Matthew Wall: 'an analogue mind in a digital world'

Does this man know the future of newspapers?

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

David Montgomery, chief executive of Mecom, the European media company, believes newspapers that don't change their business models are doomed. Well, tell us something we don't know, David. The big question is whether tradtional news journalism can survive the new digital landscape in which content has to pay its way.

In my New Media Age interview Montgomery - affectionately known as Rommel to his Private Eye detractors - lays out his vision for the future of newspapers and journalism. 

Is it a vision you share?

Techno Nag

Since when did technology become so naggy?

 

“Tsk, tsk! You haven’t put your seatbelt on…”, scolds Nanny car. “You should be ashamed of yourself…a man in your position with your responsibilities…”.

 

“Ping, ping, ping…the sidelights are still on! Really, you are becoming so forgetful these days. Incipient senility? Too many late nights? You know you shouldn’t have gone to that karaoke bar til 4am…What were you thinking? Are you sure you should be driving at all?”

 

And that’s before you’ve even made it into the house. But don’t expect any respite there.

 

“Bleep, bleep, bleep. Er…I’ve finished now, OK? Your dishes are sparkly clean. You can empty me whenever you like.”

 

“OK, thanks. Be right with you.”

 

“Bleep, bleep, bleep…I said I’ve finished now. Not sure you heard. Feel free to empty me…whenever you’re ready…don’t mean to hassle or anything…”.

 

“Yes, OK. I heard you. Take a chill pill. I’m just doing the SuDoKu….”

 

“Bleep…yes, I see, but the thing is…erm…you’re meant to open the door to let the steam out a bit? Helps the drying process…Just…if you were interested in doing things properly…that is.”

 

“Oh for goodness sake, shut up! I’ve only got a few numbers left and my delaying opening your precious door by a few minutes is unlikely to imperil western civilisation, all right?”

 

“Bleep…sorry I spoke. Just trying to help. Just doing what I was designed to do…”

 

“Oh, now don’t get all huffy on me please! You’re a machine…undoubtedly one of the greatest technological inventions ever…but you’re not my wife, so just drop it will you?”

 

“Bleep”

 

Then I make the schoolboy error of leaving the fridge-freezer door open a fraction of a second longer than I should have.

 

“Bong, bong, bong….Are you trying to kill all the polar bears you selfish git? Don’t you want your daughters to have a planet to grow up in? Shut the door now or we’re all going to DIE!!!”

 

The smoke alarm screams at me when I burn the toast. The computer barks that a ‘.dll’ file is missing but doesn’t think to tell me what to do about it. My mobile keeps whingeing at me to do stuff I already knew I had to do. And the answering machine flashes: “You’ve got messages! Listen to them! Listen to them now! Now I said…you lazy inefficient bastard!!!!”

 

Run. Run out the door. Leave every gadget behind. Go and watch the deer in the park.

 

It’s peaceful there.

NewsHub for newspapers?

Here's my solution for how newspapers could charge for online news content.

They all have to agree to put their news content behind a pay-wall - NewsHub. This means taking it off their existing websites and withdrawing it from the prying eyes of Google's robots. Yes, I know this sounds like heresy, but hear me out.

Readers could then susbscribe to the news content of individual newspapers via NewsHub or select the whole lot plus access to archives for a competitive monthly fee. This would be an immensely powerful research tool that I, for one, would be willing to pay for. It would finally give newspapers a big enough weapon to fend off the might of the taxpayer-funded BBC.

Newspapers would still retain creative control over how their content is displayed and could still benefit from advertising revenue that comes to them via NewsHub traffic. This would leave them free to concentrate on providing, original, added-value content on their branded websites and adopt whatever pay-per-view micropayment solution they fancied. News excerpts would be followed by a NewsHub link to a 'subscribe' page.

At the moment, giving away the crown jewels just isn't sustainable, as everyone acknowledges. And with its newswire tie-ups Google is increasingly stealing web traffic from newspapers. It's time the print media stood up for themselves. Going it alone ain't going to work.  

By working together the quality newspapers can demonstrate that good journalism is worth paying for. Because print, and the culture it embodies, does offer something more than other media can offer: depth. In my view a fair bit of BBC online news is quite perfunctory, coming as it does from a TV tradition. The only people who seem to break stories for the Beeb are former print journalists.

And I'm convinced that newspaper archives are a valuable untapped resource which could be easily exploited online.

This NewsHub idea - which I'm sure other people have thought about - will only work if newspapers co-operate, and that, in this most competitive of markets, is unlikely I have to admit. As David Montgomery, chief executive of Mecom said when I interviewed him recently: "Getting newspapers to co-operate is like herding cats".

But when the Sunday Times makes the first loss in its history, the Guardian continues to lose tens of millions a year, the London Evening Standard goes free, the Observer's future is still in doubt, and the Independent teeters on the edge of oblivion, it's clear something radical has to be done to cope with the digital era.

Cats can be trained. I've seen it with my own eyes. In a circus.

Read this before investing with IAP Global

This is Jim Moore - notorious property tycoon who has left two failed property investment companies behind him and a string of disgruntled investors. If you're thinking of investing with his latest phoenix-like venture, IAP Global, please read my Interactive Investor investigations first: (1), (2), (3) & (4).

 Vince Cable MP tried hard to have the Serious Fraud Office investigate Moore's companies, but it declined citing lack of sufficient evidence to mount a successful prosecution. Several of his unhappy investors would beg to differ and are still doggedly trying to have their day in court.

You have been warned.

Cars go digital on ecodrive

Luis Cilimingras (left) is head of digital strategy for Fiat. He has overseen the Italian motor manufacturer's launch of ecodrive, a USB plug-in application that enables drivers to analyse their driving techniques for fuel efficiency.

A USB stick records data from the engine that can then be uploaded onto computer for the software program to analyse. The data can tell you if you're over-revving, for example, or which type of journey is most fuel inefficient. 

It is yet another example of how the digital and the physical worlds are merging. The new Toyota Prius incorporates a similar 'driving efficiency' disply projected onto the windscreen.

But what struck me when I was interviewing Luis for New Media Age was the use all this collected customer data could be put to - informing future car designs, for example, or even changing the way city planners design roads.

Digital data is a design tool - if only we learn how to use it properly and willingly offer it up.   

A Smarta kind of entrepreneur

Starting up a website offering practical help and advice to small businesses in the teeth of a recession is either brave or foolhardy. But that's what entrepreneur Shaa Wasmund (left), 35, has done with Smarta.com.

She has withdrawn from Brightstation Ventures, the digital media seed capital business she set up with Dan Wagner, to concentrate fully on Smarta.

Her big success was selling MyKindaPlace, the teenage online magazine and social networking site she founded in 2000, to fellow shareholder BSkyB for several million in 2006.

But she hasn't had things all her own way. It was a case of bad timing when she joined Deckchair.com, Bob Geldof's ill-fated travel site, and questionable judgement when she walked away from the MD job Bebo.com not long before it was sold to AOL for $850m in 2008.

Click on the article above to read my New Media Age profile of her.
  

It's not just cricket...

The internet was a godsend for stat-loving cricket fans, and Cricinfo brilliantly exploited the sport's global appeal, rapidly becoming the world largest cricket website under the auspices of Wisden.

Former Cricinfo CEO Tom Gleeson (pictured), a likeable and ubane Zimbabwean with a real passion for the game, oversaw much of the website's impressive growth.

But then Wisden sold it to ESPN, the Disney-owned sports network, for around £30m in 2007 and one can't help feeling that the site lost some of its amateur charm in the process. A business that grew out of love and enthusiasm for the game has now become just another feather in the cap of a global broadcaster and publisher. Whilst interviewing Gleeson (now VP digital media for ESPN's non-US division) for a New Media Age profile I got a sense of that wistful nostalgia for Cricinfo's early days, although he was far too professional to admit it openly, especially in front of his PR minders.

It wouldn't surprise me if Gleeson headed off for pastures new before too long. 

Going for broker

The online sharedealing market has always been hyper-competitive in the UK . Flat rate fees have become the norm and some brokers even offer free dealing from time to time. But without the trade volumes enjoyed by the US brokerage sector, UK brokers were always prey to wafer thin margins. And so Hoodless Brennan's withdrawal from the retail online dealing market comes as little surprise. Sub-£10 dealing fees eventually became unsustainable in a consolidating market where deep pockets and strong brands are a must for survival.

Read my Interactive Investor feature "What is the future for online stockbrokers?" for an analysis of the sector.

Could Britain go bust?

Now I know this may seem like scare-mongering but it is legitimate to ask the 'worst case scenario' question when there are so many unknowns in this financial maelstrom. The government seems to have written a blank cheque to underwrite bank losses when the banks themselves don't even know how big those losses could be. No wonder Vince Cable, the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats and Britain's official Voice of Reason, opposed the asset protection scheme. 

Yes, we've had higher national debt levels before in our history but never before has our consumer-driven economy been so dependent upon easy credit - credit that has dried up. So we're in for the mother of all hangovers, notwithstanding the analgesic of low interest rates. Let's just hope that when we recover - and we will in a year or so - we remember the price we eventually pay for partying hard for too long.

Maybe a period of austerity and asceticism will be good for the nation's soul.

Read my feature Could Britain go bust? to put all the dizzyingly large numbers into context.

Are you two weeks from disaster?

 

This economic downturn is revealing the frailty of our debt-based culture - a culture fostered and nurtured by successive governments keen to keep consumers spending and corporate taxes rolling in. So many of us have got used to living on the never never and relying on rising house prices as a 'get of jail free' card that we've forgotten to save much for a rainy day. Now the debts are being called in, that rainy day is here - literally and figuratively. Recent research shows that some people could only last two weeks on their savings if they lost their jobs or had to give up through ill health. A sobering thought. Read my analysis of the current situation in 'Are you two weeks from disaster?'  on Sky Money.  

Change of email address

Please note that I've change by email address from the 'ntlworld' one to mtpwall AT o2.co.uk. Thanks.

Brown v. Cameron: The Money Stakes

Who will I be better off with: Brown or Cameron? That's the admittedly selfish question many voters will be asking themselves come a general election (presuming Gordon hasn't been deposed in the interim). Grand policy statements on health and education may be important but it's how voters feel about the state of the economy, their personal finances and their employment prospects that really matter. So how to the two stack up?

We've had ten years of Brown as Chancellor, widely perceived to have been a resounding success, and one year of his Prime Ministership, widely perceived to have been a resounding failure. So what is the Labour government doing to mitigate the current economic woes? Would Cameron's rejuvenated Tories perform any better?

Click here for the answers in my feature 'Will You Be Better Off With Brown or Cameron' on Sky Money.

House Price Crash?

Journalists like nothing more than a good crisis. And the current economic situtation fits the bill perfectly. But when we sift the data what are the hard facts that emerge? Is the property market really as bad as it was in the early Nineties when the last crash struck? In some ways it's already worse if you look at the unprecedently small number of mortgage approvals. In other ways - low interest rates, low inflation, reasonably high employment levels - the environment is relatively benign. OK, high food and energy prices are making things decidedly uncomfortable for consumers and we're likely to see an increase in the number of repossessions, but does all this amount to a crash? For a cool-headed survey of all the economic indicators read my feature: 'Are We Set To See Another House Price Crash?' on Sky.com's Money section.

Avoiding the online Del-Boys

Despite all the dire warnings about computer viruses, trojans, malware, spyware, pharming, phishing...you name it...an astonishing 20% of internet shoppers still don't protect their computers properly with a firewall. Talk about asking for trouble. With losses from card-not-present fraud now topping £300 million a year the online fraudsters are clearly moving online in droves now that chip-and-pin cards are making physical fraud more difficult. If you don't protect yourself you could end up another fraud victim. In my latest online shopping Webwise I show you how to get safe, stay safe and shop smart.

Go online and strike gold

Treasure hunting is broad church encompassing the traditional metal detector crew right up to the multi-million pound professional wreck salvage companies. I was amazed to discover just how valuable some of these sunken 17th century Spanish treasure ships were. There's a salty whiff of romance about the subject so even if you're strictly an armchair hunter you can still go online and enjoy the tales of derring do and fabulous discoveries. Click through to my treasure hunting Webwise in the Sunday Times. Pieces of eight.

eBay-shmeBay...

There's more to the world of online auctions than eBay you know. Dominant as it may be, a number of other specialist sites offer better-quality merchandise and lower transaction costs. For a merry romp around the more outre auction rooms have a butcher's at my Webwise feature: Profit from online auctions in the Sunday Times InGear section.

If men are such hypochondriacs why don't they go to the doctor more?

You won't find the answer to this question in my piece on male health screening (Sunday Tmes, InGear), but you will find some practical advice on what health checks are available for free on the NHS and how much a full monty check-up is likely to cost you if you go private.

New Media Age features list

As I've fallen a little behind in my archiving of New Media Age features you can click here for a full list, but if you want to read the full versions you'll have to subscribe...a mere £99 for a whole year's excellent, thoroughly-researched and insightful features exploring the fascinating world of digital marketing. How can you resist?

There's more to Google...

Did you know Google Earth had it's own flight simluator that lets you soar over the Himalayas for free? The uber-search engine contains quite a few extras you might not have come across. Read my Webwise in the Sunday Times to explore some of them.

LoveFilm first past the post?

In the age of the digital download DVDs sent through the post seems quaintly old-fashioned. But it works. Harnessing the research and ordering powering of the internet to real-world proven delivery systems has so far proven a winning formula for DVD-rental business, LOVEFiLM.com. What's it's secret? Read my profile of pugnacious marketing manager Simon Morris in New Media Age magazine. 

Downloads call the tune

Grammy-award winning big-band composer Maria Schneider (not to be confused with her Last Tango in Paris namesake) is just one of many composers and musicians who are marketing themselves directly online. Artists are enjoying the creative control this gives them and the potential to reach a new, global audience. The internet means that composers specialising in niche genres, such as big-band jazz or avant garde, can still put their work out there and find fans. But does this cutting out of the middleman mean the death of the record label? Hardly. Marketing is still marketing whatever the medium and it's hard work. The most successful 'direct-to-fan' composers are those who have already built up a core fanbase through previous label releases and live performances. Find out more about who's doing what in this field in my feature 'Downloads Call the Tune' in the Sunday Times Music section.

A Google for the property market?

A new property search engine, Globrix, aims to become the place where people look for properties online. It has several advantages. Firstly, it does not carry content itself like an ordinary property portal but 'scrapes' the data from estate agents' websites then redirects users back to those sites once they've clicked on a property. This means that it should be able to list all the properties advertised online in the UK rather than just those from participating agents. Secondly, its search facility is sophisticated, allowing house hunters to be very specific about what they are looking for - homes near railway stations, for example, or with pools. Globrix has the added advantage of having a few million quid in its back pocket courtesy of News International. But it aims to be funded entirely by advertising, and that's where the risk lies. Launching in the teeth of a severe house price slowdown is unfortunate as estate agents are likely to reduce online advertising budgets in 2008. Let's hope Globrix survives because consumers could certainly do with a comprehensive property search engine that works. Click here to read my profile of Globrix founder, Daniel Lee, in New Media Age magazine.

Digital switch off?

Lots of us still haven't a clue about digital switchover apparently and face the prospect of our TV screens going blank over the next few years as the analogue signal is switched off region by region. Even if you have cable, satellite or freeview sorted out for your main TV set, what about your other sets? Despite what the electrical retailers might tell you do you really need to buy a megascreen plasma high-definition digital TV to get digital TV? Will you need a new TV aerial? And how about recording? Will your old VHS recorder be able to handle digital TV? For answers to all these questions and tips on how to prepare for switchover before it comes to your region, read my Webwise feature in the Sunday Times.

Teenage Angst

Print mags are so last century for modern teens. These days they talk gibberish and flaunt themselves on social networking sites instead. If they want gossipy and salacious content they can find it all online. Newsstand teen mag sales have been imploding as a result. How are the big publishing companies responding? So far they seem to be trying to replicate the print formula online with little success. Duh. Kids don't read stuff online. They watch videos, post photos, write badly-spelled grunty sentences to each other. They interact. Some enlightened media companies are beginning to catch on (Dennis Publishing's 'Monkey'; and Hachette Filipacchi's 'Sugar' social networking application, for example). But it's a tough market and not for the faint-hearted. Read my analysis in New Media Age magazine here.

Who's first with the news?

Google's decision to host news agency copy on its Google News service has brought it directly into competition with other news content providers for the first time. What are the implications of such a move? Read all about it here.

Not-so-Cheapflights

So what is flights comparison website Cheapflights going to do? Partial or total flotation? Flog itself to the highest bidder? Hugo Burge, vice chairman and head of international, is keeping schtum for the timebeing. Some speculative hacks have given the private company a potential valuation of £300 million. It is certainly profitable and heading for £25 million in sales for 2007, with a successful US business under its belt and European expansion plans to boot. So why does Hugo want out? Read all about it in my New Media Age profile of this gentleman entrepreneur.   

Life's a game

Recently I've been submerging myself in the curious world of 'massively multiplayer online games' (MMOGs) and roleplaying virtual worlds. One of the pleasing aspects of all this, given the relentless commercialisation of the web, has been the stubborn resistance most gamers have shown to advertisers. Most players of successful MMOGs, such as World of Warcraft and Runescape, pay by subscription. Adverts would be a grotesque intrusion into such fanstasy scenarios and fiercely resisted by fastidious gamers. As a rule, Wizards don't wear Nike trainers. This has left the marketing bods scratching their heads. But, as increased broadband penetration accelerates the spread of MMOGs and virtual worlds, new opportunities are opening up for the money meisters.

For an exploration of how they are infiltrating this world and a look at how gaming might develop in the future, read my features In-Game Advertising in new Media Age magazine and Gaming in NMA Futures. 

Watch out for WebKinz!

Games and virtual worlds are being aimed at pre-teen kids with chilling surgical precision. And they are spreading their influence like a subterranean fungus. Parents, be afraid. Be very afraid. If you don't believe me have a look at my latest analysis of the phenomenon in the Guardian Technology section. These sites are Big Business. Disney recently forked out £345 million for Club Penguin, a site so popular it doesn't even need to take any advertising to be commercially successful.

Another fast-growing site is WebKinz from Canadian toy and gift manufacturer Ganz. You buy a fluffy toy then enter its code into the website to create a virtual version of the cutesy critter. A year down the line the account is closed unless you buy another real-world toy from a store. Genius.

The main concern is that kids as young as six are being commercialised within these environments. They earn reward points and virtual cash if they visit the sites frequently, play the games and conscientiously look after their virtual pets.

Personally, I find it all rather insidious. You make up your own minds.

Parlez-vous l'internet?

This article in the Sunday Times about learning a language online took me me far longer than it should have done because it was such fun to research. Some of these programs are so good - combining audio, video and interactivity - that learning a new language becomes an addictive pleasure rather than a monotonous chore. I urge you all to get online and get learning!

Beta minus for BBC's iPlayer

Has anyone managed to make the BBC's iPlayer broadband TV software work yet? I know it's only a 'beta' version but the Corporation should not have launched iPlayer with such a hoohah until they were confident the software was reasonably robust. It isn't. It's flakey. It's annoying. It doesn't work.

I registered and downloaded the iPlayer and iPlayer Library software as it asked me to but have so far not managed to download a single programme.

When I press the 'download' button it just tells me that I have to download the Library software first. Er...I have. Why can't it recognise that?

Well, along with hundreds of other frustrated testers, judging from the iPlayer messageboards, I keep getting 'Delivery Manager Service' error messages from Microsoft. The offending program is 'KService.exe'. Even after turning off all my antivirus, filtering and firewall software it still doesn't work.

Many beta testers have given up and uninstalled iPlayer in disgust. Once I did manage to start the download but then couldn't open the Library program to check progress. Nothing happened.

In any case, leaving aside frustrating software gremlins, who can sacrifice large chunks of their broadband capacity downloading gigabytes of data just so they can watch a re-run of Holby City on a small screen in an environment that is rarely as comfortable as sitting on the sofa in front of the TV? What evidence is there that viewers actually want this type of service?

And I'm with the open-source zealots on this one. Why did the BBC get into bed so wantonly with Microsoft (the iPlayer will only work with Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Media Player 11)? Using license-payers' money to back one dominant commercial partner is surely contrary to its Charter? And what about Mac users? The BBC has a principle of universality to uphold - its services should be accessible to all. The iPlayer clearly fails to do this. Surely the iPlayer should be completely platform-neutral?

Another concern is that applicants must be at least 16 to sign up to the iPlayer but there is nothing to establish whether people are telling the truth during the registration process (establishing online identity is still the main problem for the internet in my view). This leaves open the possibility that young children could sign up to iPlayer unbeknownst to their parents and watch unsuitable content, again a clear breach of the BBC's duty of care as a responsible public sector broadcaster. Watershed? What watershed?

So it's a beta minus for the BBC's beta iPlayer. It needs to get much better - and quickly - before the BBC suffers even more damage to its increasingly battered reputation.