5 ms·

Walt Mossberg is retiring in June

116 points by petercooper 10y ago

smt88 10y ago
This is how I know that the old Apple is really dead.
- heavymark 10y ago
  Huh? He's a 70 year old man retiring after 47 years of work. What does that have to do with how Apple has evolved over the years? Unless it's suppose to be satire of all the people who always say, "If Jobs were around X wouldn't have happened" about everything. Aka if Jobs were around old men would never retire.
  - osho741 10y ago
    Because it's widely known that he often references Apple even if the topic has nothing to do with that company.
    - mwfunk 10y ago
      Kinda like what's happening here...
  - smt88 10y ago
    It was a joke. Mossberg was one of Jobs' inner circle of journalists and wrote glowing reviews of all their products until fairly during the Cook era.
lloydde 10y ago
> It just seems like the right time to step away. I’m ready for something new. The something new here is retirement? The article doesn't seem to describe any details on what retirement means to Walt. Walt, Kara and Recode -- ignoring Kara's Yahoo obsession -- is the only tech popular news I read where I have regularly have confidence in the reporting.
losteverything 10y ago
I would like to ask walt if he thought this could happen today: a 23 year old waking into a newspaper and start a career. (I assume no would be his answer but that's why I ask) Q2 for walt: What would the name of the office/company be today that you think you could walk into as a 23 yr old and start a career?
- eli 10y ago
  The Washington Post is hiring pretty aggressively here in DC. I don't see any reason a 23 year old couldn't start a career there.
- brudgers 10y ago
  A 23 year old today can start an online enterprise that stands a fair chance of acquiring an audience about the size of those small town papers at which many journalists used to get their first jobs covering PTA meetings and Boy Scout award ceremonies. The down side is not learning from veterans. The upside is not needing permission.
- scholia 10y ago
  There were two factors here: one was the prestige of the platform, and the other was the transformation that began with the invention of the microprocessor. Both required luck. Today, it probably wouldn't be a newspaper. It might be a website. However, we don't know what the next transformative technology might be. There must be some former 23yo's who are already on track via the web or smartphones, or perhaps AI or VR. The next one could be in a medical field, such as genetics. Take your pick ;-)
- rmason 10y ago
  The number of people reading a daily print newspaper has declined from 55% to 5% in the last twenty five years. Granted a higher percentage are reading the news on their phones but you don't need as many people to put out a digital paper. Sure the boomers retiring will need to be replaced but it's a declining market and even if you manage to get hired it's doubtful you will have as long a career as Walt managed. You will have to compete with a computer. Experts are predicting that up to 90% of newspaper stories will be written by computers by 2030. It's akin to entering the buggy whip manufacturing business right after the introduction of the Model T. http://www.journalism.org/2016/06/15/newspapers-fact-sheet/ http://www.journalism.org/2016/06/15/newspapers-fact-sheet/ https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jun/28/computer-writing-journalism-artificial-intelligence https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jun/28/computer-...
rootbear 10y ago
I didn't know that Mr. Mossberg lived in Maryland. I'll have to keep an eye out for that car!
- atonse 10y ago
  I've seen this car! I always wondered where in MD he lived (he's mentioned before that he lives in Chevy Chase), because his videos always look like familiar surroundings. Awesome!
MBCook 10y ago
Dang. I've really been enjoying his podcast every week.
- ChrisLTD 10y ago
  Same. Nilay Patel and Mossberg have a great rapport.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
snowwrestler 10y ago
Am I the only one who thinks he really retired when he left the WSJ? Recode might have been better money for him (I don't know) but it was undoubtedly a much smaller platform and audience. For a while there at WSJ he basically drove the entire consumer conversation about computers and mobile devices. Not so much since he left.
taude 10y ago
I hope to be as mentally sharp and up on tech when I'm 70 like Walt is. I always enjoyed his thoughts and opinions, even in the glory Apple-could-do-no-wrong days. Even then I thought he gave fair reviews, and good insight.
swrobel 10y ago
Good riddance
PhantomGremlin 10y ago
It doesn't look like Walt Mosspuppet is retiring his twitter.[1] He doesn't seem to make video reviews any more. I thought they were hilarious, but I guess I was in the minority and he couldn't make it pay for him. Here's a random one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_Fi9V_ot4I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_Fi9V_ot4I Plenty more on Youtube under mosspuppet. [1] https://twitter.com/mosspuppet https://twitter.com/mosspuppet

116 points by petercooper 10y ago

smt88 10y ago

This is how I know that the old Apple is really dead.

heavymark 10y ago
Huh? He's a 70 year old man retiring after 47 years of work. What does that have to do with how Apple has evolved over the years? Unless it's suppose to be satire of all the people who always say, "If Jobs were around X wouldn't have happened" about everything. Aka if Jobs were around old men would never retire.
- osho741 10y ago
  Because it's widely known that he often references Apple even if the topic has nothing to do with that company.
  - mwfunk 10y ago
    Kinda like what's happening here...
- smt88 10y ago
  It was a joke. Mossberg was one of Jobs' inner circle of journalists and wrote glowing reviews of all their products until fairly during the Cook era.

lloydde 10y ago

> It just seems like the right time to step away. I’m ready for something new. The something new here is retirement? The article doesn't seem to describe any details on what retirement means to Walt. Walt, Kara and Recode -- ignoring Kara's Yahoo obsession -- is the only tech popular news I read where I have regularly have confidence in the reporting.

losteverything 10y ago

I would like to ask walt if he thought this could happen today: a 23 year old waking into a newspaper and start a career. (I assume no would be his answer but that's why I ask) Q2 for walt: What would the name of the office/company be today that you think you could walk into as a 23 yr old and start a career?

eli 10y ago
The Washington Post is hiring pretty aggressively here in DC. I don't see any reason a 23 year old couldn't start a career there.
brudgers 10y ago
A 23 year old today can start an online enterprise that stands a fair chance of acquiring an audience about the size of those small town papers at which many journalists used to get their first jobs covering PTA meetings and Boy Scout award ceremonies. The down side is not learning from veterans. The upside is not needing permission.
scholia 10y ago
There were two factors here: one was the prestige of the platform, and the other was the transformation that began with the invention of the microprocessor. Both required luck. Today, it probably wouldn't be a newspaper. It might be a website. However, we don't know what the next transformative technology might be. There must be some former 23yo's who are already on track via the web or smartphones, or perhaps AI or VR. The next one could be in a medical field, such as genetics. Take your pick ;-)
rmason 10y ago
The number of people reading a daily print newspaper has declined from 55% to 5% in the last twenty five years. Granted a higher percentage are reading the news on their phones but you don't need as many people to put out a digital paper. Sure the boomers retiring will need to be replaced but it's a declining market and even if you manage to get hired it's doubtful you will have as long a career as Walt managed. You will have to compete with a computer. Experts are predicting that up to 90% of newspaper stories will be written by computers by 2030. It's akin to entering the buggy whip manufacturing business right after the introduction of the Model T. http://www.journalism.org/2016/06/15/newspapers-fact-sheet/ http://www.journalism.org/2016/06/15/newspapers-fact-sheet/ https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jun/28/computer-writing-journalism-artificial-intelligence https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jun/28/computer-...

rootbear 10y ago

I didn't know that Mr. Mossberg lived in Maryland. I'll have to keep an eye out for that car!

atonse 10y ago
I've seen this car! I always wondered where in MD he lived (he's mentioned before that he lives in Chevy Chase), because his videos always look like familiar surroundings. Awesome!

MBCook 10y ago

Dang. I've really been enjoying his podcast every week.

ChrisLTD 10y ago
Same. Nilay Patel and Mossberg have a great rapport.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

snowwrestler 10y ago

Am I the only one who thinks he really retired when he left the WSJ? Recode might have been better money for him (I don't know) but it was undoubtedly a much smaller platform and audience. For a while there at WSJ he basically drove the entire consumer conversation about computers and mobile devices. Not so much since he left.

taude 10y ago

I hope to be as mentally sharp and up on tech when I'm 70 like Walt is. I always enjoyed his thoughts and opinions, even in the glory Apple-could-do-no-wrong days. Even then I thought he gave fair reviews, and good insight.

swrobel 10y ago

Good riddance

PhantomGremlin 10y ago

It doesn't look like Walt Mosspuppet is retiring his twitter.[1] He doesn't seem to make video reviews any more. I thought they were hilarious, but I guess I was in the minority and he couldn't make it pay for him. Here's a random one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_Fi9V_ot4I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_Fi9V_ot4I Plenty more on Youtube under mosspuppet. [1] https://twitter.com/mosspuppet https://twitter.com/mosspuppet