E-discovery versus Web 2.0

I had a new blog item posted this week on Suite101.com about the concerns companies have that communications on new technology like texting, Facebook and even Twitter could be subject to e-discovery laws. Check it out.

GigaOM Post

I've had the opportunity to also write for the popular technology industry site GigaOm. One of its properties, Earth2Tech, is devoted to green tech news. It posted Jan. 14 my report, "Solar's Dirty Side is Being Ignored, Report Says," about an environmental group's study of hazards related to solar panel manufacturing. It's a followup to a story I posted on Earth2Tech earlier, previewing the upcoming report, "Cadmium: The Dark Side of Thin Film?"
It's clear that green technology is an emerging field that offers new opportunities for me as a journalist.

IDG News/Network World

From August 2006 to November 2007, I was a writer for IDG News Service, the wire service for multiple IDG publications, and for Network World, one of the IDG titles. Here are a few samples of my work.

Before I was hired, most of Network World's reporters were based in Boston or scattered elsewhere in the U.S. I offered the advantage of being based in Silicon Valley. My editor said this was the type of story they were looking for from a Silicon Valley-based reporter: "Unauthorized iPhone Apps Market Fluorishes" Sept. 26, 2007

Network World has been active in making their Web site more dynamic, with multimedia features such as slide-shows. I covered a conference at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif. My story, "Deconstructing the PC revolution," was accompanied by a slide show of photos I took of computers that are literally museum pieces! Nov. 5, 2007

This is a major project story I wrote about an IT upgrade for the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system in San Francisco: "Process makeover keeps BART on track" Oct. 12, 2007

One of my main beats at Network World, as well as at IDGNS, was storage technology. This article explored the problem many enterprises experienced of buying too much storage because much of the capacity was set aside for various groups but little used. "When in doubt, buy more storage" April 23, 2007

At IDG News, I was the lead reporter on coverage of the HP pretexting scandal. My experience included being prevented by handlers from trying to interview CEO Mark Hurd about the scandal at an HP conference in Houston. Some of the other stories:

"HP CEO calls pretexting probe a 'rogue' investigation" Sept. 26, 2006

"Dunn to 'set the record straight' in HP case" Sept. 21, 2006

I also covered a federal court hearing over a lawsuit against telecoms for cooperating with the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program. This analysis column was called "Reporter's Notebook: NSA suit like Alice's Wonderland" Aug. 16, 2007
To inquire about Robert Mullins' availability for full or part time work, please write me at mullico@gmail.com or call at 408-243-4302

Robert can take photos, too

This photo of Neil Young making a cameo appearance

at JavaOne made the front page of Software Development Times.
Photo credit: Robert Mullins

As a senior editor for Software Development Times, I, of my own volition, used my personal camera to take photos. Invariably, on production day for each of the print issues of SD Times, someone form the graphics department would e-mail me asking for a headshot of whomever was featured in one of my articles. I'd have to scramble and call the PR people at a company to send me a headshot, which may as well have been the guy's driver's license photo. Finally, I decided to take my own photos, when possible. Here are some photos and some related stories:

Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz

Showfloor at JavaOne 2008


Ian Murdock, VP of Developer and
Community Marketing, Sun Microsystems
Reuven Cohen co-hosts "unconference" on
cloud computing in San Francisco in May 2008

Participants at the "Cloud Camp" in San Francisco
line up to suggest breakout sessions for their
"unconference" on cloud computing in May 2008
The Firefox mascot greets visitors to Mozilla's
headquarters for a launch event for the
Firefox 3 browser in June 2008

The crowd at Google I/O Conf.

Moscone Center, San Francisco, May 2008

To inquire about Robert Mullins' availability for full or part time work, please write me at mullico@gmail.com or call at 408-243-4302

Coverage of software development

I had the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of the software development field while writing for Software Development Times in 2008. I had written a little bit about software development but my knowledge was an inch deep and a mile wide compared to the in-depth knowledge readers of SDTimes expected. But in a few months I was able to learn the inside scoop in stories such as these:

Java the Bloat
June 15, 2008

Sun-MySQL progress report
July 17, 2008

'We don't know what we should be teaching:' software programming for multicore
April 14, 2008

Dissident Icahn added to Yahoo board
Aug. 4, 2008

Android apps draw crowd at developer conference
May 30, 2008

To inquire about Robert Mullins' availability for full or part time work, please write me at mullico@gmail.com or call at 408-243-4302.

Blog for GigaOM, too

I've also had the opportunity to blog for GigaOM, the site run by veteran Silicon Valley technology writer Om Malik. After being introduced to one of their editors by a good friend, I submitted a post I wrote based on information I had obtained about a pending report on environmental hazards related to solar energy. Cadmium: The Dark Side of Thin-Film? was posted Sept. 25, 2008 on the GigaOM-related site Earth2Tech. The article generated considerable comment.

To inquire about Robert Mullins' availability for full or part time work, please write me at mullico@gmail.com or call at 408-243-4302.

I can blog, too, Pt. 1

I have extensive blogging experience, having been senior editor of a blog for my extended family since 2006. That's just for personal use, as is another blog titled "Mullico Musings", which offers my take on politics, current events and other personal interests. But I've also posted on commercial blogs, such as Suite101.com. It posts blogs on a variety of topics, mostly "how-to" type articles. I've written a few combining my personal interest in cars with my knowledge of technology. Here's one recently posted on hybrid cars:
Midsized hybrids segment grows:

On a related subject, I also wrote about Shopping for green cars besides Prius or Escape

And now for something completely different, Suite101 has blog pages devoted to cloud computing, to which I contributed this article Dec. 11, 2008: Cloud Computing Not the Answer for Every Business

As you can tell, I am a very versatile writer with an ability to write with authority on a wide range of topics. Besides covering the tech industry in Silicon Valley, I've also been a business reporter covering multiple industries. I can pick up on new beats quickly.
On a more practical matter, I am able to write with the distinctive "voice" of a blogger, which is different from the third-person observer voice of the traditional journalist. Also, I have learned how to maximize the opportunity to draw readers to a blog with the right amount of links and the highlighting of keywords searchers will be drawn to.
Lastly, I can also blog with a sense of humor, a la "The Onion," as in this post on the speculation about the health of Apple CEO Steve Jobs, rumors that were dispelled with a company pronouncement Jan. 5 that he is being treated for a "hormone imbalance."

To inquire about Robert Mullins' availability for full or part time work, please write me at mullico@gmail.com or call at 408-243-4302.