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Al's Morning Meeting

Home > Al's Morning Meeting
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Al Tompkins
Story ideas that you can localize and enterprise. Posted by 7:30 a.m. Mon-Fri.


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A dozen sites
I'm diggin'


*1. How to carve a pumpkin that shows your political leanings.

*2. ESPN's The Journey of Richard Jensen -- the comeback of a wrestler -- is an extra good video.

3.  You can lay subtitles or text bubbles on video -- any video. I will be using this to teach about storytelling.

4. Canon responds to the Nikon D90 with its own SLR still camera that records HD video.

5. Why do 97 percent of this railroad's workers get disability checks?

6. I now use Utterz to file audio reports. You can use your computer's mic or any phone. It's simple and would be a great reporter's tool.

7. I used Monitter to monitor what people said on Twitter about Ike. Just change the subjects to whatever you want to look out for.

8. I'm reading all about the Nikon D90, which shoots photos and HD video with the same $1K body.

9. Qik streams live video straight from a cell phone.

*10. Use Tweetbeep to keep track of conversations that mention you, your products, your  company, anything! You can even keep track of who's tweeting your site or blog.

11. This site watches TV and Web mentions of candidates. It also monitors Tweets and more.

12. This fall many PBS stations will air this documentary on whether there is a water crisis in the Southwest.

Sites marked with a * have been added recently.

All of my Diggin' sites are saved on Poynter's del.icio.us page.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends on the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. We will correct errors and inaccuracies when we become aware of them.


Luring Tourists With Free Gas
RECENT POSTS
I am now updating my column throughout each weekday with new resources and ideas. Check back for the latest posts, or stay informed of what's new by subscribing to the RSS feed.

New since the last newsletter:

Cutting Costs: How People Are Doing It

Western and Border States Lead in Car Thefts
In response to rising gas prices, hotels are now offering tourists new deals to save money on gas.

CNN Money reports:

In New Hampshire, the state visitor's bureau has a whole page of "gas saving offers" on its Web site.

They include a gas credit of as much as $50 for drivers headed to the The Highlands Inn in Bethlehem -- 25 cents a mile or 30 cents a mile if you drive a hybrid.

And The Inn at Mill Falls in Meredith is offering a gas voucher of $20 per night, good at the local Meredith Mobil station.

The New York State hospitality association is organizing hotels that offer one free night of lodging when two nights are booked.

"One of the reasons people came up with this is because of the high gas prices," said Mark Dorr, a spokesman for the association. "People don't want to drive far from home."

The New Hampshire Visitor's Bureau site makes me wonder if your sales department might find some opportunity in compiling such a list on your news organization's Web site. If hotels in your area are not doing this, maybe they should as part of a Web exclusive offer.

Here is a list of places
[PDF] around the country that have tried these kinds of incentives in previous years.
Posted by Al Tompkins 9:11 AM Apr 30, 2008
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