There s a new look over at and I think it s one of the better blog designs I ve seen. The cool blue tones blend well with the Photoshopped olive into the giant swizzle stick from the that extends to the bottom of the page. It s a nice break from the all-too-similar formats I normally run across in my regular blog diet.
And Erik launched it before it was completely ready, apparently in the hope that someone could help him troubleshoot a sticky issue in the graphic. As an example of how collaborative the local community can be, he got the advice he needed from in short order.
noted that the look "surpasses all of the local martini bars for the ultimate Tacoma martini.
" Agreed. It s yet another sign of the creativity that good bloggers are displaying and how you need more than just words to make your blog regular stop for readers.
It's almost September, which means it's almost time for the Puyallup Fair.
Wandering over to the today, two things caught me:
1. The Fair translated the basic information for the Fair into Spanish and published it on a . That's a nice service.
2. The Fair appears to have two web sites: and . Apparently the slogan for 2006 is "It's a Doozy" and there are Doozy Deals, a Ta-Doozy list and Doozy news.
It's curious why, with the best URL for a fair in the land, the Fair folks would go for a re-brand this year around the word Doozy. Here's a comment I posted on Exit133 this morning, playing off a that I will be emailing to all the TNT bloggers.
Isn't it fun to watch - and be a part of - evolution as it's happening?
Great post, Derek. As the TNT reporters have taken to the blogosphere, one of the awkward things they now accept is that it is OK and, in fact, encouraged to link to other sites, even if they are seen as "competition" (as in the Seattle papers).
It doesn't happen in print often, of course.
Our paper has proven much more likely to credit a local blog as a source than another newspaper, as Kevin's frequent ink illustrates.
The blogosphere is, if nothing else, brutally transparent. There's no hiding so bloggers and reporters should realize that if they consistently refuse to cite sources of inspiration, they'll get called to the carpet.
If common courtesy doesn't motivate you to give credit where credit is due, the spectacle of a public "outing" probably will. Newspapers have long been dogged for getting left in the dust in the technology innovation race. That trend could be changing these days and for proof, look to Sarasota, Fla.
for a project that rivals anything Google, Yahoo! or anyone else has come up with in terms of massive information in a usable interface.
It s called and it s the brainchild of Herald-Tribune investigative reporter Maurice Tamman and web producer Charlie Szymanski.
Check out the site to see what's happening with Ernesto today.
originally began last summer as a project on property tax inequities. We looked at all the standard ways of displaying data and they were wholly unsatisfying, Tamman said.
So the decision was made to use the Google Map technology (OK, so that kind of blows my lead, but you get the idea). And when Hurricane Wilma began to threaten southwest Florida the decision was made to include a damage reporting system on top of the property data. Then wind data was included, then weather alerts, then a track of every major storm that s ever been tracked.
The result? A robust, navigable and incredibly rich data set all plotted on any detail of a map a user might want. Impressive, to say the least.
A lot of the weather sites give information in the way meteorologists expect it, which doesn t work for lots of people, Tamman said. This site allows us to give information dynamically in a way that newspapers traditionally do it.
Tamman, who previously worked as a database editor at the Atlanta Journal Constitution, did the database work for the site while Szymanski handled the web development.
It has been a labor of love and the payoff comes in page views, especially when another storm begins to threaten the Sunshine State. When we have storms, it goes gangbusters, Tamman said.
It s been a lot of fun.
It has really pushed me to very limits, Tamman said.
But, he conceded, my wife is utterly fed up with it.
Fort Lewis has one of the best newspapers in the military.
It s a perennial award-winner and the newspaper s received an upgrade recently when it added online video to its content menu.
The clips offer a glimpse at life in Iraq for Fort Lewis soldiers who are stationed there, both in Baghdad and Mosul. And there s video of soldiers digging a fire line to protect homes from a forest fire near Winthrop.
The better-than-YouTube quality illustrates how online video is evolving. Even military public information folks are getting the skillz, too.
And speaking of YouTube, the "guitar guy" has finally been named.
This about his was the most popular story on the Gray Lady s web site today.
If you haven t been to the state s for tourism lately (you know, Say WA ), then you haven t seen the big-time props T-town is getting on the homepage. In addition to topical categories such as Wineries, The Great Outdoors and Lighthouses is well, Tacoma.
But wait. Hit refresh on your browser and it s gone, replaced by Port Angeles. Hit refresh again and you get Tacoma Museums.
What? Two of the four area-specific promos ( San Juan Islands" is the other) are targeting our fair burg?
That s pretty cool, I guess.
Especially for those out-of-town guests on their way here to stay with you (because it s free) but only interested in seeing Seattle. Just email them the link to the official travel site. Nothing impresses like a bureaucrat-produced web project, right?
Actually, this site is really well-done - if you don t mind waiting a few seconds for the Flash goodies to load. (I know, it s probably still faster than our own non-Flash ). There are lots of pretty pictures and a very elegant user interface.
If nothing else, it makes up for the lame slogan the state s promoting.
A in today's Economist is already writing the epitaph for newspapers. This is just the latest "lay me down to rest" story about the industry that signs my paycheck, of course.
But it does make an interesting parallel with the first and last paragraph.
A GOOD newspaper, I suppose, is a nation talking to itself, mused Arthur Miller in 1961. .
.. An elite group of serious newspapers available everywhere online, independent journalism backed by charities, thousands of fired-up bloggers and well-informed citizen journalists: there is every sign that Arthur Miller's national conversation will be louder than ever.
"
The economic picture for newspapers has been cloudy for years, but high-minded newspaper journalists have always felt their craft was "needed" and, therefore, would always be financially solvent in some way. But this article outlines a world where the accountability and community that have been provided by newspapers remain while the newspapers themselves - most of them, anyway - do not.
Ironically, just yesterday, we had a session here at the TNT on evolution of our company.
We're not dead yet, of course, but we can read the writing on the wall.
no stranger to you if you re reading this or any other local blog deserves recognition for pushing a blogosphere conversation offline and into the eyes of newspaper readers and in front of the city powers. It s a testament to how a blog can spur a conversation that, if done with the care and feeding Kevin demonstrates, has the potential to chart the course for a neighborhood, a town or even a city.
Or as :
This issue has helped breach the topic of urging our city government toward new ways of gathering feedback (cough--blogs!) and staying better in touch with the citizens of Tacoma.
The most impressive aspect of the local blogs that have emerged in Tacoma is their appreciation and support for their hometown.
Blogs are seen by many to be mean-spirited soapbox centrals, but Tacoma s local blog lineup proves that isn t always so.
For a report on the council's decision, go .
In countering my , wrote in to advise us that he's been publishing an online journal since before the turn of the century, well before the first posts of Crazy Apple Rumors went online.
Seeing how much conversation with his name change on Pacific Plaza, he not only would have a seat at the table of the preeminent local bloggers, he'd likely be sitting near the front (Full disclosure: Kevin did some programming on a contract basis for the TNT last year).
If we did have a contest for "local blog godfather," what would be the criteria? Online longest?
Most posts? Most comments? Biggest audience?
All of the above?
Who knows. As this space evolves I can see more local blogs winning new awards and earning prominence in one niche or another.
Now that the local blogosphere is beginning to mature, I often wonder who is the godfather of local bloggers?
Until someone tells me otherwise, I d suggest it s John Moltz, a North-end resident who has been producing the since December of 2001. (Full disclosure: John's wife works at the TNT and told me about this site.
) Its aim is to feed the apparently insatiable appetite for anything related to Apple Computers and it does it with wit, irreverence and personality. Consider this recent entry:
Since last Monday s WWDC keynote, Apple pundits have been falling over themselves attempting to explain what many felt was a lackluster performance by Apple and CEO Steve Jobs.
Some fear that the company has simply fallen behind the curve and that - contrary to Jobs protestation that he couldn t reveal Leopard s secrets because Microsoft was watching - Apple s upcoming operating system simply doesn t have any exciting secrets.
Others even believed that a poor keynote meant that Jobs might be sick.
But Crazy Apple Rumors Site sources close to the Apple CEO revealed over the weekend that the keynote was sub-par simply because Jobs had his period.
Someone complained on our site yesterday that none of the TNT blogs have enough personality in them to be interesting.
That might be true, if your taste for blogs runs more in the flavor of . In fact, there s enough personality in that blog to make for interesting reading even if you don t care one ounce about Apple Computers.
And the proof is in the payola.
Moltz told me via email he makes enough money on this blog to work part-time at his real job and has been surprised at how generous his readers have been.
I've never solicited donations other than just having a PayPal link sitting there in the sidebar, but I've gotten sporadic donations of amounts from $5 to $100. It's nice to get email saying how much they enjoy the site and it's great to get someone who's willing to dump $100 on you!
In case you couldn t tell by all the signs propagating near sidewalks around town, election season is upon us. The web, of course, has become an increasingly powerful tool in for politics and campaigns. Joe Lieberman s recent to a couple of web sites ( and ) for example.
But it s not just partisan politics that are looking to harness the power of the web. A nonpartisan group recently launched a web site called to assist voters with their votes for statewide judicial races.
Don t expect any fiery rhetoric on this site (after all, judicial races are usually pretty bland).
Its purpose is the present balanced information from a diverse collection of sources to help you cast an informed vote in the Sept. 19 primary. Here s how the press release breaks it down:
Voters find it difficult to evaluate judicial candidates because the races tend to be low-key affairs without significant campaign funding.
Although judicial races are gaining higher visibility in recent years, voters are not accustomed to evaluating judges or finding information about the candidates. The purpose of Votingforjudges.org is to gather together information in one place to make it easier to choose the best candidate.
We ll publish our own online voter s guide in a few weeks, providing all local candidates a chance to make their case in their own words. Watch for it.
What s the lowest price per gallon for gas in your neighborhood?
There are a couple ways to find out. You could always drive around and compare, but that wastes gas so it seems a bit counterproductive. You could ask you neighbors and friends, but not everyone is obsessed with the price per gallon and simply fill up wherever it s most convenient.
Or you could use the web.
Harnessing the power of the people or the wisdom of the crowd both and rely on users to submit new price points into a database that can then be searched by other users. So in effect, they use technology to combine the first two approaches I outlined driving around, scoping the neighborhood, and talking with others.
So, you re thinking, get to the point. Where is the cheapest gas in town?
Gaspricewatch.
com turned up $2.79 a gallon at an AM/PM on Portland Ave., while tacomagaspricess.
com found the same price at Costco.
Me? I'd rather grab a hot dog at Costco than AM/PM.
Most of the local blogosphere I ve encountered in Tacoma focuses on a very narrow slice of the north end and downtown. Fortunately for residents in the south, there is a blogger who is representing.
Jack Cameron started the in May 2005.
His original goal was to focus on people more than events and on the good sides of Tacoma that always don t get noticed, but he has given extra attention to sometimes anonymous (or ignored) victims of violent crime.
Recently I asked Cameron via email what he d learned from his year-plus of blogging.
What's really amazed me is the feedback I've received.
I've received emails from people around the world, some former residents, others looking for a new place to live and learning about Tacoma through my site. Also with my section dedicated to Tacoma homicides, I have received a couple of emails from out of state family members of the victims who were glad to know that their loved ones didn't die anonymous deaths.
It s a valuable addition to the ever-growing lineup of local blogs and worth a tour.
Seth Kolloen, co-editor of (a prominent local blog from Sea-town), appeared on last night to discuss the blogosphere and what Seattleites could learn from local blogs. The collective assessment of local blogs: they re often grumpy and sometimes humorous.
Interesting, because I would characterize the South Sound blogosphere as displaying more insight, less grump.
(With occasional humor as a bonus.)
He covered the usual suspects of politics and mentioned a music blog and a food blog. He also touted a Mariners blog and Sonics blog, but no Seahawks blog was offered, which is interesting since the Seattlest fawned over Mike Sando s Seahawks blog a few months ago (see .
)
To listen to the broadcast, go . For links to the blogs mentioned on the show, go .
Boy, this is a .
Bob Burton retired from his City of Tacoma job to fulfill his dream of cycling across the country. Tragically he was killed Tuesday when a vehicle struck him in Wisconsin.
Fortunately for those who knew and loved him, he and wife had been keeping up a and an .
While the loss must be excruciating, the preservation of the words and images of his last days is truly priceless.
Much to my wife s dismay, I haven t been able to completely leave behind the taste for heavy metal that got me through adolescence. Fortunately for me and other metalheads - both in and out of the closet we have a radio station called the in the South Sound.
Since it s run by radio mega corporation , it also has a cool if you can get past the garish colors and moving animations thanks to a robust offering of music videos. The Video Vault has a seemingly endless list of titles, and is not limited to the headbanging variety. There s Reba McIntire and R.
E.M. right next to Rob Zombie.
The site also offers the usual radio station suspects: live streaming, upcoming concert list, etc. But there s also an InterActive section with a feature called HotPick or UglyStick, which is apparently a knock-off of the old , plus video games, weird news and dirty jokes. (There s also a Babe Page but you didn t hear it from me.
)
The site and the station represent positive strides for Clear Channel, a company demonized over the past few years for automating the life out of radio and contributing to the demise of the entire music industry. (For more about that, check out .) People love pictures.
Our photographers (and reporters) have been producing more and more slideshows latesly. This makes sense since it takes advantage of what we're already doing - taking pictures of people and talking to them. Sometimes we even ask others to contribute.
- Dean Koepfler documents the raising of the first section of the new deck.
- Kids share their thoughts and photos.
Apparently you can be No.
1 simply by saying so.
You may have seen a bus-side billboard around town advertising Tacoma s No. 1 job site.
It s called , and I m guessing that like me, you ve never heard of this site before.
Just for fun, I went to the site to see how many listings they had for our area. Selecting Tacoma-Olympia in the dropdown menu, I was presented with , mostly at Safeway.
Clicking over to our jobs site, you ll find . On craigslist, searching for Tacoma, you ll find .
Apparently the site on an statistics in the Portland area, where the site is based.
Which is fine, but it still doesn t explain how you can in good conscience advertise yourself as Tacoma s No. 1 job site. In Tacoma.
So where would you turn if you were looking for a job?
BONUS: Something you may not know about the jobs section on our site: it s the most popular section, with more traffic every month than our homepage.
Prefer email to RSS?
Try Bot A Blog
If that sounds like you, then head over to and start entering URLs. It s a free service that conveniently sends you a simple text email when a blog you ve signed up for has a new post, complete with headline and first sentence.
This is especially helpful for those blogs who don t update often enough to warrant an RSS feed.
Hence, the name: it's a feed of Tacoma blog items.
The goal, according to Freitas, is to offer "the right content categories so the FeedTacoma mix isn't too much of one thing or another."
It's a good idea on how to display several blogs that have something in common (in this case Tacoma).
I've asked some people smarter than me here to see if we could display all the the same way.
Local true crime author Gregg Olsen (who lives in ) has launched a new blog called . He teamed up with fellow author M.
William Phelps to create a site that allows true crime fans to trade theories, comments and, naturally, rants.
Every day I get emails from readers digging for what I really think of the people I write about, Olsen told me via email. Blogging on Crime Rant has given my true crime readers the opportunity to weigh in with what's on their mind.
Olsen launched the blog two months ago and readers from around the world have already found the site. He says he s learned a lot from the blog, and it struck me how similar his impressions are to those that our writers at the TNT have learned since entering the world of blogging.
The interesting thing about blogging is that people just want to be heard, share their stories, tell others what they think, Olsen said.
They like the connection to the author and others who share their interests.
That's been our experience, too. So even though it may seem like we've launched a ton of lately, there will still be more to come.
Do you like music, dogs, computers and attitude? Then you should add to your bookmarks or RSS feed.
The blog s author, Corey Knafelz, is a former web developer at who now works for REI.
He told me via email he s been publishing the site in one form or another for about seven years.
It's mainly a toy for me as time permits, he says.
The site is actually and was very early on, a Flash toy playground.
From about 2002-2005, the site was mainly a rock concert photo blog.
I especially like the concert reviews. After all, can t make it to every show that plays locally.
came up with an intriguing idea the other day. Now that we're launching blogs faster than the Sonics are leaving town, why don't we start a blog focused on suburban living? Our talks about "urban living," but what about those poor souls (I used to live in the suburbs, but thankfully don't anymore) who have to drive in traffic, past strip malls and live behind the hedges?
Surely they need some guidance and commiseration.
If you've seen one, . 
I m not exactly a jet-setter but I do get to the airport a handful of times a year. And my limited impression is that we in the Puget Sound are cursed with one of the country s least convenient airports. I could go on about the marathon waits at baggage claim and security checkpoints, but my purpose here is to discuss web stuff so let s try to stay on task.
The airport s isn t pretty, but it s effective, and I m always in favor of substance over style. A handy box in the top right gives you access to flight status, traffic, weather and security wait times. Looks good on the surface, but is the information accurate?
The worked pretty well. I was blogging from the airport earlier because my flight was delayed and the database was kind enough to tell me (now if I were only smart enough to have checked it BEFORE coming to the airport). It also provided a little map of where my gate is.
The traffic link goes the (not surprisingly) so it s as accurate as you can get. The weather link goes to , which is weird. Since when did KOMO become the weather report of record for the Puget Sound region?
Maybe they just like .
The takes you to a national government page and asks you to select a state, airport and day and time of flight. So right away you know the information is an aggregate, and not accurate.
I waited more than 30 minutes to get through the screening process (laptop out, belt off, shoes off) while this page told me the wait would be closer to 13 minutes.
All in all, though, the web site is worth visiting before heading to the airport. Now if they could just engineer it so you don t have to touch anything, it would be just like using the airport restroom.
Did you know that there are almost a dozen skate parks in Pierce County? Or that there is and a ?
Well, I didn t know any of that until I visited (on a tip from Jon Graef of the Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Commission).
It s a helpful site with in the area, , a and more.
Check it out if you ve been itching to get active lately. It s a great resource.
He will use this blog to track the evolution of the local webosphere and other emerging trends that are important to the South Sound region.
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