I got a bit concerningly obsessed with birds for a few months.
Activity
The Verge and Wired lean in to newsletters
Interesting to see two major news outlets — The Verge and Wired — both announce major newsletter strategies nearly simultaneously. I suspect both are motivated by the hope that email will be "stickier" than the (declining) direct traffic to news websites.
"A New Era for WIRED—That Starts With You"
The Verge cites the desire to "deepen[] its direct relationship with readers". Wired writes "The platforms on which outlets like WIRED used to connect with readers, listeners, and viewers are failing in real time", saying they wish to "connect our humans to all of you humans".
“I Saved a PNG Image To A Bird” (Video).
Where do these gendered presumptions even come from, and how pervasive are they? Is it common to assume that a frog is a “he?” What about a bear, or a bird, or a cat, or a pig? I wanted to know: Which animals do we gender, and why?
And with the internet eating major broadcasters’ lunch, it’s very likely that the Ellison family paid billions of dollars for a network whose fortunes are headed to the toilet, and whose viewers are headed elsewhere. They have the potential to create a right wing propaganda bullhorn that rivals Fox News; but it’s just as likely their disastrous management turns the network of Walter Cronkite into a sad, historical footnote.