Video impact?

You can read the story behind my blog at: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/26/technology/26satellite.html?ref=business.

The title of this article has to do with video possibly helping the Sirus, XM merger. The ironic part of the hole story is that it took eight paragraphs for them to actually start talking about video. Hello, isn't the whole point of the article about video! Any way. The boring article was filled with stats about XM and Sirus, and then there was a mention about videos. Don't they have editors to catch these sorts of things?

Flop times 2

Read all about JetBlue's big mess up at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/19/business/19jetblue.html?ref=business

Oh no! was the theme of the article written about JetBlue's major mess up with an understaffed, and potentially underqualified employee's, landed them in a major hole. The aritlce was very strong on telling us what was going on with JetBlue, all the details about what went wrong and what they are going to do about it.
Problem, this article is a snoozer. This is a big freakin' deal. Lots of people who needed to get from point A to point B, didn't make it there, because of a major malfunction in the communication process with this business. This sounds like a big deal, that could potentially put this company out of business.
I really never got that feeling from the article. It just told me the facts. Why not add a little flair, and say some personal stories about how greatly people were affected. It would have kept me from dozing during the story.

Game plan:
Story slug and type of story (i.e. consumer):
Alternate sources of energy and how they are becoming economically feasible. (consumer)

Source of story idea (if article, news release, etc. will need to see actual copy): Multiple news articles found in The Wall Street Journal Report on Energy on Friday, February 9, 2007

Why story idea is unique/relevant: With rising gas prices it is important to know where else we can turn for energy; especially those that are better for our environment.

Primary audience: Car drivers/home owners
Secondary audience: Business owners

Story news peg (why is this news now, why I’m doing the story now): In the winter we use a lot more energy to hear our homes, and basically stay alive. Energy required to run things is more valuable in the winter than in the summer.

Focus of story: Consumer focused on car drivers and home owners who require a lot of energy, and sources, for operation.
Sources (remember, a minimum of three human sources needed) and why this person (what questions they can answer, stats provide, etc.):
Expert: Ryan Brown, Indiana Department of Energy and Defense, Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, rbrown@oed.in.gov or 1-317-232-8961. Official: Dr. Wally Tyner, Purdue University Agricultural Economics Professor with an emphasis in energy, wtyner@purdue.edu or (765) 494-0199
Real person: Brian Duckett – very energy aware human who just recently bought a hybrid car. bduckett@purdue.edu. Documents
Background:
Economic Green Journal - http://egj.lib.uidaho.edu/egj09/youngqu1.html
BP Alternative Energy Information - http://www.bp.com/modularhome.do?categoryId=7010&contentId=7026283
Stats or numbers needed and source of these:
Various IEA Energy statistics

What will reader take away from story: Basic knowledge on alternative energy sources; where to find them, how to use them, and how much they cost.


Service journalism box idea: Side-by-side comparison of bioenergies vs. non-renewable energy sources.

Clocky helps wake up the world.

I, personally, fall victim to the sneeze button on alarm clocks. When all you have to do is reach over and turn off the annoying sound that woke you from the peaceful slumber you were in; it is too hard to resist. Well, here comes clocks to save the day! Literally!

In a very short, but cute story, clocks is introduced to the world. This writer uses a feature lead to start telling us about how this little robotic alarm clock falls off of your nightshade and starts rolling around as it's alarm is sounding. This catchy lead follows a catchy title that lured me in to read the story.

This whole story is very quirky in how it was written, but that is because this alarm clock itself is a very quirky item. And even though this article is very short, that is the point. It says just enough about that product to get me interested, but I would still like to know more. Anyway, the other features that this product might have would be boring, and pale in comparison to the fact that this thing moves!

The writer also does a great job ending the story by telling us that it can survive small falls, but, "it is not guaranteed to withstand an assault by someone who has had to drag it out from under the bed." It all falls in line with the humor the whole story seems to hold.

New Farm Bill discussed on Marketplace

Today the Secretary of Agriculture introduced, and promoted the new Farm Bill. In it are new proposals for helping farmers who are in need, and just general information about farm assistance. Marketplace did a good job of evening the gap between farm business oriented people to the general public by explaining terms. They explained the general interests of the farm bill, and used general terms so that the information they were trying to pass on would be understood. They also used several different sound bites, which adds effectiveness to getting your point across.

How wow?

Here is the article I wrote about; which talks about the new Microsoft Vista.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/05/technology/05microsoft.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin

I think that the writer did a good job at the lead for this article. He(she) starts off with a flair lead that talks about the commercials that Microsoft has used to promote its new product. The commercial uses the term "wow", but the writer rebuttles that and says that it wasn't a wow. He then goes into talking about a comparison between Windows 95 and Vista. It is a lengthy summary, but a good one. The information is vital to back up his claim. All in all, I think that this writer did a good job at taking a claim and using good, understandable, facts for the reader to gain more knowledge from.