NBC O&O Site Launch

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

As many of you know I have been working very dilligently with the very bright team of web developers at NBC. Well the day has come and the first of nine sites has launched. http://www.nbcchicago.com is the result of many months of work by a NBC internal start up team. Together we have build a very solid site that emphasis news from a local perspective.

The site has some interesting features that make the news more relevant for the standard city dweller. I was discussing this last night with Liz and one of the reasons why a younger demographic doesn’t get into local tv news is that it is not really all that relevant or interesting. TV news has long been subjected to short news cast and has thus limited its coverage. Newspaper have really ruled the roost on the web and why? Because they cover more. Go to any local tv news site you have poor coverage of things to do in the city (unless the tv station is sponsoring them), you have an over emphasis on hard hitting news which many cities lack and less of a focus on things that really interest or affect a viewer. Local stations have also always struggled with larger news corporations like CNN. These site really cover the news most people care about much more fully then a local station can.

Local stations do have strengths and the ability to have even more. Local stations have a view into the life style of their city. The can reach a lot of people in the area and review and cover any event, play, music event, restaurant, new store, etc… This is on top of their news content. They also have access to tons of video equipment. The new NBC sites do a great job of emphasizing their stations strengths. The make stories hyper local by geo tagging them, they have a great events tool, and cover everything without over cluttering their sites. They also clearly label everything. TV stations have always had trouble with ignoring their broadcast shows and letting the web be its own thing. Not every one who looks at your web site watches your news. Thus not every one knows that Cindy on The Town is actually a feature that covers things to do in the city. However a user can generally guess that entertainment is just that. Hats off to NBC for realizing this.

NBC also made a bold move and realized they have weaknesses. They are encouraging link off to other sites. The thinking is that some times it is interesting and we may not cover it or that some one else may have better coverage. Essentially if a reporter thinks something is worth reading why should they keep that from their readers? Heck Matt Drudge never wrote a story in his life.

So all in all this site is great and breaking the mold. Hats off to all the people I worked with on this project and good luck!

On the Road (Raw and Uncut)

Thursday, October 09, 2008

I am on a week long work trip and missing my friends and family. How do I deal? With technology of course! Enjoy!  MP3 Link

Mongoose Elite Croix

Friday, September 19, 2008

Thanks to Darren at Mongoose I will be riding a new Mongoose Elite Croix in this year cross series.

This bike has amazing handling. I have never ridden a cross bike that corners quite as quick or stable as this. It also comes with a sweet component spec. SRAM Rival drive train, gossamer crank, and some smoking orange maddux wheels.

Chequemeagon

Monday, September 15, 2008

I never know how to spell that so I hope I got it right. I see a lot of people posting about the Fat Tire Fest instead so I must not be alone.

I had a rock solid race. Much like Ore to Shore I felt strong the whole way through. I started about 200 places back since I did not have preferred start. Many thanks to Bill for the great starting position. I got off to a fast road lead off picking my way through the crowd. I moved up to the top 100 and there was a huge crash in the field. I looked ahead and saw a massive group break away followed by a chase group and then a lot of confusion. I picked my way through the carnage and bridged to the chase group. I was in good company here and decided I could not make another bridge right now. I sat in a hard pace that I felt like I could hold for a long time and picked people off left and right. I was feeling really good coming into OO and kept it strong.

Eventually I ended up in a group riding with Ronsta and Lea Davidsonwho were ripping. There were a lot of other people in this group and I felt like I could throw down some hard attacks and break this group up. So I did. A number of long hard attacks really broke things up. I ended up riding with Ron a lot and kept a steady pace. After Firetower we lost a lot of people as well since many of them walked the hill. We busted off the front and held a gap. Thinking the end was closer then it was I mad a few mistakes and coming into the home stretch found myself alone. I finished in my best Chequemeagon finish ever 31st with a time of 2:18. Damn good race and I beat the rain!

My Political Reactions

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Ok so I never really use my blog to discuss my political views. Ussually it is pretty light hearted and fun. However our country is at a very important time so here I go---

We currently produce 3% of the worlds oil and consume 25%. The republicans are rallying for offshore drilling and drilling in Alaska (hence Palin being brought in?!?) even if we do this we cannot hope to produce more then 5% of the world’s oil. America is rich in resources but not oil. Even if we do start off shore drilling etc… it would be 10 years worth of work to get the infrastructure in place.

Unfortunately, there is no quick fix to this problem and peoples lifestyles may have to change. It seems to me that no one wants to deal with this, especially in a country so energy dependent. The republicans are saying drill drill drill and the democrats are screaming renewable energy. One of these solutions is the same old song and dance the other is incredibly idealistic. Honestly, in five years when we are still working on the solution to this problem what will lower class people do to heat their homes? How will people deal with higher gas prices. How much more will it cost to ship our food and goods? These are the questions we need answered. Either solution causes long term pains and new infrastructure. How do you help people adjust is what I want to know.