Journalism

Wired News: By Cyrus Farivar A recent application to build the first American nuclear power plant in nearly 30 years has the nuclear community aglow with talk of possible industry resurgence. In September 2007, NRG Energy filed a proposal with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build a nuclear power plant in Texas. Last month, NuStart, a nuclear consortium, also filed an application. These represent the leading edge of a wave of renewed interest in domestic nuclear energy. “We are expecting…

So there’s a really important phone interview that I’ve been trying to set up for months now, and I just missed it. Fuck. He’s in another country, and usually when I schedule interviews across time zones, I just figure out when the interview will be, my time, and input that into iCal with an alarm. However, the time difference between California (ok, plus the other 49) and the rest of the world changed last weekend — and while that normally…

I got an early-morning email and did this top-of-the-hour spot news piece on Google’s new announcement. Google – November 5 2007

I’ve been informed that my radio piece on Facebook will air on Morning Edition tomorrow! It will be available on any of these stations (and their Internet streams): New York – 5 am to 9 am Eastern – WNYC – 820 AM – www.wnyc.org Washington, DC – 5 am to 10 am Eastern – WAMU – 88.5 FM – www.wamu.org Los Angeles – 2 am to 9 am Pacific – KPCC – 89.3 FM – www.kpcc.opg Boston – 6 am…

NYT: by Cyrus Farivar Nokia, the world’s largest maker of cellphones, has been running ads that read, “Open to Anything” and “Unlock your potential.” The company wants cellphone buyers to know that its phones can be used with whatever carrier they choose, unlike a certain other phone that has been getting considerably more attention lately: Apple’s iPhone. That phone is locked, meaning it is intended to be used with AT&T, the only carrier Apple chose in the United States. A…

As you all know, I’m a freelancer. That means I never know when my next paycheck is going to arrive in my mailbox. But whatever, generally it works out. Usually, it takes a little bit of time from when I do the piece to when I get paid for it. I recognize that I’m not the only one that these places need to pay, but really, how hard is it to get your freelancers a check, on time? Let’s take…

I’ve been informed that my radio piece on the German teams at the DARPA Urban Challenge in Victorville, CA will air on The World, today! Will be available on any of these stations (and their Internet streams): New York – 3 pm Eastern – WNYC – 820 AM – www.wnyc.org Washington, DC – 3 pm Eastern – WAMU – 88.5 FM – www.wamu.org Los Angeles – 12 pm Pacific – KPCC – 89.3 FM – www.kpcc.opg Boston – 4 pm…

While Morning Edition starts airing at 3 am on the Left Coast, and will do so for another hour, pretty much anyone else will have to check out my 90-second segment on NPR at the link below. I did a piece about Google’s and Microsoft’s new online health care records. Competition Increases for Online Medical Records [1:30]

The New Yorker has an awesome piece this week on “The Wire,” the best TV show ever. In addition to detailing why the show is generally awesome, there’s these two fantastic bits from the show’s creator, David Simon. The New Yorker: “The Wire,” [David] Simon often says, is a show about how contemporary American society—and, particularly, “raw, unencumbered capitalism”—devalues human beings. He told me, “Every single moment on the planet, from here on out, human beings are worth less. We…

Both Vanity Fair and The New Yorker have astonishing profiles of Bobby Egan, a “freelance diplomat” to the DPRK who otherwise runs a BBQ joint in Hackensack, NJ. The New Yorker: Egan, who has run Cubby’s for twenty-five years, is well known in Hackensack, though not solely for the quality of his ribs. For nearly fifteen years, he has served as a kind of unofficial ambassador—a go-between and a gofer—for the government of North Korea. He is, as he puts…