I spent the weekend in Phoenix, attending the second of what I hope remains a recurring annual event with a funny name — NewsFoo.

Put on by O’Reilly Media with the help of the Knight Foundation and Google, this ~150-person unconference (read: most powerful event format when done right) gathered minds from journalism and technology for two days of serious and seriously laid back thinking about anything and everything new in news.

With nonstop conversations with some incredible people (I am not worthy!) and nightly rounds of the blockbuster geek conference game “Werewolf,” it also left a lot of us exhausted.

Before I take a nap (seriously — or maybe I just turn in?), here are a couple of thoughts that have emerged so far from the mix of insights I heard at NewsFoo and the contents of my own messy mind:

• When you have data, you have to think beyond the story. Better than a story is an interactive feature that lets readers explore the data. Better than an interactive feature is a tool that lets them compute, calculate and better understand the world to come based on that data. How can news be more useful?
• When seeking revenue — and I am so sure of this — you also have to think beyond the story. What products or services would your community value? The Texas Tribune host popular newsmaker breakfasts. The Chronicle of Philanthropy offers webinars. The Seattle Times sells a college football fan app. BostonGlobe.com offers a simpler reading experience. The Chicago Tribune puts on a regular ticketed variety show. (I led a session on this, and thanks to the amazing folks in attendance, my three examples turned to ~15. Thanks to Elise Hu, Dean Putney, Andrew Phelps, Brian Boyer, Jon Bruner, Baratunde Thurston, Dean Jonathan Dube and everyone who stopped by for a great discussion).
• Journalists can combat fear-mongering and other ailments by leveraging their knowledge, taking a risk and taking up a voice. We’ve sat safely in neutrality in the past, saying something only when someone else has said it. But what if we see it, and it’s too important not to say? (Thanks to Jay Rosen and danah boyd for helping flesh that out)
• The more you know your community and the more narrowly they are defined, the more deeply you as a journalist or news organization will be able to serve them (and the less a cold metric like raw page views will need to matter).
• Let’s not kid ourselves: a terrible news consumption experience can ruin otherwise wonderful content. If it’s clunky, choked with ads, a bad fit for the device it’s read on, or otherwise distracting or incongruous, it’s less effective.
• You can’t deny coming changes; you anticipate them. One trend I’d not heard of but am now convinced will grow: drone journalism. (Thanks to Matt Waite for the introduction.)

P.S. — I gave an Ignite talk at the conference Saturday night about why I’ve decided to unplug one day a week (’cause yes, I’m actually doing it!). Stay tuned for the video.

Tiffany Shlain wants everyone to take a weekly day off gadgets

I felt so energized this weekend after talking to filmmaker Tiffany Shlain. And not just about the power of conversation, the subject of my latest GeekWire column.

In our conversation at the Napa Valley Film Festival Friday, she reiterated what she had told viewers after a screening of her latest film, “Connected: An Autobiography of Love, Death, and Technology:” that she unplugs completely from technology for one day a week, and believes everyone should do the same.

To her, unplugging isn’t about losing stress and obligations. It’s about gaining perspective. It’s thanks to her routine unplugging, she says, that she acknowledges and feels daily grateful for the amazing capabilities connected technologies provide.

I hadn’t thought of it quite that way before. At least, not deeply. But I’m convinced she has a point — and not by any means a new one.

Shlain takes her weekly day off from tech on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. The tradition of the Jewish day of rest, she explained, is not just about taking a break from life, but about gaining perspective on what it means to be living. Time off leads to a better understanding of the time you’re on.

So today I asked on Facebook: Has anyone done this — committed to taking a day off connected technology every week? Should I try it? The response was encouraging. Check it out here.

It’s no secret I’m a nut for connectivity tools — especially the ones I carry around in my pocket.

“I give you 2 hours max!” wrote my friend Nadja.

But who knows? I may just give this routine unplugging thing a whirl….

Former Pixar CTO Oren Jacob shares stories about his former boss.

On Sunday I was in California at the Napa Valley Film Festival, attending the Tweethouse, an event focused on communication innovation that my husband’s company, the Parnassus Group, puts on at various larger conventions and festivals throughout the year.

Oren Jacob, entrepreneur and former CTO of Pixar, was one of the speakers. For over an hour, he held the room with breathless stories about someone he worked with — someone who is arguably the most captivating figure of the year: Steve Jobs.

Among all of Oren’s recollections of Jobs’ leadership, one stood out:

“You never left a meeting thinking, ‘What did he mean by that?’”

Clarity is complicated in business, especially, I’d imagine, when you’re at the head of one of the most revered companies in the world, leading some of the most fiercely brilliant minds. It must be easy to go on and on, leaving sensitive issues vague and employees scrambling to extract their own meaning. But something about hearing that the great Steve Jobs managed to be straightforward with his team made me think — maybe clarity in not as hard to come by as I think.

Point to Steve.

From writer Larry Carlat and the New York Times, “Confessions of a Tweeter” is a must-read for anyone who’s ever felt even a little a bit burdened by social media. Lord knows I have, much as I appreciate Twitter and all the amazing connections it’s helped me make over the years. Carlat writes:

Soon my entire life revolved around tweeting. I stopped reading, rarely listened to music or watched TV. When I was out with friends, I would duck into the bathroom with my iPhone. I tweeted while driving, between sets of tennis, even at the movies. (“I love holding your hand in the dark.”) When I wasn’t on Twitter, I would compose faux aphorisms that I might use later. I began to talk that way too. I sounded like a cross between a Barbara Kruger installation and a fortune cookie. I posted every hour on the hour, day and night, using a Web site that enabled me to tweet while asleep.

It was an obsession. And like most obsessions, no good came of it.

However much or little you relate, the piece is a good reminder to keep control as you’re swept up in the stream.

The Seattle Times website, 100% relevant

There’s something so refreshing about seeing a takeover ad on a news site on and about a milestone that actually matters to the city — the 150th anniversary of Seattle’s University of Washington.

Just when you think all lucrative news site display ads are distracting, pitchy, uncaring and even demeaning (“Lakewood Mom makes Botox Doctors furious!”), there’s this — advertising actually in sync with what readers care about. The whole city is talking about the University of Washington’s 150th anniversary (#UW150). It’s even commemorated on Bing’s home page today.

I know it’s weird to think of news and ads coming together, but this feels… right.

It’s up to newsrooms to raise the bar for content that matters. Maybe sales teams can do more of the same.

Seattle is known not just for its coffee, but its coffee shops. Between the Starbucks are dozens of independent, locally brewed havens for chatters, hipsters and the city’s crop of laptop loungers.

But not all great coffee shops are great to work from. In my latest GeekWire column, I lay out 15 essential ingredients for a great coffee shop for work.

Enjoy.

In the KIRO studios (Erynn Rose photo)

On Friday I joined Todd Bishop and John Cook at the KIRO radio studios to record another edition of GeekWire Radio.

These guys are just fun to banter with. And the topics were great: Steve Jobs’ jabs at Bill Gates, the new Seattle Microsoft store and a Seattle-based dating site’s notion that “the best wingman is a wingwoman,” plus a couple themes from my recent GeekWire columns about the future of the newly techie Pioneer Square neighborhood and the saga of an insulted Capitol Hill bartender.

Check out the 30-minute podcast here. Or tune in to NewsTalk 97.3 KIRO FM to hear the show on-air at 11 p.m. tonight or 1 p.m. or 6 p.m. Sunday (see the schedule here).

Journalist + social media addict = I might actually be this nuts.

The note that started it all. (Via Seattle Weekly)

Seen this bill? If not, you’ve missed one of the more interesting cautionary tales about anger on social media to come out of Seattle this year.

Catch up on the craziness and hear my take on one key lessons learned in my latest GeekWire column.