Friday, April 28, 2006

Blogging In China: Cultural Differences

The number of Internet users in China is increasing at a rapid rate.  The Internet opens up a whole new world of opportunities and knowledge for its users.  In China, a country where self-expression and outspoken criticism has long been a calling card for some harsh consequences, the opportunity to “blog” has provided a new avenue for people’s thoughts and feelings.

Some Chinese people are having a tough time adjusting to this newfound freedom.  An article from Xinhuanet.com shows that many Chinese people are discontinuing their blogs due to unwanted criticism from readers.

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Thursday, April 27, 2006

A Small Update To Our Homepage Today

Today we introduce a few changes to our homepage and introduce a couple of new elements. The biggest change we made is moving the category and archive links from the sidebar to a new and improved big footer. This gave us room to better show our portfolio which, until this point, was hidden away like a DVD Easter Egg you might find by clicking the correct combination of six clicks. Now our portfolio is front and center so you shouldn’t have any trouble locating it or ever wondered if it even existed. You can also now subscribe to our blog via email. If you do, you’ll receive one email a day with all of that day’s blog entries. Our RSS feed is still available, but we wanted to offer the email option so that those of you who prefer email can still subscribe. We hope the changes make for a better experience when visiting our site.

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Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Let’s Not Raise A New Generation of Couch Potatoes

This is disturbing. Researchers from the Harvard School for Public Health and Children’s Hospital Boston have determined that kids eat an equivalent of a bag of potato chips (167 calories) for every hour they watch television. The study concluded that children who watch more television have a significantly increased chance of becoming overweight. If anyone wants validation that advertising works to this age group, the study also revealed, “children were eating significantly larger quantities of the snacks, sweets and fast foods that they had seen advertised most frequently on television.” I became aware of the study yesterday through a post on Boing Boing, but the story has spread quickly. Take your pick:

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Tuesday, April 25, 2006

A Crash Course On Distractions

I saw someone weaving across the centerline on a two-way road this morning. It wasn’t long ago that I would have assumed I was behind a drunken driver. This was not the case, and as I passed the car it was clear—the driver was on a cell phone and attempting to write something at the same time. The distractions available to drivers today are numerous. A recent CBS News story highlights the problem.

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Monday, April 24, 2006

Knight-Ridder Newspaper Guilds Head to the Web

It remains a waiting game for the 12 Knight-Ridder newspapers that will be sold by McClatchy Company, their soon-to-be (but temporary) owner.

One bidder is Yucaipa Companies, which has partnered with the Newspaper Guild, the union that represents employees at eight of the 12 papers. To promote awareness for their effort, local Newspaper Guild organizations have turned to the web with sites such as 2 Paper Town, Save the News Tribune and Save the Herald. Most feature an online petition for supporters.

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