I am not that impressed with iPhone 4’s camera, whether measured by usability or output. The photos are okay, but nothing like what I’m used to getting from a Nokia handset. The iPhone 4 requires […]
Author: Joe Wilcox
The Old Man and the 3G
Who says that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks or that older people can’t adapt and change? Not me, or at least not any longer. This afternoon, I got the most amazing shock from my father-in-law, who turned 88 in December. He wants to make some changes, by going all 3G wireless.
TechCrunch and Woot play to AP’s Weakness
Some people—heck, some organizations—have no sense of humor. Humorless perhaps best describes Associated Press, which apparently didn’t get Woot’s joke about owing money for a blog excerpt. TechCrunch’s MG Siegler put AP in its place today, that’s assuming there isn’t yet a nasty takedown-notice response coming.
Some quick background: About two years ago, AP decided that no one should excerpt its content without paying for it. The policy defies decades of journalist practices and fair-use laws. I could understand AP going after blocks of text, but no, it’s the little excerpts, too. Excerpt up to 50 words and AP expects you to pay $17.50; 100 bucks for 251 words or more. The approach is controversial, as it should be.
Protecting Legacies
Cash cows are wonderful things to have. But you have to use the revenue to invest in the future, not to protect the legacies. Steve Wildstrom That one statement assesses everything that is wrong about […]
Slower Reading on iPad is Good Thing
I got caught up in the U.S. Independence holiday and forgot to post (three days ago) about Jakob Nielsen’s “iPad and Kindle Reading Speeds.” Jakob is a user experience (UX) expert, who has published usability column “Alert Box” since 1995.
In the July 2nd column, he explains about usability testing comparing book reading to Amazon’s Kindle and Apple’s iPad. The results are based on 24 participants.
Fourth of July 2010
Happy Independence Day! However, on July 3, 1776, John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail: “The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha in the History of America. I am apt […]
MSNBC.com bets on Readers
I can’t much imagine how MSNBC.com could have designed a news site seemingly more unfriendly to generating static pageviews—unless there is some secret Google gaming formula. The secret sauce is there, and I love it. MSNBC.com’s updated news site pulls readers in rather than sending them out.
Coffee Shop Newsrooms
My fantasy newsroom is one where the public comes and goes (within reason, of course) and story ideas flow freely in all directions. In England in the 1600s, news grew out of coffeehouses this way. Decades later in the U.S. colonies, the venue of choice switched to pubs. (I like that journalism in America is tied up with drinking. Explains a lot.)
Here’s a big shout-out to the Freehold, New Jersey initiative above. I’m rooting for (literal) conversational journalism par excellence.
Doreen Marchionni
IKEA Kitty
In late April I purchased the Olympus PEN E-P2 micro four-thirds digital camera. I’m ready to start posting photos after resolving problems with a defective kit lens.
Apple of My Eye
[vimeo https://vimeo.com/12819723] Short film “Apple of My Eye” demonstrates how good storytelling isn’t about the tools but the storyteller. Michael Koerbel shot and edited this delightful video on an iPhone 4. No PC or other […]
What’s in a Name?
Nick Santilli asks the right question: iPhone OS Got a New Name, So When Will iTunes?. Synchronization is the killer application for the connected world, but Apple’s major sync tool is strangely placed: iTunes, which long […]
All-Purpose Media
Until the Net arrived, the history of media had been a tale of fragmentation. Different technologies progressed down different paths, leading to a proliferation of special-purpose tools. Books and newspapers could present text and images, […]