Stardust Global Ventures

Ok, I’m a bit late with some richly deserved kudos to John Furrier, but I’m going to take it a step farther than my pal Andy Abramson did in this post. He said this:

TechCrunch, GigaOm, Paid Content and ZDNET, it may be time to look over your shoulder and worry who may be catching up to you.
[Read Andy's post]

I’ll take a stronger stand than Andy.

TechCrunch remains a strong source, but feels like it’s getting a bit long in the tooth and repetitive. How many days in a row am I going to read the same tired and boring news about how Owen Van Natta borked his job as CEO of Playlist. Sometimes it just feels like TechCrunch is in the axe grinding business, and it gets tiresome. Lots of power and potential, plenty of muscle, but the muscle feels like it’s turning to flab and frustration more and more for me personally. TechCrunch provides more value with the industry awards and promotion of startups these days. It’s the value they add.

GigaOm, run by another good friend, Om Malik, is another solid and reputable source. That said, I just don’t feel the fire in the belly I think it takes some days over at GigaOm. It feels like there’s been a shift toward safe territory sometimes in the reporting. The reporting is rock solid, and GigaOm is still growing. For my pal Om, there’s some new competition that’s going to keep his team on their toes. Knowing Om, he welcomes the challenge and we’ll see things step up there.

Paid Content? Ok, I’ve only been online since 1984. Who’s that. I confess I don’t even know. That either says that with all my involvement in the tech sector my head is thicker than bomb shelter walls (which I’m often told is the case), or they’re already fading into the sunset. My apologies for not having a clue who they are, but there you have it.

ZDNET. Ahh yes, the early and bright promise of traditional media making the transition into the brave new world. I know they’re out there somewhere. I also know the last thing I read on any ZDNET site was written by my departed friend Russell Shaw. Russell’s been gone for a while now, and I still miss his ascerbic style. That rising star of ZDNET is just another falling rock these days.

As Andy said, we share yet another friend, John Furrier. Not too long ago John quietly launched SiliconAngle.com. It’s a multi-author blog that aims at Technology Innovation and the Social Web. I’ve been reading it every day since the launch. John’s assembling a team of writers who are agressive, focused, and show that fire in the belly kind of drive that’s missing in so many places these days.

Knowing John, a bit of his history and depth in the sector, and his commitment to success, in my view, a new big dawg just walked into the park. The big dawgs are going to wreak some havoc in the playground.

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