When Page Views Are Not Unique

Readers may click through your slideshow, but they’ll hate you a liiitttle bit more than they did when they got to the site. And I bet they’ll feel the same way about whatever advertiser was unlucky enough to get stuck on the page with some stupid thing that a reporter did with a little bit of hate in his heart and fingertips.

– The Atlantic magazine reporter Alexis Madrigal, in a story called “The Pernicious Myth That Slideshows Drive ‘Traffic’”

Voices

Content Is No Longer King

“Content is king” has been a long-lived mantra of media. And in the 1990s and early 2000s, it was true.

Your Smartphone as Superman: 86 Percent Use Phones for “Just-in-Time” Situations

Arguing over fact sets or finding yourself in a sticky situation? Your smartphone, to the rescue.
smartphone_superman

Voices

China Escalates Crackdown on Internet Amid Scandal

China has stepped up its campaign to clamp down on the Internet, which has emerged as a virtual town square for exchanging information about the Bo Xilai scandal and the nation’s biggest political upheaval in years.

The Mythical Viewer

They all seem pitched toward the same mythical viewer, presumably the one prized by Internet advertisers, whose mind appears to be occupied with a sticky mix of celebrity gossip, blockbuster movies, video games, zombies, action sports and news of the weird.

Mike Hale of the New York Times, writing about new channels on YouTube

Apple Fights Back Against Malware Attack

Apple is building software to detect and remove the Flashback malware that has turned 600,000-odd Macs into a trouble-making botnet.
Happy_mac

20/20 Hindsight

When I first heard about Facebook, in 2005, I thought it was really stupid. And the same with eBay 20 years earlier.

Reed Hastings, in a talk with Wired staff at its London offices

AllThingsD Sprouts Up at the Brussels Forum, Rubbing Elbows and Talking Tech

What is AllThingsD’s Arik Hesseldahl doing in Brussels, anyway? Talking tech, naturally.
grandplace-brussels

Sisterhood Is Powerful

The Internet is how we cut through the noise and come together. The first key to organizing is trust, and women want to know how they are powerful — the Internet is how they are powerful.

Shelby Knox, director of women’s rights site Change.org, on a panel this Saturday called “The Digital Lives of Girls,” moderated by Chelsea Clinton

News Byte

Big Fish Scoops Up Mobile Casino-Game Maker Self Aware Games

Casual-gaming company Big Fish has acquired mobile social game developer Self Aware Games, makers of Card Ave: Casino, and its parent company, Social Concepts, in a cash-equity deal of an undisclosed amount. The acquisition comes as more gaming companies are exploring opportunities in gambling-themed games and U.S. states weigh the legalization of Internet gambling. Seattle-based Big Fish, which has more than 2,500 games in its catalog and 45 million game downloads per month, saw revenue north of $180 million in 2011, the company said.

Roku Plays Nice With Cable Guys