commbasics

Before we all head off to indulge in our annual tryptophanic overdose, I wanted to say thanks to all the people who either read and comment on this site.  It's a dark place we are all in right now and we can't know when we're coming out, but as I've discussed our situation, pontificated about the solutions, and watched how  we are all responding, I take heart.  There are enough of us who realize that we are on the verge of something earthshaking and potentially wonderful.  None of us have all the answers, individually, but together, we have a lot of good ideas. So thanks to all of you.  Have a great Thanksgiving.  I'm going to be working my butt off in the next few weeks getting ready for a whole new business model and launching several new ventures with really good partners.  I'm ready to say goodbye to 2008 and hello to a stupendous future.

Brian Fuller today provides a bit more clarity in the decision process for the layoffs at Techinsights  that included Rich Wallace, Loring Wirbel and most of the event staff.  Brian, talking with Techinsights CEO Paul Miller, said the reason behind the move is not because the company isn't profitable, which is is, but because 2009 looks really awful.  Most of the time layoffs follow really bad quarters.  Now we're laying off people because the future doesn't look all that great.  Talk about a pessimistic world view. But there is good news out there.  Last week  Hearst Business  announced an increase in their distribution - a big increase of 35,000 - in 2008.  So I looked at the ABC Publisher’s Statement and thought I saw something hinky.  Earlier this year Hearst offered a bunch of people digital subscriptions (pdf, not print) and according to the audit, 35,000 people were chosen for such market coverage copie...

Since the post I did earlier this week on the outright release of Richard Wallace and Loring Wirbel (along with what is rumored to be almost a third of the Techinsights staff) I've had more visitors to the blog then ever and have been getting emails from corporate offices of many media houses demonstrating that they still have strong readership.  So it seems like it's a good time to get back to this series on the profession of journalism.    The first job I was offered out of J-school was with the National Enquirer.  I was already working part-time as a clerk and weekend copy editor on the horseshoe at the Palo Alto Times and I was sure that I'd be getting on full time.  The NE, however, offered a starting salary of $50,000.  In 1974, that was not chump change.  That's how they got so many journalists to work for them.  Some people have a price.  That was not my price however.  I had "ideals." Fast for...

OK, so we had the news on EE Times mini-layoffs and PC Mag dropping the print publication after the first of the year.  Now Bloomberg breaks the news that the bidding for Reed Business (the company that owns both Variety and EDN) has dropped to $1 Billion, about half of what was expected. The story goes on to say that they will either pull the sale offer or sit down with talks to the highest bidder. What does all that mean?  I haven't a clue.  Reed could decide to hold on to it and do another consolidation, which doesn't bode well for EDN unless someone wants to pick them up (Hello, Advantage Media?) or a new buyer ... would do pretty much the same. Oh, and back to EE Times for a sec.  They plan on having four special sections next year.  The subjects are  Test & Measurement; Avionics and Defense Electronics; Automotive; and Smart Sensors, Sensor Networks & Medical Electronics.  No EDA.  No semiconductors.  All embedd...

To put all this stuff in perspective, a few days ago, Techinsights announced that their circulation for EE Times was now at 70,000 in Europe.  That's a 40 percent increase.  Lots of people read EE Times, both online and in print.  Lots of companies all around the world want to get their news in that magazine.  But no one wants to pay for the advertising that supports that news. The parent company of Techinsights, United Business Media, is doing well.  Interim results showed a 10 percent increase in revenue and the profit margin is well over 20 percent.  That's good news in today's economy.  But it is not good enough to continue to subsidize the marketing programs of individual companies.  Business decisions have to be made. It's a sad fact of life, but there it is.

Besides Loring Wirbel, Rich Wallace has also been let go at EE Times. More details will follow but it seems Techinsights is on the retreat from their traditional business.  Officially, the editorial staff at EE Times is intact.  Rich and Loring were not considered editorial staff.  Rich was essentially tasked with coordinating all the various content vehicles that Techinsights has acquired.  Loring took the job, originally offered to Brian Fuller, of managing the EE Times Market intelligence division.  Seems like a bad choice on Loring's part in hindsight. Techinsights as a company has had great success with their events (Embedded Systems Conference being the big dog) and Semiconductor Insights, acquired last year, provides the analysis division making Loring redundant.  Loring is a great journalist and will either be picked up by some other publication or can make a pretty good living as a freelancer. The tough decision had to be Rich Wallace. ...

Just got an email from Loring Wirbel.  He was laid off at EE Times.  I'm speechless.

Cary Snyder , one of the journalists/engineers I've read and enjoyed over the years, emerged out of the blue last week to ask my opinion of his new experiment in social media, Beyond USB 3.0   My first glance at it is that he's doing a good job with a very complex, highly technical and very important technology, specifically USB.   Why is it very important? Well, let's just point out that Apple issued their new Macs without the FireWire interface that Apple helped develop, and just has USB ports now.  That's a pretty damn good endorsement. Although it screws me on my video camera set up. But I digress.  The fact that a good tech journalist is ready to go out an do something in social media, more than just a blog, is great news.   Cary and I will be talking in the near future regarding working together on New Tech Press and I, for one, could not be happier.

Had coffee yesterday with my favorite tech analyst, IdaRose Sylvester .   I did a podcast with her back in July after she got caught up in the latest round of layoffs at IDC (she was a senior semiconductor analyst with them). This time we weren't just shooting the breeze, catching up or discussing the world economic situation.   We had business to do.   I've been alluding, tweeting, and "status-ing" about a little project I've been working on for a while … about two years, actually.   The project has been bringing Silicon Valley VC expertise together with European tech entrepreneurs.   I needed just one little piece to put it all together: third-party analysis. So I'm happy to say that IdaRose Sylvester will be providing objective market analysis for presenting companies at the VComm Venture Faire , January 20, 2009 in Redwood City, California. You'll be hearing more.  

We recently put out a New Tech Press article that is starting to filter through our network, but something interesting has happened in the process.  Some people are complaining that something got left out. Here's an analogy.  There was a TV show a while back where everyone used Mac computers.  That was because Apple had paid for that visibility.  Sales started to rise for Macs.  At one point, Apple decided not to pay.  Little round stickers showed up on the computers, covering the Apple logo.  Sales started to drop.  Apple recanted and paid the sponsorship and the stickers came off and sales went up. That's kind of what New Tech Press is all about.  We want to put out good information.  That process of developing the information costs something and has to be paid for.  That's what the sponsors do.  In the case of this particular article, we had a lot of companies excited about doing this article.  ...

Having coffee today with a journalist friend and was telling him about a story I've run across about how business is done in the semiconductor industry and some revolutionary approaches that may be forced into play.  I said I was looking forward to getting a writer to do the story for New Tech Press as soon as we had clearance to do it.  He said, "Why don't you write it?" "I'm not a really a recognized journalist so I don't qualify to write for New Tech Press." "B------t!  You're better than 90 percent of the people I know." Still not sure I should do it, but considering what we've gone through to get NTP up to speed, it was nice to hear it.