Who Is Millennium Challenge Corp.?

by | Aug 15, 2009 | CIA, Honduras, Uncategorized

I just read this fascinating report on the narcosphere (Millennium Challenge Corp. poured millions into Honduras in months leading up to putsch) that describes the activities of a US aid entity set up by Bush (the MCC) in Honduras leading up to the coup against President Zelaya.

It’s well known that aid agencies are sometimes used as a front by the CIA for spying and funding regime change activities (such as its involvement with USAID, famously documented in the “Family Jewels” documents, which details a joint USAID–OPS operation concerning training foreign police in bomb-making, sabotage, etc).

Narco raises a lot of interesting questions about the timing, motivation, recipients and utilisation of the funding that MCC sent into Honduras just prior to the coup.

UK Radio Still In Decline Five Years AFTER Digital

by | Aug 12, 2009 | Australian media

I was doing an email interview with a journo this morning about the introduction of digital radio in Australia and I was asked if I thought, as the radio industry is apparently claiming, that the introduction of digital would lead to an increase in radio listenership. I explained that this certainly hasn’t been the experience in the UK, where radio listenership is STILL in decline five years after the introduction of digital.

(source)

I remember a few years ago when the radio industry in Australia wanted the Howard Govt to give them an exclusive license for “digital radio” in return for their investment in the infrastructure to roll out their digital stuff. This had some folks predicting podcasting would be outlawed. Telling the radio folks to go to hell was one of the Howard Govt’s better decisions.

The Post-Mortem on SpiralFrog

by | Aug 12, 2009 | Uncategorized

SpiralFrog was the music industry’s attempt to defeat iTunes. It failed miserably. Here’s a fascinating post-mortem. As a start-up guy who had no funding, these stories of start-ups pissing tens of millions of dollars up against the wall always make me sick. Why do these clowns get so much money? I know what I could achieve with just a single million to spend on my business and to see them waste $26 million just makes me furious.

Anyway, there are some interesting facts in here… such as “in order for a tier-1 account to place ads on a site like SpiralFrog, (it) needed a minimum of 5 million monthly unique (visitors).” Even a start-up with the amount of funding SpiralFrog had, struggled to make money from advertising. They bought their traffic through search engine marketing and had to keep spending to maintain it. Lots of lessons in here.

Read the article:

Inside the short, troubled life of a music start-up | Digital Media – CNET News.

Here’s a 2007 interview with SpiralFrog founder Joe Mohen:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItF7y3knp5E&hl=en&fs=1&]