Businessweek published a big cover story about “eavesdropping” smart speakers last week, complete with a WTF video illustration. I thought the story seemed kind of familiar, so I went digging through some newspaper archives, and sure enough: Here’s the 2012 edition of the story: And 2005: 2004: 1998: 1993: 1991: 1990: And finally, 1964, with… Continue reading Alexa, What’s A Narrative That Never Goes Out of Fashion?
Author: John Zhu
10 Steps to Writing A New York Times Culture Piece on New Publishing Mediums
Congratulations on being assigned to write a piece for the New York Times on the newest fad in publishing mediums (OK, it’s been around for at least a decade but we at the Times just started using it in the last year or two) that is (ugh) open to everyone. It seems like you can’t… Continue reading 10 Steps to Writing A New York Times Culture Piece on New Publishing Mediums
What Local News Can Do with Reader Location
The Lenfest Institute for Journalism has been experimenting with innovative local news products, and recently, it asked the following question: If we knew where you lived and worked, how might we serve you better with local news and information? That’s a great question, and the Lenfest piece above offered some ideas it has been playing… Continue reading What Local News Can Do with Reader Location
10 Years Since I Left Journalism
On December 30, 2005, I finished up my shift on the sports design and copy desk, stepped out of the office building of The Herald-Sun shortly after midnight, and walked away from journalism — the career and craft that had been my calling since the summer between high school and college. It has been 10 years since… Continue reading 10 Years Since I Left Journalism
How Many New Horizons Missions Can We Fund For …
An infographic comparing the cost of the Pluto flyby with a few other expenditures. Sources for the numbers Cost of New Horizons Thanksgiving spending NASA budget Federal spending on science NBA salaries Direct medical cost for smoking-related illnesses