Dan Gillmor

Anyone with the slightest appreciation of irony would surely have appreciated a recent editorial in The Wall Street Journal.

A cliche of business holds that good ideas are a dime a dozen; it's hard work and investment capital that turn them into businesses. As with most cliches, this one has a solid foundation of truth.

A few years ago, I joined a gaggle of technology journalists at the Cupertino, CA, headquarters of what was then called Apple Computer. (The company is called Apple now.) The occasion was an announcement of some sort; I've long since forgotten the specifics.

After a tumultuous 2007, I offer below some predictions for 2008. Apologies to William Safire, my favorite columnist who popularized this gimmick during his long stint at The New York Times. (Answers below. Note: "all" or "none" are OK.)

A measure of honor in journalism is the willingness to own up to mistakes. By that standard, Time has failed with a grossly inadequate response to some serious recent misinformation it foisted on readers.

The chief executive of one of America's biggest home builders claims to have fingered one of the responsible parties for the terrible times in the housing business.

Virgin America, the new discount airline, has adopted one of the hotel industry's most annoying ploys. It calls those who sit in its seats "guests" instead of what they really are: customers.

So Blackwater USA, creator of the most notorious mercenary army in decades, is trying to clean up its image.

Here's a brilliant PR move: Wreck the product your customers have bought, at great expense, and then improved.

The discovery that people inside companies and political organizations have been sprucing up what's said about them on Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, may be the least surprising PR-related news in years.