What the hell have I been doing?

I have been completely derelict in my writing responsibilities with respect to this blog. In my own defense, I've been working on a lot of different things, including a new gig, starting a creative agency (http://www.shadowpropaganda.com), specializing in strategic and non-traditional marketing, writing ANOTHER blog (http://www.stephenchukumba.wordpress.com), planning, attending and moderating panels at conferences across the country (and overseas), and generally being bout-it bout-it.

But, I recognize that I have a duty to keep the content flowing, so I return, after my extended hiatus, and re-engage.

What's been going on? Well, since I last posted up, Apple released the iPhone 3G (which I resisted getting) the new MacBook (with the aluminum casing like the Pro) and the MacBook Pro, both of which include many of the features contained in the Air (like the multi-touch track pad). I've got to cop at least one of these bad boys.

There have been a number of handsets released featuring Google's Android operating system, and the industry is a flutter with excitement over it. T-Mobile released the G1, and the reviews so far have been quite positive. Whether any of these new devices will unseat Apple's iPhone remains to be seen.

Verizon Wireless tried to increase its rates for SMS on its networks, only to beat a hasty retreat in the face of a malestrom of criticism and alarm. It was, to say the least, a public relations nightmare, and still signals the end-of-days for content providers and aggregators relying solely on premium SMS as a revenue source.

W-A-P. Get with it, its the wave of the future. WAP will enable content providers to monetize their content withouth the carriers taking 40-60% of the puchase price away. With the number of smart phones capable of seamless m-commerce transactions on the mobile web growing from 15% to over 65% by the year 2012, carriers will have little option but to decrease their percentage take, or risk being foreclosed permanantly from the premium content market.

The stock market rollercoaster ride and the presidential election are the two really big things that have taken place in my absence. Obama won the Democratic nomination, and McCain the Republican. Obama selected Joe Biden as his VP, while McCain selected a political novice, Sarah Palin. Currently, Obama has a seven point lead nationally, but if the Bradley effect comes into play, that lead may be meaningless. November 4th is not far away, we'll see.

That's about it for now.

Its Now or Never

I've been intending to put my thoughts down for years.  After several aborted starts, I've committed myself to sitting at this computer daily, and really pushing this agenda forward.  

Some background is appropriate.  I am a former attorney who has been in the entertainment/media/technology space for as long as I can remember.  In my youth, I used to hang out backstage at concerts with Nas, Biz Markie, Mary  J. Blige, Special Ed, A Tribe Called Quest, and countless others.  I'm sure none of these people, if pressed would have recalled meeting or even seeing me at any of the D.C. haunts, where they made their bones before hitting superstardom, but that's not my point.

I've worked on cybersquatting cases, filed a lawsuit against Funkmaster Flex, beta tested Russell Simmons' Global Grind, developed media delivery kiosks with Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center and created digital distribution platforms with software developers from Australia (and this is really a top-of-the-dome recollection of some of the things I have done or been involved with).

I offer that to show that my opinions (and those I will offer in the future) are grounded in experience.  A lot of bloggers, reporters (and really  people generally) will give their two-cents from a particularly detached perspective, leaving the reader no wiser.  My hope is that anyone reading my blog or anything else published by me is singularly informed, and can practically apply what they read about.

Most of what you'll read here will be about things that I am actually doing (to the extent that its not covered by some oppressive NDA), and/or things that are of particular interest to me.  You'll find, though, that I regularly interact with some of the most influential (and/or up-and-coming) personalities and businesses in the digital, technology and new media spaces.  Sometimes you'll know who I'm talking about, sometimes you won't.  But I'll always try to put whatever it is that I'm doing or writing about into some practical perspective.

What will I be talking about?  The iPhone, iTunes, iPods, DOT.TUNES, the Marksmen, Capitol Records, mobile phones and computing, recording artists, record labels, digital distribution, ringtones, the state of the music industry and why the RIAA is dying (or already dead), Live Nation, 360 deals, Gino Green, Omar Jermain, Selwyn Hinds, Russell Simmons, Global Grind, software, hardware, CEOs and CTO, virtually anything and everything relevant to the Digital Black Experience.

Oh yeah.  Why did I call this the Digital Black Experience?  Well, for starters, I wanted a name that I was certain people wouldn't forget.  I also wanted something that sounded great and had some brand appeal.  Since I am a person of color, I also wanted to be able to play with words, but not pigeon-hole myself into being perceived as a "black" blogger (although I do not eschew the association).  In the final analysis, I really wanted to call it 'digital black' full stop.  But that url was taken, so I decided upon the next best thing.