Eubie's notes

NY Times: Entrepreneurial Journalism in the Facebook Age — If journalists worry about their future value as the online world grows, they should think of themselves as journalist entrepreneurs. For those who can develop and market their content, it could be a very lucrative time.

This is almost unbelievable. Sydney Morning Herald: In Japan, cellular storytelling is all the rage

Remarkably, half of Japan’s top-10 selling works of fiction in the first six months of the year were composed the same way – on the tiny handset of a mobile phone. They sold an average of 400,000 copies. By August, the president of Goma Books, Masayoshi Yoshino, was declaring in a manifesto that he was determined “to establish this not simply as a fad, but as a new kind of culture”.

It’s a targeted audience

Usually they are written by first-time writers, using one-name pseudonyms, for an audience of young female readers – who, in Japan especially, consult their mobile phones so regularly that the habit could be mistaken for a tic. The stories traverse teen romance, sex, drugs and other adolescent terrain in a succession of clipped one-liners, emoticons and spaces (used to show that a character is thinking), all of which can be read easily on a mobile phone interface. Scene and character development are notably missing.

Charlotte Business Journal: Struggling for a dream: Launching a franchised business is an increasingly popular path to entrepreneurship. But as Jeff and Bridget Larkin have found, success carries a high price — if it comes at all.
A look at the struggle this couple is having with their franchise restaurants. It’s not negative on franchising. It does show that it’s long, hard work that may take awhile to pay off. Should be required reading for all entrepreneur wannabes.

Advice from Stephen Covey on how to get along with your boss.

Empathize

Think of your boss’s challenges, problems, concerns, and future plans–this is empathy. With empathy and anticipation you can act independently of your boss to deal with concerns and discover opportunities and underlying threats.

By acting independently and keeping your boss’s needs in mind (or the company’s needs) you are, in effect, leading.

The 103 stores are closing after the holidays reports USA Today. Hate to see them go. I spent a lot of time and money browsing and shopping there. Usually store closings are a good time to pick up some bargains, but these days I have a short list. Others felt differently about CompUSA — TechCrunch: CompUSA Goes Into The DeadPool. Good:

Some of my worst retail memories are of moments spent at CompUSA. Bad prices. Bad selection. Customer anti-service. Don’t even think about returns.

Several journalists I know worry about their continuing fall in their value as so much of what they do is being marginalized by online news sources, bloggers and all the demons under the bed. But Saul Hansell, writing in the Bits blog on the NY Times says this may be a time of great opportunity for journalists who can act entrepreneurial, putting together project and content that can easily be sold or monetized through advertising. Writing in “Entrepreneurial Journalism in the Facebook Age“, Hansell writes:

Even if those numbers were wildly optimistic, the fact remains that in today’s world you simply don’t need to be hired by a publishing company with ad salesmen, layout artists, and printing presses to get your ideas into the world.

He was doing so well until he then wrote:

It seems to be a great time to be starting out in journalism. Just don’t ask advice from anyone who has been in the business for more than five years.

Rafe Needleman writes in Webware of 6 upgrades that are downgradeshttp://www.webware.com/8301-1_109-9824066-2.html
No. 1 was Vista, which has such a bad reputation that some at our office are worried that they’ll be switched over to Vista when they get new computers in January. Others on Neeldeman’s list include: Zune, iPod and the megapixel race on digital cameras.

Also CNet put Vista on its most recent Top 10 terrible tech products.

Triangle Business Journal: Drought could force shutdown of nuclear, coal plants: North Carolina’s electric utilities, among the largest water customers in the state, are dusting off contingency plans to manage their power plants if lake levels continue to drop due to the ongoing drought – plans that could lead to higher costs for consumers.

Similar story in Georgia. Atlanta Business Chronicle: Drought hits hydropower: Because of the drought, hydroelectric power generation is down 51 percent for Georgia Power Co. this year, the company says. While water accounts for a small percentage of the power generated for Georgia Power’s 2 million customers, the drought has forced the company to buy $33.3 million in coal and oil to replace the lost hydropower.

NY Times: Civil Discourse, Meet the Internet. A columns by Clark Hoyt, NY Times’ public editor on the move to allowing commenting on its articles. The NY Times is being more cautious than other such as USA Today or Washington Post. NY Times hired four part-time staffers to screen all comments before they are shown. The other two papers let reader flag an already posted comment, which will then be reviewed by an editor.

The Times’ caution drew this comment from JD Lassica on Social Media: The Times’ decision to allow reader comments on stories and editorials comes about a decade late.

PaidContent via NY Times: Economic Downturn Won’t Dent Online Ad Spending This is good news for online media and advertisers — growth rates are expected to remain in double digits because traditional media continues to move online. Companies such as AOL and Yahoo face challenges, though.