PICT5973
Originally uploaded by m220.

Guess these are a couple weeks old, but I just noticed that “m220″ added a few pix of Edge leaving for the Grammy Awards to our @U2 Flickr Group. Very cool — thanks m220!

From the Chicago Tribune: I think the writer is a U2 fan who has been waiting for an excuse to use this headline. Please note the name of the town in question.

Where the streets have no crime

Most of the 19 Illinois towns that reported zero crime in 2003 have things in common: a rural location and a small population. Their only trouble is finding enough work for police officers.

By Angela Rozas
Tribune staff reporter
Published February 25, 2005

CLAYTON, Ill. — Bill Peterson, a police officer in the village of Clayton, has never shot anyone. A 22-year veteran, he’s never even had to take his gun out of its holster.

He also doesn’t know where the keys to his house are.Clayton’s only police officer–and a part-time one at that–Peterson doesn’t lock his doors at night.

“You know, I could find my key if I had to look for it,” Peterson, 49, said as he prepared to fight another long night on his shift.

But what’s boring to Peterson and virtually unheard of in larger cities is good for Clayton, a farming village of 890 residents about 250 miles southwest of Chicago. Although Chicago boasts of “just 445″ homicides last year, the lowest number in four decades, Clayton is among an elite group: towns that reported zero major crime in 2003.

Full post:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-0502250235feb25,1,4233304.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

A blog dedicated to the mix of music and commercials says Apple’s iPod/”Vertigo” commercial is No. 2 on the list of Top Ad Music for 2004. (Thx BR)

That’s all well and good, but what strikes me is that I only recognize 3 of those 10 commercials — U2/Apple, San Andreas, and M&Ms. Maybe if I spent less time in front of the computer and more time in front of the tube I’d have a clue about the other 70% of the best ad music.

Google Zeitgeist, Ireland: U2 not among top 10 Irish searches, but RyanAir is!

And it’s not like U2 wasn’t in the news in January — you had tour announcements, ticket sale problems, etc. But not even the mighty U2 can compete with cheap airfare!

The AppleInsider web site reports that Apple Computer has asked some dealers to return their stock supplies of the iPod Photo and iPod U2 editions. Word is that this is some sort of preliminary step before Apple changes/updates the product line. Why it would involve just the photo and U2 editions is anyone’s guess……

And that’s the other reason to start our move toward Blogger — audio posts via a telephone call, posted immediately to the blog.

So there ya go! We’re ready, ready for what’s next — hope you are, too!

@U2 HQ backyard, Jan. 16, 2005
Originally uploaded by atu2.

One of the reasons we want to start using Blogger is the integration with Flickr’s wonderful photo sharing tools. The photo at right is from my Flickr account and was uploaded last month to my photo collection.

Even cooler is the ability to send images from a cameraphone directly here on the blog via Flickr. That sounds like something we’ll be able to use at events like the “Vertigo’s Eve” party and all year long while U2 is on tour.

Welcome to the @U2 blog!

As times and technology changes, we’re doing our best to keep up. The entire @U2 news staff has access to posting here on the blog, so check back in regularly — you never know who will be posting or what we’ll be posting about. Most of the newsy items will continue to be posted on our home page under “Bits And Bytes”, at least until we move @U2 to a new server and do some other site upgrades.

One of the most common requests (complaints, really) we get is that the news stories written on “Bits and Bytes” are available for a week or so, and then disappear forever. So we see the @U2 blog as one way to solve that problem. At some point, probably several months away, this blog will be integrated into our home page as a replacement for “Bits and Bytes”. Not only will we have archiving at that point, but we’ll also have comments and feedback from @U2 readers right with the Bits and Bytes material.

There are two other reasons we want to move away from the current B&B setup to what a blog offers, and particularly, what Blogger offers: integration with 1) Flickr, and 2) Audioblogger.com. As you’ll see in the next two posts, these two features will give us the opportunity to bring you immediate visual and audio reporting from anywhere we happen to be. I think you’ll like the new opportunities for news reporting we’ll be able to do from here on out.

So, welcome to the newest feature of @U2. Enjoy!