CloudBacon

Mmm, delicious minimalistic desk for the space conscious in all of us. Actually I was just informed by a roommate that "minimalism" as a-whole, is now dead. Well, shit, call me a "augmented humanitarian...ist?" Still, this desk is simple, sexy and cool.

Let’s just face it — I get to work with some of the smartest people on this planet. I get lessons in technology from folks who are inventing it. I learn business strategy from guys who are running $50 billion companies. I get to spend time with guys who are trying to turn around the Internet equivalent of tankers. And that is when I am out of the office.

When I return to GigaOM’s awesome home base in San Francisco, I get to work alongside some of the best technology news/media people in the business. Now here is the good news — you can do exactly the same, if you can convince our editorial team and me, that you would be perfect as our Silicon Valley reporter. Of course, we expect you to be a tad nerdy like us, appreciate the idea of knowing the future before it happens, and have an optimist’s skepticism but more than anything else — a desire to learn!

Here is the official description of the job!

GigaOM is a small team of passionate online-media nerds, dedicated to staying ahead of the curve and keeping their global community informed through analysis, events, and research. We’re looking for a staff writer to cover Silicon Valley startups and the consumer web for our fast-paced, non-traditional newsroom.

Our ideal candidate loves breaking stories, asking hard questions that will help advance a story, and spotting the startups that will be the next disruptors. GigaOM’s coverage is a mix of breaking news and thoughtful, forward-looking analysis. Our readers look to us to find out not only what technologies, entrepreneurs and companies they should be following but also where the industry is headed. We’re looking for an analytical thinker with a healthy dose of skepticism but also a curiosity and passion for the industry.

We’re committed to the ethics of traditional journalism and the speed and interactivity of the web. We prefer candidates with a journalism or reporting background but who will also regularly engage with the tech world on Twitter and through social media. Our ideal candidate should be an avid user of social media.

Beyond all this, we’re looking for someone with 2 years experience as a journalist (preferably in business journalism) who writes quickly and turns in accurate, clean, focused copy. Candidates should be comfortable working independently, owning their beat, as well as with other reporters to coordinate coverage of big stories.

This position is a full-time, San Francisco–based position with full health, dental & vision benefits, vacation and sick time, and a competitive salary.

To apply, please send your resume, three writing clips and a brief cover letter to Nicole Solis, Managing Editor, at nicole AT gigaom DOT com. No phone calls, please.

Well...what they are actually looking for is someone who can produce some mildly awesome content and still be on most tech user's (I find subpar) reading level. Having just tweeted this link or "twatted" for all you Northern Michigan-ers, I was inspired to throw this onto my blog because I know many of you are or were Journalism / English majors. I...was not.

As a quick note for anyone who is looking at performing college (that's what you do if you don't know), a double major in Journalism and Computer Information Systems can take you a long way these days. If I had the chance to go back and do my undergrad again, you bet your ass that is what I would focus my time on.

This is precisely what I feel about every info-graph(ic) (read::trash) I come across. Plus the plus-size guys at Lesseverything just plain kick ass / I might look up to their ass kickery skills...just a little.

Social media + productivity + info-graphic...what else is this blog about? A really interesting case on why you should be turning off all of those filters for Twitter.

I’m starting to feel like there’s a trend of male geeks of a certain age decrying the mainstreaming of geekery, and it’s starting to make me uncomfortable.

You may have read Patton Oswalt’s recent Wired article, where he talked about how Geek Culture has to die so that it can be reborn, and longing for the days when his otaku was in tact and it was “hard” to be a geek. Now, it’s too easy. Now ANYONE can be a geek about something, and it’s ruining his little party, poor baby. When I read that article, I couldn’t help but think it came from a really privileged white male place. Not “privileged” because of money (though geekery tends to be expensive if you want to collect everything, so those with more money tend to be the geeks with the most toys), but because of the access he had to nerdly things by virtue of being a white suburban male. He might have felt all “non-conformist” at the time, but white suburban males were allowed to be that, and were being that all over the place, to the point that something like Revenge of the Nerds can get made, and the titular “nerds” are all skinny white guys. He probably hung out with one girl who was interested in the same things, and assumed the rest weren’t, or couldn’t be. (And he probably didn’t consider DATING the “cool” geek girl he hung out with, because she’s not actually a girl, you know. Not one you’d actually want to date. She’s one of the boys.) I don’t know if he hung out with any black or brown kids to play D&D, but I don’t think it’s likely.

I’m 31, and I’ve loved sci-fi (Star Trek, Ray Bradbury and Asimov books, Alien Nation, Space Camp, etc) my whole life. But I didn’t fully embrace being geeky until I was in my mid-twenties, when a friend of mine introduced me to comics by making me read Gaiman’s Sandman. Now, there’s hardly a Wednesday that goes by when I’m not at the comic shop. And what I LOVE are the efforts to reach out to new readers – readers like me – who can’t turn back the hands of time and catch up on eons of backstory, but shouldn’t have to be punished for it. I also LOVE the fact that I can go to stuff like Wikipedia (much to Oswalt’s dismay) to fill in any gaps in my comics knowledge so that I can move forward in Geek Culture, rather than be bogged down by the past.

What does this have to do with your Facebook post? :)

It seems that your gripe with Facebook has less to do with what it actually does, and more to do with what you could make it do better. Which is all very well and good. I’m glad that you’re capable of working your own website, etc. And I know that you very clearly stated in your post that people aren’t stupid for using Facebook, and that it’s just not for you, and all the other well-placed disclaimers to make sure people know you’re not elitist before you say things that make you sound like elitist…

But why did you feel the need to say it at all? And I just don’t mean here – I know you’re responding to a friend here. Why, if Facebook is fine for other people, just not for you, and if people aren’t stupid for using it, why did you feel the need to be antagonistic on Facebook about Facebook in the first place, making people feel lesser for using it? Saying “I’M smart enough to not need Facebook, but Facebook is for NORMAL people who AREN’T as smart as me” is a really elitist thing to say. And I’m pointing it out, because it’s one of several instances I’ve started to notice lately of the above-mentioned male geeks of a certain age talking crap about something that’s become mainstream. It smacks of little boys pulling up the ladder to their tree house. And I have to say that, as a Puerto Rican woman who has embraced her geekiness only within the past ten years, I am bothered when I hear that sort of thing. I think it contributes to the very climate of ostracizing and elitism that geeks are supposedly running from. So, the answer to getting picked on and not getting to play in the cool kids’ reindeer games when you’re little is, what, create NEW reindeer games that other people can’t get into? I hate that idea.

Speaking specifically to Facebook, when you say Zuckerberg isn’t a genius, I think you’re missing something. No, he might not be the best coder on the block. And yes, there were networking sites before Facebook. But I think you underestimate the brilliance of a good idea. Not just a good invention, but the idea to take a good invention and put it out there at the right time to the right people. Yes, Zuckerberg was a dick, but honestly, he took an idea and ran with it well. Had Facebook not gotten off the ground, for whatever reason, he wouldn’t have been sued, and no one would’ve cared. People only started caring when it started making money. And that just seems like sour grapes. You call it “the largely accidental advantage of being upmarket first.” But, that’s everything. Anyone can have an idea, but ideas are nothing if you do nothing with them, and I think that a big part of genius is knowing when to move on an idea rather than shove it in a drawer (or a folder on your desktop). I’m not saying he did everything (or anything) right in handling any of this. But I am saying that he’s not the only person in that scenario not handling things properly.

Lastly, re: Facebook and privacy – now, I’m not a shy person. I put myself out there on the internet pretty much as is (I don’t use Facebook filters either, because I present the same self to my friends that I do to their kids or their parents), and the things I don’t want people to know, I don’t put online at all. I always think it’s funny when people talk about internet privacy, because seriously, there’s no way to have it. Even if every website were policing privacy 24/7, all it takes is a good hacker and your info is out there to anyone who wants it. The only way to guarantee internet privacy is to not use the internet. It makes me laugh in particular when people get angry at Facebook re: privacy, because there’s absolutely nothing on your Facebook profile that you didn’t put there yourself! And I’m all “It’s not Facebook’s fault you were dumb enough to put those drunk, naked pictures of yourself up, and your boss did a Google search and found them!” *sigh*

Wow. I pretty much wrote a blog post in your comments. Sorry. But I lurk around the site a lot, and comment infrequently, so consider this several days’ worth of comments. :)

A fascinating read about how Facebook has made the web inherently "easy" and is the overal reason why it has had a tremendous load of hype for 2 solid years. It isn't that Facebook is bad per-say, it just happens to be breeding and fostering many lazy computer users. No one wants to code, design, or really do shit. They just want to be hooked up to the IV drip of useless photos, dumb videos, and incoherent rants towards recently past employers. All of these skills are integral in, trust me...