New to me local business blog`

The Personal BillPay Diaries: Musings from the daily money management industry.

See also Carla Morelli's fabulous profile in the Washington Post.

Civil servants and the press

Peter Corbett is absolutely right, one of the reasons civil servants are reluctant to take risks is that they get attacked anytime they try something new, even when it is a success. Reporters owe their readers a careful analysis of all the relevant facts.

Welcome back Kim Hart

The Sounding Board interviews Kim Hart on the occasion of the return of The Download.

Since The Download will be returning, can you tell us what you find most interesting about the local tech scene currently and what you see for DC tech in the next few years?
I think it will be interesting to see how the start-up community continues to evolve and how young firms will ride out the current economic situation. There's also a whole new generation of serial entrepreneurs, investors and networking gurus that I hope to get to know. I will also be paying attention to trends in government IT contracting as security and privacy standards tighten and new Web technologies become more widely available. What do I see for the DC tech community in the next few years? That's what I'll be trying to find out along the way.

That is very encouraging, the Potomac area has a unique role in the creation of standards affecting privacy and security. From my interview with Ann McDaniel:

ALICE MARSHALL: Software standards have a huge impact on the interoperability of systems. Whether you are a CIO trying to cope with a merger or a law enforcement agency trying to track suspected terrorists, interoperable systems are critical to information exchange. The Potomac area is a leader in the standards process. Many of the standards groups, the Federal XML Work Group, AIIM, Global Justice XML, etc., are located here, yet there is almost no coverage of this process. Is there any discussion about how to present this to the general public?

ANN L. MCDANIEL: Those decisions are up to the individual editors.

Glad to see that the individual editors are coming round.

Seachles Discovery comes to Washingtonpost.com

Searchles

Discovery Widget Launches on washingtonpost.com's MyPost Personal Profile Pages
Intelligent search technology powered by Searchles auto-assembles a user-generated tag cloud based on consumption -- both quickly relaying user interests and expertise when viewing profiles as well as serving as a basis to offer a display of related users. A 'searchle it!' bookmark button will also be installed on washingtonpost.com articles, pushing content out to Searchles' community of users as well.

I am not clear on how this is different from Sphere.

Preach it brother Livingston

When Your Newspaper Is Written by Interns

Congratulations Washington Post!

The Post Wins 6 Pulitzer Prizes

Moving in an wired world

Gabe Goldbberg, Washington Post

For the more common situation, a move involving an existing layout, prepare by mapping rooms to receive computer or electronic equipment, showing walls, doors, windows, phone/cable/Ethernet jacks and electrical outlets. Plan furniture placement and where to connect. Don't get caught with jacks or outlets behind immovable furniture.

"A well-designed home has furniture placement worked out," said Jonathan Lathrop of Have Truck Will Haul Moving Service in Prince George's County.

He said that you can generally tell where the architect intended to put furniture by the outlet placement. A living room's long wall with outlets on both ends is meant for the sofa; cable jacks are usually on the opposite wall for TV.

If you ignore these intentions, your creative arrangements may require extension cords, cables or even rewiring.

Of course, plug in extension cords before placing furniture. "Extension cords with flat plugs don't stick out from the wall if you need to put furniture against an outlet," Lathrop said.

Lathrop is the best mover in the area. My family and friends would not consider using anyone else.

The Washington Post covers Mashable

I am a little late on this one. The Washington Post covered MashMeet DC Remix. Both East Coast Blogging and Peter Corbett were both disappointed with the article. Reporters are considered “professional” employees, exempt from overtime protection. The reason I mention this is that readers should know that anytime a reporter covers an evening event, they are doing so on their own time. Their mere presence at an event is an indication that they think it is important news.

If you are not used to news coverage, it takes some getting used to. I think attendees at the event should be pleased. The event got a nice write up and all the presenting companies got linked. I would be pleased. Congratulations Ogilvy PR on a successful event.

More from TheLetterTwo, who was favorably impressed with WhyGoSolo.

Washington Post Co. Sponsors LaunchBox08 Startup Competition

Collaboration Supports Washington, DC-Based Investment Firm’s Call for Entries in Cutting Edge Innovation

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Washington Post Company (NYSE:WPO) announced today that it will sponsor a global competition for digital startups from LaunchBox Digital, a Washington, DC-based investment firm focused on cutting edge mobile and Web technologies. Called “LaunchBox08,” the competition encourages applicants to submit innovative ideas in order to receive seed funding and participate in a 12-week business building program with access to first-rate mentors and advisors.

LaunchBox Digital offers funding to entrepreneurs at an early stage, providing advice and technical support along the way. The LaunchBox08 competition will select six to 10 entrepreneurs from a pool of applicants to receive funding of $15,000 to $30,000.

There was a marked lack of enthusiasm about this on Twitter today, to put it mildly. There seems to be a feeling that they are not seriously interested in local entrepreneurs. $30,000 dollars is not very much money. On the other hand the winners are sure to be featured in the Washington Post and/or Newsweek.

Kim Hart at the New Media Nouveaux Conference

Photo from the Buzz Bin Interview


At the New Media Nouveaux Conference, Kim Hart said that she reads blogs, uses them for sources, and, “would be lost without them.” She said that the Washington Post is trying to find news ways to grab reader’s attention.

Hart said that press releases no longer work, that phone calls don’t work, and advised sending a link. This indicates that professional journalists take the same view as bloggers, they want a sentence as to why their readers would be interested and a link to the material.

Her words confirmed my view that blogosphere is fast becoming Off-Broadway to the newspaper’s Broadway. Certainly for new product launches by small firms it makes sense to place your story in a series of blogs and then contact the reporter with proof of public interest.

Nick Mudge made the same point when I interviewed him for Global PR Blog Week. Blogs are driving the technology debate.

Washington Post business & technology blogs

Geoff Livingston has another one of his great interviews, this time with Dan Beyers of the Washington Post. The Washington Post has launched a great collection of business and technology blogs:

The WashBiz Blog
Small Business on washingtonpost.com
Post I.T.
Government, Inc.
Faster Forward
Brian Krebs Security Fix

They will all be added to the Tech on the Potomac RSS reader as soon as I have a chance.