Congrats, you just became The Mayor of Magness-Stafford Ob-Gyn!

Then, about 30 minutes later, we got to see the NY Times app demo. Suddenly, it all started to gel. The ideas they were able to cook up for viewing the Times with a touchscreen display (all done in 3 weeks, but a small handful of people) were breathtaking. Despite what the Apple folks may say, this isn’t a device well suited to browsing the web. But it may just be the best platform to give fans of the printed newspaper an equivalent digital experience.

The question is: Will the publishing industry see it that way? It’ll take an awful lot of developer muscle to start cranking out iPad versions of newspapers and magazines and books — the kind of truly interactive experience the NY Times previewed. And for a device that is far from a sure thing, it’s a gamble. But given the way our chips are stacking up lately, better to go all-in on something like this than to piss away penny antes on less daring approaches.

Originally submitted at Dick’s Sporting Goods

Loaded with features, the Livestrong® LS 9.9T treadmill features a workout fan, speed and incline toggles, and high-quality speakers to give you all the extra support you need to complete your workout regimen. The rugged frame and high-performance 2.75 CHP motor allow you to train longer to ac…

Livestrong LS 9.9T Treadmill – New!

Almost perfect, except …

Pros: Easy To Setup, Sturdy Design, Great Controls

Cons: Flimsy Design

Describe Yourself: Casual/ Recreational

I was all set to give this treadmill a glowing review. It took very little time to set up, appears to be ultra-sturdy, and has been working perfectly. I’ve only had it for a few days, but so far so great.

The only catch: After setting it up, I tried out the speakers. Now, I know a set of speakers is just about the last thing you’d want to evaluate a treadmill on — indeed, I really couldn’t care less about sound quality, etc — but the problem with mine was that the speakers didn’t work. At all. Out of the box, they were broken. I tried calling Livestrong’s support line, but only got a recorded message saying that I could receive a call back. This is where my real gripe comes in. I’ve now called for five days straight, leaving my home and cell, and still haven’t been able to get ahold of anyone at Livestrong.

I’m seriously debating whether to have Dick’s do a full exchange of the treadmill. It feels extremely silly to do so — literally all that’s wrong is a set of speakers that I’m not even sure I’ll use all that much — but given that the warranty-line appears to be totally unresponsive, I guess there’s no other choice.

So, overall, nice treadmill, but be warned: if anything breaks (before, during, or after setup), you may never be able to get it repaired.

(legalese)

• RT @huffingtonpost Tina Daunt: The Secret History of Kubrick, the Blog Theme That Changed the Internet http://ow.ly/1mNZn5 #
• New study: Only 2.4% of print subscribers care to pay for access to newspaper websites http://tinyurl.com/yfsouoc (via @newsosaur) #
• RT @huffingtonpost Bryan Monroe: Apple’s New Tablet? Been There, Done That http://ow.ly/1mPSps #
• RSS feeds for activity site-wide, friends, a single group, member groups, mentions. All coming in #BuddyPress 1.2. (via @apeatling) #
• RT @incherryhill Playboy: Cherry Hill shop is cut above the rest http://is.gd/64xcm #
• RT @incollingswood South American-style steakhouse coming to Collingswood http://bit.ly/5aquXo #
• One of my presentations from WordCamp NYC about hyperlocal journalism & http://injersey is up on YouTube http://tinyurl.com/yey67×9 #
• How the AOL-Time Warner Merger Went So Wrong – http://nyti.ms/8OhKVo #
• Thanks to @jodiontheweb for sharing “What the F**K is Social Media” http://slidesha.re/Ff6fJ Good stuff #
• What Apple users want to see in iPhone 4.0 http://www.tuaw.com/2010/01/10/dear-apple-what-we-want-to-see-for-iphone-4-0-part-1/ #
• In each of Facebook’s data centers, “there are approximately five to eight thousand servers”–is this for real?! http://tinyurl.com/yaxu5j5 #
• Contemplating moving InJersey.com from SuperCache to W3 Total Cache. Any #wordpress or #wpmu caching experts have any advice? #
• At last a good reason to have cancer in NJ: Lawmakers Pass Medical Marijuana Bill http://s.nyt.com/u/rWB (via @jeffjarvis) #
• Another #buddypress plugin that solves a pesky problem: How to swap out the BuddyBar logo without hacking core: http://tinyurl.com/ykzsbpv #
• @April_Davis Just caching issues, April. Keep getting frustrated that we can’t better optimize site. A different caching plugin might help in reply to April_Davis #
• Sounds like GOOG’s building a creepy Santa http://bit.ly/4yaE1V He knows when u’ve been sleeping, he knows when ur awake (via @jen_mcfadden) #
• @DaisyOlsen did you ever release your Badge Grab plugin from WordCamp NYC? #
• The first iSlate fakes: “Gentleman, start your Photoshopping!” http://tinyurl.com/yk6lzdn #
• Mario Batali in Morristown at the end of January – http://bit.ly/6JB1Zi #
• RT @TechCrunch: Foxy Tactics: Google News Pulls The AP’s Content As Contract Comes Up For Renewal http://bit.ly/92LJqd #
• Part of John Paton’s plan for Journal Register: “expand with Daylife, @OutsideIn, @SeeClickFix, @GrowthSpur” http://tinyurl.com/y9fcanw #
• Just got “Error establishing a database connection” on @techcrunch. While I feel their pain, it warms my heart to know it happens to others #
• @DaisyOlsen Cool. Would it be a horrible badness if I used the version you used back at WordCamp NYC until the final version is ready? in reply to DaisyOlsen #
• @techcrunch is back! As is this interesting post: Google GDrive Launches. Just Don’t Call It That. http://ff.im/-ecMOd #
• Live video of Governor Corzine’s final State of the State on app.com: http://tinyurl.com/ybfo6dw #
• Help me out. I’ve got an Aardvark conversation about *fitness*: http://vark.com/t/57a971 #
• CHART OF THE DAY: The Average Facebook User Views 662 Facebook Pages Per Month http://bit.ly/5LH3zD (via @chartoftheday) #
• Hey AOL’ers, @outsidein is hiring. Engineers, sales and adops. http://bit.ly/oijobs (via @markjosephson) #
• Foursquare Follows The Facebook Model, Takes Its Game To Harvard http://tcrn.ch/7jBnax by @parislemon (via @TechCrunch) #
• Corzine’s last State of the State showcased why he is out of here next Tuesday at noon http://bit.ly/8zjYqd (via @bobingle99) #
• @bhitchon Yes, Bobbi! Go to http://collingswood.injersey.com/badges/ Lemme know what you think. Can u also call me about travel blog idea? in reply to bhitchon #
• @chefmarksmith, we got up those “Deputy Journalist” badges for our contributors: http://collingswood.injersey.com/badges/ You like? #
• Shocked and elated to see @paperg Flyerboard on @metromix’s http://philadelphia.metromix.com Thinking 2010 will be big for Gannett & flyers #
• RT @techkapil: working on next version of buddypress-kaltura media component #wpveda #kaltura (via @dimensionmedia) #
• The Art of Innovation slides from CES 2010 #opences #ces http://om.ly/eBKC (via @GuyKawasaki) #
• @johnpaul yeah, I’ve been pushing blip.tv as the best free service for a while. at a basic level, I dig that u can brand your own player in reply to johnpaul #
• RT @MediaJobsDaily Pay-For-Tweet’s A Reality, Sort Of: One Blogger’s Made Four Figures – mediabistro.com: MediaJobsDaily http://ow.ly/1mXmkS #
• How much would it cost to get Ollie the Owl to be InJersey’s official mascot? http://bit.ly/Hnhdu (via @williamsba) #
• Do you Buy Supplements & Superfoods? http://tinyurl.com/y8kmug5 (via @incherryhill) #
• I’m at Courier-Post (, ). #
• Our prayers have been answered: ObamaGirl now has a Livestream channel http://www.livestream.com/amberandkelly #
• Good news: Netflix will soon allow steaming via Wii http://tinyurl.com/yb34faq Bad news: You’ll need a disc in device, and no 480p video #
• RT @tweetmeme Documentary Explores Industry’s Decline http://is.gd/68G8n #
• So, is it @Metormix, powered by XYZ newspaper, or the other way around? Intrigued by courant.com vers, of MMX http://findlocal.courant.com/ #
• Vote for 1 of our contributors (@HW_Travel) for a job by watching this video http://tinyurl.com/yaemlw2 views = votes (via @incherryhill) #
• Show off you’re a Collingswood “Deputy Journalist” with these sweet badges: http://collingswood.injersey.com/badges/ (via @incollingswood) #
• MyCentralJersey.com’s new Social Media column, by @eva_abreu, debuted today. Check it out: http://tinyurl.com/ybs4v74 #
• RT @FishbowlLA Google Stopped Hosting AP Content And No One Noticed – mediabistro.com: FishbowlLA http://ow.ly/1mXryX #
• @elemsee Gannett publishes lots of Metromix sites, but I was intrigued that courant.com’s MMX site is now under their own banner in reply to elemsee #
• So, is it @Metromix, powered by XYZ newspaper, or the other way around? Intrigued by courant.com vers of MMX http://findlocal.courant.com/ #
• Seven (7) Must Have iPhone Apps For Video Bloggers http://bit.ly/5gg9xG (via @blpro) #
• http://wpmu.org down for at least an hour or so. DOS attack by wordpress.com perhaps? #wpmu #
• Meet the ScreenFlow-er: The man behind @MailChimp screencasts, Joshua Rosenbaum http://bit.ly/5TnWRn (via @screenflow) #
• RT @hyper_local The Essential Hyperlocal Website Checklist http://is.gd/6b8Hp #
• RT Nice to see: We’ve only got 39% IE users overall. Firefox and IE are tied. Maybe there is a god. (via @johnpaul) #
• I nominate @seeclickfix for a Shorty Award in #innovation because they’ve given us a fool-proof tool to get stuff fixed http://bit.ly/shorty #
• WPMU 2.9.1 set to come out tomorrow. I hope. Please? Pretty please? http://tinyurl.com/yfhjzc4 #wpmu #
• 10 of the Latest and Greatest Inspirational BuddyPress Sites http://bit.ly/6gEdQx #wordpress #wpmu #buddypress (via @pollyplummer) #
• Flash on the iPhone, in demo form http://bit.ly/50Nxee [post] (via @TUAW) #
• 10 tips for better link-building – Checklist for editors http://bit.ly/936Gmb (via @johnpaul) #
• Guardian iPhone app proves users are willing to pay, with 70k downloads in 1st month. http://bit.ly/5s3mgj (via @johnpaul) #
• Is syndicating blog posts automatically to Twitter cheating? #
• Newspapers on Smart Money’s “10 things not to buy in 2010″ list: http://tinyurl.com/yd54v7t 1 thing I won’t buy: subscription to Smart Money #
• Use zoom tool to examine details of hi-rez images from Haiti. http://bit.ly/4YnOhB (via @silencematters) #
• I’m at The Boathouse w/ @williamsba. http://4sq.com/7kZzOX #
• RT @TechCrunch: Donations To Haiti Via Text Message Surge Past $5 Million http://bit.ly/8dPBmY #
• 10 of the Latest and Greatest Inspirational BuddyPress Sites http://82wqr.th8.us #
• Last week, the Asbury Park Press reported that 5 of the 19 pedestrian fatalities on Route 9 occurred http://mee.bo/6vJzFf #
• Beginning the mass upgrade to WPMU 2.9.1. Why I chose to start this at 12:30am, I’m not quite sure #
• Conan Puts The Tonight Show for Sale on Craigslist http://bit.ly/5NxOji#mb #
• Nexus One sells only 20,000 phones its first week http://bit.ly/4nuFm3 [post] (via @TUAW) #
• Chinese cyberattack exploits Microsoft Explorer flaw. http://bit.ly/6uUdIk Can we please just ban IE from the web already? (via @jeffjarvis) #
• “How Local Media is Changing” – Nice presentation by @markjosephson of @seeclickfix http://bit.ly/7pCrD7 (via ) #
• Updating Gannett NJ blogs to @wpmu 2.9.1 went very smoothly. Moving now to updating our one BuddyPress site: http://injersey.com #
• Tennessean.com already getting stuff fixed after just 1 week with @seeclickfix on their site! http://bit.ly/7y7Dk7 http://bit.ly/5Ns87i #
• @apeatling when I upgraded to WPMU 2.9.1, bp-group-twitter appeared to be breaking the site. Have you seen that elsewhere? #
• “How Local Media is Changing” – Nice presentation by @markjosephson of @outsidein http://bit.ly/7pCrD7 #
• Where are all the front-page ads? Still not as common as you’d think http://bit.ly/4tipBa (via @newsosaur) #
• Official BuddyPress Development Blog. http://bpdevel.wordpress.com/ (via @dimensionmedia) #
• RT @eBookNewser Apple Lawyers Request that Gawker Media “Immediately Discontinue” Apple Tablet Scavenger Hunt – mediab… http://is.gd/6gGpX #
• Thanks, @ProxyHound! Hoping I can make it to that event. Good stuff #
• Ralph Lauren named 2009 Mobile Marketer of the Year http://tinyurl.com/y87qkrt #
• My personal vote for the “mobile marketer of the year” award: @bestbuy #
• @wpmuorg upgrading was pretty smooth. One BuddyPress plugin broke, but that’s it so far in reply to wpmuorg #
• @wpmuorg bp-group-Twitter was the problem. Usual drill: white screen of death; turning plugins on and off until isolted it in reply to wpmuorg #
• I’m at Corner Bistro (, ). http://4sq.com/5URvIM #
• @wpmuorg one more plugin that appears to not work with wpmu 2.9.1: wp-polls by @gamerz in reply to wpmuorg #
• @chefmarksmith Have u heard of foursquare? It would be cool to have a Place Widget on the Tortilla Press website http://www.placewidget.com/ #
• Lady Gaga cancels Saturday night performance in Atlantic City: http://bit.ly/4CJPg5 (via @cpsj) #
• Gannett Digital’s new media kit: http://bit.ly/4Hf9SX (via @PchopL) #
• I’m at Starbucks Haddonfield (Kings Highway, Haddonfield). #
• I’m at Cherry Hill Mall (2000 Route 38 Ste 51, Cherry Hill Mall, Cherry Hill). http://4sq.com/2Yd3Z7 #
• I’m at Cold Stone Creamery (, ). http://4sq.com/63icPH #
• @wpmuorg wp-polls fixed now for wpmu 2.9.1 with latest dev version of plugin in reply to wpmuorg #
• @chefmarksmith mark, you rock. Have you looked at adding a Place Badge to your website? in reply to chefmarksmith #
• @seeclickfix now live on http://www.thedailyjournal.com/ All six Gannet NJ websites now using the service, and getting tons of submissions! #
• I’m at Wegman’s Cherry Hill (Route 70 West, Route 626, Cherry Hill). http://4sq.com/4iwV9W #
• Finally bit the bullet and bought a Livestrong treadmill today. Good choice or shameless sucker for celebrity-branded goods and services? #
• Regretting every donating money for Haiti via Yele http://tinyurl.com/yz325ju Note to self: Next time donate to Red Cross #
• I’m at Treno (233 Haddon Ave., Westmont). http://4sq.com/6M6ogD #

• Analyzing Facebook’s Forthcoming Redesign http://bit.ly/5CKnbP from @gigaom #
• Great article about SeeClickFix in the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/04/business/media/04click.html #
• A must read from WIRED: Vanish, Finding Evan Ratliff: http://bit.ly/4ROSqZ Yeah, I dug this story, too! via @jjsbu22) #
• Which is a better #wordpress backup option — WP-DB-Backup or WordPress Automatic Online Backup? Do both work with #wpmu? #
• Livestream releases new chat widget: http://www.livestream.com/blog/?p=5138 Pretty cool, but still no CoverItLive #
• Testing out new “Live Help Desk” feature for http://injersey.com Look for “Live Help” link, bottom right: http://twitpic.com/wnhvr #
• http://patch.com has descended upon Westchester with full force. 7 new sites, with an 8th to come soon! Looking forward to @lohud’s response #
• Who Is Getting Rich Off the iPhone? http://bit.ly/6EzlPG from @gigaom #
• Is WHYY in Philly about to get into the hyperlocal news game? http://www.whyy.org/news/name.html #
• http://www.usatoday.com/ homepage redesign is a winner. The auto-expanding Verzion ad on it, not so much #
• Great post from @pottsmark about how Apple’s iSlate may just answer the hopes and prayers of the media biz http://tinyurl.com/ykm834w #
• NPR’s secret #hyperlocal news project: Codename Project Argo http://bit.ly/80jWse (via @ckrewson) #
• @examinerstone Adam, what’s your take on the Patch.com expansion into Westchester? 7 new sites! in reply to examinerstone #
• RT Cherry Hill Mayor’s response to condition of tennis courts at Joyce Kilmer Elementary School http://bit.ly/4YMOFi (via @incherryhill) #
• Upcoming WordCamps for the first quarter of 2010: http://wp.me/p4Ez4-ib (via @wordpress) #
• @AmyZQuinn They haven’t added mine yet!
  YaskY
  Brilliant, I know. It’s too bad that adding a ? to the end of that url would cause probs in reply to AmyZQuinn #
• Barry Bonds, birth defects, tainted meat, campaign finance, corporate farms: All at the new http://californiawatch.org (via @ryansholin) #
• @neighborlogs Really? Do they have anything on the web yet? Not much at http://kplu.org seems hyperlocal-y in reply to neighborlogs #
• After 36 complaints via @cpsj and @seeclickfix, Camden finally registers potholes on 27th St: http://shar.es/aUKfE Now how long to fix? #
• Ex-Inky columnist Tom Ferrick launches not-for-profit Philly site: http://bit.ly/92qu8x /via @jeffjarvis #
• Eagerly awaiting WordPress MU 2.9! /via @WPlimits #wpmu #wordpress #
• @bpdev I might pay, but the updates would have to be far more stable and compatible. Couldn’t get 1/2 of plugins up my my dev site in reply to bpdev #
• @JuliaEveHays not that you were looking at the WHYY employment page or anything … in reply to JuliaEveHays #
• How to make an iPhone app without knowing a thing about xcode or the iPhone SDK: http://appmakr.com/ #
• Great post about how @seeclickfix is helping New Jersey residents and #hyperlocal sites like @infreehold: http://tinyurl.com/yhxhzt8 #
• Yet another NJ #hyperlocal site launches in #verona: http://www.myveronanj.com #
• RT @TechCrunch: TechCrunch Giveaway: A Google Nexus One #TechCrunch http://bit.ly/4XzVxm #
• RT @incollingswood Confirmed: Word of Mouth closed http://bit.ly/8GuvBJ #
• Remixing and Collaborative Value http://bit.ly/54h60W (via @silencematters) #
• WordPress MU RC1: http://su.pr/1r4CUM Please download and test! (via @WPlimits) #
• Even IBM hearts SeeClickFix: http://tinyurl.com/ydydyk9 #
• Forget the Zi8: Kodak’s new Playsport Rugged Pocket Cam does 1080p underwater! http://gizmodo.com/5441046/ #kodakplaysport #
• Boxee Box officially announced: under $200, Flash 10.1 support: http://bit.ly/4Lrpya (via @engadget) #
• Jim Hopkins and a (kinder, gentler) Gannett Blog are back! http://tinyurl.com/ye943ah #
• Why newspapers need to learn to write shorter for the web http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/201001/short-writing #
• RT @incherryhill Senate to vote on gay marriage tomorrow http://bit.ly/8ypExi #
• @ckrewson congrats on the Variety job! California is sounding pretty good this time of year #
• WordPress.com now available on HootSuite: http://tinyurl.com/y8jz3bu #
• 12 #Hyperlocal Blogging Tools http://tinyurl.com/yd4cso8 (via @hyper_local) #
• Holy #fixed http://bit.ly/7zavUz Cincinnati works fast! (via @BenBerkowitz) #
• Journalists can no longer act solely as reporters .. they have to become community organizers: http://bit.ly/8UJOQt (via @pottsmark) #
• RT Chris Coyier’s wishes for WordPress in 2010: http://bit.ly/7LnXsN (via @chriscoyier) #
• @ideacampus wow, thanks, Brent! Looking forward to seeing what you’re cooking up with #buddypress in reply to ideacampus #
• @johnpaul Are you moving to shared hosting? Sometimes you need to break apart the xml export and import it in chunks. in reply to johnpaul #
• Just added Flyerboard to InJersey.com and first batch of Gannett NJ blogs. Let the self-serve ad provisioning begin! #
• Krewson named Variety.com editor – http://shar.es/aQh4u Congrats again, @ckrewson! #
• MovableType 5.1 is out — and a total carbon copy of #WordPress. Should WP devs feel flattered or ripped off? http://tinyurl.com/ygqlmhj #
• Totally digging the CrunchGear at CES Livestream Grid http://www.crunchgear.com/ #
• All I want for Christmas 2010 is Parrot’s iPhone-controlled AR.Drone http://tinyurl.com/yd2vkf8 #
• @phawker Exit Interview: Dave Davies leaving Daily News to work at WHYY full time http://tinyurl.com/yc2h2ow #
• @davidtcarson has an awesome-looking new “Inbox Widget” plugin for #buddypress. Can’t wait ’til 1.2 is out! http://tinyurl.com/ycegwfx #
• Apple tablet to bring “world peace, universal vaccination, and rainbow puppy unicorns”…and connectivity issues? http://tinyurl.com/ycjowke #
• More #WPMU / #WordPress 3.0 Merge news: ‘Site Admin’ so long, ‘Super Admin’ take a bow http://tinyurl.com/ydcqavt #
• BuddyPress site “Solo Practice University” added to the gallery http://www.bpinspire.com/322 #BuddyPress #WordPress (via @bpinspire) #
• Justice Dept. to review Comcast deal to take over NBC Universal – latimes.com – http://shar.es/aQ41E #
• Gannett has identified eight more U.S. newspapers that might close their presses. http://tinyurl.com/ycfma5p (via @gannettblog) #
• Grrrrreat. Newspaper Reporter ranks below Maid, Janitor, and Bus Driver in report linked on HuffPo http://bit.ly/7mxejF #
• Getting set up with Tungle, to allow me to share my Entourage cal on the web. Thanks @JJSBU22 for the tip! #
• Windows HP Slate PC demo’d by Steve Ballmer at CES is decidedly bla http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J05Q-Hyr1v8 #
• How is @seeclickfix not topping GovLoop’s list of municipal innovators?! Do your civic duty and go vote http://tinyurl.com/yk8zqvz #
• Web devs, engineers looking for work: Aardvark is hiring http://vark.com/jobs Vark just won runner-up for Best New Startup at Crunchies #
• Shopping for a treadmill is way harder than it should be. Guess that’s true about all aspects of losing weight & getting in shape #
• Just enabled #Facebook’s iPhone app contact sync and this random dude’s mug is now my adress book photo #fail http://yfrog.com/auf9gwqj #
• Criticism of user gen content in “Journalists Defending Journalism” http://jr.ly/qc2v is sorta like how Microsoft used to bash open source #
• Just had lunch at Coozeedoo in Northern Liberties with my Portuguese in-laws. Loved everything, even the dirty sounding chocolate salami #
• Can’t figure out where to find and use Google’s new #hyperlocal services on my iPhone. Lil help? #
• @chefmarksmith it’s not instant, Mark, but it fetches new posts every hour for @incollingswood. New post is up. Will add u 2 @incherryhill in reply to chefmarksmith #
• Bummer! Potbelly in Cherry Hill @incherryhill has closed. Never noticed ’til today. /via @ladygypsy #
• Surprised USA Today didn’t make the cut in “iPhone News Apps Compared” http://ow.ly/UOCl #journalism RT @Mobile_iPass /via @StKonrath #
• @chefmarksmith I liked it. They have a great sounding 5-course prixe fixe menu in mid Jan though Feb ($70 per couple, I think) in reply to chefmarksmith #
• “Thousands of issues reported on SeeClickFix in last 12 days!” /via @seeclickfix Time to double down on some backup servers! #
• Even college student newspapers are feeling under siege by amateur student blogs http://tr.im/K0v2 /via @codybrown, @greglinch, @copress #
• NY Times on PEW study: “83 percent of the reports in local news media…were essentially repetitive” http://bit.ly/50ZrhX via @jen_mcfadden #

• @yurivictor Not sure I ever told you this, Yuri, but http://furloughhouseswap.com/ was one of my favorite sites of 2009 #
• RT New USA TODAY home page preview hits the web. Lotsa lotsa Twitter and FB buttons http://tinyurl.com/yfzwkyj (via @GCITweets) #
• RT http://ow.ly/Qw9V mac & cheese cookoff to kick off homestyle classics event in Jan (via @chefmarksmith) #
• RT @elegantthemes New Theme: Deviant + Theme Sneak Peek-Elegant Themes Blog http://bit.ly/8yk6O8 #
• Ajax Edit Comments goes the pay-plugin route http://ajaxeditcomments.com (via @ronalfy, @darrenhoyt) #
• One of my favorite #buddypress sites: CUNY Academic Commons — http://commons.gc.cuny.edu/ This should be in the BP showcase #
• Trying to find a #buddypress developer up to the challenge of creating a kick-ass BP 1.2 child theme for http://injersey.com Any takers? #
• An unbelievable NYTimes multimedia project – http://bit.ly/92eO7a (via @AndyStettler) #
• RT @TechCrunch: LinkedIn Polishes Its iPhone App Into A More Facebook-Like Gem http://bit.ly/6nLqAr #
• RT SeeClickFix connected @craignewmark to SFGOV. Read the gov20 Story on CNN here: http://bit.ly/6vfBJM (via @seeclickfix) #
• Thing I hate most about booting up my virtual PC in VMWare: Having to wait a half-hour every time for McAfee to work its evil voodoo #
• Thing I like most about VMWare virtual PC on my Mac: keeping IE6 in my dock http://twitpic.com/voaq3 Yes, I hate it, but need it, too #
• Un Blog added to the #wordpress showcase http://bit.ly/6pN6ja Woah, this French #wpmu site has 560,000 blogs! (via @wpmuguru) #
• Attempting to curb the number of splogger signups to http://tinyurl.com/yc644a5 with these helpful tips http://tinyurl.com/ybdsdjl #
• RT @huffingtonpost 12 Things That Became Obsolete This Decade (PHOTOS) http://bit.ly/6uIrpH #
• RT @TechCrunch: Best Job Application Ever: “Twitter Genius” http://bit.ly/5wb57t #
• @jodiontheweb Thanks, Jodi! These days I feel like somehow in the Gannett Co. directory, I’ve been labeled “WordPress support contact” in reply to jodiontheweb #
• “The 50 Worst Gadgets of the Decade” on Gizmodo. Love this list! Especially the ol’ CueCat barcode scanner http://gizmodo.com/5432480/ #
• Joe Francis: Gawker’s Douche of the Decade http://gawker.com/5432310/ #polls #joefrancis #
• Qik Live is finally available in the App Store … and it rocks http://tinyurl.com/yd63b35 #qik #
• “25 Magazines that Folded in 2009″ on HuffPo http://tinyurl.com/ydwerf4 What, nobody is mourning the loss of InTown Westchester? #
• @jodiontheweb Jodi, have you tried the Yowza! iPhone app? One of the more interesting AR shopping apps I’ve seen. #yowza in reply to jodiontheweb #
• Interesting new take on the Ask/Answer site model: WPQuestions lets you offer up a $ reward for answer http://bit.ly/5gZFZE via @darrenhoyt #
• Lots of excitement about @seeclickfix after this morning’s call with the Gannett social media posse. Here I thought everyone was on vaca! #
• Google announces press gathering on January 5th – Hello, Nexus One. http://bit.ly/6ccj0O #
• @jodiontheweb nope, just a love of 20%-off coupons at Pier One. Doesn’t give you the compas magic you get with Yelp, but still AR in my book in reply to jodiontheweb #
• Looking forward to the “On the Go” theme, coming soon from @elegantthemes http://tinyurl.com/yz57b4s #
• RT @incherryhill Hip Hop NUTCRACKA’ brings Audience to their Feet! http://bit.ly/6IYi8I #
• @ladygypsy I got the Smashing Mag book for Xmas. Curious to hear what you think. Also considering splurging on this: http://digwp.com/book/ in reply to ladygypsy #
• Reno, ho! One of the most outrageous naughty Santa girl photos on a Gannett Metromix site. http://tinyurl.com/yj5my4m (via @gannettblog) #
• CUNY Academic Commons website featured on BPinspire.com. Good choice! http://www.bpinspire.com/312 #BuddyPress (via @bpinspire) #
• @jodiontheweb Good story! http://bit.ly/85tLaH I like No. 10 in particular — we don’t put enough thought into gameplay in our sites in reply to jodiontheweb #
• Had a great call today with Liz White and the folks at the Meriden-Record Journal about SeeClickFix. Seems like everyone is into SCF today! #
• @johnpaul so, I’m curious: Do you think the “Digging into WP” book is worth ordering? A little pricey, but I like me a good spiral binding in reply to johnpaul #
• @citysourced We’re using SCF on the Gannett NJ websites. Looking forward to trying out your iPhone app. What sort of performance benefits? in reply to citysourced #
• Mmm, prime rib … RT cantina tonight prime rib special $16.95 – 7716 Maple Ave Pennsauken, by the CH Mall (via @chefmarksmith) #
• @johnpaul If it were $50, I might bite the bullet. But with shipping: $106! Why couldn’t he have released this 2 wks ago, in time for Xmas? in reply to johnpaul #
• @yurivictor @jodiontheweb, either of you played with blurt.it? OS version took about 20 min to install here http://chatter.gannettnj.com/ #
• @noel have you looked at the way the opensource blurt.it handles photo and video embeds? Might be useful for P2 #
• Just finished watching Paranormal Activity on DVD. I may not get to sleep. Ever again. #
• #qik is on a roll. New VideoCamera app rocks allows recording on old iphones http://tinyurl.com/yldmafo #iTunes #
• @yurivictor @jodiontheweb Dig it so far. Might be a cool collaborative tool for Digital folks across Gannett. Like a localized Yammer in reply to yurivictor #
• @yurivictor One more q: Do you know anyone at G who’s good with Django? Want to try to adapt http://reportingon.com/, which is open source #
• Going through iPhone app purge.See ya, Twitterific, Labrinth, Urinal Test, Do Not Press, WordPress 1.0, TextFree, and others #
• Leaked Nexus One Documents: $530 Unlocked, $180 With T-Mobile http://gizmodo.com/5436673/ #nexusone #
• Only have a couple of these, but still, good list: Gizmodo’s Essential iPhone Apps http://gizmodo.com/5436652/ #iphoneapps #
• The value is curation over creation: Over 500 photos by NYT readers: Documenting the Decade – http://nyti.ms/8hs4Ra (via @jeffjarvis) #
• Since when did @gannettblog get back to publishing?! http://gannettblog.blogspot.com/ #
• Suffering from a serious case of #buddypress envy. @hmag_hoboken is the most badass customization I’ve seen so far. Move over @tastykitchen #
• ‘E&P’ Suspends Operations–Good Chance for Return: http://bit.ly/6Gbj8c via @addthis #
• Wadaya know, I’m a “SideClick” Thanks, Ben! http://bit.ly/89eZ3x (via @BenBerkowitz) #
• From the Guardian: “Trends 2010: Hyperlocal is where AOL, CNN and Google put their business hopes” http://tinyurl.com/yhfqnh7 #
• RT @TechCrunch: ChaCha Makes Its Crazy Business Model…Profitable http://bit.ly/63Um8q #
• RT @FishbowlNY How Citizen Journalism Helps A Story Live On – mediabistro.com: FishbowlNY http://bit.ly/4T3A1A #
• RT @TechCrunch: Wipe The Slate Clean For 2010, Commit Web 2.0 Suicide http://bit.ly/8G6RQ0 #
• @juliaevehays Did you see you got a shout-out here? http://tinyurl.com/y9b4hgg #
• My 2009 Year in Review, in 20 words or less – http://shar.es/a9VPg #
• @incherryhill Wegman’s in Cherry Hill is a zoo right now. No Parking at all. Stay away! #
• Building a Custom WordPress for iPhone App – http://vormplus.be/weging/building-a-custom-wordpress-for-iphone-app #
• Just added myself to the http://wefollow.com twitter directory under: #haddonfield_nj #buddypress #wordpress #gannett #wpmu #
• A pretty definitive recap of the trials and tribulations of the newspaper industry in 2009: http://tinyurl.com/yamcakv #
• RT @incherryhill Crumbling courts not presentable for players http://bit.ly/5LHhrD #
• @BenBerkowitz What say you to the idea of adding an Augmented Reality view to the SCF iPhone app — sort of like the Yelp AR “monacle”? #
• SheepWorld: One of the most adorable, cuddly #buddypress sites I’ve seen: http://sheepworld.de/ #
• @BenBerkowitz What got me thinking AR was http://outsideindc.com/stumblesafely/ This much I’m sure of: You’d get a lot of buzz if you did it in reply to BenBerkowitz #
• @BenBerkowitz Check out CrimeDeskSF: http://tinyurl.com/yd8mjn4 in reply to BenBerkowitz #
• Belated SJ TweetUp follows: @bilhelm96, @lhowardfusco, @dawnbricker, @jayzekas, @melissa_shae, @cherylzekas, @rshreeves, @bshreeves #
• Just cleared and filed 1 year’s worth of email out of my inbox. Feeling mentally exhausted. #
• Great review of @SeeClickFix on @theappsmachine: http://bit.ly/72Gdq9 Make 2010 the year you give a darn! #gov20 (via @BenBerkowitz) #
• @jen_mcfadden Have you seen http://www.wickedlocal.com/ ? Noticed them early last year, but looks like they’ve grown a bunch #
• Turns out that Google’s DNS server, according to Namebench utility, isn’t the faster than Verizon. Get test app: http://tinyurl.com/ylr8m63 #

Introducing http://stripedbull.com

GMTI trip

Furlough(s) = Vacation(s)

Public Speaking

Pregnant!

Hyperlocal + http://injersey.com

Westport

Portugal Wedding

Glass Hurricanes & Bleacher Creatures @ Korey-Christine Wedding

Sermons & Car Bombs & Karaoke @ Craig-Colleen Wedding

http://blacksmithbrands.com

5-year Anniversary

Livestream

HyperCamp

Snow & Santa!

Alas, when I tried image editing, I couldn’t get the image to crop or do much at all.

Video embeds, on the other hand, worked well. Instead of copying the normal embed code, I’m going to just past the URL of the video I want to display here:

UPDATE: Turns out that it was a plugin conflict that was preventing the image editor from working. The culprit: The Social Links plugin (I was running v. 1.0.11), which appears to break the image editor. Just headed over to that plugin page to report the incompatibility, and then decommissioned the plugin for good (or at least, until it can be patched).

• WordPress-Twitter integration is awesome, but makes my head hurt reeeeeal bad http://tinyurl.com/y85r6tm #
• ContentOne’s Bea Arthur Memorial Lounge in Gannett HQ — proof that Corporate does have a sense of humor http://twitpic.com/ti9bo #
• @jodiontheweb Hey Jodi. A belated thank you! Finally got up my pic of the Bea Arthur Memorial Lounge. in reply to jodiontheweb #
• @yurivictor Yuri, really sorry we didn’t get to meet! Was looking forward to it. Got a chance to talk by phone this week? in reply to yurivictor #
• Glenn Miller, see ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya! http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory?id=9332173 #
• New default #wordpress theme coming in 2010, dubbed, appropriately enough, “2010″ http://tinyurl.com/ydqxjl2 (about 6 min into video) #
• RT @TechCrunch: Operation Chokehold Will Blow Up AT&T On Friday http://bit.ly/6HD68O #
• RT @MobileCrunch Bar-code Scanning RedLaser iPhone App reaches 750K downloads, over $1M in revenue http://bit.ly/6JhkOx #
• RT @TechCrunch: Get Ready For The Google Branded Chrome OS Netbook http://bit.ly/6I2ZmY #
• The Economics of a Free Google Phone http://gizmodo.com/5428277/ #google #nexusonegooglephone #
• Rumor: Google Working On Chrome OS-Branded Netbook With One (Secret) Manufacturer http://gizmodo.com/5428610/ #googlechromeos #
• RT @TechCrunch: Google In Discussions To Acquire Yelp For A Half Billion Dollars Or More http://bit.ly/6I0fT4 #
• Not sure there’s anything better than banana-walnut pancakes on a snow day. Positive there’s nothing worse than shoveling two feet of snow #

Last weekend I spoke at WordCamp NYC about what we’re building out on InJersey. WordPress is the software that makes InJersey possible, and my talk focused on how we use it here, as well as how we employ BuddyPress to help build up and communicate with our network of community bloggers.

It was a great session — despite being held at 5pm, very near to the end of the day, when I imagine most attendants were more interested in getting their drink on than in learning about hyperlocal journalism. Still, I’m still flattered that we had such great attendance and such engaging questions. Thanks to everyone who turned out, and please, don’t be shy about shooting me any and all questions about how we use WordPress.

Here are the slides from my talk:

One of the things that Day 1 of WordCamp has inspired me to do is upgrade BuddyPress to the latest version. Please excuse any wonky behavior while I set out to do this in the next day.

The latest of these is a video I created for a site called SeeClickFix. I’ve been working with these guys a lot lately, getting up a variety of widgets and embedded maps onto the InJersey blogs (Cherry Hill, Collingswood, Flemington, Freehold, Madison, Vineland, and Somerset Hills). The maps allow you to submit reports on potholes, graffiti, and other things in your neighborhood that need fixing. What I did was create a short video for them that explains how users can also create “Watch Areas” — which in turn allow them to be notified every time somebody submits an issue in their area. This is how, say, the Public Works Dept in a town can get notified about each and every new pothole.

Just my way of saying thanks to the developers there for all the hard work they’ve been doing to get their snazzy new widgets fully compatible with InJersey and the Gannett NJ newspaper sites.

The whole focus of the redesign, and across Yahoo in general, says Bhat is to increase what he calls PageYield. The yield of a page on Yahoo is measure of how engaged consumers are with that page. (As opposed to PageRank, which is how Google scores pages on the Web in its search results). PageYield is a measure of how much time is spent on each Yahoo page and how many pageviews it gets, but also how much downstream traffic the page generates, and how often people come back.

So often when we look at building websites, we’re focussed on metrics like page views and unique visitors and time on site. But I think this concept of PageYield gets to the heart of what a website really should be aiming to do: get users to interact with it. A great page on a news site gets users to read an article, play a video, make a comment, and share to Facebook or Twitter. If the user just skims the page and moves on, so what? Sure, both count as page views and eyeballs, but if the engaged user is infinitely better.

And not just from a usability standpoint. It also makes sense if your website has an ad-supported business model. If they’re engaged with everything on the page, it follows that they’re far more engaged with advertisements, too.

This last Tuesday I appeared on WordPress Weekly, an internet-based radio show, to talk about what we’re trying to do here on InJersey.com — and in general about the whole hyperlocal news trend.

It was a fun show, and I’m grateful to the host Jeff Chandler for featuring us (even if he did keep referring to me, erroneously, as Todd). Here’s a replay:

You can download the show as a podcast on iTunes here.

Thanks to Margarita for sharing this.

Anyway, here are the biggies on my list:

• Nov. 9 – New Media Women Entrepreneurs, Washington D.C.: A day-long gathering of blockbuster speakers, all of them women, and almost all of them working on hyperlocal news sites. Although I may not be able to make it to D.C. for the event, I’d particularly love to hear Debbie Galant, of Baristanet.com, and Lisa Williams, of Placeblogger.com.

• Nov. 11 – Hypercamp, NYC: This is one I absolutely won’t miss. I’ve been working with Jeff Jarvis and his team at CUNY (“New Business Models for News”) to set up a day-long event devoted to how to improve the quality of hyperlocal news sites, and also how to monetize them once they’re built. Should be an amazing lineup of speakers, including Jarvis himself.

• Nov. 14-15 – WordCamp NYC: While not technically hyperlocal, since InJersey is all built on WordPress MU and BuddyPress, as are most of the blog-based hyperlocal sites out there, this is going to be a very important event for me. It’s arguably the biggest and best WordCamp event outside of the San Fran one.

• Nov. 18 – Citizen Journalism Conference, Monmouth U, West Long Branch, NJ: I’m scheduled to speak at this free half-day event being put on by the Citizens Campaign, a non-profit aiming to help promote citizen journalism and civic engagement. My panel’s discussion: “The New Media Climate: How the internet is transforming journalism and its impact on local government & politics.”

Should be a wild couple weeks. If you’re planning to go to any of these as well, drop me an email and let me know.

I’ve been working on MU for a long time, ever since I started blogging at LoHud and helping to administer the blogs there. And while I’m about as big a WordPress fanatic as you’ll find in the newspaper business, few of my colleages (much less family and friends) have an interest in the nitty gritty of how the blogs work.

That said, I wanted to post about MU — and specifically, the WPMU DEV Premium site — today for two reasons:

1. There’s a contest involved, and I’m a sucker for contests

2. There’s been a debate raging for the last couple weeks over on wpmu.org that is really intriguing, and I wanted to give my $.02 here

First, the contest:

WPMU DEV Premium is a coalition of developers who have banded together to create plugins, themes, and other enhancements to MU (the multi-blog version of WordPress) for profit. That last part is key. Whereas most of the open-source WordPress community develops additional features for the blog software for free, WPMU DEV Premium has gone an entirely different route. Their site has a paywall and charges a hefty subscription fee ($79 a month; $419 for the year) to get access.

Now, I’ve been salivating over some of the plugins listed on the site for a year or so. The kind of features they’ve built for MU are fantastic, and often when I go searching for a plugin, theirs are the first I find. A few examples of ones I’d love to use:

• Set Blog Description on Creation: Simple, yet something that would be totally useful to an admin like me, who seems to set up new blogs by the dozen.
• Terms of Service: Something I’ve been meaning to add to our themes for ages. This would be an even simpler fix.
• Blog Activity and User Activity: I do these blog reports from time to time, where I try to tally up how many posts different bloggers have created. It’s a huge, monster pain. I’m literally going through counting by hand. Both these plugins would be huge time savers.
• Global Posts: This is an example of a plugin that I have (I think), but in an earlier version. I’m not 100%, but I believe this is an update of ITDamager’s global posts plugin, which you can still find floating around the web. It’s a critical piece of code that we use to publish all our staff blogs to the newspaper homepages. But, again, I don’t think it’s been updated to the current version of WP in ages.

OK, so I’d love to have all these. Still, every time I get to that “Join” screen on WPMU DEV Premium, I stop in my tracks. Much as I’d like to take advantage of all these plugins, I can’t pull the trigger.

Why? Well, I’m cheap. There’s that.

There’s also the fact that, as alluded to above, a lot of the plugins are seemingly updates or enhancements to other free versions.

But most of all, it’s the frustration I have that wpmu.org has essentially become the biggest and best repository of code for an open-source software, yet it’s not a fully open-source site itself. Further, I’ve had some bad experience with joining for-profit WordPress subscription sites, only to find out that the themes (*cough* Elegant Themes) or plugins (*cought OIO *) don’t work on MU. And those were both way less expensive in the first place.

Don’t get me wrong, if given an account with WPMU DEV Premium, I’d be psyched. In fact, that’s part of the reason I’m writing this, as an entry in their current membership contest.

I realize that by speaking frankly like this I may well be hurting my submission. Still, given the debate that’s cropped up on the wpmu.org site recently — where the founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg, threw down with the folks at the for-profit WPMU DEV Premium — it’s hard to not be opinionated.

Which brings me to #2:

And this, my friends, is where things get complicated. See, despite all my frustrations with WPMU DEV Premium, when you think about it, the whole WordPress experiment is not all that different from what’s going on with the newspaper industry.

Say wha? Let me explain.

Just as everyone in my industry is working like mad to produce good daily papers and up-to-the-minute websites, we can’t seem to find any way to monetize our businesses online. We’re trying hard, believe me, but it’s a huge challenge. Likewise, WordPress and the developers who work on it have created one of the best open-source softwares on the web, yet few are getting paid commensurate with the time they’ve invested.

In other words, WPMU DEV Premium is sort of like those rogue newspapers that, despite just about everyone’s distaste for pay news sites, decided to throw up a paywall anyway. And the bitch of it is: People are still using them. In fact, a lot of MU developers have flocked to their site.

When you look at the news analogy, they’re sort of like the Wall Street Journal of WP development. (Incidentally, the WSJ does use WordPress.)

Sure, I might not ever subscribe to the Journal’s website, but you can be damn sure that a lot of business people who make their living off the paper do — just as the hardcore MU developers are willing to fork over for DEV Premium.

I completely sympathize with Mullenweg’s position; as the founder of this open-source project, it must be very difficult to see such a big group of developers not obeying the same code of ethics.

That said, everyone has to make a living — even reporters and developers.

I’m not sure that paywall sites are always the solution, but in the case of newspapers and MU, it appears to be one of our best (and only) options.

I know I shouldn’t take this personally, but failing the Starbucks Via taste test this morning truly unnerved me. Actually, pissed me off is more like it.

They handed me my samples and asked, which is the fresh-brewed coffee? I thought, and sipped, and thought some more, and then pointed right to one of the two little cups. Which, sadly, turned out to be the new instant brand.

An hour after failing the test, I think I know why this experience rattled me. Sure, it’s a complete validation of Starbucks’s new instant coffee. It tastes delicious, I admit. But what bugs me is that there’s just something inherently wrong about a human being not being able to differentiate between freshly made coffee and artificial, freeze-dried, packaged stuff.

What’s next? Splenda being indistinguishable from sugar? Soy milk tasting the same as regular? Turkey bacon assuming the taste, texture, and shape of regular bacon?

Maybe I’ve been reading too much Michael Pollen, but, well, it just seems like it’s not healthy for us to live in a world where we can’t distinguish fresh from artificial.

That said, at $1 per packet, this new Via instant is hella cheap. It may be a sinister ploy, but I’ll get off my soapbox now since I’ll no doubt be buying the stuff in bulk before too long.

Almost makes me want to adopt another — until, that is, I smell the cat urine still embedded in my carpet.