Profile of John Gushue

Biography

John Gushue takes a tour through the Internet with the Surf's Up column each Thursday. He is a former editor and political columnist with The Telegram , and is now a news writer for CBC.ca in St. John's. Read past Surf's Up columns (and much more) at his blog: johngushue.typepad.com .

All articles of John Gushue

• Spreading the news around
  It's a popular belief. Most people often feel that if something truly and completely important has already happened, they would have known it ...
• A local shot at a Webby award
  The Webby awards are often described as the Oscars of the Internet, although there are key differences. You won’t see actors giving acceptance ...
• Social media election? Um, if you insist
  If I hear one more pundit calling this the “social media election,” I’m going to holler. Well, maybe not out loud. More likely, I’ll just groan ...
• Editing pics on the run
  An easy way to edit photos, a Newfoundland expat’s musings from Arkansas, and a digital archive of one of the best magazines ever made. We’re ...
• Excuse my virtual dust
  This week, we’re going to go skiing without snow (let alone a ski pole), journey all over the planet without lifting our legs from the couch and ...
• Some prescriptions for the magazine industry
  Have you picked up a copy of Newsweek lately? I don’t necessarily mean “bought,” either — I mean picking up an actual copy of the magazine. If ...
• The online suggestion box
  It’s been a while since I’ve seen an actual suggestion box at a local business, but I’m sure they’re still out there. You know the deal: you have ...
• Tracking down the musical roots
  A little more than 30 years ago, I made my way to a stereo store in downtown St. John’s with what I thought was a simple question. I was a ...
• A little variety with my morning coffee
  Sometimes I like to have my morning coffee in the late afternoon, with a bracing cup of tea. Sometimes, morning coffee happens at night, with a ...
• Redeem yourself
  To paraphrase a well-known slogan, what’s in your wallet? More to the, um, point, how many reward points are in your wallet?It seems that almost ...
• Your password belongs to you, not a political party
  If Brad Cabana thought that the requirements for the Tory leadership in Newfoundland and Labrador were something else, get a load of what’s on ...
• Your car will soon have more gear than your living room
  When I was a youngster, the model of a souped-up car included a deck that played 8-track tapes. Never mind that some songs faded out, only to ...
• The tablets come down the mountain
  If what we saw at the CES show this month is any indication, we can expect to see a great many more tablets tucked under the arms of consumers in ...
• My word: a game with local flavour
  Word games have been popular for generations, so it makes sense that they’ve migrated to our electronic devices. This week’s serving of digital ...
• In praise of being third
  Our kids are told to play fair, and that everyone’s a winner, but sooner or later they figure out an irrevocable truth of the real world: being ...
• Apps for the new Apple owner
  If expectations follow through, Santa will be leaving a slew of iPads and iPhones and iWhatevers under many Christmas trees this weekend, not to ...
• Free means never having to say you’re stingy
  At this time of the year, with Christmas bills piling up and that spend-spend-spend feeling in the air, everyone’s eyes are keen to spot a ...
• In defence of email
  Last week, I took a bit of a kick at email, suggesting it was the online version of canasta, and I wondered if Facebook’s forthcoming messaging ...
• Has email become the online canasta?
  Boy, this has been a busy year for obituaries in online technology. First, Wired magazine this summer pronounced the web as dead (arguing that ...
• From the wine world, a Major effort
  Kevin Major is one of the literary stars in Newfoundland and Labrador, creating much-loved books for young readers and adults, novels and ...
• Ahead by a century: photos that make their mark
  If you look at a landscape and come back a day later, nothing seems to change. A month? Possibly. A year? Definitely maybe. How about a century, ...
• Moving on up to Movember
  According to legend from ancient times (that is, in 2003), Movember started as a bar chat in Australia among a bunch of friends. It’s November, ...
• Curiosity didn’t kill this cat
  I have a reputation for being a trivia buff, and that was in place well before the appearances I used to make on Crosstalk on CBC’s Radio Noon. I ...
• Textual analysis: phone rules for parents and teens
  I’ve had several conversations over the last few months on a subject that will, sooner or later, be raised in my own household. Teenagers and ...
• Can’t get that song out of my head
  An earworm is usually defined as a song or a musical phrase that repeats itself to you, whether you like it or not — as if, in other words, a ...
• Keeping it safe and sound
  A week or so after hurricane Igor, and I still can’t take my mind off what happened — and what’s happening. I imagine chances are excellent ...
• Can you imagine a life offline?
  As I write this, darkness has just fallen in St. John’s on Tuesday evening, and our living room is illuminated by tealight candles that are ...
• Free content can come at a nasty price
  Several weeks ago, I was reading about the music business and came across a bit about a famous incident in which Tom Petty fought against price ...
• Don't get caught in a Farmville foreclosure
  With school back in swing, here’s a tip for parents to think about as they watch their little wonders pass the time on their electronic devices ...
• Taking stock of Empire Avenue
  Not the street — the veritable border of St. John’s, not all that long ago — but rather the social media network and virtual stock market named ...