Journerdism | Will Sullivan's Stompin' ground for journalists and nerds.

The Rise of the Anti-Facebooks

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 22:47:34 -0700

"Facebook is dominating social media in almost every country where it hasn't been banned, and the six-year old site shows no signs of slowing down. It's creeping across generations, replacing things like the phone book and introducing tools the masses had no idea they needed. It's also indoctrinating the world into adopting the Mark Zuckerberg Values of "openness," "sharing" and "living your whole life on the Internet."

Those values have lead to a cultural movement. But here comes the resistance: a wave of social networking sites that define themselves in opposition to Facebook."

Out of the Western Sky: It’s a Hyperlocal, Worldwide Mormon Vertical!

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:25:04 -0700

"The immediate news that caught the attention of the news world: The Deseret News — one of two dailies in the market, in a joint operating agreement (shared business operations) with the MediaNews-owned Tribune — is cutting 43% of its newsroom, or 57 full-time and 28 part-time employees. That’s big news in and of itself, but in this case, only part of a much larger story.
We have to look at the Deseret News announcement in the context of another, USA Today’s (“It’s (About) Time for the Next Re-Invention“) last Friday. The news business is now blowing itself up, claiming radical reinvention, acknowledging that experimentation around the edges won’t get the job done." (Via Steve Yelvington)

T-Mobile HSPA+ is live in Boston, Miami, and more; 42 Mbps coming in 2011

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 12:32:51 -0700

"People in those cities should see a noticeable bump in download speeds beginning today if they have compatible phones. The Nexus One and Vibrant should get some fast speeds, but the first device capable of reaching top theoretical speeds (21 Mbps) will be the T-Mobile G2.

T-Mobile promises to reach 200 million people by the end of the year, and says it will offer 42 Mbps top speeds in 2011. T-Mobile didn’t explicitly state how it will manage those increased speeds, but Canadian carriers Bell and TELUS promised a similar feature that will reach 42 Mbps through Dual Cell technology (using two simultaneous connections and resource allocation to increase speed)."

Boston.com launches a real estate-focused iPhone app

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 11:43:56 -0700

"The new app also provides a relatively closed area in which the Globe can experiment with and learn about the mobile space. In general, Kempf points out, apps offer two core opportunities for news organizations: use-case-specific platforms and location-based services. In the case of a real estate app, he says, “you have a very specific use-case — real estate — and you have a great opportunity to offer location-based services.” So while “we know that adoption, generally, of location-based services has been relatively low so far,” Kempf notes (true story), “we believe that real estate is on the leading edge of that as a mass-reached utility.”

The goal? While it’s still early on — and “really early to tell what the rate of adoption is going to be here,” Kempf notes — “I would like to see us be a dominant, if not the dominant, local real estate application that’s being used in the Boston market.”

Report: Be Mobile or Be Dust

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 11:27:08 -0700

"Mobile is not just for young people. Eighty-two percent of seniors use their mobile phones for information and learning.
Location-based targeting is the a critical distinction that makes mobile communications more powerful than other channels. Knowing where a mobile user is - whether if be in a store, with friends, at a restaurant or at the office - can help businesses know which content is most relevant to deliver to the consumer at that moment.
Optimize your content for multiple devices. Ensure that location-based mobile tools have high utility and privacy. Consumers are more comfortable sharing their location when they see a tangible benefit to providing their location information - so give them a reason to do so."

ViewSonic Viewpad 7 gets official: sub-£350 Android 2.2 tablet

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 11:24:18 -0700

"ViewSonic has come clean on its first Android tablet, the 7-inch ViewSonic Viewpad 7. Running Android 2.2 on a capacitive touchscreen, the Viewpad 7 has an integrated GSM/3G modem for phone and data connectivity, a front-facing VGA webcam and a 3-megapixel rear camera. It can be used as a regular Android phone – albeit a big one – but of course it’s really intended to replace your iPad."

Mobile apps: are newspapers ready to be innovative?

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 21:39:58 -0700

"Frédéric Filloux however, believes newspapers will not be able to sustain the app culture. If apps become readers' choice, he speculated on Monday Note, specialization is likely to come in: "launching an app with a specific coverage target, such as sports or politics events, will become part of the standard strategic editing arsenal."

This will not necessarily be a positive development, especially if the number of operating systems and platforms keep growing. He creates this scenario as an example: "within one year or two, any one-shot, news-related app dedicated to a major election or to Olympic Games will have to be present on at least three to four OS, two families of mobile devices (smartphones and tablets), and multiple flavors of screen sizes and resolutions. Not counting updates and bug fixes." Newspapers will not be able to keep up with this, he says. "Those of us who were reluctant to develop micro-sites on the web, are likely to give up developing apps for mobile."

Internet Users Over Age 50 Flocking to Social Media

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 21:18:40 -0700

"The fastest growing demographic for Facebook and other social media: Those age 50 and over, says a new report.

Social networking use among Internet users ages 50 and older nearly doubled—from 22 percent in April 2009 to 42 percent in May 2010, says a survey of over 2,250 U.S. adults from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project.

The figures were even higher for the oldest users: Usage among those over the age of 65 percent grew 100 percent, from 13 percent last year to 26 percent in May 2010."

In Defense of Links, Part One: Nick Carr, hypertext and delinkification

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 21:16:37 -0700

"Links, like words, need to be used judiciously. ... Overuse of links is usually a sign that the writer does not know how to link, which on the Web means he does not know how to write. But such abuse hardly discredits linking itself. Many writers still don’t understand that comma-splicing is bad grammar, but does that get us talking about the “de-comma-fication” of our prose? For Carr and his sympathizers, links impede understanding; I believe that they deepen it. Back in 1997 Steven Johnson (in his book Interface Culture) made the case for links as a tool for synthesis — “a way of drawing connections between things,” a device that creates “threads of association,” a means to bring coherence to our overflowing cornucopia of information. The Web’s links don’t make it a vast wasteland or a murky shallows; they organize and enrich it."

Google Shows Off Chrome, HTML5 With Interactive Music "Experience"

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 21:06:31 -0700

"Google has released its latest "Chrome Experiment" today in the form of a music video "experience" that takes you, quite literally, back to the streets of your youth.

The experiment is the work of writer and director Chris Milk and social media-savvy band Arcade Fire, and it shows off the interactive, artistic and technical capabilities of open-Web tools like HTML5 and Google products like Chrome, Maps and Street View."

10 ways data is changing how we live

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 00:05:04 -0700

"The availability of new sets of data has changed the way we live our lives: here are 10 examples of data which have changed everything from how we assess wars to how companies deliver milk."

The Emmy Awards Get Social

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 22:20:20 -0700

"The 2010 Emmy Awards are this Sunday, and NBC is using the ceremony to embrace social media in a big way.

NBC is using services such as Twitter, yfrog and Ustream to bring a more real-time experience to the event. These services will also let fans and viewers interact with Emmy presenters using social media.

Due to time-shift viewing and a growing number of viewing alternatives via cable or the Internet, network television ratings are in a period of decline. Award shows, which are historically considered tentpole events, haven’t been immune to this trend, either."

Samsung Galaxy Tab to have HDMI dock, leather case, and other sideshow trinkets

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 22:12:38 -0700

"We're starting to think Samsung has given up the pretense of keeping the Galaxy Tab's details secret and is letting them all out now. Accessories for its upcoming 7-inch Android tablet have been spotted on one of Sammy's many online portals, complete with pricing. The headline act here will be that "table charging station" on the top left, which happens to have a neat set of HDMI and audio output ports, making the Tab a quirky but viable choice for pumping movies into your HDTV."

Check (In) Yo’ Self Before You Wreck Yo’ Self: Why Foursquare Users Check In “Off The Grid”

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:37:07 -0700

"Foursquare has a window of opportunity to build an experience on top of geolocation. The game mechanics are unlikely to be pursued by Facebook who have already allowed social gaming to be a third party business on their platform. The ability to have a personal location diary combining public and private check ins is also unlikely to be duplicated by Facebook given Mark Zuckerberg’s declarations about the importance of public sharing. They likely both have designs on loyalty programs and offers but Foursquare has the pure play focus."

The Paul Allen Suit: A Look at the Patents

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 23:19:51 -0700

"What the Implications Are: Theoretically it could apply to anything that uses technology to alert you to something you’re interested in. It’s important not only for news but for e-commerce — think about notices when an item you like is on sale or when a bid has been placed on something you’re watching. This patent is the only one in the suit that all the companies are alleged to have violated."