May 2007 Archives
Dell began selling new PCs installed with Ubuntu Linux, which raises the question in Wired: Is Ubuntu Linux for You, Too?. Looking at uses such editing photos, watching DVDs, and other software that runs with Ubuntu, the answer is not yet. It can be used in limited-use situations but for most folks, including many tech-savvy folks, it's beyond their reach, especially if it needs a bit of troubleshooting.
Stories such as Jessamyn Charity West's blog itemand YouTube video of installing Ubuntu on some old computers at the Vermont Library where she works makes it sound exciting and rebellious, but in the end most folks want it do work smoothly and easily.
I've found Knoppix to be the easiest to use for my uses, but Ubuntu is almost as easy, followed by DSL. With all three offering Live CDs where you can use the software from a CD, it's very easy to try it.
Flooded by email that will never get read, some have declared "email bankruptcy" where they just delete all the messages in the inbox and start over, reports the Washington Post, E-Mail Reply to All: 'Leave Me Alone'
Those declaring bankruptcy are swearing off e-mail entirely or, more commonly, deleting all old messages and starting fresh.E-mail overload gives many workers the sense that their work is never done, said senior analyst David Ferris, whose firm, Ferris Research, said there were 6 trillion business e-mails sent in 2006. "A lot of people like the feeling that they have everything done at the end of the day," he said. "They can't have it anymore."
For some, they're returning to the telephone or instant messaging to communicate.
USA Today:Honda's FCX fuel-cell car ready for its close-up
The biggest customer issue is expected to be the lack of noise.
It will be interesting to see how the automaker deals with the noise issue. Honda knows people want to hear something when they step on the throttle. Otherwise there's little to reinforce the feeling of acceleration. A noiseless car can seem sluggish even if it's not. But what kind of sound, and how do you get it from an electric powerplant?
No point putting it on the list anytime soon. In 2008, it's expected to be available only in places where hydrogen refueling stations are available, such as California, Detroit, Washington.
Lost Remote: Offshoring journalism: A job list
Here are the jobs most likely to be offshore, according to Liz Foreman
- Centralcasting
- Community-generated content editing
- Video editing
- Content repurposing
- Asset management
- User feedback
- Graphic design
- Ad production and scheduling
- Copy editing and fact checking.
See also: International HeraldTribune: Outsourcing hits a new class of workers: Journalists
New rules on testing mileage will lower the published rates for Hybrids, according to Wired's Hybrid Cars' Fantasy Mileage Ratings Drive Into the Sunset
Hybrid car economics will face a new road test this month with the arrival of fresh models sporting revised mileage ratings from the Environmental Protection Agency.This year, new test standards have forced manufacturers to lower advertised efficiency claims on most models compared to previous years, and car lots are bracing for a tougher environment for hybrid sales.
Revised EPA Miles Per Gallon Estimates
Microlending through web sites such as Prosper is growing, though not without some risks. Wired has Top 10 Lessons From a Microlending Pioneer which was a sidebard to an article Got Cash? You Can Money Like a Big-Time Banker
Borrowers have been attracted to Prosper because its auction model offers the possibility of getting lower fixed rates, particularly as part of a group of borrowers, and loans can be funded quickly -- sometimes just days after you've applied. Also, Prosper makes it easier to get loans for certain kinds of businesses, like eBay storefronts, that are difficult to fund through traditional bank loans.
But ...
(T)he number of loans that have gone bad is higher than what was initially predicted. Because of this, Bequette, Boon and Hoenig are holding off investing fresh money.Bequette, who expected an 18-percent return, is now concerned he won't beat the 11 percent he had with his mutual funds. His guess is that as a new market, Prosper has attracted people who couldn't find loans anywhere else, thus driving up the default rate and hurting overall returns.
Hoenig says Prosper's interest-rate caps of 30 percent aren't high enough to compensate for the dangers of lending to high-risk borrowers.
Spiegel Online: Bad Health Care, Deficient Welfare Keep Americans Short -- For decades, it has been clear that average European heights have been increasing while those on the other side of the Atlantic have not. But why? A new study says it might have to do with health care and the social net.
Washington Post: In Suburbs, Locked Into a High-Tech Lure -- Up-scale neighborhood wanted to boost the appeal of the neighborhood by having fiber-optic cable installed at the turn of the century. Now it's a costly, long-term commitment while those that waited get the same benefits at lower costs.
Washington Post: Interviews, Going the Way of the Linotype? by Howard Kurtz-- Those with this demand say it helps avoid misquoting and avoids interviews where reporters play "got-cha." Email only interviews do level the playing-field more, but most reporters will find it probably makes their job easier. For years, some sources insisted on taping the interviews. The biggest change will be that both sides could easily distribute a copy of the interview. As Jay Rosen did in this email interview with Kurtz: Howard Kurtz Sez: "The humble interview, the linchpin of journalism for centuries, is under assault."
Lost Remote: How to Write for the Web
Written for broadcast journalsts, but works for print journalists too.
1. Gather more details
2. Pull the quotes
3. Start with a fresh page
4. Write the lead sentence first
5. Use quotes to help tell the story
6. Attribute copy
7. Incorporate visual cues
8. Pull it all together
9. Write the headline
10. Add video, photos and resources
I Want Media: Craig Newmark: Craigslist Isn't a Media Menace -- The king of free online classified advertising insists that Craigslist is not a threat to the newspaper industry. "It's just a simple platform where people help each other out," he says. "In a way, anyone can do what we do."
Highlights:
Q: Is Craigslist a threat to newspapers, as people say?
Newmark: Not in a significant way. We do drain some revenue from some papers that rely on ads. But I have spoken to the industry analysts, and there is a bigger threat from the niche sites and niche papers. Sites like Monster are more of a threat because they suck away a lot more job ads. An even bigger threat is the pressure from Wall Street to get like 10 or 20 percent profit margins.
Maybe papers should focus on better Web sites, delivering the news better through the Net. Paper is just an expensive media. It's expensive to buy the ink, print the paper and deliver it.
Q: How is journalism changing?
Newmark: I see professional and citizen journalism blurring together. The model of professional journalism involves writing, editing and fact checking. The stereotypical model of citizen journalism -- blogging -- involves publishing and then maybe having other people fact check. I see these blurring together. The result is going to be a much more serious kind of journalism with an increasing amount of trust in articles.
Q: Any advice for newspaper publishers?
Newmark: I shouldn't be the person giving advice. But I would say philosophically they should perceive themselves as community services, not profit centers. If you're under pressure from Wall Street to make a 20 percent profit margin, you're following the wrong path.
Q: Is online the future of news?
Newmark: Paper is so expensive. Maybe you will have your software running on the Net, collecting the news that you are interested in -- hopefully throwing in something at random -- and then you print out a small amount of stuff to read. And that is what you take with you to the café.
Q: Any advice for young journalists beginning their careers?
Newmark: You guys are going to be graduating into an uncertain, kind of scary environment. The advantage you have is that you grew up with more technology and you may be more open to it. Right now your potential capabilities actually frighten veteran journalists. I've spoken with a lot of mid-career journalists, and they think you guys are instant messaging while having conversations. And that kind of scares them. Of course, just think that 5-year-olds can do it better than you. So be aware of that.
Do what you can on the Net to build up some kind of online reputation. Who knows? You may be your own news provider. You may want to start working on your own personal brand. Maybe start a blog and see if people will pay attention. You may be your own network.
From Romensko:
Departing Inquirer managing editor Anne Gordon says changes in the newspaper industry are more profound than any of us want to admit, and that papers are suffering the pain of their failure to innovate. More from her "exit interview":
* "I see print journalists playing an active role less in the breaking of news and more in the analytical side-explaining it."
* "I see opinionated, personality-driven voices breaking free of newspapers, going out on their own and becoming stars. I see journalists who will have to become real experts -- Ph.D.s in select subjects. There will be stars who will earn a lot of money, and everyone else will earn a lot less.
* "I also believe this whole democratization of news, with a give and take between the provider and consumer, is not a trend but a reality of the next generation."
WSJ: Short Is Good: The concise joys of condensed books -- and the virtues of brevity. New condensed books by Orion Books may make reading condensed books respectable. Terry Teachout adds
that reading Reader's Digest condensed books as a child, led him to read longer versions of the books, in some cases.
Like Orion's Compact Editions, Condensed Books came in for a fair amount of teasing. Betty Comden and Adolph Green, for instance, wrote a very funny song in which they speculated on how the Digest's editors might have summed up "Gone With the Wind": "Scarlett O'Hara's a spoiled pet/She wants everything that she can get/The one thing she can't get is Rhett/The end."
Below is the graphic representation of an online poll where people give the common name. Study began several years ago.
Links about the study are BoingBoing: Map of words used for "carbonated beverage" in USA, by county and Gadling: Soda, Pop, or Coke?Generic Names for Soft Drinks by County
Image from BoingBoing
Make Magazine: HOW TO - Tie the 10 most useful knots
Here's a guide on how to tie 10 useful knots including --
- Overhand Knot
- Figure-eight Know
- Reef (Square) Knot
- Sheet (Becket) Bend
- Carrick Bend
- Bowline
- Clove Hitch
- Timber Hitch
- Taut-line Hitch
- Sheepshank
MAKE reader Bill notes that you should really check out Animated knots too - Link.
BusinessWeek: Biz Tumbling All The Way To The Bank. Selling tumbleweeds over the web. Prices? $35 for a large weed, $25 for a mid-sized, $20 for a small size.
Editor & Publisher: At NAA Conference, Macy's Exec Tells Papers How to Win Back Business
Highlights of a talk by Anne MacDonal, chief marketing officer at Macy's:
Her company is very "concerned" about the declining readership and circulation at many newspapers throughout the country. "My company and I are not happy to see newspapers in decline. Newspapers deliver an immediacy that isn't possible … newspapers help us cast a wider net than direct mail efforts," she said.
But the inability of newspapers to hold on to current readers and attract younger ones is causing the giant department store to look at different media to reach them. "The readership and circulation data is causing retailers like us to shift our ad dollars," MacDonald said.
From Make Magizine
Wind power from highways
Here's an interesting idea, use the wind generated from cars on highways to power turbines, Joe writes -
The highway system that dissects Phoenix is expansive. While connecting 515 square miles of the Sonoran desert to support our sprawling culture, the valley freeways divide communities. My catalyst proposes to retroactively collect royalties on the land taken from social interaction. The design is a retrofitting replacement of the horizontal steel tube that currently holds freeway signage. The replacement will house two horizontal axis wind turbines (Quiet Revolution designs) that will be powered by the turbulence created from the passing cars.
Archinect : School Blog Project : Arizona State University (Joe) : Here goes (please comment) - [via] Link.
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String tripod
instructables : String Tripod - Link to article.