http://tamharbert.com Award-winning journalist specialized in providing compelling, insightful content on technology, business and government Mon, 09 Apr 2012 18:19:08 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Numbers intimidate me. Tax forms, with their confusing formulas and convoluted IRS regulations, downright scare me. But when I went freelance full time, I decided to take the plunge and do my own. I had several reasons. First, energized by a spirit of self-reliance, I figured if I could make ... http://tamharbert.com/blog/ignore-that-tax-accountant-behind-the-curtain/ Neal Augenstein is a one-man multimedia news crew. But the reporter, who works for Washington, D.C., talk radio station WTOP, does not schlep heavy, expensive video and audio equipment as he drives around the metro area covering breaking news. Instead, he uses his iPhone. With his phone, a charger, ... http://tamharbert.com/blog/the-iphone-a-swiss-army-knife-for-reporters/ Have you heard enough about job creation yet? In this election year, it seems that politicians can’t stop talking about it. In fact, the Senate is now debating proposed legislation called the JOBS Act (although it has more to do with cutting regulations on going public than it does with ... http://tamharbert.com/blog/cloud-jobs-in-the-u-s-could-drift-overseas/ If a tree falls in the woods . . . You know the old saying. If no one is there, does the tree make a sound? That was my first thought when I saw two news items last week: First, Intel has pulled out of the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics ... http://tamharbert.com/blog/do-chip-industry-statistics-add-up-to-anything/ Last week brought news that another trade publisher was dropping print. Penton Technology Media Group announced that all of its magazines would go digital-only as of May 2012. . A quick Google search lists at least two other trade publishers – Ziff Davis Enterprise and Linux Journal – that have ... http://tamharbert.com/blog/who-needs-trade-publishers/ The Internet enables my career, and to an increasing extent, my life. I spend hours online every day communicating with sources, editors, colleagues and friends not only by e-mail but also via social networks like Facebook and Twitter. I spend even more time using Google to conduct research for various ... http://tamharbert.com/blog/sopa-protest-political-winds-and-googles-whims/ Every few years, some big trend comes along in the technology industry that drives marketing spending through the roof. It creates a flood of advertising in the trade publications and a tsunami of marketing materials, such as white papers and case studies, as companies scramble to position themselves on the ... http://tamharbert.com/blog/making-rain-with-cloud-computing/ A writer’s personal brand is becoming increasingly valuable. As a freelancer, I establish my brand through networking – both in person and via social networking. I spend a lot of time showing people what I know, what I do and how well I do it. I have a website. I ... http://tamharbert.com/blog/brand-new-confusion-how-much-of-your-brand-does-your-employer-own/ With the explosion of online publishing, many people are now posting words on the web and calling themselves journalists. But a good proportion of them are more like plagiarists. I recently got a first-hand lesson in this. While preparing to pitch a story idea to an editor, I googled “mainframes ... http://tamharbert.com/blog/online-plagiarists-catch-them-if-you-can/ The more I hear about stubbornly high unemployment and the jobless recovery, the more convinced I am that we’re looking at things all wrong. We’re in the midst of a national political obsession about creating jobs, but what exactly constitutes employment today? Fewer and fewer U.S. citizens hold a 9-to-5, 40-hour-a-week ... http://tamharbert.com/blog/a-jobless-recovery-that-depends-on-how-you-define-jobs/