I first knew of James from TechTV, when I was an intern there. I worked primarily on the web site, but I still knew of him. I was a TechTV fan first, and an intern second, and believe me when I say that I was quite a fan of James after watching him on Call For Help and Fresh Gear. He struck me as intelligent and articulate, with a great flair for educating and entertaining at the same time. So when it came time for me to work at CNET, I was delighted that I would be working side by side with one of my heroes. James never let his seniority get to his head — he was welcoming to me from Day One.

There were many times when James would come and talk to me about TechTV, and we would reminisce about the good ol days. We would gossip about who was doing what, and how the other alumni were doing. Several times, he would come and show me the latest digital audio gadget, with excitement in his eyes. James truly loved his job, and it showed. He also cared greatly for his family. Even during the TechTV days, he would show off pictures of his daughter on the camera. At work, he would give me little discount postcards for his family’s boutique store, Doe in San Francisco. He was a warm and friendly man, and that came across to every one that came in contact with him.

It does not surprise me that he gave his all to save his family. James was that kind of man — generous and warm to a fault. He gave them most of the food, and he went looking for help when things seemed to look bleak. James Kim was a hero. It breaks my heart that he’s gone. All of us who knew him mourn his loss.

Thank you for everything James. We miss you very much.

[UPDATE 5: HOLY CRAP, they found Kati and the kids!!! James went off two days ago looking for help! Fingers super duper crossed! (News.com)]

[Update 4: Please check out the page that some of their family made for them at JamesandKati.com.]

[Update 3: "Following confirmed sightings last Saturday night of missing CNET editor James Kim and his family at a Denny's restaurant in Roseburg, Ore., search efforts are shifting north to Douglas County, Oregon police said Saturday morning.

The Denny's sighting in Roseberg at about 8 p.m. on November 25 was corroborated by eyewitnesses and a credit card statement. Lt. Dennis Dinsmore, of the Curry County Sheriffs' Department, "no indication in any way that they ever reached" his county." (News.com)]

[Update 2: "Federal and state law enforcement officials are combing remote roads off Oregon's Highway 38 and Interstate 5 in search of missing CNET senior editor James Kim and his family, police said Friday." (News.com)]

[Update: If you want the latest information on this, please check out CNET's Crave blog entry about it (We'll be updating it when we have information). Also scroll down to the bottom of this entry if you want to read additional blog and MSM coverage of this. Thank you for your support.]

[Video added (thanks Veronica)]:

One of my co-workers is missing, as well as his wife and two kids. He is James Kim, former TechTV personality and current CNET editor for digital audio. He and his family were last seen on Saturday in Portland, Oregon. He was supposed to show up at work on Tuesday, but no one has seen him or his family since Saturday.

I work in the same team as James (we’re both in the Mobile team), and needless to say, I’m worried as all hell. If anybody has ANY NEWS at all about his or his family’s whereabouts, please contact the SFPD. The following is from the official investigation of the SFPD:

Missing Family Includes: James, Kati, Penelope (age 4.5) and Sabine (6 months). Last name is Kim

Overview: The Kim Family left San Francisco on November 17th on a road trip to the Pacific Northwest. They had thanksgiving in Seattle with family and then drove to Portland. They were last seen by their friends in Portland who they had brunch with on Saturday, November 25. According to their friends, their plans were to drive out to the town of Gold Beach on the Oregon Coast and then make their way back to San Francisco. James was expected back at work on Tuesday, November 28th. When no one had heard from him by Wednesday morning employees at the Kims’ two stores and his colleagues at CNET began to make phone calls to his family and friends to inquire of his whereabouts. Presently, the SFPD is investigating the case.

If you know anything about James’ whereabouts, you can contact the SFPD by calling 415-558-5508 during normal business hours and 415-553-1071 after hours. More information on media coverage after the jump.

PS. I’m making this public since I saw Leo Laporte post about it and this story will probably be on local news stations anyway.

PPS. I’m going to link to some coverage of this if I can.
1) Here’s Tom Merritt’s blog entry about it.
2) Leo posted the same thing that was on his Vox on his TWiT blog.
3) Chris Pirillo posted about it too.
4) Crave posted it as well as News.com.
5) Veronica too.
6) Engadget as well.
7) Tom posted it on the Buzz Out Loud forums
It’s on Digg.
9) Official SFPD flyer. Their car was a 2005 silver Saab station wagon with the license plate “DOESF”.
10) I posted about it on Metblogs SF. Alex Williams from Portland also posted about it on Metblogs Portland.
11) KGW, Northwest News Channel 8 (a local Pacific Northwest news station), published a story about it.
12) The Statesman Journal of Salem, Oregon, has a story about it too.
13) The San Francisco Chronicle picked it up.
14) NBC 11 / KNTV, the Bay Area’s NBC affiliate, has video and a story on it.
15) It’s on Dvorak’s blog.
16) Thank you SFist!
17) Gizmodo picked it up. Thank you Brian!
18) Full-length News.com article.
19) The Oregonian is on board. James’s family has paid for a personal search team in addition to the official ones.
20) KATU, Portland Fox affiliate.
21) KCBS 740AM, Bay Area news radio.
22) KGO, Bay Area ABC affiliate.
23) KTVU, Bay Area Fox affiliate.
24) CNN

If you don’t know already, I’ll be on a panel at Webzine 2005 called “Leveling the Playing Field: Journalism Online” where I’ll yibber yabber about this perilous profession I’ve somehow stumbled into. I’ll also probably chime in on this thing called “blogging.” But most likely I’ll rely on the other panelists to take the show. Or at least feed me talking points. I’m so unprepared it’s embarassing.

Anyway, if you wanna support/heckle/throw tomatoes etc at me, come check it out. It’s the very first panel at Webzine, and you can check out the rest of the schedule here.

I also like it that I probably have the worst blog out of that whole list. Nice.

• Hella lots of “Walkman-type radios,” with batteries
• A chemical toilet
• Diesel fuel
• Old laptops with working batteries
• Walkie-talkies
• Basic electronics components, that include cables, power connectors, UPS units, etc.
• Access to antibiotics, anti-infectious disease vaccines
• Basic sustenance stuff, like food, water, etc.
• A van from Houston
• People transcribing the radio feeds to text
• Various other things to come

It’s a pretty hard-hitting list, but hopefully someone out there will be able to get in touch with Joel et al to get him some of this stuff (or at least access to them).

[via Gizmodo]

It certainly reminds me of my own mortality, as well as the safety of my family and friends. I haven’t heard anything from my family about it, so I can only assume that everyone’s still safe and sound. My heart goes out to all those who’ve lost loved ones to this, and I can only hope that things will get better from here.

It looks like CSI: Las Vegas is on a downward spiral. William Petersen, the guy who plays Gil Grissom, has also said that he’ll most likely quit once his contract is up because he doesn’t like the franchising direction the show is taking. I personally really dislike CSI: Miami, so I agree with the guy somewhat (Haven’t seen CSI: NY, so not about to make judgement on that yet).

I don’t know man. I don’t think I’ll continue watching the show once Gil goes. It’s just not right, y’know?

I think it’s time I start buying up those DVDs.

This article by a gay high school student in Utah is probably one of the most compelling reasons for gay marriage I’ve read. An excerpt:

The other day I saw a woman crying because she felt so strongly against homosexual marriage. Go cry because people starve, because children are abused, and because war and tragedy run rampant, but not because two people fall in love.

Read the whole article; it’s really quite powerful.

For more information, peruse this Boing Boing entry about blogosphere reaction to the bombing.

[via Boing Boing]

I’ve heard of some pretty stupid bills in the past, but this has got to be one of the worst. I quote:

Ostensibly, the Database and Collections of Information Misappropriation Act (HR3261) makes it a crime for anyone to copy and redistribute a substantial portion of data collected by commercial database companies and list publishers.

This may sound pretty innocuous on the surface, but in reality it’s not. This bill would give commercial database companies ownership of facts like stock quotes, sports scores, and voter lists. What this means is that any kind of news digest or headline list not published by a big database company would be rendered illegal. If this bill passes, say goodbye to Google News, since it trolls media databases and provides stories on its main page. Even a public-health website would be deemed in violation of the law if it gathered a list of the latest health headlines and posted links to them on its homepage. I know of a number of blogs that would be found in violation too, my sideblog being one of them. If this bill passes, say goodbye to receiving news, stock quotes, and sports updates on your pager or cellphone, because the companies would own that information, and you’d have to pay for them.

These companies already have copyright law protecting them. They don’t need another law that impedes the free exchange of information. What else is more important in the age of the Internet? If you can, tell your local member of Congress to not support this bill.

[via Leo]

Look at the pictures; dang I had no idea it was that bad.