Charles on… anything that comes along

Now, I know it’s the case in journalism that dog should not bite dog, and even more so that dog should not bite dog (nor even puppy) within the same pack. But this stuff about the 19-year-old son of an occasional contributor to the Guardian’s travel section who somehow (how?) got a blog spot on, um, the Guardian’s travel blog where he was going to regale us with his experiences deserved the abuse it got, for one simple reason:

It wasn’t good enough.

The reality is that very few 19-year-olds are competent at writing anything well enough that it deserves to be on a national newspaper’s site in a prominent position. Nothing I wrote at 19 would have deserved that sort of publication. The stuff I wrote at 20 managed to get me published for the first time, in a tennis magazine read by perhaps a few thousand people. OK, I’m hardly a shining light to the skill of writing, but I have what is maybe an old-fashioned approach: national newspapers ought to be only the very best you can get - at least, that you can get within the time constraints you’re set.

Gap year travel blogs, though, are the sort of thing from which you should be able to choose from a vast, vast field. I’d expect to spend days, weeks even trawling through them to find the one, perhaps two, that really shine.

And nowadays, when you put something up there which isn’t good enough, you get kicked. Which is what David Cox points out (only 200 comments! An easy read!).

Quality: it’s a simple formula. But hard to do consistently. Let’s hope Max goes off and gets a blog somewhere (Blogger and Wordpress do them free, you know) and practises, practises, practises.

These posts might be related (the database thinks..):
• The perfect present for a blogger for his birthday? (22 September 2004; score: 48.21%)
• My new job: editing the Guardian's Technology section (26 October 2005; score: 36.58%)
• The first hour out of the box determines whether you'll love a product (2 August 2004; score: 24.26%)

Unease at filesharing crackdown

The government’s threat to force ISPs to police illegal sharing of copyright material is a music industry victory but a worry for everyone else

A sample:

Now, the music industry has used its lobbying muscle with the government - which is always happy with an industry that employs thousands and generates millions of pounds in taxable revenue - to force ISPs to sit down and create a new framework to choke downloading.

By contrast, ISPs don’t employ thousands and don’t generate millions in export sales. In some ways, it’s as simple as that.

Why Apple’s secretive approach is so effective

It turns out that there may be very deep reasons why Apple’s secretive approach entices us so, and Microsoft’s doesn’t

It’s based on some intriguing (and not yet fully published research) but it goes suggest why vapourware works, if you’re dominant, and perhaps why the AppleTV - preannounced (remember?) as the iTV - didn’t set the world alight.

Tech Weekly podcast: Video Bloggers and Alternative Realities

A look at entertaining technologies this week: interviews on video blogging with the people behind Diggnation, Boing Boing and zefrank, and the makers of the Torchwood Alternative Reality Game tell us how they put it together. And Moo.com take a ride in the elevator to make a pitch.

These posts might be related (the database thinks..):
• At the Guardian: another podcast, and how much will net access at the Beijing Olympics be limited? (27 February 2008; score: 153%)
• At the Guardian: the Tech Weekly podcast (13 February 2008; score: 141.81%)
• Guardian Tech Weekly podcast: the second one (30 December 2007; score: 125.08%)