Andrew Orlowski

Collected Journalism

Tag: Techno utopians

  • “A country bumpkin approach to slinging generalizations around”

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    Anderson plagiarism

    WiReD magazine Editor-in-Chief Chris Anderson has copped to lifting chunks of material for his second book Free from Wikipedia and other sources without credit. But it could be about to get a lot worse.

    In addition to the Wikipedia cut’n’pastes, Anderson appears to have lifted passages from several other texts too. And in a quite surreal twist, we discover that the Long Tail author had left a hard drive backup wide open and unsecured for Google to index, then accused … Read More

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  • Newspapers: David Simon vs Google

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    Google, the nemesis of newspapers, was at the Congress yesterday, to turn a blonde deaf ear to their troubles. The company’s pin-up VP of products Marissa Meyer described quite a bright future to the Senate’s commerce committee – but it’s a bright future for Google, and people with a lot of time fiddling with their computers. Also testifying was creator of The Wire David Simon.

    Let’s contrast how each of them addressed the crisis.

    Meyer said Google’s policy “first and … Read More

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  • Charlie Nesson’s trip

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    L.S.and D.

    Has Charlie Nesson been at the magic mushrooms again? The hippy head of the Berkman Center, the influential New Age techno-utopian think tank that’s attached to Harvard Law School, wants to enlist Radiohead in his fight against the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

    Nesson, a long-time opponent of creator’s digital rights, is contesting the statutory damages in infringement cases. A Boston graduate student called Joel Tenenbaum was ordered to reach a settlement with the record companies after being sued … Read More

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  • WiReD UK: it’s back!

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    There was a surprise in the goodie bag for attendees of WiReD UK’s launch party. Alongside a copy of the launch issue and a Windows game, was a small bottle of Thunderbird – the fortified wine beloved of students and park bench alcoholics.

    Actually – I made the last bit up. There was no Thunderbird. But you’ll need something similar – or maybe stronger – to anaesthetise your synapses after trying to read WiReD. After a 12 year absence, the … Read More

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  • Anderson downgrades Long Tail to Chocolate Teapot status

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    Long Tail

    “The end came quickly,” as authors of morbid weepies like to say. On Monday WiReD magazine editor Chris Anderson effectively admitted game over for his “Long Tail”, the idea he’s been dragging so lucratively around the conference circuit for the past four years. In as many words, he downgraded it from “the future of business” to something that’s, er, not very helpful for your business at all.

    “I’ll end by conceding a point: It’s hard to make money in the … Read More

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  • The BBC’s Tragic Twitterers

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    Rory Celland Jones

    Here’s a conundrum. Top Media People want to come out of the shadows and get “closer to their listeners” – it’s what the Web 2.0 people urge them to do. BBC people in particular are obsessed with being seen to be bossy or “out-of-touch” – especially since three out of four license payers have a gripe with the corporation.

    But the more of themselves media people reveal, the more the public sees them as clueless, self-referential and narcissistic bunch so … Read More

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