indefensible: john gruber

people shitting on tech just gets . . . something to me. i'm legitimately interest in this shit and spend plenty of time following it and i get that it's not cool or whatever but

silicon valley is def often pretty gross and frivolous (and occasionally brilliant obvs) but i feel like the appropriate response is more casual distain rather than the gonzo outrage of valleywag which is kinda really buying into the whole thing too much

markers its cool but its also a lot of navel gazing

don't get us wrong markers. i for one love your enthusiasm for this stuff, and i enjoy yr links!

― caek, Wednesday, May 15, 2013 9:22 PM

hey thank you

it's not that it's not cool. i think the top tier stuff is legitimately very interesting, and sometimes even "cool". it's the hangers on, 90% of the journalists who cover this beat, and the armchair developer/typographer bloggers who are the problem.

i love technology and the internet and whatnot and think its legitimately important, but i dont think that at all contradicts the obvious observation that like techcrunch is a v stupid publication

true josh.valleywag (i.e. basically just sam biddle, right?) has really gone in at the deep end, but the stench had got so bit strong over the past year or two, and no one was saying anything (except the register, which is still the best, aside from its lack of boots on the ground in CA)

lol who is "josh". joe.

a friend of mine goes to stanford and was talking abt how she cant go work at the coffee shop w out overhearing people pitch their terrible startup ideas

i told her she needs to get a tumblr

i dont think that at all contradicts the obvious observation that like techcrunch is a v stupid publication

i used to read it a lot more than i do now

but, like, there's good stuff out there too. look at the verge. those people do wonderful shit. there's good reporting too, like some of jessica lessin's apple shit for the wsj. john siracusa's hypercritical posts abt apple. some of bloomberg businessweek's features.

i mostly just have in mind treating anything mg siegler does as 'news' tbh

also the weird cult that built up around jason kalikanis

he's not worth paying attention to and should be ignored

anyway......... destroy silicon valley

ya i like the verge, the weird thing is a lot of tech news is business reporting abt these companies and theyre generally ont that interesting as businesses, like ohh booble babble raised a b round of venture capital, cwapoole was acquired by cakemix in an acuhire, who could possibly give a shit, writing abt the actual product and technology is obvs a lot harder and often ends in embarrassing situations where clowns like scoble predict google glasses are gonna change the world

the pinboard guy noted in a tweet that that shower photo will likely be the most important thing scoble ever does ;_;

it is so fn gross, like im not even joking it disgusts me

http://i.imgur.com/JVUuZZW.png

lol 'credited'

also the weird cult that built up around jason kalikanis

― 乒乓, Wednesday, May 15, 2013 9:30 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

he's not worth paying attention to and should be ignored

― markers, Wednesday, May 15, 2013 9:30 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark

i guess this points to a larger phenomenon of how much shelf life some of these guys, like kalikanis, scoble, people who should have stopped being relevant 10 years ago, in the fast moving world of tech

there's tons of garbage out there when it comes to tech writing, but when you follow the stuff for long enough it becomes increasingly easier to know whose shit is worth following and whose isn't

Time for a return of F'ed Company's dead pool

like, i can tell you that the only time you need to pay attention to jim dalrymple is when he does one of his "yep" or "nope" posts

because he'll end up being right 100% of the time

also the navelgazing circlejerk of silicon valley is what led to people thinking that foursquare was a good idea, i mean wth, literally w t h

i guess this points to a larger phenomenon of how much shelf life some of these guys, like kalikanis, scoble, people who should have stopped being relevant 10 years ago, in the fast moving world of tech

― 乒乓, Thursday, May 16, 2013 2:39 AM (26 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah in that sense gruber's longevity (10 years?) as basically the top pundit in the game is pretty remarkable

i mean i get the feeling he's not playing to his strengths any more, but still, his impact is much more than just vestigal enormous readership

also the navelgazing circlejerk of silicon valley is what led to people thinking that foursquare was a good idea

what

markers, there's annoying tech sceptics and then there's this hideous scoble guy

some social degenerate in his cubicle thinking "maybe the reason people dont hang out with me is because they never know where i am, i know, ill make an app that broadcasts my location 24/7, then the ppl will come" -> 4 square -> millions of dollars in VC funding

yes that's exactly what happened

also the navelgazing circlejerk of silicon valley is what led to people thinking that foursquare was a good idea

foursquare helps me so

foursquare isn't really that interesting to me

what is the utility of foursquare, why does that service exist, who is the mayor of ILX

true josh.valleywag (i.e. basically just sam biddle, right?) has really gone in at the deep end, but the stench had got so bit strong over the past year or two, and no one was saying anything (except the register, which is still the best, aside from its lack of boots on the ground in CA)

― caek, Wednesday, May 15, 2013 9:27 PM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ya i agree and i mostly like what valleywag is doing but maybe just ease off the gas a little --josh

services similar to foursqure will def be really huge at some point, tho it prob wont be actual foursquare

i guess at some point it will become socially acceptable to go somewhere because u see a bunch of people u know 'checking in' there, its fucking creepy right now tho

bro theres a reason u didnt get the invite

what is the utility of foursquare, why does that service exist, who is the mayor of ILX

recommendations of (and specials offered by) places that are like the ones you go to and that your friends go to, data collection, ned raggett

google appears to be pumping up its foursquareness btw

idk abt checking in but just like the intersection of location and internet of things is gonna be a big deal

exactly, sometimes you have to see beyond the products to think more about capabilities of the shit that's out there. i've never used foursquare and have no interest in it and wouldn't care if it disappeared tomorrow.

hey guys i saw you all on foursquare checking in here. hey wheres the drinks at. hey where are you all going. hey wait up

乒乓 you know you get to choose what you check into and when, rite

i dont get why foursquare has to be 'social'

rip paypal?

http://www.google.com/wallet/send-money/

wish i had foursquare when i lived above a restaurant cause then i so wouldve been the mayor of that shit forever

hahaha

it goes 'your friend checks in here a lot so it's probably your thing' xp to 乒乓