Comments on: Rebooting the News #55

By: Bob Passaro

Bob Passaro — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 23:45:53 +0000

Really good show. I think you delivered a very articulate crystallization of why people are intrigued by the iPad — the idea that could deliver a cleaner, better experience — and how that aspiration will be pursued in other — perhaps more open — ways: i.e., Readability.
It seems like the implications of all of this for advertising are fairly severe. But ads on news sites always strike me as just worthless, if not outright annoying, anyway.
Ads are going to have to change. I could see that happening in at least a couple of ways: one perhaps good, one not-so-good.
Not so good: Advertisement becomes more insidious, more like product placement in movies and TV. The PR industry will figure ways to do this, I’m sure.
Better: Advertisements are created that are appropriately targeted, and useful to readers. So instead of slapping a Chevy ad on every page, a news site might forgo ads on its front page, say, and deliver targeted ads on some sort of topic pages. So the ads would be closely tied to the content. I’m sure they could be targeted (Google-like) to the reader, too. But you just can’t risk annoying readers on the Web. But if the ads are useful … I might want to look at them. News sites have to figure out how to deliver useful ads.

By: Readability will change the way you read online | webdancers

Readability will change the way you read online | webdancers — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:20:04 +0000

[...] developer of Readability, Richard Ziade, was interviewed recently on Rebooting the News, where he explained that developing the technology to correctly identify the featured content on a [...]

By: Andrew Jaffe

Andrew Jaffe — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 20:15:15 +0000

Hi Dave,

Definitely an interesting show, straddling the Tech/News line that you cover so well (and where the rebooted news system is indeed forming!). But I also noticed the same thing as Michael M regarding Google’s Sidewiki and Apple’s (and RIchard Ziade’s) Reader: they both change the experience of a site in ways very different from the intent of, and at least naively out of the control of, the creator. One “subtracts” from the content and one “adds” to it, but I can certainly imagine users who would like one or the other (or both, at different times).

It would be great to hear your comments on this, in text or on the next podcast!

By: Readability will change the way you read online | GregFalken.com

Readability will change the way you read online | GregFalken.com — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 22:15:08 +0000

[...] developer of Readability, Richard Ziade, was interviewed recently on Rebooting the News, where he explained that developing the technology to correctly identify the featured content on a [...]

By: Michael M.

Michael M. — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 06:39:03 +0000

Agreed … Great show, and one of the most thought provoking and well said episodes.

Thought it was interesting, though, that Dave is such a readability fan and about empowering consumers, but he hated Google’s sidewiki project. Both essentially alter the formatting of a page outside of the site owner’s control. Would’ve love to hear more on where that line is/should be drawn from a dev’s perspective.

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 01:21:24 +0000

Great show — great last 5 mins. Wow 20x more readership on the web.

By: Scott Yates

Scott Yates — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 21:05:09 +0000

That “Reader” button has made me like my browser again.