by Steve Myers Published May 24, 2012 9:41 am A memo from Times-Picayune publisher Ashton Phelps confirms that the newspaper will cease daily publication, moving to three days a week: Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. The memo also confirms staff cuts, though it doesn’t say how large they will be. Press reports have necessitated our giving you this news now. We realize it will make people anxious, but we do not know enough today to be able to announce how the changes will affect individual employees. We will move as quickly as possible in the coming weeks to make that determination and to inform each of you personally. The memo from Phelps: To all employees: We wanted to make you aware of a news story that ... Continue reading →
If you only see one hilarious newspaper correction today, make it this one. http://t.co/In5fOPzL Continue reading →
Newsletter sign-up Now you can get your favorite WORLDCRUNCH features emailed to you every day, absolutely free. To subscribe, enter your email address. After you click Submit, we'll send you a welcome email to confirm your subscription. The service will begin shortly afterward Continue reading →
British writer Lynn Barber has scalped some formidable egos in her time. Laced with acerbic scrutiny, her interviews have become something of renown in the British Isles. Her secret? Approach. She confessed in a 2010 interview that she begins by adopting a natural dislike of the interviewee: the conversation is their opportunity to win her over. At Storyful, we interrogate content shared on the social web, in a style not dissimilar to how Barber grills dignitaries of media and politics. We adopt a natural skepticism to every item of content we discover. Verification is a cornerstone of our work and it has to be. Information and content often spreads across social media in ‘Chinese whispers’ fashion. Videos and images are spliced, diced and re-posted. Context ... Continue reading →
Chinese Immigration, European Crisis And A Visit To Wenzhou's Little Italy Chinese have set out en masse in recent years to find their fortune as immigrants in Europe. Lately, though, more than usual are returning home in the face of Europe's economic crisis and opportunities in their booming native land. In Wenzhou, the tale comes with an Italian twist. by: marie Ordering Italian in China (Harald Graven) By Ilaria Maria SalaLA STAMPA/Worldcrunch WENZHOU - Looking at the data, more than 90% of the Chinese who have immigrated to Italy in recent years came from in and around Wenzhou. Around 2.5 million people live in this southern Chinese city in the region of Zhejiang, and some 9 million people live in its county. In some places, ... Continue reading →
by Mallary Jean Tenore Published May 8, 2012 12:13 pm Updated May 8, 2012 12:14 pm Since The New York Times launched its metered paywall last March, about 472,000 people have become digital subscribers. The Times saw a 73 percent gain in circulation over the past six months, according to the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations report. This was largely due to digital gains; the Times’ daily digital subscribers actually exceeded its daily print subscribers. My colleague Rick Edmonds said recently that “you can bet the farm” the Times won’t get that many digital subscribers in the next year, and that “ten to 15 percent more would be a solid performance.” But the Times will do what it can to continue increasing that number. Last ... Continue reading →
Editor’s note: Tim Chang is a managing director at Mayfield Fund. Follow Tim on Twitter @timechange. He’s hosting a workshop on gamification at the Mayfield Fund offices on June 6 and has reserved 10 spots for TechCrunch readers — more details at the end of this post. I have been active in the field of gamification for the past couple of years, working with companies like Badgeville, HealthTap, Gigya, Basis and others on leveraging game mechanics for end user behavior measurement, scoring and shaping. Last week, I participated on an investor panel of at VatorSplash’s Gamification Summit and the group shared several noteworthy points: Gamification is expanding beyond the initial verticals of media and fitness: The next target verticals are education, eCommerce, local retail (example: ... Continue reading →
