Tempi duri per l’informazione

Un mese fa, il Financial Times pubblicava un articolo (che riscopro grazie a una segnalazione del formidabile David Isen) dal titolo “Market failure in the Media sector“:

“The market failure of the entire information sector is one of the fundamental trends of our time, with far-reaching long-term effects, and it is happening right in front of our eyes”

Parole grosse, ma l’informazione costa e nessuno la vuole più pagare. L’articolo in chiusura suggerisce che i governi dovrebbero aiutare la diversificazione delle proprie economie, ma teme che invece sceglieranno di intervenire pesantemente “regolando” il settore dell’informazione. Insomma, mala tempora.

Lo spettacolare post di Jeneanne su PhoneCon 1876, in cui si invita alla conferenza sull’uso del telefono, ha provocato un’onda di commenti, alcuni spassosissimi. Tra tutti quello più gustoso è quello di Marek (#5), che ti riporto per intero:

“Sorry, this may be not the place to post a newbie question but I just recently got myself a phone and I started picking it up and talking to it. I have gotten good at reaching for it every time I want to phone and I am picking it up several times a day.

Some of my friends even mentioned to me that they saw my picking it up and talking to it and they even told some of their friends, so more and more people know about my Telephone.

However I just found out that some Telephone People actually put the phone to their ear to listen and they don’t even talk to it. Do I operate my phone incorrectly? I never picked it up to Listen. I only pick it up to Talk. Is Listing an important part of Phoning? How do I configure my Phone for Listening?

I didn’t know that Phone Listening was also part of Phoning. I thought this was all about Phone Talking. Maybe I have a wrong version of the phone. Should I upgrade to a new Phone? Please Help. I am new at this.”

Invece Kevin Marks è andato a scavare nell’affascinante storia del telefono, e ha scoperto che attorno a questo nuovo oggetto circolavano le più strampalate idee commerciali: tipo vendere musica on-demand via telefono.