Tech Diary

Tech Diary: Blog To Book–Is the Formula Still Working?

Andy Jordan, Editor and Producer, Tech Diary, The Wall Street Journal in News on February 14, 2011 at 2:00 pm PT

Blogger starts a blog. Blogger solicits photos or texts or emails. Blogger gets a book deal. That formula has been wildly successful for the last few years, but is showing signs of market saturation.

A GPS Experiment Busts Street Thieves

Andy Jordan, Editor and Producer, Tech Diary, The Wall Street Journal in News on December 15, 2009 at 6:59 am PT

What would happen if a furniture company left 24 designer chairs, many equipped with GPS tracking technology, on the streets of New York? Would people take them? Where would they end up? Blu Dot, a furniture maker based in Minneapolis, found out with its “Real Good Experiment,” which it developed with branding firm Mono.

What Current TV's Moves Signal for Citizen Journalism

Andy Jordan, Editor and Producer, Tech Diary, The Wall Street Journal in News on November 17, 2009 at 7:20 am PT

Current TV began with a promise to be the great democratizer of media. Some four years into the experiment, it has a new chief executive who is shifting it away from short videos to more traditional cable programming. In that transition, Current has cut shows and staff, with the most recent layoffs happening last week.

Trying New Ways of Typing

Andy Jordan, Editor and Producer, Tech Diary, The Wall Street Journal in News on October 26, 2009 at 7:53 am PT

The way we type is subject to the changing winds of technology, as well as safety concerns over issues like texting while driving. One of the big debates is about keyboard layouts, which includes the traditional Qwerty design and the user-friendly but obscure Dvorak.

RT@gooseGrade: Twitterers Good At Spelling, Bad At Grammar. #whatwouldmomsay?

Andy Jordan, Editor and Producer, Tech Diary, The Wall Street Journal in News on July 6, 2009 at 10:40 am PT

Twitter may encourage a culture of shorthand and 140-character thoughts, but it may also make Twitterers better spellers in the real world. That’s according to a new study that indicates that Twitter users are worse at grammar. Or is. Or Are. WhteVr.

I Know What You Just Tweeted

Andy Jordan, Editor and Producer, Tech Diary, The Wall Street Journal in News on June 10, 2009 at 5:58 pm PT

Thousands of Twitterers have participated in what’s being called the first ever mass scientific experiment conducted via the microblogging service. Richard Wiseman, a psychology professor at the University of Hertfordshire, teamed up with New Scientist to test “remote viewing,” also known as extra-sensory perception or ESP.

The Trucker Hats of iPhone Apps

Andy Jordan, Editor and Producer, Tech Diary, The Wall Street Journal in News on May 8, 2009 at 8:52 am PT

A classical piano player in Christchurch, New Zealand decided to see how quickly he could make an app for Apple’s iPhone. Reuben Bijl, 22 years old, took 30 minutes and came up with a pointless one called “Sound Grenade.”