Gaffney3.com

NY Times Bits blogger Saul Hansen takes a look at Michael Arrington of TechCrunch and Rafat Ali of Paid Content and their unique approaches to blogging. This debate is more than simply an argument over emotional versus analytical blogging or their specific journalistic style, it sets the framework for how the two see the future.

“The only way to compete with CNet in the long run is to group these writers together. They should be better writers than CNet has because they are all competitive entrepreneurs with a lot of equity at stake.”
- Mike Arrington

Ali offers a slightly different take…

“The big market for us is the trade media. Companies like Reed Elsevier, Nielsen, Incisive and Informa play in this market, not these blogs. If CNet is the only target you can aspire to be, that is selling yourself really short.”

Read the full blog post here.

After nearly 12 years with Herald Media, I’ll be leaving at the end of March continuing my career in new media as the Regional Internet Director for east coast operations with LIN Television, one of the largest television station groups in the country.

I believe this to be the right moment to step away as both Herald Interactive and the Boston Herald have started the long but imperative process of synchronizing their courses. The newsroom is becoming more nimble and adept at technologies long associated with online, and the interactive division is skilfully producing quality content that immediately serves our readers on both a local and national scale.

The Herald, I believe, has accepted the knowledge that new media and traditional media are not at odds, but rather complimentary in the most significant way. Only through fully leveraging the talent, skills and expertise of both divisions can they (and all main-stream media) not only withstand the economic pressures currently endured, but ultimately prevail by reaffirming the newspaper as the definitive source for in-depth, enterprising, local news, opinion and information.

It is with a heavy heart that I leave a company that has afforded me so many opportunities. The Purcell family has been nothing short of generous to me over the years, and I will miss all with whom I have worked. Between now and April 1st, I will work diligently with everyone at Herald Interactive and the Boston Herald to ensure continuity during this period of change and the realization of goals in which we as a company are vested.

As I make this transition I will be, more likely than not, reaching out to you for advice and philosophy. Please feel free to contact me as well at billgaffney@gmail.com.

This is a challenging time for all mainstream media, newspaper and television alike, but I’m excited at the opportunity to work for LIN Television, an organization with an infectious entrepreneurial and enthusiastic ethos.

Sorry for the errors accessing posts today.

During the migration process from Dreamhost to Slicehost, I neglected to set AllowOverides to All to allow for massaging of the URL structure via .htaccess.

It’s been nearly a year since migrating the domains I host to Dreamhost, and unfortunately I believe that DH has simply been unable to keep up with their rate of growth in 2007.

Source: WikipediaThe server that I share with others at Dreamhost orginally had a consistent load average under 5, and although I believe that to be too high considering the specs of the box, now averages above 12 with sharply erratic spikes over 100. Customer support has been responsive and diligent in rooting out others processes that have spun out of control, but the total users per box is simply too high. Performance of my sites is unacceptable.

Obviously the sites I manage aren’t deserving of the cost or resources associated with a dedicated server, so at the recommendation of a friend, I’ve started the transition to Slicehost who enters the market with VPS slices using Xen virtualization software to reserve memory and CPU slots. I’ve opted for the 256slice which boasts:

• 256MB
• 10GB
• 100GB
• $20 sign up

With Slicehost there are no contracts or setup fees. You are free to upgrade, downgrade, add a slice or remove a slice at your convenience. So, for 200, we’ll roll the dice again to determine whether we’ve found another temporary residence or a permanent home.

The Associated Press verified, through nationwide tests, that Comcast actively interferes with attempts by some of its high-speed subscribers to share files online. This interference is the most drastic example yet of data discrimination, and a move that runs counter to the tradition of treating all types of Net traffic equally.

The AP attempted three different attempts to download a copy of the King James Bible, a public-domain work unprotected by copyright, by BitTorrent. In two out of its three tests, the downloads were blocked altogether, while in the remaining test, the download started after a 10-minute delay.