Here they are:

1. Tina Brown’s “Things to Stop Bitching About in 2010″ — check it out, it is great /BIG THANKS to @SamShepherd for that one)

2. “5 Essential Tools for the Mobile Journalist” – mashable

3. Dilyan Damyanov’s “T-post says it’s ‘the world’s first wearable magazine’”

4. “Campaign backed by industry urges PRs to cut irrelevant press releases” — journalism.co.uk

5. Has Amazon won or lost the e-book war? Both. — by Mathew Ingram

6. “44% of Bloggers Sell a Product or Service Of Their Own From Their Blog” — Problogger

7. Writer Maureen Johnson speaks about her new book & her profession.

I do not watch television on a regular basis for around 7 or 8 years now. The reason? Well, TV sucks /at least Bulgarian TV sucks MAJORLY!!!/

The only channels that are somewhat interesting to me are the Discovery channels, the History channel, Nation Geographic and news channels such as Euronews, CNN, CNBC.

However, most of the information provided by those channels I can get online and do not need to turn on the TV in order to hear the news of the day. Furthermore, my work as a journalist and editor as well as my connections on Twitter keep informed about major events worldwide day and night, so I do not miss TV at all. Given the fact that I do not like the TV shows running on the local channels anyway, the television set at home is used mainly for video games and movies on DVD.

I thought I’ve completely lost the urge to watch “something special”, until I discovered Youtube. Meanwhile I’ve become a total Youtube junkie. I follow a number of channels varying from comedy to news about the gaming industry. And I find Youtube is the new TV!

It is a TV where you can chose the channels and unsubscribe the minute you don’t like something and noone is forcing you to watch. There is no frustration about the programme which especially in Bulgaria is mainly oriented towards people who obviously do not work, because I don’t know who would have the time to watch an entire morning show which lasts 3 to 4 hours and then go to work. Well, at least my work does not allow that.

Youtube, however, is good to me And it is better than TiVo, because the channels you choose from cannot be compared in numbers to the channels the TV can offer. And the best part is that the “actors” and “anchors” of the Youtube shows are real people. And they are fun and unpretentious and wonderfully inventive. I also like the fact that I have direct connection to them — I can rite a comment and get an answer to my question, I can message and they can message back. And the best thing is that those people are really listening to their audience and are taking into account the request for videos the viewers send them. So, with Youtube you have a TV that cares, which conventional TV does not do. And another very important thing — there are no breaks for commercials on Youtube (I do work for a media company and I do know where the money is coming from and that more and longer commercials mean more ad revenue, but honestly as a viewer I do not care. It is totally annoying!).

I wanted to use the opportunity and list my favourite Youtube channels here and I want to note that the people making the videos for those channels are so talented and sweet. I love them all.

communitychannel

LisaNova

RayWilliamJohnson

TheWillofDC

meekakitty

vlogbrothers

Shaytards

wheezywaiter

Also love the fact that TEDtalks has a Youtube channel.

I absolutely think that the kind of presentation Youtube entertainers offer right now is the future of TV entertainment as well. Everywhere, in games, movies, shows, the viewers are pushing to become the actors. Personal contact between presenter and audience also increasing gains in importance.

I recently had a work trip to our second office, based in the city of Veliko Tarnovo, and on that trip in the car I read three articles by The Economist. Why was it so important that I read them on that particular trip? Well I just wanted to mention it because I was thinking about my job and how will things go when we get to the office, because I had to interview new people and so on. I have a very stressful job, I love it but I am tired all the time. There are rearly work weeks that are just article writing and editing and nothing else. Most of the time we either have many new staff or we have a new project and it is stress all the day.

So when I read those articles links here — 1, 2, 3. //What also might interest you (well, it was interesting to me anyway) is The Economist live debate on Women link here.// I completely understood some of the problems they were addressing. The surveys and polls made among companies and staff concern other countries, mainly the United States, th UK, Sweden. I do understand that to get information about the working women of Bulgaria I would have to wait a while. Anyhow, I wanted to write about my experience with making a career here in my country.

The most important thing is equality. I have never experienced sexism or discrimination at the work place myself or never have heard women here talk or complain about it.

I first worked in the University in Sofia and there most of the staff were women, including our teachers.

Then I was a teacher myself at a high school in Sofia and the majority of my colleagues were women.

Now I’m working for a Bulgarian news agency and more than half of the staff are women and over half of the senior management positions are occupied by women.

And it is not a only in the education or media sectors. I have a friend who works in a bank and she told me that most of her colleagues are women.

My mom worked for a company which sold computer software and hardware and the staff there was dominated by women too.

So I can say that in this regard women in Bulgaria are OK

There was a time, however, when the employers wanted to know when were you planning to get married so as to guess if you’re going to get pregnant soon. I know that girls have complained of getting those questions during their job interviews. I think that still happens here — they ask you and if you say you are married or in a serious relationship you may not get the job, because the employers think soon you will have to go on maternity leave (in Bulgaria you can be off work for around 2 years). Well, not all employers do it , but still.

The problems of working mothers here are the same as they are for women in any other country. I personally am concerned how am I going to make it if I had a child. Me and my husband will not have the luxury to get help from the grandparents as many people in Bulgaria do, because we live in different cities. So, if I had a child I would have to juggle work and taking care of the baby. It is something which kept me away from motherhood for a long time. Other big reason is that I adore my job and do not want to leave it for long.

Another big problem I see is that I would probably not want to leave my kid with some strange woman. Why should I have to. It is just heartbreaking. And it is an extremely tough choice — work or child.

What the Economist said about that choice I liked a lot and I loved the fact that they did not try to hide or cushion the problem but discussed it head on.

“If the empowerment of women was one of the great changes of the past 50 years, dealing with its social consequences will be one of the great challenges of the next 50.”

From the article "Female Power" Economist print edition Dec 30, 2009.

Yes, there are consequences and there is a big amount of guilt. Especially here. I do not know how other societies cope with women with demanding and stressful jobs, but in Bulgaria there is little understanding for them. I personally have a negative experience in this regard. Some of my friends and some other people around me judge me for not having a baby. They think I am wasting my life working and that I will regret it later. I do not know if that is true, but it is not making things easier for me now. I do not think that I should excuse myself for having chosen my work over having a child at 22 or whatever.

What makes women special in the work place? — The Economist names several abilities that are typical for women, which make their presence in the work place irreplaceable.

“The new feminism contends that women are wired differently from men, and not just in trivial ways. They are less aggressive and more consensus-seeking, less competitive and more collaborative, less power-obsessed and more group-oriented. Judy Rosener, of the University of California, Irvine, argues that women excel at “transformational” and “interactive” management. Peninah Thomson and Jacey Graham, the authors of “A Woman’s Place is in the Boardroom”, assert that women are “better lateral thinkers than men” and “more idealistic” into the bargain.”

From the article "Womenomics" Economist print edition Dec 30, 2009.

I personally have seen that women are better in multitasking than men.

Another interesting point raised by The Economist was whether women are really less aggressive and competitive than men. Maybe that is the case with many working women, but there are those especially tough ladies which I think would not be worse at running multinational corporations or even countries. Margaret Thatcher did not earn the title “iron lady” for nothing. I loved the joke about her which The Economist has included in one of the articles:

“…There is a joke about her going out to dinner with her cabinet. “Steak or fish?” asks the waiter. “Steak, of course,” she replies. “And for the vegetables?” “They’ll have steak as well.”

From the article "Womenomics" Economist print edition Dec 30, 2009.

I would like to conclude with this. Even though we women are fighting to be equal on all levels with men, there are some places where we will be missed if we do not visit, the  childern’s room above all.

Thanks to Amadeu Sanz, the UN photographers, gcoldironjr2003 and David Velasquez for the wonderful images.

The reasons for this post:

1. The recent discussions which were going on for several weeks about Bono’s article in the New York Times, where the U2 front man clearly states there should be no free online file sharing.

2. Discussions of that kind are not something new. Free online information sharing has been regarded as something close to a crime for a long time now.

3. The rights of people who produce the product (please note! only produce, not distribute).

4. The rights of consumers worldwide (not only in the USA!).

5. My own opinion which I want to share and hopefully get a response from others who know more about those matters or have opinions similar to mine or different of it.

6. My believe that this is a problem to all of us and all of should find a solution for it. Everyone could come to create something of hers or his and should have the right to share it with others as he or she sees fit.

I was considering writing everything as one piece of text, but decided to keep it in the form of short notes, as my current information on the issue is fragmented and incomplete. Most are things that I hear from other people here in Bulgaria (or friends from other countries like Sweden , or I read on blogs and in newspapers from all over the world.
I should say I don’t have any final opinion on what is the right or the wrong thing to do and do not know whether there could be a solution which will satisfy all sides in the dispute. However, I do have a certain view on things concerning copyright infringement. I do not support it, but I am part of it and I would like to tell you why:

The first and main reason is that being in Bulgaria makes part of a world which is not part of the “big world”. I don’t know if that makes sense, but it is like this — I do have an Xbox 360 (not modified and not pirated) it is my own and paid with my own money. All the games I play on that console are legitimate (most of them bought from England during my recent visits there). However, the fact that I live in Bulgaria does not give me the right to use Xbox Live (the online network for the console) and there is content which I am ready to pay for but cannot get because Xbox does not have business in my country (small market not of big interest to Microsoft). Now, I’ve heard that I could register the console as it was being used in the UK or Germany and buy points from Amazon.com and download the content and pay for it. I haven’t done that yet, but should I ?! It would be a lie and it would not be very legal. (The same is with the PSP and Playstation 3 networks).
And that is the first thing I hear from people in Bulgaria — We are forced to, because they do not give us the right to use it and we are people too and we have the right to use it.
Another example — If you want to see an official music video of Metallica from this country you cannot due to copyright issues. So I can watch my favourite music videos of Metallica but have to use another Youtube channel (which is not legit). It is a small thing but it matters because of all other things we here cannot do, just because we are not part of a larger market.
And one other example — I had to get most of my textbooks and dictionaries to learn Swedish from Sweden, because almost all sites I did find online did not ship to Bulgaria. (I should say things are improving in this regard and thank God. Thank you, thank you wonderful Ebay guys!).

– What do consumers say:

1. Why should I pay for it when I can get it (it being a movie, computer game, music clip, software of some sort ect) for free from some torrent site (in every country there at least a dozen of those).

2. Why pay for something twice? It is not my fault that I own an old Metallica cassette and it is not working now. Why should I pay again for the same content that I’ve already paid before. The disc does not cost as much as they ask of me.

3. Even if I wanted to pay for it, they just do not supply it to our country. I cannot go to another country just to buy music.

4. They are just greedy and unreasonable. They want the big money and do not care for the people at all. They deserve to get robbed.

5. Why should I pay a huge amount of money for something I do not know if I would like. They should have a policy for that. You should be able to get a free sample and test it before you buy. Oh, they have game demos, well not for all games and not for all users (some of the games demos are available only on certain markets).

6. Why should I pay for her whole freakin’ album when only one song is good?! They should let buy one song and not price it like the disc has 12 songs on it.

7. Quality does not matter so much to me so as to make me pay for a movie I can download for free from the Internet.

8. If we did not have piracy here, we still would not know how to use a computer. And they do not care.

What people from the (music, movie) industry say:

1. The industry will got to ruin if this does not stop.

2. Copyrights protect the artists.

3. There should be better legislation in order to protect the industry from illegal file sharing.

4. All of us are hurt by the piracy.

5. Every year we suffer huge losses as a result of piracy.

And in order to not just talk without some proof — here are some articles I found online when I was researching the piracy issues:

‘Piracy in US leads to $1 billion loss for Indian films’

Movie Industry Wants “Speed Bumps” for Pirates

Piracy level in Nigeria is 58 per cent, reveals survey

Will Xbox Live ban help cut 360 piracy?

App Store Piracy Losses Estimated At $459 Million

What Bono said?

– Internet service providers (ISPs) are profiting from illegal file sharing at the expense of the music industry.

– ISPs are “reverse Robin Hoods”.

– The movie industry is currently protected only by the fact that it still takes a lot of time to download a movie.

– It is “perfectly possible to track content”.

How did the people react (more of that comes from Twitter):

– Not cool Bono!

– The difference between Bono and God is that God is not walking around thinking he is Bono.

– @CAKEMUSIC: Does Bono have a right to oppose unrestricted file sharing? http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8439200.stm http://bit.ly/5ts7Uk

– @fingertrouble: I’m gettin limited sympathy for the indies and the ‘file sharing hurts indies’ argument Bono et al are peddling. What we have now is change.

– @Jon_Reiss: Bono in NYTimes.com Like me – He has a good argument against file sharing – amoungst other ideas http://bit.ly/7VjCHD

–@ericorchard I don’t know, man. I know too many bands who are only making money because of file sharing. And Bono still looks rich to me.

– CharlieChicago: In response to Bono and Krist Novoselic’s controversial remarks on illegal file sharing. http://bit.ly/6ooZGH

In conclusion I wan to say that although I sympathize more with the consumers (being one myself) I had a chance to see the other side of things. And there is a short story about that:

Me and my husband have a friend who is movie director. His recent work is on a film about a group of Bulgarian directors who are now in their seventies but were very popular in the 70s and 80s. They had made a series of short commercials which were put on before a movie was played in the theatres back then.

Now, our friend watched those old commercials (which are more like comedy short films rather than product advertisements) and wanted to share them with more people. His idea was to let young people see who talented are those elder men who now live in a village and grow grapes and make wine He discovered, however, that the state which holds the marketing and distribution rights for the short films will not agree on giving up the films to someone else to distribute unless a huge amount of pay is paid. Of course neither the old directors nor our friend have that kind of money. So those films will just rot somewhere (or will be uploaded illegally to torrent site). I remember then I was angry and took entirely the side of the movie makers, saying they should have the right to dispose of their own work as they do please. But it is not like that isn’t it? When you sign a contract with a producer he comes to own what is yours — your thoughts, your talent. That’s just not right…

Though when I read Bono’s article and saw him complaining of the musicians being robbed I did not feel the same. I remember I thought : Well they should make enough money and the losses from piracy are just a small amount of the whole profit.

Is that true though? I don’t know. Are there people who lost their careers due to piracy?

Many things are unclear, there is no solution found yet. My impression is that more people are rebelling against the limitations that come with copyrights. On Youtube recently there was an initiative from producers to unite all popular copyrighted music videos in one channel and see that all illegally uploaded videos are taken off the site. Users automatically started avoiding the channel and the illegal videos were put back on in just a day. So obviously violence and the use of authority are not the way to go.

So where to from here?

Another video from the TED. There are really amazing people on this wide world.
The idea of fighting crime and violence thorough art has never occurred to me. This video was a real eye-opener.

I had thought about the “language discrimination” for a long time. Well, I call it language discrimination but it is more like a language racism.

I started learning a foreign language (it was English) when I was six. I still remember my parents when they came in the living room (they were still so young and in love with each other! now that’s a time I miss). My mom and my dad both with serious expressions and very determined. They asked me do I wanted to learn English and said they would be OK with whatever I decide. They also said it was my live and I should make the decision whether to learn a foreign language or not, not them, even though I was still so young. They both looked so tall and beautiful then I said “Yes” almost instantly. I was feeling so proud that they were treating me like an adult!
In 1985 in Bulgaria the communist regime was still functioning although it was a few years away from its complete collapse. However, in ‘85 I had to take a special exam in order to be allowed to learn “a western language”. I remember the lady which was giving me the test and asking me questions was very nice and my mom was very proud of me. I felt like a little hero
I also remember that when we were leaving I saw the other parents and did not understand why they were so nervous. Now I kind of understand. The places were very, very limited and only a small percentage of the thousands of children coming to take the test would be allowed to learn English. The only thing I can say about that now is that it seems very cruel. If you ask me, everyone should be allowed to learn every language he or she wishes.
Well, anyway, that is how I first took the path through the wondrous land of foreign nouns, verbs and strange pronunciation.
As I was growing up I decided I like to learn languages very much and I would try and find education and possibly a career in that field.
I went through English, French, Russian, German and Dutch until I was 20. The English definitely stuck The German was the main language of my University subject, which came out to be a very unknown one outside Bulgaria Seems like in other countries they have linguistics and literature, but not both in the same subject and not combined with history of language, psychology, philosophy and a little education course
French I did not like, I kind of think it was because of my teacher, as since then I had thought several times of taking a French course again. Dutch I fell in love with like I fell in love with German and English. They are just great languages in structure and semantics. Now I play with Swedish, which is in the same language family and love it as strong as the others. It’s just right
Russian I like and use it now for sometimes watching TV or reading articles online. I really want to learn Spanish but I don’t know when would I have time for that.
As a whole I’ve always seen that language-learning affair as great fun and something really interesting. In recent years, however, I started seeing (for my great surprise I must say) negative sides in all that.
How it all started I don’t know, but I remember a recent event. I was talking to my husband and ranting about how people did not know English well and was like “Speak English you people so I could understand you!”
And now I think it is just so funny and sad at the same time. English is not even my native language, but using it for my education, work and in my spare time (reading books and articles, talking to people on Twitter, writing in my blog etc.) has made me expect that everybody is kind of obliged to know it.
I discovered it took only a short look around in order to see how people behaved and how discriminative some lines in movies, commercials and newspaper articles were. Yesterday I watched Terminator: Salvation (the maybe the dumbest movie ever made…for real!) and there was a lady in a truck with a bunch of prisoners, she was Asian. She was scared and cried and was talking in her own language and a guy screamed at her “SPEAK IN ENGLISH!” and even though she was very scared and shaken, she made an effort and explained what she had said in her native language earlier.
Then there are those commercials:

***

***
“So, you should learn English, man, OK?”
I once thought they are funny, but do not think that anymore.

I may country in particular, learning English has two sides. On one hand, it opened the whole wide world (in other words www.) before us and gave us access to wonderful, books, movies, series… On the other hand, however, now everyone does not think it is worth it to know their own language. Bulgarian?! Pshaw, who needs it. I never think about the structures and semantics of my own native language and feel kind of uncomfortable that I have accent when I speak English and German.
I had a man in a furniture shop in Birmingham talk to me like I was slow, only because the girl who was with me told him I was from Bulgaria. “You take books home! They free, for you!”, he said, speaking very loud and with eyes wide open, smiling silly and looking me with some kind of pity. And that shit stuck, OK! I get angry because of that, but the curious thing is that I get mad at myself, not at him. Because our notion here is that everyone, even a little English shopkeeper is better than me, because he lives in the UK and speaks English.
I had people telling me: “Why do you need to trouble yourself with Swedish?! It is so hard. If you want to visit Sweden, you should speak English, ’cause everybody there speaks it. You won’t need Swedish.”
I don’t NEED Swedish, OK! I like to know it, because I like to know it and that’s it. It’s no trouble. It is a beautiful language as English is. But when do we start forgetting what a language is? Just a means to communicate, no matter what the accent. And when did I start to think English shopkeepers are better then me?!
And it is not just English.

I recently started following the channel of a beauty guru, called Miss Chievous. She is Swiss-Canadian and does most of her videos in English. She had, however, made some in German and she got a lot of very offensive comments, saying she spoke German very bad and used very strange words. That had offended her so much that she had not made a video in German since then. After a while though she made another one in German in which she explained that she was very hurt by the mean comments and king of excused herself that she did not speak German very well and asked, please, the people who did not like her German videos to open and view an English one. I was furious!!!
The girl speaks three languages, OK! And she is the one who has to appologize?! For what? And to whom? People who do not understand any other language than German, but they think their language is soooooo f-ing perfect that if you don’t speak it properly, you should not speak it at all?!
So what you guys? Have we really come to that? Learn my language or do not speak to me at all?
Even the Dalai Lama does look strange when he speaks English because of his accent. So? We want the Dalai Lama to shut up?
No! F. that!
It is so infuriating! People going to France for a vacation come back with hanging noses and telling stories how people did not want to talk to them, because there were speaking English and not French.
We turn our back against wonderful Asian cultures, the Arab world we do not understand because we do not understand what they are saying.
And whose fault is that? Theirs? No, little shopkeeper, my accent does not make me dumb and does not me any less of a person!

Thanks to mint imperial and Qskulls for the wonderful images.

Thanks to HumorKick and Meeeduza for the videos.

I am definitely sorry that I was not able to attend that TED conference in India. Would have loved to meet that man

Thanks to TEDtalks channel on Youtube

Interesting video. I did enjoy the comparison between commentaries of different media in the US and learned more about Fox News & their conflict with the White House.

I’ve recently watched this TED video, which had a great impact on me. I fully understand what the young lady in the video is saying and can sympathize. As a Bulgarian many people from other countries have a single story for me too. In another TED video I watched an esteemed gentleman depict Bulgaria as a mafia country, painting of picture of big bearded men with machine guns walking the streets and selling drugs, which of course is not true.

I can also understand why the lady is so annoyed of the fact that people refer to her as from Africa and refer to Africa as a country rather than a continent. Eastern Europe is also often referred to as an entire region where all citizens in general have problems. And during the in former Yugoslavia many tourists avoided Bulgaria for I don’t know what reason. We did not feel any impact of the wars here.

Well, I could go on and on about it, but I guess the situation cannot be changed with a single stroke. I hope all of us could find a way though. I am not innocent myself — I’ve always felt enormous pity towards people living in Africa without even knowing any of them and have often thought of the continent as of one country. Now I have the luck to know three wonderful people from South Africa and one from Tanzania. It surely makes a difference.

Although the United States in this video are pictured as the land of progress where the single stories of other parts of the world are being created, I should note that in my country a lot of people have a single story about the USA and its citizens and the story is not a good one. I hope though I’m big enough to understand that not all Americans  are responsible for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and for the global financial crisis.

Thanks to TED for the videos.

Is there something like an adequate measurement unit for success? Something that tells you “If you got 10 of these, you’re the king (or of course queen) of the world”?
That thought occurred to me today when I asked myself what else do I expect from my career, is something missing to make me happy and content with my life?
Turns out I don’t think there is something like a measure for success which will last you a lifetime. As I thought about it, I saw anything that came to my mind that could be interpreted as a possible indication that I’ve “made it”, came with an expiration date.
So I think one cannot say he or she is successful for a period of 50 years only because one has a great job now or has got a salary bump for the current year.
Some people, seem to believe their children are a proof they have been successful in their live. And that’s a reason to be proud, I agree. But having a child does not seem to be the only thing that makes most of the people consider themselves wildly successful. Because success is a selfish thing, it does not involve anyone else really, it’s just a feeling of personal accomplishment. Even though one can be immensely happy about the achievements of family members, significant others, spouses and friends, there is nothing like feeling happy for one’s own achievements. Furthermore, that feeling vanishes very quickly, it is powerful and strong for only a limited period and then one needs another confirmation of success.
So, how do we measure success? There is a sort of system (which differs slightly depending on the region) including all the levels you should be successful on: For instance — in your 30s you have to have an own home (preferably big and well furnished), a car (preferably a brand everyone could say is cool), a family (preferably with kids and a spouse who is better looking and younger than you), a career (preferably at a company or organisation everyone knows and goes “Wow, good for you” when they hear its name). But are those the things that would make everyone feel successful?
Say, we give everyone a great job, a great family, a wonderful house in the suburbs and a shiny new car. Would that be all? And for how long would all those things make us feel accomplished.
And here’s the ugly thing — if there were no people who had not “made it”, how do we know we have “made it”? So, someone has to be the loser, as to let everyone compare themselves to him or her and see they’re winners. Ugly, ugly, ugly.
Actually nowadays “the losers”, are much more than one.
And there’s the conclusion — success is measured by comparing all the things you’ve done and all your possessions to the achievements and possessions of somebody else (preferably a peer, like an old schoolmate or a friend), see whose pile is bigger. Ugly, ugly, ugly…
Wished I’ve been different in that regard but I’m not. And that’s a hard thing to admit…

The wonderful image is by aloshbennett