We performed survey research on eight of the most discussed new business models for news, although we tried not to prescribe any of them as “the” solution. As countless others have pointed out, there will not be any single solution that will work for any or all news organizations, so it is instead important to understand how each might contribute to a new news organization structure. We hope to update the site periodically as events unfold in the industry, and will continue to post to our Publish2 newsgroup as we come across relevant new content.

We hope our research and summaries are useful to interested observers, especially those who may not have been following the issues at hand as closely as we have. Feel free to give feedback and let us know what you think.

Session #1: Who Uses the News and How?

Session #2: Preserving Local Journalism

Session #3: Publicly Owned and Operated Media

Session #4: Quest for Pay Models (minus most of Q&A)

This page will be updated throughout the day.

Over the past 6 months I’ve been installing new builds of Windows 7 every month or two on one of my laptops.

General Programs

The set of programs I install after each wipe:

• Microsoft Office (productivity suite)
• Firefox & Opera (web browsers)
• Trillian (multi-protocol IM client)
• Twhirl (Twitter client)
• Pandora desktop client (internet radio)
• iTunes (music for personal music device)
• Adobe Reader or Foxit (PDF reader)
• 7-zip (zip/tar archive creator/extractor)
• Sling Media Player (watch home TV from across internet)

Development Tools

I also have a bunch of development tools:

• WinSCP (FTP/SCP client)
• Putty (SSH client)
• XAMPP (LAMP stack)
• Python (programming language)
• VMWare Workstation (virtual machine environment)
• Komodo IDE (programming environment)
• TortoiseSVN and GIT (source control integration)
• Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, etc.)

There’s probably some that I’m missing, but those are all the ones that I use most often.

Conclusion

I think it’s safe to say that it’s near impossible to replace my development setup within my browser, but honestly “most” of the population doesn’t do such work.

On the general software side, I could probably get by with just a browser. Twitter, IM, Pandora, Office Web/Google Apps, etc. could replace many of the programs that I listed. I’d still have some issues with zip files and watching TV through my SlingBox, but my general needs could be satisfied. Yet I currently decide to use the desktop versions of these apps, because I can run them nicely in the background, with OS notifications, and automatic startup at system boot.

I’m curious to see what other people use and how readily they could forgo everything but a browser.

I’ve been a space enthusiast all my life, and have followed the Shuttle program since I watched John Glenn’s return to space in my 4th grade computer lab in 1998. I’ve watched most of the 34 shuttle launches since then, and have followed most of them very closely during the missions; I even woke up one Saturday morning at 5 a.m. to watch the daring repair of the International Space Station’s torn solar array panel.

However, I had never been down to see a launch in person, which I had heard was an incredible experience. When I saw that the STS-125 launch fell right in my off-week between school and my summer internship, I jumped at the opportunity to go down with my Dad (fellow space enthusiast) to see it. With the Shuttles retiring next year and only 8 flights remaining, I couldn’t be sure that I’d ever have such a perfect alignment with my personal schedule.

We spent roughly two hours at the Kennedy Space Center’s Visitor Complex, which is home to a number of exhibits and the Rocket Garden. Below you can find most of the non-duplicate pictures that I took in the Visitors area, including shots of the mock shuttle Explorer, the rockets in the Rocket Garden, the next-generation Orion crew capsule mockup, and a full-size LEGO version of the Mars Exploration Rovers (another of my favorite space missions).

Then around noon we headed out to the VIP launch viewing area, out on the Banana River Causeway about 5 miles from the launch pad, and the closet people can get if not a member of the press or under the employment of NASA. We then proceeded to wait for about 2 hours in the record 95 degree heat, the shade of our umbrella making it barely tolerable.

But in the end, it was absolutely worth it. It only lasted a few minutes, but it was an awe inspiring sight. I tried to grab a few pictures as best I could, but also wanted to take it in with my own eyes.  Pictures are below.

At liftoff, the shuttle and pad were enshrouded with smoke/water vapor, but it quickly cleared the towers. The exhaust plume is as bright as the sun, leaving an afterimage on the retina, something which definitely is not captured properly in the limited dynamic range of digital still and video cameras.

It took what seemed like a long time, but was probably only 5–10 seconds, for the sound waves to hit us. They dump enormous amounts of water under the pad before ignition, which serves to suppress vibration and noise from the initial liftoff, so only once the shuttle started rolling to the east did the sound really reach us. You literally feel it in your bones, like the loudest sub-woofer you’ve ever heard.

Eventually all we could see was a bright dot of light, then the solid rocket boosters fell away and it was mostly lost to sight. Then the thousands of people on the beach make a run for their cars and buses. Three hours later we finally got back to our hotel. Lots of travel for only a few minutes, but it was totally worth it and I’d love to do it again if given the opportunity. Especially for a night launch.

Launch Pics

Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex

P.S. If anyone wants to help with a logo/header for this blog, I’d be eternally grateful.