Q6. Brief bio of Michael Rapoport:
A: 1999-present: Columnist writing the "In the Money" column for Dow Jones Newswires, focusing on delving beneath the surface of financial statements and market trends to find the stories that companies would rather investors not know about.
Awards:
Finalist in World Leadership Forum's Business Journalist of the Year awards, best wire service journalist or team, 2008
Society of American Business Editors and Writers "Best in Business" award, wire service columns, 2007
National Headliner Award, best news service columns/commentary, 2001
Dow Jones Newswires Awards for best work done by Newswires journalists, 2001 and 2007
1996-1999: Reporter for Dow Jones Newswires covering courts and legal issues, stationed at federal courthouse in Manhattan
1995-1996: Copyreader on the desk at Dow Jones Newswires.
1993-1995: Editor for Dow Jones News Retrieval (now part of Factiva), working on business-news databases and other projects
1985-1993: Reporter for various daily newpapers in Connecticut
Master's in journalism from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, 1985
Bachelor's in English and political science from University of Rochester, 1984
Q7. What are the three top websites you read everyday?
WSJ.com - the online edition of the Wall Street Journal. Subscription required, but I'm sure the NYU journalism library would have access to it.
SEC.gov - the Securities and Exchange Commission's website. Useful for finding companies' securities filings, learning about SEC rules and enforcement cases, and how investors, companies and everyone else interact with regulators.
The Big Picture (http://bigpicture.typepad.com/) - The best blog about Wall Street and American business, written by Barry Ritholtz, head of a securities-research firm.
Columbia Journalism Review's The Audit (http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/) - Critique of business news.
Q8. Please recommend a few books on writing or on business and economics.
Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis (A classic about Wall Street's take-no-prisoners culture.)
Conspiracy of Fools by Kurt Eichenwald (The best book on the Enron scandal.)
Wall Street Versus America by Gary Weiss (About the routine corruption in the securities industry.)
The Financial Numbers Game: Detecting Creative Accounting Practices by Charles W. Mulford and Eugene E. Comiskey (Shows you how to find when companies are bending the truth about their numbers. Mulford is a frequent source of mine.)
END
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Q&A Part III: Interview with Michael Rapoport
Q5. Take one of the stories you mentioned above, explain how extensive was the reporting before you sat down to write? How many people did you talk to? Who were they? What kind of documents did you read?
A: Assuming that we're using the Freddie Mac column that we've talked about: A lot of the answer to this question we've already spoken about or should be in the answers to the previous questions, but basically that column came about because I had previously forecast that Freddie would have to write down its deferred tax assets, for the reasons we've discussed. When they did so, I noticed that there was a substantial chunk of deferred tax assets they WEREN'T writing down, and the reason they gave was that they were related to losses on securities that they expected to recover, and thus they thought they could still use the deferred tax assets; thus they still had value and the company wasn't required to write them down.
As it happened, I had also written about the issue of these securities losses that the companies thought would recover, and I knew that they were unlikely to recover - both because they'd already lasted a long time (more than a year) and because a lot of them are related to mortgage-backed securities and other bad assets that are unlikely to come back.
From there it was really just a matter of confirming my suspicions with a couple of accounting experts. As a columnist, what I'll often do is find something that I THINK is valid, but accounting is so complex that I like to run my hypotheses past experts in the field, to make sure that what I think I'm seeing is accurate. I also go back to the securities filings - in this case the company's latest 10-Q quarterly report - to get a fuller picture of their position, as well as the numbers that are critical to my argument. In this case they said, "Yup, that's it" - so that even though I didn't quote any of them in the story, I could put forth my opinions with the confidence that they were valid.
In the process of doing all this, I found that Fannie Mae, Freddie's fellow mortgage-finance giant, had done something much like Freddie, on a smaller scale. They had written off something like $21 billion in deferred tax assets. while keeping $4.6 billion, using the same reasoning as Freddie. (Again, look at the story itself for the correct figures; I'm just using the figures I remember off the top of my head.) So it was only fair to include them in the story as well.
From there, it was simply a matter of calling the PR spokespeople of the two companies to give them an opportunity to comment, and to write all this up in a way that would make it clear to the average reader - which can be pretty tough in itself sometimes when you're dealing with complicated accounting topics.
To be continued...
A: Assuming that we're using the Freddie Mac column that we've talked about: A lot of the answer to this question we've already spoken about or should be in the answers to the previous questions, but basically that column came about because I had previously forecast that Freddie would have to write down its deferred tax assets, for the reasons we've discussed. When they did so, I noticed that there was a substantial chunk of deferred tax assets they WEREN'T writing down, and the reason they gave was that they were related to losses on securities that they expected to recover, and thus they thought they could still use the deferred tax assets; thus they still had value and the company wasn't required to write them down.
As it happened, I had also written about the issue of these securities losses that the companies thought would recover, and I knew that they were unlikely to recover - both because they'd already lasted a long time (more than a year) and because a lot of them are related to mortgage-backed securities and other bad assets that are unlikely to come back.
From there it was really just a matter of confirming my suspicions with a couple of accounting experts. As a columnist, what I'll often do is find something that I THINK is valid, but accounting is so complex that I like to run my hypotheses past experts in the field, to make sure that what I think I'm seeing is accurate. I also go back to the securities filings - in this case the company's latest 10-Q quarterly report - to get a fuller picture of their position, as well as the numbers that are critical to my argument. In this case they said, "Yup, that's it" - so that even though I didn't quote any of them in the story, I could put forth my opinions with the confidence that they were valid.
In the process of doing all this, I found that Fannie Mae, Freddie's fellow mortgage-finance giant, had done something much like Freddie, on a smaller scale. They had written off something like $21 billion in deferred tax assets. while keeping $4.6 billion, using the same reasoning as Freddie. (Again, look at the story itself for the correct figures; I'm just using the figures I remember off the top of my head.) So it was only fair to include them in the story as well.
From there, it was simply a matter of calling the PR spokespeople of the two companies to give them an opportunity to comment, and to write all this up in a way that would make it clear to the average reader - which can be pretty tough in itself sometimes when you're dealing with complicated accounting topics.
To be continued...
Friday, December 18, 2009
Q&A Part II: Interview with Michael Rapoport
Q3. How do you look up statistics for companies? Which sources do you think are most reliable?
A: The SEC filings are the most reliable sources, and they're available through the EDGAR system at the SEC's website, sec.gov. These are the equivalent of sworn statements that the company's CEO and CFO have to certify are accurate - if they're found to have knowingly put false information in the filings, the SEC can sue them for filing false statements.
What used to happen, before the Enron scandal, was that many companies would, not outright lie, but skew things in their favor by reporting what they called "pro forma" earnings - their own measurement of their results, stripping out anything they wanted to. So they would say, for instance, "Our earnings for the quarter were 20 cents a share, but without bad things A, B and C, they would have been 50 cents a share, and we think that's the important figure." They ignored the fact that they couldn't simply wish away A, B and C, or treat them as unimportant. Because of Enron and the other accounting scandals, and because of the Sarbanes-Oxley securities-reform law and the regulations passed in association with it, companies have to be clearer in their press releases; they have to acknowledge when they're using measurements of earnings that aren't in accordance with accounting standards - known as generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP - and show how those measurements are reconciled to GAAP measurements.
Q4. How do you build your network? How do you stay in touch with your sources?
A: In the course of covering a beat regularly, and writing stories about that beat regularly, you're going to come into contact with people who are useful as sources - officials of the companies you're covering; major investors in those companies; representatives of other constituencies who have an interest in those companies, like labor unions or regulators; outside experts who have an interest in those companies or that industry, like academics and think tanks; and many others.
Any of those people who are in a position to know about things worth covering on that beat, or who can provide valuable perspective on issues and stories that come up on that beat, it's worth your while to cultivate. Even people with an ax to grind, like the analysts working for investment banks, can be useful, so long as you remember that they may have a bias. Call your sources every now and then to talk about what's happening on the beat; send them stories or other information you think would interest them (only publicly available information, of course); and when you include them in a story, send them a copy of the story.
In terms of professional PR people, they're official representatives of the company, and they're usually not going to give you a scoop on something that the company isn't ready to announce. But good PR people will work with you to get you the information you want for your story, even when that story isn't going to be favorable to the company. They have a job to do, in representing the company's point of view, but they'll recognize that you have a job to do too.
To be continued...
A: The SEC filings are the most reliable sources, and they're available through the EDGAR system at the SEC's website, sec.gov. These are the equivalent of sworn statements that the company's CEO and CFO have to certify are accurate - if they're found to have knowingly put false information in the filings, the SEC can sue them for filing false statements.
What used to happen, before the Enron scandal, was that many companies would, not outright lie, but skew things in their favor by reporting what they called "pro forma" earnings - their own measurement of their results, stripping out anything they wanted to. So they would say, for instance, "Our earnings for the quarter were 20 cents a share, but without bad things A, B and C, they would have been 50 cents a share, and we think that's the important figure." They ignored the fact that they couldn't simply wish away A, B and C, or treat them as unimportant. Because of Enron and the other accounting scandals, and because of the Sarbanes-Oxley securities-reform law and the regulations passed in association with it, companies have to be clearer in their press releases; they have to acknowledge when they're using measurements of earnings that aren't in accordance with accounting standards - known as generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP - and show how those measurements are reconciled to GAAP measurements.
Q4. How do you build your network? How do you stay in touch with your sources?
A: In the course of covering a beat regularly, and writing stories about that beat regularly, you're going to come into contact with people who are useful as sources - officials of the companies you're covering; major investors in those companies; representatives of other constituencies who have an interest in those companies, like labor unions or regulators; outside experts who have an interest in those companies or that industry, like academics and think tanks; and many others.
Any of those people who are in a position to know about things worth covering on that beat, or who can provide valuable perspective on issues and stories that come up on that beat, it's worth your while to cultivate. Even people with an ax to grind, like the analysts working for investment banks, can be useful, so long as you remember that they may have a bias. Call your sources every now and then to talk about what's happening on the beat; send them stories or other information you think would interest them (only publicly available information, of course); and when you include them in a story, send them a copy of the story.
In terms of professional PR people, they're official representatives of the company, and they're usually not going to give you a scoop on something that the company isn't ready to announce. But good PR people will work with you to get you the information you want for your story, even when that story isn't going to be favorable to the company. They have a job to do, in representing the company's point of view, but they'll recognize that you have a job to do too.
To be continued...
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Q&A Part I: Interview with Michael Rapoport
Next four postings will be a Q&A series with an award-winning business columnist Michael Rapoport, Dow Jones News Wires. How does he find story ideas, how to build and keep his sources, and what reporting tools he recommends to use.
Q1. Take one story you've done and describe how you came up with the story idea.
A: The most efficient way to come up with story ideas is to have a good grounding about the topics. It is important to know how to look at balance sheets and how to read financial reports because companies will always try to put things in the best light, with a spin favorable to them - they'll downplay bad news, or not frame it in a way that would allow investors to fully understand its implications.
For example, I did a story a few weeks ago on Freddie Mac's tax assets. Freddie Mac was saying the company didn't have to write down some of their assets because the losses were temporary and were going to be recovered. Therefore, the company will still be able to use the deferred tax credits in the future.
But I knew it was BS because they had already endured for long periods and because a lot of them were associated with mortgage-backed securities and other bad assets that are very unlikely to recover soon.
So when I heard it, I knew it was worth writing about. I knew Freddie Mac certainly needed to write down its $18 billion deferred tax assets even though it interpreted laws in their own likes.
Q2. What will be one piece of advice that you would give to business journalists?
A: Always be suspicious when you look at numbers. Three years ago, there were a lot of mergers in telecom industry. In a story I did on SBC Communications Inc. (SBC)'s acquisition of AT&T Corp, I was comparing the savings the companies were touting with their combined total annual operating expenses, and pointing out that it would be virtually impossible to save, say, $15 billion in expenses on day one after the merger when the combined companies' expenses were $62 billion - you don't cut nearly 25% of your expenses overnight.
So you had to do your own calculation. I do my own calculation a lot. Sometimes it turned out to be something, sometimes not. But my advice is always aware that the company is not going to tell you everything.
In terms of what "tools" I used in looking into it, I think all I did was note that the companies had said that their savings were on a "present value" basis, and start asking questions about exactly what that meant. As noted in the story, it appears to be something that sophisticated professional investors would understand and take into account, but not necessarily something obvious to the layman or the average small investor. I suspect that sort of thing happens a lot - companies speak in their own language and cut corners in their explanations, and gloss over things that are important for investors to understand. And average investors don't press them on it, which they should - it's the equivalent of needing to read the fine print before signing a contract.
The company is not going to tell you any more than it's required to, and when it's in a press release they will try to spin things to their advantage. They'll bury the negative stuff on page 19 of a 20-page press release, or tell you that a gigantic charge against earnings isn't important because it's non-cash. The more you know about how to read financial statements and what's important in evaluating a company, the better you'll be able to let them know that you're not falling for their BS and get to the real story.
To be continued...
Q1. Take one story you've done and describe how you came up with the story idea.
A: The most efficient way to come up with story ideas is to have a good grounding about the topics. It is important to know how to look at balance sheets and how to read financial reports because companies will always try to put things in the best light, with a spin favorable to them - they'll downplay bad news, or not frame it in a way that would allow investors to fully understand its implications.
For example, I did a story a few weeks ago on Freddie Mac's tax assets. Freddie Mac was saying the company didn't have to write down some of their assets because the losses were temporary and were going to be recovered. Therefore, the company will still be able to use the deferred tax credits in the future.
But I knew it was BS because they had already endured for long periods and because a lot of them were associated with mortgage-backed securities and other bad assets that are very unlikely to recover soon.
So when I heard it, I knew it was worth writing about. I knew Freddie Mac certainly needed to write down its $18 billion deferred tax assets even though it interpreted laws in their own likes.
Q2. What will be one piece of advice that you would give to business journalists?
A: Always be suspicious when you look at numbers. Three years ago, there were a lot of mergers in telecom industry. In a story I did on SBC Communications Inc. (SBC)'s acquisition of AT&T Corp, I was comparing the savings the companies were touting with their combined total annual operating expenses, and pointing out that it would be virtually impossible to save, say, $15 billion in expenses on day one after the merger when the combined companies' expenses were $62 billion - you don't cut nearly 25% of your expenses overnight.
So you had to do your own calculation. I do my own calculation a lot. Sometimes it turned out to be something, sometimes not. But my advice is always aware that the company is not going to tell you everything.
In terms of what "tools" I used in looking into it, I think all I did was note that the companies had said that their savings were on a "present value" basis, and start asking questions about exactly what that meant. As noted in the story, it appears to be something that sophisticated professional investors would understand and take into account, but not necessarily something obvious to the layman or the average small investor. I suspect that sort of thing happens a lot - companies speak in their own language and cut corners in their explanations, and gloss over things that are important for investors to understand. And average investors don't press them on it, which they should - it's the equivalent of needing to read the fine print before signing a contract.
The company is not going to tell you any more than it's required to, and when it's in a press release they will try to spin things to their advantage. They'll bury the negative stuff on page 19 of a 20-page press release, or tell you that a gigantic charge against earnings isn't important because it's non-cash. The more you know about how to read financial statements and what's important in evaluating a company, the better you'll be able to let them know that you're not falling for their BS and get to the real story.
To be continued...
Monday, December 14, 2009
Video: Garrett Popcorn Shops - Once You Pop, You Cannot Stop
Find out whether it is the different way of making popcorn, the interesting mix of flavors, or the mention by Oprah in her favorite list, has made Garrett Popcorn special.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Video: The Moth - A Fun Night Out
Looking for a cheap and fun night out in New York city? Try the old-style story telling.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Video: Americans Weigh In On UK Bank-Bonus Tax
What does Main Street say about the UK's 50% tax on bank-bonus pay? Americans have a wide range of sentiment. While some say the tax is too lenient, others think it is a stupid move altogether.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Data Aggregation The Next Big Thing For WSJ Graphics Team
Who goes to work thinking how to put himself out of work? The Wall Street Journal’s graphics editor Jovi Juan says that’s what gets him up every morning. Juan who oversees the graphics design team of the Wall Street Journal’s online edition says: “We are spending more time designing simple software for reporters to do graphics themselves instead of having us do it for them,” so that his team can be freed up to start build the next big thing: data aggregation.
But after three years on the job, Juan is nowhere closer to the goal.
The problem is not the technology. Over the years, the team has built an photo editor software called “cropper”, a simple gadget that lets reporters who want to post photos with their online posts crop the photos to a standardized size and pixel for the WSJ.com. Another software Chart Builder was created for reporters to build flash. “We've made it a lot easier to use, but a number of reporters do not want to learn it.”
He said it is the toughest part of moving forward: the old mindset. But majority of the reporting team would eventually have to move on. And only then can Jovi's 8-person team start to aggregate Dow Jones data and make it sharable.
Eventually, everyone will be able to access to the data and visualize it. The idea is to build WSJ's own Many Eye program, an online data visualization tool.
Two or three years down the road, there is a distinctive possibility to get paid through WSJ's data site, Juan says.
Is Hulu's Business Model a Pet Rock?
I love Hulu.com. Many news media publishers love Hulu, too, for different reasons. The free online TV provider seems to be offering everyone else in the online media industry a successful business model but itself. Read the story here.
The Big Money After A Year
When Slate.com decided to start a new business site, The Big Money, it couldn't have picked a more ominious start date: Sept. 15, 2008, the day that Lehman Brothers, one of the biggest American banks, collapsed. A year later, James Ledbetter, the site's editor-in-chief, can only marvel at the timing and consider one big question: Will the The Big Money ever make money? The site had orginally plan to launch as general interest business news site, but changed gears to focus much more on the market crash. Today, readers will see a site that has made yet one more turn---to its original plans, covering more technology and social media. As a result, AIG articles have given way to Google stories. Apple's advertising strategy led the home page recently. The Web site also stepped up its effort to adopt social media itself. In the first week of December, the fans of its Facebook fan page has nearly tripled.
Recently, it also launched The Big Money Facebook 50, a ranking of the brands that are currently making the best use of Facebook. The Web site plans to make the list an annual feature, its own verision of the Fortune 500 but for companies that are social media savvy. “I think it will turn into something like that, but the difference is our list is more subjective,” said Ledbetter.
Indeed, the Big Money list uses various metrics—including fan numbers, page growth, frequency of updates, creativity as determined by a panel of judges, and fan engagement—to decide the ultimate rank on the list, according to the explanation on the site. Readers can send in suggestions and comments on how to rank the list, too, either through its Facebook fan page or directly from the Web site.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
New Media Re-tweet: How Google Will Help Newspapers
Eric Schmidt: In 2015, what is it like reading online? Mi_Kuhn Google's Chairman & CEO in the #WSJ on a new, digital business model: How #Google Can Help Newspapers. http://bit.ly/895j8L #Media
A Tin For News
It wasn't a business Newstin planned to get into originally. But an incident turned out to have become a service that endeavors to provide Internet news readers the first experience in global news reading.
Using its patented Cross Language Data Retrieval technology, Newstin started its business in 1998 to create IT solutions for business clients. But the technology's great potential in arranging all types of online information inspired its business development director Jeremy Lopez to use it to organize Internet news.
"We've enabled our readers to get news tailored to their unique needs. It goes beyond key words search," said Lopez, who joined Newstin in 2006 to start this global news aggregation project. For example, a reader can type in a search phrase such as “technology” and the site is able to pull out stories not only contain the key word “technology,” but related articles on IT and inventions.
Newstin subscribers can search for stories on selected topics retrieving from hundreds of thousands of sources from around the world such as the U.S., Czech, and China. The Web site pulls in stories from main stream media, blogs and press releases from each country and list them either by relevance or time. What's better: Everything is free.
Newstin also encourages its members to play an active role in the site. Any member can suggest new sources to the existing 700,00 categories. New sources are subject to be reviewed by the Newstin editorial team before being added to the list. But the result of this Wikipedia-like approach is a soaring number of sources. As of today, the site has 15,000 sources from around the globe and it is growing daily.
The concern of the ever-growing online sources including blogs is their viability. “Every moment, all the data has been piled. But to determine the authority of the sources is one of the most difficult thing,” Alan Mutter, an independent media investor and veteran media watcher.
The key word is “reliability”. For that, Newstin seems to have some way to go. “Its content stretches too widely that it's not clear to me whose needs it is serving,” said Mutter. “It needs to be more focused.”
Using its patented Cross Language Data Retrieval technology, Newstin started its business in 1998 to create IT solutions for business clients. But the technology's great potential in arranging all types of online information inspired its business development director Jeremy Lopez to use it to organize Internet news.
"We've enabled our readers to get news tailored to their unique needs. It goes beyond key words search," said Lopez, who joined Newstin in 2006 to start this global news aggregation project. For example, a reader can type in a search phrase such as “technology” and the site is able to pull out stories not only contain the key word “technology,” but related articles on IT and inventions.
Newstin subscribers can search for stories on selected topics retrieving from hundreds of thousands of sources from around the world such as the U.S., Czech, and China. The Web site pulls in stories from main stream media, blogs and press releases from each country and list them either by relevance or time. What's better: Everything is free.
Newstin also encourages its members to play an active role in the site. Any member can suggest new sources to the existing 700,00 categories. New sources are subject to be reviewed by the Newstin editorial team before being added to the list. But the result of this Wikipedia-like approach is a soaring number of sources. As of today, the site has 15,000 sources from around the globe and it is growing daily.
The concern of the ever-growing online sources including blogs is their viability. “Every moment, all the data has been piled. But to determine the authority of the sources is one of the most difficult thing,” Alan Mutter, an independent media investor and veteran media watcher.
The key word is “reliability”. For that, Newstin seems to have some way to go. “Its content stretches too widely that it's not clear to me whose needs it is serving,” said Mutter. “It needs to be more focused.”
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Advertising A Hope For The Big Money
James Ledbetter, editor of The Big Money, says reader involvement remains a central mission for the site. With that open-arm attitude, the site's traffic has responded positively, with 6.8 million unique visitors globally, according to Quantcast, a service that tracks online metrics.
Critics, however, doubt whether traffic means bucks for The Big Money. "I believe it has readers since it offers interesting stories," said Alan Mutter, an independent media investor and a veteran media executive. “But the question is whether it is attracting advertising and able to become self sustainable.”
Such concerns have definitely hit home; last year, two big advertisers, American Express and Infinity Ads, pulled out. “That just said how bad our advertising industry has became in the crisis,” said Ledbetter. Later in the year, the Web site re-established relationship with American Express to cooperate video projects on the site. Dell, meanwhile, exclusively sponsors its current Facebook 50 list project.
Still, The Big Money relies financially on its mother company, the Slate Group. “We are very dependent on the network to get advertising. Without Slate, there is no Big Money,” Ledbetter said. In the next few years, the Web site's revenue might not grow big enough to self sustain, but its editorial group believes advertising is going to become the main revenue stream in a long term. And that, Ledbetter believes, relies largely on the quality of content. "Yes, we will be irreverent if we need to be,” said Ledbetter. “As long as its witty and intelligent, and continues to attract advertising.”
Monday, November 30, 2009
Tell Me How The Web Feels
Since we have the Web, people have become lazier. People spend increasing number of hours ordering things online, searching for things online, and meeting friends online. Now the Web is using a technology called sentiment analysis to tell us how the Web feels.What it does is it gathers the feedback from people and let you know what the mass thinks of a piece of news item, a restaurant, a dish, etc. For example, if you search for a restaurant when you are out with friends, it doesn't just tell you the list of restaurants nearby and what types of food they serve, it also tells you what the overall sentiment people have about this restaurant.
So the Web has become smart enough to decides for us.
Another Web site that uses this technology is Newstin.com, a news aggregator that measures the sentiment for each piece of news it has on the site. When a news article shows up on the site, it also shows a vertical bar that colors either green or red, with green meaning positive sentiment and red meaning negative.
For instance, if you search for Obama on Newstin, thousands of news items will show up in the search result, each with a different color bar beside it. With a quick glance, readers can get a rough idea of whether the majority of the news about Obama recently is complimentary or derogatory.
One sentiment analysis provider in San Francisco Scout Lab said the technology has become advanced enough for it to not just decoding numbers, but also decoding feelings on the Web.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Inside eReader: Paper-Like Display Technology
We have to talk about E Ink Corporation to fully understand today's eReader market and technology.Scan through all the competing eReaders in the market, Kindle, Sony's eReader, Nook, eSlick, Cybook Opus. They all share one thing: the same display technology.
The technology is called Paper-like display. The developer is E Ink Corporation, which has been mentioned in this blog a couple of times.
Who is E Ink?
E Ink was founded in 1997 based on research started at the MIT Media Lab. It is the leading supplier of low-power electronic display technologies. The technology is indispensable for a digital book reading device that requires extremely low power consumption, allows long hours of reading without repeated charging, and protects the eyes from backlight blast.
The Lab is on the frontline of display technologies. Recently, it talked about future ePaper:
“I believe that the killer application will be eTextbooks for students. This trend has already started and with the arrival of flexible displays and color ePaper in 2010, that market is likely to ramp quickly. Flexible Active Matrix (because the segmented SURF displays are already flexible) and Color ePaper are the future trends.”
Friday, November 27, 2009
Translation Is The Bottleneck For News Aggregators
Started with six staff in Prague, capital city of Czech Republic, in 1998, Newstin.com was initially funded privately by its CEO and founder, Frank Vrabel, and a group of angel investors, affluent individuals who provide capital for business startups. Right now, it is in the process of a new round of fund raising, according to Lopez. And it is also in talks with advertising agency Double Click (http://www.doubleclick.com) for partnership.
The site provides English translation from ten languages such as Spanish, Japanese, and Arabic. For many Web sites, language is the barrier in creating a global online community. Even Facebook has language limitations. Its members have to speak the same language to be able to communicate. "We are jumping across these differences to lay a foundation to interconnect all the editions," Lopez said.
But media experts say the site still faces challenges. Besides being able to further verify its sources, the other challenge is its translation quality, a universal bottleneck for translation services.
The site uses Lingual World (http://www.lingual-world.com/), a third party translation services. Based on a recent poll, readers are generally happy with the translation, Lopez said. But translations between certain languages are tougher. "It's much harder to use machines to translate from Chinese into English," Lopez said. "But you get the gist of the story."
Critics doubt whether readers are getting the accurate gist because even Google's translation tool is said to be distorting the meanings of the original languages.
The next big thing for the team of 30 in central Europe is to build an interactive platform for readers to leave comments on the site. Translation to English will also be available to enable readers around the world to read comments in different languages and communicate with each other.
In the past two years, Newstin staff grew from six to 30. It also opened its first international office in Silicon Valley of San Francisco.
Industry watchers think the site has its fingers on the problem. But it will take a long time to solve it. Whoever figures out how to build a fast, convenient, and reliable way to find what readers want will have a successful business.
The site provides English translation from ten languages such as Spanish, Japanese, and Arabic. For many Web sites, language is the barrier in creating a global online community. Even Facebook has language limitations. Its members have to speak the same language to be able to communicate. "We are jumping across these differences to lay a foundation to interconnect all the editions," Lopez said.
But media experts say the site still faces challenges. Besides being able to further verify its sources, the other challenge is its translation quality, a universal bottleneck for translation services.
The site uses Lingual World (http://www.lingual-world.com/), a third party translation services. Based on a recent poll, readers are generally happy with the translation, Lopez said. But translations between certain languages are tougher. "It's much harder to use machines to translate from Chinese into English," Lopez said. "But you get the gist of the story."
Critics doubt whether readers are getting the accurate gist because even Google's translation tool is said to be distorting the meanings of the original languages.
The next big thing for the team of 30 in central Europe is to build an interactive platform for readers to leave comments on the site. Translation to English will also be available to enable readers around the world to read comments in different languages and communicate with each other.
In the past two years, Newstin staff grew from six to 30. It also opened its first international office in Silicon Valley of San Francisco.
Industry watchers think the site has its fingers on the problem. But it will take a long time to solve it. Whoever figures out how to build a fast, convenient, and reliable way to find what readers want will have a successful business.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
eReader: B&N Nook Has A Huge Book Database
Few can compete with the number of books that owned by Barnes & Nobles. This is a very reason why it makes sense for the bookstore to produce its own eReader --- the Nook.With over a million titles ready to be downloaded, Nook was born with an advantage.
B&N's boasts on its Web site: The #1 feature of Nook: Over One Million Titles. "Readers can easily get bestsellers and new releases, your favorite eNewspapers, and eMagazines all delivered fast and free via 3G wireless or Wi-Fi. Browse the vast Barnes and Noble eBookstore and sample any eBook for free," the site wrote.
Okay, so you have a million titles, the next question is how many Nook can store. B&N has the answer. Feature #2: Endless Shelf Space!
“Store as many as 1,500 eBooks, eNewspapers, and eMagazines on your nook’s 2 GB of internal storage, so you'll never be without your favorites. Need more space? Just add a Micro SD card,” the site says.
Except that Kindle has 360,000 titles, which are still far fewer than what Nook has, other eReaders in the market either have deals with Barnes and Nobles, or they have very limited number of resources.
Think about it. If B&N owns the copyrights of so many books, it will become the market maker of the eReader market. As a result, the best technology is likely to follow the most powerful player in the market. So Nook is going to advance much faster than the rest of the eReaders. As a customer, you want to own the company and its product that has much room for growth.
Still not convinced? Let's throw some icing on your cake. Nook has a set of designer cases that will make you look so cool.
See some designs:
Monday, November 23, 2009
The Lightest eReader On the Market
The Cybook Opus weighs 5.3 ounces, almost half of the weight of the smaller Kindle that weighs 10.2 ounces.But its slim figure holds a big memory. Its standard 32 MB memory can be expanded to 1 GB. Although Kindle has a larger memory, 1 GB which can store over 1,000 books might be much larger a collection than the books on most people's book shelves.
Cybook Opus, not as well marketed as the Kindle Reader, has an owner that pioneered the ebook reading device market since 1998 - Bookeen.
The gadget which greatly resembles Kindle also uses the same display technology that Kindle uses --- Paper-like display made by E Ink Corporation.
It comes a little bit smaller in size 6” x 4.2” x 0.4” than Kindle's 7.5" x 5.3" x 0.7". Its screen size is 5”, one inch shy of that of Kindle's.
Surprisingly, there wasn't much market excitement at the introduction of the stylish Cybook Reader earlier this year. Blog Obsessable mentioned that the product has only “teased the eReader market, few other details are available.”
Selling at $249, the nicely-designed Cybook seems to have a strong competitive edge in the eReader market if it promotes itself a little more aggressively.
Users of the gadget seems to be happy, too. One customer left a review saying:
“I'm soooo glad I found this device. Its light and stylish, perfect for my commutes and travel. I find the booksonboard.com for downloading books a very good source for my ebooks, so thank you Bookeen for getting me going in such a positive direction with my new reading experience. I struggled with deciding on a Kindle but hated, hated - the design - this is soooo much more stylish. I recommend any women who needs her electronics to match her stylish lifestyle to get the opus.”
Well, just by the number of “o”s that the reviewer put behind “so”, we know Bookeen's Cybook makes at least one customer very content. And there, “sooo much more stylish” is definitely a big selling point among women readers.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
eReader Battle: eSlick vs. Kindle
eSlick is a digital book reader developed by Foxit Software late last year and has been on the market since this year. When it was first introduced, it had a significant advantage over Amazon's Kindle which at that time was sold at $359. eSlick undercut the price by introducing it to the market at a promotional price of $229 and then $259 later on.The eReader uses an electronic-paper display designed by E Ink Corporation, the same company that makes the Kindle's. The light reflects off the images and words on the screen instead of lighting the screen up with a backlight. That makes it a lot less strained on the eyes and provides a sharp, black-and-white screen that reads just like it would on real paper.
So now you can read text just as easily in bright sunlight as you would in your own living room, says on its Web site.
Based on the E-ink technology, the eSlick does not use any power to maintain a page display while only using power when an image is changed, says its Web site. This means that no matter how long the page is displayed, it uses no additional power.
eSlick and Kindle come close in size, eSlick Reader has a dimension of 7.4" x 4.7" x 0.4" which Kindle is 8" x 5.3" x 0.36". So Kindle is a slightly larger but a tiny bit thinner. Both have 6-inch screens. But eSlick weighs a lot less than Kindle, 6.4 ounces versus 10.2 ounces.
The big drawback of eSlick is it doesn't have wireless connectivity like Kindle does. So readers will not be able to think of a book and download it on the go. That requires more planning and to be less spontaneous.
But "at least that process is free," according to a gadget blog. "Automatic newspaper delivery to a Kindle costs at least $10 per month--each. Blogs cost $1 to $2 per month--each. At least with the eSlick, you don't have to email your own documents to yourself, as you must with the Kindle," it says.
Over 64,000 eBooks are now available for eSlick, including new releases, best sellers and classics, with new ebooks added weekly to the eSlick eBooks store. It is only a small fraction comparing to Kindle's access to more than 360,000 books. This is an area Kindle is likely to have an absolute advantage in the market for a period of time, thanks to its owner Amazon.com.
So far, the eSlick device menus are only available in English. But it allows you to read any document or eBook written in any language.
Now the price of Kindle has now gone down to $259 since, which one would you go for?
(All the comparison in this article is to Amazon's Kindle, not Kindle DX)
To see a video about eSlick, click here.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
eReader Battle: Sony vs. Kindle
Sony's eReader marketer seems to have a clear idea in mind: Target different group of customers with its 3-tier price level from $199 to $399.Compared to the prices of Kindle $259 and Kindle DX at $489, it's clear that Sony is targeting a much wider group. The lowest range of the product line Sony PRS-300 Pocket Edition, which sells at $199, is sold at ToysRUs, a kid's market that Kindle might not be interested in yet.
Sizes of the two eReaders come in very close to each other. Sony's PRS-600 Reader Touch measures 0.4” thin and weighs 10.1 ounces. Kindle is 0.36" think and weighs 10.2 ounces.
The display technologies are identical. They both use paper-like display system made by E Ink Corporation. The technology doesn't light the screen using a backlight, instead, the light reflects off the words and images on the screen. This causes a lot less strained on the eyes, according to the Web site.
But one customer complained in the Sony's Reader site:
"I've had this product for less than a month. The reader is nice but as a traveler like I am it is a waste of money since most of my reading time is in areas with low light. I travel on planes at night time hours and do not like to use the lights on the air craft. The reflection it gets in brighter areas makes it hard to read. I think it is a waste of money for continuously traveling person like myself and will not recommend it to anyone."
Well, that said, Sony's eReader does give a chic look. It also offers in three colors, white, red, and black. Again, a design that goes along with its market, a younger and less tech-savvy group.
I think Sony at least has an advantage in its price compared to Kindle.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Slideshow: The Creation of a Poster
Like everyone else in recession, Jordan Seiler, a young artist in New York, cuts cost with his new project - the Recession Special. He makes posters from second-hand bestsellers bought from Scrap Bookstore for 48 cents each. And that is all the cost.
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| Make a Smilebox slideshow |
Friday, November 13, 2009
Podcast: When Michael Milken Doubts Ratings
Michael Milken built his investment theory, junk bond, on American credit ratings thirty years ago. Today, however, at the wake of the financial crisis, Milken told investors that ratings are so unreliable that it is, in fact, one big reason that has caused this crisis. Should we still believe in his theory then? Listen to my podcast:
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Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Beijing Pulls Obama T-shirts From Shelves
Less than a week before Obama’s first visit to Forget bootleg DVDs and counterfeit watches, authorities in
Tongue-in-cheek T-shirts showing Obama wearing a red-star revolutionary cap - the type favoured by Mao Zedong and state leaders during the early Communist rule - have been on sale since last year's presidential election.
Another design shows Obama dressed in Chairman Mao's trademark zhongshan suit and clutching the Statue of Liberty under one arm.
"They sell very well, and seem to be popular with both foreigners and Chinese visitors," said the owner of one souvenir stall near
The owner, who asked not to be named, declined to give reasons for the lack of stock.
But it appears the authorities are keen to prevent any form of embarrassment during Obama's first state visit.
One stall owner on
"I got a call from the department this morning," he said. "They said they had heard that some people were selling Obama T-shirts near here and they me told not to sell any more. Later on, three officers came to my shop to check, and they told me not to sell any this week."
A sales assistant in a neighbouring souvenir shop, who also asked not to be named, said officials became even more zealous when she had said the shop had no Obama shirts on sale. "They took away all our Mao Zedong T-shirts instead," she said.
One shopper, who gave her name as Liu, said she was disappointed that the T-shirts were no longer available.
"I bought one last week to give to a colleague," she said. "But when I came back on Sunday with another colleague to get some more, there were none."
Obama is due to arrive in
(Kristine Kwok in
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Hyperlocal: Everyblock
Everyblock.com was bought by MSNBC in August. The five employees who worked to start the hyperlocal site with the Knight Foundation funding now work for one of the biggest media in the country.The site is a neighborhood news site that aggregates items from blogs, Craigslist, Yelp, and Flickr. The idea is to bring everything together by geography for people who are interested in a particular area.
The Web site currently covers 15 cities aournd the country, from New York to Dallas (beta). The home page and the green color scheme remind me of Patch.com, another hyperlocal site that focuses in New York area.
Once you click on a city, it brings you to the local home page where you can type in a specific address and look for restaurants, bars, events nearby.
Choose from a list of subjects, then the site brings you further into that topic. For example, under the restaurant tab, it then breaks further down into different boroughs of New York City, until it gets down to the level of the block that is chosen.
Maybe hyperlocal sites are getting some momentum. Because Everyblock is not the only lucky duck, this June, AOL bought Patch.com with $7 million.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Video Editing: How to find free photos online
A few good sources for anyone who is looking for photos online for your multimedia projects:
- Flickr
- www.vintagepixels.com good for old pictures like WWII photos etc
- www.adigitaldreamer.com/gallery/
- www.masternewmedia.org
- Stock Xchng
- Library of Congress (it has a Flickr page which makes things easier)
Sunday, October 25, 2009
NewzCrawler Comes Handy For News Junkies
NewzCrawler is a new software that looks very much like an Outlook email system. But it receives RSS feeds. So instead of receiving emails, you receive new blog items that you have signed up to.Some say NewzCrawler is the most powerful RSS feeds organizer in the market. It has three main sections, similar to Outlook, there is a section for folders on the left, the list of new items on the top right, and the full text on the bottom right.
Introduced in September 2008, the software designer NewzCrawler.com seems to be a creative bunch in reorganizing news online.
It's not free. To be able to download it, there is an annual expense of $24.95. Not a terrible price given that it does offer extra features that the free Google RSS feeds reader doesn't.
NewzCrawler allows a user to organize news and blog items in customized folders. It also has a search engine that helps readers to locate a particular item quickly.
A CNET review said: “Of all the commercial RSS newsreaders we've reviewed, none beats NewzCrawler for its breadth of features, ease of use, and intuitive interface.”
To learn more about the software, please go to its Web site.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Podcast Introduction: I am Listening
An audio piece provides an active process that forces the listeners to create images in the heads, like making a mental movie. Different than the visual experience which causes neurological exhaustion, audio listeners are stimulated because of the active participation --- Dean Olsher, radio producer for the former The Next Big ThingThere are some bullet points from Olsher's speech today:
On the audio subject: What they say is secondary to how they say it. It was to express the subject's emotions that no one else is able to capture. Information, in that sense, has no place in this situation. That is the mistake that many podcasts are making in real life.
On Structure: Always think of a podcast story in terms of arc: the beginning, the development and the ending of a story. Therefore, you have an event instead of just having information.
On How-to: Get upfront and personal. Feel comfortable to invade the subject's personal space. Stop making hmmm sound to your subject as the subject is speaking, instead, getting used to the dorky nodding and smiling.
On Choosing the Subject: Audition your subject beforehand without letting them know it. Decide brutally who will be in your piece. In business podcasting where you deal with money and number, it is a little harder to make the podcast more compelling. Making narrative might be an option.
And finally, make it engaging, make it engaging, make it engaging.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Video Technique: the Basic Five Shots
For anyone who just starts to shoot videos, follow the basic Five-shots sequence.
1. The Hand Close-Up:
Why: It tells the audience what the subject does.
How: Camera should be held right next to the hands. Hands take up most of the screen.
Difficulty: difficult to make sure that the hands fill the screen and the shots are close enough.
Pitfalls: Many hand shots are not close enough therefore do not turn out to be as engaging.
2. The Face Close-Up:
Why: It tells the audience who the subject is.
How: Camera should be held right in front of the face. The face should take up the whole screen.
Difficulty: This might be the most difficult shot in the five shots because the camera is right in the subject's face and might be uncomfortable for the subject.
Tips: Take the shots later in the interview after the subject is more relaxed and is used to someone holding a camera around him/her.
3. The Medium Shot:
Why: It gives the audience a sense of surroundings of the subject.
How: Shoot from head to torso.
Difficulty: Easy. These are one of the most common shots in raw material.
Tips: When framing such shots, make sure your subject is 1/3 to the left or right of the screen. Don't put the subject in the center of the screen for aesthetic reasons. If the subject is on the left 1/3, make sure that he/she looks to the right so that there is little dead space on the screen.
4. The Wide Shot:
Why: It gives the audience a larger sense of surroundings.
How: Shoot from head to toe.
Difficulty: Easy. Another very common shots in raw material. Normally, there will be enough medium to wide shots material. Make sure you don't have too many of those and too few of the close-ups.
Tips: Same frame structure as the medium shots. In order to get a good wide shot, communicate with the subject and know where the subject is going to move from and move to so that you could anticipate and take the ideal shooting spot before it takes place.
5. The Over-the-shoulder Shot/The Point-of-view Shot:
Why: It shows the perspectives from the subject towards the surroundings as if the audience experience what the subject is experiencing.
How: Camera held up against the subject's shoulder from behind, showing part of the subject's head and shoulder.
Difficulty: Easy.
Extra: The creative or the experimental shot:
Why: Add variety to raw material. Add personal style to the video.
How: free style
Difficulty: Varies depending on how creative the videographer is.
Maybe something like...
1. The Hand Close-Up:
Why: It tells the audience what the subject does.How: Camera should be held right next to the hands. Hands take up most of the screen.
Difficulty: difficult to make sure that the hands fill the screen and the shots are close enough.
Pitfalls: Many hand shots are not close enough therefore do not turn out to be as engaging.
2. The Face Close-Up:
Why: It tells the audience who the subject is.
How: Camera should be held right in front of the face. The face should take up the whole screen.
Difficulty: This might be the most difficult shot in the five shots because the camera is right in the subject's face and might be uncomfortable for the subject.
Tips: Take the shots later in the interview after the subject is more relaxed and is used to someone holding a camera around him/her.
3. The Medium Shot:
Why: It gives the audience a sense of surroundings of the subject.
How: Shoot from head to torso.Difficulty: Easy. These are one of the most common shots in raw material.
Tips: When framing such shots, make sure your subject is 1/3 to the left or right of the screen. Don't put the subject in the center of the screen for aesthetic reasons. If the subject is on the left 1/3, make sure that he/she looks to the right so that there is little dead space on the screen.
4. The Wide Shot:
Why: It gives the audience a larger sense of surroundings.How: Shoot from head to toe.
Difficulty: Easy. Another very common shots in raw material. Normally, there will be enough medium to wide shots material. Make sure you don't have too many of those and too few of the close-ups.
Tips: Same frame structure as the medium shots. In order to get a good wide shot, communicate with the subject and know where the subject is going to move from and move to so that you could anticipate and take the ideal shooting spot before it takes place.
5. The Over-the-shoulder Shot/The Point-of-view Shot:
Why: It shows the perspectives from the subject towards the surroundings as if the audience experience what the subject is experiencing.How: Camera held up against the subject's shoulder from behind, showing part of the subject's head and shoulder.
Difficulty: Easy.
Extra: The creative or the experimental shot:
Why: Add variety to raw material. Add personal style to the video.
How: free style
Difficulty: Varies depending on how creative the videographer is.
Maybe something like...
Video Editing: How to find free music online
There are a few resources and tips on getting the music you want for your video in compliance with fair use.
A very resourceful Web site is www.archive.org. This is an open source site that is created to share human knowledge universally, for free! There are deluge of texts, moving images, and music uploaded by everyone around the world. Think of Wikipedia. This is a wikipedia in content sharing. You can find a lot of music in this link on the Web site.
And, Wikipedia never fails. Find all the free photos here.
For beginner video producers, these two Web sites should serve you well for the time being.
And then, I got a tip from the editor of CareerTV.com that another way to get your favorite music onto the video is simply play it loud and record it into Final Cut. But he did also say that such behavior is not strongly encouraged. :)
A very resourceful Web site is www.archive.org. This is an open source site that is created to share human knowledge universally, for free! There are deluge of texts, moving images, and music uploaded by everyone around the world. Think of Wikipedia. This is a wikipedia in content sharing. You can find a lot of music in this link on the Web site.
And, Wikipedia never fails. Find all the free photos here.
For beginner video producers, these two Web sites should serve you well for the time being.
And then, I got a tip from the editor of CareerTV.com that another way to get your favorite music onto the video is simply play it loud and record it into Final Cut. But he did also say that such behavior is not strongly encouraged. :)
My Gadgets
To start a video project, I invested in these items:
* Camera --- Canon FS200
Cost: $329.99
Where to buy: Best Buy (622 Broadway, New York)
Phone: 212-673-4067
Check out more details of the camera here
My comment: I recommend this model. It's very light. The image is pretty steady and it is easy to upload footage to laptop.
* External Hard-drive --- Seagate 250GB FreeAgent Go
Cost: $79.99
Where to buy: Best Buy (622 Broadway, New York)
Check out more details here
My comment: Unless you have decided to take up video projects for a long period of time, you don't need a 250GB if it is just for one semester. Each 3-minute video (including raw material of about 45 minutes) counts about 3-4GB.
* Editing Software --- Final Cut Express (Academic version)
Cost: $69 with student discount
Where to buy: NYU Computer Store (242 Greene Street, New York)
(212) 998-4672
Check out details here
My comment: Final Cut Pro costs $999.99, Final Cut Express costs $299.99. This Express Academic version is really a bargain. It works very well. I strongly recommend students to take advantage of the discount.
* Case for the hard drive
Cost: $11.95
Where to buy: www.amazon.com
Check out the list of cases on Amazon here
My comment: I personally like this design the best, but I eventually bought this, because it has more pockets for the cord and a USB memory card.
Don't buy it in a store. It is cheaper to buy online.
* Camera --- Canon FS200
Cost: $329.99
Where to buy: Best Buy (622 Broadway, New York)
Phone: 212-673-4067
Check out more details of the camera here
My comment: I recommend this model. It's very light. The image is pretty steady and it is easy to upload footage to laptop.
* External Hard-drive --- Seagate 250GB FreeAgent Go
Cost: $79.99
Where to buy: Best Buy (622 Broadway, New York)
Check out more details here
My comment: Unless you have decided to take up video projects for a long period of time, you don't need a 250GB if it is just for one semester. Each 3-minute video (including raw material of about 45 minutes) counts about 3-4GB.
* Editing Software --- Final Cut Express (Academic version)
Cost: $69 with student discount
Where to buy: NYU Computer Store (242 Greene Street, New York)
(212) 998-4672
Check out details here
My comment: Final Cut Pro costs $999.99, Final Cut Express costs $299.99. This Express Academic version is really a bargain. It works very well. I strongly recommend students to take advantage of the discount.
* Case for the hard drive
Cost: $11.95
Where to buy: www.amazon.com
Check out the list of cases on Amazon here
My comment: I personally like this design the best, but I eventually bought this, because it has more pockets for the cord and a USB memory card.
Don't buy it in a store. It is cheaper to buy online.
Video 1: The Insider Tour
The Wall Street Insider Tour was started earlier this year by a former Deutsche Bank derivative trader Andrew after he lost his job in the financial crisis.
This is a 3-minute profile of the tour, with Tom Comerford, tour guide and a staff of Goldman Sachs. This is the first video I ever produced:
This is a 3-minute profile of the tour, with Tom Comerford, tour guide and a staff of Goldman Sachs. This is the first video I ever produced:
An Interview with Mara Schiavocampo
Mara Schiavocampo is a host for NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams. A pioneer of new media journalism, Schiavocampo reports, produces, shoots and edits video pieces, blogs and shoots still photos.Schiavocampo was recently named to “Television Week's” list of the "next generation of television news stars" and is the National Association of Black Journalists’ 2007 Emerging Journalist of the Year, the first broadcast journalist ever to win this prestigious award.
Here is an interview with Schiavocampo on her opinion about multimedia journalism.
Q1: Everyone is talking about digital journalism and each journalist should be able to not only report, write, but also blog, twitter, take photos, shoot videos. What do you think are the pros and cons of such trend? Is this the future of journalism?
Mara Schiavocampo (MS): This is part of the future of journalism. I think that as we move
forward we'll have people working in traditional ways, new ways, and
everything in between. There will be full crews with a correspondent,
cameraperson, audio person and field producer, and there will be
solitary digital journalists. You'll have producers shooting and
shooters producing. Nothing's going away, we're just adding more.
Pros: greater control over your work and the ability to cover stories that
otherwise would be ignored. Cons: Perils of multi-tasking...do too much
and everything suffers.
Q2: How do you decide what medium to use for a particular story? How do
you try to make a story stand out and not be buried? What are the
limitations for each medium?
MS: It's just a matter of choosing the best tool for the job. If something's
really visual, video or pictures work best. If you want to get something
out quickly from the field with limited resources, file a short blog.
Spot a cute element that doesn't warrant a full story? Make it a video
blog. There are so many options that you can really choose the best
medium for the story.
Q3: What medium is the most challenging and the least challenging?
MS: Of course it depends on the individual story but generally speaking
video pieces are the most time consuming. Generally speaking shooting
takes much longer than say an interview for print, then there's logging,
then scripting, then editing. There are just more steps than you'll find
with other mediums.
Q4: What is your benchmark for each medium? Are there any role models
that you look up to in each medium?
MS: In terms of video journalists I admire Travis Fox of the Washington
Post. There are also so many talented people here at NBC like Nightly
News Associate Producer Victor Limjoco or Producer Anthony Galloway.
Q5: How have you adapted your style in terms of delivering the news in
utilizing different media?
MS: Solo digital journalism pieces tend to be a little looser and more raw,
less like a traditional piece. Video blogs are even more light and
relaxed in terms of production value. Blogs can be anything you want,
from casual to much more serious.
Q6: What is the most gratifying medium that you have worked with so far?
MS: I love shooting stills but unfortunately that's probably my weakest
skill. I'm a work in progress. Overall I'd say video. I love all the
layers in the storytelling - the story, the visuals, the sounds.
Q7: Who are your biggest competitors in each medium and how would you
compete with them?
MS: The thing with the web is that everyone's a potential competitor. Most
news websites offer everything, from text to video. So the NYT website
is as much competition as ABC. In terms of competition we just make the
best effort to serve the audience in an authentic way.
Q8: New media industry is still trying to find the silver bullet to make
money, what is your expectation of the new business model?
MS: I'm asked this question all the time. If I knew the answer I'd be rich!
Q9: How does audience of each age group respond to new media? Is this
something that only caters for young audience?
MS: Generally speaking younger people are earlier adopters and more willing
to try new things. Studies have shown that they also get a lot of their
news online, so based on that, I'm guessing our web audience is younger.
But these days, watching a clip online or reading a text piece is
becoming so common. Even my mom does it! So I feel like we're moving to
the point where some use of technology can be found in every group.
Q10: What are your advice for journalism students to prepare
themselves to become competitive in today's media?
MS: Be really active media consumers. See what's out there and how people are
watching and reading it. Become part of the audience that you're trying
to serve. Know at least the basics of different mediums like shooting
video, editing, writing text, etc. Also, I always advise people to set
up their own website and just start creating content. Even if no one
sees it, it shows potential employers that you're engaged and proactive.
Plus it's a great place to practice and make mistakes.
Intro: Video project of Life in Recession
In the next three months, I will keep a journal of my life as I carry on with the multimedia project for my NYU master program in journalism --- "Life in Recession."The video project will feature three groups of people whose lives have changed since the collapse of Lehman Brothers a year ago.
From a former investment banker who is forced to take on a brand new endeavor, struggling writers who find new ways to market themselves and middle-age women who bravely step out their comfort zone to make a living.
How are these people surviving the recession? What are they doing now? What have they done to get here?
This is a one-person team that will spend the next three months reporting, producing, shooting and editing the videos. As my first video project, the journal will share with you every step I make as the project moves along. It is a daily dairy of the growing pain and gain as a traditional journalist develops digital journalism skills.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Size Matters: Introducing a Larger Kindle
Amazon announced its latest version of Kindle today in New York, featuring a larger screen, a new built-in PDF Reader, auto-rotation and a much larger memory than the existing Kindle e-reader, as it prepares for a Kindle textbook university trial project to be launched this fall. Six universities will take part in the Kindle trial project. A few hundred students will use Kindle as their textbooks in the coming semester. Barbara Snyder, president of Case Western Reserve University, one of the participating schools, said they are very excited about the project and the school will observe how Kindle affects students’ way of reading and taking notes. “The e-book technology may prove to be even more transforming,” Snyder said. “Students do not need to carry heavy textbooks. Kindle will help our students stand taller.”
Amazon has reached agreements with three leading textbook publishers, Cengage Learning, Pearson, and Wiley, to provide e-textbooks for the device. That will expand the number of the thousands of textbooks already available on Kindle. The Kindle textbook prices are still under discussion. “The prices of the textbooks will be a la carte now,” Laura Porco, director of Kindle Books at Amazon, said. “But it is reasonable to expect the digital version will be cheaper.”
Kindle DX has the feature for highlighting and bookmarking. Students can also take notes on the page and store the highlighted part and the notes into a clipping file on Kindle. The new PDF Reader comes with Kindle DX supports documents like annual report, industry report, and sheet music, in PDF format.
Amazon is accepting pre-order for Kindle DX now to be delivered over summer at the price of $489. “Current Kindle users will not get order privilege,” Steve Kessel, senior vice president of WorldWide Digital Media at Amazon.com, said. “Kindle DX is not a replacement for the 6-inch screen Kindle. We are building a Kindle family here.”
When Kindle DX arrives the market in summer, it will come with 37 U.S. and international newspapers including New York Times, Washington Post and Boston Globe, at a price from $5.99 to $14.99 per month. The New York Times Company and Washington Post Company are also launching pilot projects with Kindle DX this summer. The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and the Washington Post will offer the Kindle DX at a discounted price to readers outside the home-delivery areas.
“The project is an excellent example of the convergence between print and the Web,” Arthur O. Sulzberger, Jr. chairman of New York Times Company, said. “This is to showcase how we can best use of new technology to offer quality newspaper experience to the readers, providing access of the Times and the Globe whenever and wherever they want it.” The price for the discounted newspapers has not been decided, but it will be in the range of $9.99 per month, according to the people familiar with the matter.
Amazon.com carries over 275,000 titles in Kindle version from major publishers. Since the first Kindle e-reader was introduced 18 months ago, the unit sales of the Kindle version have increased to 35%f of the sales of the physical books. That is to say, Amazon sells 35 books in Kindle version every 100 physical books it sells under the same title. “Amazon.com has been around for 15 years. That is an amazing increase given the short time that the gadget was introduced to the market,” Kessel said.
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