Author Archives: Steve Mays

Missouri Reality Stars

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One of the (perhaps THE) most important elements of a successful blog is focus. The narrower the better, and it really should be something you are passionate about. Missouri Reality Stars is a good example. From the About page:

“So I’ve been paying attention to pop culture for a long long time. I happened to notice that a lot of people on reality TV are from my home state…the Show Me State of Missouri. Apparently it really is. Being from the same state makes me feel like I should root for them, home team spirit ya know. So that’s what this site is about, finding and promoting Missourians who’ve made it on reality TV.”

M.R.S is the love child of co-worker Amy. Droll is the way she roll.

Maverick Secure Mobile

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If I ever break down and get an iPhone, I’ll want something like Maverick Secure Mobile. If your phone is lost or stolen, the application encrypts your data, sends you a text message with the location of the phone and, best of all, plays an annoyingly loud siren to torture the thief.

“The Maverick software is hidden on a phone, so a potential thief can’t tell whether or not your phone has it. You give the company a second phone number — your spouse’s or a friend’s, for example. As soon as a thief replaces your SIM card with his own, the phone encrypts all of your remaining data, like your phone book, photos or text messages, so the thief can’t see them. It also sends that data to your second phone so that you have it.

Then you can start playing tricks on the thief. By sending text message commands, you can see all the phone calls and text messages he sends or receives and any new contacts he enters in the phone book. With a feature called Spy Call, you can call your phone and eavesdrop on the thief’s calls — without him knowing. Then, when you get really exasperated, you can make the phone play a blaring siren. Just when he is about to toss your screaming phone in the trash, you can send him a text message with your name, location and, if you want, a reward for returning the phone.”

Naw, I don’t want the phone back. I want to fuck with the thief as long as possible.

“How important is local, really?”

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“I’m not saying local doesn’t matter. Local is important. It’s especially important for people who are newcomers to communities. It’s especially important for identifying accessible resources and services that people might need in their daily lives. But in many senses, “local” is just one set of ripples on the lake of information — especially when it comes to “news.” And for many people, it’s not even the biggest or most important set of ripples.”— [Amy Gahran/E-Media Tidbits

And it occurs to me that “local” is much more important to people with children than to those of us without.

Blue pill or red pill

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By accepting what we are told and experience life can be easier. There is the social pressure to ‘fit in’, which is immensely strong in most cultures. Questioning the status quo carries the danger of ostracism, possibly persecution. This aspect has a strong link with politics. People doing well under the current system are not inclined to look favourably on those who question the system. Morpheus says to Neo “You have to understand that many people are not ready to be unplugged, and many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system that they will fight to protect it.”

An excerpt from an essay by Dave Aarod

The photobooth is back

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PhotoboothLast week I pointed to a book called American Photobooth, a new illustrated history of photo booths. Seems like photobooths are making a small comeback as a novel way to take photos of weddings.

You’ve probably been to a wedding where they leave disposable cameras on each table for guests to use and leave.

Barb attended a wedding/reception last weekend that featured a photobooth (a new digital one, I assume). Guests jam inside for group shots. I’m unclear on whether you get the pix on the spot or they mail them to you later. The former, I think.

Not sure why the photobooth sounds like more fun than the cameras on the table but it does.

“Growing new crops”

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Chris Brogan observes “the bigger or older or more successful the company, it seems, the more difficult this experience” of finding the next new hit. An observation he feels applies particularly well to media companies.

Brogan would call his approach to this problem the “escape pod” model:

  • Pick a small core team, half insiders, half raw new outsiders.
  • Stake them a startup seed round.
  • Let them go a few months on that.
  • No corporate oversight, only report backs. It’s spend/try/live-or-die.
  • Assess. Good? Then raise an A round or give them more corporate assets.
  • Revise revenue targets.
  • Observe. Kill, or green light.

He ends is post with the Big Question: CAN media organizations put new crops into the ground without pulling up the roots to check how they are growing? [via David B.]

“News is a business, not a public service”

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I recently asked my friend Bob (a really fine journalist) about an idea I came across in a WSJ column by Peggy Noonan. The following line sort of sums it up:

“Great reporting is what every honest person wants now, it’s the one ironic thing we have less of in journalism than we need.”

Bob responded with this quote by Alex Rohr, President of Rohr News Network, a fictional character in a novel (The Race) by Richard North Patterson:

“The old model was that news is fact, and objectivity the ideal. Today’s truth is that “news” like anything else we sell to the public, is a product. Our news product isn’t some abstract notion of truth, or even reality. It’s a story–consistent and repetitive, with a message that’s emotionally fulfilling to the viewer. We mislead no one. Turn on (our news), and you’re getting exactly what you want. I can help you feel better about this war, or fighting terrorists, and you don’t have to think about them anymore. If we also use that power to promote our friends and advance our interests, so be it. News is a business, not a public service.”

And our nation is poorer for it.

KBOA 830

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In an earlier post I wondered about some recent move affecting the radio station I worked at many years ago. Our friend Jeff pointed us to a post on a radio message board:   

"Eagle Bluff Enterprises has received FCC permission to move KOTC from Kennett, Missouri to Memphis, Tennessee.  KOTC (830 AM) signed on in July 1947 as KBOA.  KOTC went silent on 6-1-08.  The justification for the STA was "The station has been temporarily turned off pending format changes and equipment repairs".  After the move, KOTC will diplex its 10 KW signal from a tower shared with WHBQ, 560 AM, in Memphis."

When I worked at KBOA the frequency (a daytime clear channel) was 830. When consolidation hit there was a series of call letter/frequency shuffles I was never interested enough to try to sort out.

I think they moved the KBOA calls to a frequency (105.5) licensed to Piggott, Arkansas, but operating in Kennett, MO. The 830 freq was assigned some newer, local (Kennett) calls (KOTC).

The KBOA I knew and loved died long ago. And it was nice to read some kind words about KBOA830.com. Thanks to all.

Still in love with my Tracfone

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I paid $19.95 at Wal-Mart for my Tracfone (sometime in 2005). A year ago I bought a prepaid card (1 year/500 minutes) that expires in a few days. I still have 172 minutes which I lose if I don’t purchase another card. Despite pressure from all quarters to get an iPhone, I picked up another prepaid card. 60 minutes/90 days. I just punched in the PIN number and I’m good till mid-December.

I gotta tell you… I love the Tracfone. It’s like a Bic pin or a Swatch or drug store reading glasses. Does one thing well. Demands no maintenance. Disposable. And I don’t have one of those little holsters on my belt. The Tracfone goes in the glove box or the laptop bag.

It has an ugly little LCD display and a charge can last me a couple of weeks (I only turn it on when I want to make or receive a call.)

What I really want is a Flip video camera that can stream live to Qik. Small, inexpensive, does one thing well.