• My anger at Gillian Duffy and all the people who didn't stand up to her
  "The slow, sad realisation that the political culture in the UK is such that no politician has any choice but to grovel to the bigots."
  (tags: election2010)

• Why Twitter is better than "real" friends when watching live TV
  The more I think about it, the more I think social media and live television make a uniquely happy partnership: not only do you find out what everyone's thinking in about 30 seconds flat, but it’s often incredibly funny to read.
  (tags: socialnetworking)

• A glimmer of hope for newspapers – news consumption rising amongst the young
  Average consumption has risen to 72 minutes a day, compared with 60 minutes in 2006—an increase driven almost entirely by people under the age of 35.

• Trinity Mirror shuts mag to fund newspaper battle
  NEWSPAPER publisher BPM Media has closed a glossy lifestyle magazine to bankroll its response to a rival free newspaper which is expected to be launched next week.
  (tags: business trinity_mirror)
• Trinity Mirror confirms launch of Birmingham Post Lite
  "Tony Lennox, editor of the Press, revealed that a number of fellow former Post journalists would be joining his team. These include former Post business editor John Duckers, who will write a version of his online business gossip column, and former sports editor Fraser Thompson. Former Post economics editor Neville Boyd-Maunsell would also be contributing some content, said Mr Lennox."
  (tags: trinity_mirror newspapers regional)
• Gordon Brown interview with Radio Times – Blogs – Radio Times
  "People have got used to getting content without having to pay," Brown says. "I don't think you are going to be able to put things behind paywalls in the way that people think"
  (tags: business)

• The Notebook by José Saramago reviewed by Toby Lichtig -
  "In September 2008, at the age of eighty-five, José Saramago was feeling restless. “Here’s a job for you”, said his wife. “Write a blog”. And so the 1998 Nobel laureate began to record his reflections on an almost daily basis, jubilantly freed from the constraints of fiction and awed by the “infinite page” of the internet."
  (tags: blogging)

• Questions answered on business blogging
  "…there’s the very germane fact that many highly successful bloggers didn’t get a formal training in journalism because they were too busy getting a formal training in the thing they’re writing about — business, finance, economics."
  (tags: blogging)

• What newsroom leaders can learn from GM and Toyota
  Before its current problems, Toyota’s leadership style was based on a collaborative approach — one that rewarded employees for innovation, one that valued employee input and even allowed workers on the line to stop the line so a problem with a car could be fixed. The result was a better car — a more reliable one. And the result of that? More market share.

  By contrast, GM had a command and control leadership style. The production line was kept going at all cost so cars were produced with flaws and problems and that eroded market share. Company executives didn’t seem to notice the erosion was happening.

  Remind you of another industry?

  (tags: newspapers leadership)
• SeoQuake – seo toolbar, plugin, seo extension for Mozilla Firefox
  Seoquake is a powerful tool for Mozilla Firefox, aimed at helping web masters who deal with search engine optimization and internet promotion of web sites. Seoquake allows user to obtain and investigate many important SEO parameters of the internet project under study on the fly.
  (tags: extension firefox marketing seo)

(picture by jdn)

What: Ruby in the Pub
When: Tuesday, April 27th, 7pm
Where: The Shooting Star, Spitalfields (streetview)
Why: So hacks can learn to hack!
*FREE*
No registration/sign-up necessary – just turn up!

Once a month, a bunch of keen, but slightly confounded journalists meet up with some knowledgeable and patient coders to learn the basics of Ruby and drink beer.

I have a very good feeling about this.

The first Ruby in the Pub (#ritp or #rubyinthepub) was born last month after me and James Ball discovered we were both trying to develop some programming skills.

The first meet-up was great – lovely people and some great teachers too! Now I’m hoping after my first lesson I might be able to help out a few newbies, whilst also learning some new stuff.

Rumour also has it that a certain head of the New York Times development team might pop in to help out too!

Just turn up with your laptop and, if you have one, an extension lead. Also, downloading Hackety Hack before you arrive is advised.

Come join us!

• The Sun launches Grand National sweepstake app
  "The free app, created by WCRS, helps users to run a sweepstake around the event in their office, with each entrant assigned a horse running in the historic Aintree race."
  (tags: iphone newscorp)

• The ecstasy of influence: A plagiarism, By Jonathan Lethem (Harper's Magazine)
  "The cardinal difference between gift and commodity exchange is that a gift establishes a feeling-bond between two people, whereas the sale of a commodity leaves no necessary connection. "
  (tags: copyright writing culture)
• Your April Fools' Day Prank Spoiler
  "Google goes bananas on April 1. Every big department, and some small, gets their shot at adding a "new service" or "killer feature" to their products. If you see something announced on a Google blog today, unless you're in a time machine and it's about Gmail in 2004, chances are, it's not true. Here are the notable Google pranks…"