After many months of planning and development, I'm excited to announce that the CNN App for iPad is now available on the App Store.  This is CNN's first app designed exclusively for a mobile tablet, and we built it from the ground up with our consumers first in mind.

It is available globally free of charge, and we hope that it will provide you with an immersive and exploratory way to experience the news.

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Today, Google announced the details around their Google TV product, which will officially launch this month. With Google TV, users will be able to access the internet directly from their web-enabled television.

CNN is pleased to announce that we will be a launch partner with Google. It is our desire to make our CNN.com articles, videos, and photos available to all users on all platforms and all products, whether you're on the web, phone, web-enabled TV, or any other device.
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As you may already know, last year we launched CNN’s first-ever iPhone app in the United States. We also knew that consumer demand existed in other countries, so we wanted to develop an international news app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. I’m happy to report that the international version of the CNN App for the iPhone and iPod Touch launched last week in App Stores across the globe, AND is available for free.

Also, we’ve received lots of great feedback about the app. In addition to many strong ratings, we’ve seen some specific suggestions. We're listening to your comments and have some changes planned. In particular, we’ve heard from users in Australia, New Zealand and Canada about a desire to see more regional coverage in these areas. We’re looking at options to deliver just that, and I plan to provide a progress update on this topic within a few weeks. To all who will use this information, we’ve heard you and are making it a top priority to find a solution with content that is consistent with the world-class quality you expect from CNN.

Now, for more on the app itself: Like its U.S.-based cousin, the CNN App gives you valuable news and information anytime, anywhere and enables you to stay up to speed while on the go.

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As a field producer, I usually don't lose much sleep worrying about a story I may be covering the next day. My philosophy is that you plan the best that you can for every contingency, and then you just go with the flow after that. But Wednesday night was a little different.

I was going to the Deepwater Horizon site with CNN anchorwoman Kyra Phillips and CNN photojournalist Rich Brooks to see ground zero of one of the United States' worst ecological disasters. Through Kyra's long-time friendship and working relationship with U.S Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, we had managed to get exclusive access to the crippled well site. Getting an "exclusive" like that is what all journalists live for. A chance to report something you know your competitors can't.

Not only were we going to get this unprecedented access, but we were going to try to "beam" back a live shot. To do that we had to rely on a piece of equipment, that up to that point, had not worked properly for any of my coworkers. And that minor detail was disturbing my night's sleep. It is one thing to have a glitch on a more mundane story, but this was big news and a big payoff for the network if we could pull it off.

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CNN's logo has been seen and recognized all over the world, but like the rest of the network, it has roots in Atlanta.

"In the eleventh hour, it occurred to someone that they needed a logo," said Toni Dwyer of Communication Trends, Inc, and the ad firm that worked with CNN before it got off the ground in 1980. "We had about 24 or 48 hours to turn around and present a logo."

The logo was designed by the late Anthony Guy Bost, who had also been a professor at the University of Auburn. Dwyer distinctly remembered presenting the designs to the powers that be. "There were several forms of the logo they weren't exactly wild about, there was one we thought would play the best, we tried to keep it simple," said Dwyer. "It was designed with money in mind, so we tried to keep it one color."

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By CNN's Douglas Wood

CNN.com's pages listing the casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq began as we prepared a special report to cover the invasion of Iraq. One of the elements of the special report had to be a page listing the names - and when possible - the photos of the men and women who died while serving in the conflict. I did not update the page at the start of the war but once "major combat" ended, the responsibility of adding names to the list returned to me.

See the Home and Away casualties interactive

I remember thinking then that the war was not over and as the months went by, the number of fatalities began to climb. In 2004, we added another page listing the names of those who died serving in Afghanistan and other countries.

I don't think anyone ever thought that the list of casualties from both wars would eventually encompass more than 6,000 names from 32 countries. It includes six recipients of the Medal of Honor, all posthumous, and one posthumous recipient of the British Victoria Cross.

It is also a list that, unfortunately, keeps growing, just like the civilian toll, which is even higher. Unfortunately, it would be close to impossible to create a similar page to list the names of the civilians who have died in these conflicts.

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The mission was fairly simple: shoot video of John Leguizamo while he rides his bike through Manhattan.

I mean, how hard could it be? New York is only a city of 8 million people, many of whom would be driving large, man-crushing cars with little to no regard for anyone outside the 1-foot personal hula hoop of their own middle finger.
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As you've probably noticed by now, we have implemented a new way for you to interact with CNN.com stories, videos, blogs and iReports – and it's all tied to Facebook.

You may remember that CNN and Facebook joined forces for the inauguration of President Obama last year, setting a record for the largest live video event in internet history. While that was a remarkable live event, we believe it is just as important to enhance your news experience every day with any news story, as well as enable you to more personally connect with the news. So, it's my pleasure to welcome you to Facebook Connect on CNN.com.

Click to watch video

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Last week we launched "This Just In" CNN's news blog.

You'll find the news of the day there – a stream of stories big and small, from earthquakes and elections to celebrity news.

There will be posts from our blog editors and the staff of CNN at large to give you the latest from the CNN Wire, plus the scoops and interviews and insight that make this a really fun and interesting place to be.
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I had a personal interest in interviewing the super volunteers for my article on people who like to work at the Olympics so much that they do it over and over.

 I was a volunteer at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, working as a language agent (a fancy way of saying “unpaid interpreter”) at the Georgia World Congress Center.  This was the site for events like fencing, weight lifting and table tennis. I got to see many amazing athletes in action and behind the scenes.
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