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The death of a curious mind

Deborah Howell was unafraid to learn in public. That, I think, is her best lesson for us all.
Deborah died today in a roadside accident while vacationing in New Zealand. She had been ombudsman of the Washington Post, chief of the Advance Publications' Newhouse News Service in Washington, and editor of the St. Paul Pioneer [...]

Surrendering advertising … killing bundling

Two things strike me about News Corp.'s battle to get cable fees:
(1) Again and again lately, the company is surrendering the advertising battle. In newspapers, it is saying that advertising won't support its high costs and so it will sacrifice traffic and advertising the hopes of building build pay walls. In MySpace, the company [...]

The annotated world

Tweet: A view of our annotated world: Hyperlocal is what's around me and how I search that
There are eight million stories in the naked city and soon every one of them will be available on your phone through visual, aural, and geographic search and augmented reality in our newly annotated world.
Every address, every building, [...]

Page & Brin: Icons of the decade

The Guardian commissioned me to write a piece on Google founder Larry Page and Sergey Brin as icons of the decade. My kicker:
To understand the power of Brin's and Page's focus, go to Google's home page now and type "weather in Ed" and stop there. Google will not only understand you want weather in Edinburgh [...]

Bankruptcy squandered

Tweet: Here's what I think bankrupt newspaper companies should be doing.
The AP lists the status of six newspaper companies that have declared bankruptcy: Tribune, Freedom, Philadelphia, Sun-Times, Journal Register, Star-Tribune, representing 66 daily newspapers among them.
Mostly they are using bankruptcy merely to restructure the debt they shouldn't have gotten themselves into in the [...]

Signs of hope

David Carr wrote another good and hopeful column today (this, I told him, was his burning bush column). I'm delighted that it ended with a brief report on his jurying in my entrepreneurial journalism course at CUNY:
Meanwhile, journalism schools are no longer content just to teach the inverted pyramid. A few weeks ago, I was [...]

Google’s synchronicity

On the latest This Week in Google, we talked about many of Google's product announcements and enhancements and though none on its own was earthshattering, as we added them up, I started to see synchronicity approaching — all the moreso last night when TechCrunch reported that Google's negotiating to buy Yelp.
I see a strategy [...]

Google goes local

TechCrunch reports that Google is in negotiations to buy Yelp. Makes perfect sense. Google is ready to make an assault on local with its Place Pages and QR codes on local establishments and augmented maps and directions and mobile…. This turf was newspapers' and phone companies' to lose and lose it, they will.
Or as [...]

Small c update:

I just had my three-month check-up after surgery for prostate cancer and the news so far is good: My PSA (a measurement of the antigen produced by the prostate, which shouldn't be there once the gland is gone — unless cancer cells are elsewhere causing trouble) came in at <0.05, just what it's supposed to [...]

Content farms v. curating farmers

Tweet: Content farms v curating farmers: Deeper insights in Demand Media's model & finding opportunity in finding quality.

I spent an hour on the phone the other day with Steven Kydd, exec VP of Demand Studios, to understand their model?using algorithms to assign content creation based on search and advertising demand and to minimize cost and [...]

The entrepreneurial journalism class report

Tweet: Report from my entrepreneurial journalism class: Cause for optimism
Wednesday was the best day of my year: the jurying for my entrepreneurial journalism class at CUNY. The jury awarded four businesses a total of $57,000 (thanks to a grant from the McCormick Foundation). Here's how it works.
Because one of them could be the next Google [...]

Is journalism storytelling?

It's accepted wisdom in the news tribe that journalism is storytelling. They have become synonymous. Journalists are storytellers. I hear that over and over again, especially in discussions of journalism education, and when I do I see everyone's head nod. Lately, I'm not necessarily nodding.
I'm not so sure journalism is storytelling anymore.
One reason: [...]

MediaTalk USA

Here's the December edition of the Guardian's MediaTalkUSA.
I give myself much credit for bravery for having somebody who really knows radio — Laura Walker, head of WNYC — and somebody who's funny — Baratunde Thurston of the Onion — on the panel as I'm not good at either. They are great guests. We talk [...]

Investing in local

I'm delighted to see CNN investing in Outside.in – and in local and in the notion of distributed, scalable networks of content. AOL, Yahoo, MSNBC, NBC, ABC, and other big guys are investing in local. But local doesn't need big guys to succeed and Outside.in is the proof: it is a curation of lots of [...]

The near future

Xark raised fair and unfair criticism of our work at the New Business Models for News Project. I'll respond:
Xarc's Dan Conover says that the models we presented look a lot like present models, only different. Fair and true. Our goal was to look at what news in a metro market would look like if the [...]

Get off the lawn

There's one thing that Rupert Murdoch, Arianna Huffington, Steve Brill, and I agreed on yesterday – and and there's probably nothing else one can imagine this group would ever find consensus around. At the two-day Federal Trade Commission "workshop" (read: hearing) that asked how journalism will "survive" (their word) in the internet age, we all [...]

Compare/contrast

Tweet: Compare/contrast Rupert Murdoch on the internet (and me) then and now.
In 2005, Rupert Murdoch gave a rousing speech to the American Society of Newspapers Editors calling on them to listen to digital natives. Yesterday, his deputy, Les Hinton, gave a speech to the World Association of Newspapers in India warning them to beware geeks [...]

First, do no harm, government

Relevant to today's FTC workshops (read: hearings) on the "survival" (their word… I would have said "rebirth:) of journalism in the internet age, Geoffrey Cowan and David Westphal issue a good set of principles for government involvement (read: meddling or support):
First and foremost, do no harm. A cycle of powerful innovation is under way. To [...]

Media after the site

Tweet: What does the post-page, post-site, post-media media world look like? @stephenfry, that's what.
The next phase of media, I've been thinking, will be after the page and after the site. Media can't expect us to go to it all the time. Media has to come to us. Media must insinuate itself into our streams. [...]

The new divide: Walled v. open

Tweet: The new divide in media is walled v. open. Here's why I think walls are bad for the builders and us all.
In the discussion about news, there's always a divide – because news loves divides. The splits have been old v. new, MSM v. blogs, professional v. amateur, institutional v. entrepreneurial, and lately paid [...]

Rupert has balls

Tweet: Rupert has balls. Well, he used to.
That's the essence of Murdoch: balls. It's the essence of the culture of News Corp., which I learned from working there (at TV Guide): Australian macho seat-of-the-pants instant decision making.
That is the secret to Murdoch's success. It is also the secret to his failure: Sometimes his [...]

Worthless readers

Tweet: Worthless readers. And what to do about Murdoch et al's whining about them.
One response publishers make to my argument that Google drives value to them and their content in the link economy is that the readers Google sends are worthless.
Worthless readers. WIliam Randolph Hearst, Joseph Pulitzer, Joseph Medill, Katherine Graham, and C.P. [...]

Corporate punctuation finds its home

Companies have stupid fetishes about their names. Tribune Company isn't The Tribune Company, it's Tribune Company – no damned "the." Time Inc. isn't Time, Inc., we were informed when I worked there, it's Time Inc. In a corporate dining room, there used to be a memo from one of the company's founders with a rubber [...]

Murdoch madness

I've had a fair number of press calls on the Murdoch/Bing sillliness and here are the points I've been making:
Were Bing to pay News Corp. to drop Google, it would be a double-play in Google's favor: Microsoft would lose money and gain little. News Corp. would lose traffic, shifting away from the search engine with [...]

Murdoch madness

(I double-posted the Murdoch Madness post but won't kill this entirely because there are comments now attached….)

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New Digg: Frontpage News 

Top 10: Kick-Ass Native Americans

The amazing lives of these 10 legendary Native Americans...

V-6 engines fade into history

Little engines will be the big stars at next week's North American International Auto Show. The days of the V-8 in passenger cars are over and things are starting to look bleak for the venerable V-6, as the four-cylinder engine starts to replace it in bigger cars and crossovers.

Finding a Second Earth Could Happen Anytime Now

"It could happen almost any time now. We now have the technological capability to identify Earth-like planets around the smallest stars."

25 "Big Cat" Pictures As Captured By A Cat Whisperer | WebEc

Using 25 of a cat whisperer's extraordinary images, here are 10 large cats we might not normally get close enough to say, here kitty kitty, smile for the camera.

Leading Scientists Urge Ban on Mountaintop Removal Mining

In today's issue of the journal Science, twelve scientists from institutions around the country outlined the ecological and human health impacts of mountaintop removal mining. The line between science and advocacy grows blurrier by the day.

Pirate Music Site Allowed 21 Million Downloads

Alan Ellis, 26, was the founder of the Oink website which had around 200,000 members and allowed 21 million downloads before it was closed down in 2007.

Best FAILS Of 2009 [VIDEO]

Everyone is good at something. These people just happen to be good at failing -- sometimes on a massive scale.

EPA Smog Limit: New Strict Proposal To Replace Bush-Era Rule

WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed stricter health standards for smog, replacing a Bush-era limit that ran counter to scientific recommendations. The new limits – which are presented as a range – will likely put hundreds more counties nationwide in violation, a designation that will require them to

6 Life Saving Techniques From the Movies (That Can Kill You)

We expect a certain level of medical farfetchery on TV and in the movies. But this sort of unrealism doesn't really hurt anything other than our intelligence, unlike these Hollywood medical myths, which could hurt you to death.

Crazy Interception for TD in BCS Title Game (Vid)

Marcell Dareus is the early MVP in the BCS championship game with an interception TD... and knocking Colt McCoy out.

Why We Kiss: The Science of Sex

Whether we use it as an informal greeting or an intensely romantic gesture, kissing is one of those ingrained human behaviors that seems to defy explanation.

Drunk Driving : A Week Into 2010 and Over 200 Deaths

You might not consider yourself drunk?but that doesn't mean you're ready to drive. Even if you had a sip, stay off the road. Let's make 2010 a much better year than what it has been in the past.

Tattooing Your Children is Illegal

This is making hillbillies look bad. We are wondering what the heck is wrong with this couple in Northwest Georgia that tattooed six of their seven children with an old tattoo machine and a guitar string.

Scared? Just Wait 10 Minutes

A couple of NYU researchers were playing with rats (big surprise) and found out that fearful memories in the brain can actually be erased. The process could be compared to the add/drop window you get when you want to change college courses at the last minute.

Slayer, Megadeth tour postponed; Araya to get back surgery

Slayer frontman Tom Araya will be undergoing immediate back surgery, forcing the cancellation of international tour dates and the American Carnage tour featuring Slayer, Megadeth, and Testament. Booking agents are working on rescheduling the tour.

Latest on Gilbert Arenas after suspension

Chris Sheridan with the latest news on suspended Gilbert Arenas

Senator Demands IP Treaty Details

It's alarming a U.S. senator must ask a federal agency to share information regarding a proposed and classified international anti-counterfeiting accord the government has already disclosed to Hollywood, the recording industry, software makers and even some digital-rights groups. Sen. Ron Wyden is demanding to confirm leaks...

10 TV Spin-Offs Better Than Originals

Don't forget that some of our favorite shows?like The Simpsons and NCIS?originated from other shows.

3D TV: Is the World Really Ready to Upgrade?

3D Televisions are everywhere in 2010, but we doubt the TV viewing world's willingness to quickly take the plunge.

How America Can Rise Again

Since coming back to the United States after three years away in China, I have been asking experts around the country whether America is finally going to hell.

I Gotta Mo-Fo Deer in My Cadillac & He's Tearing It Apart

Crazy 911 call (audio w/transcript). Guy in meltdown mode--describing carnage. Even dispatcher finds story amusing. It's a bit rambling. If too much, there's also a different vid at bottom--classic awesome vid of a deer in furious attack mode...

Apple: Pixels as Touch Sensors for Brighter, Thinner Screens

How can you make a touchscreen thinner and brighter at the same time? Use the pixels as touch sensors, says Apple. Touchscreens and multitouch technology make up a significant majority of Apple's research into future user interface improvements, and the iPhone introduced some of those UI paradigm shifts into our increasingly mobile computing...

Mexican Authorities Staged Photos to Taunt Drug Dealers

The dead drug lord lay on his back, blood-soaked jeans yanked down to the knees. Mexican peso notes carpeted his bullet-torn body, and U.S. $100 bills formed neat rows next to his bared belly....

6 Ways 'Avatar' Could Out-Earn 'Titanic'

It's been in theaters for three weekends and director James Cameron's Avatar is still going like gangbusters. Its billion-dollar (and counting) worldwide gross makes it a shoo-in as the all-time second-highest-grossing film, but can it topple the current No. 1, Cameron's Titanic?

Tea Party Nation terrified of Rachel Maddow

Tea Party Nation bans Rachel Maddow from their Web site, and warns that liberals 'can and will be banned.' Oh, what champions of free debate these clowns are.

Ford launches an idiot-proof car Interface

Ford unveiled an advanced version of Sync with a new touchscreen interface called MyFord Touch, cellphone-like rocker switches on the steering wheel (instead of an iDrive-like wheel), and an app store that runs apps such as Twitter, Pandora, and Stitch on your phone, all controlled by Sync.

Lenovo's Le Phone Is The Anti Nexus One

If the Nexus One is the first 'super phone,' as Google's Andy Rubin put it, Lenovo's new Le Phone is its nemesis: an Android-powered 'super phone' running a gigahertz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with special powers of its own, but absolutely no Google services visible?not even the Android Market.

Popular Youtube Videos Hand Drawn with Colored Pencil [Pics]

Some young artists came up with the idea to capture many frames from popular Youtube videos and draw them on handmade paper with color pencils. Each drawing is like a frozen Youtube frame with video title, user ratings and number of views.

Alka-Seltzer added to spherical water drop [VIDEO]

IN SPACE.

EA Gets Defensive About MoH/Modern Warfare Comparisons

EA LA, developers of the upcoming Medal of Honor reboot, got quite defensive in a recent magazine interview when Modern Warfare 2 was mentioned.

Marijuana Stores Outnumber Starbucks In Denver

Selling legal pot is a booming business. Denver now has more medical-marijuana shops than Starbucks locations.

Mayweather vs Pacquiao is OFF!!!!

Arum: 'The Fight's Off'The much-anticipated showdown between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, tentatively scheduled for March 13 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, has collapsed, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum...

Man jailed for eating last wild IndoChinese rare tiger

A man has been convicted of catching, killing and eating what may have been the last wild Indochinese tiger in China.

Intruder from 'Newark Airport Breach' Finally Caught on Tape

Federal officials today released a video tape of surveillance footage of an unidentified man who breached security at Newark Liberty International Airport Sunday, grounding flights for hours.....

6 Life Saving Techniques From the Movies (That Can Kill You)

We expect a certain level of medical farfetchery on TV and in the movies. But this sort of unrealism doesn't really hurt anything other than our intelligence, unlike these Hollywood medical myths, which could hurt you to death:

Two Gentlemen of Lebowski

What if William Shakespeare wrote The Big Lebowski?

Sky News Orders All Journalists to Install Tweetdeck

Sky News is installing Twitter's most popular application Tweetdeck on all of it's journalist's computers in the hope that it will stir the use of social media for newsgathering and reporting.

NBC Shakeup -- Jay Leno Comes Out on Top

Jay Leno is going back to his 11:30 time slot, and it's looking like Conan O'Brien is the odd man out ... sources tell TMZ. We've learned Jay's 10:00 show ...

Camera Traps Yield First-Time Film of Tigress and Cubs

Camera traps deep in the Sumatran jungle have captured first-time images of a rare female tiger and her cubs, giving researchers unique insight into the elusive tiger's behaviour. (W/ Video)

Coral reefs are evolution hotspot

Coral reefs give rise to many more new species than other tropical marine habitats, say scientists. They report that new species originate 50% faster in coral reefs than in other habitats.

New MAKE Blog 

Alt.CES: RC heli with streaming video & iPhone control

Alt.CES: Everything's amazing and nobody's happy

Laser-cut skeleton

Top 10 astronomy photos of 2009

Flashback: Homebrew Digital 3D Movies

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Depth of Field Hoodie (dark)

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