Inquirer: My first couch surfing experience

A full-length travel story of mine focused on the five year anniversary of CouchSurfing.com at first destined for the Philadelphia Inquirer last January never found a home there. After a back and forth, I went another direction and it got a tad stale for the daily’s travel editor.

So, because I’ve shared other stories that didn’t run as planned, I’ll do so today. Additionally, as always, I also like to share some grafs that were reworked and items I cut from my original story, which also can be seen below.

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Why mobile matters

Most usually, when I’m speaking on an issue related to media convergence or the future of news or other fun related topics, the subject of mobile technology comes up.

In poorer rural and urban communities where the first wave of household IT infrastructure passed by, the notion that smart phones and other Web-capable handheld devices — which are cheaper, more ubiquitous and often more socially and culturally prized than a home PC — just may transform the so-called digital divide is hot conversation.

But it’s worth revisiting the depths of why that is.

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Reading: ‘City of Brotherly Mayhem’ by Ron Avery

‘City of Brotherly Mayhem‘ is a collection of short reflections, culled from old newspaper clippings, on more than a dozen more prominent crimes and murders in Philadelphia between the 1860s and the 1970s.

Written by longtime Philadelphia newspaperman Ron Avery, the book is short on design and polish, but serves as a good piece connecting the dots on some important cultural moments in Philadelphia’s modern history.

Find it on Google Books here.

Some of the more interesting highlights:

NewsWorks: WHYY will announce new hyperlocal news initiative for northwest Philadelphia

Updated 4/13/10 @ 8:50 a.m.: Regionally-specific hyperlocal is just part of the broader system

WHYY, the public media station for the Delaware Valley region, is hoping a $1.2 million hyperlocal news initiative for the northwest region of Philadelphia will be the first successful bold Web-first journalism effort from a legacy media player.

Updated: That northwest hyperlocal is just one very large, very expensive trial vertical within a larger rollout.

But will “NewsWorks” go the way of a handful of its predecessors?

Continue reading NewsWorks: WHYY will announce new hyperlocal news initiative for northwest Philadelphia

Gigabit Philly for Google on 900 AM WURD Carole’s Technology Corner

With new host James Cartwright on Carole's Corner on Technology, on March 31, 2010.

After a few months since my first appearance on Carole’s Technology Corner, an hour-long Wednesday radio show on 900 AM WURD, I was asked back tonight, focusing largely on a collaboration of Philadelphians pursuing Google money for a super high-speed broadband network.

The fill-in host was James Cartwright, a former IT specialist for the City of Philadelphia.

Because of some difficulties, the audio wasn’t available to be sent my way.

Technically Philly stories that were picked up by others

When I hear from community members, readers and casual observers of the topically-focused, community-orientated Technically Philly news site I’ve helped grow over the past 14 months or so, I hear about it being a platform.

Yes, we offer the coverage on the city’s technology policy and trends in the region’s digital divide like no one else in the market, but increasingly I’m told about our value as a voice box for the growing cluster of startups, innovators and technologists who are calling Philadelphia home.

It struck me that someone ought to be tracking the stories that we find that bubble up through larger regional and national publications. It’s a role we very happily play, both for the city and for the companies and leaders we cover.

Below, some of the more notable examples, a list I hope to update in the future, if only for my own curiosity.

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Introducing the 67th ward

[Updated: URL is dead, now go here.]

With a bit of a twinkle in our eyes, my colleagues Brian James Kirk and Sean Blanda, today, we launch a small testament to our love for that city that lives in Philadelphia’s historic shadow: New York.

Today, we launch the 67th ward.

It’s not much now and probably won’t be in the future. Just a small landing page for a mentality.

Yes, it comes from that old New York Times trend story that chronicled — in a somewhat condescending tone — the young people from that city, particularly Brooklyn, who were migrating to old transitioning neighborhoods of Philadelphia.

Philadelphia, the story suggested, was the ‘next borough’ so the ‘sixth borough.’

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A lesson in branding for startups

I’ve squabbled with people over domains and publication names, of projects and story titles.

There was a moment of inaction in creating the technology news site for Philadelphia that I am now proud to say continues to take on readership and bring on partners. Technically Philly certainly isn’t descriptive on its own and makes for a fairly long domain. But I like to think we’ve developed some degree of brand recognition. That name means technology and innovation coverage to a few thousand people in Philadelphia.

The secret is, I think, that within reason, if you brand it, they will come.

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Freelancers: the rules and tricks of deducting your home expenses on your taxes

The federal tax deadline is barreling toward us. I thought I’d share what little I know and what I’m reading about deducting home expenses for those of us who have done just that this fiscal year.

It’s a great way to keep your home costs down, but, of course, the rules are a bit more involved than they might seem. Some great reading below:

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Choose your business name on domain availability

When you’re launching a business or a brand, a check for domain availability has to be part of the brainstorming.

I worked with Shannon McDonald to launch a hyperlocal news site for Northeast Philadelphia. Initially in late 2008, she wanted the product to be the Web presence of a print product she wanted to call NEast Magazine.

It’s not where we ended up.

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