spent more than a few minutes with it, not enough to understand what was going on. Yesterday night though, I gave it a little more time and some tips from Russ and Matt I could get it going. I had to adjust some settings, such as the bandwidth allocated for uploads, which defaulted at 12 KB/sec and immediately started to suck up my entire upload capability (I set it at 7 KB/sec). I chose a couple of files (three actually) and let it download overnight. This morning, things were well on their way, two files done, the remaining one halfway through. But then it hit me: my transfers are limited!

I have a 4GB transfer limit (as it's common here in Ireland) on my DSL connection. So now I have downloaded, in one day, over 1.5 GB of data, and still have 1 GB to go. Then, there's the uploaded data, which also counts. EEk! By the time the second transfer is finished I will have spent over 75% of my monthly bandwidth allotment. With 60% of the month still to go!

Damn. I want to go back to my good old days of DSL in the Bay Area, where I had a symmetric 768 KB/sec DSL connection, with no transfer limits, at $40 a month. Okay, that's not realistic. :) But on the other hand, until transfer limits are removed (or at least raised) here, I won't be able to do much with BitTorrent. Too bad.

And, btw, this clearly has to have an impact on broadband usage. Forget about BitTorrent specifically, other types of media transfers are also quite heavy, and having that sword hanging over your neck (the sword being whatever they charge per megabyte after you cross the transfer limit) users will be more likely to treat broadband as a kind of always-on modem, rather than as true broadband. Ireland is great, for technology in particular, but it definitely needs some serious improvements to both infrastructure and access to that infrastructure (see my post on mobile handset costs yesterday) to be truly competitive. There's a qualitative jump (both on the supplier and the consumer side of a market) that happens when connectivity is pervasive, always-on, fast, and relatively inexpensive, and Ireland isn't there yet. Here's hoping we won't have to wait much longer.

She Bangs BitTorrent and RSS

She Bangs BitTorrent and RSS 03/06/2004 02:08 AM
I heart BitTorrent. It's a poor man's TiVo! In a single day, I was able to catch up on my Scrubs and Simpsons seasons. Frasier, Friends... they're all here. That, combined with RSS, makes for a wonderful broadband experience. Props to rayg for helping feed my new addiction. Now I can stay abreast of all of William Hung's appearances. Here's to hoping they give him a card in an upcoming GPK release. FWIW, Topps just announced an all-new 2nd series the other day. Too bad they don't have an RSS feed, eh?...

BitTorrent 4.0.1 released

BitTorrent 4.0.1 released 03/27/2005 01:37 PM

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