I notice a general trend looking through blogs, TechMeme, and Digg. There aren’t many coders anymore.
Five years ago the discussions were far more technical and geeky. Even insiderish. When compared to the hype and news of today.
It makes me pine for ye old RSS vs. Atom geek flamefests.
Anyone else notice this trend?
Anyway, thanks to Mike Gunderloy for helping keep technical blogs around.
What brought this on? Last week at OffTheGrid we had a “language war” that spontaneously broke out. I filmed part of it. Not sure I learned much that I didn’t already know, but it was fun to hear some of that old developer passion break out in a fun way.
Anyway, tonight over on Digg I see that Pirillo and Laporte are bringing back TechTV. Hey, wait a second! You wanna bring back TechTV but you want ME to do all the work? I didn’t sign up for THAT! Heheh.
Elsehere on the blogs, yes, I did tell On10.net at BlogHer that Maryam was my #1 Maryam. But it helps that she’s #1 on Google too.
But, back to geeks. Jason Perlow, contributing editor of Linux Magazine is one and gives PodTech a preview of LinuxWorld, going on this week in SF.
Oh, and Richard Stallman who is almost as geeky as Shelley Powers is on the decidedly not geeky geekentertainment.tv talking about borscht. I love how Irina gives him some heck. You know, sometimes people gave us Microsofties crud cause Steve Ballmer would say or do some outlandish things (developers, developers, developers!) but if I still worked at Microsoft I’d just send Richard’s video to everyone and say “this guy makes Ballmer sound normal.”
I think Shelley has it about write. Scoble, you’re perfectly emblematic of the trend… someone who blathers about technology as if they really now it but really only dabbles in it.
These surface-level technologists have digg and techmeme at the centers of their world. They reflect off of each other and create an echo chamber. Have you ever read the comment threads on Digg? They’re fairly hilarious. I’m secretly convinced the most technical folks there are php teens who are busy re-writing their high school’s web site.
Think about it… the 2.0 blathersphere gets breathless if Jason Fried talks about software development and yawns if Scott Hanselman does. If you think both of these guys are similarly steeped in software development, then you’re exactly part of the problem.
Digg and techmeme are the new CNets–they’re not for real technologists, they’re for the prosumers.
I think Shelley has it about write. Scoble, you’re perfectly emblematic of the trend… someone who blathers about technology as if they really now it but really only dabbles in it.
These surface-level technologists have digg and techmeme at the centers of their world. They reflect off of each other and create an echo chamber. Have you ever read the comment threads on Digg? They’re fairly hilarious. I’m secretly convinced the most technical folks there are php teens who are busy re-writing their high school’s web site.
Think about it… the 2.0 blathersphere gets breathless if Jason Fried talks about software development and yawns if Scott Hanselman does. If you think both of these guys are similarly steeped in software development, then you’re exactly part of the problem.
Digg and techmeme are the new CNets–they’re not for real technologists, they’re for the prosumers.
There is loads of geek stuff around, depends where you look. Avoid the A-list!
My (at least) daily open-in tabs Firefox folder contains the following:
Gmail – lots of tech mailing lists
Bloglines – a handful of tech blogs (I recently forgot my password, started a new list)
Planet RDF – mostly hardcore Semantic Web tech
del.icio.us/popular – mostly geeky
techmeme – mostly dull commercial crud
Planet Web 2.0 – mix of tech and dull commercial crud
Planet XMLhack – mostly hardcore geekery
#SWIG scratchpad – more semweb geekery
#swig chatlogs – ditto
Hot Links – misc, fair proportion of geekery
Corante Web Hub – mix of tech and dull commercial crud (disclosure: I’m a contributor, meant to get a proportion of advertising income, but I still haven’t seen a bean from Corante and my emails weren’t answered)
Planet Swhack – mix of tech and (usually interesting) misc
Feed validator – usually ok, occasionally traps a copy-paste glitch
HTML validator – I’ve had a single error nagging me for several months now…
ESW Wiki recent changes – yet more semweb stuff
Achewood – finest cartoon on the web
my blog – to check for comments
There is loads of geek stuff around, depends where you look. Avoid the A-list!
My (at least) daily open-in tabs Firefox folder contains the following:
Gmail – lots of tech mailing lists
Bloglines – a handful of tech blogs (I recently forgot my password, started a new list)
Planet RDF – mostly hardcore Semantic Web tech
del.icio.us/popular – mostly geeky
techmeme – mostly dull commercial crud
Planet Web 2.0 – mix of tech and dull commercial crud
Planet XMLhack – mostly hardcore geekery
#SWIG scratchpad – more semweb geekery
#swig chatlogs – ditto
Hot Links – misc, fair proportion of geekery
Corante Web Hub – mix of tech and dull commercial crud (disclosure: I’m a contributor, meant to get a proportion of advertising income, but I still haven’t seen a bean from Corante and my emails weren’t answered)
Planet Swhack – mix of tech and (usually interesting) misc
Feed validator – usually ok, occasionally traps a copy-paste glitch
HTML validator – I’ve had a single error nagging me for several months now…
ESW Wiki recent changes – yet more semweb stuff
Achewood – finest cartoon on the web
my blog – to check for comments
It just sounds like something he’d write…
Ironic thing, was that was the exact nanosecond thought I had, before I read your take.
Then it went looking-down-the-barrel-of-a-loaded-shotgun (or hacksaw) Quentin Tarantinoish.
But then I liked the poetic NIV last bit “everything to come is meaningless”, which is more futile acidic than the Valleygirlish bad-hair day ‘like, nothing at all, like, to, like, to look forward to, like bummer.’
So now a syntactical morphology exegesis, on the differences between “remember” and the concept of “longing”? I will spare you…
It just sounds like something he’d write…
Ironic thing, was that was the exact nanosecond thought I had, before I read your take.
Then it went looking-down-the-barrel-of-a-loaded-shotgun (or hacksaw) Quentin Tarantinoish.
But then I liked the poetic NIV last bit “everything to come is meaningless”, which is more futile acidic than the Valleygirlish bad-hair day ‘like, nothing at all, like, to, like, to look forward to, like bummer.’
So now a syntactical morphology exegesis, on the differences between “remember” and the concept of “longing”? I will spare you…
Check out http://www.dotnetkicks.com/ a digg like site for .Net.
Check out http://www.dotnetkicks.com/ a digg like site for .Net.
[...] So…I have been a reader of blogs for awhile now and now I have ventured into the world of digital conversations myself. However, I am not quite sure I know what to blog about. Scoble says that he pines for geekiness. Others go for whatever life may bring. For me, I think I lean more towards the plethora method. I want to write what I am passionate about. I’ll probably write mostly about tech stuff (Apple and Ruby on Rails are some good starts…). Maybe occasionally a good movie or band. And I am sure I’ll write about what I am learning in school as I am beginning my Masters in two weeks. And invariably you will hear how wonderful my wife is. Hopefully my blog proves interesting. Hopefully geek and non-geek friends alike will find a place. So…welcome! [...]