Dallas Mavericks basketball team, blogged about his two favourite
technology magazines - one was about the broadband marketplace while
the other was the title Communications Technology .
The thing I like most about this blog entry was that I'd never
heard of either site, and given that the recommendation came from Cuban,
who blogs at http://www.blogmaverick.com, and is himself a compelling
read, I (rightly) figured they'd be worth adding to my reading list.
Not that I needed any more reading sources - my RSS reader
(if a blog/web site doesn't offer an RSS feed these days, I simply don't
read it) has over 100 feeds and normally a backlog of articles in the
thousands. As such, I'm in the process of culling my reading list to
something of more manageable proportions. Before I do that, however, I
thought I'd offer my own recommendations. Herewith, then, are five of my
favourite tech blogs and information sources, in no particular order.
Techdirt
There are a whole bunch of players that churn out scores of
stories per day via a team of reporters, the online equivalent of the
quickly-fading IT trade press. They all tend to cover the same stories,
all reasonably well, so you really only need one of these on your list.
Some of the sites in this category include Om Malik's GigaOM, The
Register, Ars Technica and Tech Crunch. However, the one that I tend to
use most is Techdirt (http://www.techdirt.com), mainly because I find it
provides more analysis and context to its stories. The Register would be
a candidate, especially as it's not US-centric like the others, but it's
not at all friendly towards RSS readers so doesn't make the list.
O'Reilly radar.
The telco 2.0 blog.
Susan Crawford's blog.
Henry Blodget's www.alleyinsider.com.
O'Reilly radar
Many will have heard of O'Reilly through its books and
conferences and may also be aware that founder Tim O'Reilly is credited
with coining the term "Web 2.0". As you'd expect, the publishing company
has a great online presence and practices what it preaches when it comes
to social networking and blogging. While there are numerous blogs
available on its site, the one I turn to most is its Radar blog (found
at radar.oreilly.com), which has a range of contributors and is
especially strong on its coverage of Web 2.0, social networking themes
and emerging technologies. In their own words, "we draw from the wisdom
of the alpha geeks in our midst, paying attention to what's interesting
to them, amplifying these weak signals, and seeing where they fit into
the innovation ecology."
Telco 2.0
If you want insights into future telco business models, then
go no further than the Telco 2.0 blog (http://www.telco2.net/blog),
which is produced by research and analysis firm STL Partners. Their
Telco 2.0 initiative aims to look at how the telecom industry can make
money in an IP world and includes regular brainstorming sessions and
conferences around the same theme. While there are some obvious plugs
for the conferences and research products, there's also a lot of good
information and tidbits from their research results as well as
commentary on telco news. Incidentally, I came across this site thanks
to the Telepocalypse.net blog of Martin Geddes, who is now part of STL
Partners. While Telepocalypse is not updated as often as it was in the
past, it's still worth a read.
Scrawford.net
If policy and regulatory matters matter, then try Susan
Crawford's blog at scrawford.net. Crawford is on the ICANN board of
directors and also teaches Internet and communications law at Yale Law
School. Typical topics on the Crawford beat include an in-depth look at
the 700MHz spectrum auctions in the US; discussions around network
neutrality; goings-on at ICANN and the implications of
filtering/blocking. It's telecom regulatory issues through the rigorous
mind of a legal practitioner.
Silicon Alley Insider Remember Henry Blodget? He was the
high-flying securities analyst at Merrill Lynch during the heady days
before the dot-com crash who later was charged with securities fraud
when things went pair-shaped. Whatever you think of the guy, he's
certainly abreast of what's happening in the digital world and you can
now catch up with his regular analysis at Silicon Alley Insider. Blodget
is one of the three founders of the site/blog, which was started last
year and seems to be expanding rapidly, with commentators from the likes
of Forbes and Variety added to the roster. It's a site that goes well
beyond straight news and a must-have on any high-tech reading list.
-GEOF LONG
