There’s been some discussion lately regarding a lack of originality in the blogosphere and the recurring debate of bloggers are/aren’t journalists. While Mari and I are content to let others hash this out (for now), we’ve been busy removing feeds rather than adding. And we don’t want to get stuck in a rut – not only are we blog readers in search of inspiration, but we also need to stay current for our day jobs. So where are the good technology blogs we might not know about or sites that deserve a second look?
And speaking of blogs… While ZNF isn’t quite web 2.0 we offer an RSS feed, a daily email newsletter, the green ShareThis button under each post to send interesting stories to social networking sites or email addresses, and Gravatar icons in the comments. Please put these to use!
I clicked that link for “lack of originality..” only to land on some old sour pus’s blog who tag line is “News and advice for a Windows-centric world…” WTF? “Windows centric world”, um a little out of touch with reality are we? I didn’t even read what he wrote, his tag line discounts whatever he says.
It seems to me anyone discounting the impact and usefulness of blogs, especially their long tail, collective authority, is usually someone who used to be an editor and they hate that they have been made obsolete. Where they once sat as king, dictating to us what is worth reading, now they serve no purpose after we all have had a taste of freedom, choosing for ourselves what to read.
Show me a blog hater, and I’ll show you a control freak who’s jonsing to tell me what to think.
P.S. ZNF is a great because of Dave and Mari’s “regular folk” humanness, and every post has that tone of “I want to share what made my media more enjoyable…” which I value very much.
Read smart people with real expertise, value added opinions, good instincts and horse sense and don´t waste time.
I would be interested in a list that you come up with of good tech blogs. I generally find new sites by visiting links from more popular sites (Read). Then I work my way to the originator. I read through the site to see if the content is something I will be interested in a daily, weekly, monthly basis.
Todd, is exactly right. What makes ZNF amazing, is that its written like a friend telling you about a great new product and all of the little details. Its not like engadget which is more or less a spec sheet of new products. I also find the comments here to be much more on topic and the users to provide valuable insight…If it wasnt for ZNF and its commenter’s, I wouldn’t be loving my TiVoHD/Slingbox right now!
@Ben Engadget is a whole ‘nother [ viscous ] animal, which I love. I rely on Engadet’s power of the crowd to help me make better decisions on gadget purchases.
If anything, I cross reference the two resources, in a checks and balances type thingy. Engadget posts some new gadget with PVR functionality, I read the million snotty comments there, but then come here ( ZNF ) to find more rich opinions about the same gadget in the reader comments and from Dave’s industry insider perspective.
Good or bad, here’s my list of daily readings:
(as a Firefox tabset)
macrumors, woot, my banks, netflix, my ebay, deadspin, work sites, engadget, techmeme, ZNF, techcrunch, google trends: today, deadline hollywood daily, page six, defamer, valleywag, celebslam, nhl.com, crunchgear, real estalker, futon critic, eye on the u, roto league, nat’l hurricane center, acl festival
(as I read them on iGoogle):
“Home” – cnet news, slashdot, usatoday-in the sky, 5ives, macrumors, engadget, weather widget, hybrid car blog
“Sports” – espnm, gpupdate.net, f1-live.com, espn feed: anaheim ducks, ducks top stories, espn-nhl, farther off the wall, espn-cfb, miami herald-um, blog maverick
“Tech” – mossblog, techcrunch, steven levy, engadget hd, veronica belmont, dvorak, camcorderinfo, weaknees, ars technica, thomas hawk’s digital connection, freshdv
“Entrnmnt” – tv squad, wired, tv squad-new media, futon critic breaking news, digg, digg-kevin rose, digg-diggnation
“Mac” – appleinsider, mac911, cwob, infinite loop, apple phone show, tuaw
“Misc” – si swimsuit model of the day, quotes of the day, photos from si.com, my own 2 blogs, cool tools, lifehacker, download squad, tivo blog, how-to of the day
“Misc2” – newegg, woot, tigerdirect, official google, netflixx4, autoblog, autoblog green, pownce blog, circuitcity, geekologie, pvrblog, ted’s take, national hurricane center, dreamhost status
“FlickrFeeds” – tuaw, leo laporte, veronica belmont, ryan block, jason calacanis, kevin rose, myself, merlin mann
ZNF is of course #1! Honestly, I love your blog and your honesty.
For tech stuff, I go to Ars Technica. The guys there actually know technology, and as someone who works in the industry, I appreciate that. Easily the best in a field populated with drooling gadget guys who wouldn’t know technology innovation lest it was told to them by Steve Jobs.
I really do like Gizmodo for when I want a good laugh and just want to skim some gadget news tho. Engadget is the same whorish publication it has been for the last year or so. When they started putting Digg badges on stories that they just summarized from other sites without adding shit to it, I lost all respect for them.
Ed Bott’s tech writing on ZDNet is very good if you follow Microsoft.
The best blog covering the Valley and web 2.0 business is Silicon Alley Insider. TechCrunch spreads a load of bullshit, really just look like they make stuff up to suit them. They are debunked frequently on Boomtown.
Digg used to be good but is now a political gossip site.
Blogs?
I read CNet a lot, though nobody in particular. Tend to visit news.com and scan the page for stuff I care about. All original material generally and well written.
Zatz of course, every day. Kinda nice there’s only a few stories, and the ones that are there are ones I care about. And good comments of course.
TivoLovers/GadgetLovers of course given how much of my life is focused on Tivo. And how deeply informed MegaZone is (as evidenced by his frequent comments here).
iLounge for iPod stuff. Good reviews, articles. Again all original material.
David Pogue writes good stuff over at the New York Times. Much better than the stuff WSJ author Walt Mossberg’s stuff in my opinion. Not sure that’s a blog though…
Slate and Media Matters for political coverage.
Besides ZNF . . .
For tech I stick to CNET, Engadget, Slashdot, and Wired. Others come and go from my reading list, but those four have been consistent.
A few others that are more home theater focused include Home Theater Blog, Hacking Netflix, and pvrblog.
And for a bit of geek out I ready the Dilbert Blog and SciFi Wire.