In the article, Shirky paints a dim picture for the future of newspapers:

Even if we have the shallowest recession and advertising comes back as it inevitably does, more of it will go to the web.

I think that’s it for newspapers. What we saw happen to the Christian Science Monitor [the international paper shifted its daily news operation online] is going to happen three or four dozen times (globally) in the next year.

The 500-year-old accident of economics occasioned by the printing press - high upfront cost and filtering happening at the source of publication - is over.

But will the New York Times still exist on paper? Of course, because people will hit the print button.

He goes on to make similar predictions for magazines and television. 

While traditional media companies are going to face unprecedented challenges in 2009, their future is probably not as cut and dry as Shirky makes it.

New media can radically undercut traditional media when it comes to some content - like news and gossip. Other content, though, like complex television productions, will have a lot more time to adjust to the new landscape.

Apple

• iTunes Store - Beginning today, all four major music labels — Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group and EMI — and thousands of independent labels, will offer their music in the DRM-free iTunes Plus format with higher-quality 256 kbps AAC encoding. iTunes customers can also now purchase and download songs directly onto their iPhone 3G over their 3G network — just as they do with Wi-Fi today — for the same price as downloading to their computer. And in April, song pricing on iTunes will get a bit more complicated, with tracks selling for 69¢, 99¢, or $1.29, depending on their age.
• 17-inch MacBook Pro Update - The updated 17-inch MacBook Pro features an aluminum unibody enclosure and a non-removable battery delivering up to 8 hours of use and up to 1,000 recharges. It has a high resolution LED-backlit display and the same large glass Multi-Touch trackpad introduced with the new MacBook family. 
• iLife ’09 - Apple today unveiled iLife ’09, which includes upgrades to iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand and an updated version of iWeb.
  • iPhoto ’09 introduces Faces and Places, ways to easily organize and manage photos based on who appears in them and where they were taken.
  • iMovie ’09 adds new features that let you create a movie quickly or add refinements and special effects if you have more time. 
  • GarageBand ’09 offers a new way to learn to play piano and guitar with Basic Lessons, which teach fundamentals, and Artist Lessons (sold separately), in which original artists teach you how to play the songs they made famous. 
• iWork ’09 - adds new features to each of its productivity applications.
  • Keynote ’09 introduces Magic Move, which offers an easy way to automatically animate any image, graphic or text repeated on consecutive slides.
  • In Pages ’09, a new Full Screen view lets you focus solely on your writing while the new outline mode lets you organize your thoughts. 
  • Numbers ’09 introduces a quick way to group and summarize data and a dramatically simplified way to create complex formulas. Apple also introduced the public beta of iWork.com, a new service for sharing documents online. 
• FileMaker Pro 10 - The new version focuses on an updated user interface. For example, database users can now place frequently used FileMaker features in the redesigned and customizable Status Toolbar, resulting in streamlined navigation, better workflow, and time-saving shortcuts. 

All-in-all, it’s a stretch to even call the updates evolutionary, let alone revolutionary. 

From a new media perspective, the highlights of the announcements are iMovie ‘09, which may be good enough to finally get people to switch from iMovie HD; and the 17″ MacBook Pro - which may not be a surprise, but is still pretty droolworthy.

Earlier in the day, we reported that all of the Beatles’ music was going to be made available via a series of podcasts from Norway. 

It turns out, the Norwegian Beatles podcast is one podcast you won’t be listening to Here, There and Everywhere. 

According to the government-run Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK), the Beatles podcast was yanked because of licensing agreements:

The Beatles comes under our agreement with IFPI, which says that we only can put up shows for download that were aired the latest four weeks, and where the music is less than 70% of the show’s length.

“Our daily Beatles” were aired in 2007 (not 2001 as we wrote yesterday), so we have to pull the podcast. If it was aired today, we could have podcasted the next four weeks within the agreement.

So why not send the show again on one of your channels?
This is a question people have asked several times already. We could have done it, but choose not to.

It’s unclear why the NRK said Come And Get It, Free As A Bird, without doing Every Little Thing that their licensing agreements require. 

We’re guessing somebody at the NRK, though, is saying “I Should Have Known Better!”

Say the party organizers: “Gary Vaynerchuk has picked out some great wine for the attendees,… and Sony is hosting a game lounge, with comfy seating and plenty of room for people to play all kinds of games on a single console, over a local LAN, or against the rest of the world on Sony¹s PlayStation Network (PSN).”

Party invitations are available to bloggers attending CES “who host a focused, editorially independent (non-vendor) blog and cover the tech or gadget space.” Ask for an invite here.

Do you promise not to tell?

Beatles music is, for the first time, available for download in a podcast from Norwegian Broadcasting.

[This of course begs some dumb puns about Norwegian Wood. Isn't it good? But we digress.]

Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) made a 2007 documentary series on “Norgesglasset” radio, which explored “the background and history” of all 212 Beatles songs. The documentary has been re-released this week as The Daily Beatles Podcast. (or Var Daglige Beatles Podkast, if you want to be really cool).

The remaining Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, have been famously reluctant to offer their Beatles catalog for download, despite lucrative offers to do so.

Perhaps you’re saying, “You Can’t Do That.” (Bear with me, even as the song-title puns begin to wear thin). Well, apparently Norwegian podcasters can. A recent agreement with the Norwegian music rights-holders TONO, allows NRK to “podcast previously broadcasted[sic] radioshows containing less than 70 percent music.”

The Daily Beatles podcast keeps to the “less-than-seventy-percent” rule, with a three-minute discussion of the song, followed by the tune itself.

The podcasts containing music are available for four weeks from publishing date.

Beatles are on a podcast and I Feel Fine. Dig It.

The Daily Beatles Podcast feed is right here.

P.S. What do *you* think is the greatest Beatles song? Which album is the best?

77% of all Americans on the Internet watch online video, an average of 273 minutes per person for the month.

Other notable findings:

• 97 million viewers watched 5.1 billion videos on YouTube.com (52.3 videos per viewer).
• 52.5 million viewers watched 371 million videos on MySpace.com (7.1 videos per viewer).
• The duration of the average online video was 3.1 minutes.
• The duration of the average online video viewed at Hulu was 11.9 minutes, higher than any other video property in the top ten.

Hulu Retains #6 Ranking

In November, Google Sites once again ranked as the top U.S. video property with nearly 5.1 billion videos viewed (representing a 40 percent share of all videos viewed), with YouTube.com accounting for more than 98 percent of all videos viewed at the property. Fox Interactive Media ranked second with 439 million videos (3.5 percent), followed by Viacom Digital with 325 million (2.6 percent) and Yahoo! Sites with 304 million (2.4 percent). On the heels of a surge in viewership in October, Hulu retained its #6 position with 227 million videos viewed (1.8 percent).

Sling Media plans to deliver a version of SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone to Apple for certification in Q1.

SlingMedia is also unveiling a prototype of the new SlingPlayer for Mac HD which allows Slingbox PRO-HD users to stream HD content to their Macdesktop or laptop computer. The new SlingPlayer for Mac HD is a web-based version of the SlingPlayer software that will be accessible from Sling.com. 

“SlingPlayer Mobile is ideally suited for the iPhone’s large touch screen display and I know iPhone users are eagerly anticipating the application’s availability,” said Blake Krikorian, co-founder and CEO of Sling Media. “Add to that HD streaming support for Slingbox PRO-HD customers and live TV support on our video entertainment site, Sling.com, and you can see Sling Media is committed to delivering great solutions for Mac users.”

Pricing and Availability

SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone will be submitted to Apple for testing and approval in Q1. It will be compatible with the iPhone and iPod Touch. The price has not been determined at this time. SlingPlayer for Mac HD will be available for free via the web-based SlingPlayer within Sling.com later in Q1. Mac customers will be able to use either Safari or Firefox web browsers to get both HD streaming and Live TV within Sling.com.

The Leader claims that Plain Dealer employees received a memo Monday about leasing space in its newly-constructed building to prospective tenants. The Leader says that the employee memo reassures workers that “there will continue to be plenty of cost-effective, secure parking available to you, as well as the continuation of a wonderful work environment at our Superior Ave. facility.”

In its own article about the proposed cost-saving measures, the Plain Dealer also discloses that it will be looking for a buyer for a 50-acre parcel of land near its recently-built printing and distribution facility.

The newspaper industry is in the midst of a dramatically-shrinking circulation, as readers seek more up-to-the-moment news coverage from online outlets. Advertising revenues for traditional media are likewise declining, and newspapers and magazines are scrambling to cover expenses while trying to find a business model that will work in this new media age. Even the venerable New York Times, which last month staked its headquarters building as collateral for a $250 million operating loan, today began (gasp!) running advertising on its previously pristine front page.

Image: Thomas Claveirole

Much of the conversation is common-sense (i.e., anyone reading the news today can discern that personal financial difficulties would exacerbate other already-stressful situations), but on this, the most stressful day of the calendar year, this podcast episode seems especially timely.

The You Are The Guest podcast features interviews with a diverse bunch of personalities and experts, ranging from politicians and spiritual counselors to musicians and investigative journalists. The feed for the podcast is found here.

According to the Roku website, “Rentals [from Amazon] are available in prices ranging from 99 cents to $3.99, for a 24 hour viewing window. Purchased movies and TV shows are kept in the Amazon VOD ‘your video library’ for easy access from a PC, Mac, or TV. ”

Roku fans seem very happy about the Amazon/Roku announcement.

Consumers are increasingly getting their news and entertainment online, and devices like the Roku player and Apple TV (among others), and services like Hulu, Netflix, and Boxee make accessing online media simple. As these devices become ubiquitous, the entertainment industry landscape changes rapidly and dramatically.  Will there be bricks-and-mortar movie rental stores five years from now?