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Brands and publishers need great content to differentiate themselves on the Internet. And writers want to be paid well for fulfilling, quality work. Content farms are awful. Companies like Demand Media are the online writer’s version of puppy mills or chicken factories. One company wants to change the landscape-Contentlyhas launched a beautifully designed platform to empower and connect quality writers with brands. “Before the Internet put publishing and distribution tools in everyone’s hands for free, companies that wanted brand exposure paid for time and/or placement on a third party media property (radio ads, TV commercials, banners)....

Writing forThe Next Web, in the interest of time, I occasionally find myself having to work out of a coffee shop, or other public places. I’ve slowly started to put together a collection of must-have gadgets, accessories and apps which make it easy for me to work from anywhere. There are several things that have to be taken into consideration when working in public. You need to make sure you have a way to get online, you need to make sure your batteries are fully charged, and stay that way, and you have to also make sure you don’t get distracted by the noise and commotion around you....

This week saw the firstEuropean Pirate Summittake place. Held in Cologne, Germany, in a scrapyard that is used as home for a community of artists and as a clubnight venue, this was a startup conference with a difference. Aimed at bold, risk-taking entrepreneurs with a ‘pirate’ attitude, the one-day event featured the same mix of panels, keynotes and networking that other conferences offer. However, its venue (we all shouted a piratey “Arrr!...

The Internet has changed the media industries irrevocably — perhaps more than any other group of industries. Music is, of course, one of those that has undergone the most change. Media in general has undergone a certain level of commoditization thanks to the ease of automation and publishing online. Music is no exception. Hop on to iTunes and you can get just about any track you want for 99 cents, whether its some polished pop princess whose tracks were made for the very purpose of commoditization or an independent artist who is making use of every distribution outlet available to them (and that’s many more than were available to them last decade)....

The ewaste crisis could be avoided if we made batteries cheaper and easier to recycle Hazardous contents Batteries pose more complex recycling and disposal challenges than metals, plastics and paper products because they contain many chemical components that are both toxic and difficult to separate. Some types of widely used batteries – notably, lead-acid batteries in gasoline-powered cars – have relatively simple chemistries and designs that make them straightforward to recycle....