Journalism

So this morning I noticed that there was an error in my piece in Wired News from this morning. I sent the following email to Leander Kahney, my editor at Wired News: Leander, Thanks for helping me with the story, but I wanted to alert you to an editing error that was introduced into the final version. FINAL: — “Criminals are not real smart,” said Cmdr. Sid Heal in a report. “Their P.O. (parole officer) came out and saw all…

Engadget: Out in the land where the automobile is King (you know weÕre talking about California, right?), the LA County SheriffÕs Department has begun field testing a license plate scanning device called the Mobile Plate Hunter 900. Apparently in just one night of use (which is based on the Italian post officeÕs character recognition systems) the device was able to accurately scan over 12,000 license platesÑwhich resulted in seven stolen car recoveries, and helped the po-po in making three arrests…

02:00 AM Jun. 17, 2005 PT by Cyrus Farivar An automatic license-plate reader that can scan 500 license plates an hour looking for stolen vehicles underwent its first field tests by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department last week. Using character-recognition technology developed for the Italian Post Office to read postal addresses, four robot eyes in the course of one night queried more than 12,000 license plates, recovered seven stolen cars and resulted in three arrests. Two of the arrests…

As aggravating as it is being a freelancer sometimes, you occasionally get certain perks. So I’m working from Nova on 2nd St., just south of the Macworld offices in San Francisco. I just filed a story (free WiFi is great) for Wired News. Just a few minutes ago, I was offered a shot of Intrigue liqueur. A sales rep walked into the bar and was showing off some new products to the bartender. Being as I was the only one…

02:00 AM Jun. 13, 2005 PT by Cyrus Farivar In Hollywood, where everyone’s a freelancer and career networking veers between art and warfare, a new weapon is emerging as champion: instant messaging. Movie producers, directors, actors and crew workers bouncing from one job to the next have traditionally relied on agents and Rolodexes for finding their next gigs. But these days, many are discovering it’s easier to post their job availability on IM. Instead of displaying simple “away from my…

This morning the Chronicle ran a front page story about a 23 year-old woman named Alicia, a copy editor at the Chronicle who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. It’s the first in a seven-part series. My thoughts go out to her. I came into The Chronicle building early, at 8 a.m., because it was a Wednesday, deadline day for my department, the Friday section. It was almost 10 o’clock when I grabbed a muffin and some yogurt from the…

What a steal.

I forgot to mention that I had an article in last week’s Daily Cal. My good buddy David Boyk is editing the Arts page over the summer, and he commissioned me to review a children’s book. I picked my favorite book of all time, Goodnight, Moon.

NYT Circuits, 5/12/05 : What do the pope and Paris Hilton have in common? They’re both podcasters – and you can be one too. Ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous, podcasts are essentially do-it-yourself recorded radio programs posted online. Anyone can download them free, and, using special software, listeners can subscribe to favorite shows and even have them automatically downloaded to a portable digital music player. Despite what the name suggests, podcasts can be played not just on iPods…

Wired News: 02:00 AM May. 05, 2005 PT by Cyrus Farivar Scientists are helping blind people see again, one pixel at a time. If all goes well, an artificial retina could be commercially available within three years. Artificial retinas have been successfully implanted in six patients, allowing them to see light and detect motion, researchers announced at the 2005 annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Developed by researchers from the University…