Author: Joe Wilcox

Apple by Joe WilcoxOct 25, 20144:46 pm

Apple’s Too Many iPads Problem

Sarah Perez makes the point before I could (oh lazy me): “Apple announces too many iPads“. That’s the most sensible take on tablets launched last week, and over the weekend copycat stories started posting. Strange thing, there’s nothing new about iPad configuration complexity. The number of base SKUs, while way too many, increases by just two.

I first harped on Apple’s “too many problem”, following iPad mini’s introduction two years ago, observing: “It’s a crowded lineup, with overlapping features and prices not seen from Apple since the early- to mid-1990s”. Crowded is understatement. The mini jacked up the number of basic configurations from eight to 14. However, when looking at all available SKUs, including two colors and carrier-specific models, the number jumped to 54.

News Media by Joe WilcoxOct 24, 20143:36 pm

News Culture of Fear

Over on Google+ today, Chris Sewell posted as an image of a tweet from New York Times columnist Nick Bilton. Nine days ago I wrote about fear, not contagion, being the real threat Ebola poses. Nick’s point is scary itself. Happy Halloween to you, too.

For the supposedly freest country in the world, fear enslaves America, and the news media helps forge the chains. How stupid is that? In the past 12 hours, I have seen two people in my neighborhood wearing full-face masks—the fleshy colored material used to wrap up an injured knee. The masks covered from below chin to eyes. That’s the culture of fear.

News Media by Joe WilcoxOct 23, 201411:40 am

In News Reporting There Is No Truth, Just Perspective

On Oct. 17, 2014, I received my membership card to the Society of Professional Journalists, which had been on my “maybe join” list for years. What flipped me forward: The organization’s Code of Ethics, which official revision released September 6. I had observed, but not participated in, the process to produce the new guidelines, which, while overreaching, are worthwhile.

However, while the changes contributed to my decision to join SPJ—being a journalist who blogs rather than a blogger—my ethical priorities differ somewhat from the new Code. My book Responsible Reporting: Field Guide for Bloggers, Journalists, and Other Online News Gatherers is all about ethics and how the Internet changes them. The tome makes trust, rather than truth, the news gatherer’s top ethical tenet.

Apple by Joe WilcoxOct 22, 20145:22 pm

Journalist sets Standard for Follow-up Gadget Reviews

Whenever I receive loaner devices, I ask to keep them for months because long-term use reveals much. Initial reviews often miss important usability benefits or problems only prolonged usage reveals. No one can get to every feature or receive all the benefits in one day or week.

Something else: As I often say, in news reporting, or reviews, bias is inevitable. Time helps extinguish the new thing glow that can bias reviews and make them more favorable than the products deserve. As the glow darkens, sounder perspective brightens.

Photo by Joe WilcoxOct 21, 20149:13 am

What I miss about the East Coast

As Halloween approaches, I long for the autumn colors that paint the Northeast landscape. Strange how distance and time changes perception. On Oct. 30, 2005, I started shooting with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM […]

News Media by Joe WilcoxOct 20, 20147:47 pm

In Praise of Washington Post Editors

In September, my wife and I received emails offering a year’s digital subscription to the Washington Post—that’s web and mobile devices—for $29. I signed up without hesitation and am now a regular reader.

As an editor and journalist, I am fascinated watching how the Post presents stories in the iPad app and on the web. The photo of Abe, from a superb story on selfies in Washington, is attention grabbing. The one above is from the app, but the web version below has the more compelling headline, which would move me to click over the other.

Culture by Joe WilcoxOct 20, 20146:26 pm

Viral Before There was Viral: 'The Blair Witch Project'

As Halloween approaches, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences takes a long look down memory lane—eh, scary forest paths—with a short documentary about “The Blair Witch Project“. Before there was Facebook and Flickr […]

Living by Joe WilcoxOct 16, 20147:27 pm

The Underemployment Crisis

When I worked as an analyst for Jupiter Research a decade ago, the editorial philosophy was “data-driven analysis”. But sometimes single stories—one or a few individuals—define a trend. That’s my renewed feeling today meeting Tim in the alley behind our apartment.

I measure San Diego’s economy, and in some respects that of America, by the people who dumpster dive our alley. We moved to the city seven years ago yesterday and were taken aback by the number of people who pull redeemable bottles and cans from recycle and trash bins. But the collectors’ character changed in 2009, following the financial crisis of late 2008. No longer did we see just clearly weather-worn homeless, but paler and better-dressed folks not long laid off from office jobs. Professionals.

Critters by Joe WilcoxOct 16, 20147:00 pm

Bow Wow

Seriously?

Responsibility by Joe WilcoxOct 15, 201410:21 am

Use Drones to Fight Ebola

The world is at war. Ebola is the enemy. Not Islamic State. Not Russia, Israel, Palestine, the United States, or any other nation or peoples you would like to insert here. No country—pardon the word choice—is immune to Ebola. The disease doesn’t care about cultural, political, racial, or religious differences that divide people. The disease indiscriminately attacks everyone.

Ebola should unite us—a global community rallying against a common enemy. But the disease can, already does, divide us. Fear, not infection, is Ebola’s great weapon of mass destruction. In parts of West Africa, farmers abandon crops for fear of infection; yesterday, I heard a BBC radio report claiming as many as 40 percent of farms in some countries. Fear. Fear of infection will divide us unless we unite first.

Photo by Joe WilcoxOct 14, 20146:47 pm

San Diego Sunset

Taken with iPhone 6. Unedited. not cropped.

News Media by Joe WilcoxOct 12, 20148:01 pm

Newsroom and Masthead Matters

I normally pan top-10 lists, but this one sings, eh, zings: “10 Top Tips For PRs Considering Whether To Phone The Register. Dek: “You’ll Read These And LOL Even Though They’re Serious”. Read `em and believe `em, if public relations is your fame and contacting Joe Wilcox is your game.

The Reg gives great guidance, and I needn’t really add to the list but will a tinsy-bit. I read and file most PR emails sent directly to me. I just likely won’t respond, or will forward the message to someone else on the team. So if you don’t hear from me, despair not.