Anyone who pays attention to the tech world knows that a second-generation iPad will be unveiled on Wednesday. In the blogosphere, the rumor mill has it that the new device will boast a camera and a faster processor. It will also be thinner and smaller, the bloggers say, and it may come in white. As someone who can never own too many tech toys, I find myself strangely disinterested. It happens that I like my decrepit, first-generation iPad. A year… Read More »
On Sunday, I wrote – here – about the challenges and uncertainties of journalism in the digital age. Now comes the news that AOL will purchase The Huffington Post – a site that combines liberal politics with celebrity gossip – for $315 million. The announcement said that HuffPo’s founder, liberal activist and talk-show celebrity Arianna Huffington, will be placed in charge of content at AOL. It’s no surprise that tech, business and journalism blogs this morning are alive with conversations… Read More »
I spent the morning contemplating the deeper meanings of Tuesday’s election - just me and a zillion other orange-clad fanatics lined up on the streets of San Francisco. For the San Francisco Giants’ World Series victory parade, people went nuts. The buzz of vuvuzelas, horns, sirens, costumes, cheering, chanting. (Oo-ree-bay! Oo-ree-bay!) So much fun. Home again and once more serious, I offer this random download on Tuesday’s results: – So much for slates. The resident political camps wanted Santa Rosa… Read More »
Thirty years ago, as a member of the Capitol Press Corps, I covered the administration of a governor named Jerry Brown. A.P. just projected that the next governor of California has the same name. What a coincidence. Yes, it’s the same guy I first wrote about in 1974. Click here for my March column on Brown’s comeback. And please ignore the accompanying photo.
Pundits today are calling it by all kinds of names – rout, tsunami, massacre, earthquake. Whatever they call it, it seems clear that Republicans across the country will score a massive victory on Tuesday. The influential Web site, Politico, predicts Republicans will gain 60-plus seats in the House of Representatives, maybe more. Forecasts from The New York Times political blogger and statistician Nate Silver put the number at 53, but Silver says no one knows for sure. One way or… Read More »
We now have the final voter registration numbers for Tuesday’s election. If nothing else, they explain why Democratic candidates in the North Bay don’t lose much sleep in the days before an election. In Sonoma County, for example, there are more than twice as many registered Democrats as registered Republicans. The numbers also confirm that more voters are dissatisfied with both major parties. More than one in five California voters is officially decline-to-state. Here are the highlights for Sonoma County:… Read More »
I’ve been using an iPad since its introduction five months ago, and the experience has done nothing to diminish my initial enthusiasm. In most ways, it has replaced my laptop as my primary computer for mail, Web surfing, calendar, contacts and more. Tech blogs this week are talking about the likelihood that iPad sales are cannibalizing the sales of other computers – and I believe it. I know my enthusiasm for the latest laptop isn’t what it used to be.… Read More »
The next time someone complains to you about the high cost of litigation, tell them the story of Michelle and Kevin McCarthy. Last November, a crane fell on the Santa Rosa couple’s house. Being reasonable people, the McCarthys assumed that whoever was responsible for the accident would pay the damages in a reasonable amount of time. Wrong. Insurance companies are squabbling over who is most responsible, leaving the McCarthys (and their neighbors) stuck with the remains of a house waiting… Read More »
In last week’s column, I mentioned what is the most honest news show on television (even though it’s not a news show). Jon Stewart and “The Daily Show,” I wrote, “hold up a light to the bizarre nature of the current political debate.” Today, New York magazine publishes a profile of Stewart in a story that reminds us again how politics and television journalism have become a joke. Never mind that the joke is on us. In the profile, Brian… Read More »
I’m typing this into my iPad, using a wireless keyboard that qualifies as a full-sized keyboard in most respects. Yet it’s only nine inches wide, and it weighs just eight ounces. Once upon a time, a five- or six-pound laptop may have seemed a miraculous device, but after lugging it around for a few trips, it becomes a load. So, it’s easy to like the idea of traveling with an iPad – which weighs 1.5 pounds or 1.6 pounds, depending… Read More »
