iPod Docking and Travel Speakers

I saw a cool ring-shaped speaker thing for the iPod at Best Buy last weekend. It's from JBL. Turns out there is a new version shipping soon.

The new one includes a remote, and some have said it's even a really good remote ("based upon Griffin Technology's excellent RF radio-based AirClick," according to iLounge's downloadable iPod Book). So I think I will wait for the JBL On Stage II.

The trick is to buy something I can chuck into my checked luggage when I travel -- so I can have some REAL music in the hotel room!

In April, Walt Mossberg said the original JBL On Stage sounded "almost as good as" the $299 Bose iPod setup, which is sweet as can be, but too large to travel with.

Like the JBL ring setup, the Bose SoundDock recharges the iPod while it sits there and plays. Yes!

iPod and the iTunes Library

Here is the question I need to answer: Do I need to keep my Libraries matched on each computer if I intend to update my new iPod (huge grin!) -- or sync it -- on multiple computers?

iTunes allows me to authorize up to five computers for use with one account. That's cool. iTunes also allows me to "deauthorize" a computer when I get the total up to six -- that is, deauthorize No. 5 and add a new No. 5 instead.

iTunes also allows me to copy downloaded music purchased from the Apple Music Store from one computer to another. This took a little time to figure out, but I got it done:

First, copy the entire folder(s) containing iTunes music to a data CD, USB drive, etc. On a Windows computer, they are way down deep, in Documents and Settings > [username] > My Documents > My Music > iTunes > iTunes Music (whew!).

INSIDE iTunes Music, you'll see the folders you want to copy.

When you put these folders onto a different computer, DO NOT put them inside the same iTunes Music folder. You can put them anywhere, but make sure it's OUTSIDE that folder on this (second) computer.

Then open the iTunes application and import the folders this way: File menu > Add Folder to Library.

So far I have done this only with music downloaded from the Apple Music Store. I don't know yet whether it works with other music files and folders, but it ought to.

So, back to my Library question: I have updated my iPod on one of my two authorized computers. When I tried to update it on the other computer, it would not work. Further investigations to come.

StoryCorps, from NPR

I just heard one of these compelling audio stories on National Public Radio this morning. Then, later today, someone posted a link to a Listserv about online news.

Think about it: A good sound booth and two good mics. Two people, neither one a trained interviewer. But as my journalism students taught me just this past week, you really can piece together a good audio segment from almost anything -- so long as you can get someone to tell a good story.

These stories are really something. Not everyone can write well, but many people can tell a good story.

New on OJR

An article I wrote -- Flash journalism: Professional practice today -- made its debut in the Online Journalism Review. I interviewed 11 Flash journalism practitioners for this article, all people I had not interviewed earlier for my book. That was really good, because I learned some new things.

There were two or three other people I wanted to interview, but our schedules were too much out of sync.

Hobart Shakespeareans

I was in a motel room, flipping channels. I came in on a documentary on PBS about 10 or 15 minutes into the broadcast. I couldn't stop watching. I couldn't turn off the TV and go to sleep, even though I should have.

So this pudgy, modest public schoolteacher, Rafe Esquith teaches a bunch of fifth-graders to perform plays by William Shakespeare. You probably can't believe this would grab and hold the attention of a sleepy person sitting in bed after a long, hard day of judging professional multimedia Web sites.

Well, it did.

It was one of the most moving and inspiring things I have ever seen on TV or in a theater. And I know that every time I think that teaching is a frustrating job, or not very rewarding, or not really worth all the time and effort, I will remember this little film. I will remember it and -- I hope -- remind myself that teaching has myriad effects on the people sitting in the chairs, and many of those effects are not at all about the content of the subject matter one is teaching.

Online to the World

"Nola.com became what Mr. Phelps, the Times-Picayune's publisher, called a lifeline, with more than 72 million page views by people around the world, from Sunday to Thursday last week. Mr. Amoss said page views surpassed 30 million on Friday. Before the hurricane, the site received about six million page views a week." -- From The New York Times

(Nola.com is the Web site of The Times-Picayune, the daily newspaper of New Orleans.)

I remember someone from the Gannett company telling me last fall how the hurricanes that swept up across the Florida Panhandle that season had taught several newspapers in that area about the value of their Web sites. Some people in the news business are still clinging to an idea that the newspaper needs to be printed on paper. When you see how many people come to your Web site in the midst of a crisis, you might get a different idea.

The Role of the Press

You might think journalists are not in a profession that provides an important public service. I would say you are mistaken.

[quote] By midmorning on Tuesday, "you couldn't walk out the building without walking in water up to your waist at this point," said Peter Kovacs, the managing editor for news operations [at The Times-Picayune newspaper, in New Orleans]. As the water rose, Mr. Amoss and the publisher, Ashton Phelps Jr., devised a plan to leave from the loading docks, using the newspaper's delivery trucks.

"Editors were barking orders through the newsroom and cafeteria, where some were still eating breakfast, to grab what you could put on your lap and move to the loading dock," Mr. Amoss said. About six laptops were carried out. Mr. Kovacs snapped up his toothbrush, a college T-shirt and a cigar.

At 9:40 a.m., the newspaper's Web site displayed this post, clearly punched out in haste: "The Times-Picayune is evacuating it's New Orleans building. Water continues to rise around our building, as it is throughout the region. We want to evaucate our employees and families while we are still able to safely leave our building."

As the trucks were pulling out, Alex Brandon, a photographer, returned to the building with a computer storage card full of photographs. He trudged and swam through the water, handing over the card, said Doug Parker, the photography editor, then returned to work. "He's still on the streets of New Orleans, hasn't had a shower since Monday," Mr. Parker said. [end quote]

More of the story at The New York Times.

Now, there's no doubt in my mind that The Times-Picayune will get a Pulitzer Prize for this. But that's not why journalists do this. You don't risk your life to get a stupid prize. That is not why they do it.

The Government Knew

The National Weather Service knew how bad the storm damage would be before it hit. On Aug. 28, Sunday. They knew then.

So why was our national government not prepared? Where was the head of FEMA when this message went out? Didn't anyone call him?

Didn't anyone tell the President to get his people in gear for a major national disaster? If they did tell him, why didn't he act more quickly? (Maybe because he knew his buddy Trent Lott was not sitting there, about to get smashed by the storm? After all, Trent Lott is representative of all other Americans, isn't he?)

Why weren't the National Guard troops standing by, ready to rush in and help people in need as soon as the worst danger was over?

Marching on New Orleans

[quote] The entire city of New Orleans is under evacuation orders. I just spoke to my friend Daniel in the Bywater (9th ward). He reports that unmarked police vehicles (cadillacs) are driving through the neighborhood with SWAT team police armed with ‘big black machine guns’ telling people through bullhorns they are under orders to evacuate and must leave the city now. People in that neighborhood are being told to go to the big pool on the corner of Lesseps and St. Claude (this is one block from my house) to be airlifted out, tho people are allowed to leave by their own means if they can. He reports helicopters all over the place of all kinds - everything from large Army helicopters with guns to Red Cross helicopters - they are swooping down low in the neighborhood and ‘buzzing’ houses - he said one just flew low enough over him to blow shingles off the roof. He is starting to see National Guardsmen marching through the streets with guns to make sure people obey evacuation orders. [end quote]

More at getyouracton.com. Posted there on Sept. 5, 2005.

I cannot imagine how scary this must be. I mean, you lost your house, you lost everything you own in the world, and now soldiers are marching down your street. This has happened to many people in many other countries around the world, of course. Usually during a war, or during a foreign occupation.

Red Cross Reports on Itself

The American Red Cross has posted a set of photos of relief efforts on its Web site.

The organization also has a well-written text list about what it is doing and what has been done so far.

This is a very intelligent use of the Web by this organization, in my opinion.

This Choked Me Up

Do You Know What It Means to Lose New Orleans?

An Op-Ed column by Anne Rice, in The New York Times, Sept. 4, 2005

New Orleans: "Little Somalia"

"'This place is going to look like Little Somalia,' Brig. Gen. Gary Jones, commander of the Louisiana National Guard's Joint Task Force told Army Times Friday as hundreds of armed troops under his charge prepared to launch a massive citywide security mission from a staging area outside the Louisiana Superdome. 'We're going to go out and take this city back. This will be a combat operation to get this city under control.'"

From ArmyTimes.com, Sept. 2, 2005

Photographers in Peril

The National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) published an account of photojournalists being robbed and even beaten in hurricane-ravaged areas.

You have to keep in mind that these are the guys who go into war zones. They send us photos from places where bullets are literally whizzing past their ears while they make pictures to show us what reality is, far away.

They are worried for their safety. Here. In the United States. Today.

Red Cross Improves Home Page

Better today, but perhaps they do not realize that their page is still very graphics-heavy. All their buttons are individual graphics, a very clumsy design style that has been out of favor for at least two years now.

Blogger News Network

I have been following Kaye Trammell's hurricane blog:

"We bloggers don't want to spread rumors or give them new life. We honestly want to share information - as we get it - so that others know what is happening on the ground. That said, we are not reporters. We don't have a full staff of fact checkers working for us. We are only as good as our intuition & information."

Well said, Kaye.

Many of the bloggers' reports in this emergency have been very, very good.

No Help for U.S. Poor and Needy

Leonard Witt highlighted a very sad fact about why tens of thousands (!) of people are still in New Orleans today. I echo his question: "Is this my America?"

Crisis Web Pages

The American Red Cross has a 122 KB image on its home page:

Thousands of people who want to donate to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina must wait more than a minute (on a fast connection) for this page to open up. There are LOTS of images on this page.

And some people say public relations professionals don't need to know Web design. Ha!

To donate to the American Red Cross, you can go straight to their donation page.

For other suggestions about donating, see Charity Navigator.