Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period.
Nano wars#
I was, as they say back home, royally shafted. That's just like shafted, only worse. For those of you who doesn't follow every navel-gazing twist and turn of the blog world, Jason Calacanis of Weblogs Inc., a rival, poached one of Gawker Media's writers, Pete Rojas of Gizmodo. more...
wednesday, march 3
Gizmodo#
An interesting discussion on Gizmodo, and blog media economics, at Michael Sippey's website. Sippey has some good ideas about what he'd do if he ran Gizmodo. I've posted some comments. Background: we just changed the editorial team at Gizmodo, Gawker Media's gadget site. Joel Johnson is standing in for Pete Rojas, and Brendan Koerner, of Wired and Slate, is guest-starring for a week. If I ran Gizmodo [Sippey] Gizmodo editorial changes [Gizmodo] Gadget wars [Buzz Machine]
friday, january 23
Wonkette#
Washington, DC has always been a mystery to me. So much power, and so little sex appeal. Hollywood for ugly people, as they say. But there's gossip, there just has to be. What DC lacks in sexiness, it makes up for in pomposity and hypocrisy. So, Wonkette, the latest blog in the Gawker stable. Wonkette is written by Ana Marie Cox, who used to edit the notorious Suck column, and now lives in the DC suburbs. She's funny. Wonkette
monday, january 5
Welfare Republicans#
There's a charitable explanation for the explosion of federal spending under Bush: many expenditures rise automatically in a recession, and increased funding for the military and domestic security was inevitable after September 11th. But one has to wonder whether the Republicans' free-spending ways also reflect the party's changing voting base. The GOP is no longer the party of Wall Street and the Eastern establishment, the traditional constituency for fiscal responsibility. Bush depends on the South, the Rust Belt and the Farm Belt. Is it any wonder that the administration has increased military spending, which benefits the South more than any other region, has attempted indirect taxation through protection of the steel industry, and indulged agro-industry with farm subsidies? The Republicans have become a party of big government -- not by accident, or by recession, or by Osama, but because the Bush electoral coalition clusters round the federal trough. Conservatives simmer as spending mushrooms under Bush [USA Today]
Border checks#
If the US is to clamp down on foreign visitors, at least it should do so with a modicum of efficiency. I flew back to New York, yesterday, from London. Fingerprint and face scans? Fine. The camera looks as unthreatening as a webcam. But, putting aside any question of civil liberties, the logic of the new system is hard to discern. Short-stay visitors from Europe aren't subject to the scans; but those with a permanent visa, who have submitted far more documentation, are checked again. And, last night at Newark airport at least, there were two spot checks on leaving the plane, before the usual passport and customs control. In each case, the questions are rote; and the answers easily rehearsed. Wouldn't it make more sense to have one serious interview, with unpredictable questions, rather than four cursory checks? More than two years on, homeland security is still a shambles. BBC NEWS | Americas | US introduces new security checks [BBC]
tuesday, december 9
Naughty Mu#
You've heard of the Baghdad blogger, Salam Pax, who wrote his online diary under the eyes of Saddam's secret police. Meet the latest international blog celebrity: Naughty Mu, an indie chick from Guangzhou in southern China, who shags and tells. Or has done, till now. She was planning a book of extracts. Her publishers have been ordered to pull the plug. Naughty Mu is banned by the men in China's yellow room [Daily Telegraph]
wednesday, november 19
Wanted: bloggers#
I'm scouting for editorial talent. Particularly people who can write wittily about travel and furniture. If you have a blog on either subject, or know of a good writer, email me. Rather than me tell you how I'd like to approach the categories, I'd rather hear your ideas: what you think is missing. Correspondence to nick at gawker.
Wanted: illustrator#
Gawker's looking for an illustrator for the logo of a new site. Going for a cutie-pie-storybook or naive-fashion look. There's a link below to one artist I like. Any ideas? Please email nick at gawker. Neryl Walker Andrew Sklar
monday, november 17
New York Times# Now, it's official. The Gawker sites are totally over-exposed. There's a profile in the New York Times today. It's fine, could have been a lot more overblown. But the piece is still embarrassing, and I'll pay some kind of price. Call it buzz karma. First they lift you up; then they knock you down.
Honestly, I liked the recession better. No one cared about blogs except for the under-employed lunatics who wrote them, and their under-employed friends. There was all the time in the world, to find under-appreciated writers, and develop an audience. Maybe it would take a decade for mainstream media to discover that, somehow, blogs had developed a following. Whatever. There's no advantage in premature recognition.
And now, in just a few months, it's all changed again. I've come to the conclusion that the US is just naturally exuberant. Irrationally exuberant. All it takes is a bounceback in Nasdaq stocks to bring back the boom. The press is interested again in embryonic businesses. The venture capitalists give ludicrous valuations to Friendster and other frothy companies. The madness is back again.
Oh, and what's with the photo in the NYT piece? The Gothamist is running a competition to come up with the best caption. "Meg, look, a 'hyper-link'!"
wednesday, november 12
Some Fleshbot feedback#
"New adult webzine" [Adult Video News]
"Finally: Porn on the Internet." [Treacher]
"Somewhere below the National Enquirer." [MemeFirst]
"Er, probably not work-safe." [Instapundit]
"A veritable Instapundit of porn." [Halley's Comment]
"Gawker's love child." [Mr. Trinity]
"Painfully hip ... a labyrinth of smut." [Yes Portal]
"Animal urges ... geek intellectualism." [Village Voice]
"A porn blog done right." [bsdeluxe]
"Watch the visit counter whirr round." [Guardian]
monday, november 10
Fleshbot now live#
Fleshbot, the new porn site in the Gawker collection, just went live. Among this morning's posts: anatomical correctness in computer-generated imagery; sexy newscasters, amateur English exhibitionists, Saturno Butto's erotic fetish portraits, and the homes of the rich a porny. And you can also see all the posts that went up while Fleshbot was still in the factory.
The thumbnails are cropped to be suggestive, rather than explicit. But Fleshbot does showcase porn, and the links go to adult sites. The site is not safe for corporate work environments. It's probably fine in front of a significant other. Fleshbot front page. Links and pics and suggestions to tips@fleshbot.com.
Fleshbot# Fleshbot, the latest site in the Gawker stable, is nearly ready. It's a porn review done in the blog format. No original content; rather thumbnails and pointers. A showcase for all the new porn -- CGI, morphed images, suicide girls, Brazilian webcam girls, Japanese hentai and yaoi, French bandes dessinees -- that digital technology and distribution has made possible. Fleshbot goes live in the first week of November at www.fleshbot.com.
thursday, october 23
Tina Brown on blogs#
For those who missed the Washington Posts's recent online chat with Tina Brown:
Q: "In a recent interview President Bush said something like he doesn't read newspapers or watch TV news because he has people do that and report to him..."
Tina Brown: "Maybe he spends his day reading bloggs... I love the blog.s Think they are really channging the collective voice of journalism. People are sick of mediated coverage. They like the noholds barred appraoch." Tina Talks: V. V. Hot [Washington Post via Gawker]
tuesday, october 14
Binn engagement party#
Only in New York, only in New York. The invitation to Jason Binn's engagement party -- over on Gawker -- has a name-dropping preamble. Harvey Weinstein, Heidi Klum, and dozens of other New York names, inviting guests to celebrate the Gotham publisher's engagement to Haley Lieberman. As if this were the big-name committee for a charity fund-raiser. The Binn Wedding: Society Must Be High [Gawker]
wednesday, october 8
Blogs and talent#
A smart piece in Chicago Tribune, about blogs as a proving ground for journalistic talent. Elizabeth Spiers' move to New York Magazine is cited, and I hadn't realized that Matthew Yglesias had got a job at American Prospect on the back of his political blog. Other examples, not mentioned in the piece: blogs brought Ken Layne and Matt Welch to the attention of Richard Riordan. An unlikely new source of writing talent: Blogs [Chicago Tribune]
tuesday, october 7
Can a blog be worth $2m?#
I'm slightly reluctant to mess with Jason Calacanis, founder of the defunct Silicon Alley Reporter, because he might get addicted to the attention. Heck, he already got addicted to the attention, back in 1999, and has been in search of his next fix ever since. So here goes.
The backdrop: Calacanis thinks exciting b2b blogs such as gridcomputing.weblogsinc.com are going to be worth gazillions. His evidence? Ad revenues for Gawker and Gizmodo, Rafat Ali's site, and Matt Drudge.
Data points! Yay! Except Calacanis gets his numbers all wrong. His estimate on Drudge comes from Business 2.0, and assumes, heroically, the site sells out all its ad inventory. And Calacanis seems, trapped in his boomtime warp, to forget about those irritating items called expenses. Editorial, production, commission on ad sales, web hosting. The Gawker sites, particularly as more launch, won't be profitable for years.
Finally, in calculating valuations, Calacanis assumes a revenue multiple of 2-4 and an earnings multiple of 3-5. Which would imply, miraculously, earnings of 66-80% of revenues, which would give blogs margins about twice as fat as the most profitable media businesses in history.
Blog gold! A harmless fantasy, right? (And good for suckering investors and writers.) Yeah -- unless the merchant starts sucking on his own hype, as Calacanis should know. This is, after all, the guy who turned down a c.$100m offer for that jumped-up newsletter called Silicon Alley Reporter. Calacanis should be careful about posing as an expert on valuation. Can a Blog Be Worth a Couple of Million Dollars? [Calacanis]
monday, october 6
Gizmodo and Gawker#
Particularly good stuff up at Gizmodo and Gawker today, though I say it myself. Pete Rojas has found a USB-powered vibrator and, a Wi-Fi retrofitted boombox, and slams Nokia's new gamer-phone. Over at Gawker, Choire Sicha's stories of the day include Sykes-sister confusion, dwarf sex, DeNiro's apartment floorplans, Drew Barrymore's overexposure, and Michael Wolff's pay packet. Go click. Gizmodo Gawker
thursday, october 2
Meg the meme-maker# Meg Hourihan, one of the pair behind Blogger and my partner on the Lafayette Project, isn't just a geek. Sure, she's one of those technology innovator people. But, inspired by New York's professional trendsetters, she's also trying her skill as a meme-maker. Inspired by bad jeans on Manhattan streets, she wondered why there wasn't a ticket for offenders. The story's now been picked up by the New York Sun. Which is flattering -- except it's the New York Sun, which can turn a trend to stone by even thinking about it. NYC Jeans Police in the NY Sun [Megnut]
tuesday, september 30
Fred Wilson's blog#
Fred Wilson, one of the leading New York venture capitalists, has started a blog. Some political musings, a dollop of name-dropping, and an interestingly tabloid writing style. Short sentences, like an editorial in the New York Post. Fred can write, unlike most people in business. One particularly interesting insight, on the launch of Jason Calacanis' new blog business. "This is part of a larger story really. The entrepreneurs are back. With scars in their backs and a lot more humility. But they are back and working hard again. It's about time." And it's not only the entrepreneurs who've returned. Fred Wilson is thought to be raising a new fund. And he's blogging. The VCs are back, too. A VC: He's Back [avc.blogs.com]