Thursday, July 31, 2008
History of rock 'n roll, sort of
at 15:00 Posted by Charlie Barthold View Comments
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Tracking Twitter and FriendFeed
For the past few months I have been trying to find a Twitter/FriendFeed client that allows me to monitor both feeds, send updates and eliminate duplicates. AlertThingy is my latest attempt and so far so good.
It's still a bit erratic but not sure if that's Twitter (a distinct possibility) or the client. It's also not very rich in features (or help files) but since it serves its primary purpose I am reasonably happy.
at 15:00 Posted by Charlie Barthold View Comments
Labels: Social media, Social networks
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Getting others to do the work
Steve Hamm, a senior writer for BusinessWeek, is writing a book and he wants your help. Much has been written about collaboration so it's nice to see it in action.
The book, The Race for Perfect, is about the quest to design the perfect portable computer. Steve has put Chapters 2 and 10 online for others to help with.
Here's Steve's overview of the book:
My book, The Race for Perfect: Inside the Quest to Design the Ultimate Portable Computer, is in part a popular history of portable computing. (The other element is a blow-by-blow chronicle of designers, engineers, and marketers at Lenovo conceiving and designing the ThinkPad X300 and bringing it to market.) The saga begins with Alan Kay's original concept of portable computing, in the fall of 1968, and continues through the luggables, the laptops, the handhelds, the smartphones, and the latest concepts for mobile computing devices in mid-2008, when the book will be published by McGraw-Hill. I interviewed dozens of portable computing pioneers when I was researching the book, and I packed many of their stories into its pages. But there were many people who played roles in this history that I didn't speak to and many threads of the story that I didn't have time to explore. With this wiki I aim to do two things. First, I'm offering up two of the key chapters of the book for people to read. Hopefully, you'll find them entertaining or instructive, or both. Second, I want to invite others to submit their own recollections and observations. Hopefully, if others participate, this can become a living word organism. So, please, if you want to comment, start a thread. If you want to submit pieces of history (or photos) please send me an e-mail (to stevehamm31@hotmail.com) and I'll post your contributions. Please tell me who you are, and how you know what you know, and make sure I get a working e-mail address.(Click here to access the chapters. You will need to request permission to edit.)
at 15:00 Posted by Charlie Barthold View Comments
Labels: Books, Communications, Social media, Social networks, Technology
Monday, July 21, 2008
Who's watching the watchdogs?
Recently, at work, a group of us had an interesting discussion about the Internet, the demise of newspapers and the future of democracy.
Sounds like a lot but the discussion focused on the future of newspapers. If they are to die, and we all agreed they are dying quickly, who will be the watchdogs?
One group argued that newspapers protect us against corruption, evil, etc. The other group (myself included) argued that it didn't matter. The world has changed, we argued, and it's easier for average citizens to broadcast and uncover corruption.
In the end we agreed to disagree. Afterwards I came across a column by Jon Fine of BusinessWeek. (Click here for full column.)
The column is mostly about the Newseum in Washington, D.C. However, Jon makes a good point, relevant to my work discussion:
Its placement on such an august stretch of D.C. real estate implicitly puts the news biz in league with the powers it's supposed to remain skeptical of, though anyone who has suffered through government-journalist group gropes such as the White House Correspondents' Dinner knows how uncomfortably close those teams are in real life.
Good point. Seems that the institutions we hold up to be the watchdogs aren't always as pure as we'd like them to be. It's always struck me that the most prominent journalists we supposedly look up to are also part of the group we're trying to keep an eye on.
at 15:00 Posted by Charlie Barthold View Comments
Labels: Journalism, Newspapers
Friday, July 18, 2008
Chicago Mac -- 100th running
I can't let today go by without acknowledging tomorrow's start of the 100th running of the Chicago Mac. A lot has been written about this but suffice to say it is truly unique. Unlike many other distance races this is one people do not miss. The entire sailing season in the Midwest revolves around this 333-mile race and for good reason.
There some great stuff out there on the race but I suggest the videos recounting past races. Some rich history there. (Click here.)
at 15:00 Posted by Charlie Barthold View Comments
Labels: Sailing
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Caution: Lawyers involved
Recently I received, as a birthday present, a nice t shirt which included the lat/lon of the town I live in. It's a nice gift with a nautical theme that I like a lot.
The best part was the "disclaimer" that was stuck on the shirt, obviously a pointed poke at companies run by lawyers who insist on putting warnings, no matter how absurd, on anything they sell.
at 15:00 Posted by Charlie Barthold View Comments
Labels: Humor
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Why newspapers are where they are today
Bob Lefsetz, a former music industry executive who rants on about his former industry and its inability to accept change, recently commented on the newspaper industry. (Click here for full post. Thanks to Mark Potts for the link.)
Bob is a fan of Sam Zell and Lee Abrams and many of his points have been repeated elsewhere. But the great line of his post in response to newspaper executives tired of the new regime:
If those running the newspapers were so damn smart, they wouldn’t be in this predicament.
at 15:00 Posted by Charlie Barthold View Comments
Labels: Journalism, Newspapers
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Other newspapers are no longer the competition
Good post by Jeff Jarvis on the recent layoffs at the Tampa Tribune. (Click here for full post.)
Two interesting comments:
- Janet Coats, editor, pointed out that the importance of the paper's Web site has changed. “People need to stop looking at TBO.com [the newspaper's affiliated web site] as an add on to The Tampa Tribune. The truth is that The Tampa Tribune is an add on to TBO.”
- Coats also urged her staffers to stop copying the competition. "She told the staff to get over the idea that they should operate and judge themselves by doing the same stories as The St. Petersburg Times. Can’t afford that anymore."
at 15:00 Posted by Charlie Barthold View Comments
Labels: Journalism, Newspapers
Monday, July 14, 2008
Office jargon -- words not to use
A great article from the BBC on over-used phrases found in today's offices. (Click here for full article.)
at 15:00 Posted by Charlie Barthold View Comments
Labels: Communications, Thought leadership
Friday, July 11, 2008
When readers don't care
Jeff Jarvis recently had an interesting post about newspapers getting rid of sections and finding out readers don't care. (Click here for Jeff's post. Click here for the original post by Amy Webb.)
Both Jeff and Amy make great points:
- Newspapers should think about cutting more sections or figuring out what sections really resonate with readers.
- Newspapers need to think like businesses. Don't create products that people don't want just because management thinks they need it. (The eat your vegetables mentality.)
- No more commodity news. Only news readers can't get anywhere else.
Watch people like Sam Zell. They understand this.
at 15:00 Posted by Charlie Barthold View Comments
Labels: Journalism, Newspapers
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
A dollar on the floor in FriendFeed's headquarters
at 09:21 Posted by Charlie Barthold 0 comments
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
The new way to do PR
Jason Kintzler makes some good points on Socialmediatoday.com about how PR firms (and people) should work in the world of social media. (Click here for full article.) One paragraph stands out:
As more media members begin to use and experience social media
communication tools like Twitter and FriendFeed, the disconnect between media
and PR pros will weaken. Journalists interested in receiving updates from a
credible PR agency will choose to 'follow' them, and PR pros will be forced to
(once again) engage with media, not just push content at them.
Jason is reacting to a New York Times article that talked about how PR professionals are learning to use key words in their pitches (green, sex, cancer, etc.) to get the attention of journalists. Jason's response is right. Shoving content at people is the wrong way to go by a long shot.
at 15:00 Posted by Charlie Barthold View Comments
Labels: Communications, Social media