My favorite, over-cited news source, The New York Times, seems a little "behind the times" on this story, It’s Time to Make a Coffee Run.
"Starting as long ago as 1978, researchers have been publishing caffeine studies. And in study after study, they concluded that caffeine actually does improve performance. In fact, some experts, like Dr. Mark Tarnopolsky of McMaster University in Canada, are just incredulous that anyone could even ask if caffeine has a performance effect.“There is so much data on this that it’s unbelievable,” he said. “It’s just unequivocal that caffeine improves performance. It’s been shown in well-respected labs in multiple places around the world."
The truth about caffeine:
1. It's a performance enhancer. Caffeine allows us to burn fat instead of carbs, resulting on longer-lasting energy. It masks fatigue.
2. If you're a regular "user", it doesn't dehydrate you.
3. You only need a half cup of coffee (or two Cokes) to caffeinate your performance
4. It's 100% legal in every sport.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Don't Be an Expert, Be a Fox
In Nicholas Kristof's recent op-ed in the Gray Lady, Learning How to Think, Kristof discusses how talking heads are always wrong in their predictions.
"Experts turn out to be a stunningly poor source of expertise."
"The expert on experts is Philip Tetlock, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. His 2005 book, “Expert Political Judgment,” is based on two decades of tracking some 82,000 predictions by 284 experts. The experts’ forecasts were tracked both on the subjects of their specialties and on subjects that they knew little about.The result? The predictions of experts were, on average, only a tiny bit better than random guesses — the equivalent of a chimpanzee throwing darts at a board."
"The only consistent predictor was fame — and it was an inverse relationship. The more famous experts did worse than unknown ones." Producers in the ad-supported media prefer experts who provide "strong, coherent points of view, who saw things in blacks and whites. People who shouted."
The article describes rodents outfoxing Yale undergrads, hedgehogs vs. foxes, and clinical psychologists and their secretaries.
Jon Stewart's going to have a field day with this.
"Experts turn out to be a stunningly poor source of expertise."
"The expert on experts is Philip Tetlock, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. His 2005 book, “Expert Political Judgment,” is based on two decades of tracking some 82,000 predictions by 284 experts. The experts’ forecasts were tracked both on the subjects of their specialties and on subjects that they knew little about.The result? The predictions of experts were, on average, only a tiny bit better than random guesses — the equivalent of a chimpanzee throwing darts at a board."
"The only consistent predictor was fame — and it was an inverse relationship. The more famous experts did worse than unknown ones." Producers in the ad-supported media prefer experts who provide "strong, coherent points of view, who saw things in blacks and whites. People who shouted."
The article describes rodents outfoxing Yale undergrads, hedgehogs vs. foxes, and clinical psychologists and their secretaries.
Jon Stewart's going to have a field day with this.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
The Pros and Cons of Running in a Foot of Snow
Colorado has entered the "swing season" when the weather swings wildly and the forecasters pull their hair out trying to predict it. My trusted weather source, 9News.com, has failed me about four days in the past two weeks.So it was to my surprise that I awoke this morning to a rightly predicted 6 inches of snow on the ground. I worked from home and called it a snow day at 4pm, when I decided to make good on my tri training plan and go for my prescribed run. By this time, there were 12 inches of snow on the ground.
I ran my usual 2-3 mile route around Gunbarrel's Twin Lakes (also Chrissie Wellington's stomping ground). There were moments when I was in snow up to my knees and stretches of path that the wind had blown clear.
The snow and wind was a nice preoccupation, but I also kept my mind off running by building a list of pros and cons for running in 12 inches of snow:
| PROS | CONS |
| You won’t be hot! | Your hands and feet will freeze. |
| The path is all yours. | What path? |
| So soft! Snow makes running easy on the knees! | Low impact? More like snow impact! |
| Perfect mid-foot strike on every stride… | …but watch out for ankle rolling. |
| Quiet, peaceful, pretty… | …unlike your raspy breathing and runny nose. |
| No sweating = never parched. | Inhaling snowflakes not pleasant. |
| Beautiful. | Starkly so. And cold. |
| No need for sunscreen… | …but plenty of need for Chapstick. |
| No obnoxious dog walkers. | Little chance of rescue! |
| Uneven surface builds balance and core strength… | …so really won’t be expecting it when you fall! |
| A well-deserved sense of dedication… | …though you’ll likely cut the workout short. |
| Cool down is very quick. | Long warm-up. |
| Cocoa, the recovery drink. | Ouch! Hands and feet sting as they thaw! |
| No need to ice the knees... | ...or the ankles, toes, shins, nose, ears... |
| Decent blog post? |
Some advice for aspiring yeti runners:
- Cotton kills. Your sweatshirt becomes a fridge just seconds after you start sweating.
- Before your run, fill some small bottles with hot water. Run with them to keep your hands warm. They'll cool enough to drink sooner than you think. I like these Hammer Nutrition gel flasks.
- I love the double hat: a fleece hat for warmth and to cover the ears and a synthetic baseball cap to keep the snow out of my face.
- If it's below 30 degrees, consider mittens or ski gloves. My thick liner gloves above are great below 40, but my numb digits made it a struggle to work my watch.
- Wear your watch over the part of the glove that's covering your wrist and keep it loose to avoid reducing circulation to your fingers.
- My new favorite piece of running apparel is my GoLite Wisp Wind Shirt. This shirt is velvety to wear and so light you won't know it's on, except that no blast of icy wind can get through it. You can pack it into its own pocket and carry it if you get hot (not bloody likely today!).
Make Facebook Worthwhile by Being a Jerk
The day my wife joined Facebook, she described the experience as a never-ending high school reunion that you don't have to actually attend. You catch a glimpse of what long-lost acquaintances have done with themselves without the risk of awkward conversation.
By design, Facebook is a many-tentacled thing. The website makes money selling ads; it's goal is to keep large numbers of people on the site for a long time. Facebook achieves this in several ways:
1. We like thinking we have lots of friends.
2. Our friends are good at keeping our attention.
3. Facebook is terribly user unfriendly.
When you first join Facebook, you search for the names of your friends. This first wave of friends is likely worthy of the meaning of the word. You send each person an invite to become one of your Facebook friends. Facebook then goes to work figuring out who your friends are. Its database takes advantage of our tendency to belong to overlapping circles of friends and begins suggesting common denominators as "people you may know". These suggestions appear every time you log in to Facebook. Every time you navigate to a new page within Facebook, the suggestions rotate to new possible friends.
There is a happy thrill to unearthing long lost friends and enemies—and of adding to your burgeoning friend count. This diabolically clever combination of technology and human nature has cultivated a Facebook etiquette that you become friends with everyone who requests your friendship. And soon the average user is up to 100 friends. In this way, there is no one you know on Facebook with whom you are not friends.
The benefit of Facebook is that it offers new ways to stay in touch with more people than ever before possible. Let's be realistic: how many of those friends are really friends?
Facebook's most prominent feature is the "news feed" which is a list of all the "status updates" of everyone in your friend network. A status update answers the question, "What are you doing right now?". Typical updates are often inane—and because the average user has 100 friends, Facebook's most prominent quality is that it is riddled with inanity.
In this way, Facebook may be redefining what it means to be "in touch". Does knowing what you had for breakfast make me a better friend? Can social networks bring people closer together? As with any other way of relating, it all depends on the quality of effort put into the relationship. "I'm eating a donut." is unlikely to strengthen the bonds of friendship stretched hundreds or thousands of miles.
Many of the self-publishing formats on the web (this blog included) are a one-way street: the publisher produces a personal message that few people care about. At least Facebook makes this self-publishing a little more relevant; your readers might actually have an interest in your message.
This leads to Facebook tenet # 1: Only "friend" people who are actually your friends. Ignore invites from everyone else.
Sure, you might bruise a few egos (this is self-publishing, after all), but clogging up your Facebook account with chaff will make the Facebook experience worse for you and for them. Look at it this way: by avoiding worthless "I'm eating a donut." updates from people you haven't talked to in a decade, you're spending more time actually staying in touch with the people you care about.
In fact, this tenet may be the most important. Facebook is rife with opportunities for distraction. Not only are friends notified within Facebook about status updates, profile updates, photo updates, etc., most users receive email notifications (though this feature can be turned off).
The site allows third-party software developers to create "applications" designed to entertain, advertise, or glean information about you. An application may be a trivia contest, a coupon, an online greeting card, etc. Relatedly, users can become "fans" of businesses that have set up commercial Facebook accounts. Every time one of your friends participates in an application or becomes a fan of a business, you will hear about it somehow, often through your "news feed" and in an email notification from Facebook. Suddenly your friends have made you a tool of the marketing gimmicks they have fallen for. Your friends force you to read ads. It's diabolical.
On Facebook, choosing your friends wisely is critical.
By design, Facebook is a many-tentacled thing. The website makes money selling ads; it's goal is to keep large numbers of people on the site for a long time. Facebook achieves this in several ways:
1. We like thinking we have lots of friends.
2. Our friends are good at keeping our attention.
3. Facebook is terribly user unfriendly.
When you first join Facebook, you search for the names of your friends. This first wave of friends is likely worthy of the meaning of the word. You send each person an invite to become one of your Facebook friends. Facebook then goes to work figuring out who your friends are. Its database takes advantage of our tendency to belong to overlapping circles of friends and begins suggesting common denominators as "people you may know". These suggestions appear every time you log in to Facebook. Every time you navigate to a new page within Facebook, the suggestions rotate to new possible friends.
There is a happy thrill to unearthing long lost friends and enemies—and of adding to your burgeoning friend count. This diabolically clever combination of technology and human nature has cultivated a Facebook etiquette that you become friends with everyone who requests your friendship. And soon the average user is up to 100 friends. In this way, there is no one you know on Facebook with whom you are not friends.
The benefit of Facebook is that it offers new ways to stay in touch with more people than ever before possible. Let's be realistic: how many of those friends are really friends?
Facebook's most prominent feature is the "news feed" which is a list of all the "status updates" of everyone in your friend network. A status update answers the question, "What are you doing right now?". Typical updates are often inane—and because the average user has 100 friends, Facebook's most prominent quality is that it is riddled with inanity.
In this way, Facebook may be redefining what it means to be "in touch". Does knowing what you had for breakfast make me a better friend? Can social networks bring people closer together? As with any other way of relating, it all depends on the quality of effort put into the relationship. "I'm eating a donut." is unlikely to strengthen the bonds of friendship stretched hundreds or thousands of miles.
Many of the self-publishing formats on the web (this blog included) are a one-way street: the publisher produces a personal message that few people care about. At least Facebook makes this self-publishing a little more relevant; your readers might actually have an interest in your message.
This leads to Facebook tenet # 1: Only "friend" people who are actually your friends. Ignore invites from everyone else.
Sure, you might bruise a few egos (this is self-publishing, after all), but clogging up your Facebook account with chaff will make the Facebook experience worse for you and for them. Look at it this way: by avoiding worthless "I'm eating a donut." updates from people you haven't talked to in a decade, you're spending more time actually staying in touch with the people you care about.
In fact, this tenet may be the most important. Facebook is rife with opportunities for distraction. Not only are friends notified within Facebook about status updates, profile updates, photo updates, etc., most users receive email notifications (though this feature can be turned off).
The site allows third-party software developers to create "applications" designed to entertain, advertise, or glean information about you. An application may be a trivia contest, a coupon, an online greeting card, etc. Relatedly, users can become "fans" of businesses that have set up commercial Facebook accounts. Every time one of your friends participates in an application or becomes a fan of a business, you will hear about it somehow, often through your "news feed" and in an email notification from Facebook. Suddenly your friends have made you a tool of the marketing gimmicks they have fallen for. Your friends force you to read ads. It's diabolical.
On Facebook, choosing your friends wisely is critical.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Why I Hate Facebook
Facebook is now rivalling Google for total time spent on the web. Users have long worried about Google and privacy. I've read Google terms of service and privacy policy, and I'm willing to sacrifice some privacy in order to take advantage of Google's cutting edge IT. It amazes me, though, that people are willing to give up both privacy and intellectual property to use Facebook. Obviously, they have no idea what they've gotten themselves into.
Most people sign up for web services without reading the Terms of Service or Privacy Policy. Facebook is the one name-brand web service for which users should definitely read both. Here they are:
http://www.facebook.com/policy.php
http://www.facebook.com/terms.php
If you're on or considering using Facebook, you should read them right now, or at least read the digest below.
1. Facebook's layout is a disaster
Creating a Facebook account is a snap. Logging onto Facebook is a piece of cake. Finding friends takes no time at all, partly because Facebook will find them for you. Intentionally finding a feature, however, is terribly difficult. Facebook is a navigational nightmare.
From a business perspective, Facebook's main goal is to keep you happily thrashing about the site so you are continually viewing its advertisements. Retail stores pioneered this strategy back in the '60s and grocery stores and casinos have got it mastered: the longer you're in the store, the more you're likely to spend. To keep you in the store longer, grocery stores try to achieve a balance of confusability and usability. Casinos have abandoned all veneer of customer friendliness—they all but lock you in.
2. Facebook owns your content
Facebook can do anything it wants with anything you have posted on the site, including your photos, music, video, messages, etc. including selling it to others.
3. Facebook Applications are allowed to have different terms of service and privacy policies from those of Facebook (and those differences are nearly invisible)
Applications you enable may have terms of use and privacy policies different from those of Facebook. Facebook does not screen application developers or check that their applications do not misuse your content or violate your privacy.
4. "Facebook may also collect information about you from other sources, such as newspapers, blogs, instant messaging services, and other users of the Facebook service through the operation of the service (e.g., photo tags) in order to provide you with more useful information and a more personalized experience."
5. If you invite a friend to join Facebook, Facebook can keep your friend's information on file. This information includes, at a minimum, that friend's email or IM contact information.
6. Facebook can "supplement" your profile using other sources
"Facebook may also collect information about you from other sources, such as newspapers, blogs, instant messaging services, Facebook platform developers, and other users of the Facebook service through the operation of the service (e.g., photo tags)...to supplement your profile. Where such information is used, we generally allow you to specify in your privacy settings that you do not want this to be done or to take other actions that limit the connection of this information to your profile (e.g., removing photo tag links)."
7. Facebook may use information in your profile
"Facebook may use information in your profile without identifying you as an individual to third parties."
8. Facebook owns and can sell everything but your name.
Combining these terms, Facebook can sell everything but the name you registered in your profile. They can sell your entire profile, all the content you have on the site, and any information they've gathered about you from any source.
9. Facebook can share everything everything you post on Facebook without telling you.
"We do not provide contact information to third party marketers without your permission. We share your information with third parties only in limited circumstances where we believe such sharing is 1) reasonably necessary to offer the service, 2) legally required or, 3) permitted by you."
So Facebook does not provide contact information to third party marketers, but Facebook can make the call to share your information with third parties whenever they want. I.e. "Reasonably necessary to offer the service" in marketing-speak means "if you want to keep using Facebook, we have to stay in business by making a profit selling your info".
"...we may share account or other information when we believe it is necessary to comply with law, to protect our interests or property, to prevent fraud or other illegal activity perpetrated through the Facebook service or using the Facebook name, or to prevent imminent bodily harm. This may include sharing information with other companies, lawyers, agents or government agencies." Facebook can share your information with other companies, lawyers, agents or government agencies to protect its interests or property. That's not a particularly assertive privacy standard.
What to do?
You can opt-out of some of these conditions at http://www.facebook.com/privacy/, though opting-out of information sharing through Applications requires removing many of applications that make Facebook functional (like causes, events, gifts, groups, mycalendar, notes, photos, posted items, video, and more).
So users should explore these 10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know.
This February, Facebook made what some are calling a "digital land grab", revising language in its terms of service that stated quite clearly that Facebook would own a user's content forever, even after they deleted their Facebook account. Here's the coverage of that controversy:
2/16/09:
New York Times: Facebook’s Users Ask Who Owns Information
Mark Zuckerberg's mea culpa, On Facebook, People Own and Control Their Information
2/17/09:
Webware: Facebook polls users on service terms update
Webware: EPIC readying federal complaint over Facebook privacy policy
2/18/09:
New York Times: Facebook Withdraws Changes in Data Use
This was not Facebook's only public revolt. Where Google's slogan is "Don't Be Evil.", this February's debacle was Facebook's third attempt to be evil. The last six paragraphs of this New York Times overview of Facebook explains.
A little bit relatedly (look out, California):
Facebook Chief Privacy Officer Chris Kelly To Run For California Attorney General
This blog post is my opinion and reflects the facts about Facebook during the time I researched them over winter 2008-2009.
Most people sign up for web services without reading the Terms of Service or Privacy Policy. Facebook is the one name-brand web service for which users should definitely read both. Here they are:
http://www.facebook.com/policy.php
http://www.facebook.com/terms.php
If you're on or considering using Facebook, you should read them right now, or at least read the digest below.
1. Facebook's layout is a disaster
Creating a Facebook account is a snap. Logging onto Facebook is a piece of cake. Finding friends takes no time at all, partly because Facebook will find them for you. Intentionally finding a feature, however, is terribly difficult. Facebook is a navigational nightmare.
From a business perspective, Facebook's main goal is to keep you happily thrashing about the site so you are continually viewing its advertisements. Retail stores pioneered this strategy back in the '60s and grocery stores and casinos have got it mastered: the longer you're in the store, the more you're likely to spend. To keep you in the store longer, grocery stores try to achieve a balance of confusability and usability. Casinos have abandoned all veneer of customer friendliness—they all but lock you in.
2. Facebook owns your content
Facebook can do anything it wants with anything you have posted on the site, including your photos, music, video, messages, etc. including selling it to others.
3. Facebook Applications are allowed to have different terms of service and privacy policies from those of Facebook (and those differences are nearly invisible)
Applications you enable may have terms of use and privacy policies different from those of Facebook. Facebook does not screen application developers or check that their applications do not misuse your content or violate your privacy.
4. "Facebook may also collect information about you from other sources, such as newspapers, blogs, instant messaging services, and other users of the Facebook service through the operation of the service (e.g., photo tags) in order to provide you with more useful information and a more personalized experience."
5. If you invite a friend to join Facebook, Facebook can keep your friend's information on file. This information includes, at a minimum, that friend's email or IM contact information.
6. Facebook can "supplement" your profile using other sources
"Facebook may also collect information about you from other sources, such as newspapers, blogs, instant messaging services, Facebook platform developers, and other users of the Facebook service through the operation of the service (e.g., photo tags)...to supplement your profile. Where such information is used, we generally allow you to specify in your privacy settings that you do not want this to be done or to take other actions that limit the connection of this information to your profile (e.g., removing photo tag links)."
7. Facebook may use information in your profile
"Facebook may use information in your profile without identifying you as an individual to third parties."
8. Facebook owns and can sell everything but your name.
Combining these terms, Facebook can sell everything but the name you registered in your profile. They can sell your entire profile, all the content you have on the site, and any information they've gathered about you from any source.
9. Facebook can share everything everything you post on Facebook without telling you.
"We do not provide contact information to third party marketers without your permission. We share your information with third parties only in limited circumstances where we believe such sharing is 1) reasonably necessary to offer the service, 2) legally required or, 3) permitted by you."
So Facebook does not provide contact information to third party marketers, but Facebook can make the call to share your information with third parties whenever they want. I.e. "Reasonably necessary to offer the service" in marketing-speak means "if you want to keep using Facebook, we have to stay in business by making a profit selling your info".
"...we may share account or other information when we believe it is necessary to comply with law, to protect our interests or property, to prevent fraud or other illegal activity perpetrated through the Facebook service or using the Facebook name, or to prevent imminent bodily harm. This may include sharing information with other companies, lawyers, agents or government agencies." Facebook can share your information with other companies, lawyers, agents or government agencies to protect its interests or property. That's not a particularly assertive privacy standard.
What to do?
You can opt-out of some of these conditions at http://www.facebook.com/privacy/, though opting-out of information sharing through Applications requires removing many of applications that make Facebook functional (like causes, events, gifts, groups, mycalendar, notes, photos, posted items, video, and more).
So users should explore these 10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know.
This February, Facebook made what some are calling a "digital land grab", revising language in its terms of service that stated quite clearly that Facebook would own a user's content forever, even after they deleted their Facebook account. Here's the coverage of that controversy:
2/16/09:
New York Times: Facebook’s Users Ask Who Owns Information
Mark Zuckerberg's mea culpa, On Facebook, People Own and Control Their Information
2/17/09:
Webware: Facebook polls users on service terms update
Webware: EPIC readying federal complaint over Facebook privacy policy
2/18/09:
New York Times: Facebook Withdraws Changes in Data Use
This was not Facebook's only public revolt. Where Google's slogan is "Don't Be Evil.", this February's debacle was Facebook's third attempt to be evil. The last six paragraphs of this New York Times overview of Facebook explains.
A little bit relatedly (look out, California):
Facebook Chief Privacy Officer Chris Kelly To Run For California Attorney General
This blog post is my opinion and reflects the facts about Facebook during the time I researched them over winter 2008-2009.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Why Amazon Is Beating Up Bookstores
The Seattle-based blog "Journey from Yuppie to Triathlete" offers a perfect example of how Amazon is beating bookstores:
"I was hoping to find Going Long by Joe Friel at Barnes and Noble but was disappointed...twice. I ended up purchasing it on Amazon along with The Triathlete's Training Bible also by Joe Friel."
"I was hoping to find Going Long by Joe Friel at Barnes and Noble but was disappointed...twice. I ended up purchasing it on Amazon along with The Triathlete's Training Bible also by Joe Friel."
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
VeloGear Warehouse Sale This Weekend
VeloGear is having its warehouse sale this weekend, and it's running a little differently than usual.
VeloGear was bought a few months ago and the new owners are pretty desperate to get rid of old merchandise so they can reduce their inventory cost. Since the new owners bought VeloGear at a pretty steep discount, they are planning to pass that discount on to warehouse sale shoppers.
They've set up a "progressive sale":
- Friday 9am-4pm 50% off retail
- Saturday 9am-4pm 70% off retail
- Saturday 2-4pm everything you can stuff in a VeloGear shopping bag is just $20 (and those bags are bigger than a paper grocery bag)
VeloGear has my old office stuffed about 3 feet deep with cycling jerseys, shorts, tri shirts and shorts, t-shirts, posters, and all sorts of random household stuff.
Depending on what you put in there, that $20 bag of stuff could easily be worth $1000 at full retail. Imagine stuffing a bag full of $80-$120 jerseys for just $20!
Stop by. Tell your friends.
VeloGear Progressive-Discount Warehouse Sale
1830 55th St.
Boulder, CO 80301
From Denver:
Go to Boulder on 36
Take Foothills north
Turn right on Arapahoe
Turn left on 55th
Take the 3rd or 4th right (look for signs)
Wanted: Marketing Manager/Martial Artist
Paladin Press is hiring for a "hands-on Marketing Manager for fast-paced sales/marketing department." This merits a closer inspection... A quick review of Paladin's product line reveals:
What do you think this interview would be like? I'm picturing Dwight Shrute but perhaps more competent.
Naturally, Paladin Press is based just up the street in Gunbarrel.
What do you think this interview would be like? I'm picturing Dwight Shrute but perhaps more competent.
Naturally, Paladin Press is based just up the street in Gunbarrel.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Print Media Drowning in Red Ink (re-re-update)
UPDATE 3/13: The New York Times updates the roll call of newspapers in such trouble that their home towns might soon become one-paper or zero-paper cities. Joel Kramer of MinnPost.com is interviewed and offers this summary of the scenario: "It would be a terrible thing for any city for the dominant paper to go under, because that’s who does the bulk of the serious reporting. [Websites] like us would spring up, but they wouldn't be nearly as big. We can tweak the papers and compete with them, but we can’t replace them."
UPDATE 2/28: The Washington Post offers up a roll call of newspapers in trouble and their myriad attempts to staunch the outflow of cash and staff.
U.S. News & World Report To Shift Operations to Web
"U.S. News & World Report is getting out of the newsmagazine business and going all digital. The financially struggling magazine, which cut back to biweekly publication earlier this year, now plans to reinvent itself on the Web. While it will publish one print edition each month, according to staffers briefed on the decision, these will be entirely devoted to consumer guides -- such as its annual rankings of colleges and hospitals -- and contain no other news."
PC Magazine, a Flagship for Ziff Davis, Will Cease Printing a Paper Version
"Ziff Davis Media announced Wednesday that it was ending print publication of its 27-year-old flagship, PC Magazine, and would take the title online only. It is the latest of several magazine publishers to drop a print edition, as advertising plummets and the cost of printing a paper version rises."
Christian Science Monitor shifts from print to Web-based strategy
"In 2009, the Monitor will become the first nationally circulated newspaper to replace its daily print edition with its website; the 100 year-old news organization will also offer subscribers weekly print and daily e-mail editions."
Condé Nast Cuts Focus on 2 Magazines
"Men’s Vogue will all but disappear as a separate operation. It will be folded into Vogue and will be published twice a year instead of 10 times, the company said...Through the first nine months of the year, ad pages in all United States magazines were down 9.5 percent from the same period in 2007..."
UPDATE 2/28: The Washington Post offers up a roll call of newspapers in trouble and their myriad attempts to staunch the outflow of cash and staff.
U.S. News & World Report To Shift Operations to Web
"U.S. News & World Report is getting out of the newsmagazine business and going all digital. The financially struggling magazine, which cut back to biweekly publication earlier this year, now plans to reinvent itself on the Web. While it will publish one print edition each month, according to staffers briefed on the decision, these will be entirely devoted to consumer guides -- such as its annual rankings of colleges and hospitals -- and contain no other news."
PC Magazine, a Flagship for Ziff Davis, Will Cease Printing a Paper Version
"Ziff Davis Media announced Wednesday that it was ending print publication of its 27-year-old flagship, PC Magazine, and would take the title online only. It is the latest of several magazine publishers to drop a print edition, as advertising plummets and the cost of printing a paper version rises."
Christian Science Monitor shifts from print to Web-based strategy
"In 2009, the Monitor will become the first nationally circulated newspaper to replace its daily print edition with its website; the 100 year-old news organization will also offer subscribers weekly print and daily e-mail editions."
Condé Nast Cuts Focus on 2 Magazines
"Men’s Vogue will all but disappear as a separate operation. It will be folded into Vogue and will be published twice a year instead of 10 times, the company said...Through the first nine months of the year, ad pages in all United States magazines were down 9.5 percent from the same period in 2007..."
Thursday, March 12, 2009
David Pogue Offers a Rundown on Google Voice
One Number to Ring Them All
"If Google search revolutionized the Web, and Gmail revolutionized free e-mail, then one thing's for sure: Google Voice, unveiled Thursday, will revolutionize telephones. It unifies your phone numbers, transcribes your voice mail, blocks telemarketers and elevates text messages to first-class communication citizens. And that's just the warm-up."
"If Google search revolutionized the Web, and Gmail revolutionized free e-mail, then one thing's for sure: Google Voice, unveiled Thursday, will revolutionize telephones. It unifies your phone numbers, transcribes your voice mail, blocks telemarketers and elevates text messages to first-class communication citizens. And that's just the warm-up."
Google Voice to Challenge VoIP, Landlines, and Skype
Google's Free Phone Manager Could Threaten a Variety of Services
"Google Voice allows users to route all their calls through a single number that can ring their home, work and mobile phones simultaneously. It also gives users a single and easy-to-manage voice mail system for multiple phone lines. And it lets users make calls, routed via the Internet, free in the United States and for a small fee internationally."
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Foster a Polymath with Roots & Wings Tutoring in Boulder
I've known Sharon Rebeck for about 15 years. During that time, she's become one of the best-qualified and most polymath-ish teachers I know. Sharon has a masters of education, a Waldorf certification, and a deep variety of professional teaching experience.
She's also a professional tutor now accepting students in Boulder, CO.
If you have a school-age child who learns differently, please visit Sharon's educational services website, Roots & Wings (http://www.rootsgrowwingssoar.com), and set up a time to talk with her about how your child can learn best.
She's also a professional tutor now accepting students in Boulder, CO.
If you have a school-age child who learns differently, please visit Sharon's educational services website, Roots & Wings (http://www.rootsgrowwingssoar.com), and set up a time to talk with her about how your child can learn best.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Chrissie Wellington Lives in My Neighborhood!
I'm not one for being star-struck. Except for the time that Hermann Maier almost whacked me in the crotch with his skis at Beaver Creek's Birds of Prey course.
But when my wife and I were walking along our neighborhood jogging path with toddler in stroller and Chrissie Wellington ran by, I was pretty surprised! What's the two-time Kona winner doing in my 'hood?! On my running path!
I assumed I was mistaken until I saw this photo today on the front page of triathlon.competitor.com.
I realized that Chrissie does, in fact, live in my neighborhood. Why? Well, because behind Chrissie is our park!
For more photos of Chrissie, her brand new Cannondale tri bike, and my neighborhood, check out this article.
But when my wife and I were walking along our neighborhood jogging path with toddler in stroller and Chrissie Wellington ran by, I was pretty surprised! What's the two-time Kona winner doing in my 'hood?! On my running path!
I assumed I was mistaken until I saw this photo today on the front page of triathlon.competitor.com.
I realized that Chrissie does, in fact, live in my neighborhood. Why? Well, because behind Chrissie is our park!For more photos of Chrissie, her brand new Cannondale tri bike, and my neighborhood, check out this article.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Beer + Cycling = My New Favorite Beer Commercial
Any fan of cycling and the Tour de France has seen "The Drinkers" poster:
Back in the good ole days, it was believed that drinking provided energy and fortitude and that smoking "opened the lungs".
Stella Artois is an excellent Belgian pilsner with roots dating back as far as 1366. The company is running an ad campaign based around its Francolingual roots and set during Victorian times. The company has posted all its tv spots on this microsite "La Publicite".
Plug in a legal drinking age and a slightly creepy, bearded old doorman in a top hat will open the doors of a slightly creepy Victorian silent movie theater. You'll get picked up by this slightly creepy lady (presumably Stella?), but you can skip this intro if you like.
Choose what video to see by spinning this menu.
Go for "The Race".
You'll watch a short video about a vintage bike race! Without giving anything away, I can tell you that this race is a little unconventional...
Back in the good ole days, it was believed that drinking provided energy and fortitude and that smoking "opened the lungs".Stella Artois is an excellent Belgian pilsner with roots dating back as far as 1366. The company is running an ad campaign based around its Francolingual roots and set during Victorian times. The company has posted all its tv spots on this microsite "La Publicite".
Plug in a legal drinking age and a slightly creepy, bearded old doorman in a top hat will open the doors of a slightly creepy Victorian silent movie theater. You'll get picked up by this slightly creepy lady (presumably Stella?), but you can skip this intro if you like.
Choose what video to see by spinning this menu.
Go for "The Race".
You'll watch a short video about a vintage bike race! Without giving anything away, I can tell you that this race is a little unconventional...
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