After Paul's Saturday post about Julian Assange resulted in him being labelled a US government stooge - not to mention receiving a couple of death threats (no, really) - he's decided never again to discuss the founder of Wikileaks.
In fact, after much consideration, he's decided...WITN: Wikileaks Is Dead – Long Live Julian Assange
After Paul's Saturday post about Julian Assange resulted in him being labelled a US government stooge - not to mention receiving a couple of death threats (no, really) - he's decided never again to discuss the founder of Wikileaks.
In fact, after much consideration, he's decided...WITN: Book Publishing Has A Better Future Than Music and Movies (Thinks One Of Us)
Aaaand... we're back. Fresh from our Christmas and New Year break and ready to talk about the Most Important Stories Outside of Silicon Valley. Stories like, uh, Kevin Rose's new email newsletter.
But, yeah ok, while the jumping off point might be a stretch, we soon get...Why Is This News – Live NYE Spotify US Launch Countdown Edition!
It's fair to say that, of all of the writers at TechCrunch, we're the ones who have been most skeptical about Swedish music startup (and newly-minted verb) Spotify.
And for what reason? Because the company lied to us on multiple occasions? Because they routinely brief journalists...
It's impossible to throw a rock at a media outlet today without hitting a WITN: Do American Investors Care about Chinese Human Rights? And Should They?
A slight format change for Why Is This News? this week: no guest, just the two of us discussing this week's big technology stories from outside the valley.
Much to Sarah's delight, China has been making news again - for good and ill. On the one hand,...WITN: Phototour’s Vineet Devaiah (Featuring the Voice of Mike Arrington)
An even weirder than usual episode of Why Is This News this week ending up with Mike Arrington heckling us through the wall of the studio. But before he did, we sat down with Vineet Devaiah from "social streetview" startup, Phototour.in.
Vineet hails from India but, having...WITN: Even in Jakarta, the Mac vs PC Fanboys Thrash it Out
As promised, now that Sarah has been in Jakarta for a week, it's time for the second part of our special Indonesian themed edition of Why Is This News?
In this installment, we discuss the conspicuous absence of Facebook and Twitter executives in what is one...WITN: It’s Tuesday so it must be Jakarta
Sarah’s latest whistle-stop tour of emerging markets has reached Indonesia, where she’ll be covering - and helping with - a start-up competition. But before all the excitement kicks off, she called in from Skype to explain the differences between Singapore (her previous stop)...WITN: “On Paper, Singapore Shouldn’t Have Done as Well as it Has”
Given Paul’s ability to get into fights even in sleepy towns like Camden, Maine, it's lucky Sarah does the lion’s share of the travelling.
This week, she’s in Singapore - on a week-long trip to take the island’s entrepreneurial pulse and next week she’ll be...WITN: “I Don’t Care what a Rich Person in Camden, Maine Says”
As he explains here, Paul spent the latter half of last week in Maine for PopTech.
Which is great because while he was outside the Valley he was eligible to be a guest on Why Is This News. In this week's episode, then, he talks about his...WITN: Extraordinary Chickpeas and the Madness of Crowdsourcing
"Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one."
Not our words, but those of Charles Mackay, author of the 1841 classic Extraordinary Popular Delusions and...Atlantic’s Michael Hirschorn: “Americans will Believe any Shit They See Online” [TCTV]
In the current issue of the Atlantic Monthly, contributing editor Michael Hirschorn rails against the “commodification of facts” caused by social media.
Specifically he's irked by how Twitter, Wikipedia and the rest have made it possible for right wing (in most cases) commentators to create their own...