Hi. I'm Newley Purnell. I cover technology and business for The Wall Street Journal, based in Hong Kong. I use this site to share my stories and often blog about the books I'm reading, tech trends, sports, travel, and our dog Ginger. For updates, get my weekly email newsletter.
The Boston Globe is running an interesting profile of Ha Jin, author of the novel “Waiting,” which won the National Book Award in 1999. When I was in college, I took several poetry classes with Jin; he’s extremely smart and is a genuinely nice man.
I’m not a Mac enthusiast, but I like the “Switch” TV campaign because the ads are simple and direct and compelling–they feature real people who look into the camera and tell their stories. (Also, I like the quirky music.) I just discovered that the commercials are directed by one of my favorite documentarians, Errol Morris. And his son–friend of Ellen Feiss, the “Apple It Girl”–is in one of the spots.
BBC News: “A secret population of orang-utans has been discovered in the forests of the island of Borneo.”
The Guide Horse Foundation: “A non-profit charity dedicated to providing free guides for visually impaired individuals.”
Backyard wrestling. You gotta love it.
Ecuador has a new president. Lucio Gutierrez, a former coup leader, won in a runoff today. More info and photos here.
“Bizarre Behavior Is Clouding Michael Jackson’s Future” (New York Times; free registration required). An article about the King of Pop’s descent into weirdness.
Imagine if you could search information from your past–old emails, conversations you had years ago, documents you wrote–as easily as you query Google. It might be possible one day.
Update to the turducken update: the dish in question, of course, is a cooked chicken inside a duck inside a turkey. Well, I propose to take it to another level–to kick it up a notch or ten. Provided I can obtain the proper materials, this Thanksgiving I shall be preparing a CaribouAntelopeSheepHogTurDuckenRabbitGuineapigSquirrelDove.