Am I the only one in here who used to find AllThingsD extremely boring? I specifically didn't like Kara's attempts to make gossip an essential part of our industry. Yes we happen to have quite a few billionaires in this market but nobody cares about the way they spend their money. We're here for the innovation part.
I agree and came here to share a similar thought. I know a bit about journalism and how the sausage is made, and it's a tough market for tech journalism. Lately, that segment of the industry has been in a race to the bottom in terms of viable financial models for success.
I would simply say to the people trying to make a go out of serious tech journalism: I'm a nerd. Let me geek out with high quality coverage of technical issues and tech politics. Please, no more billionaire gossip. That's not what I want to read. If I did, I would be reading TechCrunch or Valleywag. And if your new news site is going to be called "Re/code", then it had better have news related to actual code and computer programming, instead of just re-warmed Apple intrigue (that John Gruber does better anyway) and rich-guy gossip.
Re/code is a pretty weird name for them. Allthingsd was a mix of Walt reviewing Apple products or comparing non-Apple products to Apple products and Kara's Yahoo! drama column. Nothing about coding, ever. If I'd never read a single Allthingsd column in my life, I doubt it would have been much different than it is now.
Yes and No. Essentially Kara/Walt and WSJ/Dow Jones/NewsCorp "divorced".
The "divorce" left Kara/Walt with the writers (as they were employed by them) and WSJ/Dow Jones/NewsCorp the AllThingsD brand, website and conference business. However, it appears the AllThingsD site is being completely shut down and redirected to http://wsj.com/tech - probably because NewsCorp who struck the original deal with Kara/Walt don't want a situation like this to happen again.
Recode is a completely new business (site and conference business; WSJ/NewsCorp/Dow Jones still owns the D Conference) albeit with the same writers from AllThingsD.
Given the histories of these 2 writers, I'd have hoped for a bit more substance in such an important post for them.
They don't mention anything specific about the new site, and given how many other good tech sites there are, the vagueness doesn't make me curious enough to come back.
And in terms of journalistic integrity with full disclosures; I learnt more about what has really happened from the comments here than I did in that post. Surely they should have disclosed that a need to "refresh, reimagine, remake and reinvent" wasn't the only thing in play here.
So is this possible because California doesn't recognize non-competes?
Because basically Walt/Kara seem to have borrowed Newscorp backing until they didn't need it anymore, after which they announce a new URL and continue on their own.
I have no idea what went on behind the scenes, but you could just as well say that Newscorp borrowed Walt and Kara's personalities until they didn't need them anymore, after which they redirect to a new URL and continue on their own.
>Because basically Walt/Kara seem to have borrowed Newscorp backing until they didn't need it anymore, after which they announce a new URL and continue on their own.
And how is that illegal a priori -- or who said they had signed a "non compete"?
I don't know about Kara Swisher, but Mossberg was with the Journal for like 30 years, as a reporter in various capacities. So it's not like he just used them. His entire career was supported by that company, since long before Newscorp owned them.
This is not the first time this sort of thing has happened either. A bunch of reporters and editors left the Washington Post a few years ago to create a new digital news company called Politico.
If I had to guess, I would assume it's similar to the Verge/Engadget situation. Splitting from a stodgy corporation that doesn't want to change or update anything.
Eventually they collectively realize that nothing is going to change and they could run a much better site without their parent corporation, and it goes from there.
Of course, this is complete speculation based on zero actual evidence. But it would hardly surprise me if the WSJ and AOL had a reluctance to be proactive in common.
Your assumption is incorrect. Wsj decided not to renew its contract with allthingsd. Wsj has launched a new technology section today which replaces the old stale section.
