[Web] Rappler: The Fluffy News Site

When independent news agency Rappler first came along, I had to admit I was rather curious about the whole thing. I mean come one, here we had a group that was directly associated with any of our traditional media outlets trying to be some sort of new voice in local journalism. Plus you have Maria Ressa as the site's CEO and Executive Editor, which has a certain degree of pull for folks who care about where their news comes from. I love her, but it's not like she proofreads all the articles and videos that the site releases.

With Rappler being the supposed social version of a news site, it frustrates me even more what a horrible user experience the site presents. A lot of the social features that the site is proud of really don't serve serious news readers. And thus it ends up feeling like it's overloaded with too many gimmicks.

You know it's bad that when you first arrive on the site, you pretty much get the image above - a glimpse of a headline and then that huge box for today's highlights. And don't be surprised - every day the Editor's Pick is most likely going to be the daily Rappler newscast. Go figure.

So let's discuss why this and many other site features are counter-productive for a news reader.

[Metro] Is Kylie Minogue Really Coming to Manila? (CONFIRMED!)

Last Updated - May 2, 2011

Update 05.02.11 - Kylie.com has finally confirmed the concert date in Manila - although I'm not too happy with the results. The concert has been scheduled for Tuesday, July 5, 2011. Ugh, it's a week night concert! Tuesday, of all days. Personally, I can only hope that I can get out of work for the night, plus the need to actually afford the tickets.

Good luck to all of us Kylie fans! Tickets officially go on sale by May 6!

Original post follows:

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Admittedly, I'm a huge Kylie Minogue fan. In fact, I dedicated a rather lengthy Technicolor Musings post to discussing her role in my life as a gay man, metaphorically speaking of course. And yes, watching a live Kylie Minogue concert together with my partner remains to be one of the big ticket items on my bucket list.

Recently news has broken out in the local part of the social network world that Kylie has confirmed that she'll be coming to Manila this July - which is pretty exciting news indeed.

If it's true. And that's where the trouble lies at this point.

So let's remain calm for a moment here and try digging past the social media hype to validate whether this is true or not. I promise to update this post with more accurate information should it come along as well.

[Digg] The Digg Revolt of 2007

Yesterday (GMT+8), something wonderful/horrible happened. People Power, cyberspace style.

Wow.

In what is undoubtedly a landmark in social news, the Digg Revolt has forced Digg to bring back Dugged items that were taken down due to a cease-and-desist order by the Advanced Access Content System (AACS).

The said letter had called on Digg to delete items that contained a sixteen digit hex code that can be used to decrypt AACS-encrypted HD DVDs. The Digg CEO had explained the reason for the take down.

Not accepting the explanation (and due to the unpopularity of DRM in general), bloggers and Diggers had continued blogging and digging the hex code, to the point that the Digg system was almost threatened by shutdown due to a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack. It was a clear message to Digg.

The Diggers have spoken. The founder of Digg has heeded the Diggers' call.

Implications:
1. It is hard to balance free speech with copyright laws.
2. Censorship does not really work, specially in these times.
3. A Web 2.0 app can be taken down by a DDoS, just like any other Web site.
4. There is a thin line that divides legitimate dissent and a simple DDoS.

My View:
Digg could have saved itself the trouble. The AACS key in question applies only to older HD DVDs. Newer ones can have new encryption keys. Besides, if someone can encrypt, another one can decrypt.

DRM is really a contentious issue. It all boils down on how a digital property is used. And the hex code is not the end of the controversy.

(Crossposted here.)