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Todd Bishop, John Cook start up Puget Sound Business Journal

Sep. 17, 2008 Paul Thurrott | Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows

Todd Bishop is one of the few tech reporters I can honestly recommend without reservation, and he’s a great guy to boot. This week, he’s got some good news to report, this time about himself: He’s leaving the Seattle PI to start a new online tech news service called the Puget Sound Business Journal. Here’s the word from Todd:

I'm excited to tell you about a new online technology news venture that my longtime colleague John Cook and I will be launching in Seattle in the coming weeks with the Puget Sound Business Journal.

Over time, we're aiming to build the Seattle region's leading technology news site. I'll continue to report on the technology industry and write a blog about Microsoft on the new site, so I hope to stay in contact with you as I make the transition and re-establish my coverage. In the new role, I'll be able to apply myself almost exclusively to online efforts. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens when I can focus even more on blogging and other forms of online reporting.

I'm also looking forward to working with John and the Business Journal to build this new venture. It's going to be challenging and fun. Business Journal technology reporter Eric Engleman will be working closely with us, as well, so we've got a solid team in place. After we get up and running, we'll also be hosting regular events around town, in conjunction with the site.

My six years at the Seattle P-I were invaluable to me. I feel fortunate to have worked with so many talented reporters and editors at the paper. The decision to leave wasn't easy, but I'm ready and eager for this new adventure.

Sounds great. I’m looking forward to seeing Todd again and discussing the new venture. Good luck, guys!

Discuss this Article 31

Ocean
on Sep 17, 2008
Todd is a good blogger, but Ed Bott rocks for technology and Mary Jo Foley really understands the organization and all that they are trying to get done.
johnbaxter
on Sep 17, 2008
"with the Puget Sound Business Journal" seems to mean just that, emphasis on the "with". I don't know how old the paper version of the Journal is, but it I'm pretty sure it was here when I arrived in the area in 1989. I don't know Todd, but I do know I've come to trust his work at the PI. I'll certainly keep an eye on what comes of this. I think this is good news.
mikegalos@msn.com
on Sep 17, 2008
Just to clarify, Puget Sound Business Journal isn't the ew venture. It's been around for a while. They're doing the new technology online part which has been sorely lacking.
mikegalos@msn.com
on Sep 17, 2008
Ocean I absolutely agree about Ed Bott. On the other hand, Mary Jo Foley needs to be read with a grain of salt. She knows a lot about Microsoft internal organization but also publishes guesses as though they're fact so you never really know whether her stories are solid or purely a guess. I've seen her get huge scoops that were dead-on accurate. I've also seen her announce, with the same confidence, details on a project that were completely wrong.
subzerohitman721
on Sep 17, 2008
Anyone who bring a level of honesty and objectivity to tech reporting is something that I strongly support. I will keep an eye on this new technology online section. I wish more regular newspapers would have dedicated tech news, because its just as important as business, sports, metro, entertainment, and world news.
Ocean
on Sep 17, 2008
>>also publishes guesses as though they're fact so you never really know whether her stories are solid or purely a guess... -- I've also seen her announce, with the same confidence, details on a project that were completely wrong.<< No disrespect Mike, but that sounds just like you.
Ocean
on Sep 17, 2008
>>its just as important as business, sports, metro, entertainment, and world news.<< You assume the paper is printed to inform people. Actually it's printed to sell papers. Thats why all the good stuff is online.
Ocean
on Sep 17, 2008
Correction: All the good *tech* stuff is online. The folks who pass the newstand every morning couldn't care less about the new Windows Live Wave or the Growing Case for Virtualization.
lotsamystuff
on Sep 17, 2008
"Actually it's printed to sell papers." Close. It's printed to distribute advertising. The "news" stories are there to take up space between the advertising. It's the same in any advertiser-supported media. It's no different with online news; it's just that online, you can target a niche audience and solicit advertising accordingly.
gorath
on Sep 17, 2008
@ lotsa, I think Ocean's right. It IS printed to sell papers, the more papers that sell, the more advertising they'll likely get. Advertising is their funding. It's purpose isn't to distribute ads, it's the ads that enable it to fulfill it's purpose.
subzerohitman721
on Sep 17, 2008
Its precisely why newspapers are junked up with ads, that people are switching to Internet based news, because there is less and less relevent in print media. I understand the practicality of print meda and advertisement. On the high school and college newspapers, advertising was a big part of the business. However, it seems like newspapers are 60% ads, 40 percent news, that people are deeming it a waste. Subscriptions are down nationwide, because what people need from news, papers are not delivering. Perhaps if they started actually "informing" and not advertising, they'd actually gain readership. Another reason why I have the internet now, I don't have to waste 75 cents a day or $2.00 a sunday for the ads. All the sales I am looking for are online or better. Sunday coupons are included in websites now. And I don't have to wade through useless ads. So this idea that the ads are the focus of the newspaper is killing print media. Very counterproductive.
Ocean
on Sep 17, 2008
Excuse the OT, but here are some statistics that are relevant to the Apple TV/360 Media Extender conversation we were having yesterday...its a market that has yet to get going: >>New research by The NPD Group offers an explanation: 41 percent of dollars budgeted for movies and video is spent on DVD movie purchases; 11 percent for purchases of TV programs on DVD; 29 percent on DVD rentals including Netflix and other video-subscription services; 18 percent is spent on movie tickets; Just 0.5 percent is spent on renting or purchasing TV shows or movies in digital format from the Web. “Everyone is guessing when video on demand and digital downloads will spell the end for packaged media”? says NPD’s Russ Crupnick. “At this point, though, digital video is still an extremely small part of overall consumer entertainment spending.”<< http://www.podcastingnews.com/2008/09/17/want-to-know-why-apple-tv-is-st...
drylight
on Sep 17, 2008
Another example of MSFT copying Apple. http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/17/microsofts-new-ads-seinfeld-and-gates... No shame. Gates/Seinfeld ads got cancelled. True genius killed before its prime. NOT!
mikegalos@msn.com
on Sep 17, 2008
flashlight Can you name another example of Microsoft copying AAPL? And show your work...
mikegalos@msn.com
on Sep 17, 2008
(On, and please, don't everybody join in, I'm just curious if dimbulb^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hdrylight can come up with one example that makes sense)
tayme
on Sep 17, 2008
@mikegalos - The namecalling is pretty mature, don't you think? --tayme
mikegalos@msn.com
on Sep 17, 2008
tayme You can't be mature 100% of the time. Sometimes you have to play to a member of the audience at their level.
scoobyclub
on Sep 17, 2008
Trying to say who copied something is pointless as there is usually a "giant's shoulder" without which the idea would not have been conceived. For example Apple didn't invent the iPod, a British guy did but it was before its time and he couldn't afford the patent ( much like the Italian who invented the telephone only for Mr Bell to patent pounce ). However, I do believe Apple out implements the competitors most of the time. They have a knack for honing an idea and knowing just when enter the market with it. I know there are exceptions to this. MS don't lack ideas they just seem to be lousy at implementing them in a user-friendly manner. That's what makes me choose Apple more often than MS.
Mum
on Sep 17, 2008
"MS don't lack ideas they just seem to be lousy at implementing them in a user-friendly manner. That's what makes me choose Apple more often than MS." I use some Microsoft stuff and it's generally great. However, they seriously suck at one thing: communicating. You can go to www.microsoft.com and browse for hours looking for information and still not find what you need. Microsoft are a very successful company, but they probably have heaps of discontinued or buried products that bombed only because they didn't succeed in communicating to the buyers what they're for.
shark47
on Sep 18, 2008
Drylight, Stop behaving like an idiot. Why don't you comment on Engadget or Gizmodo where people actually appreciate such idiocy? Mike, you don't need to respond to every comment made by some idiot over here.
bettieblu
on Sep 18, 2008
The MS add campaign change is all over the net. Its changing tonight, no more Jerry and Bill. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10044931-56.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksA... The only question that remains is wether this was planned or because of all of the negative feedback????
shark47
on Sep 18, 2008
MS had indicated that they were going to move past the teaser phase. I just assumed that Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld would continue to be there. I was one of the few people who enjoyed those ads. I think it's stupid if they changed course based on the reactions of some "tech pundits". These so called pundits will continue to bash Microsoft irrespective of how good the campaign is. Sad.
mikegalos@msn.com
on Sep 18, 2008
Microsoft always said the ad campaign would have lots of phases and lots of people in it and not just BillG and Seinfeld.
shark47
on Sep 18, 2008
This move, unless it was preplanned, gives those idiots credibility. They probably know a lot about technology, but that doesn't mean they're experts at technology advertisement campaigns too.
bettieblu
on Sep 18, 2008
I thought the adds were funny. My favorite line is Bill saying "yeah I felt that" when the grandmother walked by their room and threw out some comment. However I think they were not connecting joe user with anything. I read somewhere last week that was one more Jerry/Bill add that would transition to another phase. If that does not take place MS is going to get bashed pretty bad. It will look like that they decided to drop that campaign because of negativity. Also if this new change goes after Apple directly it will totally backfire IMHO.
mikegalos@msn.com
on Sep 18, 2008
Shoe Circus came out on the 4th New Family came out on the 11th Real PC coming out on the 18th doesn't seem that suprising The press release about the Life Without Walls ad campaig moving to the next phase in the ad campaign is at: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/windows/featureStories.aspx?story=978... It begins: For the past two weeks, millions of people have watched the series of Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld television ads with the Windows logo at the end and wondered: “What’s next?” Today, Microsoft answers that question with the next phase of a multi-year, multi-million dollar Windows marketing effort designed to reconnect with consumers. And tonight, the Bill-and-Jerry “teaser” ads give way to a new series of television ads that celebrate the diversity and passion of consumers around the world who use Windows to stay in touch with the people, information and ideas that they care about.
bettieblu
on Sep 18, 2008
It could be that Jerry and Bill continues later, and that this change is really a second campaign???
mikegalos@msn.com
on Sep 18, 2008
Some samples of the print ads that are part of the campaign are now up at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/windows/featureStories.aspx?story=c99...
shark47
on Sep 18, 2008
" Also if this new change goes after Apple directly it will totally backfire IMHO." I don't know, but I was hoping they wouldn't do it. I had indicated earlier that I would view the campaign as a failure if they decided to go after Apple. I stick with that assessment. They're going to get hammered by the press if they decide to do it. Negativity will hurt Microsoft. (Assuming they're going negative)
mikegalos@msn.com
on Sep 18, 2008
The Manifesto of the Life Without Walls campaign (as listed in one of the print ads at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/windows/featureStories.aspx?story=c99..., is: WINDOWS VS WALLS This epic struggle explains why we make what we make and do what we do. The thing that gets us out of bed every day is the prospect of creating pathways above, below, around and through walls. To start a dialogue between hundreds of devices, billions of people and a world of ideas. * To life up the smallest of us. And catapult the most audacious of us. But, most importantly, to connect all of us to the four corners of our own digital lives and to each other. To go on doing the little stuff, the big stuff, the crazy stuff and that ridiculously necessary stuff. On our own or together. * This is more than software we're talking about. It's an approach to life. An approach dedicated to engineering the absence of anything that might stand in the way...of life. * Today, more than one billion people worldwide have Windows. Which is just another way of saying we have each other.
shark47
on Sep 18, 2008
"It could be that Jerry and Bill continues later, and that this change is really a second campaign???" I'm sure your liberal friends would love that, no? "Change that we can believe in." Just kidding!

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