5 ms·

Never thought I'd see the day where a Playboy article is on the top of HN. Great read.

by yefim 12y ago

eli 12y ago
The 1994 Bill Gates interview is really worth a read if you haven't seen it before: http://web.archive.org/web/20090606130047/http://www.playboy.com/articles/bill-gates-playboy-interview/index.html http://web.archive.org/web/20090606130047/http://www.playboy...
vinceguidry 12y ago
I'm not. Playboy's articles have always been tremendous. When I was younger I had a t-shirt with a Playboy logo on it and the phrase "I read the articles". I'm starting to think we need a curation platform for long-form content. Preferably a subscription service that can solve the paywall problem elegantly. I don't use music subscription services because I want to keep the music, purchasing a file makes more sense. But I never save articles, I don't have the time to re-read them. Subscription seems perfect. How much would I pay for such a service? Potentially a lot. If it could get me past any paywall or even just the most common ones I run into, I might pay a hundred bucks a month for it. I can consume a lot of long-form articles, many many more than I can books or movies. Subscribing to a magazine has too little signal-to-noise, I'm not looking for just any article to read. Nor do I have enough time to read a whole magazine.
- sun_machine 12y ago
  I'm sure you've seen this, but to those who want to get a start on a curated resource of longform articles, I've always liked the aptly named http://longform.org http://longform.org
- robocaptain 12y ago
  Also try thebrowser.com Mostly free, but if you subscribe you will get lots more (great) mostly long-form articles, and in cases where the article would normally be behind a paywall, they will do a special version for thebrowser's paying customers.
  - vinceguidry 12y ago
    Thanks. Reading the Bear Grylls article now. Their 1pass offering seems brilliant. Will explore more.
- lmm 12y ago
  If you don't have time to read a whole magazine once a month - or just the interesting-titled articles from it - then you're really not looking to read a lot. I find glancing through the medium.com homepage works pretty well if I'm just looking for one or two stories to read.
  - tripzilch 12y ago
    That confused me a little as well, but I'm guessing he intended to mean he doesn't want to read a whole magazine, just the few quality long-form articles in it. As most magazines contain a lot of fluff, shorter columns or perhaps just long-form stories on subjects that don't interest him. ... I'm guessing.
- hellbanner 12y ago
  Weighted upvotes?
- matt4077 12y ago
  There is /r/thelongread or /r/longform I believe. Part of the problem is actually not discovery but availability – there just isn't that much longform content. If you keep an eye on vanity fair, the atlantic, new yorker, the sunday times and a few others, you're likely to read most of the good stuff. Better revenue streams might increase the supply. You are right that a model similar to music is needed – I'm not going to pay 100$+/year for a magazine subscription, but I'd gladly pay 40$/month for 'the netflix of journalism'. I've also seen quite a lot of writers publish kindle shorts which could become 'the itunes of journalism'.
  - UweSchmidt 12y ago
    40$ would be too much for most people though, right? When the dust settles it will be at <10$/€ per month like the music and movie streaming services for all-you-can-read.
    - marincounty 12y ago
      Yea $40 is too much--at least for me. What I find weird about reading HN links is many times I get to the meat of the story by reading the free comments? Actually, I think the free comments are what make HN great?
slyall 12y ago
Vanity Fair is another magazine you might not expect to have great articles among the hundreds of pages of Fashion ads https://longform.org/publications/vanity-fair https://longform.org/publications/vanity-fair
oliwary 12y ago
There is also a fantastic interview with Steve Jobs from playboy: http://longform.org/stories/playboy-interview-steve-jobs http://longform.org/stories/playboy-interview-steve-jobs
- BillFranklin 12y ago
  >Playboy: Most computers use key strokes to enter instructions, but Macintosh replaces many of them with something called a mouse—a little box that is rolled around on your desk and guides a pointer on your computer screen. It’s a big change for people used to keyboards. Why the mouse? >Jobs: If I want to tell you there is a spot on your shirt, I’m not going to do it linguistically: “There’s a spot on your shirt 14 centimeters down from the collar and three centimeters to the left of your button.” If you have a spot—“There!” [he points]—I’ll point to it. Pointing is a metaphor we all know. We’ve done a lot of studies and tests on that, and it’s much faster to do all kinds of functions, such as cutting and pasting, with a mouse, so it’s not only easier to use but more efficient. Amazing. Thanks
  - shiggerino 12y ago
    Eben Moglen's response to that: https://youtu.be/uKxzK9xtSXM?t=2m15s https://youtu.be/uKxzK9xtSXM?t=2m15s

Never thought I'd see the day where a Playboy article is on the top of HN. Great read.

by yefim 12y ago

Never thought I'd see the day where a Playboy article is on the top of HN. Great read.

eli 12y ago

The 1994 Bill Gates interview is really worth a read if you haven't seen it before: http://web.archive.org/web/20090606130047/http://www.playboy.com/articles/bill-gates-playboy-interview/index.html http://web.archive.org/web/20090606130047/http://www.playboy...

vinceguidry 12y ago

I'm not. Playboy's articles have always been tremendous. When I was younger I had a t-shirt with a Playboy logo on it and the phrase "I read the articles". I'm starting to think we need a curation platform for long-form content. Preferably a subscription service that can solve the paywall problem elegantly. I don't use music subscription services because I want to keep the music, purchasing a file makes more sense. But I never save articles, I don't have the time to re-read them. Subscription seems perfect. How much would I pay for such a service? Potentially a lot. If it could get me past any paywall or even just the most common ones I run into, I might pay a hundred bucks a month for it. I can consume a lot of long-form articles, many many more than I can books or movies. Subscribing to a magazine has too little signal-to-noise, I'm not looking for just any article to read. Nor do I have enough time to read a whole magazine.

sun_machine 12y ago
I'm sure you've seen this, but to those who want to get a start on a curated resource of longform articles, I've always liked the aptly named http://longform.org http://longform.org
robocaptain 12y ago
Also try thebrowser.com Mostly free, but if you subscribe you will get lots more (great) mostly long-form articles, and in cases where the article would normally be behind a paywall, they will do a special version for thebrowser's paying customers.
- vinceguidry 12y ago
  Thanks. Reading the Bear Grylls article now. Their 1pass offering seems brilliant. Will explore more.
lmm 12y ago
If you don't have time to read a whole magazine once a month - or just the interesting-titled articles from it - then you're really not looking to read a lot. I find glancing through the medium.com homepage works pretty well if I'm just looking for one or two stories to read.
- tripzilch 12y ago
  That confused me a little as well, but I'm guessing he intended to mean he doesn't want to read a whole magazine, just the few quality long-form articles in it. As most magazines contain a lot of fluff, shorter columns or perhaps just long-form stories on subjects that don't interest him. ... I'm guessing.
hellbanner 12y ago
Weighted upvotes?
matt4077 12y ago
There is /r/thelongread or /r/longform I believe. Part of the problem is actually not discovery but availability – there just isn't that much longform content. If you keep an eye on vanity fair, the atlantic, new yorker, the sunday times and a few others, you're likely to read most of the good stuff. Better revenue streams might increase the supply. You are right that a model similar to music is needed – I'm not going to pay 100$+/year for a magazine subscription, but I'd gladly pay 40$/month for 'the netflix of journalism'. I've also seen quite a lot of writers publish kindle shorts which could become 'the itunes of journalism'.
- UweSchmidt 12y ago
  40$ would be too much for most people though, right? When the dust settles it will be at <10$/€ per month like the music and movie streaming services for all-you-can-read.
  - marincounty 12y ago
    Yea $40 is too much--at least for me. What I find weird about reading HN links is many times I get to the meat of the story by reading the free comments? Actually, I think the free comments are what make HN great?

slyall 12y ago

Vanity Fair is another magazine you might not expect to have great articles among the hundreds of pages of Fashion ads https://longform.org/publications/vanity-fair https://longform.org/publications/vanity-fair

oliwary 12y ago

There is also a fantastic interview with Steve Jobs from playboy: http://longform.org/stories/playboy-interview-steve-jobs http://longform.org/stories/playboy-interview-steve-jobs

BillFranklin 12y ago
>Playboy: Most computers use key strokes to enter instructions, but Macintosh replaces many of them with something called a mouse—a little box that is rolled around on your desk and guides a pointer on your computer screen. It’s a big change for people used to keyboards. Why the mouse? >Jobs: If I want to tell you there is a spot on your shirt, I’m not going to do it linguistically: “There’s a spot on your shirt 14 centimeters down from the collar and three centimeters to the left of your button.” If you have a spot—“There!” [he points]—I’ll point to it. Pointing is a metaphor we all know. We’ve done a lot of studies and tests on that, and it’s much faster to do all kinds of functions, such as cutting and pasting, with a mouse, so it’s not only easier to use but more efficient. Amazing. Thanks
- shiggerino 12y ago
  Eben Moglen's response to that: https://youtu.be/uKxzK9xtSXM?t=2m15s https://youtu.be/uKxzK9xtSXM?t=2m15s