graphic designr » texting http://graphicdesignr.net/blog Conversations about journalism, news and design Sun, 26 Sep 2010 18:32:05 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Technology at work http://graphicdesignr.net/blog/2008/08/10/technology-at-work/ http://graphicdesignr.net/blog/2008/08/10/technology-at-work/#comments Sun, 10 Aug 2008 20:18:28 +0000 Erica Smith http://graphicdesignr.net/blog/?p=607 It was pouring during men’s trap at the Olympics on Sunday. The American coach (Americans were not contenders at this point) texted the announcer about the rain and how it was affecting the game.

Czech Republic’s David Kostelecky took the gold, Italy’s Giovanni Pellielo took silver and Russia’s Aleksey Alipov took bronze after a shoot-off.

The medal count:

]]> http://graphicdesignr.net/blog/2008/08/10/technology-at-work/feed/ 0 Amazon introduces SMS buying http://graphicdesignr.net/blog/2008/04/02/amazon-introduces-sms-buying/ http://graphicdesignr.net/blog/2008/04/02/amazon-introduces-sms-buying/#comments Thu, 03 Apr 2008 05:31:14 +0000 Erica Smith http://graphicdesignr.net/blog/2008/04/02/amazon-introduces-sms-buying/ AP reports that Amazon is letting people buy items using their cell phones — without talking to anyone.

Amazon TextBuyIt, which launched late Tuesday, lets people text the name of a product, its description or its UPC or ISBN to 262966 (that’s “Amazon” on the keypad) from anywhere their cell phones work — including from inside physical stores.

The actual buying process sounds a little more complicated than it needs to be. But as a consumer, I love the comparison-shopping opportunities. As a journalist, I’m wondering why we don’t offer an on-demand type of service of our own.

]]> http://graphicdesignr.net/blog/2008/04/02/amazon-introduces-sms-buying/feed/ 0 Inky, Blinky and Sue http://graphicdesignr.net/blog/2007/05/14/inky-blinky-and-sue/ http://graphicdesignr.net/blog/2007/05/14/inky-blinky-and-sue/#comments Mon, 14 May 2007 17:38:34 +0000 Erica Smith http://graphicdesignr.net/blog/?p=69

The important overriding credo is that (newsrooms of the future) will deliver the news in whatever way the community craves and is economically feasible, including online video, audio, print, online, mobile, TV or radio.

Why is it taking so long for that future to get here?

ODDS & ENDS
• Ms. Pac-Man for your iPod! And the demo is free!
• MSNBC does send breaking news alerts via text messaging! (Change delivery status to set it up.) Now I need for some news to break …
• How did I miss that Allison Stewart left MSNBC? “The Most” was a reason to be awake by 11 …

]]> http://graphicdesignr.net/blog/2007/05/14/inky-blinky-and-sue/feed/ 0 No yolk about it http://graphicdesignr.net/blog/2007/04/19/no-yolk-about-it/ http://graphicdesignr.net/blog/2007/04/19/no-yolk-about-it/#comments Fri, 20 Apr 2007 05:44:40 +0000 Erica Smith http://graphicdesignr.net/blog/?p=56 Today’s lesson: Airplanes do not have steering wheels. Despite what reporters and an editor may say. An airplane has a yoke. (And it’s not a yolk, as that editor tried to “fix.”) A helicopter has a cyclic. (For an admittedly juvenile chuckle, check out the definition of cyclic.)

What brought that on? A 78-year-old grandmother of five crash landed in the St. Louis area. She had a bloody nose because she hit her head on the “steering wheel.” Cute little story — she said she was afraid her kids would try to take her wings, that sort of thing. But there’s more. Grandma was flying to her new home in Denver; she’d recently moved there to be closer to her kids. Her daughter is the projects editor at the Rocky Mountain News. That daughter used to be our managing editor’s boss. It’s a small world.

VIRGINIA TECH MULTIMEDIA
• What we know: Excerpts from a “multimedia manifesto” (MSNBC)
• What we know: The victims (MSNBC)
• Reaction to Virginia Tech tragedy (MSNBC)
• Campus tragedy (CBS)
• Rampage at Virginia Tech (Newsweek)

ODDS & ENDS
• Quark Interactive sounds like it has capabilities similar to Flash.
• You can photograph Superman.
• Reuters offers top news texts. Now if they’d just send out the breaking news alerts instead … Then I’d be on board.
• Smart marketing by msnbc.com the past couple of days. Packaged with their Virginia Tech coverage was a link to sign up for breaking news alerts. I don’t like (but am signed up for) their Windows Live-based alerts. Just send out e-mails like everyone else. And text messages.
• Text message from Kevin: “I just killed a cockroach … And thought of you!” Aww … So sweet.

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