Archive for the 'media' Category

Time flies when you’re having fun

Published by Tristan on January 14, 2009 in Indianapolis, business, media, technology and work. 0 Comments

I haven’t set aside time to write lately: got into a car accident which basically totaled my 1994 Nissan Quest minivan in mid-December, a day before I went skiing in Steamboat, Colorado.

Then the holidays came, and we finally sold our house after it was on the market for nearly half a year.

Basically broke even, but found out the previous owners a) were paid $11,000 to replace a hail-damaged roof and b) they never replaced the roof but lied about it on their sales disclosure, and our “inspector” didn’t catch it. So we had to pay our buyer to fix the roof (thankfully, not the entire $11k the previous owners were paid.) Nice. I guess that’s what small claims court is for (or soon will be.)

And I’ve been busy at work - a great thing. Working on some websites, PR, marketing, and helping adoptable dogs and cats in many ways. We’re trying out some social-media avenues (Twitter, Facebook, ExactTarget e-blasts, etc.) to get the word out about our animals, and it’s working. It’s quite an amazing experience!

One of the sites I’m working on is for Mutt Strut. I’m considering using Expression Engine as blog/CMS software on it. This blog is run on WordPress, which I also used for the Angie’s List Podcast site during my time there. I’m even considering trashing the design of this site in favor of a custom Expression Engine setup.

Wordpress is great, but customizing its templates can be a bit of a beast, especially for a PHP non-expert like myself. We’re working with xiik on this project, and I’m sure they could wrassle a Wordpress theme into shape, but Expression Engine seems to offer much potential.

If you’ve used both platforms, what are your thoughts in the Wordpress vs. Expression Engine battle? Which do you prefer, and why? (Hopefully this isn’t as heated as a “dogs versus cats” argument!)

How to reduce your junk mail

Published by Tristan on November 28, 2008 in business, environment, media, products and shopping. 0 Comments

Indianapolis weekly newspaper NUVO has a terrific article this week about how to reduce the amount of junk mail you receive. I’ve noticed that, since we moved, we’re getting more junk mail than ever - crap advertisements from RedPlum, Shop Local (a grave misnomer - read NUVO’s story about junk mail to find out why), Value Pack and more. We get one of these almost every day, and read/use NONE of it, so NUVO’s tips are much appreciated.

I’m pasting the most important part of their article here because it’s buried at the end of the story on their site, sans hyperlinks.

How to cut your junk mail down by 95 percent in 30 minutes

1. Call The Indianapolis Star at 317-444-4517 to stop the weekly ShopLocal advertisement.

2. Go to DoNotMail.org and sign the Do Not Mail registry petition. Then use the junk mail opt-out tool. It will ask you for your name and address, and all of this information is then automatically input into 18 separate pre-written and addressed letters, which you can simply print off and then mail. This will stop a vast majority of crap from clogging your mailbox. A brand-spanking new septic system, if you will.

3. Submit your name and address on Yellowpagesgoesgreen.org and be automatically removed from every local phone book vendor’s hit list.

4. Go to Catalogchoice.org. After setting up a simple account and using their database to find the catalogues you’ve been receiving, they will contact them on your behalf to discontinue them.

5. Recycle all those hulking Christmas-time ads (and everything else, for that matter) at any one of the thousands of free public recycling depots in Marion County, handily listed on Paperretriver.com. You will have a hard time spitting in any direction without hitting one of these; there is probably one at your grocery store, kid’s school, your work … everywhere.

6. Fill out and mail U.S. Post Office Form 2150, “Prohibitory order against sender of pandering advertisement in the mails,” if there are any specific brochures, catalogs, or items that you do not want to receive, or do not want your kids to see.

7. Stop the coupons

Val-Pak: Just enter your address at: www.coxtarget.com/mailsuppression/s/DisplayMailSuppressionForm.(Note: This is a cap sensitive Web address.)

Money Mailer: There are many ways to get rid of this coupon book.
Mail: 12131 Western Ave.
Garden Grove, CA 92841
E-mail: jlimon@moneymailer.com
Phone: 714-889-3800
Fax: 714-889-1590

Valassis: Either call 1-888-241-6760 or www.advo.com/consumersupport.html.
Allow five to six weeks; will suspend it for five years.

RSVP Indianapolis: 317-844-7787

8. It is not the right of any company or person to keep sending you mail that you do not want. Contact any mailers that continue to leak their garbage through to your mailbox and ask them to stop. Most of them will be agreeable to your request. Otherwise, you can use the pre-paid postage envelopes they send you to stuff with anything you want (minus dead animals, bombs, etc., don’t be an idiot) and mail it back to them. Urban legend contends that you can attach these envelopes to a box of any size and mail them old tires, bricks, roof shingles, a screenplay … the most expensive parcel you can find.

At Blog Indiana; Twitter

Published by Tristan on August 16, 2008 in Indianapolis, asides, media and technology. 0 Comments

Sitting here at the Blog Indiana conference on IUPUI’s campus, in their new student center (nice!)

Also set up a Twitter account. Like I was with blogging, I’m very skeptical of Twitter and its uses. There’s no way I’ll be fanatical like many Twitter users who update about everything they do (”I’m in the restroom right now!”), but it might be a fun, free tool to work with.

FreeWebPR.com:: Great resource for P.R., writing and general business tips

Published by Tristan on July 29, 2008 in Indiana, Indianapolis, business and media. 0 Comments

Last week while I was preparing to write a press release, I somehow came across a terrific website, Free Web P.R., run by fellow IU School of Informatics New Media alum and Hoosier media arts guru Neal Moore. Having grown up in central Indiana, I often saw him on Indianapolis CBS affiliate WISH-TV, my family’s go-to station for local news when I was younger. Growing up, I trusted what I saw on the station, and now as a discerning adult, I’m pleased to see that Moore’s still a positive influence in Indiana, and I was happy to discover the wealth of business-related resources on Moore’s site.

Neal Moore

I checked out some of his posts and recommendations regarding public relations, writing, and media in general, and was fortunate enough to meet Neal (pleasantly, no “Mr.” required) at an alumni event a few days after I discovered the site. If you’re a student, starting a business, looking to improve your media-related skills, or even if you want to make it big in the music industry, you should check out the site.

New project: Indy Animal Media!

Published by Tristan on May 11, 2008 in AdoptAnAnimal.org, activism, animals, media, news, pets and podcast. 0 Comments

I’ve got yet another new project: Indy Animal Media. Check out the website and its first podcast at indyanimalmedia.org.

My conversation with the IU School of Informatics Alumni Association podcast

Published by Tristan on March 24, 2008 in Angie's List, education, media, music, podcast, technology and work. 0 Comments

Indiana University School of Informatics Alumni association logoI was interviewed on November 19th of last year by John Blue for the Indiana University Informatics Alumni Association’s “Bits of Informatics” podcast, and I’m pleased to say it’s now online for your listening pleasure. Over lunch at Aesop’s Tables on a cloudy, wintry day, John and I chatted about my telecommunications and new media experiences at the Bloomington and IUPUI campuses; surround-sound production and my 2-song Capstone presentation; how I met my wife in ballroom-dancing class; and List-en up, the Angie’s List podcast, which was in its infancy last fall.

Though my first name’s spelled incorrectly (I’m sure John will fix it soon), I got a kick out of listening to the podcast episode. It’s quite strange to hear my voice in a context outside of List-en up, but it was exciting to be the interviewee rather than be the interviewer. It was a bit nerve-wracking, as well — can you tell?

There ARE some good uses for blogs…

Published by Tristan on January 23, 2008 in media, podcast and technology. 0 Comments

I figured I should follow up to the wave of responses I got about yesterday’s post, in which I dared suggest that blogs are a waste of time (I actually didn’t get any responses… Surprise!)

I do realize that blogs serve some terrific purposes: they’re great for podcasting, marketing, and SEO (search engine optimization) (that last link actually has some great reasons to blog). But when every other link in a typical Google Search results in a blog post (seemingly half of which are useless), the very idea of blogs can become quite frustrating.

It also seems that with so many blogs (175,000 created a day, or 2 per second!), the internet will one day implode under the sheer weight of them all, like a black hole. But until that technological armageddon, I’ll gladly keep adding my two cents and hope someone decides to pick ‘em up.

BBC coverage of Japanese whaling; what’s the point of blogging, anyway?

Published by Tristan on January 22, 2008 in animals, asides, environment and media. 1 Comment

I’ve written a few times about this season’s whale hunt by the Japanese, but have realized that the BBC’s Jonah Fisher is a much better source for it. He’s aboard Greenpeace ship Esperanza and is also keeping a journal of the events, so I’ll just link to his diary. Rather than me regurgitating what I’ve read elsewhere, you can go straight to the source.

That’s my problem with blogs: most of them are used simply for regurgitation of info that can almost always be found more easily and with better information elsewhere. This whole “news aggregator” phenomenon of Digg, Newsvine, Reddit, etc., etc., etc. often leads viewers/readers to blogs with summaries of other stories, so what’s the point? I guess blogs are good for diary-like entries; they’re good for friends and family to check out and stay updated; they’re good for illegally posting copyrighted content. But what else are they good for? My guess is absolutely nothing (UNHH - say it again!) Oh wait, they are good for one more thing: wasting time.

Television’s assault on true democracy: Superficiality reigns supreme

Published by Tristan on December 9, 2007 in media and politics. 0 Comments

broken tvTelevision might be the worst thing to happen to civilized society. Too many Americans rely on it for their political opinions, and taking political stances based on superficial exposure is a dangerous thing.

Take a look at pictures of the presidential candidates, and you’ll see there’s not an ugly, disfigured freak amongst them (although one of them is awfully elf-like… or leprechaun-like?). Not that it would necessarily be a good thing if an ugly, disfigured freak (like the hunchback in 300) were to lead our country, but it might be a good thing: it could show the world that we aren’t nation comprised only of self-absorbed, gas-guzzling, overweight, narcissistic, plastic-surgery-obsessed nation-rebuilders (no offense meant to those of us that are any of the aforementioned.) It would also show that we’re more concerned with what candidates do and say rather than how they say it.

My point is that people, in this country and others, rely far too much on what they see on TV for their information, political and otherwise. They tend not to read and do investigative research when making important decisions like who they’ll vote on to be president, and that’s unfortunate. They’re likely to take what they see on TV at face value, especially if it’s a pretty face saying some pretty things. McInformation is too ubiquitous in our culture and thus too easy to digest.

If Abraham Lincoln were to run for president today, he’d need an awful lot of makeup — kinda like one of the last guys who ran for president.