journalism

Maybe this is how Apple does it

Dave Farquhar Macintosh , , , , , , , ,

Sitting in the stands at a baseball game the day after Steve Jobs’ surprise resignation from Apple, of course the subject came up.

“I wish I knew how Apple does it,” I said.

“I have an idea,” my friend Tom Gatermann said.
Read more

Taking a stand: Rupert Murdoch and the Chicago Sun-Times

Dave Farquhar Journalism , ,

Some people are ready to throw the entire journalism trade out with the week’s trash thanks to the deepening Rupert Murdoch scandal. But to some people, this wasn’t a surprise at all.

In 1984, 60 journalists took a stand against Rupert Murdoch. Without them, he quickly ran a once-proud paper into the ground, and he cut his losses and sold out after just two years of ownership. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Read more

Don’t take free software from a stranger

Dave Farquhar security , , , ,

And there’s this. Some people are taking popular free, open-source software, planting malware in it, and distributing it to unsuspecting people.
Read more

Maybe this is the difference between US and UK journalists

Dave Farquhar Journalism , ,

I’ve always wondered about the difference between US and UK journalists. I’ve always noticed a difference, but never quite figured out what it was or why. This CNN editorial is good insight.

There’s a certain irreverence and snarkiness in the UK press that you don’t see often in the States. The linked is an opinion piece and what she’s saying is theory rather than provable fact, but my experience matches hers. Read more

Should journalists hack?

Dave Farquhar Journalism , , , ,

I experienced an interesting collection of contrasts going to journalism school in the mid 1990s. Inside the same building, we had investigative journalists who specialized in advanced use of databases and stodgy editors who missed the days of manual typewriters and wore technological ignorance as a badge of honor.

And yet, there were textbooks that said journalists ought to be learning computer programming, because there was going to be a need for journalists who had the ability to do both. It took a while, but it seems that day has come. Maybe not to sit down and write applications software, but to hack.

But is it ethical for a journalist to hack?
Read more

Linguistic analysis isn’t hooey

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized , , , ,

For the second time in two months, I’ve seen a case where a linguist analyzed writing and tried to conclude whether someone was or wasn’t the author of a suspicious e-mail message. The first was a threatening letter purportedly sent to Christopher Coleman, who was convicted last month of murdering his family, and the other was Paul Ceglia’s attempt to prove he owns a substantial share of Facebook.

The inevitable flood of comments calling such analysis “black magic” followed. But as an author, I have to give validity to it.

Read more

In defense of college and 4-year degrees

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized , , ,

College is a waste of time?

I disagree with Mr. Stephens’ statement that college is a waste of time. I don’t know what college he went to, or what he studied there, but I certainly didn’t spend four years at the University of Missouri copying my professors’ thoughts.

Read more

What’s wrong with my 6502 machine language article?

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing, Writing , , ,

It occurred to me this morning that writing about what was wrong with my 6502 machine language article from the early 1990s might be useful. Or maybe that was just whatever the dentist was injecting into the roof of my mouth talking, but I’m going with it.

Should I cut myself some slack on account of my age at the time? Sure. But teenage Dave would have welcomed the critique of mid-30s Dave, if either could find Dr. Emmit Brown’s DeLorean.

Read more

Do tablets cut into PC sales?

Dave Farquhar Hardware , ,

I see multiple reports that PC makers are seeing tablets cut into the sales of traditional PCs.

The two items don’t compete directly, but when consumers have limited disposable income, I can see them either buying a less-expensive PC so they can also buy a tablet, or hanging on to an aging PC another year or two in order to afford a tablet. If you already have a PC, and it works well enough, the second strategy certainly can work. Tablets are a new big thing, and we’re still coming out of a recession, so everyone isn’t flush with cash right now.
Read more

Find material for a rebuttal assignment

Dave Farquhar Writing ,

A coworker who went back to school and is currently taking a composition class asked me a good question today. His assignment is to find an article he disagrees with and write a rebuttal of 350-700 words. But he didn’t really know where to start, and asked me for advice on where to find material for a rebuttal assignment.

I never have problems finding something out there that I disagree with, so I guess he asked the right guy. I can just go to Google News and click on anything and I’ll probably disagree with some of it. I guess journalism school taught me right. If it’s not that easy for you, I have a trick. It’s nearly foolproof.
Read more