Hack - NYC Taxis

Over the summer I interned at Boston's Weekly Dig. Even though I didn't get paid, I got to attend some free events, got free beer, free redbulls, free books, free CDs and free DVDs. In fact I still haven't gotten to read or watch everything.

One book really stuck out for me though. I read Melissa Plaut's "Hack: How I Stopped Worrying About What to Do With My Life and Started Driving a Yellow Cab."

What I thought was interesting about it off the bat, and I know the class will too, is that the book came to be after her blog, "New York Hack", received over 1 million unique user hits and she was subsequently offered a book deal. The blog served as her record of driving cab, dedicated solely to that.

The book was a real page turner to me. You can read my review of it here.

So keep blogging everyone! There is hope to make money from it yet! It really makes me want to start a specialized blog. One that someone will give me a book deal for doing.

Here is an interview with Plaut about how she got into driving taxis and the experience. Like many of us, in or out of college, she didn't know what she wanted to do with her life.

NYtimes vs. Drudge vs. Huffington

I'm checking NYtimes.com, Drudge Report and Huffington Post at around 5:30 pm.

I've been here for about 45 minutes and none of them have updated so far but they are all focusing on the story of the $700 billion dollar bailout not passing.

Huff focuses more on it being a failure on President Bush and nominee McCain's part.

I'll check back in a few more hours.

EDIT: 8:30 pm. NYtimes and HuffPost both changed their pictures but keep the same story/headline. Drudgereport has stayed the same.

9/30/08

EDIT: 12:47 am. Drudge Report hasn't changed - headline says "DOWN IN FLAMES."
Huffpost now says "THE BUSH ECONOMY - Dow Jones lower today than first day of Bush's presidency."
NYtimes has same headline, has changed their picture to a graphic of the stock market at close.

EDIT: 10:50 am - Drudge Report's healdine reads "CALM RETURNS" (to the market.)
NYtimes says "BUSH URGES CONGRESS TO PASS BAILOUT" (after it was rejected yesterday,
HuffPost says "MCCAIN AT 'POLIITICAL END' AFTER BAILOUT FAILURE."

Very interesting they all made the same story yesterday but now each of the aftermath stories are taking new directions. Huff is concentrating on it hurting McCain's image. NYtimes seems sort of hopeful and non blaming. Drudge seems to think it's all fine and dandy.

While looking online about the founder of Drudge I found some claims that he might be sort of right leaning. Within the headlines I can see NYtimes tries to be unbiased, Huff is definitely left and Drudge does seem to support the right more.

Here's Mass State Rep Barney Frank speaking on the rejection of the bailout.



EDIT: 2:20 pm
NYtimes is the only one who changed their top story. They are now saying senate leaders and pledging to work toward a quick bailout plan.

Jonathan Safran Foer Conversation

Last Tuesday our Web Writing Class attended the Jonathan Safran Foer talk about his newest book, “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.” The plan was to live twitter on twitter.com. The plan didn’t work out for me.

I went with my laptop into the FAC auditorium and noticed right away that I couldn’t get a wireless signal. So I made my twitter remarks in a word document and then posted them in order as soon as I could after the event.

Prior to the event I did my homework and read the article about him in The Republican. There I discovered that he also authored “Everything Is Illuminated.” I saw the movie for that book, thought I couldn’t concentrate on it as much as I wanted to because the idiot I watched it with wouldn’t stop making comments as he’d seen it before. ANYWAYS.

Foer was invited to UMass by the Commonwealth College because they are reading “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” for their Dean’s book.

Right away I could tell the talk was going to be interesting. Foer made wise cracks and plenty of hysterical comparisons from the start. At times he has me in stitches.
I guess as I went along I tried to focus on funny or profound things he said. In retrospect I wish I made my twitters more opinion based.

In the introduction to his speech, I learned that Foer is a fellow vegetarian, which was pretty exciting. That was my first twitter.

Right away Foer made sure to note he didn’t want it to be a speech but instead he wanted to have a conversation. I felt that it really was a conversation. I think that set the tone for the night. I twittered about how it was to be a conversation.

My next couple twitters were observation based.
“He has a very fun sense of humor. Uses a lot of comparisons. He holds my attention very easily. I think he is really funny. #foer”

Then, “He seems so comfortable on stage. It’s as if he’s just talking one on one to each person. Wish my lecture professors spoke like him. #foer”
I was impressed with how comfortable he seemed on stage. I don’t know if I could ever command an audience like him.

He was done with his conversation by 7:30 and I noted that in my twitter. As soon as he was done CommCol questions were asked.

He sort of made a disclaimer that I twittered about. How he is infamous for evading questions. Boy, did he live up to that!

A point I twittered about and found interesting was that he didn’t do any research for the book. Except maybe accidental research by just reading on his own.

“I think a lot of writers become writers not because of what they can say, but what they can’t say.” Cheesy but i think it's profound. #foer”

I thought he had a lot of profound and interesting things to say.

“Do you really think I like writing? No, I don’t… I like having written.” HA - sometimes I feel the exact same way. #foer”

That was my favorite quote from the night I think. It was delivered so well. I find it fascinating that he doesn’t like writing and more or less claims to do it on accident. That is why I think his writing seems so artistic, it really is an art that pours out of him. Like he can’t help but create it, even though he doesn’t really want to.

Later I mostly twittered about how funny he was being. He totally shut down some people who asked questions.

By the end of the talk, I decided that I just had to read the book. Luckily there was a table set up where they were selling hard cover copies of the book for $10! Ten dollars, compared to the retail $25. I was stoked and Katelyn and I each bought a copy. We then waited in line for a good while until we met Foer. He was very nice, signed our books.

We told him about what our class was doing and he said he didn’t even know what twitter was!

I started reading the book and LOVE it so far. I’m already on about page 90. I shouldn’t even be reading it considering all the other reading I need to do for classes. To heck with other reading I say!

Tina Fey Strikes Again

Ah, Sarah Palin, America's laughing stock once again. If you haven't seen her interview with Katie Couric yet, you need to, as it's worth a good laugh.

For the second week in a row Saturday Night Live had an opening sketch with Tina Fey as Sarah Palin. This time Amy Poehler played Katie Couric.

I wonder how long they'll keep up doing these Palin skits.

The Monkey Bar

Last night I was coaxed into going to the Monkey Bar for the first time in my UMass career.

I hated it.

I hated everything about it.

I hated the people there, I hated the music, I hated the set up, I hated the people having sex with clothes on next to me. I especially hated the people having a full on make-out session next to me.

I like going out to dance, but not with these people. I felt beyond out of place.



There is an unfortunate video of something close to what I experienced last night. I will never go back there again.

Sudoku

So I'm sitting at the Collegian after finishing my layout. You know what it's time for? Sudoku!

Sudoku is something that I never thought I'd like. But to my surprise, when a friend showed me how to do it in late August, I LOVED IT. And I hate numbers, I hate math etc. The only thing that is really involved is logic.

I've even bought a Puzzle Lovers Sudoku book.

Some people like Sudoku a lot more than me though.

Mixtapes

Is there anything as great as receiving a mixtape from a friend or flame? I think not.
I also think it is so gratifying to finally finish what you consider to be a perfect tape(CD nowadays) for someone.

I've made CDs for my ex, I've made them for my car, I've made them for my friends after they were dumped. The music that is on a mixtape can really set a mood and burn memories into your brain.

I can never hear The Beatles "Got to Get You Into My Life" without thinking of the first mix my ex ever made for me. Certain songs bring me back to a specific time in my life.

The past couple weeks I worked on a mix for someone in Seattle. It should arrive on Thursday and I eagerly await his reaction!

The website Cassette From My Ex lets people post the story of a love affair and post the audio file of each side of a mixtape to the site. It's really fascinating to see what other people put on mixes for those they care about.

Linking

The section I found most interesting in chapter 8 was on page 158 entitled "Permission to Link."

I had never once considered that it would be illegal to link to another site. For pictures, yes, I had considered that. But I also considered that my blog is probably not important enough to even get their attention.

For links though, my thought was that I was in fact always doing the linked site a favor. I'm getting my readers to check out their site, further legitimizing their information, and I'm even bumping them up on the Google search pages. Where is the problem? They are obviously getting credit because the link distinguishes my website from theirs.

Now I'm afraid to link in this entry. But this entry is a lot more boring than others, right? Sorry, but I need to cover my ass.

(Chapter 8 Foust)

Misery Business

So I lied, I thought I wouldn't be posting Saturday. But here I am up after 12 am at my friend's before we depart for NYC tomorrow. But he just inspired me to post before I go to bed.

The past couple weeks I have finally been giving Paramore a listen to because of him. The song "Misery Business" is a very catchy song from their second release entitled Riot! . Easily my favorite. When I got to his place tonight he had made this music video for the song.



He plays all members of the band in the video. Which he made in only a little over a day.

Brian Babineau is a graphic designer by profession but he makes music videos and short movies for fun. He's been on youtube for years and has a bit of a following. For good reason too! His videos are always really fun and creative. Check out his vids!

Mama Mia!

I won't be able to blog Saturday because I'll be in New York City all day to see Mama Mia! on Broadway.

The show was created from hit ABBA songs. It has become a hit musical around the world.

Until I saw Mama Mia! the movie this summer, I didn't even really know I liked ABBA. I got the soundtrack from my work, heck, I even cried during the movie... like 3 times. Shhh!

I've never been to a Broadway show before so this is pretty big for me. My friends Brian and James are taking me with them, the Broadway pros that they are.

Here is a clip from the song "Honey, Honey" in the movie. I will spare you Broadway youtube clips as they're HORRID.

Stuff White People Like

Stuff White People Like is a satirical blog about... stuff... that white people like. Really. You will be amazed at how spot on the posts are.

What inspired me to share this with you is the weather. It hasn't been cold enough for a coat and scarf yet but numerous girls I see around UMass insist on wearing big boho esque scarves around their necks. One of my favorite Stuff White People Like posts talks about the silly matter.

What is also amazing is that the blog became so popular that the author was offered a book deal. I want the book so bad, it offers other write ups that will never be online. The blog only began in January 2008 and the book came out this summer.

Here's a video of the blog's author Christian Lander reading the blog entry about unpaid internships.

Tommy Devine

Well today I had a long day.

I met with Tommy Devine, The Baystate Objectivist, the author of the first western Mass blog. I met up with him at Haymarket cafe in Northampton where I took that picture of him. I am starting to write a story about him as a feature article for the Daily Collegian.

I have always found his blog fascinating. Tommy has probably the most honest blog I've ever seen. He's not afraid to put himself out there. He's a former UMass student, journalism major and Daily Collegian writer. He posts entries about his sex life, politics, and even his former drug addictions. He isn't ashamed about any of it either.

It doesn't hurt that Tommy is always very easy to talk to and supportive of my blogging.

Tom covers a lot about UMass, Northampton, Amherst and Springfield in his blog. Though at first the Springfield native focused on Springfield's seedy side of politics. You probably see him at Haigis Mall all the time.

Here's a video of Tommy talking about why he likes Amherst.

Saturday Night Live

So I know that everyone and their mother has posted the now infamous Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton clip to their blogs. But not all of them have just won tickets to see the Saturday Night Live Dress Rehearsal on October 18, 2008!!! Pumped! Spell it with me. P-U-M-P-E-D! NBC owns my life this semester between SNL, 30Rock and The Office.

Amy Poehler is pregnant and this will be her last season on SNL, she won't come back to finish this season after her maternity leave though. If I have any luck she won't have gone on maternity leave before the show I am going to.

A lot of people don't like the current cast. But over the last summer I have gotten very into it. I love Amy Poehler (representing BUrlington, MA!) Bill Hader is great, you've seen him in Superbad and Pineapple Express. Will Forte is pretty funny, he starred in a movie with Will Arnett called The Brothers Soloman.

Kristen Wigg is the break out star for me though. She has had some amazing skits recently like Target Lady and Penelope. Here's one of my favorite Kristen Wigg videos, she is spoofing real life TV personality Suze Orman.

Huff Post vs. Drudge Report

First off, stylistically, the Drudge Report's layout is HORRIFIC compared to the Huffington Post. Though I really don't like either of the layouts. The Drudge Report seems to be arranged with no rhyme or reason.

For the most part the Drudge Report seems to only link out to other websites news stories. The Drudge Report seems to be a lot more casual in their appearance and word choice. The first link I came across just says "WHAT'S UP?!"

Huffington post writes their more of their own posts. Huffington seems a lot more legitimate to me. Huffington makes better use of media on their front page as well. And, oh yeah, Huffington's founder is a womannnnn, grrl power or something?

Overall I like Huffington better. Huffington Post has superior organization skills, and there seems to be more original content.

With both I felt sort of overwhelmed on the front page. There is too much going on. Drudge Report seems less biased.

Screen Printing

The above is a concert poster by Peter Cardoso at Ghost-town.net.

I'm taking a screen printing class this semester just for fun. I am amidst my first project. I've written my artist's statement and am now designing my image. Last Wednesday our teacher, Sarah Purnell, gave us a demo on the entire process. A bit more complicated than I thought, but still pretty easy. It has taken me a class and a half to just get done taping my screen (yes with some tape) and getting a couple nice gashes in my fingers.

What inspires me most to try this medium is concert posters. I love going to a concert and being able to buy a numbered and signed print for that tour or specific show. Usually they're only between $5 and $12. That's what is so great about screen printing, many people can have the same art work, but it is still limited. And more important than anything, it is art that is accessible to real people. Real people can shell out between $5-$100 for a nice print, but the odds of a regular person having $4000 to drop on a painting is slim.

Peter Cardoso of the Ghost Town Rhode Island studio is a screen print artist who's work I've been able to buy. I framed his prints and put them in my living room.

Here is a video of an artist doing a second color pull on a concert poster.

Meiko on Conan O'Brien

Last night I was watching Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Not only was one of my fave actresses, Amy Sedaris, on the show, but the musical guest was awesome. Allow me to introduce you to Meiko. She reminds me of a cross between Mirah and Fiona Apple. The song she performed is called "boys with girlfriends." It's just such a fun, cute song. Not to mention I always stupidly make friends with boys with girlfriends... not enough songs about that in the world.

Another Windows Commercial

Wow, Microsoft is really trying to pull out the big guns. Another one of these bad boys with Jerry Seinfeld. This one is even weirder, the two of them are attempting to connect with "real people" by living with a seemingly typical all-American family.



I think they're just annoying. They seem to be about nothing, it's just supposed to cause buzz... like it is.

Britney's Back?

I sat in my apartment last Sunday cursing the fact that I only have $7 cable. With no MTV, I couldn't catch Britney Spears' appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards. A video surfaced on the internet a few weeks ago showing her and dancers in a studio kicking some dance floor ass to a new song.



After last year's disaster, I was renewed with a hope that Britney would be back, (bitch?). Later Sunday evening when MTV started posting clips from the VMAs I learned that Brit didn't even perform as rumored.

She did however win three moon men. She won the night's biggest honor, Video of the Year, Best Female Video, and Best Pop Video. She also kicked off the VMAs, introducing the 25th show.

So I was happy for her, but these awards were all for her video "Piece of Me." The video is OK, but I think she's done better work. She was nominated for 16 moon men in the past and never once won. Surprising considering her career was much better years ago. I feel like it was almost like they gave her pity awards this year, or it was payback for burning her all the other years.

Also after 2 kids, she was in amazing shape, especially in comparison to last year. This year she looked confident, healthy and happy. I know that last year I told everyone I was sure she was making a comeback, but I really think it's gonna happen this year.

Pedovan in Boston

Newest Judd Apatow Joint Secretly Filmed in Boston

The newest Judd Apatow movie, producer of such wildly popular films as The 40 Year Old Virgin, Pineapple Express, Knocked Up and Superbad, just wrapped up filming in Boston reported Boston's Weekly Dig. It's so new, that it's still for the most part un-known about.

What is most surprising is that this project, Pedovan, has already finished filming, yet it's not even know about on the world's favorite internet movie resource, IMDB.com . IMDB.com (The Internet Movie Data Base), usually lists even rumored movies, but when a film is in production it's usually listed on there. Also surprising is the fact that I interned in Boston all summer, but didn't even get the chance to meet the man of my dreams, Apatow actor and writing genius, Seth Rogen. OK, it's not surprising, it's just downright disappointing and sad.

The movie stars Jonah Hill of Superbad fame and other Apatow films. Martin Starr, of Freaks and Geeks also has a role in the film. Saturday Night Live star, Bill Hader, and Seth Rogen reprise their Superbad roles as dim-witted cops. There are supposedly more cameos than you can shake a stick at, including R. Kelly and Celtics star Glen Davis.

Jonah Hill's character in short in a mis-guided hipster who loves children... mistaken for a pervert. I think you get the idea.

The Dig reported that in 2006, only four films were shot in Boston. But ever since Massachusett's July 2007 credit cap on the filming industry, 88 films have been shot in or around Boston. Right next to my home town, a Kevin James film about mall cops entitled, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, was filmed this past spring in the mall that I hung around in during high school. Movies are everywhere in the Commonwealth lately. Next time, someone just tell me when Seth Rogen is around. I'll seriously cry if I miss him again.


The most information available about the movie is on their website, and that's not a lot. On Google, searching "Pedovan Apatow" only comes up with 4 results, 2 of which are actually about the movie but are links concerning the Dig's article.

"I'll eat my shoe if..."

Werner Herzog Actually Ate a Shoe

While checking out gawker last night, I came across their article about about a book critic, John Sutherland, who had once said he would eat his copy of Salman Rushdie's "Enchantress of Florence." if it didn't win the Man Booker Prize.

It turns out that it didn't, and he also says that he won't eat the book. But what else gawker said was that renowned German film maker Werner Herzog had made a bet with the same words in the past concerning his shoe. When he lost, he came through and actually ate his own shoe. I couldn't believe that someone actually had done that.

But what's even better is that they made a documentary called "Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe". He boiled the shoe for 5 hours with stock, herbs and garlic. He ate the leather of the shoe but didn't eat the sole. Claiming that when one eats a chicken that they don't eat the bone in comparison.

The entire documentary is available on google video.



A man of his word.

PC vs. Mac

PC vs. Mac
The Holy War

My Ibook G4 and I have just had our four year anniversary. I celebrated by giving her an extra 1GB Ram and she is now running faster than ever. Oh sure, 5 years ago, maybe I did not picture myself with a Mac, but now I am sure it was the right decision.

There are a few main reasons that convinced me to switch to Macs. First, I went to Massart for my first year of college. Where the entire school runs on Macs, and you would be pretty screwed if you didn't have one. So in my search for a college laptop I went with the Mac. But I didn't just let them peer pressure me into it. I looked at the facts.

Only one fact really concerned me, and that was that Macs DO NOT GET VIRUSES. Did you hear me? That is not a lie. Never have I got one in four years, and the basic reason is that no one bothers to make them. Hackers don't bother with Macs because they are the underdog. They sit in their little hacker lairs all day just dreaming about ways to make Bill Gate's, and PC users lives more miserable than they already are. PCs account for 90% of personal computers. So why bother with Steve Jobs, right?

But in addition to this, Macs are really great for dealing with media, which has proved useful in my journalism endeavors. Once you get used to the different set up, Macs really are more user friendly.

Many times over the past 4 years I have unfortunately had to touch a PC. Whenever I get on one, there is inevitably a new patch for the system. Why didn't they just make it right in the first place? Geez. Also, transferring files from an old computer is an infinitely more complicated task on PCs.

So I'm not going to put voodoo curses on you if you have a PC, but it's your own virus ridden grave you're digging.

These Mac commercials are pretty funny too. Better than the new Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld commercials.

Blackle

Blackle.com is a new search engine. It's just like Google, but the website is black.

The reasoning behind this is that it takes more power for a monitor to display a primarily black (dark) screen as opposed to a white (light) screen. A theory from a blog post in 2007 prompted the idea that a black Google would save 750 Mega-Watts of energy per year because of the popularity of white Google.

The webpage offers you new energy saving tips everytime it is opened. The basic idea is to get everyone possible to set blackle.com as their homepage.

Even if you only open blackle.com once per day, a little bit of energy is saved. That can really add up.



This video on youtube where a man did some research as to if blackle works is very interesting.

Turns out that blackle only works on CRT monitors, but not on LCD monitors.

But it does get you thinking, small efforts could really add up.

Looks like I'm changing my homepage. Blackle does look really cool at the least.

Greenle.com is a mock of Blackle.com. Greenle is out by Google, and sends the message that Blackle really isn't helping.

Diddy Obama Blog Attention John McCain

My friend Teresa just sent me this video. P. Diddy, Puff Daddy, Puffy, Sean "Puffy" Combs", Diddy... whatever you want to call him decided to make a political video blog on his official youtube channel.

In the last election Diddy created the "Vote or Die" campaign, which didn't work out so well. Not enough young people voted, and they did not ensure that the non voters died. All and all an unsuccessful campaign. One of the big names put on the "Vote of Die" campaign was Paris Hilton. She was supposed to entice the youngins into voting. It turned out that she herself didn't even vote. Wikipedia cites without citation that Diddy himself did not even vote in this election either.

But back to this video blog, Diddy is promising he's gonna get millions out at the polls to make sure Obama gets in. I'm all for Obama getting in, but if you're gonna back him up with your name and voice, it needs to be a bit more articulate and intelligent sounding than "ALASKA MOTHERFUCKER? I'm not even sure if there's black people in Alaska."

I mean maybe this is asking too much, but he could have researched if there are black people in Alaska if he really wanted to make a good case on that.

I'm sure Obama appreciates the support, but maybe think out your video blog a bit better next time Diddy. We need help. And this video definitely does not help.

"JOHN YOU ARE BUGGIN' OUT!"

Please elaborate on that Diddy.

Scott Brodeur Edited

Scott Brodeur is a regular contributor to masslive.com blogs. A lot of his contributions to his blog have to do with music. Perhaps this is related to the fact that he is in his own band called Storybox. Storybox just recorded a new album called "Empty Canvas." Amazon.com has a CD called "The Sardinista! Project" that he contributed to.

"My favorite musical artist is Miles Davis," Brodeur says. "He dared to try new things all of the time."

He is a husband who reluctantly owns a cat named Cocoa. He resides in Northampton, MA, making him my neighbor. He was born in CT, raised in New Jersey. He has lived in Northampton with his wife Barbara Cheney and their three children for 11 years.

He teaches at UMass, I found numerous Convergence Journalism blogs from his former students.

He received his undergraduate degree from Syracuse University in 1987 in Magazine Journalism and American Studies. Brodeur went to New York University for his MA in English Education.

We share a common friend on facebook, a formerly avid Northampton blogger, Paolo Mastrangelo. Brodeur has been called the "Godfather of Western, MA Blogging". He is a founding editor-in-chief of Masslive.com and helped to launch the website NJ.com in 1996. He is the Managing Editor at Advance Internet. He has two sons, Jonathan, 10, Gabriel, 7, and a daughter, Elizabeth, 4.

Back in '03 Gregory Tulonen called him "desperate" for link backs because Brodeur kept writing about his nurse books.

As a writer he is known for writing about a variety of subjects including sports, music and pop culture. His work has been in Billboard, Paste, The Source, and The Philadelphia Inquirer among others.

Who is Scott Brodeur?

Scott Brodeur is a regular contributor to masslive.com blogs. A lot of his contributions to his blog have to do with music. Perhaps this is related to the fact that he is in his own band called Storybox. Storybox just recorded a new album called "Empty Canvas." Amazon.com has a CD called "The Sardinista! Project" that he contributed to.

He is a husband who reluctantly owns two cats. He resides in Northampton, MA, making him my neighbor. He is originally from New Jersey but has lived in Northampton for at least a decade.

He teaches at UMass, I found numerous Convergence Journalism blogs from his former students.

We share a common friend on facebook, a formerly avid Northampton blogger, Paolo Mastrangelo. Brodeur has been called the "Godfather of Western, MA Blogging". He is a founding editor-in-chief of Masslive.com and helped to launch the website NJ.com in 1996. He is the Managing Editor at Advance Internet.

Back in '03 Gregory Tulonen called him "desperate" for link backs because Brodeur kept writing about his nurse books.

As a writer he is known for writing about a variety of subjects including sports, music and pop culture. His work has been in Billboard, Paste, The Source, and The Philadelphia Inquirer among others.

It seems highly unlikely, but google tells me that Brodeur joined the Society of Jesus in 1980. I doubt it's the same guy.

What is Online Journalism?

My initial thought was that online journalism is just a newspaper or a magazine but accessible online. There is more to it than that. It is definitely a new and exciting form of journalism, rinsing our hands clean of the ink on our fingers and instead turning to our computers to connect and learn about the world.

This new format of journalism provides a wealth of new options. First of all, with a laptop, news and magazines can be read from anywhere. Stories can be edited or followed up on within minutes. NYtimes.com for instance has new stories all day long, especially if there is a crisis going on. Besides the hard information though, online journalism opens up he floodgates for comments and interaction with the public. Now information can be discussed from anywhere. Someone from Arkansas can interact and comment on the same national news that someone in Connecticut has.

The best part is that other new media can be integrated into the stories. Before articles might have a couple pictures - but now there can be slide shows, podcasts, video podcasts, and even personally submitted cellphone video footage. Interactivity and speed are the two biggest pluses in online journalism.