NYT-1201: STATE OF THE ART A Thermostat That's Clever, Not ...
NYT-1201: STATE OF THE ART A Thermostat That's Clever, Not ...
NYT-1201: STATE OF THE ART A Thermostat That's Clever, Not ...
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Twitter turned into a newswire, a lifeline to the<br />
outside world and a catchphrase machine, all in on<br />
e. A player’s inadvertent text message became a un<br />
iversal lockout greeting: “How u?”<br />
For the dozen or so reporters who covered every me<br />
eting, it often felt like we were living in our ow<br />
n twisted reality show: “Survivor: Lockout Edition<br />
.”<br />
The show mercifully ended at 3 a.m. Nov. 26, when<br />
owners and players at last agreed to a new labor d<br />
eal, on the lockout’s 149th day. That deal is expe<br />
cted to be ratified Thursday, at yet another Midto<br />
wn hotel, the final chapter of a dizzying stakeout<br />
saga.<br />
To our great surprise, thousands of people joined<br />
us for the ride via Twitter, clicking and “retweet<br />
ing” every trivial nugget (“Talks have broken for<br />
dinner”), every news conference quote (“Enormous c<br />
onsequences”) and every punch-drunk riff by report<br />
ers (“Mutant pizza”), no matter the hour.<br />
During one late-night session at the Waldorf-Astor<br />
ia, I heard from a Twitter follower in Australia.<br />
He was just getting out of work. My friend David A<br />
ldridge of TNT said he received Twitter responses<br />
from six continents that night. Everywhere but Ant<br />
arctica, where I’m guessing the Wi-Fi is a little<br />
sketchy.<br />
Covering a professional sports labor battle can be<br />
a thankless task. No one wants to hear about mill<br />
ionaire athletes and billionaire owners fighting o<br />
ver a $4 billion pie, especially in a depressed ec<br />
onomy. The average fan wants to know only three th<br />
ings:<br />
Is it over?<br />
Who won?