First, me:
It's January 12 and I'm only 8 blog posts in (this would be number 9). Unfortunately, last week was a very busy week at work, as we delivered a new version of our software to one of our clients last night. Things weren't so bad at the beginning of the week, but the 12-15 hour days really took a toll on me as the week progressed and I just didn't have much energy to write anything when I got home (even on Twitter, my most recent update was posted last Sunday).
Second, Gizmodo:
One of their bloggers ran around turning TVs off with TV-B-Gone. He's been banned from CES but the blogosphere is up in arms because it reflects poorly on all bloggers and jeopardizes mainstream media's already tenuous perception of bloggers as not-really-journalists. John Biggs of Gizmodo rival CrunchGear (the blog that I stopped reading when they posted a story detailing how to go about stealing Leopard) has a rather insightful post on the whole issue and I think he sums it up nicely:
While I’m sure editors at Business Week rarely have to sprinkle out sawdust in the break room, they are looking to emulate our style if not our traffic. Unless they’re willing to accept the risk of an asshole move with the promise inspired ones, they’ll be sunk. And unless bloggers are ready to act their age and use their skills, energy, and position to help consumers and not piss of PR folks, they’re also sunk. We’re almost there, but each stunt like this pushes us back a notch.
Also, see TechMeme yesterday at around 4:15 for more of the conversation.
Technorati Tags: blogging, journalism, mainstream media, CES, Gizmodo, CrunchGear, prank, TV-B-Gone
Paul Stamatiou on his thoughts on the state of the blogosphere:
The larger tech sites/blogs have “turned to crap” to quote an older friend in the field. Everyone’s got an agenda and a quota to fulfill; there aren’t too many “free spirits” when it comes to tech writing, which is why sites like John Gruber’s Daring Fireball receive so much acclaim.
His thoughts pretty much echo mine, and though I've mentioned in passing how much I hate the larger tech sites, this quote does a great job of summing up what I've been meaning to explicitly say for a while. The scale has been tipping to quantity over quality for a while now and shows no signs of stopping.
Some sample stats: Google Reader says that Engadget has averaged 40 posts/day. When I started the media fast experiment, all my feeds were read. It's been a week since that started and that amounts to roughly 280 posts. The current Engadget unread count is 272. That I've found 3% of those posts worthy of my attention is telling. In contrast, Daring Fireball averages 10 posts per day and I've read all of them without hesitation.
The "throw it at the wall and see what sticks" approach was fine when I didn't realize how much time was wasting looking at things I wasn't reading nor cared to read. Now things have changed. The large tech blogs have gone the way of mainstream media in their attempt to increase eyeballs. I am avid fan of a handful of TV shows, but you'll never find me sitting on the couch channel flipping; the chances I'll find something worthy of watching are so slim it's not even worth it. The quantity over quality approach doesn't work on me for mainstream media and I've come to realize it isn't going to work in the blogosphere either.
Technorati Tags: blogosphere, traffic, mainstream media, blogs, Google Reader
After a relatively great blogging month (29 posts in 31 days), August has started off a bit slower. The reason is Lost. I am hooked. I just started watching it less than a week ago but I'm already 4 episodes into the second season (that's around 3-4 hours a day for those keeping track at home). The show is just so enthralling that I don't know how people could have watched this on a weekly schedule.
Lost is just the latest in a string of TV shows I picked up this summer, starting with Curb Your Enthusiasm and later The Office (US). I've noticed that though I'm pulling away from the mainstream with regard to audio and news, I'm embracing it more and more in the realm of video. Perhaps its just that audio can be produced well for cheap, whereas video requires a much larger budget. I love Ze Frank and enjoy Rocketboom but these and other short-form shows are nowhere near replacing mainstream television shows.
What I do think will change for mainstream TV is the distribution method. We're already seeing this with more and more networks adding shows to the iTunes Music Store, with ABC shows appearing on abc.com for free and (legality notwithstanding) with shows popping up here and there on YouTube.
So how exactly am I watching these shows when and how I want? Here's a hint: not by turning on the television.
Technorati Tags: TV, television, mainstream media, msm, Lost, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Office, ABC, Ze Frank, Rocketboom, iTunes Music Store, YouTube, distribution
