oct17.com Blog

So-called “books” are entertaining, portable

I’m not sure how it happened, but I’ve suddenly awoken from my long winter of reading magazines, Web sites, train schedules, pretty much anything but a book. Credit is probably due to Michelle Gagnon, an old friend who writes mystery crime novels. Her new book was coming out, so I went to Amazon… before you know it, I’m reading books again!

The hit list so afar:

• Options: The Secret Life of Steve Jobs
• Desperate Networks
• The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google

And I just started Michelle’s Boneyard. Saloni and Gopal wanted to read it first.

Oxymoron of the day: the unaffected employee

Today I had to inform several coworkers in Louisville, KY that they were losing their jobs in a companywide layoff at CNET Networks. This was the rueful culmination of a short but intense period when we had to figure out how to make staff cuts and still produce three award-winning sites, figure out how and when to communicate to people, and generally not sleep very well. Having worked in online media before and during the dotcom bust, this was not my first experience of layoffs — not by a long shot — but practice doesn’t make this perfect. Not by a long shot.

In the vernacular of HR documents, people losing their jobs are “the affected employees,” and the 90% who are left are the “unaffected employees.” But in facing the whole staff today in an all-hands meeting, it struck me that, of course, there are no “unaffected” employees. There are just those who will be coming back into the office Monday, looking over at an empty cubicle, and wondering what happens next.

The great thing about working with pros is that they are professional when the shit hits the fan. Some saw it coming (we share a lot of info about the state of the business with the entire team), some were taken completely by surprise. But all dealt with the bad news with enormous character. It was impressive in a way that you never want to have to see.

If anyone reading this needs to hire some strong editorial or product management talent, I’ve got names for you.

• From the bitter-irony dept.: Hours before the cuts, a manager informed me that we had a previously scheduled ice cream social planned for that day. The ice cream guy could not shift it to the next day, because he had hired help to haul the gallons of frozen sweets into the office. I saw a lot of stress eating this afternoon, which I suppose was a comfort of sorts. But c’mon! An ice cream social?!

BMUG: Slightly used and for sale on Amazon

I’ve come to really enjoy Amazon’s network of used-book sellers. (Particularly the ones who sell books for a penny plus shipping and handling — you gotta love that.) But this just made me laugh out loud: There’s a whole bunch of BMUG Newsletters, as well as other BMUG publications, listed and available used from Amazon. Berkeley nostalgists: check it out.

My friends are on the Internet!

David Morgenstern sent me and Raines this amusing link to a video on ValleyWag. Where should I start with the explanations?

1) David Morgenstern is a dear friend, former coworker, and fellow alumna of BMUG. (Funny aside: www.BMUG.com is now for sale!)

1a) While volunteering at meetings and geek dinners, all BMUGers of a certain age got to know John “Captain Crunch” Draper, the semi-infamous hacker/creepy guy in the background of the above video. That’s why David sent it to me.

1b) It’s odd to note in retrospect that all of us college kids in BMUG (and some high schoolers) knew that Draper liked to get unusually physical with young men. (Nothing serious, but no other old guy was asking for or offering backrubs.) And we just kept a wary eye and snickered about it. I guess communities get used to errant behavior within bounds.

2) ValleyWag (a blog offering up frequent snarky comments on Silicon Valley life and the low-rent celebrity that goes with success in technology) has been really taking the piss out of ZDNet — the Web site that I run at CNET. Most especially the ZDNet Blogs.

2a) ValleyWag has made vicious fun of one of our first bloggers, Steve Gillmor, who recently resigned (in his blog!) from blogging on ZDNet.

3) In a followup to his resignation post, Gillmor explained his recent history of hopping from firm to firm in tech media, all as explanation for his latest hop. In the post, he takes a swipe at his former editors at eWeek:

“As with InfoWorld, I was fired for cause, in this case cause I just didn’t give a damn what some online pinhead in the San Francisco office had to say about what journalism was all about.”

3a) That “online pinhead” was David Morgenstern.

3b) Matthew Rothenberg, another dear friend and former editor-in-chief of eWeek, takes a velvet-gloved swipe right back at Gillmor in the comments section of the ZDNet blog.

 Who can keep up?

Job openings: Josh Taylor is hiring

Josh, newly minted cheese of communications at Teach For America, needs to hire two communications managers and one Web producer. He doesn’t have the Web job description written yet, but Faithful Readers can contact him directly at josh.taylor@teachforamerica.org.

Brij’s 2nd birthday

Compared to last year, where our boy ended up in an ambulance, this birthday was fantastic! We stretched the fun out for several days, starting with presents on Friday (the actual “Big Aught Two”), one more on Saturday, then a veritable orgy of gifts on Sunday (when we had friends and playmates over). There are still some presents hidden away for a rainy day–so. Mom, if you’re wondering why he hasn’t mentioned the helicopter, now you know why. Tons of pictures over on WebShots.

Saloni did a great job with getting Thomas the Tank Engine decorations for the Sunday get-together. She had this lovely banner made, too, which is just too special for words. Words in a dictionary, I mean.

Josh Taylor gets a job

Consummate New Yorker (and foodie) Josh started his new job at Teach For America on July 17. He’s the VP of Communications or some such thing, for the very well-respected organization that trains college grads to teach for a couple years in low-income schools.

He’s also getting a puppy.

Job opening: a little bird told me

I understand there are some immediate openings in the online group at Hachette Filipacchi Media, specifically at For Me magazine and Women’s Day. They need producers and marketers in NYC. Drop me a note if you need the hook up, friends.

Alumni sighting: Sean Silverthorne

Sean Silverthorne, a coworker from ZDNet News who only briefly stayed on after ZDNet was acquired by CNET, is Editor of Harvard Business School’s Working Knowledge site.

I knew Sean went to work at Havard after leaving CNET and the Bay Area, but I had forgotten that long ago. He popped back into view because our BNET editor is monitoring a number of sites (including Wharton’s) and pointed out their bloggy redesign just a few minutes ago.

1988. Oh. My.

Raines discovered a video of my first TV appearance: On Computer Chronicles with Raines talking about sharware. I don’t appear until the last half of the show, but the whole thing is an amazing blast from the past — the DOS screens, the ads for CompuServe, and my hair.