http://bdionescu.com [Journalist] The Blog Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:58:30 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I don't believe magazines/periodicals belong in the new iBook store for the iPad. This store uses the ePub format, which is what the Kindle uses as well, yet periodicals subscriptions on the Amazon reader haven't really kicked off mainly because of the lack of graphics. Also, ePub is not easy to ... http://bdionescu.com/2010/01/why-periodicals-dont-belong-in-the-ipad-ibook-store/ Nexus One Price Drops for Some T-Mobile Upgrades Google and T-Mobile have changed the Nexus One pricing policy, slashing $100 off the price of the handset for certain existing customers. Eligible upgraders should now be able to get the Nexus One for $279 instead of $379, and Google will give refunds ... http://bdionescu.com/2010/01/iphone-4g-rumors-weak-sales-for-nexus-one-and-netflix-on-wii/ This year has started in force, with a great bunch of posts for PC World, some more controversial than others. Here's a recap of the first ten days of 2010 (newest at the top). Google Nexus Two Phone to Focus on Business The Nexus One smartphone might be a delight for consumers, ... http://bdionescu.com/2010/01/fresh-the-first-2010-posts/ Shane Croucher wrote an excellent critique on how (local) newspapers can easily fix their business and adapt to the changing media landscape. Here's a quick review: Embrace broadcast Twitter Get some new columnists Develop an “app” Stop laying off journalists For more details on each step, see 'Five things newspapers should be doing'. http://bdionescu.com/2010/01/fix-your-newspaper-in-five-easy-steps/ Over the last few days, a couple of my posts have been quite controversial. Readers have been flooding in, voting (using the thumbs up/down system on PC World) and commenting. The two posts in question are: Why the Nexus One Makes Other Android Phones Obsolete Why the Microsoft-HP Tablet Is a Big Disappointment Some ... http://bdionescu.com/2010/01/perks-of-the-job/ It finally here: the Guardian has launched its long-overdue iPhone app (iTunes link). As expected, it's not free, but it's not cheap either -- £2.39 ($3.88). To put into perspective, CNN's iPhone app is $1.99 (unavailable in the UK) and the New York Times' app is free. I had a quick wander ... http://bdionescu.com/2009/12/a-few-thoughts-on-guardians-iphone-app/ While researching for my dissertation, I stumbled across this great analysis. Below is an excerpt. "Most managers in the [newspaper] industry have reacted to the collapse of their business model with a spiral of budget cuts, bureau closings, buyouts, layoffs, and reductions in page size and column inches. Since 1990, a ... http://bdionescu.com/2009/12/the-death-and-life-of-newspapers/ My site was down for a few days now. Apparently my hosting company updated their PHP and some plugin clashed. Fortunately, it's back up now, so I will update with my latest stuff in due course. http://bdionescu.com/2009/12/back/ "What journalism and the public most need right now is serious, continuing coverage of matters of public importance: city halls, school systems, statehouses. Journalism schools are not fully equipped to provide that now, but the logistical and financial difficulty of equipping them to do so would be far less than ... http://bdionescu.com/2009/11/pushing-coverage-beyond-breaking-news/ The week in tech with my posts in the Today@PC World section: YouTube Goes High Definition with 1080p Videos YouTube says it will start supporting 1080p high-definition video in full resolution starting next week. The Google-owned video-sharing site will add support for viewing videos in 720p or 1080p resolutions, depending on the resolution ... http://bdionescu.com/2009/11/iphone-worm-no-more-hackintosh-netbooks-and-banned-chipped-xbox-360s/ Verizon's Motorola Droid kept on making headlines this week, but Apple might just have found a way to maintain the iPhone's lead. Here are my stories this week on Today@PCWorld: iPhone as an eBook Reader Threatens Kindle, Says Report Apple's iPhone is quickly becoming the ebook reader of choice for many, and ... http://bdionescu.com/2009/11/iphone-vs-kindle-vs-droid-vs-blackberry-madness-and-beatles-on-usb/ My local newspaper, The Lincolnshire Echo, whose online practices I criticised before, is pitching tomorrow's newspaper today, with news from yesterday. Let me explain: In an article on their website on Wednesday, November 4 2009, sensationally headlined 'City's binge drinking crisis', there are only (exactly) 50 words of text, which are ... http://bdionescu.com/2009/11/pitching-tomorrows-paper-today-with-news-from-yesterday/ Is Motorola back in the game? Looking at the upcoming Droid smartphone (above), one might say it is. I'm just not convinced whether it is really the Droid creating all the hype or the 2.0 version of the Google Android mobile operating system powering it. Best wishes go to Research ... http://bdionescu.com/2009/11/verizon-moto-droid-revealed-palm-and-itunes-hatred-and-blackberry-storm-2-underwhelms/ Quite a few big announcements this week, such as the Nook e-reader, new Macs, a cool Google Android phone from Motorola and Windows 7 launch jazz. Here are my articles from the Today@PCWorld section this week. [caption id="attachment_760" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Shot from Apple's new 'PC News' ad, mocking the switch to ... http://bdionescu.com/2009/10/windows-7-droid-nook-and-apple-gear/ Pretty comprehensive reviews from Harry McCracken (PC World), David Pogue (NYT) and Walt Mossberg (WSJ). All three are mainly Mac users, like myself. Bottom line: once you go Mac, you never go back (no pun intended). http://bdionescu.com/2009/10/windows-7-is-out-today/ I had to change my Wordpress theme again today, as the About and Contact pages wre not displaying any content with my new theme (thanks for those who mentioned it to me). I couldn't really figure out why, so I decided to change the theme. I found this other minimal theme ... http://bdionescu.com/2009/10/yet-another-change/ Apple introduced on Tuesday new 21.5" and 27" iMacs (pictured below), a new multitouch mouse -- the Magic Mouse, new Mac Minis, new Apple Remote, and a unibody MacBook (white). They all look pretty crave- worthy. News is covered virtually everywhere, so you won't miss out on any details. http://bdionescu.com/2009/10/new-apple-hardware-for-this-fall/ Considering the Amazon Kindle goes on sale in the UK today, Plastic Logic teased with the Que. Also see -- An idea to save UK newspapers http://bdionescu.com/2009/10/now-thats-a-proper-e-book-reader/ -- I intended to post this as a comment on Shane Croucher's post on hyper-local journalism in Lincoln, part of the discussion theme going on at LSJ Bloggers. But it ended up a bit too long for the purpose, so I decided to make it a post on its own. In ... http://bdionescu.com/2009/10/hyper-local-journalism-in-lincoln/ Apologies for not updating my blog in a couple of months. It has been a very busy time, and among the highlights I need to note The Linc's nomination for the best student website at the Guardian Student Media Awards 09. I have been also continuing my work over at PC ... http://bdionescu.com/2009/10/time-for-a-catch-up/