Fennec Sighting

I was walking home from the bus and spotted a random fennec picture about two blocks from my house.

Internal monologue:

Huh, never noticed that picture before.
I better walk over and check it out.
Wait - is that a fennec?
Did someone in San Francisco take a picture of a fennec and put it in their window? Seriously?
This town is weirder than I thought.
I better take a photo of it so I can share this with Mozilla's mobile team.

Anyway, for your viewing pleasure and amusement, here's the picture:

Two weeks without TV

Two weeks ago, we officially canceled our dish subscription. It's been a strange adjustment.

This weekend, we gardened. Mr. Crab looks so happy.

My favorite things about Firefox Personas

Today, Mozilla formally launched Personas - a free, easy-to-install “skins” for Firefox that make changing the look of the browser as easy as changing your shirt.

I've been a bit remiss in my blogging lately but am taking time out from online hermitage to give a quick list of my favorite things about Firefox Personas:

1. They are easy to change. As someone who rocked varying hair colors during high school, I appreciate being able to change my browser's style multiple times per day. So much easier than rinsing out Manic Panic!

2. They match my mood. Spending several hours a day as a cubicle farmer can weigh on a treehugger's soul. Personas to the rescue! I can stare at the forest, the beach, the sky, and more.



3. I <3 California. Personas offers me views of the GG Bridge, Yosemite, and a California sunset. All with no wind chill, chance of rain, or need for sunscreen. :)

If you haven't already, head over to www.getpersonas.com and start using Personas today!

Meet the new news, same as the old news

This page has been open in my browser window for about a month. It's a fascinating article from CNET's Dan Farber about the growth of the Internet as a news source. The article posted right before I left for vacation but I kept it open as a reminder to capture some of the salient bits on my blog. It's not as timely now, but still relevant so I'm gonna go ahead and post it.

The good statistic bits:

Earlier this month, the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press conducted a survey that rendered two obvious conclusions: the Internet has overtaken newspapers as a source of national and international news, and television, led by CNN, continues to serve as the main source.

According to the Pew survey, 40 percent of respondents (versus 24 percent in 2007) said the Internet is their primary source for national and international news. That compares with 35 percent (versus 34 percent 2007) who rely on newspapers and 70 percent (versus 74 percent in 2007) who use television as their main source.

The part that matters most for flacks:

The less obvious part of the Internet overtaking newspapers as the main source for national and international news is that much of the seed content--the original reporting that breaks national and international news and is subsequently refactored by legions of bloggers--comes from the reporters and editors working at the financially strapped newspapers and national and local television outlets.

The face of the all media has been shifting for awhile now. It seems like it's happening more rapidly in light of the recent economic downturn.

(ps, happy birthday rlg)

Am I in the right place?

You may have noticed a few changes to my blog layout and design this week. After several years of enduring one of the most overused stock templates, I was sick of it. I searched around, tried on some new options, and finally settled on this design for my blog. I wish I were cool enough to say I designed it myself, but, alas, I did not.

So, to answer the title question - yes, you're in the right place and hopefully it's a lot more visually appealing than it used to be. :)

On public apologies

Good column from the Washington Post's sports writer about Michael Phelps and how his handlers botched what would otherwise have been a pretty simple crisis communications situation. Looks like Phelps' agent at Octagon tried to bribe The News of the World into not running the now famous photo. Ouch, talk about two wrongs...

The people at Octagon, in their zeal to make every buck they can possibly make, have tried to turn him into Captain America, the symbol of all that is right with sports and the USA. They need to lay off and just let him be who he is: a well-raised young man who, like a lot of well-raised young people makes an occasional mistake

As an aside, I really like Michael Phelps. He grew up about 10 minutes away from me and went to a rival high school. Towson had a huge parade for him when he came home from the Olympics.

On Dan Lyons, Apple, and lying

I've been following the recent kerfuffle in the pr blogs about Dan Lyon's experience with Apple PR. Check out Jeremy Pepper's thorough post on the subject.

snip...

But, the reality is with the shrinking and spreading of media - the traditional is getting smaller, while the new is growing bigger (and, well, more niche and like vertical media, but no one wants to admit that about blogs) - the lies are becoming too obvious, and getting caught too easily. It's the job of public relations to relay information, or truthfully sometimes to keep information private. But if you're getting calls from a reporter on such information ... it's already leaked and out there. And, well, damage control does not mean lie and obfuscate, but rather deflect or respond.