#onlinenewsassociation — Public Fediverse posts

Weekly output: Most Innovative Companies, Serve Robotics, Android 17, United Airlines’ ambitions, Polymarket’s pop-up bar

CHICAGO–This is one of my favorite cities in the U.S., but it doesn’t show up in my work travel as often as I’d like. So I’m delighted that the Online News Association decided to move its annual conference from late summer to early spring and then stage this year’s event here–in a hotel that should be familiar to everybody who’s seen The Fugitive.

Patreon readers got a bonus post that I’d meant to have written weeks earlier: a recap of MWC Barcelona in which I also gave away a global eSIM to the first reader to ask for it.

3/24/2026: The most innovative robotics and engineering companies of 2026, Fast Company

This list, the product of months of research and editorial back-and-forth, finally emerged online this week. And then we had to run a quick correction after one of the companies honored said that we’d mentioned an achievement that they did not want disclosed.

3/25/2026: Delivery Robots Have a Mapping Problem, PCMag

I sat down in a hotel lobby in Austin during SXSW with MJ Burk Chun, co-founder and vice president of product and design at Serve Robotics, to talk about the issues that company is working to address as it tries to scale up having four-wheeled robots cart food deliveries to customers.

3/27/2026: Google Ships Latest Android 17 Beta. Here’s What’s New, PCMag

In between having so many longer stories to write, I was happy to get one that I could bang out in an hour or so.

3/28/2026: United’s New Upgrades Aim to Keep You Online and Fully Charged at 35,000 Feet, PCMag

My week started with me flying to another one of United’s hubs–with the airline covering my airfare and lodging–for its United Elevated event at LAX. In addition to looping me into UA’s ambitions for its onboard product, this event doubled as a reunion with some of the avgeek journalists I met at Cranky Dorkfest in September and with my former Washington Post colleague Lori Aratani, who interviewed United CEO Scott Kirby onstage Tuesday morning.

3/29/2026: Pints meet prop bets: Polymarket’s “Situation Room” pop-up bar in DC, Ars Technica

I thought I saw an opportunity to write for this occasional client for the first time since the summer of 2023; fortunately, my editor then and now agreed.

Weekly output: Most Innovative Companies, Serve Robotics, Android 17, United Airlines’ ambitions, Polymarket’s pop-up bar

CHICAGO–This is one of my favorite cities in the U.S., but it doesn’t show up in my work travel as often as I’d like. So I’m delighted that the Online News Association decided to move its annual conference from late summer to early spring and then stage this year’s event here–in a hotel that should be familiar to everybody who’s seen The Fugitive.

Patreon readers got a bonus post that I’d meant to have written weeks earlier: a recap of MWC Barcelona in which I also gave away a global eSIM to the first reader to ask for it.

3/24/2026: The most innovative robotics and engineering companies of 2026, Fast Company

This list, the product of months of research and editorial back-and-forth, finally emerged online this week. And then we had to run a quick correction after one of the companies honored said that we’d mentioned an achievement that they did not want disclosed.

3/25/2026: Delivery Robots Have a Mapping Problem, PCMag

I sat down in a hotel lobby in Austin during SXSW with MJ Burk Chun, co-founder and vice president of product and design at Serve Robotics, to talk about the issues that company is working to address as it tries to scale up having four-wheeled robots cart food deliveries to customers.

3/27/2026: Google Ships Latest Android 17 Beta. Here’s What’s New, PCMag

In between having so many longer stories to write, I was happy to get one that I could bang out in an hour or so.

3/28/2026: United’s New Upgrades Aim to Keep You Online and Fully Charged at 35,000 Feet, PCMag

My week started with me flying to another one of United’s hubs–with the airline covering my airfare and lodging–for its United Elevated event at LAX. In addition to looping me into UA’s ambitions for its onboard product, this event doubled as a reunion with some of the avgeek journalists I met at Cranky Dorkfest in September and with my former Washington Post colleague Lori Aratani, who interviewed United CEO Scott Kirby onstage Tuesday morning.

3/29/2026: Pints meet prop bets: Polymarket’s “Situation Room” pop-up bar in DC, Ars Technica

I thought I saw an opportunity to write for this occasional client for the first time since the summer of 2023; fortunately, my editor then and now agreed.

Weekly output: Most Innovative Companies, Serve Robotics, Android 17, United Airlines’ ambitions, Polymarket’s pop-up bar

CHICAGO–This is one of my favorite cities in the U.S., but it doesn’t show up in my work travel as often as I’d like. So I’m delighted that the Online News Association decided to move its annual conference from late summer to early spring and then stage this year’s event here–in a hotel that should be familiar to everybody who’s seen The Fugitive.

Patreon readers got a bonus post that I’d meant to have written weeks earlier: a recap of MWC Barcelona in which I also gave away a global eSIM to the first reader to ask for it.

3/24/2026: The most innovative robotics and engineering companies of 2026, Fast Company

This list, the product of months of research and editorial back-and-forth, finally emerged online this week. And then we had to run a quick correction after one of the companies honored said that we’d mentioned an achievement that they did not want disclosed.

3/25/2026: Delivery Robots Have a Mapping Problem, PCMag

I sat down in a hotel lobby in Austin during SXSW with MJ Burk Chun, co-founder and vice president of product and design at Serve Robotics, to talk about the issues that company is working to address as it tries to scale up having four-wheeled robots cart food deliveries to customers.

3/27/2026: Google Ships Latest Android 17 Beta. Here’s What’s New, PCMag

In between having so many longer stories to write, I was happy to get one that I could bang out in an hour or so.

3/28/2026: United’s New Upgrades Aim to Keep You Online and Fully Charged at 35,000 Feet, PCMag

My week started with me flying to another one of United’s hubs–with the airline covering my airfare and lodging–for its United Elevated event at LAX. In addition to looping me into UA’s ambitions for its onboard product, this event doubled as a reunion with some of the avgeek journalists I met at Cranky Dorkfest in September and with my former Washington Post colleague Lori Aratani, who interviewed United CEO Scott Kirby onstage Tuesday morning.

3/29/2026: Pints meet prop bets: Polymarket’s “Situation Room” pop-up bar in DC, Ars Technica

I thought I saw an opportunity to write for this occasional client for the first time since the summer of 2023; fortunately, my editor then and now agreed.

Weekly output: Most Innovative Companies, Serve Robotics, Android 17, United Airlines’ ambitions, Polymarket’s pop-up bar

CHICAGO–This is one of my favorite cities in the U.S., but it doesn’t show up in my work travel as often as I’d like. So I’m delighted that the Online News Association decided to move its annual conference from late summer to early spring and then stage this year’s event here–in a hotel that should be familiar to everybody who’s seen The Fugitive.

Patreon readers got a bonus post that I’d meant to have written weeks earlier: a recap of MWC Barcelona in which I also gave away a global eSIM to the first reader to ask for it.

3/24/2026: The most innovative robotics and engineering companies of 2026, Fast Company

This list, the product of months of research and editorial back-and-forth, finally emerged online this week. And then we had to run a quick correction after one of the companies honored said that we’d mentioned an achievement that they did not want disclosed.

3/25/2026: Delivery Robots Have a Mapping Problem, PCMag

I sat down in a hotel lobby in Austin during SXSW with MJ Burk Chun, co-founder and vice president of product and design at Serve Robotics, to talk about the issues that company is working to address as it tries to scale up having four-wheeled robots cart food deliveries to customers.

3/27/2026: Google Ships Latest Android 17 Beta. Here’s What’s New, PCMag

In between having so many longer stories to write, I was happy to get one that I could bang out in an hour or so.

3/28/2026: United’s New Upgrades Aim to Keep You Online and Fully Charged at 35,000 Feet, PCMag

My week started with me flying to another one of United’s hubs–with the airline covering my airfare and lodging–for its United Elevated event at LAX. In addition to looping me into UA’s ambitions for its onboard product, this event doubled as a reunion with some of the avgeek journalists I met at Cranky Dorkfest in September and with my former Washington Post colleague Lori Aratani, who interviewed United CEO Scott Kirby onstage Tuesday morning.

3/29/2026: Pints meet prop bets: Polymarket’s “Situation Room” pop-up bar in DC, Ars Technica

I thought I saw an opportunity to write for this occasional client for the first time since the summer of 2023; fortunately, my editor then and now agreed.

Weekly output: customer satisfaction scores, Qualcomm Quick Charge, TiVo OS, The Onion

This week started at home, then took me out of town first to New Orleans for the Online News Association’s conference (the ninth I’ve attended), followed by Los Angeles for Cranky Dorkfest (my overdue introduction to that avgeek meetup).

9/9/2025: This PC Maker Just Pushed Apple Out of the Top Spot for Customer Satisfaction, PCMag

I had more time than I thought I would Monday to write this when jury duty turned into a roughly 20-minute exercise–they seated the jury they needed right before my reporting time.

9/10/2025: Qualcomm Quick Charge Tech Gets Big Update. Will It Appear on Any US Phones?, PCMag

One of my editors asked if I could pick up this embargoed item, and I had enough slack time in my schedule Tuesday to make that happen.

9/12/2025: Xperi’s TiVo OS aims to bring search and simplicity to TV makers, Light Reading

After a show-floor interview at IFA that gave me about 95% of what I needed, it took a few more days for Xperi’s PR firm to confirm a couple of details, after which I wrote and filed the piece for my telecom trade-pub client during some downtime at ONA Thursday afternoon.

9/14/2025: The Onion CEO Unloads on AI’s Joke-Writing Skills, Says Infowars Purchase Still on the Table, PCMag

Having seen Ben Collins on a panel at SXSW 2019, I thought he would make an engaging, funny speaker at ONA. He was, but he also made some serious points about the Trump administration’s frequent hostility to dissent and the need for journalists to resist that pressure.

#ACSI #avgeek #BenCollins #connectedTV #CrankyDorkfest #CrankyFlier #customerSatisfaction #fastCharging #IFA #LAX #LosAngeles #NewOrleans #ONA #OnlineNewsAssociation #Qualcomm #QuickCharge #satire #streamingVideo #TheOnion #TiVoOS #Xperi

Weekly output: customer satisfaction scores, Qualcomm Quick Charge, TiVo OS, The Onion

This week started at home, then took me out of town first to New Orleans for the Online News Association’s conference (the ninth I’ve attended), followed by Los Angeles for Cranky Dorkfest (my overdue introduction to that avgeek meetup).

9/9/2025: This PC Maker Just Pushed Apple Out of the Top Spot for Customer Satisfaction, PCMag

I had more time than I thought I would Monday to write this when jury duty turned into a roughly 20-minute exercise–they seated the jury they needed right before my reporting time.

9/10/2025: Qualcomm Quick Charge Tech Gets Big Update. Will It Appear on Any US Phones?, PCMag

One of my editors asked if I could pick up this embargoed item, and I had enough slack time in my schedule Tuesday to make that happen.

9/12/2025: Xperi’s TiVo OS aims to bring search and simplicity to TV makers, Light Reading

After a show-floor interview at IFA that gave me about 95% of what I needed, it took a few more days for Xperi’s PR firm to confirm a couple of details, after which I wrote and filed the piece for my telecom trade-pub client during some downtime at ONA Thursday afternoon.

9/14/2025: The Onion CEO Unloads on AI’s Joke-Writing Skills, Says Infowars Purchase Still on the Table, PCMag

Having seen Ben Collins on a panel at SXSW 2019, I thought he would make an engaging, funny speaker at ONA. He was, but he also made some serious points about the Trump administration’s frequent hostility to dissent and the need for journalists to resist that pressure.

#ACSI #avgeek #BenCollins #connectedTV #CrankyDorkfest #CrankyFlier #customerSatisfaction #fastCharging #IFA #LAX #LosAngeles #NewOrleans #ONA #OnlineNewsAssociation #Qualcomm #QuickCharge #satire #streamingVideo #TheOnion #TiVoOS #Xperi

Weekly output: customer satisfaction scores, Qualcomm Quick Charge, TiVo OS, The Onion

This week started at home, then took me out of town first to New Orleans for the Online News Association’s conference (the ninth I’ve attended), followed by Los Angeles for Cranky Dorkfest (my overdue introduction to that avgeek meetup).

9/9/2025: This PC Maker Just Pushed Apple Out of the Top Spot for Customer Satisfaction, PCMag

I had more time than I thought I would Monday to write this when jury duty turned into a roughly 20-minute exercise–they seated the jury they needed right before my reporting time.

9/10/2025: Qualcomm Quick Charge Tech Gets Big Update. Will It Appear on Any US Phones?, PCMag

One of my editors asked if I could pick up this embargoed item, and I had enough slack time in my schedule Tuesday to make that happen.

9/12/2025: Xperi’s TiVo OS aims to bring search and simplicity to TV makers, Light Reading

After a show-floor interview at IFA that gave me about 95% of what I needed, it took a few more days for Xperi’s PR firm to confirm a couple of details, after which I wrote and filed the piece for my telecom trade-pub client during some downtime at ONA Thursday afternoon.

9/14/2025: The Onion CEO Unloads on AI’s Joke-Writing Skills, Says Infowars Purchase Still on the Table, PCMag

Having seen Ben Collins on a panel at SXSW 2019, I thought he would make an engaging, funny speaker at ONA. He was, but he also made some serious points about the Trump administration’s frequent hostility to dissent and the need for journalists to resist that pressure.

#ACSI #avgeek #BenCollins #connectedTV #CrankyDorkfest #CrankyFlier #customerSatisfaction #fastCharging #IFA #LAX #LosAngeles #NewOrleans #ONA #OnlineNewsAssociation #Qualcomm #QuickCharge #satire #streamingVideo #TheOnion #TiVoOS #Xperi

Weekly output: customer satisfaction scores, Qualcomm Quick Charge, TiVo OS, The Onion

This week started at home, then took me out of town first to New Orleans for the Online News Association’s conference (the ninth I’ve attended), followed by Los Angeles for Cranky Dorkfest (my overdue introduction to that avgeek meetup).

9/9/2025: This PC Maker Just Pushed Apple Out of the Top Spot for Customer Satisfaction, PCMag

I had more time than I thought I would Monday to write this when jury duty turned into a roughly 20-minute exercise–they seated the jury they needed right before my reporting time.

9/10/2025: Qualcomm Quick Charge Tech Gets Big Update. Will It Appear on Any US Phones?, PCMag

One of my editors asked if I could pick up this embargoed item, and I had enough slack time in my schedule Tuesday to make that happen.

9/12/2025: Xperi’s TiVo OS aims to bring search and simplicity to TV makers, Light Reading

After a show-floor interview at IFA that gave me about 95% of what I needed, it took a few more days for Xperi’s PR firm to confirm a couple of details, after which I wrote and filed the piece for my telecom trade-pub client during some downtime at ONA Thursday afternoon.

9/14/2025: The Onion CEO Unloads on AI’s Joke-Writing Skills, Says Infowars Purchase Still on the Table, PCMag

Having seen Ben Collins on a panel at SXSW 2019, I thought he would make an engaging, funny speaker at ONA. He was, but he also made some serious points about the Trump administration’s frequent hostility to dissent and the need for journalists to resist that pressure.

#ACSI #avgeek #BenCollins #connectedTV #CrankyDorkfest #CrankyFlier #customerSatisfaction #fastCharging #IFA #LAX #LosAngeles #NewOrleans #ONA #OnlineNewsAssociation #Qualcomm #QuickCharge #satire #streamingVideo #TheOnion #TiVoOS #Xperi

Remember to leave zero room in your luggage for this one kind of conference swag

NEW ORLEANS

Online News Association conferences have always been great for swag of one sort or another–socks, reusable shopping bags, bottle openers, reusable water bottles, notepads, and so on. But one of the most useful takeaways from ONA and sometimes other conferences takes up no room in and adds zero weight to my luggage: a new set of headshots.

Having a professionally-taken picture of myself was not among my to-do list items when I started the self-employment adventure in the spring of 2011. According to the Internet Archive, I used a screengrab from one of my few TV appearances on the bio page here, which means I probably used the same low-res picture (in which I look like I’m in my twenties) on LinkedIn.

At some point, I upgraded that bit of personal branding to a picture I took at home with a digital camera on a tripod, which looked a little sharper. But then I saw that an upcoming conference–either ONA or SXSW, I can’t remember which–would have Muck Rack providing free headshots to journalists. So I took the folks at the PR platform, whose newsletter remains a daily read, up on that invitation to have a professional photographer do a better job than I could.

That’s been my practice ever since, ensuring I have a correctly composed, focused and exposed picture I can e-mail to a conference organizer and to use here and LinkedIn. (If you were curious, I’ve stuck to selfies with some D.C. background scenery on Bluesky and Flickr, because that feels like the right thing for those platforms.) I redid that yet again Thursday morning, because my hair no longer looks like it did in the headshot I had taken at ONA in this city in 2019.

By which I mean, it’s grayer everywhere and scarcer in parts, which seems like one of the less painful personal consequences anybody could experience from having lived through the last six years.

#aging #headshots #LinkedIn #marketing #MuckRack #NewOrleans #ONA #OnlineNewsAssociation #photo #photography #portrait #selfie

Remember to leave zero room in your luggage for this one kind of conference swag

NEW ORLEANS

Online News Association conferences have always been great for swag of one sort or another–socks, reusable shopping bags, bottle openers, reusable water bottles, notepads, and so on. But one of the most useful takeaways from ONA and sometimes other conferences takes up no room in and adds zero weight to my luggage: a new set of headshots.

Having a professionally-taken picture of myself was not among my to-do list items when I started the self-employment adventure in the spring of 2011. According to the Internet Archive, I used a screengrab from one of my few TV appearances on the bio page here, which means I probably used the same low-res picture (in which I look like I’m in my twenties) on LinkedIn.

At some point, I upgraded that bit of personal branding to a picture I took at home with a digital camera on a tripod, which looked a little sharper. But then I saw that an upcoming conference–either ONA or SXSW, I can’t remember which–would have Muck Rack providing free headshots to journalists. So I took the folks at the PR platform, whose newsletter remains a daily read, up on that invitation to have a professional photographer do a better job than I could.

That’s been my practice ever since, ensuring I have a correctly composed, focused and exposed picture I can e-mail to a conference organizer and to use here and LinkedIn. (If you were curious, I’ve stuck to selfies with some D.C. background scenery on Bluesky and Flickr, because that feels like the right thing for those platforms.) I redid that yet again Thursday morning, because my hair no longer looks like it did in the headshot I had taken at ONA in this city in 2019.

By which I mean, it’s grayer everywhere and scarcer in parts, which seems like one of the less painful personal consequences anybody could experience from having lived through the last six years.

#aging #headshots #LinkedIn #marketing #MuckRack #NewOrleans #ONA #OnlineNewsAssociation #photo #photography #portrait #selfie

Remember to leave zero room in your luggage for this one kind of conference swag

NEW ORLEANS

Online News Association conferences have always been great for swag of one sort or another–socks, reusable shopping bags, bottle openers, reusable water bottles, notepads, and so on. But one of the most useful takeaways from ONA and sometimes other conferences takes up no room in and adds zero weight to my luggage: a new set of headshots.

Having a professionally-taken picture of myself was not among my to-do list items when I started the self-employment adventure in the spring of 2011. According to the Internet Archive, I used a screengrab from one of my few TV appearances on the bio page here, which means I probably used the same low-res picture (in which I look like I’m in my twenties) on LinkedIn.

At some point, I upgraded that bit of personal branding to a picture I took at home with a digital camera on a tripod, which looked a little sharper. But then I saw that an upcoming conference–either ONA or SXSW, I can’t remember which–would have Muck Rack providing free headshots to journalists. So I took the folks at the PR platform, whose newsletter remains a daily read, up on that invitation to have a professional photographer do a better job than I could.

That’s been my practice ever since, ensuring I have a correctly composed, focused and exposed picture I can e-mail to a conference organizer and to use here and LinkedIn. (If you were curious, I’ve stuck to selfies with some D.C. background scenery on Bluesky and Flickr, because that feels like the right thing for those platforms.) I redid that yet again Thursday morning, because my hair no longer looks like it did in the headshot I had taken at ONA in this city in 2019.

By which I mean, it’s grayer everywhere and scarcer in parts, which seems like one of the less painful personal consequences anybody could experience from having lived through the last six years.

#aging #headshots #LinkedIn #marketing #MuckRack #NewOrleans #ONA #OnlineNewsAssociation #photo #photography #portrait #selfie

Remember to leave zero room in your luggage for this one kind of conference swag

NEW ORLEANS

Online News Association conferences have always been great for swag of one sort or another–socks, reusable shopping bags, bottle openers, reusable water bottles, notepads, and so on. But one of the most useful takeaways from ONA and sometimes other conferences takes up no room in and adds zero weight to my luggage: a new set of headshots.

Having a professionally-taken picture of myself was not among my to-do list items when I started the self-employment adventure in the spring of 2011. According to the Internet Archive, I used a screengrab from one of my few TV appearances on the bio page here, which means I probably used the same low-res picture (in which I look like I’m in my twenties) on LinkedIn.

At some point, I upgraded that bit of personal branding to a picture I took at home with a digital camera on a tripod, which looked a little sharper. But then I saw that an upcoming conference–either ONA or SXSW, I can’t remember which–would have Muck Rack providing free headshots to journalists. So I took the folks at the PR platform, whose newsletter remains a daily read, up on that invitation to have a professional photographer do a better job than I could.

That’s been my practice ever since, ensuring I have a correctly composed, focused and exposed picture I can e-mail to a conference organizer and to use here and LinkedIn. (If you were curious, I’ve stuck to selfies with some D.C. background scenery on Bluesky and Flickr, because that feels like the right thing for those platforms.) I redid that yet again Thursday morning, because my hair no longer looks like it did in the headshot I had taken at ONA in this city in 2019.

By which I mean, it’s grayer everywhere and scarcer in parts, which seems like one of the less painful personal consequences anybody could experience from having lived through the last six years.

#aging #headshots #LinkedIn #marketing #MuckRack #NewOrleans #ONA #OnlineNewsAssociation #photo #photography #portrait #selfie

Remember to leave zero room in your luggage for this one kind of conference swag

NEW ORLEANS

Online News Association conferences have always been great for swag of one sort or another–socks, reusable shopping bags, bottle openers, reusable water bottles, notepads, and so on. But one of the most useful takeaways from ONA and sometimes other conferences takes up no room in and adds zero weight to my luggage: a new set of headshots.

Having a professionally-taken picture of myself was not among my to-do list items when I started the self-employment adventure in the spring of 2011. According to the Internet Archive, I used a screengrab from one of my few TV appearances on the bio page here, which means I probably used the same low-res picture (in which I look like I’m in my twenties) on LinkedIn.

At some point, I upgraded that bit of personal branding to a picture I took at home with a digital camera on a tripod, which looked a little sharper. But then I saw that an upcoming conference–either ONA or SXSW, I can’t remember which–would have Muck Rack providing free headshots to journalists. So I took the folks at the PR platform, whose newsletter remains a daily read, up on that invitation to have a professional photographer do a better job than I could.

That’s been my practice ever since, ensuring I have a correctly composed, focused and exposed picture I can e-mail to a conference organizer and to use here and LinkedIn. (If you were curious, I’ve stuck to selfies with some D.C. background scenery on Bluesky and Flickr, because that feels like the right thing for those platforms.) I redid that yet again Thursday morning, because my hair no longer looks like it did in the headshot I had taken at ONA in this city in 2019.

By which I mean, it’s grayer everywhere and scarcer in parts, which seems like one of the less painful personal consequences anybody could experience from having lived through the last six years.

#aging #headshots #LinkedIn #marketing #MuckRack #NewOrleans #ONA #OnlineNewsAssociation #photo #photography #portrait #selfie