I can haz iPhone alarm?

Posted on January 3, 2011 by Patrick Garvin

I’m sure you’ve heard about the mishap with the iPhone alarms by now:

When a bug kept iPhone and iPod touch alarms from sounding on Jan. 1 and Jan. 2, Apple suggested that those having trouble should set recurring alarms, and that the alarms would fix themselves by Jan. 3, the first work day of 2011.

But users are still reporting problems with the alarms Monday morning. The term “iphone alarm problem” was trending high on Google as those who overslept stumbled to their computers to figure out what was wrong.

If this is the worst thing in 2011, I think we’ll be fine. More than fine.

—————–

UPDATE

I just tested one of my alarms that’s set up to go off every day, and it worked. I also tested a one-time alarm that’s set up to never repeat, and it also worked. So, in Pat Garvin’s world, the alarms work once again.

Citizen journalism we can all get behind

Posted on December 1, 2010 by Patrick Garvin

I share with you today a man’s reflections on the lessons he learned from cancer. This was published on a site wholly dedicated to “citizen journalism.” In other words, user-submitted content.

This was published Tuesday, Nov. 30, two days after he died.

My favorite part:

4. Cancer has taught me to be a more patient and loving father.

…I am more patient with [his daughter]. I treasure all of the little things she does because I know I won’t be there for all of the big milestones. I may never see her drive a car, but watching her driving her Power Wheels Jeep up and down our driveway, turning to look over her shoulder before she backs up, is a cherished memory I will always have.I may never see her get married, but hearing her talk about “boyfriends” at the age of four already raises those protective feelings in me. I may never see her graduate from school, but seeing her starting to read and write, knowing things even I have trouble with, I know she is going to be just fine.

But it’s not the cry factor that leads me to share this with you. It’s that it highlights the possibilities of citizen journalism sites. Some time back, the Columbia Missourian and the Missouri School of Journalism started MyMissourian.com, which came with the tagline, “Grassroots Journalism for Mid-Missourians.”

From the website:

All content on MyMissourian comes from stories submitted by you! Go to “Share a story or photo” to start your own conversation.

With some rules:

1. No profanity
2. No nudity
3. No personal attacks
4. No attacks on race, religion, national origin, gender and sexual orientation.

I heard some grumbling about citizen journalism attempts, and must admit that besides the occasional Facebook post, I didn’t check out many of these postings. I’m sure the YouTube videos I chose to watch instead were not worth it, but at least I’m honest.

But this piece was pretty moving. I’ll admit, I wouldn’t have checked it out had it not come recommended via Facebook and Twitter by Jacqui Banaszynski, who is a Knight Chair Professor at the Missouri School of Journalism, Poynter Fellow, Pulitzer winner and teller of some of the best stories I heard in J-school. In other words, it took someone with serious street cred to make me even look at this piece. After reading this piece, I should be willing to read it even if it’s posted in a men’s room stall.

Sure, there are probably some real bombs that get e-mailed to the site, and whomever has to wade through those deserves a beer. But if there more straightforward, honest and humbling pieces like this, then I’ll continue to read MyMissourian.com. From New England.

Five-year-old’s monster drawings sold on Etsy help pay for chemo

Posted on November 29, 2010 by Patrick Garvin

A friend and former colleague tweeted this late on Sunday night: “5 yr-old w/ leukemia is selling his drawings of monsters to pay for chemo.”

So, I went to the Etsy account, and the pictures were a scream:

"Sponge Bob and Friends," by Aidan

"Wolf Man No. 1," by Aidan

"Gill-man," by Aidan

"Vampire," by Aidan

"Nosferatu," by Aidan

Aren’t those amazing? The kid is five, and you can tell he’s got a great sense of humor already. Especially when you consider the boy is fighting acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

He was diagnosed on Sept. 11. His mother was pregnant with her second child, and had been a stay-at-home mom. His father, Wylie Reed, had insurance, but the costs were going to be steep. He’d need to take time off to be with Aidan, and the chemo treatments would come with a $250 co-pay each time. The Reed family was already living on a tight budget, so the only thing they could cut next would be the house payment.

So, Wylie’s sister, Mandi Ostein, set up an Etsy account to sell her nephew’s drawings. She said she wanted to sell just 60 at $12 each. It wouldn’t be much, but it would help a little bit.

Since Sept. 17, she’s sold more than 5,000. They’ve sold so many, they’re working just to keep up with the back orders:

Due to overwhelming response, Aidan will be unable to fill special requests or sign pictures. Drawing is something Aidan does for fun and while we apologize for the inconvenience, the last thing we want to do is turn it into a “job.” Thank you again for your support.

To me, there are three heroes in this story:

Aidan, whose goofy nature and fighting spirit have continued despite the treatments
Aunt Mandi, whose desire to help saved her brother from having to sell the house and take on a second job
Strangers, who acted after being touched and wanted to help, whether it be by purchasing a picture or writing a letter of encouragement

Indeed, the strangers who bought the prints are key to this story being so heart-warming. Sure, we can relate to having to face tough things, but not everyone can relate to facing chemo, and probably not when we’re five. We can relate to the aunt, who wants to do something to help. But the fact that enough people bought prints — more than 400 times what Mandi wanted to sell — will mean a lot to the average reader. We see that enough people were like what we’d want to be ourselves: moved to action despite having no personal connection to the situation. So often, we think of strangers as people to fear for any number of reasons: they could be identity thieves, terrorists, sex offenders, hipsters, etc. I think we like these stories because we like getting assurance that our assumptions about strangers aren’t always true.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that this kid is a total badass. To get a sense of Aidan’s personality, check out the video of ABC News’ John Berman’s visit to Aidan. My favorite part is around the 1:13 mark, where Berman is looking at a picture Aidan drew:

John Berman: What’s this?
Aidan: The doctor giving me a shot, and I’m really, really tough.
Berman: You’re really, really tough in this picture?
Aidan: Yeah.

Aidan: (voiceover) It’s not really fun to get shots.

After that exchange, how can you not love this kid?

Aidan’s story has been covered by The Wichita Eagle, MSNBC and The Oregonian, just to name a few news organizations. To see the family’s blog, click here. To see the “Aid for Aidan” Facebook page, click here.

Oct. 10: In Case You Missed It

Posted on October 10, 2010 by Patrick Garvin

You probably didn’t miss much of this stuff, as it received lots of play, retweets, reposts and the like. But check it out anyway.

—-

At Sam Zell’s Tribune, Tales of a Bankrupt Culture [New York Times]

Yes, this is THAT Sam Zell article, detailing the environment at the Tribune Company in the nearly three years since Sam Zell took over.

Some of the more salacious stuff:

Mr. Michaels, a former radio executive and disc jockey, had been handpicked by Sam Zell, a billionaire who was the new controlling shareholder, to run much of the media company’s vast collection of properties, including The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, WGN America and The Chicago Cubs.

After Mr. Michaels arrived, according to two people at the bar that night, he sat down and said, “watch this,” and offered the waitress $100 to show him her breasts. The group sat dumbfounded.

“Here was this guy, who was responsible for all these people, getting drunk in front of senior people and saying this to a waitress who many of us knew,” said one of the Tribune executives present, who declined to be identified because he had left the company and did not want to be quoted criticizing a former employer. “I have never seen anything like it.”

On the deal used to buy the Tribune Company:

“I’ve said repeatedly that no matter what happens in this transaction, my lifestyle won’t change,” he wrote to his combination employees/shareholders. “Yours, on the other hand, could change dramatically if we get this right.”

On the changes in work environment:

One of their first priorities was rewriting the employee handbook.

“Working at Tribune means accepting that you might hear a word that you, personally, might not use,” the new handbook warned. “You might experience an attitude you don’t share. You might hear a joke that you don’t consider funny. That is because a loose, fun, nonlinear atmosphere is important to the creative process.” It then added, “This should be understood, should not be a surprise and not considered harassment.”

On certain leadership appointments:

Mr. Abrams, who describes himself as an “economic dunce,” was made Tribune’s chief innovation officer in March 2008. In his new role, he peppered the staff with stream-of-consciousness memos, some of which went on for 5,000 typo-ridden, idiosyncratic words that left some amused and many bewildered.

“Rock n Roll musically is behind us. NEWS & INFORMATION IS THE NEW ROCK N ROLL,” he wrote in one memo, sent in 2008. He expressed surprise that The Los Angeles Times reporters covering the war in Iraq were actually there.

And, on the direction the company is headed now:

And management still is confident that the new thinking has Tribune on the right track. The company recently announced the creation of a new local news format in which there would be no on-air anchors and few live reports. The newscasts will rely on narration over a stream of clips, a Web-centric approach that has the added benefit of requiring fewer bodies to produce.

“The TV revolution is upon us — and the new Tribune Company is leading the resistance,” the announcement read. And judging from the job posting for “anti-establishment producer/editors,” the company has some very strong ideas about who those revolutionaries should be: “Don’t sell us on your solid newsroom experience. We don’t care. Or your exclusive, breaking news coverage. We’ll pass.”

—-

Mark Woods: The last shall be first in what matters most [Jacksonville.com]

Mark Woods’ column about a cross-country runner with several obstacles. Grab your Kleenex and call your mom.

—-

10-10-10! [mentalfloss.com]

In honor of today being the 10th day of the 10th month in 2010, Mental Floss has several top 10 lists. My favorites:

Celebrities reaching out to LGBT youth

Posted on October 3, 2010 by Patrick Garvin

By now you’ve heard about 18-year-old Tyler Clementi, but just in case you haven’t, he was outed as gay on the Internet and subsequently jumped off the George Washington Bridge to his death.

A few weeks ago, I blogged about Dan Savage’s “It Gets Better” project. That was triggered by Billy Lucas’ suicide, which was one of a few in the last few weeks. Just this past week, even after the news of Clementi’s death, another gay youth’s suicide was reported.

Ellen DeGeneres felt moved enough to record a video about these events:

Her last line echoes the sentiments of Savage’s “It Gets Better” project:

“Things will get easier, people’s minds will change, and you should be alive to see it.”

Savage created “It Gets Better” for LGBT adults to create videos to let the youth know that no matter how shitty it might be now, “it gets better.” When I posted about it a few weeks ago, Dan and his husband Terry were the only ones to have posted a video. Now there are several videos. Take a look, as they are quite encouraging and representative of the richly diverse possibilities you can have as an LGBT adult. But, you need to be alive to see it.

Elsewhere on the Internet, I found this ad from the “Give A Damn” campaign:

The “Give A Damn” project has an impressive roster of celebrities — gay and straight — who are lending their name and time to this cause. From the website:

The Give a Damn Campaign is for everybody who cares about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality.

But, it’s especially for all you straight people out there! Whether you’re already an active supporter, want to show your support for the first time, or hadn’t given equality a lot of thought before and now want to learn more, we are here to help you get informed about the issues and get involved, at a pace that works for you.

You’ll find a lot of useful information throughout this site—information that’ll engage you, surprise you and move you. You will also find a bunch of ways to get involved and show your support and encourage your straight peers to show theirs as well.

For all you gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender folks—we need and want you here, too! Because this site is also for you. Not only will you learn new things that might surprise and interest you, you’ll also find a lot of useful tools and resources that will help you encourage the straight people in your life to give a damn.

And then, through my friend Greg, I found this PSA on behalf of the Trevor Project:

If you’re in Jacksonville, Fla., the Jacksonville Area Sexual Minority Youth Network can be reached at (904) 389-0089. Nationally, the Trevor Lifeline can be reached at 866-4-U-TREVOR (866-488-7386), where youth can speak with a trained volunteer counselor.

I know firsthand how it can suck to be an LGBT youth, but it gets better, and we need you around to see it.

“It Gets Better”: Being A Gay Teenager

Posted on September 21, 2010 by Patrick Garvin

Sex columnist and gay icon Dan Savage has created a project to let LGBT teenagers know that while life may be difficult now, “it gets better.”

Savage started the “It Gets Better” project after 15-year-old Indiana teenager Billy Lucas hanged himself in his family’s barn after enduring bullying from his classmates. In the weeks since Billy’s death, Savage has written about the incident in his Slog, inspiring multiple comments.

One comment struck a chord with Savage: the commenter expressed regret at not being able to tell Billy that things get better for gays and lesbians after high school. Savage explained on his podcast how this inspired him and his husband to create a video. They wanted to share their stories of how they were able to experience happiness as openly gay adults, despite the bullying they received as kids. Their hope is that other gay and lesbian adults will upload similar videos so that LGBT youth can know that despite how tough things might be now, it gets better.

I hope more LGBT adults will post videos to the “It Gets Better” channel. I’ve always said that it’s incredibly helpful for people to be open and accepting so that others will feel less isolated. Dan and Terry endured some difficult things in high school, but they got through it, found each other and have great lives. Hell, even I was inspired by their stories, and I had a good high school experience and come from a very accepting family. I can only imagine how helpful this could be for someone whose high school experience and family sucked.

Side note: If you’re a longtime Dan Savage devotee and groupie (like me), then you’ll relish the opportunity to finally see Terry. I’ve read almost every Dan Savage book, so I feel like I know Terry, D.J., Judy and the rest of Dan’s family. Terry looks nothing like how I pictured him to look.

Anywho, check it out. It’s an interesting use of the Internet and a hopeful event in an otherwise sad story.

The nebulous intersection of media and Foursquare

Posted on September 1, 2010 by Patrick Garvin

The news that Foursquare is partnering with MTV in September to give virtual badges to Foursquare users who get tested for sexually transmitted infections is news for many reasons, one of which being that it reminds us that many media companies are still trying to wrap their minds around Foursquare (and all social media).

If you’re a newbie to this whole social media universe…

Foursquare and similar services use smart phones’ GPS capabilities to locate where users are and what’s around them. Users can then “check in” to a venue by tapping it on a list — or typing in their own.

Foursquare users already receive scout-inspired merit badges for a range of check-in accomplishments. These include “Gym Rat” for hitting the gym 10 times in a month or “Crunked” for checking in to four or more places in a single night.

Why would you want to advertise where you were? Some businesses are offering specials to people who check in, and others offer discounts to “mayors,” the Foursquare user who has more checkins at a given location than any other user who has checked in there within the last two months. And, the game mentality of the app drives users’ desires to earn as many points and badges as possible. I know a couple here who would check into funerals if they could.

The businesses who do offer incentives for people to check in there seem few and far between. Some of the businesses of which I’ve become mayor have said, “Foursquare? Like whatchoo’d play in grade school?” It’s nowhere on the radar for them, and when I explained the potential rewards, they’d say, “Wow, the things you can do these days.” But, as the Wall Street Journal has pointed out, there are businesses trying to embrace it.

When The Wall Street Journal unveiled its metro section for Greater New York, it included some Journal-specific Foursquare badges. When the Journal “checked in” near Times Square in May when the area was evacuated for a bomb threat, it was the first time the Journal had used Foursquare to break news. In the months since then, there have been musings as to how reporters can use Foursquare to find sources. In places like New York, you might find enough people on Foursquare at a given moment who will see your alerts and find you. But in smaller places, it could be hit or miss.

I’m curious as to how media companies will gauge success with Foursquare. Until there’s a model for how to integrate it into a media company’s mission, I think the best way to judge it will be reminiscent of the Supreme Court’s obscenity statement in the ’60s: “I know it when I see it.”

Patrick Garvin: Blog

Tag Archives: web

I can haz iPhone alarm?

Five-year-old’s monster drawings sold on Etsy help pay for chemo

Oct. 10: In Case You Missed It