By Senior Editor Kris Smith (@croncast)

This conversation about the next web and putting content up for sale through exclusivity has been a hot button issue for the last few days and worth some more thought. Notice I said, exclusivity' and I'm not calling it scarcity because it's not. Nor am I calling it a paywall'.

Paywall' being the prevailing label for this shift as media companies and independent publishers attempt to stay afloat and producing content by opening their doors to those that have paid admission. I will occasionally refer to it as such. I will also refer to it as patronage.

Like the arts or the movement to support local business, publishers of all stripes need revenue to produce content from information they have. If that revenue comes from their public supporters, so be it.

As an example, we pay admission to movies, concerts and meetups because we have an understanding that if we don't there won't be any more of them. Theaters would go away. Bands would lose their main source of income. Meetups would disappear or be held in some nerd's basement with room for five people and a big OSHA FAIL.

The value that we find in the art of entertainment or having a few drinks with friends that share our common interests is measured first by the price of admission. It is measured second by the amount of pleasure we receive from the information, conversations and moving images.

Information is art. Information is a common interest. Businesses that are in information verticals require patronage.

Does this mean that all information needs to be paid for? Yes. Paid for by you? No.

There needs to be balance in the argument that content and information want to be free. They can be free to consumers, but someone has to pay for them. Whether is through advertising dollars, paid partnership or subscription fees, the production of the content from information is a cost. Content wants to be syndicated, not free.

Those that argue that content wants to be free can have their cake and eat it too if the places that they choose to get it from are covering the costs of production or aggregation. And in this case it is free to consumers if the business at the end point is covering its operating costs with advertising dollars, lead generation or other model.

But if the content is direct to consumers, patronage is the only way to guarantee that even a small portion of it will exist in a few years. Else, you should get used to content solely full of information about the stars you pay to see on stage and screen.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lolololori/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

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Content Wants To Be Syndicated, Not Free. is a post from: TechStartups.com

By Senior Editor Kris Smith (@croncast)

When it comes to deciding what direction you should take your next great idea it is helpful to sort out what you want from the startup.

In every case you should be answering that with revenue. But, also at the top of that list should be your decision of going for VC backing or turning your idea into a lifestyle startup.

A VC backed startup is a different beast than a lifestyle startup.

Lifestyle startups in this case being a business that you start and run to make your living from. The type of startup that you hope to sell for better than $500k so you can float till the next idea comes along or simply a business that dissolves into your next business based on a newer greater idea. It is a two to three year investment of your time that pays dividends closer to a traditional mom and pop type business.

Here are five reasons you should choose a lifestyle startup:

1. You've got a lot of passion (read: hard headed)

There's not much to say about this one.

Being the captain of your own destiny is something that you thrive on and know that the only way you can make this startup work is with your vision.

That, and if someone recommended how to do something differently there might be a physical altercation. You might get to this point if your idea has elements of the next reason.

2. You're idea is future forward (read: hard to pitch)

At your first pitch to a VC you're told that you should integrate X service. Of course, X, being the hottest new startup that isn't even in their portfolio. This is the moment you should realize that your pitch has failed for any number of reasons. On the ride back to the airport you run through the list of variables with friends and realize that idea if solving a future problem. One that is a little farther in the future than you are going to be able to pitch successful for funding. And that's cool.

Without pulling back the scale of your vision too much, you should look for an opportunity to move forward building it out. Especially, if you got number 3 covered.

3. You can really focus (read: blinded by desire to succeed)

You're a competitive freak that is only competing with yourself. Really. You might be a laid back person but you've got an inner desire to win that could turn a three legged pony into a stakes winner.

This in turn gives you an ability to focus on a business plan or road map with precision. It aids you in your ability to execute at a C-Level all the while handling low level strategy and tactics. This is how you make your startup profitable. That brings me to number 4.

4. You understand physical labor (read: you grew up on or near a farm)

Look manual labor of the farming variety is enough to skew the tables greatly in comparison to a tech startup. Waking up at 3:30 a.m. to milk and feed cows followed by a day of bailing hay, walking beans or other intense physical labor makes working at a startup a piece of cake. Sure, you'll be working all the time, just like the farm but you're going to be using a different set of skills and attributes that aren't as physically demanding.

However, if you found that this type of physical labor suited you, a lifestyle startup could be for you. See number 5.

5. You need to always be working (read: hobby is job/job is hobby)

You eat, sleep, breathe your idea. When you are in the shower you are solving problems from the night before while you take a huff of your bar soap. You find great satisfaction it the ability to get work done in your down times while you should be relaxing.

I don't think this one is very healthy, but for many people it is a reality and something that would be difficult for you to change. This behavior is learned or is a mechanism to avert from another issue . . . either way the behavior is ingrained in you and should be embraced as an asset for building a successful lifestyle business.

Lifestyle startups can be very rewarding for those that enjoy having the ability see their ideas blossom. They're also a great fit for those that aren't ready to jump into the startup world with both feet. If you've got a job or career that can keep you afloat while you dabble with a startup, this one is for you.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

The Lifestyle Startup 5 Reasons to Do It is a post from: TechStartups.com

The first time I heard the term "thought leader", I thought, "Now there's a cool concept: someone who is able to assert influence and change outcomes through the sheer force and power of her ideas."

The last time I heard the term "thought leader", I thought, "There ought to be a little anniversary present to mark the three millionth time you hear a buzzword."

That may be my biggest complaint about buzzwords and jargon: not that they're often impenetrable to outsiders, and not that they often mask a lack of clarity on the speaker's part, but because they take perfectly good phrases - phrases with power, phrases with innovation and meaning - and suck the life out of them through overuse.

Sponsor

Got a social media buzzword or catch phrase you'd like to lay to rest... or maybe reclaim and restore to life? (Say, "social media", for instance?)

Happy Birthday!

By the way, this marks the first anniversary of Noise to Signal on Read Write Web. I've made a birthday cake but, uh, since you're not here, well, I'll just have to eat it myself. For the past year, I've been whipping up weekly cartoons, Richard has been gamely publishing them and you've been so kind as to read them.

Thanks for that. And thanks for every comment, Digg, tweet, stumble and Delicious-ifying. I hope that you'll keep reading them in the year to come... and that you'll enjoy them as much as I enjoy drawing them.

Ed: Thanks Rob, I've thoroughly enjoyed the weekly funnies! It's given RWW a sense of humor that sometimes we're accused of not having (being serious types) ;-) Here's to many more classic Rob Cottingham cartoons over the next year.

More Noise to Signal

Ryan Scherf has created a simple jQuery plugin that "uses Mobile Safari's built in touch events to allow jQuery binding of swipe events to any DOM element. You can override the swipeLeft and swipeRight defaults functions to create your own custom process when the gesture is detected."

It can be used as simple as:

You can tweak the threshold for the swipe, and take a peak at the demo which is shown here:

Jon Raasch has also updated his QuickFlip plugin that flips any piece of HTML like a card. The flip effect is similar to the UI animation on the iPhone, and uses an animation trick that is barely noticeable when fired quickly.

QuickFlip 2 resolves a number of usability and performance issues in
QuickFlip. The $.quickFlip() function can now be chained from any
jQuery selector, attaching all the styling and markup it needs
automatically. Additionally a new $.quickFlipper() function makes
triggering the flip effect a piece of cake. Other than that, minor
bugs have been fixed and performance has been tuned.

For more info:

• see the docs
• check out the examples

Filed under: Gaming

Gallery: Sweet, delicious swag: Sony sends PS3 birthday cakes to the press

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

The $249 Zune 80 is Microsoft's latest attempt to kick the iPhone in the nuts, praying to crack Jobs' titanium-diamond alloy cup through Wi-Fi features and a touch of divine intervention. CNET, Wired, Dean Takahashi, PCWorld and YahooTech struck first with reviews on the new device. Their verdicts? The cup has not yet been breeched, but Microsoft is making very solid improvements on the brand.

CNET
The 80GB Zune cuts a much slimmer figure than its bricklike older brother. Measuring 4.3 inches high by 2.4 inches wide by 0.5 inch deep, Microsoft shaved some considerable bulk off the Zune's thickness, while nearly tripling its capacity...we believe the latest crop of Zunes should finally take hold as a true iPod alternative. (83/100)

PCWorld
All of the new Zunes are built around a rounded touch-sensitive control that also doubles as a clickable d-pad-style controler, much like the Click Wheel on Apple's iPods. Flick your thumb up or down the pad repeatedly, and you begin to build up momentum while scrolling through long lists. At any time, you can tap to stop the scrolling, though it will eventually come to stop naturally. In my experience, it's a very fun way to navigate through a music collection, even in a long view of artists on the 80GB player...All in all, the 80GB Zune is a decent choice as an 80GB MP3 player. (no score at this time)

Wired
Video performance is very good, with the screen size really helping...Battery life didn't meet the published specs of 20 hours for music and 4 hours for video with the Wi-Fi turned off. My rundown test on music was 18 hours, and video was 3.5 hours, which is, you know, fine.... Would I recommend the Zune? Yeah, I think I would. If you're not invested in the iPod/iTunes ecosystem, it's the most polished competitor I've used to date. Especially if you're looking for a subscription service, the integration of player and service just crushes everyone else. (6/10)

YahooTech
...the most innovative new feature on the Zune: wireless syncing. Setup was a piece of cake: you just connect the Zune to your PC via USB, fire up the Zune software, and enable wireless syncing under the Settings menu. If your system is already connected to a wireless network, those settings are transferred to the Zune automaticallyno need to key in the access point name or password...automatic syncing only works when the Zune is plugged into its charging dock. Overall, I thought wireless syncing worked pretty seamlessly, and I loved being able to sync new songs and playlists over the air (why can't the iPhone or the iPod Touch do this?)

Dean Takahashi
The Zune Marketplace website looks better than iTunes because it feels less like a spreadsheet. It still uses the MTV Urge back-end but is completely redesigned.... All of these things represent improvements that allow Microsoft to claim that it is going its own way. Clearly, they aren't copying Apple...At this rate of improvement, Microsoft will be a contender. But it has a long way to go before it keeps Steve Jobs up at night.

- Zune fans should be happy with the improvements, but even more, that the big new features are software based and free for everyone.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.