On the spot for a...spotlight

Every now and then an editor creeps up behind me and asks me to write somethingorother about somethingorother having to do with The Internets, for an ongoing, online-only story called the "market spotlight."

Here's today's installment, a very quick hit on how the un-Googles have fared this year.

Googley-eyed

Is it better to be the reporter everyone else is reacting to? A Barron's column about Google's stock price sparked a sell-off today, at least if you believe what everyone else was writing this morning. Naturally, I had to follow suit.

Movie Madness

Blockbuster's stock shot up today, on rumors from Taiwan, my dear old home.

China wireless companies

I really love writing about Chinese tech companies -- at least the ones where I sort of understand the product. In this case, companies that sell ringtones, SMS service and other so-called wireless value-added services are getting squeezed by policies from the government-backed wireless providers, making for an interesting scramble in the sector to come up with new business models.

Shutterfly, and others

I'm a devoted flickr user, but have been shopping around for a site where I can upload a photo and make a cool un-holiday-ish holiday card. Only fitting that work brought me to a UBS conference to talk to the CEO of Shutterfly Inc.

As for the cards -- postcards, I think -- I haven't decided who's going to get my business.

Some other recent-ish clips:

• Web ad agencies look east
• Earthlink reports earnings
• Web ad spend to spike
• Web ad exec: Video ads not yet appealing
• Google subpoenas details from competitors' book scanning projects for use in lawsuits

Speaking of stories without bylines...

Before I dashed out of the office Monday, I was asked to write a short story about...how Time Magazine was writing about YouTube. Ah, journalism in the media capital of the U.S.

Catching up: 5 months at the AP, part 1

I write a lot of stories each day -- five, ten, sometimes twenty -- that go out on the Web without my byline on them. That was surprising to me at first, but I've made my peace. Plus, do I really need credit for crunching numbers and essentially rewriting a press release? Some recent samples, from the third-quarter earnings season:

Sina Corp.
aQuantive Inc.

It's not poetry by any means. And the beat reporter who covers Sina may decide to rewrite my version and sign their name to it. Such is wire service life.

In between press releases, I squeeze in as much reporting and writing as I can safely without having a multitasking-induced breakdown.

Conde Nast's Wired buys reddit
What should Google do?

Why am I showing you only Yahoo Finance pages? It's the easiest place for me to find archived versions.

Now, back to work. Earnings season's almost over...thank god.

welcome

After two years at the Wall Street Journal, I have taken a job at the Associated Press. Not only do I get a cool .org email address, but I have the privilege of seeing my work run free (some might say amok) on the Web.

The honest truth is that most reporters like to see their name in print. Since I don't have a stack of newspaper clippings to remind me every day that yes, in fact, I can do this, I thought I'd make a blog to keep track of my "clips." What a funny notion these days, no?