Any Lessons In That Elbow-Poke-Through-The-Picasso?

“Maybe, by poking a hole in his Picasso, he’s let some air out of the wildly inflated balloon of modern art prices. After the mishap Wynn decided to get “La Rêve” repaired and hold on to it for himself. The record-breaking deal was off. Seen that way, Wynn’s Picasso fiasco is a satisfying, even cheering anecdote. Money doesn’t always have to triumph. The ultra-rich can be klutzily human, modest and self-aware.”

Editors Resign To Protest Academic Journal’s Pricing Policies

“The nine members of the editorial board of the Oxford University-based mathematics journal Topology have signed a letter expressing their intention to resign on December 31.They cited the price of the journal as well as the general pricing policies of their publisher, Elsevier, as having ‘a significant and damaging effect on Topology’s reputation in the mathematical research community’.”

TV’s Woes Traced To Online

Advertisers are pulling their money out of traditional media and buying online. “The money going online is not new money. What is going on in display and search advertising on the internet is money is coming out of traditional media, there is no question, and therefore a big chunk of that is coming out of TV, national press and cinema.”

Why Has Audio Technology Stalled?

“Today, everybody should be able to enjoy music reproduced much better than a 1980 standard audio CD allows. Instead, people seem to be happy with music systems that are distinctly inferior to that, such as DAB radio and compressed music files. People care about picture resolution: they buy cameras with more megapixels, prefer DVD to VHS and are increasingly willing to buy hi-def TV sets. But they don’t seem to care about sound resolution – or not enough to spend money on it.”