M.G. Siegler writes short takes on Apple, Facebook, Amazon, podcasting and other tech business news, hosted on Medium.
HN links it for Siegler's tech industry commentary, such as on Facebook's brand and iTunes; commenters also note it runs on Medium with a custom domain.
On that topic by M.G. Siegler on 10/6:
"Facebook is not dying as a business, but they’ve died as a brand. The company needs to move on to ‘what’s next’ as quickly as possible to distance themselves from the social network. This is nothing new, of course — I wrote this over six years ago. They’ve more or less been trying to do this for years. But even in creating an umbrella company, they called it ‘Facebook’, which was dumb. It was the exact opposite of what they should have done. Because, again, Facebook, the brand, is over."
https://500ish.com/facebook-is-too-big-fail-eb8c143a9afc
For what it's worth, FreeCodeCamp.com has 1/3 the page views that Medium has, with only 3 full time staff. https://www.similarweb.com/website/freecodecamp.com?competitors=medium.com
I love Medium and I hope it succeeds. It sounds like their headcount was substantially higher than it needed to be and that this layoff was the right move.
I wish Ev had mentioned all the additional facts that are in this article by one of Medium's investors: https://500ish.com/long-medium-b9ddfe2c3a0a#.ch2benant
From https://500ish.com/offline-curious-85363c4aed18
> One trend I’m most curious about right now is the rise of no or low alcohol drinks. I noticed this in Europe years ago — that nearly everywhere you went they not only offered, but touted non-alcoholic beverages in bars — highlighting the opposite approach the US was taking: pushing more extreme alcoholic drinks like Four Loko and the like, with non-alcoholic drinks being almost a taboo here. That is changing, quite quickly, it seems.
> iTunes was originally Mac only
When Apple made iTunes for Windows, Steve Jobs called it “It's like giving somebody a glass of hell in ice water.” [1]
I mean, was Windows Media Player really that bad? I still miss the visualizations and even the fancy skins. iTunes in comparison was very dull and barely changed in 20 years.
[1] https://500ish.com/a-time-to-kill-itunes-2d9a24529b9a
Isn't Apple introducing the same autoplay-trailers to their devices once Apple TV+ launches? I found this from MG Siegler:
"Trailers also now seem to autoplay inline, just like on Netflix, which many people — including people I’m married to — hate with a passion. Good luck with that, Apple."
https://500ish.com/apple-unveils-the-ifawn-11c00912a686
The interesting departure from this strategy, though still related, is their interest in ESPN. I read (looking for the source, will add when I can recall it) that ESPN accounts for nearly 25% of Disney's overall earnings.
Edit: finally found the source! https://500ish.com/the-9-bullet-points-of-doom-for-espn-a692d0f48182