The Jeff Beckham Weblog

The recent launch of local journalism site EveryBlock tries to answer a question that doesn’t always have an easy response: “What’s happening in my neighborhood?”
Beginning with Chicago, New York City, and San Francisco, EveryBlock pulls together local news and public information, then allows you to narrow the focus to your particular neighborhood of interest. You [...]

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Updated: The reporter, J. Michael Parker, has left the paper “by mutual agreement“.
Spotted first on Gawker:
An elderly couple featured in a San Antonio Express-News story about “the secret to a happy marriage” died within two weeks of each other after they were interviewed for the story and before its publication.
What’s worse, the paper did not [...]

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When it comes to the right way for local media to embrace the online world, I’ve been tempted for some time just to link to Rob Curley and add “What he said”.
My man just hit it out of the park again, this time with a piece in Harvard’s Nieman Reports that lays the the strategies [...]

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One of my favorite bloggers (and a darn nice person, to boot) is Chuck Kuffner. His Off the Kuff blog provides a steady stream of Houston news and commentary, as well as a look at statewide political races.
This month, Chuck was honored as one of Texas Monthly’s 35 People Who Will Shape Our Future. It’s [...]

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I posted an item today over at Austinist about the city hosting a series of town hall meetings to hear what folks in the community would like to see as part of the new City of Austin website. City officials have already done a web survey, and they plan to share the results of those [...]

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Scott Porter, who plays tragic hero Jason Street on NBC’s Friday Night Lights, is co-hosting what’s being billed as the Friday Night Lights Super Bowl Party at Scottsdale’s Taste Ultra Lounge on Feb. 1.
Joining Porter as hosts are Playboy Playmate Kendra Wilkinson, Kansas City Chiefs running back Larry Johnson, and the recently retired Warren Sapp.
You [...]

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Over on the Austin Chronicle’s sports blog, Mark Fagan passes along the welcome news that the NBA Development League has announced that they will be streaming video of every league game for the remainder of the season. According to league president Dan Reed, this is the first time any professional sports league has enabled free [...]

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Mark Zuckerberg, the 23-year-old founder and CEO of Facebook, will be the keynote speaker at this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival.
That’s a huge coup for event organizers. Facebook has blasted into the mainstream in the past year, growing from a college networking site to a worldwide phenomenon with more than 60 million users. [...]

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I hardly mail anything at the post office anymore, maybe once a month, but these Eames stamps that are part of the 2008 USPS collection might have me finding more excuses to use snail mail.

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From the excellent Larry Brown Sports. Mack Brown looks a little disheveled, but maybe that’s a post-game look.

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