Monthly Archives: August 2008

The ad is a lie

Posted on August 31, 2008 by Rakesh Agrawal

While watching the Olympics, I was struck by a gorgeous animated ad. A lobster conducts an orchestra of other sea creatures playing Gershwin. As soon as I recognized Rhapsody in Blue, I knew it had to be a United Airlines … Continue reading →

Posted in advertising, airlines, travel | 2 Comments

The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming!

Posted on August 27, 2008 by Rakesh Agrawal

I’ve long advocated that news organizations geotag the news. But I’ve been skeptical of automated systems for doing this. Google News recently provided a terrific example of what can happen when you use entity extraction for such a task: In … Continue reading →

Posted in geotagging, google, journalism, local search, maps, media, newspapers, web 2.0 | 4 Comments

All the news that’s fit to tweet

Posted on August 25, 2008 by Rakesh Agrawal

Local, local, local. It’s the new mantra for news. I was reminded of this last week after the train I was riding in struck a pedestrian. The event was insignificant to all but a few hundred, maybe a couple of … Continue reading →

Posted in journalism, media, newspapers, social networking, twitter, web 2, web 2.0 | 3 Comments

How’s the weather out there?

Posted on August 20, 2008 by Rakesh Agrawal

One of the things that takes getting used to living in the Bay Area is the many microclimates. Temperatures and conditions can vary dramatically within a few miles. I was deciding whether to head out to the Beach Chalet, a … Continue reading →

Posted in geotagging, google, maps, social networking, twitter, web 2.0 | 1 Comment

NYT pays tribute to the best fake political team in television

Posted on August 17, 2008 by Rakesh Agrawal

The New York Times ran a great profile of fake news purveyor Jon Stewart this weekend. According to a 2007 Pew poll, Stewart was tied with real newsmen Brian Williams, Tom Brokaw, Andersen Cooper and Dan Rather for #4 as … Continue reading →

Posted in journalism, media, television, video, YouTube | Comments Off on NYT pays tribute to the best fake political team in television