Tech Companies Develop APIs for Public Records

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For the past few years, I’ve been telling newspaper and media companies that if they didn’t get on the ball, technology companies were going to usurp much of what they consider their domain because modern technology companies are bogged down with the “history” that newspapers oftentimes cling.
In fact, lots of folks smarter than [...]

The Ad Problem: Why Smart Media Companies Are Fine

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Newspapers are facing a serious problem. The more publishers are looking at their bottom lines the more they are seeing this: shrinking black on the print side and a large red on the web side.
But that’s not always going to be the case, I hear people say. At some point, this [...]

Blogs and Link Journalism

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Buster Olney and Jayson Stark are my favorite writers at ESPN.com. Mostly because they cover baseball and I can’t live without baseball (including MLB.tv, which for $10 per month lets me watch and listen to every baseball game each month through my computer, which is hooked up to my TV).
That I love two [...]

Touch: The New Face of News Navigation

I often hear people who defend print say that computers can’t replace the feel of paper.
It’s easy to dismiss such talk as the ramblings of Luddites who staunchly refuse to enter the digital age. I’ve done it. I’m a child of the computer revolution. I’ve been reading and participating online since 1984. I had a [...]

On Innovation and Engagement

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I’ve been thinking a lot about what Mark Cuban told me a few months back. You’ll see it referenced in previous and upcoming posts because it was maybe the best piece of advice I’ve been given when it comes to my book.
The essence of what he said as he shot down my initial [...]

Amazon, Borders: A Tale of Two Futures

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Borders Books is back. Back online anyway.
Seven years after striking a deal with Amazon to merge a large portion of its online operations, the brick-and-mortar bookseller announced it would strike out on its own in an attempt to sell books the new-fashioned way: through a website.
I’d characterize the reaction online as lukewarm.
Some folks [...]

A Tale Of Free and Copyright Infringement

The first time I wrote about technology and entertainment was for the Austin Chronicle in 1997. It was my one — and only — feature piece for the weekly but it had a lasting impact on my view of this emerging world.
The piece was about Fringeware, a group of technophiles in Austin who — well, [...]

APIs And Conversations: The Real Canary In The Coal Mine

“The canary in the coal mine.”
That’s how Jeff Jarvis describes the Twitter-verse in relationship to news organizations. He’s thesis: every news agency should be using this type of service — the mobile network where people can distribute 140-character messages to large groups of readers via text message — to track down breaking news, find sources [...]

Ads: You Can’t Do It Like Print

Ever since John edited my book proposal, I’ve been thinking about what he said: your thesis is that each medium has to operate in its native state.
When he said that to me, it was so glaringly obvious that I knew it had to be true. I’ve been trying to figure out how to simply identify [...]

A Desktop Home for News Organizations

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Newspapers have a reader problem. And they have a Reader problem.
It’s no secret that news organizations face declining readerships, prompting layoffs and corporate restructuring. For many in the industry, the end must seem near.
But it’s never the pitfall you expect that gets you. You’re prepared for those and with enough smart people — [...]

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