Link: Best apps for the new retina iPad

To augment the Register tech reporter’s coverage, I wrote two posts about the new iPad.

The first was about if someone should buy the new iPad. While discussing the new iPad ahead of the announcement, most people talked about it within the scope of if they didn’t have an iPad or if they already have the 1 or 2. I thought that writing to each person could help make the new iPad features more relevant (rather than just writing to one general audience).

I also collected the best apps for the new iPad – for proud new owners looking to play and show off. Before the new iPad was available I collected apps that should sparkle in retina and make full use of the camera. Then, after my new iPad arrived, I updated with new information from a user’s perspective.

Most tech blogs like to write about every single rumor as it stumbles across the web. As CNet and a few others did, I rounded up the rumors for anxious tech readers.

The round-up was also a good way for potential iPad buyers and sellers to think about what is most likely to be included – in case they wanted to buy or sell ahead of the Apple announcement. Also, the links throughout help readers to find out more about each specific rumor.

Link: Katherine Darmer remembered fondly

Link: Law professor’s death probed as suicide

Link: Vigil honors Chapman Law’s Katherine Darmer

I was working a weekend reporting shift when I was forwarded an email announcing the death of a beloved Chapman law school professor. I wrote an obituary about her, her work and the impact she had on others’ lives. Then, I started and continued updating a collection of memory’s about Darmer that streamed in after people read my story. Due to high reader interest in the story, I continued reporting on Darmer during the week and posted that it was probed, and later confirmed, a suicide and I posted that a vigil was planned and then followed up with photos from the vigil.

Link: Think Different

I remember it like it was yesterday. I had just gotten home from work and was walking my beagle. I got a text from my husband who asked if I knew. “Know what?” I asked. And then he told me that Steve Jobs had died. I still couldn’t believe the news. I read through all the text messages and push notifications and emails I’d received as news alerts. I was in disbelief.

As our tech reporter worked up the main story, I worked on two Storifys as sidebars. The first one was on Orange County people reacting on Twitter to the news. The other I published the next day – a Storify of the exact words of the famous “Think Different” campaign by Apple that also speaks to Jobs’ thinking that shaped Apple and everyone who uses the company’s products.

Link: Storify wrap-up of #OCFair tweets

In a regular story, wrapping up the last day of the Orange County Fair, I was able to use social media to add valuable information to my story.

The first big help was in finding a person to talk to about this year’s fair. Rather than going to the fair and wandering around aimlessly looking for an interesting person, I looked up the OC Fair Foursquare mayor. I asked her via Twitter if I could interview her for my story and she agreed. She turned out to be a fair employee, a bartender, who attended all but one day of this year’s fair. She’s also been to the fair every year since she was a small girl. One hour later, I had a story with great insight provided by the fair’s “mayor.”

I also used Storify to bring in some interesting details from the fair’s last two days. The tweet quotes show the human side of the fair’s final weekend – as told by its attendees.

When the Disneyland Resort reached capacity I joined in to help out our reporting staff by collecting interesting tweets about the crowded park. The reporting was fun to do, showed the value of reporting via social networks and brought our audience’s content into our report.

Link:

During the holiday time I found that several readers were sharing photos of a double rainbow to our shareoc inbox and on Twitter and Flickr.

Our science reporter was out for the holiday, so I filled in and posted reader photos and comments about the double rainbow, along with links to previous rainbow stories.

Two interesting notes. One, once we started a slide show of rainbow photos other readers were quick to submit their own photos. Two, the readers’ whose photos were used are now frequently sending in breaking news tips and interesting photos.

Link: Round-up of tweets about San Diego earthquake

Link: O.C. residents roll with the quake

I was working a Sunday night cops reporting shift when suddenly the building started shaking. A normal Sunday shift turned into a quake shift. While the building kept shaking I tweeted this: “Wow – #earthquake felt here in Santa Ana at the Register. Still feel it movin. Details to come.” Once the shaking stopped, I sent another tweet linking to the USGS quake information page and sent a text message to the breaking news SMS subscribers. I sent more tweets – retweeting others’ tweets and asking for damage information, personal stories and user-generated content. In some cases, I found user content on Twitter and asked if we could use it. I sent this tweet asking for us to use a video of pool water splashing during the quake — the same video you see that we were able to embed in this main quake story.

Without Twitter and people geotagging their tweets via mobile devices — my coverage would have been 25 percent as valuable. I was able to round-up tweets about the quake – specific to Orange County.

My favorite piece of reporting was my round up linked above and titled “O.C. residents roll with the quake.” The quake did little to no damage in Orange County, but it still created interesting stories. Editors were asking me to go drive around the county and look for stories. I was able to prove with this round-up of four stories that Twitter is a more effective tool (in some cases) than driving around and looking for stuff.

While working on large projects I have the time to work on special side projects. One of my favorite things to do is build interesting maps based on proven reader interest.

I used a Google Maps API tool to build this multi-layer automatically refreshing weather map for Orange County. The map is a resource for our audience looking up the weather and for Register journalists looking to find information about the current weather.

I was working a weekend cops desk shift when a small brush fire started in the Cleveland National Forest. No matter how small a brush fire starts a news organization should be alert because all fires start small. Thankfully this fire was extinguished after a few hours, but at least we were prepared to cover the story if the fire got out of hand.