Sebastiaan de With, on Twitter:
On the internet, if the price is “free”, the product that’s being sold is you.
This is exactly what is making me think of switching away from Gmail.
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Paul Miller Leaving Engadget
I’d love to be able to keep doing this forever, but unfortunately Engadget is owned by AOL, and AOL has proved an unwilling partner in this site’s evolution. It doesn’t take a veteran of the publishing world to realize that AOL has its heart in the wrong place with content. As detailed in the “AOL Way,” and borne out in personal experience, AOL sees content as a commodity it can sell ads against. That might make good business sense (though I doubt it), but it doesn’t promote good journalism or even good entertainment, and it doesn’t allow an ambitious team like the one I know and love at Engadget to thrive.
The Love of Text
There’s something to be said for the use of plain text files. Text is simple. Text files are easy to read on any computer running any operating system and don’t require any proprietary word processor to interpret. Even more important, text files can be read by humans. Keeping your writings in text makes them digitally immortal.
Moreover, text is internet friendly. The files are small and can jump among connected devices with poor connections like hopped up Disney faeries. It is really easy to work with your text files on any device from anywhere.
The Future of the MacBook Pro
Podcast: Who Writes About Someone’s Health?
David Caolo of TUAW and 52 Tiger stopped by and chatted with me1 and Joshua about the Steve Jobs health thing, rumors and what separates bloggers from real journalists.
We also made jokes about how to impress girls. Check out the 40 minute podcast here.
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Please forgive me sounding like a smoker. Stupid sinus infection. ↩︎
Gizmodo Rented a Plane to Check Out Steve Jobs’ Demolished House
On Obama’s Meeting with Tech CEOs
Speaking of Good Interviews
Be sure to check out Shawn Blanc’s interview of John Gruber from 2008. Great stuff.
Shawn Blanc on intrv.ws
A great interview with one of my favorite Internet writers. Ian P. Hines really does ask some good questions.
If I don’t get to interview for Shawn for “Writers I Read,” I may just link to this a dozen more times.
An Open Letter to the Apple News Community on Steve Jobs’ Health, Professional Boundaries and Not Being Douchebags
Dear Apple-centric media,
It’s time we had a chat. I think you know what this is about.
Writing about rumors concerning Steve Jobs’ health is not only unprofessional, but it is disrespectful.
I get that a lot of people think that Steve Jobs equals Apple. Not only is that incorrect, but it places an unfair burden on Jobs.
I totally understand that living in the public spotlight means that privacy sometimes is difficult to come by. I really do understand that. But there are still lines. While I find it distasteful, I get that the Mac Rumors[1. Update: Mac Rumors moved this story to its Page 2 section since my post first went up.] and Apple Insider teams feels compelled to report that Jobs has been seen at a cancer treatment clinic.
Episode 44 of the Bro Show
If you don’t listen to this podcast, at least download this episode. Shawn Blanc gives some great advice to web content producers in the first segment.
