Poynter Online
Go


Top Story

Putting Voters in the Analyst's Seat
Most Recent Articles
Most E-mailed
Recent Comments
Recent Tags
Community Activity

Poynter Training
Poynter Seminars
Small, in-person training experiences.
News University
Today's most popular courses on NewsU, Poynter's e-learning site for journalists.
Webinars
Our online classroom is just a click away. Learn more.
All Webinars

Al's Morning Meeting

Home > Al's Morning Meeting
Tools: Text Sizeor, Print, RSSRSS, Subscribe via e-mail
Al Tompkins
Story ideas that you can localize and enterprise. Posted by 7:30 a.m. Mon-Fri.


CHECK AL's
TWITTER FEED for nonstop story ideas throughout the day.

UPDATED: JOIN AL ON THE ROAD AND LIVE ONLINE

APPLY FOR BROADCAST AND ONLINE SEMINARS

SEND AL YOUR STORY IDEAS

A dozen sites
I'm diggin'


1. You can lay subtitles or text bubbles on video -- any video. I will be using this to teach about storytelling.

2. Canon responds to the Nikon D90 with its own SLR still camera that records HD video.

3. Why do 97 percent of this railroad's workers get disability checks?

4. I now use Utterz to file audio reports. You can use your computer's mic or any phone. It's simple and would be a great reporter's tool.

5. I used Monitter to monitor what people said on Twitter about Ike. Just change the subjects to whatever you want to look out for.

6. I'm reading all about the Nikon D90, which shoots photos and HD video with the same $1K body.

7. Qik streams live video straight from a cell phone.

8. This fall many PBS stations will air this documentary on whether there is a water crisis in the Southwest.

9. This site watches TV and Web mentions of candidates. It also monitors Tweets and more.

10. The first look at the $179 Google phone.

11. Instead of scheduling meetings by e-mail, everybody can work out a time and date online.

12. Here are tons of GREAT tools that will help you find anything on flickr.

Sites marked with a * have been added recently.

All of my Diggin' sites are saved on Poynter's del.icio.us page.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends on the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. We will correct errors and inaccuracies when we become aware of them.


Retailers Selling Old Tires As New
Tonight ABC News' 20/20 program will include an investigation that was a team effort with several of its local affiliates. The investigation turned up big retailers that were selling old tires as new. The stores involved include Sears, Wal-Mart and Goodyear.

ABC News says:

In San Francisco, Calif., reporters from KGO-TV found a tire made in 1999 and two from 2002 being sold as new by Goodyear, the seventh largest tire retailer in the U.S.

In Indianapolis, Ind., affiliate WRTV-TV went tire shopping at Wal-Mart, the country's third largest tire seller, and found a tire made in 2001 and one from 1999.

In Orlando, Fla., affiliate WFTV-TV also found two aged tires dating back to 1999 and 2000 for sale at a Wal-Mart store.

At Sears, the fifth largest tire retailer in the U.S., our undercover "20/20" shoppers found nearly a dozen aged tires being sold as new as part of a special "manager's clearance sale." At three different stores in New Jersey, we found tires ranging from seven years old to one that was manufactured 12 years ago in 1996.

Learn how to tell the age of the tire on your car by reading a cryptic code on the tire sidewall.

Tirerack.com explains:

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) requires that Tire Identification Code be a combination of eleven or twelve letters and numbers that identify the manufacturing location, tire size, manufacturer's code, and week and year the tire was manufactured.

[...] The week and year the tire was manufactured is contained in the last four digits of the serial number, with the 2 digits used to identify the week a tire was manufactured immediately preceding the 2 digits used to identify the year.

Examples of tires manufactured since 2000 with this Tire Identification Code format:

XXXXXXXX 0600
XXXXXXXX 060006 - Manufactured during the 06th week of the year
XXXXXXXX 060800 - Manufactured during 2000

And

XXXXXXXX 0608
XXXXXXXX 060806 - Manufactured during the 06th week of the year
XXXXXXXX 060808 - Manufactured during 2008


Here is more background on the dangers of aging tires.
Posted by Al Tompkins 3:41 PM May 9, 2008
Tools:
Comment, e-mail, Permalink, Share
Recent Comments:
IRRELEVANT When I was in Vietnam I ate food that was... More.
Read All Comments (2 comments)
Username
Password
New User? Signup Now
Poynter Careers