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MovieShift
An Actor's Life in the Digital Age: Trying to Make New Media Pay
I went to my first movie at 4 years old: "Mary Poppins" at the Sycamore State Theater in Sycamore, Ill. It was one of those large theaters with lots of character about it. Beautiful blue lighting glowed along the ledges and pointed to the lavish velvet curtains that surrounded the screen. Dick Van Dyke, who played Bert in the movie,...
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Mediatwits
Mediatwits #46: Photography Special: Creative Commons, Cameraphones, Instagram, Google+
Welcome to the 46th episode of the Mediatwits podcast, this time with Mark Glaser and the Rafat Ali as co-hosts. Rafat is celebrating his birthday, we're not sure how old he is, but we know that he loves photography. So this week we are celebrating his birthday by doing a special show focused on photography in the digital age....
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Europe
Spain's iPad Mag, Vis à Vis, Shows Growth, Points to New Path
In a small office in Alcala Street, in the center of Madrid, a team of seven young entrepreneurial journalists are working overtime to produce the next issue of digital magazine Vis à Vis. Conceived exclusively for the iPad and launched in January, Vis à Vis is an interactive, visual and modern publication that wants to reinvent journalism. The first...
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Your Take
Poll: How Do You Get Your News On-The-Go?
According to research from Pew, 23% of Americans get their news on at least two digital devices. In the past, most people got their news from TV, radio or newspapers, but that has now shifted to people getting news on tablets, smartphones and desktop computers, as well as the legacy media. So how do you get your news when you...
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Social Networking
Infographic: The Role of Mobile Devices, Social Media in News Consumption
Editor's note: This week, the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism released its annual State of the News Media report. The following is an infographic the organization put together to spell out some of the report's biggest findings and it is used here as a guest post. Click on the image below for a larger version of the...
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Mediatwits
Mediatwits #43: Pew's State of the News Media; Yahoo Sues Facebook
Welcome to the 43rd episode of the Mediatwits podcast, this time with Mark Glaser and the Rachel Sklar as co-hosts. Sklar is a writer and social entrepreneur, and is filling in for Rafat Ali. She is back from SXSW and slowly recovering from the interactive, music and film festival. The big news this week is Pew's annual State of the...
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Mediatwits
Mediatwits #42: SXSW Special: Homeless Hotspots; Ambient Apps, CNN/Mashable?
Welcome to the 42nd episode of the Mediatwits podcast, this time with Mark Glaser and the Rachel Sklar as co-hosts. Sklar is a writer and social entrepreneur, and is filling in for Rafat Ali. This week is a special episode dedicated to all things South by Southwest (SXSW), the media confab covering technology, music and film down in Austin, Texas.
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Your Take
Poll: What Do You Think About the New iPad?
The new iPad has a better screen resolution than most HDTVs. It will have faster 4G connectivity speeds than most other tablets. Its processor will blow away the processor on the last generation iPad. Is that wowing you yet? Are you impressed? Ready to stand in line for the new iPad? Or is it all just a yawner? The new...
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Mediatwits
Mediatwits #41: 'The New iPad'; Newspaper Culture Clashes; NewYorker.com's New Editor
Welcome to the 41st episode of the Mediatwits podcast, this time with Mark Glaser and the George Kelly as co-hosts. Kelly is online coordinator at the Contra Costa Times newspaper and is filling in for Rafat Ali. This week we have an action-packed show with a lot to cover. First up is "The New iPad," announced by Apple on...
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MobileShift
How One Reporter Ditched His Laptop and Covered a Conference with an iPhone, iPad
For the first time in my career last week, I went to work naked. I had the requisite snazzy shirt and tie, but I showed up at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, without my laptop computer and without my camera. I had decided to go all mobile. I'm one of those reporters who usually overdoes it with technology....
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TVShift
How Apps Are Making the 'Third Screen' a Primary Screen for Historical TV
On the last day of the History Makers International conference, a three-day event consisting of award presentations, panel discussions, and master classes for producers and broadcasters, a particular tweet caught my eye: "At third screen panel at history conference. I feel like a dinosaur." The faster-than-the-speed-of-light changes in the digital world may be making many people feel like dinosaurs, but...
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Hyper-Local
10 Types of Foundation-Led Projects Changing the Local Media Landscape
Local foundations are becoming key players in the emerging local news ecosystem by funding news and information projects or creating their own. Knowing that, the Knight Foundation has distributed more than $16 million to 85 challenge winners to develop projects that inform and engage local communities. The Community Information Challenge focuses on community or place-based foundations because Knight believes these...
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Futurama
Wearing Our Computers on Our Sleeves
It's natural to imagine our computers as devices that have screens and some sort of keyboard input, real or virtual. Those two design elements constrain the device's form factor because the screens need to be big enough for us to see and the keyboards must make room for our fingers or thumbs. But a number of technological hurdles are being...
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Business
2012: Why the Web Is Not Dead and Other Flashpoints
First the easy predictions for the new year: In 2012 we'll see a rise of politics in the digisphere, along with reporting as if the phenomenon is a surprise; more strum over the Murdochs' drum; and a snazzy new iPad 3. But, there are bigger rumblings afoot in the year ahead, too. Here's my second annual round of predictions for...
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MagazineShift
Getting a Tablet Is Easy; Getting Digital Magazines Is a Pain
Buying that new iPad, Kindle or Nook for Christmas is just the first step to becoming a digital magazine reader. While shopping for books and movies is a fairly straightforward process, getting your favorite magazines onto your new e-reading device can be trickier. The ways you can buy a magazine are rapidly multiplying, making it harder for readers to evaluate...
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EducationShift
What Is a Great Education App Really Worth?
Walk the aisles of any toy store and you'll see miles of shelves lined with $20-$30 board games and toys. We're accustomed to paying that amount because that's where the market set the price years ago. It's predicated on production costs, overhead for toy manufacturers, distribution, and the store's cut of the margin, among many other factors.
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MagazineShift
Finding the Right Blend of Print and Digital at Meredith's Recipe.com
I'll take the Florentine lasagna, please, with a 2D barcode and a mobile app on the side. Food magazines pride themselves on delectable recipes and luscious photography. Recipe.com, whose title is also its website's URL, is a new publication from magazine giant Meredith, and while every recipe is indeed accompanied by a photo, the print magazine's content is thoughtfully integrated...
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Mediatwits
Mediatwits #27: Groupon IPO Mania; Nook Tablet Takes on Kindle
Welcome to the 27th episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and entrepreneur Rafat Ali. This week we look deeper at the Groupon IPO, which briefly valued the daily deals startup at nearly $20 billion. Our special guests are Business Insider CEO Henry Blodget, as well as Yipit Data analyst...
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Mediatwits
Mediatwits #24: Non-Profit News Sites; iPhone 4S Boom; Android's Ice Cream Sandwich
Welcome to the 24th episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and entrepreneur Rafat Ali. The hot topic is non-profit news sites and whether they can sustain themselves. A recent study was released from the Knight Foundation about the business health of some of these sites, and noted that they still need to experiment to find the right business model to survive.
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EducationShift
How a $35 Tablet Could Revolutionize Classroom Learning
When Amazon unveiled its new Android tablet, the Kindle Fire, last month, analysts said that its price could well make it a viable competitor to the wildly successful iPad. Indeed, while the iPad has ignited great interest in tablet computing, particularly in schools, that interest has really just been in iPads.
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Mediatwits
Mediatwits #22: Remembering Steve Jobs with Two Biographers
Welcome to the 22nd episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and entrepreneur Rafat Ali. This week is a special edition dedicated to Steve Jobs, the technology visionary who died on Wednesday. The news spread quickly online and on social media, with so many heartfelt memories, stories and old videos. And of course, in death as in life, Jobs remained a polarizing figure, with so many admirers and so many haters.
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Your Take
What Do You Think of the New Line of Kindles?
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos had his Steve Jobs moment this week, unveiling a slew of new Kindles, a new Silk browser and even a Newsstand. (Here's a handy comparison chart of the Kindles, and here's a roundup of all the media coverage and analysis.) The big point was that Amazon was offering up a new Kindle Fire tablet that was...
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EducationShift
Class, Turn on Your Cell Phones: It's Time to Text
As we noted in August, cell phones are in the hands of the vast majority of adults, and whether schools like it or not, they're in the hands of most students. While many schools still see cell phones as a distraction rather than as an educational tool, it's hard to deny that these devices are quickly becoming the primary means...
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MobileShift
Best Coverage, Analysis of Amazon Kindle Fire Announcement
Amazon recently made waves by announcing its new Kindle Fire tablet, running a custom version of Android and starting at $199. Plus, there were the new Kindle Touch models in the mid-range and the low-cost Kindle, starting at $79 with ads. We scoured Twitter, tech blogs, Google+ and even Quora to find the best coverage and analysis of the announcement....
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EducationShift
Cell Phones in Classrooms? No! Students Need to Pay Attention
In the battle for the hearts and minds of students, the front line for educators has changed over the last couple of decades. Rather than the age-old struggle for access, the foremost concern today is one of attention.
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Mediatwits
Mediatwits #18: CNN Buys Zite; DoJ Blocks AT&T; Starz Drops Netflix
The Mediatwits podcast is sponsored by the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, which offers an intensive, cutting edge, three semester Master of Arts in Journalism; a unique one semester Advanced Certificate in Entrepreneurial Journalism; and the CUNY J-Camp series of Continuing Professional Development workshops focused on emerging trends and skill sets in the industry. Welcome to the 18th episode...
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Your Take
Who's the Winner in the Google-Motorola Deal?
Deals like this don't come along every day. The search giant Google has rarely strayed into this kind of massive buyout in the past (a few billion for DoubleClick comes to mind) and never for something like hardware. But now that Google has announced a $12.5 billion buyout of Motorola, a maker of smartphones and TV set-top boxes, the guessing...
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Mediatwits
Mediatwits #16: Why Google Bought Motorola; Yahoo Scoops ESPN Big-Time
Welcome to the 16th episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and Rafat Ali, the founder of PaidContent. This show looks at the week's big news, including the head-turning buyout of Motorola Mobility by Google for $12.5 billion. What was driving the search giant to become a hardware maker? Was...
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Business
3 Ways Google-Motorola Doesn't Make Sense (And 5 Ways it Does)
Google's $12.5 billion deal to purchase Motorola Mobility was foolish, savvy, naive or clever, according to various analysts commenting over the last two days. In fact, it's probably all of those things, and how well it pans out will depend on how it's executed. Let's start with the reasons the deal looks foolish, then some ways it could work. 1....
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TVShift
HBO Go App Shakes Up the Streaming TV Scene
In a second-quarter earnings letter to investors distributed last month, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said the biggest threats to his business weren't the likes of Amazon Prime or Hulu Plus, but applications such as HBO Go. "HBO subscribers can watch HBO on-demand through their MVPD (multichannel video programming distributor) provider web interface (DishOnline.com, say), or through the HBO Go dedicated...
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Media Usage
Glaser & Son Dissect the Best Screens for Kids
My son Julian was born into a world of screens nine years ago. Being the son of a "mediatwit" means that he was surrounded by screens, small and large. And yet, I've tried to moderate his usage the best that I can, limiting him to an hour of game time each weekday and one and a half hours on...
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Your Take
How Do You Like Watching TV Shows?
It used to be so easy. You'd cozy up on a couch, get your remote control (and popcorn) and turn on the TV for a night of vegetation. But now, you have options. So many options. You can watch shows when you want by recording them on your DVR. You can cancel cable TV and use a Roku box to...
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Mediatwits
Mediatwits #13: Smartphone Ownership Booms; This Week in Rupert
Welcome to the 13th episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and Rafat Ali, the founder of PaidContent. This week's show looks at a recent survey by Pew Internet that found that 35 percent of Americans now have smartphones, and that ownership is even higher among people of color. Guest...
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MagazineShift
Golf Digest Adds Interaction, Depth, E-Commerce to iPad App
It seemed like the first-delivered iPad was hardly unsheathed from its box before News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, apparently unfazed by a rich past of misguided forays into Internet ventures, announced the launch of The Daily, which was immediately labeled the first tablet-only newspaper. And it was mere weeks -- if not days -- after its debut when media critics...
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MagazineShift
Smartphone Sensors Could Revolutionize Digital Magazines
We've all done those personality and health quizzes in magazines. You know, the ones where you suspect that answer A will categorize you as the personality type you're trying to avoid, so you choose B instead. Everyone does that, right? These evasive strategies for magazine quizzes, though, could be a thing of the past as smartphones and tablet devices evolve...
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Your Take
What Should Publishers Do About Apple's Subscription Scheme?
Online publishers are in a real conundrum when it comes to selling digital subscriptions in the Apple universe. On one hand, there's the popularity of Apple, the App Store, iTunes and the iPad and iPhone -- you can't simply ignore them? On the other hand, Apple is taking a big 30% cut of subscription sales and won't share the data...
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Mediatwits
Mediatwits #10: Apple Backpedals on iPad Subs; GWU Study on Local News
Welcome to the tenth episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and Dorian Benkoil, filling in for Rafat Ali. This week's show looks at the changes in Apple's subscription plan for publishers, as they backpedal on the pricing. But still, Apple will take a 30% cut of subscription revenues and...
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MobileShift
How Publishers Can Bypass Apple with HTML5 Web Apps
When the iPad first arrived on the scene, our Belgian business newspapers, De Tijd and L'Echo, embraced it. We knew tablets, with their lightness and convenience, would become important for our communities, and so we dove into building apps and offering our readers special deals on iPads. Quickly though, we learned that despite the opportunities the iPad offered, there were...
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MagazineShift
Solving the App Development Conundrum for Small Magazines
Even a small magazine can make a powerful impression with a well-designed mobile presence. In some ways, digital platforms can level the playing field for small publishers wanting to attract readers' attention with innovative content and presentations. But getting onto mobile platforms with apps and optimized websites can be a significant challenge for small publishers. While major magazine companies like...
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RadioShift
5 Must-Have Apps for iPhone Radio Reporting
Having the right tool for any job is important, especially when your finished product is due right now. Since February 2010 I've been doing all my field production and reporting on my iPhone for all-news WTOP-FM and wtop.com in Washington, D.C. You can read my in-depth report on how I use the iPhone for reporting in this previous report for...
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MagazineShift
Children's Magazines Cater to True Early Adopters with Mobile Apps
Digital magazines designed for kids are giving new meaning to the phrase "early adopter." Children's magazines have come a long way from those dusty print editions at the pediatrician's office. While adults struggle to join the transition to digital magazines and apps, their offspring are moving seamlessly into the new age of publishing. Kids now have a variety of digital...
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Mediatwits
Mediatwits #7: Skype Gets Microsoft-ed; 'Street Fight' Returns Fire
Welcome to the seventh episode of "The Mediatwits," the new revamped longer form weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser along with PaidContent founder Rafat Ali. This week's show looks at Microsoft's massive payout, $8.5 billion, for Skype, a popular communication service that still loses money. Our guest this week is Laura Rich, the co-founder...
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Mediatwits
Mediatwits #5: Who Owns Social Media Followers?; Byliner CEO John Tayman
Welcome to the fifth episode of "The Mediatwits," the new revamped longer form weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser along with PaidContent founder Rafat Ali. This week's show is about the various social media policies at news organizations, and how they vary from place to place. Plus, can media companies actually own the followers...
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Your Take
What Do You Think About iPhones Tracking You?
There is a bizarre competition among tech firms to see who can creep us out the most. First came Google and its peeping StreetView vans loaded with webcams. Then came Facebook and its "brilliant" Beacon feature that broadcast items you recently bought to your friends. Now comes news from a pair of researchers that Apple has a tracking file in...
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Mediatwits
Mediatwits #4: Impressive, Creepy Apple; The iPhone Radio Reporter
Welcome to the fourth episode of "The Mediatwits," the new revamped longer form weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser along with PaidContent founder Rafat Ali. This week's show is obsessed with all things Apple -- and iPhone. Apple had a blow-out earnings quarter, nearly doubling its profits and selling more iPhones than ever with...
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RadioShift
How One Radio Reporter Ditched His Equipment for an iPhone 4
It's been more than a year since I packed away my laptop computer, digital recorders, microphones, cables and cameras, and began covering Washington, D.C. with only my iPhone. When I first came to the top-rated all-news WTOP in 1997, the bag phone I carried weighed as much as a bowling ball. Reel-to-reel tape recorders (ask your parents) were the newsroom...
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Mediatwits
Mediatwits #2: AT&T Buys T-Mobile; 'Tweets from Tahrir' Authors
Welcome to the second episode of "The Mediatwits," the new revamped longer form weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser along with PaidContent founder Rafat Ali. This week's show looks at the repercussions of the $39 billion buyout of T-Mobile USA by AT&T. Rafat has had both services and will stick by AT&T, but Mark is...
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MusicShift
SXSW 2011: Music Apps Get Social; Streaming Battle Continues
SXSW is easily the most chaotic experience in the music industry. For the 14,000 people that attend the music conference it provides opportunities to immerse themselves in the ecosystem that powers much of the global business. It is one of the best times to tee up deals and relationships that could power significant developments for the rest of the...
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MagazineShift
Apple Takes Big Bite Out of Digital Subscriptions for Small Mags
With new restrictions on subscription opportunities -- and the large portion of income from them that will now be claimed by Apple (30%), in particular -- some indie magazines are reconsidering their digital efforts, and wondering whether they're still worthwhile.
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MovieShift
How to Experience the Oscars on Mobile, Social Media
The Academy Awards are less than 127 hours away. While most people haven't seen all 10 Best Picture nominees, the Oscar-nominated reels may still be experienced through the revelry of mobile, digital and social initiatives. For moviegoers who still want the big screen experience of dreams and swans before Sunday, AMC Theatres offers the final chance with its Best Picture...
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EducationShift
Blizzard Builds KOMU Community with Mobile Video, Facebook
I've always dreamed of a time when my community could come together with the help of our on-air and online collaboration. All it took was a blizzard to make it happen. Mid-Missouri was hit with a blizzard-like storm that dumped 17.5 inches of snow into Columbia, Mo., and even more south of the city. The entire viewing audience of KOMU-TV was home and stuck inside.
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MobileShift
5 Key Truths About Mobile News Consumers
Smartphones are ushering in the next wave of news consumption. These devices present an exciting opportunity for the news media to go mobile, putting endless information and the possibility of engagement in the palm of every consumer's hand. But what characterizes the new mobile news consumer? How does he or she interact with news? And how can that shape the...
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MarketingShift
Teens Turn to Social Coding to Protect Privacy on Social Nets
In certain teen social circles, it's considered a subtle act of arrogance, a signifier of the loner, to use a solo photo of yourself for your Facebook profile. Digital natives may have earned their reputation as the "entitlement generation," but apparently there are some social limits to their unabashed self-regard. In fact, there's compelling evidence the up-and-coming cohort of young...
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4MR
4 Minute Roundup: All Hail the Verizon iPhone!
The iPhone is coming, the iPhone is coming, the iPhone is coming... to Verizon. After an endless string of complaints from users about dropped calls on the AT&T iPhone, Verizon finally is offering relief with its own iPhone, due out next month. The downsides of the new Verizon iPhone include that it's on the CDMA network, and not a new...
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MobileShift
10 Mobile Trends in 2011: Android Boom, Tablets Multiply
2010 was an important year for mobile, especially in media, where the announcement of the iPad and other tablets, along with new smartphones, made mobile and tablet apps especially intriguing to publishers. This year promises greater growth and new opportunities for content producers. Here are some of the top trends to keep an eye on as 2011 unfolds. 1. Continued...
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MagazineShift
iPads, Print-on-Demand Slowly Transform Magazines in 2010
This revolution is going to take its time. It's been a year of high expectations but little fulfillment for those who thought 2010 might forever change the way we read magazines. We've seen that disappointing uses of new tools, limited audience interest, and small initial financial returns are going to result in a gradual shift, not a sudden transformation....
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EducationShift
Why We Gave Our Students Droid Smartphones to Capture News
This semester at Ryerson University in Toronto, thanks to help from Motorola and Telus, a major Canadian cell phone provider, my fellow third-year online journalism instructor Vinita Srivastava and I have been able to provide all our two dozen students with Android-powered Droid smartphones.
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MobileShift
Customer Support Face-Off: Nexus One Hell vs. Apple Heaven
When I finally purchased my first smartphone, Google's Nexus One, last March, I quickly declared myself a satisfied customer. I was easy to impress. Anything was a step up from a five-year-old Samsung with a pull-up antenna. Like many, I dreamt of an iPhone, but was turned off by what I heard about AT&T's service. I waited in vain for...
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MobileShift
Gaming + Mobile + Social = 'Conspiracy for Good' from Tim Kring
Tim Kring, a long-time television writer and producer, is best known as the creator of the NBC show "Heroes." But he's rapidly expanding his media universe -- last week at Comic-Con he launched a new book project, "Shift," which will debut in August from Crown Books. He has also created a new transmedia project called "Conspiracy For Good" (CFG), which...
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4MR
4 Minute Roundup: Apple Offers Free Bumpers as iPhone Fix
In this week's 4MR podcast I look at the problems Apple has been having with its iPhone 4. The infamous "death grip" issue meant you'd have dropped calls if your hand went over a certain part of the phone's antenna. Apple brought out Steve Jobs for a press conference today where they offered free bumpers to solve the issue, and would refund anyone for their iPhone if they weren't satisfied. I talked with Chicago Sun-Times tech guru Andy Ihnatko for his take on the press conference and Apple's non-apology apology.
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Collaboration
Media Consortium Pushes Collaboration to Increase Innovation
Once a week, representatives from liberal publications such as AlterNet, Yes! Magazine, the American Independent News Network, the UpTake, and Ms. Magazine convene to discuss mobile strategies. The call, organized by the Media Consortium, is part of an Incubation and Innovation Lab designed to help members collectively tackle the new realities of journalism -- a landscape where traditional revenue sources...
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Your Take
Which Smartphone Is for You: iPhone or Android?
Betamax or VHS? Mac or PC? Blu-ray or HD DVD? Format wars have been waged for years in the media world, and now they've come to smartphones. At the forefront of those wars is the battle between the entrenched leader, Apple's iPhone, and the more open system from Google: Android. While Apple tightly controls the apps on its iPhone, the...
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4MR
4 Minute Roundup: iPhone 4 vs. Android Phones
In this week's 4MR podcast I consider the new iPhone 4 announced by Apple, with a sleeker design, longer battery life, "retina display" and a front-facing camera for video calls. How will the iPhone stack up against popular Android phones such as the new 4G HTC Evo and the Motorola Droid? I talked with CNET associate editor Nicole Lee to...
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Digging Deeper
DoApp Wants to Dominate Mobile Apps for Local Media
The buzz surrounding mobile and tablet apps is deafening. Media companies of all sizes are considering how mobile apps might help a hurting bottom line, leading them to consider mobile ads or paid apps. The We Media folks even threw a one-day Tablet Throwdown so media companies could show off their iPad apps and talk about possible business models. But...
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World View
Hands-On with WePad Touchscreen Interface
BERLIN -- I threw a party here on April 17 in order to compare the Apple iPad tablet with the new WePad that's being produced by the Berlin-based company Neofonie. I found that the WePad had many things the iPad was lacking -- Flash support, a webcam, multi-tasking and more -- but at the time, the WePad I tried had...
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MagazineShift
The Ethics of Digital Magazine Advertising
In my recent discussions with magazine editors, executives and experts, I've heard a lot about how magazines will integrate new forms of advertising, and "monetization" opportunities, into their digital content. From digital editions to social media to mobile apps, magazines are exploring a variety of ways to provide advertisers with novel opportunities to reach audiences, just as they have in...
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MobileShift
WePad Takes on iPad with Support of European Publishers
BERLIN -- When I made plans to travel to Berlin to help judge the Best of the Blogs awards for Deutsche Welle, I figured it would be a nice idea to throw a MediaShift party. Then I found out that the new WePad tablet computer was being produced by a Berlin-based company, Neofonie. So it made sense to see one...
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Your Take
What Do You Think of Ads on Your Mobile Phone?
There are two converging trends: 1) people are tired of seeing advertising everywhere, and 2) cell phones are becoming an entry place to the mobile web, meaning more ads are coming. Yet, even as our smartphones give us more features, we'd prefer to have no ads and not have to pay for apps. At some point, we might have to...
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World View
Will 'Telecentros' Transform Cuba's Internet Access?
It wasn't your typical keynote address. Earlier this month, at an event held on the campus of Cornell University, a room of people gazed at a blank screen in rapt attention, listening to a woman speak over a weak cell phone connection originating in Cuba. The speaker was Cuba's 32-year-old star blogger, Yoani Sanchez. The event was the seventh annual...
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MobileShift
The conundrum with the iPad is that it's exciting to consider a sleek new form factor for getting news, movies, TV shows, games and web browsing -- but it's less exciting to be first in line to pay the most for the least. We all know the first version of a technology product costs the most and is missing the...
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Your Take
How Much Would You Pay for iPad News Apps?
So you've plopped down $499 (or more) for a shiny new iPad from Apple. You've connected iTunes to the device and now you've visited the App Store. But now comes the question: How much more will you pay for news apps? Some of them are free, like the USA Today app, while some offer limited selection like the New York...
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4MR
4-Minute Roundup: All Hail the iPad (Except Curmudgeons)
Here's the latest 4MR audio report from MediaShift. In this week's special edition, I look at the impending launch of the Apple iPad tablet. So far, reviews have been mainly positive, though there are some caveats about the missing features (Flash support, camera, USB, etc.). Media companies are falling over themselves to create apps, including paid apps, but no one...
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MarketingShift
Why The iPad Is A Hit (And Why I Won't Buy One Yet)
Even before any consumers had received Apple's iPad, it was being proclaimed a hit. I didn't find that surprising, because from the beginning there were signs this day was coming. Here are a few: There was a business and tech press feeding frenzy since before the initial announcement of the impending device. The announcement had the same kind of shoulder-to-shoulder...
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4MR
4-Minute Roundup: The Rising Buzz of Location Services at SXSW
Here's the latest 4MR audio report from MediaShift. In this week's edition, I look at the growing interest in geo-location services such as Foursquare and Gowalla, especially as the South by Southwest conference begins in Austin, Texas. Now, Twitter and Facebook are both preparing to add geo-location to their services as well, and Google already has Latitude and Buzz that can show your location. But will this become a mainstream phenomenon or just a pastime for the tech-savvy in-crowd?
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Legal Drama
What Are the Legal Implications of PleaseRobMe?
They know where you sleep, and now they know where you get coffee. That was the message driven home by the recently created website PleaseRobMe.com. The site aggregates Twitter posts sent when a person uses Foursquare to check in at a location -- meaning they're basically telling the world that they're not at home at the moment. According to the...
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5Across
5Across: Smartphone Etiquette, and Our Lack of Civility
Back in 2006 on MediaShift, I asked an innocent question to readers: "In what social situations should you NOT use a cell phone?" The response was overwhelming, with dozens of people upset by the lack of etiquette shown by people talking on cell phones in restaurants, theaters and even in public restrooms.
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PoliticalShift
How Mobile Apps Are Revolutionizing Elections, Transparency
The importance of social media in politics was made clear by Barack Obama's 2008 presidential run. But there is a new frontier of Web 2.0 technologies that politicians and political groups are slowly starting to embrace: the smartphone app. These apps have the potential to reshape how politicians communicate, raise money and get out the vote. The biggest player on...
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BookShift
Best Coverage, Tweets of Apple iPad Event
The hype has reached fever pitch on the new tablet device being unveiled by Apple today in San Francisco. You're probably tired of going through tweets, live blogs and photo galleries trying to find the latest and best coverage of the latesty shiny gadget. So we've collected the best coverage around the web in one handy place here on...
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4MR
4 Minute Roundup: 3D TV Hype at CES; Nexus One Phone
Here's the latest 4MR audio report from MediaShift. In this week's edition, I consider the hype around 3D TV at the Consumer Electronics Show. While many companies and even cable channels are announcing 3D TV initiatives, it seems doubtful that huge numbers of people will be drawn to the technology this year. Plus, Google unveiled its Nexus One phone to...
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4MR
4 Minute Roundup: Google Phone and Netbook; Kindle Under Attack
Here's the latest 4MR audio report from MediaShift. In this week's edition, I look at Google's various moves into consumer electronics. Rumors abound about a Google phone, code-named Nexus One, that could be out as early as the first week of January. And Google also might be coming out with its own branded netbook with Chrome OS by Christmas 2010....
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MagazineShift
Condé Nast, Hachette Magazines Push into iPhone Apps
Turning a magazine into an iPhone app might seem as simple as shrinking the printed page to about a sixth of its normal size. But as magazines develop iPhone and other mobile applications to supplement their print editions, they're finding that adapting to the new medium is a significant challenge. Years ago, magazines realized that their websites had to do...
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4MR
4 Minute Roundup: FTC's Blogger Rules; Charging for iPhone Apps
Here's the latest 4MR audio report from MediaShift. In this week's edition, I look at the new FTC rules for blogger disclosure, when they are reviewing a product or service. They are now required to disclose if they are being paid by the company or if they get a freebie. And what's up with all the new paid news apps...
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Citizen Journalism
Can Allvoices Succeed as Citizen Journalism Platform?
With Examiner.com recently buying out citizen media site NowPublic for a reported $25 million, the attention turned to similar independent sites such as Allvoices. Would it now become buyout fodder for a mainstream media company, or would it suffer the fate of so many citizen journalism sites that came before it, shutting down before finding a successful business model? To...
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MovieShift
Movie Apps Get Social as Studios Integrate Facebook Connect
Movie studios fully understand the influence that word-of-mouth reviews, whether positive or negative, have on box office receipts. Social networks are accelerating this conversation as consumers hype or hurt a movie's perception. Many observers speculate that moviegoer talk on Twitter, which often comes straight from a mobile phone inside a theater, can impact a film's opening weekend. As a result,...
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Media Usage
Kicking Ink: How the iPhone Beats the Kindle (So Far)
Last May, I finally took the full digital plunge and canceled my print subscription to the San Francisco Chronicle after 18 years. The cost was becoming too much, and I felt it was a good time to experiment with getting my news in digital form -- and to write about it here. In my first installment of "Kicking Ink,"...
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4MR
4 Minute Roundup: Facebook Takes on Twitter; iPhone Backlash
Here's the latest 4MR audio report from MediaShift. In this week's edition, I look at all the recent moves Facebook has made to take on Twitter, including revamping its search, coming out with slimmed-down "Facebook Lite" and buying out FriendFeed. Plus, various high-profile tech pundits have come out against the iPhone after Apple rejected Google Voice from its App Store....
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EducationShift
Is University of Missouri's iPod Touch 'Requirement' Fair?
The news out of the Missouri School of Journalism two weeks ago was a little confusing. The school announced it would be requiring all incoming freshmen journalism pre-majors to purchase an iPod Touch or iPhone. At least that was the lede in stories by the Columbia Missourian and The Maneater. But the "requirement" wasn't really a "requirement," if you read...
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MobileShift
Live-Blogging EconSM Gathering About Social Networking on Mobiles
SAN FRANCISCO -- I am at the UCSF Mission Bay Conference Center right down the hill from where I live in Potrero Hill. Yes, it is "Bike to Work Day" today in San Francisco, but I couldn't bike down in nice clothes. So I split the difference and walked most of the way here. The topic is how social...
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4MR
4-Minute Roundup: HuffPost Investigative Fund; AP on Mobile Apps
Here's the latest 4MR audio report from MediaShift. This week I look at the new Huffington Post Investigative Journalism Fund, which has $1.75 million to start a new non-partisan site that will do investigative work and then give it away to any news organization. I also look at the latest moves by Disney, distributing video on YouTube and possibly on...
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MusicShift
Maximizing the SXSW Experience with Social Media
Every year, thousands of bands, music industry professionals, and hardcore fans flock to Austin, Texas for the mighty South By Southwest (SXSW) music festival. Over the course of nine days, three distinct but interwoven conferences take place -- Interactive, Music, and Film. For the uninitiated, SXSW can be an overwhelming, daunting experience. But for tech-savvy patrons, technology has made the...
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MobileShift
The Promise and Challenges for Mobile Media in the Developing World
Mobile phones are everywhere. They have long surpassed the Internet in number of users, and in some parts of the world, mobile phones now rival television in reach. The mobile tech economy (at least until recently) was booming with telcoms and handset manufacturers fiercely competing in emerging markets, and software giants like Microsoft and Google entering the mobile industry in...
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Guides
E-books are electronic books, or books you can read on your computer or on handheld devices such as e-readers or smartphones. The first e-book was likely created by Michael Hart at the University of Illinois in 1971, when he typed in the text of the U.S. Declaration of Independence onto an early version of the Internet. Hart founded the Gutenberg Project, an online collection of e-books that are taken from public domain books.
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Digging Deeper
Vodafone's Child Porn Filter Blocks Innocent Czech Tech Blogs
Last summer, the British cell phone carrier Vodafone announced it would be offering a new filtering service for its Czech customers. "Child pornography and promotion of racism [are] such socially dangerous content that we have access to it automatically blocked for all of our customers," said Philip Premysl, senior manager of corporate social responsibility of Vodafone in the press release....
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World View
Africa News Empowers Citizens to Report Online
Over the past couple of months I have been following a new African news portal, Africa News, the latest in the 12-year history of African online news media. Africa News goes much further than previous attempts to create online news communities serving Africa; the site includes content submitted by locally based citizen journalists who use mobile phones and the Internet...
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World View
Cell Phone Use, Texting Widespread in China
BEIJING -- As basketball fans geared up for the U.S.-China pairing on August 10, a banner headline in the China Daily predicted more than a billion fans would watch the game. There were watch parties everywhere -- at ex-pat bars, local dives, even the hotel room two doors down from me. And in the lobby, even the security guard...
more »Thought Leader Q&A
Locative Media Project Aims to Collect Stories of Atlanta
The technology and journalism fields have long been dominated by men, especially in the upper management of big companies. But the J-Lab and McCormick Foundation want to shine the light on new ideas from women who work at mainstream media outlets but want to start something up on the side. That's why they started giving out grants in their...
more »Guides
The iPhone is the first cell phone offered by Apple Computer, combining its popular iPod MP3 player with a multi-touch-screen smartphone with web browsing. Apple CEO Steve Jobs played the tech world's wizard as he unveiled the iPhone on January 9, 2007 at the Macworld conference, where people lined up to gape at an early version of the phone behind glass.
more »Jennifer Woodard Maderazo
Spain's National Obsession with Mobiles, Texting
A few weeks ago I told you about the perpetuation of print newspapers here in Spain, and in that post I mentioned the fact that you don't see a whole lot of laptops being used on the streets of Barcelona or Madrid. One might think that this is an indication of a lack of love for gadgets. Quite the contrary: You may not see laptops, but what you do see are cell phones -- and tons of them.
more »MobileShift
12 Lessons Learned from Locative Media Project at Medill
Lojo Connect, our ten-week project that has explored ways that newsrooms can use location-based storytelling, including online interactive maps and GPS-driven stories, is coming to a close. You can read our previous posts on MediaShift to learn more about our project and limitations we encountered along the way.
more »MobileShift
Learning the Limits of Locative Media
Once our "LoJo team" finalized our locative story idea, we had to decide which format and technology worked best. We debated the advantages of driving tours versus walking tours. Driving tours are particularly attractive when tour locations are miles apart, which is the case with some of Chicago's planned Olympic venues. But a driving tour would limit our story to people with cars and to locations with available parking. We ultimately decided on a hybrid driving and walking tour.
more »MobileShift
Medill Students Use 'Locative Media' for Mobile Storytelling
If you've ever been on an audio tour of a museum or tooled around with an interactive map, you've experienced "locative media." Reliant on numerous emerging mobile and location-based technologies (from GPS-enabled mobile phones to Google Maps-based applications), locative storytelling provides multimedia content that enhances a user's connection to a given place.
more »Jennifer Woodard Maderazo
Twitter Helps with Reporting, Filtering the News
Last May on MediaShift, we wrote a series of articles about a new microblogging tool called Twitter, which was just beginning to gain visibility among the digerati. At that time, many bloggers were still on the fence as to how useful the service really was. Many thought it was a waste of time. Others just didn't understand if it...
more »Digging Deeper
The mobile web, or mobile Internet, is the experience of browsing the Net or using Internet functionality such as online maps and web search on your cellular phone or personal digital assistant (PDA). The promise of the mobile web is to let you do things like check email or news headlines, find good local restaurants, and get driving directions while you are on the move.
more »Jennifer Woodard Maderazo
The Blessing and Curse of the iPod Touch
Here at MediaShift, we have had some less than perfect experiences with mobile devices and the Internet. Earlier this year, Mark wrote "a manifesto about what would make for a smarter smartphone." And last summer "I grumbled about the bad time I was having with my new smartphone." The Treo 680 was under-delivering in the one area that had convinced me to purchase the phone in the first place: surfing the web.
more »Digging Deeper
Politico 2.0: Ruffini Blogs, Twitters, Crowdsources Obama Donations
Patrick Ruffini is the epitome of the new breed of political consultant. He's a numbers wonk who swears by Microsoft Excel. He's a tech geek who's had his own political website since the mid-'90s, and he writes for various big-name group blogs such as TechPresident and TownHall.com -- as well as his own blog. And though he has worked...
more »MobileShift
How to Make Smartphones Smarter
The cell phone industry in the United States is at a crossroads. Verizon announced it would open up its networks to other devices, AT&T opened its already-open network and Google has been pushing the carriers to adopt its more open Android platform. Whether any of this makes any sense to you, there's an obvious trend towards openness by cell...
more »MobileShift
Pocket Journalism Takes More Than Stylish iPhones
An AP technology story out of Japan hit home week. It detailed how young folk in Asia are abandoning the PC by the drove.
more »Media Usage
How Cell Phones Are Killing Face-to-Face Interactions
Whether you are dating someone, interviewing someone, or just meeting someone for the first time, there is a special quality about face-to-face interactions. You can catch the subtle tone in their voice, see their expression as it changes from sad to outraged, and you can look them in the eye to see if you trust them. So it's unfortunate...
more »MarketingShift
Marketers Grapple with Giving Teens More Control Online
SAN FRANCISCO -- A curious thing happened at the Hotel Nikko in downtown San Francisco today during the Ypulse Mashup 2007 conference about those wired teens. Yes, a lot of older folks dressed business-casual tried to look hip and decipher what the kids were doing online in social networks, on mobile phones and in virtual worlds. But on numerous...
more »Jennifer Woodard Maderazo
Why My Smartphone Is Dumb About the Net
I've got a problem: I hate using the Internet -- on my phone, that is. I am one of those people whose ears perked up at the idea of being able to take my online activities, such as reading news, watching videos and social networking with me wherever I go, on my phone. And after investing in a flashy...
more »Your Take
Is getting news on your mobile phone a satisfying or frustrating experience?
So many people have cell phones with web access that media companies are falling over each other to deliver content to cell phones. A recent article in the New York Times noted that CBS, News Corp. and ESPN are all putting big resources into mobile content, news and video delivered to cell phones, but the article also pointed out that...
more »Jennifer Woodard Maderazo
Doing More Than Just Twittering Our Lives Away
When I first signed up for micro-blogging service Twitter last September, I remember reading that day that Evan Willliams, one of Twitter's founders, was in a horse drawn carriage winding through the streets of Marrakech. I found that fascinating. That day, I wrote one update ("I'm blogging...") and didn't sign in again until April of this year. Why? Because...
more »Digging Deeper
Twitter Founders Thrive on Micro-Blogging Constraints
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and co-founder Biz Stone have taken executive transparency to new heights, not only using their own Twitter micro-blogging service frequently to share details of their personal lives, but also publishing their own phone numbers and business address on Twitter's Contact page. So it was easy for me to get in touch with them to set...
more »Guides
Your Guide to Micro-Blogging and Twitter
Micro-blogging allows you to write brief text updates about your life on the go, and send them to friends and interested observers via text messaging, instant messaging, email or the web. The most popular service is called "Twitter", which was developed last year and became popular among techno-gurus at the 2007 South by Southwest Conference in Austin, Texas. Part of the magic of Twitter is that it limits you to 140 characters per post, forcing you to make pithy statements on the fly.
more »MarketingShift
Marketers Get Weak Signal from Users on Cell-Phone Ads
There is an interesting disconnect between the way marketers view advertising on cell phones and what average folks who use cell phones think about those same ads. Marketers, ad agencies, research firms, cell phone makers and carriers are salivating over the prospect of delivering marketing messages to people via their cell phones. But survey after survey shows that people are not quite as excited about it -- in fact, most people consider it an outrage to be bothered by ads on such a personal device.
more »MusicShift
A Heated Conversation with the iPhone
Last night, I was visited in a dream by the new Apple iPhone, which strangely enough I was able to converse with. The phone hovered above my head vaporously, its disembodied voice coming out of the speaker in silky, hushed tones. This is what I can remember from the conversation.
more »Citizen Journalism
Saddam Cell Video Subverts News Packages
There's a certain predictability and glossiness to news "packages," special reports on breaking news that journalists knew were going to happen ahead of time. So when a pope dies after a long illness, the U.S. invades Iraq after a long runup to war, or the Democrats are sworn into power in Congress, you know there will be spiffy graphics, an on-the-scene reporter, and even an original musical intro on CNN.
more »Your Take Roundup
The Definitive Guide to Cell Phone No-No's
I went to New York City last weekend, and noticed all the people on cell phones while waiting for their planes in the airport. OK, there's not much to do in these waiting lounges so why not call people up? But it got worse when we were loading onto the plane and someone stood right in the middle of everyone else and spoke loudly into their cell phone. Everyone around looked annoyed but it make no impact on the person in conversation. When it happened again while loading onto another flight this weekend, I decided it was now a trend.
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