January 6, 2014
TV news of the future as envisaged in The Spy from Saturn — in the 1955 DC comic book Strange Adventures.
The spy tried to blend in with Earthlings by taking on the form of one of us. But in the end the people of Earth outsmarted him.
And the planet was once again safe, especially for middle-class American women and children.
The aliens may have been repelled, but are we any less fearful in 2014?
January 2, 2014
John Gruber, at Daring Fireball, counters those in the technology press who seem bored with technology:
There’s a nihilistic streak in tech journalism that I just don’t see in other fields. Sports, movies, cars, wristwatches, cameras, food — writers who cover these fields tend to celebrate, to relish, the best their fields have to offer. Technology, on the other hand, seems to attract enthusiasts with no actual enthusiasm.
He makes a compelling argument and I agree with almost every word.
I was struck, though, by the word “nihilistic” because it seems to apply to some of the comments Gruber has made himself. How else to explain the unseemly way that he rubs his hands with glee whenever there is bad news about BlackBerry.
On Dec. 20, under the heading BlackBerry Posts Huge Loss, he writes: “Last one to leave, please turn out the lights.”
On Aug. 13, under the heading How the iPhone and Bad Decisions Killed BlackBerry, he writes: “I hate to toot my own horn, but I called it back in 2008, while BlackBerry’s (née RIM’s) share price was still over $150, and where by ‘hate’ I mean ‘smugly enjoy’.”
It would be easy to conclude that nothing less that non-existence for BlackBerry would make him happy.
I’ve notice similar comments at The Loop by Jim Dalrymple:
On Feb. 8, under the heading Eulogy for BlackBerry, he writes: “Hey, what’s that noise? BlackBerry circling the drain.”
To be fair, his blog sometimes shows some sympathy. On July 25, under the heading More layoffs at BlackBerry, he writes: “Not a big surprise, but I always feel bad for the workers. I hate seeing anyone lose their job, especially when it’s because a company is being mismanaged.”
I don’t mean to pick on these two writers — it’s just that I’m a fan of their blogs and I take notice of what they have to say. Remarks such as these are found on many blogs about the smartphone industry.
Here’s what I think is going on.
Because smartphones are fairly new, it’s still up in the air as to who will “win” the platform wars. Apple fans would love to see iOS dominate, especially having “lost” the Windows vs. Mac war. Android fans have their own reasons for hoping their system of choice will come out ahead. There are even people cheering for Windows and and BlackBerry.
I’m convinced, though, that the competition among smartphone systems is not the zero-sum game many people think it is. It has matured to the point where iOS and Android will for sure continue to thrive, and Windows has a fighting chance. I know the odds are against it, but I’m hoping BlackBerry makes a comeback. And I like seeing efforts such as the Firefox OS getting some traction.
Why? For the same reason I hope Nintendo hangs in there as a gaming platform. Choice is good for consumers and it compels developers to keep innovating.
I don’t like it when I occasionally see a cool feature in an Android phone that is not available for the iPhone. But I know that if it becomes popular enough, Apple or a third-party developer will — in many cases — bring it over to iOS.
So let all the systems and platforms flourish — even BlackBerry.
December 16, 2013
Good old-fashioned email remains one of the best ways to keep up with the news. Many press releases, for example, come this way.
So wouldn’t it be great if your phone could alert you when it receives a potentially important message. With the iPhone, this is possible with a combination of the VIP folder in the Mail program and a setting in Notifications.
First, you have to make sure the VIP folder is active. It should be at the top of the inboxes with a star beside it. If not, tap edit, then tap a check mark beside VIP and tap Done.
To the right of the VIP inbox, there should be an “i” in a circle. Tap this, and you are presented with options for adding people to your VIP list from your contacts. As an example, if you get press releases from the local police, it would be a good idea to add them to your list. If they aren’t in your contacts, you’ll have to go to the Contacts app and add them.
Once that’s done, scroll to the bottom and tap VIP Alerts. From there you can decide how you would like to be notified if an email arrives from the VIP list. I’ve got my alert sound set to Vibrate Only, because the phone charger is in the bedroom and I can’t think of any email so important that I would want it to wake me up in the middle of the night.
December 6, 2013
After seeing the promo video of Amazon using a drone to make a delivery, I thought about how a device like that could come in handy for news organizations.
Imagine, for example, there is a terrible fatal accident in the middle of a bridge during rush hour traffic. There’s no way you can get anywhere near it. A helicopter might work if you’re lucky enough to have one, but you still can’t get very close to the action.
Enter the drone reporter. Just punch in the GPS co-ordinates and send it on its way. When it gets close, use a remote control for exact positioning and take pictures. You might even be able to poke a microphone out and interview witnesses.
Worried about bumping into something? Our ideal drone would come with equipment that senses objects nearby and gives them a wide berth.
As it turns out the newly revived American Journalism Review published an article on this topic yesterday. They spoke with University of Nebraska professor Matt Waite.
There’s huge potential for drones to enhance the level of journalism produced in this country, including the ability to collect data during severe weather situations, Waite said in a separate interview with AJR.
Drone reporters could wind up in plenty of places were human reporters fear to tread. To learn more, be sure to check out the Drone Journalism Lab. (Yes, there really is such a thing.)
Image above: A BBC hexacopter.
December 5, 2013
The Vancouver Sun has an amazingly simply way of engaging readers through social media — Instagram photo challenges.
Readers are asked to take pictures and post them to Instagram with a special hashtag. After the deadline, a Sun photographer judges the best and it is published in the newspaper.
The contest costs nothing in infrastructure and very little in time. Since people are constantly posting to Instagram anyway, all they have to do differently is add a hashtag. Professional photographers can easily sort the wheat from the chaff and declare a winner.
December 2, 2013
Poptip is an immensely satisfying method for using Twitter to survey your followers. I tried the free tryout and was impressed with the results. I got lucky, though, because I came up with a good question on my first try.
“Are you using winter tires? Reply with yes or no.”
It’s an easy question to answer. And it was something a lot of people were thinking about at the time as police had started issuing warnings.
I got plenty of replies and Poptip created a nifty graphic to embed in the website. My next question was more complicated and the options were not a simple yes or no. That was a mistake and I got few replies.
I came up with a good idea for a third question — Have you begun Christmas shopping? — but the free trial was over. Getting the paid version requires negotiations involving our publisher so it may be some time before we’re doing more Poptip surveys.
Meanwhile, there is no reason not to do surveys without Poptip. You can ask a question or solicit photos and put them together with Storify. And if you really want a graphic, you can make one with Infogr.am.
Still, I’m hoping we can come with a deal with Poptip.
November 27, 2013
Why do journalists prefer Twitter to Facebook? I’ve asked myself that question a few times, but Ezra Klein has gone a step further and answered it in his blog at The Washington Post.
The reason, I think, is that Twitter is simply more useful for our jobs. For better or worse, it’s where news breaks today. It’s also where a lot of real-time reporting happens.
If you follow the right accounts, your Twitter timeline can be a lot like the wire services — a constant stream of breaking stories. That’s the kind of thing we’re used to, and it’s what we appreciate most about Twitter.
If we had any sense we would be concentrating more on Facebook because it drives 10 times as much traffic as Twitter. But Facebook seems too staid. It’s more like a quiet conversation among friends than the frenzied firehose we get from Twitter.
And while most Twitter users likely only check it out from time to time, we in the business can be quite obsessive about it, never wanting to missing a tweet. By comparison, Facebook is ho-hum.
November 15, 2013
When you use Twitter’s new custom timeline feature, there is a sense of déjà vu if you’ve ever used Storify. You search for tweets, then drag-and-drop them into the timeline.
Before you think about dumping Storify, though, take a deep breath. Twitter’s custom timelines don’t have nearly as many features.
Sam Kirkland sums it up quite nicely at Poynter. Among his observations:
Among the apparent drawbacks: No ability to add text between tweets. Storify embeds can often stand alone as stories with all necessary context included, thanks to in-line comments advancing a narrative.
Where things could get interesting is with the release of an API for developers. This will allow automation in the selection of tweets that could be done in some creative ways. I look forward to seeing some of the innovations.
November 13, 2013
There are a lot of good reasons not to use Twitter’s website, the most obvious one being the big-ass ads now showing up. But often overlooked is the lack of features that have been implemented in apps.
The one I have been learning to appreciate recently is the ability to mute. I use this function occasionally when someone I follow suddenly takes it upon themselves to live tweet in copious detail an event I have no interest in. I can block that account for a few hours in the hope that they will later come to their senses.
I don’t know of any way of doing this on the Twitter website other than going through the hassle of using a third-party service. Some people may be OK with this, but I generally try to avoid it.
For a basic muting feature, you can turn to Tweetdeck. This is an app offered by Twitter itself and is loved by journalists for its ability to follow several streams at once. Of course, the downside is that we may soon be seeing the insertion of ads here as well.
In any case, to use mute in Tweetdeck simply go to Settings and click on the Mute tab. From there you have three options: text content, user and source. When you want to “unmute,” go back to the Settings and revise the list.
Now, you might be wondering about “text content.” This is something I recently discovered when I got fed up with one of the people I follow using a term I won’t mention here because they might find it embarrassing. Let’s just say it’s an abbreviation that grates on my nerves. I typed that word into the Tweetdeck Settings and I no longer receive tweets with that word in it. Yay.
If you want to go even further with muting, you’ll need an app like Tweetbot, which is far and away the best I know of. In addition to the three options mentioned above, it also allows you to mute hashtags, which can be a relief when a subject you don’t care about is trending all over the place. And it also lets you set the duration of a mute. I’ve got my annoying word set to forever, but with Tweetbot there are also the options of one day, one week and one month. Plus, you can mute any mentions that have the keyword in it.
Most impressive is the ability to check matching tweets. Tweetbot tells me, for example, that so far it has muted nine tweets with the annoying word. And if I’m really curious, I can look at a list of them — just in case one of them is actually worth reading.
November 12, 2013
Chad Skelton — Vancouver Sun journalist and Kwantlen college instructor — had some interesting questions for The Tyee and its fundraising ads. Not sure if they were answered.