I suspect they are having as much trouble as the rest of the media companies in trying to figure out how having an iPhone app makes you any money.
At about 10:22 p.m. Sunday night Katie Hamilton started commenting on this post on the The Dallas Morning News’ Rangers blog. From the the handles used in the comments section it appears that Mrs. Hamilton not only defended her husband but traded some civilized barbs with a commenter named “JJ.” Richard Durrett of DMN writes that they verified the identity of Mrs. Hamilton. All in all it lasted until about 12:40 a.m. Monday.
Here’s an excerpt from the DMN post that summarizes the debate:
I thought I would share some of my own thoughts and feelings on the subject- as you can imagine, I have a few things to say. First of all, thank you so much to those who have a forgiving spirit and for praying for and supporting our family during this whole ordeal. I honestly appreciate it and I’m very thankful to you all. Secondly, to all those who “just can’t forgive” Josh for this one night- I have a question for you: Why is it that I (his wife- the one whom he hurt the most, by far through this) can forgive him, but you can’t?
When your business makes great hires, you can’t help shouting it from the rooftops. So, here goes: Rhett Taylor, the No. 1 account executive by far last year for the Dallas Business Journal, has joined our company to focus on business categories, with a special emphasis on D CEO magazine. Nobody knows the DFW business environment better than Rhett. He’ll be joined by another new hire, Jas Robertson, a former New York media buyer who will help our clients with marketing/communications/best business practices. As Southwest Airlines likes to say: “It’s on!”
A. H. Belo-involved people are having a lot of fun with this one:
Go to search for Dallas Morning News (either on your iphone or in iTunes) and look for their app.
Oops. Not there. What does come up is “Dallas Football Live” and two sites called “Dallas Local News,” followed by five generic sites. The News is available on “Dallas Local News” and so is D Magazine — without our permission (hello, lawyers). So then I searched under Dallas, and “Dallas News” came up sixth. So to find the Morning News I need to search under Dallas News. Another one:
If you go search for Austin American Statesman, you’ll get the Statesman’s app, which is produced by… the Statesman. The WSJ is by Dow Jones and Co., the NYT is by NYT Co., etc.
When you find Dallas, it’s by Imaginuity New Media. Click through and you see your news app is coming from the folks who brought you “Rocky Artue” which is a game that follows Rocky as he learns that, “the U.S. government had abducted his father and hidden him away in the bottom of a mine to keep him from sharing too much knowledge about the Roswell crash and his work.” Which, of course, is what we’d all expect from Texas’ Leading Newspaper. <Insert clap to the forehead here>
Just ask him. Here is his e-mail response to someone offering him inclusion in a top-secret, high-profile weekly pick-up game:
Here’s the thing, man, and I know this will make me sound like a [expletive deleted], but I’m a better basketball player than all of you. Like, I’m awesome. So this thing doesn’t sound like it would be much fun for me.
Great column by Tim Cowlishaw today that warrants a few minutes of your time. It’s about Josh Hamilton. But it’s also about Tim Cowlishaw. The crux:
I watched the Cowboys lose to the Eagles, 44-6, last December from my room at Parkland Hospital after suffering a fractured skull of undetermined origin. When Josh says he’s foggy on the details of his drinking in Arizona, I’m right there with him in the fog. How I got into an ambulance to go to Parkland will remain one of my life’s little mysteries.
It takes guts to put it out there. Kudos to Cowlishaw.
This brings up a side question in my mind. Maybe this doesn’t apply so to Cowlishaw, who, even though he has his picture in the paper every week, must enjoy a certain amount of anonymity, but it certainly applies to Josh Hamilton. Hamilton is an easily recognizable fellow. What bartender or waiter serves him a drink? Okay, let’s say the guy decides to rip a few lines of coke. A dealer is going to deal. Drugs are illegal. You wouldn’t expect a dealer to have a huge conscience. But how does Josh Hamilton get served in a Tempe, Arizona, bar? Who does that to him?
They may be a year behind Pegasus News, but at least they are up. We …er…we are waiting for the market to, um, mature.
A bankruptcy law-practicing FrontBurnvian has the answers. The bottom line: In Texas, pay your mortage, no matter who owns it:
The CEO of FreedomPark Airport Valet Services, Ken Kundmueller, has sent around an e-mail accusing the DFW Airport board of not playing fair. You can read his full email after the jump. The short version: the DFW-branded company that runs the airport’s valet service is losing money. So the airport has waived the minimum annual guarantee that PCI agreed to in its contract. Too, the airport has raised valet parking fees and imposed operating restrictions on the free-enterprise providers like Kundmueller.
This is getting personal. Not only does the Alabama-based bank hold my mortage but as the result of several Dallas bank mergers over the years — the bank has six Dallas offices, from Colleyville to downtown — I find myself owning a modest number of shares. They will apparently become worthless on August 12. (It is never a good sign when the Feds raid one of your state offices.)
But here’s a question or two. My mortgage was undoubtedly sold off long ago to a packager who then resold it to a fund. So what happens if I stop paying? Sure, a computer somewhere will spit out a late-pay notice, and if I ignore it, then at some point a default notice. But then what happens? Who enforces the mortgage? And if that entity, whatever it may be, takes me to court, where is the mortgage they will seek to enforce? Is it even prudent to pay a mortgage holder that has itself defaulted? Should I pay it into an escrow account until the true holder of the mortgage at some point finally identifies itself?
I’m looking at you, Candy Evans.
1. Authorities say that a second young lady was booked as an adult and spent 10 days at Lew Sterrett instead of an appropriate juvenile facility. When the 14-year-old girl was arrested at Target for boosting some lingerie, she gave a fake name, and somehow, cops thought she was 20. Listen, I grew up with strict parents, and they would likely kill me for stealing. But come on. As soon as I heard even the whisper of “Lew Sterrett,” I would sing like a canary: real name, real age, real phone number, real GPA, and even my real weight.
2. Testimony begins today in the death penalty trial of James Broadnax. He’s accused of killing Christian music producers Matthew Butler and Stephen Swan as they left their studio in Garland. The robbery/slaying yielded Broadnax and his partner a mere $2.
3. Donald Patrick Blair did not have the patience for the whole “ask and you shall receive” thing. He took matters into his own hands and opted to steal more than $1.2 million while he worked as a business administrator at Christian Life Assembly of God in Carrollton. After pleading guilty to mail fraud and tax evasion, he has to come up $1.5 million in restitution, and he’ll spend two years in a federal prison.