6 ms·

Last week's news

88 points by blasdel 17y ago

aditya 17y ago
What he's talking about is not news, but analysis. The Economist _really_ shines here as a model. News isn't dead, only our consumption patterns have changed and it is definitely still more mainstream than being limited to news junkies, I don't know why everyone keeps saying that. Like, ask anyone if they watch the news, and the answer is no, but we're all on Hacker News or digg or insert_community_of_choice here and consuming "news" in other ways. I think that twitter will probably be the platform that the next generation "news" app is built on. What it will do, and who it will appeal to are open questions...
- davidw 17y ago
  I was going to say "The Economist" as well. They do some breaking news on their web site, but not much, and I wouldn't really go there for that. By the time I actually get the print edition, it's usually a bit stale in terms of the absolute latest, but the analysis and commentary is usually interesting to read.
- goodside 17y ago
  Two stand-out features of The Economist I'd like to see emulated more: 1. No separation of op-ed from news reporting. Just-the-facts-Ma'am reporting isn't objective, it just plays coy games with selective quotes and straw-men. It's dishonest and, worse, it's wordy. 2. No signatures on articles, whether written by one person or the entire staff. The text is boldly honest, without worrying the author might never work again for saying the wrong thing. The paper itself holds the opinions, which lean different directions in different decades. This is okay. Most blogs and have the first item down pat. But the second is rare, despite the easy collaborative editing that modern blogware offers, and the benefit of pseudo-anonymity for amateurs who can't keep a perpetually diplomatic tongue. A platform that nudges its community in this direction might be all that's needed. (Just another company I'm too lazy to start.)
- stse 17y ago
  There's also newspapers that isn't as focused on analysis as The Economist, which release on a weekly basis. Some newspapers even have international or weekly editions like The Guardian[1]. It does seem like this was a lot more common before the breakthrough of the Internet. Also I think there's an issue with the format. I personally enjoy magazines like The Economist more in print, while it's the other way around with daily newspapers. [1] http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/ http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/
maethorechannen 17y ago
In the UK, there's The Week http://www.theweek.co.uk/ http://www.theweek.co.uk/
- ben1040 17y ago
  There's a US edition as well: http://theweek.com/home http://theweek.com/home
prosa 17y ago
Interesting perspective. That seems like the niche held by magazines and "the Sunday paper". It's ironic that they provide a solution to information overload and yet are slowly being killed by the firehose itself. Do they have the better content model? Is it just the cost of providing that type of service that makes the delivery model impossible in today's world, where we expect news to be free?
- stcredzero 17y ago
  Such analysis would be perfect as the paid part of freemium.
Tichy 17y ago
http://news.ycombinator.com/best http://news.ycombinator.com/best Not exhaustive enough - I also would wish for a HN with only the best links...
- whatusername 17y ago
  You want this perhaps: http://hnweekly.chibidesign.com/ http://hnweekly.chibidesign.com/
  - Tichy 17y ago
    Thanks for the link. The articles there all seem to be from January. Maybe the site stopped working?
    - whatusername 17y ago
      Good point. I got it from this link: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1059465 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1059465
gojomo 17y ago
Some have taken to calling this perspective "slow news". See: http://mediactive.com/2009/11/08/toward-a-slow-news-movement/ http://mediactive.com/2009/11/08/toward-a-slow-news-movement...
chime 17y ago
I think the traditional magazines do this really well.
- stcredzero 17y ago
  The mainstream ones sometimes get Science or Tech details glaringly wrong.
jasonlbaptiste 17y ago
like hnsummary but for everything else?
superjared 17y ago
I sent this to marco's email address, but Harpers.org has a "Weekly Review" every Tuesday. Example: http://harpers.org/archive/2010/04/WeeklyReview2010-04-06 http://harpers.org/archive/2010/04/WeeklyReview2010-04-06
- delackner 17y ago
  I used to read this quite often, but it was so short that each sentence-length "story" was too short to contemplate, and there were no links to in-depth stories. Clicking on your example though, I was very happily surprised to see that they have corrected all of these shortcomings! I'm not sure when it happened, but Harpers is definitely going back on my radar. [edit] On second thought, it is still as myopically US and frivolous news oriented as ever, nevermind. I'll stick to the economist.
maddalab 17y ago
Merrian Webster definition of "News" 1 a : a report of recent events http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/news http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/news In the information age "a week old is not recent". This is contextual. (Some living in Indonesia would find a week old report on US politics to be "recent").
eleanor 17y ago
Relevant project "Long News" - http://longnow.org/ http://longnow.org/ - "How many of today's headlines will matter in 100 years? 1000? Kirk Citron's "Long News" project collects stories that not only matter today, but will resonate for decades -- even centuries -- to come." via TED Talks - http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/kirk_citron_and_now_the_real_news.html http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/kirk_citron_and_now_the_re...
j053003 17y ago
Last Week's Tech News: Ars Technica -- "Week in __________" - Tech: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/04/week-in-tech-decide-your-own-hot-stories-edition.ars http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/04/week-in-tech... - Apple: http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/04/week-in-apple-verizon-iphone-rumors-mac-os-x-update.ars http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/04/week-in-apple-veri... - Microsoft: http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2010/04/week-in-microsoft-windows-7-windows-live-chrome-attacks.ars http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2010/04/week-in-micros... - Gaming: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2010/04/week-in-gaming-evony-water-balloons-pax-east.ars http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2010/04/week-in-gaming-e...
Jupe 17y ago
Sounds like a request for... ah... a magazine (eek!)
tdavis 17y ago
What he wants is The Week (http://theweek.com http://theweek.com) and I must say it's a very good publication; quite subscription-worthy.
winter_blue 17y ago
ACM TechNews is really good source of well-reviewed technology news.

88 points by blasdel 17y ago

What he's talking about is not news, but analysis. The Economist _really_ shines here as a model. News isn't dead, only our consumption patterns have changed and it is definitely still more mainstream than being limited to news junkies, I don't know why everyone keeps saying that. Like, ask anyone if they watch the news, and the answer is no, but we're all on Hacker News or digg or insert_community_of_choice here and consuming "news" in other ways. I think that twitter will probably be the platform that the next generation "news" app is built on. What it will do, and who it will appeal to are open questions...

davidw 17y ago
I was going to say "The Economist" as well. They do some breaking news on their web site, but not much, and I wouldn't really go there for that. By the time I actually get the print edition, it's usually a bit stale in terms of the absolute latest, but the analysis and commentary is usually interesting to read.
goodside 17y ago
Two stand-out features of The Economist I'd like to see emulated more: 1. No separation of op-ed from news reporting. Just-the-facts-Ma'am reporting isn't objective, it just plays coy games with selective quotes and straw-men. It's dishonest and, worse, it's wordy. 2. No signatures on articles, whether written by one person or the entire staff. The text is boldly honest, without worrying the author might never work again for saying the wrong thing. The paper itself holds the opinions, which lean different directions in different decades. This is okay. Most blogs and have the first item down pat. But the second is rare, despite the easy collaborative editing that modern blogware offers, and the benefit of pseudo-anonymity for amateurs who can't keep a perpetually diplomatic tongue. A platform that nudges its community in this direction might be all that's needed. (Just another company I'm too lazy to start.)
stse 17y ago
There's also newspapers that isn't as focused on analysis as The Economist, which release on a weekly basis. Some newspapers even have international or weekly editions like The Guardian[1]. It does seem like this was a lot more common before the breakthrough of the Internet. Also I think there's an issue with the format. I personally enjoy magazines like The Economist more in print, while it's the other way around with daily newspapers. [1] http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/ http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/

maethorechannen 17y ago

In the UK, there's The Week http://www.theweek.co.uk/ http://www.theweek.co.uk/

ben1040 17y ago
There's a US edition as well: http://theweek.com/home http://theweek.com/home

prosa 17y ago

Interesting perspective. That seems like the niche held by magazines and "the Sunday paper". It's ironic that they provide a solution to information overload and yet are slowly being killed by the firehose itself. Do they have the better content model? Is it just the cost of providing that type of service that makes the delivery model impossible in today's world, where we expect news to be free?

stcredzero 17y ago
Such analysis would be perfect as the paid part of freemium.

Tichy 17y ago

http://news.ycombinator.com/best http://news.ycombinator.com/best Not exhaustive enough - I also would wish for a HN with only the best links...

whatusername 17y ago
You want this perhaps: http://hnweekly.chibidesign.com/ http://hnweekly.chibidesign.com/
- Tichy 17y ago
  Thanks for the link. The articles there all seem to be from January. Maybe the site stopped working?
  - whatusername 17y ago
    Good point. I got it from this link: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1059465 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1059465

gojomo 17y ago

Some have taken to calling this perspective "slow news". See: http://mediactive.com/2009/11/08/toward-a-slow-news-movement/ http://mediactive.com/2009/11/08/toward-a-slow-news-movement...

chime 17y ago

I think the traditional magazines do this really well.

stcredzero 17y ago
The mainstream ones sometimes get Science or Tech details glaringly wrong.

jasonlbaptiste 17y ago

like hnsummary but for everything else?

superjared 17y ago

I sent this to marco's email address, but Harpers.org has a "Weekly Review" every Tuesday. Example: http://harpers.org/archive/2010/04/WeeklyReview2010-04-06 http://harpers.org/archive/2010/04/WeeklyReview2010-04-06

delackner 17y ago
I used to read this quite often, but it was so short that each sentence-length "story" was too short to contemplate, and there were no links to in-depth stories. Clicking on your example though, I was very happily surprised to see that they have corrected all of these shortcomings! I'm not sure when it happened, but Harpers is definitely going back on my radar. [edit] On second thought, it is still as myopically US and frivolous news oriented as ever, nevermind. I'll stick to the economist.

maddalab 17y ago

Merrian Webster definition of "News" 1 a : a report of recent events http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/news http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/news In the information age "a week old is not recent". This is contextual. (Some living in Indonesia would find a week old report on US politics to be "recent").

eleanor 17y ago

Relevant project "Long News" - http://longnow.org/ http://longnow.org/ - "How many of today's headlines will matter in 100 years? 1000? Kirk Citron's "Long News" project collects stories that not only matter today, but will resonate for decades -- even centuries -- to come." via TED Talks - http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/kirk_citron_and_now_the_real_news.html http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/kirk_citron_and_now_the_re...

j053003 17y ago

Last Week's Tech News: Ars Technica -- "Week in __________" - Tech: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/04/week-in-tech-decide-your-own-hot-stories-edition.ars http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/04/week-in-tech... - Apple: http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/04/week-in-apple-verizon-iphone-rumors-mac-os-x-update.ars http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/04/week-in-apple-veri... - Microsoft: http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2010/04/week-in-microsoft-windows-7-windows-live-chrome-attacks.ars http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2010/04/week-in-micros... - Gaming: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2010/04/week-in-gaming-evony-water-balloons-pax-east.ars http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2010/04/week-in-gaming-e...

Jupe 17y ago

Sounds like a request for... ah... a magazine (eek!)

tdavis 17y ago

What he wants is The Week (http://theweek.com http://theweek.com) and I must say it's a very good publication; quite subscription-worthy.

winter_blue 17y ago

ACM TechNews is really good source of well-reviewed technology news.