Technically Speaking

When the NY Times finally acknowledges that there is something going on in the blogosphere, it must be mainstream. While I doubt highly that Mike nor Rafat shared much with this Times reporter writing about other writers, just enough to make a good Friday afternoon showdown in the valley via NY.

What I found interesting is that neither one admitted to building a blogging empire their own way. We are not blind, we see both groups, TechCrunch, Inc. and PaidContent, Inc., doing what they can to be at the top of the game. The funny thing is Mike is in ways like other bad guys we all love to hate. No matter how much you say “Boo!!!” Mike still rides off in the sunset daily with his cigar and his fine wine in hand.

People seem to forget that Mike started a little technology blog a couple years ago, and built the empire pretty much on his own with a few hired guns that made a name for themselves along the way. While some of them recently barfed at the thought of writing about another startup, others went on to bigger projects only to return to where they find the juice flowing again. The nice thing is that makes this blogging world even that much bigger.

My only advice, like I should be giving some, is that they need to strike in 2008 while the fire is hot. Establish a foothold like TechCrunch has already established. Other avenues are becoming more compelling to ignore. Live video has been the hot thing, and with people going over to platforms such as blog TV that makes it easy to start up your own show, who will be reading all the writing in 2009?

Technically Speaking I hope that someone is reading!

The truth is starting to be revealed over on the primaries that TC is hosting. Quite interesting to see that the readers of TechCrunch would have Dennis Kucinich as the Democratic nominee and Ron Paul as the Republican nominee.

I guess the real question of the moment is: How much pull will TechCrunch have on the actual voting public of America? Will TechCrunch, which is still just a blog for those not paying attention, sway the American people to vote what the tech community feels is the valid candidate of our time?

Another interesting point so far is: Why is it becoming apparent (to me at least) that the majority of the mainstream media seems to ignore any coverage of Dennis Kucinich or Ron Paul? The only coverage seems to be of Obama, Hillary on the Democratic side and Giuliani, Romney, McCain on the Republican side. It’s almost as if the media is trying to pick who we have next November. The media is trying to have a circus of power over the will of the people.

Now I’m not saying that the will of the people is truly reflected in this TechCrunch experiment, but I am saying that I find it very interesting to see how really uninformed the offline public is. It’s almost like an education on our education system we have here in America. I can bet that a good majority of the people I went to Jr. High and High School with think that the only people running for President (and making it their only choices) are the above handpicked mainstream media darlings on both sides of the political aisle.

Even though I am still lacking my bank card at this time, I’ll keep an eye on this to see if the TC candidates that TC ultimately endorses has any reflection on reality. An interesting experiment so far. I’m more interested in seeing the final results, but what is a bit concerning (to me at least) is that I don’t see as many politically motivated TC readers at this time.

I watched Mike’s ABC news live interview, and with him asserting himself (and rightly so) to tell the uninformed mainstream reporter that he has millions of readers vs 100’s of thousands, I just don’t see the equivalent number of TechCrunch votes/voters. Another lesson in voter apathy perhaps? That could very well be.

Technically Speaking, waiting on FedEx today. home theater

Yes, unbelievable as it sounds, I lost my bank card (ATM) card today. Where else? But at the bank ATM machine! Even this Director of Social Media Content is not perfect. Ironic yes, fun - no. I may be able to juggle publishers, but I can’t remember to hit the “return card” prompt.

So much for my days failures. Now let’s move on to something more important, something that everyone needs to take interest in. While failing to retrieve my ATM card, yes, I at least took the time to take a stab at the vote over on TC.

Politics has always been an interest of mine, and I was actually glad to see Mike take the lead in getting out there and finding out more about these candidates from them directly. It’s just like the lottery, you can’t win if you don’t play. In this case, one of these players will win and be elected on that Tuesday in November 2008.

Which one is the question at hand. As we wind down the 2007 year, it would be a good time to study up the people running as well as how they are going to affect this old thing called the internet. Technology is the only thing going at this time, and we as citizens need to make an informed choice.

Technically Speaking, I hope Mike keeps doing the seesmic, love seeing talent evolve; it’s that musician in me. oxygen concentrators

TechCrunch, the tiny blog that went big time for Mike Arrington looks to be on the verge of a deal of astronomical proportions. Now if the deal is true, this could make TechCrunch another thing that CNET destroys. I think that the offer is probably going to be hard to refuse, and for Mike maybe it’s time he cashes out and leaves the rental he lives in.

CNET’s growth has stagnated, while TechCrunch is growing like a weed. And so are SeekingAlpha, GigaOm, Huffington Post and other new media companies. These companies have filled a niche that appeared when traditional media began cracking apart–and they’ve taken full advantage of it.

The main question is why have big sites like CNET have supposedly stagnated? Well the answer is that Mike worked his nutz off making TechCrunch work. He put in the time, the hours, and did what it took to make it work. CNET rested on it’s already established place, and that my friends is the reason TC took off like a rocket and surged in growth like nobodies business.

The blogs I look to do the same very soon of course are Allen Stern’s CenterNetworks, often overlooked but out of nowhere he is going to drop a DDT before you know what hits you. Than of course there is Read/WriteWeb, who has had tremendous growth over the past year. RWW is another contender for the crown. We mustn’t count out VentureBeat, the scrappy true journalism integrity site left in the blogosphere. If you want the complete story, you go there. Matt Marshall is one heck of a reporter and person. GigaOM, well Om already has his money and he is building a fine network of blogs; GigaNET if you will. Lastly we must not forget the blog that posts 900 items a day of course - Pete’s Mashable.

Technically Speaking, there are a lot of great blogs that have the news when you want it. TC becoming a CNET property is interesting and for one thing, it will free up the blogosphere and put in a new fight for #1!

DEMOfall, which is being held in San Diego sounds like a great excuse for me to head out there. I just looked over this great list, and started to think to myself, you could make some money off this. Of course I have been busy working all day, and I just wanted to play a little catch up this evening.

Marshall tags his former boss Mike on this one. Some very interesting Google news by November 5th which is like election day maybe? Sounds like enough fuel for a conspiracy theory. As the TC article was stating, secret meetings, NDA’s, and off the record conversations by Mr. A. Where’s the KGB and the CIA black ops team?

Technically Speaking, enough silliness for now. I need a beer! colon cleanse