Jobless journalists' website

The SF Chron looks at www.8goodpeople.com, a jobless journalists' website that includes a Pulitzer Prize winner and a former NY Times staffer.

Free Wi-Fi on way to becoming standard of service

In Monday's Seattle Times, Glenn Fleishman writes about how a local coffee shop exemplifies a growing trend to offer free wireless (and sometimes wired) access to establish a regular relationship with customers who stay longer, prefer the venue, and spend more.

Wish I knew how Glenn did those tiny urls. Pretty cool.

Aimster must stay offline

OK, here's the ruling: Aimster, the online service being sued by major record labels for allowing its users to copy songs for free, must remain shut down until it can prove its users do more than illegally trade copyrighted material, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Monday.

Libel protection for bloggers

Wired News: In a potentially significant victory for bloggers, an appeals court decides that small-time online publishers can't be held responsible for libel if they just republish information (a la Drudge). The ruling is a victory for free speech advocates and bloggers.

More on the copyright wars

Two intellectual property rulings came down today:

The California Supreme Court today ruled that former Intel employee Ken Hamidi did not trespass on Intel's computers when he sent email messages to Intel employees at work.

Judge Richard Posner issued a ruling this morning that was a setback for Aimster in Record Industry v Deep, John. I haven't seen any wire stories on it yet, just saw the document on Fred von Lohmann's desk.

Meantime, the Electronic Frontier Foundation today launched a Let the Music Play campaign urging the more than 60 million U.S. citizens who use file-sharing software to demand changes in copyright law to get artists paid and make file-sharing legal.

Back early from I-Law

So I'm back from the Internet Law conference at Stanford Law School already. It's a worthy lineup and an endlessly fascinating subject being addressed over the course of five days. I had originally planned on spending two full days in Palo Alto, but personal business and a looming deadline on my book project both intervened. I finally met the lovely and personable Donna Wentworth (Copyfight) in person. Chatted with Katie Dean of Wired News. Interviewed Jonathan Zittrain of the Berkman Center. Then popped up to San Francisco for a lunch interview with the EFF's Fred von Lohmann, who participates on an I-Day panel Wednesday.

When I turned on my Apple Powerbook this morning I expected to immediately access a wireless connection at the conference. Didn't happen, and the other bloggers there had to have someone set up their connection. Too bad.

This week (and especially Wednesday) I'll be checking in with the bloggers in the audience: Donna, Frank Field (whom I wish I spotted), teen whiz kid Aaron Swartz and multimedia auteur Lisa Rein. Frank, Donna and Aaron are already well into the thick of things.

10 lies we were told about Iraq

AlterNet: 10 lies we were told about Iraq.

Attending I-Law

I'll be at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society's Internet Law program at Stanford on Monday and Wednesday this week, it appears. Not sure if they'll have wireless access, but I suspect so. I hope to finally meet Donna Wentworth of Copyfight blog fame, among others.

Truth as a Revolutionary Act

Lost Remote: Truth as a Revolutionary Act. Why Journalists Should Blog With Brutal Honesty, an essay by Steve Safran, exec producer at NECN: New England Cable News in Boston.

Thanks to Ryan of Dead Parrot Society for the pointer.

15 minutes of fame for Christa

My niece, Christa Schiro, and her husband, Stef Barillari, are one of four newlywed couples portrayed in a Diane Sawyer special on ABC Monday night at 10 called My Big, Wild, You're Not-Gonna-Believe-This Wedding. Already spotted her on a couple of promos. Hey, I was there and dancing away at the reception, so maybe I'll be on prime time, too.

Filtering software's shortcomings

Mark Glaser in OJR: Is Filtering Software a Threat to Free Information Online? The Supreme Court puts access to online information in the wrong hands.

On personalized news

Melissa, a graduate student at Iona College, wrote and asked for some thoughts about personalization and personalized news, which I explored in depth here and here. Here's our brief Q&A:

How do you think personalization will continue to affect the public receiving information and news?

I think weíre at a very early, rudimentary stage of where personalization will take us. The early implementations of personalization by news and information sites have been less than a smashing success because the tools have been clunky and the effort too demanding of users, who need a definitive payoff for the amount of time and energy they put into the process. In the future, weíll begin to see more seamless, invisible technology at work. Part of it will consist of the next generation of collaborative filtering technology that we now see in places like Amazonís book recommendations. Part of it will consist of permission marketing and opt-in services, like training your TiVo to learn which kinds of shows (and commercials) you like. And part of it will consist of looking at personalization itself in new ways.

Why shouldnít news and information sites learn more about your personal tastes, interests and political views and then tailor specific packages of news, analysis and opinion to you based on those criteria? Today they donít have a business incentive to do so because few people would pay for those additional services. The day will arrive, probably driven by direct-marketing and advertising dollars, when they will capture that information and provide the extra layer of personalized editorial content in tandem with the marketing messages.

As more people begin to use broadband, do you think that the use of personalized sites on the web, especially video streams, will be utilized more than they are now?

Broadband has now reached one-fifth of U.S. household. Earlier this year ESPN.com began ìrepurposingî its cable channel broadcasts by streaming live sports feeds to its website; others, like MSNBC.com, will almost certainly follow suit. But media companies and advertising agencies still think of the Web as a one-to-many mass medium rather than a many-to-many medium for the masses. So Iíd place my money on small startups, enterprising individuals and savvy programmers to provide most of the innovation in this area.

You write in your article "The Promise of the Daily Me," that there are 3 types of personalization --what is the major difference between them in your opinion?

I think youíre referring to this:

We can think of personalization in several ways:

• Personalized news content: The most common use of the term personalization refers to filters that give us control over the content selection process. By whatever means ó a Web site that remembers who you are, a bot that trolls the Internet at your command ó you have a greater say over the kinds of news, headlines and information that come streaming into your life. Think of this as the "what" of personalization.

• Personalized news experience: If personalized news selection is the main meal, personalized news experience is the tablecloth, candlelight and violin music. Users decide on the setting of their news experience, the frequency, and the method. We might access our personalized information via e-mail, pop-up screen alerts, pager, cell phone, mobile palm device, or Web page whose appearance we can alter. Think of this as the "where," "when" and "how" of personalization.

• Personalized news services: Service journalism shines when it hands us tools to make the news more personally relevant and when it simplifies our lives. Personalized services might be about connecting workers, sharing products, or solving a chore or project. Think of this as the next stage of personalization, where an individual's personal needs or work tasks are met, sometimes for a price.

I still think those are valid distinctions. You might create a news channel featuring political news from political correspondents of ABCNews.com. The site may allow you to structure it in such a way to consume the latest polls, news and analysis on your PC, laptop, Palm device, cell phone or pager. And they may offer add-on services that let you subscribe to a political campaignís newsletter, download the trailer of a campaign speech, or let you sign up to volunteer to work for a candidate.

Where do you think the future of personalization on the Net is going?

I doubt weíll see a breakthrough in personalized news on traditional news sites any time soon, given the lack of profits in the model and the reluctance by publishers to invest in new technologies without a likely payoff. Instead, I think weíll likely see personalization make its first real inroads in a new electronic medium such as tablet PCs. Tablet PCs, just now entering the marketplace, offer the prospect of subscription services tied to constantly updated editorial content, relevant advertising, and alert services. Personalized content encompasses all three, whether itís a notification of a used car model youíve been looking for that just came on the market, or wire news feeds about whatís happening in your hometown, or daily news briefings about a subject you're researching for school.

One other thought: It would be a mistake to think of news personalization only in terms of those offered by media organizations, online or offline. Music fans, for example, can tune in to hundreds of sites that offer news and information about their favorite band, and thousands more fan sites, many of which offer news, event updates, reviews and more. Weblogs have exploded onto the scene, often offering news and commentary on niche subjects. Already, tens of thousands of people use RSS news readers, or news aggregators, to read the latest news and comment from their favorite bloggers, online journalists or newspaper sections. Thatís a form of personalization, allowing users to filter out the extraneous and funnel in the information they need and want.

Harry Potter and copyright

In Slate: Harry Potter and the International Order of Copyright. Should Tanya Grotter and the Magic Double Bass be banned?

Savage loses domain suit

Right-wing radio commentator (is there any other kind?) Michael Savage has lost his lawsuit claiming domain name infringement against www.savagestudpidity.com. The ruling stated, "Internet users would not confuse Respondentís domain name with Complainantís mark because the addition of the term ìstupidityî indicates that the disputed domain name has no affiliation with Complainantís mark."

Mobile phones and smart mobs

Guardian UK has a piece on smart mobs: From tracking Prince William to public dissent, the mobile phone is a tool for group coordination.

TiVo and TV advertising

My friend Jane Black, technology columnist for Business Week Online, has a new piece: TiVo Recorders Indicate the Truth About TV Advertising

Dean wins MoveOn primary

More than 317,000 people voted in the Internet primary for president Tuesday sponsored by MoveOn. No candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote. Former Gov. Howard Dean came out on top. Here are the vote totals:

Howard Dean 43.87%
Dennis Kucinich (oh, please, people!) 23.93%
John Kerry 15.73%
John Edwards 3.19%
Richard Gephardt 2.44%
Bob Graham 2.24%
Carol Moseley Braun 2.21%
Joe Lieberman 1.92%
Al Sharpton 0.53%
Other 1.93%
Undecided 2.01%

The complete results, along with some analysis, are available here.

Google puts new gadget in its browser toolbar

AP story:

Online search engine Google introduced several new gadgets in its popular toolbar for Web browsers Thursday, hoping to build even greater brand loyalty amid heightened competition.

The new software for the Google toolbar includes a feature that automatically blocks pop-up ads, as well a program that automatically fills out Internet forms seeking a customer's name and address.

The function that fills in forms offers an option to store credit card numbers too, but the information is encrypted on the hard drive of a user's computer instead of Google's computers, for security and privacy reasons.

The toolbar also enables users to transfer online content to Internet journals known as Weblogs, or ``blogs,'' with a press of a button. ...

You wonder whether the announcement from the Google PR folks was premature. I don't see any mention of new toolbar features on the Google site. Just re-downloaded the Google toolbar and it has the same features as a month ago. No sighting of a blog transfer tool anywhere. Has anyone spotted this?

Matt Drudge's dressing down

Washington Post:

The ladies of "The View" apparently were highly displeased [Wednesday]morning when guest co-host Ann Coulter brought her pal Matt Drudge into the dressing room before the show. The aggrieved television personalities -- who later gave Coulter a hard time on the air for everything from her right-wing political views to her micro-miniskirt -- were "View" regulars Meredith Vieira, Star Jones and Joy Behar.

Drudge told us yesterday that "the gals were furious" when he showed up unannounced to help prep Coulter, who has been flogging "Treason," her latest book-length attack on liberals.

Thanks to IWantMedia for the pointer.

Slate's new direction

OJR has a Q&A with the editor of Slate, Jacob Weisberg, who talks about jacking up revenues and readership, adding Doonesbury and the controversial deal with NPR during his first year at the helm.

Save the court

People for the American Way has started an online petition drive at a new site called SavetheCourt.org, noting that the odds are50-50 that we will see a Supreme Court retirement this summer.

And whenever it happens, President Bush is likely to nominate a right-wing justice in the mold of Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. A justice who will pose a direct threat to decades of progress on civil rights, privacy, reproductive freedom, women's rights, religious liberty, consumer and worker protection, the environment, and more.

I'm not sure this court can be saved, but perhaps the Senate can prevent it from tilting even further to the right. Here's a list of issues at stake when a vacancy occurs.

Linux may hurt Apple more than Microsoft

Paul Boutin in Slate: Flipping the Switch -- Linux's new popularity may hurt Apple more than Microsoft.

Business Week columnist Alex Salkever dropped the bomb last week that next year, "Linux should pass Apple in market share for desktop operating systems on computers."

Supreme Court admits it made mistake

The Supreme Court admits it made a mistake -- no, not that thing about refusing to count all the votes. It reversed a 17-year-old ruling, striking down a Texas sodomy law 6-3, with the usual three troglodytes dissenting.

Justice Antonin Scalia wrote the dissent and took the unusual step of reading it aloud from the bench this morning, saying "the court has largely signed on to the so-called homosexual agenda," while adding that he personally has "nothing against homosexuals." Joining Justice Scalia's dissent were Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justice Clarence Thomas.

Computer history museum

Motherboards have a resting place at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View.

Big Media's silence

William Safire in Thursday's Times:

Over the protests of 750,000 viewers and readers, three appointees to the Federal Communications Commission last month voted to permit the takeover of America's local press, television and radio by a handful of mega-corporations.

If allowed to stand, this surrender to media giantism would concentrate the power to decide what we read and see ó in both entertainment and news ó in the hands of an ever-shrinking establishment elite. ...

No thanks go to the biggest media, where CBS's "60 Minutes," NBC's "Dateline" and ABC's "20/20" found the rip-off of the public interest by their parent companies too hot to handle. Most network newscasts dutifully covered the scandalous story as briefly and coolly as possible, failing to disclose how much it meant to their parent companies, which were lobbying furiously for gobble-up rights.

Unencumbered by such a conflict of interest, public television's liberal Bill Moyers inveighed for months against the power grab, and Consumers Union is on the job. The conservative Joe Scarborough blew the whistle on media giantism on cable's MSNBC, which included an interview with the New York Daily News publisher (and mini-mogul) Mort Zuckerman, outspoken foe of the conglomeration crowd.

Video from the Digital Storytelling fest

Just spotted this terrific page of video snippets that came out of the 6th annual Digital Storytelling Festival in Sedona, Ariz., earlier this month. Damn, when did Joe Lambert grow that beard?

160 Amazon RSS feeds

Chris Pirillo points to 160 new Amazon RSS feeds.

Public domain gets a boost

Larry Lessig got Rep. Boucher to come aboard as a co-sponsor of the Public Domain Enhancement Act. Larry reports from Washington on his blog.

Hulk's sidekick: the copyright laws

From Thursday's NY Times: Hulk Vanquishes an Evildoer for Bootlegging His New Film.

The powerful superhero known as the Hulk smote his enemy yesterday with help from a rather mundane source: the copyright laws of the United States.

And this was no comic-book battle.

The intrigue began in early June when a bootleg version of the new movie "The Hulk" appeared on the Internet, a couple of weeks before the film was to open in theaters.

Yesterday, a contrite New Jersey man who works in the insurance business walked into United States District Court in Manhattan and admitted that he had done the deed.

Nuke component unearthed in Baghdad back yard

Breaking news from CNN.com: Iraqi scientist turns over centrifuge, needed to develop nuclear bomb, that had been hidden in Baghdad. The CIA has in its possession the critical parts of a key piece of Iraqi nuclear technology -- parts needed to develop a bomb program, CNN has learned. The parts were unearthed by an Iraqi scientist who had hidden them in his back yard under a rose bush 12 years ago under orders from the Iraqi regime.

Spike: Bag the ego, buddy

Where does Spike Lee get off claiming that he's the only Spike in the world? My friend Spike Markovitz and Spike and Mike's Classic Festival of Animation and Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation would beg to differ.

How the Web can restore journalism's credibility

Steve Outing in E&P offers interactive solutions to the Jayson Blair scandal.

Internet primary results in 2 days

MoveOn says the results of the first Internet presidential primary won't be known until Friday, when its independent polling firm releases the results. Meantime, they say more people cast ballots than participated in the 2000 Democratic primaries in New Hampshire and the caucuses in Iowa combined.

Jersey version of Windows XP

Dear Consumas:

It has come ta our attention dat a cupola copies of the Windows XP New Joisey Edition may have been shipped outsida Joisey. If ya got one a dese, you may need some help unnerstanin da commands.

Da Joisey edition may be recognized by da unique openin' screen. It reads: "Windas XP", wit a background pitcha a Hoboken. When yous start da program, instead a da usual hary stringy like music, you hear a little Springsteen. It's also shipped wit a Sopranos screen sava.

Please also note:

Recycle bin is labeled "Newark"

My Computer is called "My Friggin' Computa"

The Inbox is referred to as "Da Trunk"

Deleted items are referred to s "Wacked", "Erased" or "Rubbed Out"

Control Panel is known as "The Bosses"

Performing an "illegal operation" is known as "Enhancin' da Family Business" and will actually maximize da program instead a shuttin' it down

Hard Drive is referred to as "Da Turnpike on Da Way to Da Shore"

Instead of an error message, "You Ain't Gonna Friggin' Believe Dis'" pops up.

Changes in Terminology in Da Joisey Edition:

OK . . . . Sure ting
Cancel . . . . Fugetabouit
Reset . . . . Start ova
Yes . .. . . Yeah
No . . . . Nah
Find . . . . Put a Contract Out On
Browse . . . . Get a Looksee
Back . .. . . U-Toin
Help . . . . Get Your Own Friggin' Ansa
Stop . . . . Knock it Off
Start . . . . Move it
Settings . . . . Here's da Rules

We regret any inconvenience it may have caused if you mistakenly got a copy of the Joisey Edition (not). You may return it to Microsoft for a replacement version.

You gotta problem wit dat?

How Netflix is fixing Hollywood

Business 2.0: By finding a market for niche titles -- and keeping discs in constant circulation -- the online DVD rental pioneer Netflix is shaking up the movie biz.

You know, when I left my last dot-com job, as director of content for ecommerce facilitator iVendor, the CEO told me to consider applying to this curious little startup called Netflix, run by a friend of his, Reed Hastings. I considered it briefly, but decided not to. The idea of a startup company delivering DVDs by the mail to customers (now 1 million subscribers and counting) just sounded preposterous. Who would have thunk it?

Libraries to feds: Keep your money

San Jose Merc: Many libraries will skip grants to avoid using Net filters.

RIAA expanding piracy fight

Reuters via Wired News: RIAA Threatens Orgy of Lawsuits. A recording-industry trade group said Wednesday it plans to sue hundreds of individuals who illegally distribute copyright songs over the Internet, expanding its antipiracy fight into millions of homes.

Can commercial wi-fi survive?

Wired News: Analysts Sour on Commercial Wi-Fi.

Arnold, Howard Stern match wits

Funny interview with Calif. Gov.-wannabe Arnold Schwarzenegger on shock jock Howard Stern's radio program Tuesday. Excerpt:

But you're signed already for 'Terminator' 4 and 5," said Stern. "Can you make movies while being governor?"

''You can't do both at the same time," said the actor. "If you could work at night doing 'Terminator,' and then daytime as governor, that would be ideal.

But, I'm not a machine. I only play one."

Schwarzenegger said before he ever decided on a run, "I obviously have to talk to the Almighty . . . Maria." [His wife, Maria Shriver.]

How bad has CNN.com become?

How bad has CNN.com become? Here's a transcript of an interview with a magazine editor about last weekend's Cannes Lions, the awards ceremony for creative advertising. Excerpt:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP OF COMMERICIAL)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

No links. No Quicktime video of the ads. No nothing.

NewsHour on the Spam Wars

I had missed this PBS NewsHour report on spam -- caught the program Friday (with the wonderful James Gleick being interviewed on the subject), but overlooked the online transcript.

Is God talking to George W. Bush?

From the mainstream Israeli newspaper Haaretz:

According to [Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud] Abbas, immediately thereafter Bush said: "God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If you help me I will act, and if not, the elections will come and I will have to focus on them."

Gibson on our Orwellian times

William Gibson in Wednesday's NY Times on Orwell, surveillance, police states and more.

BBC gets heavy into RSS

Dave Winer points out the 68 new RSS feeds at BBC News. Yowza.

Internet sparks a copyright fire

Washington Post: Internet Sparks a Copyright Fire. A Short History of Copyright in the Digital Age.

And from last week ... Dan Kennedy in the Boston Phoenix: Breaking the Internet copyright impasse.

Thanks to Mary H. at bIPlog and Donna W. at copyfight for the pointers.

Google: You don't know me

Sheila's getting married Sunday, but she's still bloggin' away. Her latest:

At a page called Google Weblog [created by blogger Aaron Swartz]: "Want to see what ads AdSense thinks are relevant to your page? Just enter its URL:

So I did. The results: poliglut.org and three conservative sites. Oops.

But maybe it was an anomaly. So I put in J.D. Lasica's site. (He's a senior editor of Online Journalism Review.) His top hit is Sharpton for President. Oops again.

Oops is right.

Reaction to Supremes' library filter ruling

Jenny Levine, the Shifted Librarian, has the best roundup of links and commentary I've seen on the Supreme Court's decision Monday to censor library Internet access.

And a friend, who works with schools and libraries, says that Justices Breyer's and Kennedy's decisive ruling, which suggests that libraries can just "turn off" the anti-filtering software at a patron's request, is a bunch of nonsense.

Should TV news anchors get into the opinion game?

Bill O'Reilly: The audience for dispassionate news is shrinking, and the demand for passionate reporting and analysis is on the rise.

Here's Dead Parrots' take on O'Reilly's suggestion that TV news anchors ought to get into the opinionated journalism game.

I agree with O'Reilly (for a change) that people want more analysis, interpretation and insight from the news. (O'Reilly's one of the last people I would turn to for insight, but millions disagree.) And people can get that kind of journalism in thousands of different places today. Personal journalism is a chief reason why the blogosphere has taken off in popularity. And, yes, the right-wing political slant evident in almost all Fox News anchors has drawn a considerable audience.

But I doubt most Americans want Rather, Jennings, Brokaw and Lehrer to start spouting their personal views of the news. Who gives a shit what Brokaw's personal opinion of affirmative action is? That's not why I watch NBC News. Having worked at metropolitan newspapers where the slightest hint of bias in a headline or an article would draw a raft of invective from readers on both sides of the political aisle, I can tell you that a large portion of the public isn't hungry for O'Reilly's recipe for news anchors. Perhaps in a generation, but not today.

We'll see personal journalism, personal commentary and passionate reporting continue to flourish. Just not from the TV anchors' chair.

ONA, USC team up

The Online News Association is ending its partnership with Columbia University and joining with the University of Southern California's Annenberg School (home of the Online Journalism Review) to administer its annual awards, which honors the best in online journalism.

The contest opens July 1 and will accept entries through July 21.

Below is the press release that went out today.

LOS ANGELES, June 24, 2003 - The USC Annenberg School for Communication
and the Online News Association announced today that they will partner
to present the 2003 Online Journalism Awards, journalism's highest
honor for writing, reporting and editing on the Internet and other
digital platforms.

"Online reporters and editors continue to be on the cutting edge,
redefining the field of journalism itself," said Geoffrey Cowan, dean
of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. "The Online Journalism
Awards recognize the best in the profession, and we are delighted to
encourage and develop standards for excellence in the field."

"Since we established the Online Journalism Awards four years ago, it
has become the premier program honoring excellence and creativity in
digital journalism," said Bruce Koon, Online News Association president
and executive news editor of Knight Ridder Digital. "USC Annenberg,
known for its commitment to online journalism through academic
programs, the Online Journalism Review and other publications, brings
new energy to the awards. We are very pleased to partner with the
Annenberg School to celebrate the best in online journalism."

The 2003 Online Journalism Awards will be presented at the annual
conference of the Online News Association, to be held November 14-15 in
Chicago. Judging will take place October 2-4 at the USC Annenberg
School in Los Angeles.

Entries will be accepted between July 1, 2003 and July 21, 2003. For
information on how to enter, visit the ONA web site,
www.journalists.org. Categories of recognition include enterprise
reporting, breaking news, service reporting, feature writing,
commentary, and general excellence. The Online Journalism Awards were
first awarded in 2000 and have been presented annually ever since.

The Online News Association (www.journalists.org), which was founded in
1999, is open to journalists from around the world who produce news on
the Internet and other digital platforms, as well as to educators,
students and others with an interest in online journalism. ONA's
mission is to strive for editorial integrity, editorial independence,
journalistic excellence, freedom of expression and freedom of access in
the online world.

The USC Annenberg School is home to two other major journalism awards.
The Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting recognizes the year's
best investigative reporting in print journalism with a $35,000 prize,
the highest in journalism. The USC Annenberg Walter Cronkite Awards for
Outstanding Television Political Journalism are presented biannually to
television stations, reporters, and networks for political reporting in
election years.

Located in Los Angeles at the University of Southern California, the
USC Annenberg School for Communication (www.annenberg.usc.edu) is among
the nation's leading institutions devoted to the study of journalism
and communication, and their impact on politics, culture and society.
With an enrollment of more than 1,500 graduate and undergraduate
students, USC Annenberg offers B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in
journalism, communication, and public relations.

For further information contact
Online News Association
Phone: 802-434-6176
Fax : 802-654-2560
Email: HelpDesk@journalists.org
http://www.journalists.org

A wireless revolution in unexpected places

Business 2.0's July cover story takes a look at the wireless revolution. Instead of Wi-Fi and other small-scale schemes for building wireless local area networks, the great engine powering us into the new wireless age is ... the cell phone. Every year a third of all cell-phone users -- now 1.2 billion and climbing -- upgrade to newer models, and itís this relentless churn that drives innovation.

Worth a read.

GoodContacts keeps your address book fresh

Susannah Gardner asked me to update my contact info in her address book by using GoodContacts. Looks like a nifty little program that mails from your address book and then incorporates the updates.

The anti-environment EPA candidate

Here's a story that won't get much play:

EPA candidate's state record

Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, President Bush's top candidate to head the Environmental Protection Agency, has cut his state's environmental budget three times and sharply reduced enforcement of environmental regulations.

During Kempthorne's 4 1/2-year tenure, Idaho's pristine air has gotten dirtier, more rivers have been polluted, fewer polluters have been inspected and more toxins have contaminated the air, water and land, according to a Knight Ridder analysis of Idaho pollution data from EPA and state records.

In the same period, the nation's air and water have gotten cleaner on average, and fewer toxins have been emitted, EPA officials said Monday in a draft report.

California hard ball

Two instructive stories by political reporter Robert Salladay in the SF Chronicle:

Recall drive has almost half on petition

The recall campaign against Gov. Gray Davis has collected almost half of the signatures needed to qualify the measure for the ballot, county elections officials reported, as the deadline for organizers to prove themselves quickly approaches.

The Davis Recall Committee said it had turned in 429,531 signatures to county elections office as of June 16, an official counting date, but a spot check by the Associated Press and The Chronicle shows that about 400,000 signatures were reported. ...

The magic number is 897,158 verified signatures from registered voters. But recall organizers want to collect at least 1.25 million by July 11 -- enough over the legal threshold to qualify for a special election in the fall or winter.

That looks like it won't happen now, but there's still a fair chance of a recall election next March.

By the way, the NY Times reported on Sunday that recall organizers had turned in 700,000 signatures and that a recall was all but certain. Wrong-o.

Potential swing votes feel GOP heat on budget

... (State) Senate GOP leader Jim Brulte recently warned that if any Republicans voted for tax increases, he would work against them in the next primary. Lawmakers and Capitol observers were shocked, but then came the sucker punch.

Across the hallway in the Assembly, a conservative lawmaker arranged for anti-tax crusader Stephen Moore, visiting the Capitol from Washington, D.C., to lecture California Republicans on economics -- and then finish with another, more powerful warning.

It involved something dear to the political heart: money. Moore's group, the Club for Growth, spent $330,000 to defeat Republican Mike Briggs from Fresno County, after Briggs crossed party lines and voted for a state budget last year that included tax increases.

"Remember Mike Briggs? We kind of nuked him," Moore said in an interview. "One of the purposes of my visit was to remind people that if any Republican votes for tax increase, we would come out full guns. . . . They don't want to suffer the same near-death experience Briggs did. He was destroyed politically. "

Moore, whose group is funded by conservatives around the country, said he would spend in the "six figures" to defeat any Republican who voted for tax increases. ...

Nowhere in the article -- nor in a related story about Brulte's popularity in his home district -- does it mention that California faces a $38.2 billion shortfall, and that it's all but impossible to close that gap with spending cuts alone.

But what does Brulte care? He's term limited, and won't be around when California crumbles.

Denial and deception

Paul Krugman in the NY Times:

Politics is full of ironies. On the White House Web site, George W. Bush's speech from Oct. 7, 2002 ó in which he made the case for war with Iraq ó bears the headline "Denial and Deception." Indeed.

There is no longer any serious doubt that Bush administration officials deceived us into war. The key question now is why so many influential people are in denial, unwilling to admit the obvious.

About the deception: Leaks from professional intelligence analysts, who are furious over the way their work was abused, have given us a far more complete picture of how America went to war. Thanks to reporting by my colleague Nicholas Kristof, other reports in The New York Times and The Washington Post, and a magisterial article by John Judis and Spencer Ackerman in The New Republic, we now know that top officials, including Mr. Bush, sought to convey an impression about the Iraqi threat that was not supported by actual intelligence reports.

NYT's sorry reader forums

Hate to say it, but the NY Times' reader forum is one of the lamest I've ever seen.

This one, with Supreme Court reporter Linda Greenhouse, puts all Supreme Court decisions & issues in one bucket, so you'll have to wade through the 7,924 postings there to figure out where the affirmative action thread begins.

I posted an entry last night, but today I can't find it and haven't even spotted a single reply by Ms. Greenhouse, though it's likely she has responded ... somewhere.

Maybe Kuro5hin can take over this sorry mess.

US war reporter under fire

The Age (Australia): A reporter for The New York Times, Judith Miller, is the target of claims that she and her newspaper have been the vehicle for White House and Pentagon "propaganda" over Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction.

I'm not surprised.

Iranian blogs give voice to taboo topics

Christian Science Monitor: Proliferating Iranian weblogs give voice to taboo topics.

NICOSIA, CYPRUS -- In a recent entry, LadySun -- the handle used by a feisty online diarist -- takes aim at the strict dress code for women, grumbling about a guard who wouldn't let her into a hotel, "cuz I wasn't wearing socks!!"

It is easy to see why she is celebrated by her fans as the "emotional voice of Iran's Generation X." Whether the subject is partying or politics, football or feminism, she writes with feeling, and often humor.

A proliferating form of alternative expression in the Islamic Republic, such online journals are a fascinating insight into a closed society, airing issues that may be taboo in public and revealing the underground lives of many young Iranians.

Great stuff. I previously wrote about the proliferation of Persian bloggers last November. Something to keep an eye on as the unrest in Iran continues.

Internet primary tomorrow

Wired News has a story on tomorrow's "Internet primary." MoveOn.org will endorse any candidate who receives more than 50 percent of the vote. It's getting some buzz -- MSNBC TV just did a short segment on it.

My prediction: Former Gov. Howard Dean will win in a cakewalk.

The trend toward 'dayparting'

Editor & Publisher has a piece on "dayparting" -- the curious term for promoting softer news and arts & entertainment offerings on a news site at night.

If you visit azcentral.com after 6 p.m. MST, you'll find a racier, more entertainment-driven home page, with hard news corralled into a small holding pen. It's part of The Arizona Republic's rollout of azcentral@night, a far funkier version of the paper's daytime Web site. The goal of the Republic, and a growing number of other newspapers, is to boost their audiences at night, when their Web servers get