DNA financial chief leaves after five years
Dan May, the Denver Newspaper Agency’s chief financial officer, has left the company.
An agency spokesman, Jim Nolan, on Friday declined to discuss the terms of May’s departure.
May spent 23 years with accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers before being named the agency’s CFO in July 2001.
Candidates tuned in to high-tech features
Among the weighty technology issues in the upcoming gubernatorial election, cellphones, podcasting and social networking pages are not high on the list.
But we’re interested nonetheless. So we asked Republican Bob Beauprez and Democrat Bill Ritter during a chat before Friday’s Technology Forum featuring the two at the Brown Palace.
Beauprez didn’t think he had a Facebook page, but a helpful handler quickly interjected that he does. He’s not on MySpace, but does use his son’s iPod. His cellphone and BlackBerry are set to vibrate.
“I try to be polite,” he said.
Beauprez said he knew what a podcast was, adding that he does them and puts them on his website. Actually, on his site he calls them “BobCasts.”
Ritter said he has both Facebook and MySpace pages. His ringtone? “I have no idea,” he laughed.
Ritter had 280 friends on his MySpace page as of Friday, including “Ralph Nader,” the Colorado Young Democrats and a user whose profile photo features a naked man playing the tuba.
Beauprez’s Facebook.com page contains 11 entries from “friends” who have posted messages. Among them, a comment from a “John Beauprez” stating, “You’re the man Daddy!”
Here’s one who won’t imbibe in Facebook
While Bob Beauprez may be “the man” for having a page on Facebook, one freshman at the University of Denver is defending himself for not having one.
Kris Riemer, 17, sat on the sidelines this week as thousands of high school and college students attacked the social networking site for new technical features that automatically track a user’s moves on the site.
(Facebook implemented additional privacy settings Friday to limit the amount of tracking, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg stating in an open letter to users that he was sorry for angering users.)
Riemer attended an American high school in Singapore and said he used to have a MySpace page but eventually stopped using it. “The people on my floor said, ‘I can’t believe you’re not on Facebook,”‘ said Riemer.
“I prefer face-to-face interactions. Online, people don’t have to look at you,” he said. “It’s like drinking. … Chatting online lowers your inhibitions, and you say things that you wouldn’t say in person.”
Burger on a bun is going way upscale
Hamburgers are still our favorite sandwich, but restaurants willing to spice up the old staple with new flavors should see a payoff, according to NPD, a restaurant research firm.
U.S. palates are getting more sophisticated. Ranch, bacon and barbecue used to be cutting-edge additions to burgers. But other flavors on track to go mainstream include orange, ginger and chopped garlic and parsley.
Cilantro and Caesar dressing, beyond use in salads, are emerging flavors, NPD said.
People want bigger burgers, prefer cheese and are increasingly willing to try European breads instead of the plain old bun.
Among the favorite concepts NPD tested was the “billionaire” burger – ground sirloin on a toasted baguette with steak sauce on the side and aged cheddar, blue or Gruyère cheese.
Dinners jazz up KUVO’s bottom line
A newly formed “secret society” howled at a nearly full moon Tuesday during a dinner at Dana Crawford’s loft.
Crawford, best known for saving Larimer Square from demolition, hosted a party for 26 people to form the society aimed at introducing her latest development, Prospect Place, and drumming up support for jazz89 KUVO public radio.
A series of jazzy parties will be held the next three Wednesdays in the Ajax Lofts penthouse, 2955 Inca St. Appetizers by Italian chef Andrea Frizzi and wine from Balistreri Vineyards will be served.
A limited number of tickets are available at www.events.prospectplacelofts.com or 303-725-8797. All proceeds benefit KUVO.
FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
