Blog your art

USA Today
Artists are using blogs to change the way they make and sell art. Dealers and galleries command 50 percent commissions, so Duane Keiser goes right to buyers with his blog, A Painting a Day, where he links to eBay auctions of his work. If Keiser sells five paintings a week at an average of $250 each, for 48 weeks a year, that’s $60,000. Plus, he has plenty of time to work on larger, more expensive paintings. While blogs like Keiser’s are now a mere blip for galleries that cater to deep pockets, it changes the game for artists. If record companies no longer control what’s hot in music, painters and sculptors can’t be far behind.

The Guardian

Learn from pirates

A new study says that online pirates chart the future markets for digital products by showing what people want, and in what form they want it. Not only are pirates early adopters of music, games, and software, they even invented the means to nab the files (Napster, BitTorrent), which gave rise to the legit forms of downloading used today. Watch what the pirates steal -- it's the ultimate evolutionary test of a product.

Ars Technica

Is plasma doomed?

Remember VHS vs. Beta? Well, a similar new battle is emerging: LCD vs. plasma. Until recently, if you wanted big, sexy, and flat, it was plasma. No wonder a new study found that three-quarters of US women would prefer a plasma TV to a diamond necklace. But LCDs now come in sizes up to 46 inches, picture quality is better, and the price gap with plasma is narrowing. Some manufacturers have even stopped making plasma so they can concentrate on LCDs. LCDs even last longer, though not nearly as long as diamonds.

Slate

I want my iTV

Not only is buying a TV today too complex, once you choose one, they and all the other components that connect to them are way too complex to use. Why? Stupid devices. No network. No standards. Your TV doesn't know anything about your DVD, DVR, or cable box, and your various family members can't consistently operate the equipment, so it's a nightmare. But plug a digital camera into your USB port and your computer instantly knows it's there and even launches your photo software. Steven Johnson of Slate makes a great pitch that Apple could solve this problem and build an iTV.

Business 2.0

The $100m giveaway

Howard Schultz (of Starbucks fame), Vinod Khosla (of Juniper Networks fame), and 18 other top investors have shared their best start-up ideas with Business 2.0. But that's not all. They're putting up a collective $100 million to the entrepreneurs who can make them happen. Ideas run from next-generation lithium ion or ultracapacitor batteries to implantable wireless devices to monitor diseases to a better database or game, and more. These investors are so serious they even published their e-mails.

Guy Kawasaki's blog

Must-have skills

Guy Kawasaki says that it may be OK in school, where people have plenty of time and no money, to create long papers, e-mails, and presentations. But in the real world people mostly have money, but never have time. Guy challenges colleges to teach the 10 to 12 things that are necessary for the real world. Like how to talk to your boss, how to run a meeting, and how to have a conversation. Or how to write a one-page report and a five-sentence e-mail. My favorite? How to explain something in 30 seconds. Now get back to school and learn something useful.