Pfft I didn't expect this to be HN worthy, but y'all are amazing
I'll still be around, doing my YouTube channel on tickover before other ventures are ready. Just need to square some things away, and I'll probably announce via Twitter next week.
Regular reader here. Good luck on your future ventures!
If you are going to continue to participate in written content on the internet, please remember that RSS is not dead and there are many of us who consume content exclusively via RSS. My 2 cents :-)
No names or details, but in hindsight was there ever news or review points that you felt should have been reported, but wasn't because of publishing / relationship concerns? (Read: actual, factual details... discounting pique at counterparties / PR being assholes from time to time and deserving to be blasted)
I've always been curious how that balances. Would hope the type of stuff AnandTech covers has more natural immunity (vs something like games journalism).
PS: Thanks for all your work over the years! Between you and Anand, you guided years of PC builds, starting with a Pentium IV on an Asus P4C800-E Deluxe to get my university fiber-to-the-room traffic off the PCI bus. ;)
There were stories over the years that I wanted to write but didn't get approval. Anything that might instigate a political discourse was discouraged, for example, such as a story about holding an event about wireless network connectivity in an area where locals struggled to get even basic phone service.
I mean, there have been times where PR have been rude and incorrigible. Nothing to the extent that it'd be worth putting them on loudspeaker for, as that'd gut any future relationship, and sometimes it's down to one person in the chain causing the fuss, not the culture.
Part of what I've learned at AnandTech is how these chains of command work - you're not speaking with Company X, you're speaking to Person A on behalf of company X, and sometimes the information they are feeding you goes through 15 hands before it gets to you and if there's a bad apple in that chain, it could cause it all to go pear shaped. That's also part of the 'behind the curtain' I've tried to showcase in my reporting, rather than just simply dealing with a big box with company logo on it that prints money.
Part of the balance you describe is, in my mind, simply the result of reporting on people. If you stick to the science, the research, there's less room for disagreement.
Then again, Samsung stopped sampling us smartphones because every Snapdragon/Exynos review we did, with industry standard tests and power measurements, showed Snapdragon ahead for several years. They felt it wasn't in their best interests to sample us anymore, so we ended up buying the hardware after launch. At least, that was the PR team who didn't want to talk. The SoC team still wanted our input, but the way Samsung works, it was always difficult to have those discussions. Compare that to Samsung Foundry, who have invited me to consecutive industry events to learn about new features - they loved the coverage, and the questions I ask. Same company, different BUs, different media list, different blacklists.
> you're not speaking with Company X, you're speaking to Person A on behalf of company X, and sometimes the information they are feeding you goes through 15 hands before it gets to you and if there's a bad apple in that chain, it could cause it all to go pear shaped
> There were stories over the years that I wanted to write but didn't get approval. Anything that might instigate a political discourse was discouraged, for example, such as a story about holding an event about wireless network connectivity in an area where locals struggled to get even basic phone service.
That was considered "likely to instigate political discourse"? That's just depressing.
Seems like the real reason is "don't piss off the telecoms"...
Makes perfect sense. From outside the company, it feels like The Company speaks and acts. From inside, you realize it's actually the VP of whatever making a decision.
I always enjoyed the 'behind the curtain' aspect. It was humanizing to see that even Smart People doing Hard Things didn't always get them perfectly right, especially in the recurring "Annals of Bad Product Naming" theme.
Hey Ian, thanks for all the very thoughtful content over the years. I started reading Anandtech shortly before Anand left and I remember being worried. However, in hindsight there was clearly nothing to worry about.
Your analysis helped convince me to go all in on some AMD stock purchases that ended up really saving me over past year. It’s beyond appreciated, and I’m far more knowledgeable about semiconductors thanks to you! Best of luck in your new journey
Have been reading since the beginning, it's amazing what social media can do but, thank you for all your amazing articles and knowledge! Helped me jump start my IT career and now I'm a Sr. Sysadmin :)
I'd spent a month or so trying to come up with a good name, seeing which channels had success and what the drivers were. A lot of top channels have the presenter's name in it, but the problem with Ian is that most fonts don't have serifs, and the number of times I've been put down as LAN by people who can't distinguish between capital i and lower case L is infuriating. I concluded it would have to have a cadence, a rhythm, the word Tech, and some tie in.
In the end it was a bad subtitling transcription by YT on my first in person video with Wendell. Right near the end, it auto-transcribed something about me and AnandTech as 'TechTechPotato'. The tie in with chips and potatoes is an obvious one - 'twice the tech and all the chips' is a potential future tag for the channel.
About a month in, one of the community built the logo, completely unprompted. I loved it, and bought it off him.
It seems like the brain drain from every other field into computer stuff is a real and substantial loss for our culture. It makes me wonder whether we will keep it together, in the end. Societies decaying has happened; eventually they collapse. If it happens again, it will not be confined to this or that empire.
Oh no. I have long suspected this will happen Anandtech seems to have trouble getting editor to stay. And people are either leaving or becoming freelance. Andrei left not long ago. I am not even sure if they have a full time editor any more.
I think he is going to spend a lot more time on his Youtube Channel. OR,a possible scenario.... Would he be joining STH? I know he sometimes comes to HN :)
>and all I’ve wanted to do is lash out!
I am glad I am not the only one. And that is why I enjoy Anandtech and Ians writing so much. To educate the reader instead of being mislead by marketing and sloppy journalism that are only here for clicks.
Good review sites suffer the same problem as government: from a financial standpoint, you cannot afford to pay people competitively vs their alternatives, for the skills you really want.
So it becomes a labor of love. But that only goes so far, for so long.
IMHO, in an industry like that, you have to be honest about what you're bringing to the table for employees in lieu of compensation: an opportunity for increased name recognition and networking in a public role, and the fun of being a public face!
But! You also have to continually deepen the bench with new prospects, because you know you're going to be continually hemorrhaging top tier talent to job switching.
Credit to AnandTech that people stay for as long as they do. 10+ years is damned impressive!
Journalism is one particular problem. I expect most halfway decent tech journalists could head to many tech companies to do content marketing and make a lot more money--though they might well find the work less interesting.
Arguably, pay disparities in the industry exist more broadly even if you just restrict the conversation to developers/engineers. I suspect that the big tech companies are sucking a lot of the oxygen out of the room at least in the US. Some people may not want to work for those companies and others, whether because of lack of skill, poor interviewing, or just bad luck, can't get an offer. But if someone can get in, it will be hard for a lot of other companies to match the comp.
Big tech SWE interviews seem to be just tests that are very poorly administered. With practice and some luck a large segment of the developer population can pass within a few years of really diligent effort. Some need a lot more practice than others though.
I don't know why they don't just administer real tests. Probably some kind of demographic or legal nightmare?
Given enough optimization and no upper limit on prospective hire annoyance, any interview test series eventually evolves into an undergraduate degree program.
The interviews are very approximate. Plenty of people get an offer, go to a startup, interview again for the exact same job with exact same interview, and get declined. Or they get an offer from 2 FAANG and miserably fail the phone screen on the 3rd. This is not what any statistically minded person would consider to be a solid measure of competence
Well, for one thing, if it's a standardized test, it will be leaked even if there are a few different versions. "A few years of really diligent work" also seems a pretty high bar to improve odds of getting a job at a handful of companies.
Same techniques apply to many companies. And two hours a night for two years to get 100k in stock options that few can offer sounds like a good deal to me and many others.
I remember joining the anandtech forums in the very early 2000's. I'm continually surprised how great a resource it's remained for over 20 years now. Certainly impressive!
Perhaps there's just different waves of 'good review' organizations in the space?
I feel like the newer wave might be the youtuber realm of things, where things like Linus Tech Tips recently announced an expansion seeking industry professionals: https://youtu.be/pt3-6BsWlPk?t=669
This may change later when he might realize (hop not) that these guys don't return enough on investment. But maybe LLT is the one who will be popular enough, who knows.
I think LTT has mostly figured out a sustainable model:
1. Make low(er) budget videos regularly that may not earn you a ton but keep the algorithm happy and the money flowing.
2. Every now and then, make a few high-budget videos that "pop", which expands your audience and keeps the regulars hooked.
If you check their channel right now, most of the daily videos are kind of boring/stupid YouTube bait - I even stopped watching their channel because of that! But if you check back every month, there's maybe two-three videos that are genuinely unique or interesting. So I think LTT wouldn't care about RoI from an expensive hire on a per-video/per-view basis - it would be worth it for them if they could use that hire to build a captive audience to watch their cheaper video.
> Anandtech seems to have trouble getting editor to stay.
I don't think we should necessarily celebrate people continuing to do the same thing over a long period of time. Humans like to grow and experience a variety of things. Change is good. You have 11 lifetimes:
Oh certainly, 10 years is a very respectable tenure with an organization. That's been around the point where, at a couple of prior jobs, I was definitely ready to move on.
my biological clock seems to be 4 or 5 years max in an organisation and about 10 years max in a given career (sw development is my third "career" so to speak, what I did before was completely unrelated; I'm already planning the next endeavour which is only tangentially related to "tech")
Ian if you come by HN and see this I would like to say thanks for all the amazing content over the years. Tech needs quality journalists and you are one of the greatest we have ever had. I hope you land somewhere where you can continue to output such great stuff.
Linus Tech Tips is all-in on the clickbait-centric style of YouTube production that is the polar opposite of quality tech journalism. They emphasize exaggerated reactions and silly accidents over the thoughtful and well-prepared content that Ian’s writing is about. Some people love it (obvious from their numbers) but I always feel like it’s a waste of time to watch his videos because it’s 90% entertainment and maybe 10% useful info. Entirely different audiences.
So I hope he’s not joining them. It would be great if he formed his own venture instead.
I agree you about LTT to a certain point but I think you are dragging them too much. LTT has done some very good tech journalism in the past and brought some very important stories to light. While I do not prefer them for my hardware information for reasons you stated, I would not call them the polar opposite of quality.
If I drop into a random page of a random Ian Cutress article, there's a high probability it will be interesting and well thought-out content.
If I drop into a random LTT video and scroll to a random timestamp, it's most likely going to be some minimal content arbitrarily stretched past the 10 minute threshold for YouTube monetization. I can usually find the answer to the clickbait headline with enough seeking around, but many of his videos contain so little actual content that it could probably be summarized in a couple of Tweets. His specialty is expanding it into 10+ minutes of overly enthusiastic, slow-paced talking about it.
The information density is at polar opposites of the spectrum, and that's by design. YouTube favors quantity and clickbait, and it's no secret that Linus is playing that game as aggressively as he can.
I mean very obviously you're comparing different media aimed at different audiences but even so you're wrong, there are plenty of LTT videos where they dive into their methodology and provide explanations that are fairly in depth. I think you should be blown away by the fact that LTT manages to retain it's broad audience going as deep as they do when it comes to stuff like testing thermals under various conditions. I came into LTT thinking it was clickbait trash but it's absolutely not, you have a long way to go before you get to the "polar opposite of the spectrum".
In any case people are suggesting Ian join LTT Labs, not LTT.
Which LTT has been shown to be interested in producing, buying cable testing equipment, using high speed cameras for monitor analysis, ... and with LTT Labs those efforts will likely increase.
I don't know if this has changed but at some point I stopped watching LTT because my own knowledge of computing exceeded his (as far as I can tell) and I started noticing trivial technical errors in a lot of the content he made, delivered with unwarranted confidence. He's not an engineer, he got his start demoing products for tech retailers.
This is why I've long since preferred AnandTech to LTT. They employ people like Cuttress, who has a respect for scientific rigor and can go deep into the technological weeds and actually report usefully from them, whereas I feel LTT was limited mostly to surface-level observations when I watched regularly.
People shouldn't fool themselves, Linus is running a business, and the clickbait titles and thumbnails bring in viewers. Linus even stated this in a video.
I do think his heart is in the right place and his team is able to produce high quality, both in terms of the content and the production. If LTT is serious about LTT Labs, then they need someone like Ian Cutress, and LTT is one of the few place that would be able make him a genuine offer.
Agreed, I get annoyed with the over-the-top-ness of many of his videos, even the podcast, but overall they do a decent job of covering things. Clickbait titles/thumbnails are unfortunately table stakes on YT and while I hate it I can't bring myself to hate the player. LTT is far from perfect and I certainly don't agree with him on everything but I'd rank his content over quite a few other channels.
LTT Labs could end up being like BuzzFeed vs BuzzFeed News where a site famous for its clickbait, inane quizzes, and half-assed listicles started doing serious investigative journalism.
If you told me ten years ago that BuzzFeed's news site would end up winning many prestigious awards including a Pulitzer Prize I would have thought you were joking.
The interesting thing is that that was all planned from the start.
I think it's a TED talk but I'm not entirely sure. Buzzfeed was an MIT grad product to figure out how far they could go with virality and virality alone. If the project proved succesful, they'd invest in serious journalism.
It's all there in the video I don't have a link to!
Disagree. His videos definitely have the click-baity look and titles. But the content is usually pretty top notch even if you need to ignore some silly parts of certain videos. I think his channel pairs well with GamerNexus.
Had to chime in after seeing this comment. LTT is definitely a click-bait, simple and shallow channel but that's their strength.
LTT wouldn't be as big if they did highly technical "boring" analysis, they can be so big and influential because they are light, layman-friendly almost at a stupid level.
Youtube is about attracting the crowd and let me tell you something, the crowd isn't very smart for the most part.
On one hand I respect their success - what they do isn't easy and they run a successful business. On the other hand, I'm not at all impressed with their info-sparse, silly, light-hearted approach to their content. I understand there's demand for it in the market but it's a big turn-off for me...
Totally agreed. I've been following Anandtech since ~2008 along with other tech news but I've always had a very low opinion of LTT. I've watched a few videos but they feel so fake to the point of cringe. I'm definitely in their target demo but they're way too childish for me to take them seriously.
They do a lot of low effort clickbait stuff, but that pays the bills for them to do higher quality journalism. They have done plenty of high quality reviews of new tech.
Plus they have made a big investment into doing even more advanced testing and reviewing. So I don't really agree that they are "all-in". They do it because that's what makes money, but Linus also wants his channel to be a place for high quality journalism.
It is like you didn't watch the video link in the comment you replied to. Linus is trying to add to his entertainment empire with more scientific data based reviews. He seems to be perfectly aware of what he has to produce to keep his business solvent, while at the same time is using that success to add on the more detailed type of content he is interested in producing.
Honestly, I don't mind what current LTT videos do. I've spend enough time around tech and doing design work that a lot of the mistakes and situations are familiar. Sure the staff is aware they have to be entertaining and play it up, but a lot of the mistakes are genuine. Plus it makes videos quicker to shoot if you aren't trying to get a perfect take.
I think you're quite misinformed about the situation.
Linus has literally said that he doesn't like the clickbait himself but it's almost essential to get decent views thanks to YouTube's algorithms. It's true that a lot of their work is more surface-level compared to AnandTech but that's just partly because a. You need a lot of talent that they might not have had, and b. They actually ARE expanding in that direction.
Side note: Tom Scott/Rohin Francis/Veritasium have also started having more clickbaity video thumbnails. Do I blame them? No, I blame YouTube. Don't forget, Linux has a huge team he needs to pay and support.
Linus might be a showman, but I didn't see anything inaccurate or uselessly shallow in the videos I watched. It's not my style, but if the only complaint you have is stylistic, it's not enough to dismiss the whole thing.
He has an entire video about cleaning keyboards that consists of putting them in the dishwasher as a whole, PCB included. There’s no way that’s ever a good idea because of corrosion.
This seems to be in agreement with what I said, but you appear to have put it up as a counterexample. Showman means entertainment. He's an entertainer. He also seems to be one of the rare entertainers who doesn't fib for greater entertainment value. The LTT labs thing linked elsewhere suggests he cares about the technical side and, like BuzzFeed News, wants to use entertainment to fund more serious stuff.
I don't see a problem here. The keyboard thing sounds entertaining, so I'll go check it out.
They later on, as a side part of a last year or so video, discussed that all pf those keyboards failed a few months afterwards. The cause was not discussed but I would guess washing introduced either corrosion and/ or a lot of wear tp the keyboards.
They mentioned that they would like to revisit the concept later but, iirc, it hasn't been done yet.
Some things LTT does are really good. But I see where you're coming from. I use SponsorBlock on YouTube and some thimes their entire video is full of "irrelevant content". SponsorBlock and the crowd that sources the info about this stuff is the best.
That was my first thought too. LTT has gotten really big and Linus now has the money to pay for top editors and he's been bantering with Dr. Cutress for a long time.
It's kinda sad to watch all the big name editorials I used to read as a teenager like Anandtech and Toms Hardware lost their spark and are withering away, and LTT is now becoming the tech review juggernaut.
The key question is the balance between advertising revenue and editorial independence. LTT seems to be walking that tightrope a lot more than some other outlets do, but IMO I'd rather see someone like GN take up the mantle from Anandtech... alas it seems like they often cater more towards gaming/enthusiast PCs in their work and aren't as broad as an LTT or Anandtech in their coverage.
I hope there will always be a place for Anandtech's and Tom's Hardwares in this world, though. Text content with decent illustrations can't be adequately replaced by video.
LTT just gets 1/3 of its revenue directly from sponsors because of the success of its merch store now so it is getting more editorial independence. Though you really can't alienate the tech companies if you want access to tech before news emargos etc.
From the tweet linked below [1], which sparked a lot of controversy about the definition of piracy (which I entirely disagree with Linus on), about 65% of their revenue comes directly from sponsors and 32% comes from merchandise.
Just 35% comes from direct sponsors ie in-video sponsor and sponsored projects. Apart from these 2 none of the other categories would effect editorial independence.
This just isn't what the tweet shows?
Unless you are counting AdSense as sponsors? That doesn't seems to make sense.
You seem to be saying LTT is beholden to their sponsors? There is always an argument to be made there but misrepresenting: floatplane, AdSense and other sources that I don't see how you can call sponsors, which make up another 33% seems very disingenuous.
Yes, I am going by Google's own definition of AdSense which describes them as "sponsored links". If revenue from sponsored links does not count as sponsorship revenue then to each their own.
>You seem to be saying LTT is beholden to their sponsors?
This is such a massive jump I have no idea if it's even worth responding to it. I have no idea how posting a link to a literal pie chart directly from a source can be construed as saying that said source is beholden to sponsors.
If there's anything disingenuous, it would be the idea that not mentioning floatplane which makes up a mere 4% of revenue is a form of misrepresentation. That said I will defer to Hanlon's razor on that one [1]
And really, they need that tech before the embargos lift because the first ones to get content out are the ones that get all the views. LMG might be making more from merch, but they need to keep those views up if they're going to keep selling it. I know Linus prides himself on the quality of the items he sells, but people aren't buying it for the quality alone. So if people stop caring about LTT, they'll stop caring about the merch.
>LTT seems to be walking that tightrope a lot more than some other outlets do
LTT's sponsored content is clearly marked and for videos with an ad read, the writing staff isn't informed what companies will get a spot in the video while writing. Seems like pretty solid editorial independence to me?
If [sponsor X] has done five high-dollar 'product showcase' videos in the past year contributing [Y] in revenue, and a separate review of [sponsor X]'s product is coming up, does the writer and/or editorial staff have any possible filters (whether or not intended) to protect the revenue stream for future 'product showcase' videos from that sponsor?
I tend to give LTT the benefit of the doubt, but that's why I say it's a tightrope. Once you have paid content (in any form), and not just ad spots, it complicates the relationships you have with your audience, and with your sponsors/advertisers.
The problem is that GNs videos are often kinda long and boring. If i just want to know what's going on, I will watch an ltt video. I only watch GN videos when I'm making a purchasing decision.
I’ve said that repeatedly; the contents is good but it’s needlessly repeated throughout the videos. I feel most of Steves review could be presented in half the time without loosing much. And to be frank, most of the time there is just too much details.
Yes. That was something I wanted to write in the 15 years of HN thread but then decided to left it out. I was thinking if there are any site that I have been visiting for more than 15 years. And Anantech is the only one. I stopped reading The Register and Tomshardware a long time ago.
I dont mind LTT, the problem is just it is way too dumbed down. It is part of the reason why Hardware discussions, even on HN is pretty average to say the least.
May be people just dont like reading long and detail review but instead only want short form video.
In a recent WAN show he was hinting at a known name that applied but didn't say much more than that. Definitely wouldn't be surprised if this was that.
Echoing others, I don't really respect LTT. They are more entertainment than information or any real attempt at tech journalism. On the other hand, Ian would be a great addition to a group like Gamer's Nexus, which is more focused on objectively testing technology products and diving into how they are engineered and what trade-offs are being made and why.
If he does I hope they also start a website for long form articles. Just watching short highlight clips of whats happening in the world of chips instead of reading his detailed, in-depth articles and interviews about these complex topics would be hell.
Heck, even if they where hours long, some stuff is just better suited to be read than watched.
That is the plan. They're launching "LTT Labs" which will focus on thoroughly testing products (I think they're aiming to do what Steve at GamersNexus does) and moving toward launching a written review and news site (I don't think he's mentioned that name yet).
Given the level of respect he's shown Cuttress in the past and the timing, combined with how excited he's been on WAN Show about the person he was finalizing a deal to hire to lead these efforts, there's probably a decent chance Cuttress is the hire. That's all speculation at this point, though.
He's been testing the waters with going independent for the last couple of years with his tech tech potato channel, and has collabed a lot with Wendell of Level1Techs which is a similarly sized channel, so I'd see it as more likely he's going to try go full time independent. Though it is always possible his experiences have convinced him the other way and he tries to join up with someone now.
Not just that but they want to do independent validation work. They have dipped into it a little on the main channel already with cable and display testing but it seems they intend to go much further.
I wish Linus good luck, but I have a suspicion that it won't be like Anandtech. May be I am biased by the image of Linus and his crowd. I watched the Labs pitch, and it is very gamer oriented.
I've been reading Anandtech for ~20 years. It has stayed virtually the same [1]. Linus has turned his venture into a giant media and entertainment house. I hope LTT labs is completely different but it is hard to imagine it given Linus' vision and business interests.
[1] This aspect is basically unheard of these days. Hard to find anything that stayed the same ~20 years, they refined their vision instead of slowly destroying it.
>That insistence on reminding everyone, all the time, that he has a doctorate is seriously awkward, though.
He didn't even use it until fairly recently. In the past 3-4 years? I think he had his doctorate even before he joined Anandtech. He only started using it because people were asking him why he didn't put his Dr. in his title.
And it means a lot in different context. Basically it could be used as the biggest middle finger to marketing and PR department to STFU and get a proper engineer to talk to me. Especially in the context of foundry where his research was on Electrochemistry.
I'd add that aside from my byline on AT, the only other places I have the Dr. is on Twitter, and on my business card. Everyone else introduces me that way. If they ask how to introduce me, I say whatever works best.
For some reason people equate this to me shoving it down their throats. There was a big reddit thread about it recently.
> If they ask how to introduce me, I say whatever works best. For some reason people equate this to me shoving it down their throats.
I don't know about "strong opinions in both directions" (I don't think I've ever met someone who felt strongly that an academic doctorate title should never be mentioned?) but there are certainly some people who are serious about "ring-knocking" and will get super offended if you don't say it, and given the 'do whatever' instruction, people may be defaulting to putting it in, just in case. Perhaps, again, not even out of fear you'll jump on them, as much as someone else might.
In other words, it might not be you so much as the other assholes.
As a fan and random stranger from the Internet, your Anandtech byline and twitter handle are how your public persona introduces himself to me several times per months over the course of multiple years.
Your actual person I of course know nothing about and pass neither judgement nor praise for. That is none of my business!
Might be a little bit of a rediculous request, but do you have an image of your buisness card? I have begun to create my own, and I am wondering what others' in tech look like.
My advice is to put your head shot on it. I have on mine. Going to events and getting 100 business cards and not remembering what people look like - but they all know what I look like.
imo Steve at gamers nexus is the best substitute for the objective, thorough coverage I used to get from anandtech. he doesn't always dive quite as deep, but his coverage is very prompt. his coverage is also a bit more consumer focused, so you do miss some enterprise/DC hardware coverage that anandtech might eventually get around to publishing. on the other hand, he does some really good reviews on stuff like cases and cooling that anandtech doesn't seem to have time for.
Sad to see him go, although not entirely surprising. The site has had minimal updates and very few interesting articles for a while.
Ian’s articles were fantastic every time they came out, though. Hopefully his next venture allows him to continue doing the same work in another venue.
Seconded, they seem to be getting less press samples or have less manpower to write articles. I don't even think there's more than two or three people working there anymore.
I feel AT is great for enthusiasts. I want them to become more mainstream, as their reviews are so much better than generic tech sites, but they need a better balance. They sometimes release iPhone, Galaxy or Pixel reviews weeks or even months after launch. Just look at Youtube, and impact on views from being first with a review. Reviews that arrive weeks after a product launch don't have mass-market appeal. AT either doesn't understand the market, or is understaffed.
I get a thorough review can't come out on day one, but they need to get something out. Maybe a first look with some opinions, followed by a more thorough review a week later.
Cheers to the best in the business, here's wishing Ian incredible success. Thanks for so much great reporting and analysis over the years. Few understand how challenging such a job is, having your daily work product (which has to balance technical depth and reader appeal) on stage for the world to grill, year in and out. Ian nailed it with depth, energy, and humor. Can't wait to see what's next from the good Dr. Cutress. - N
I appreciate so much two folks in tech reporting Ian and Jon (Corbet at lwn.net), over the last decade they have both put out so much content, that frankly pulls the behind the layers to make them not magic but, science and journalism with integrity.. kudos and if we find ourselves in go fund me journalism, know that I’m happy to contribute to the cause.
RIP Anandtech. It was the first tech news site I followed as a teen and got me into hardware, letting me peer behind the curtain of these mysterious machines we all use. Probably responsible for me choosing computer engineering in university. Many good memories of flashes of insight, wonder and amazement.
Haven't been frequenting the site as much since Anand left and I felt the site's days were numbered. They still had good content coming out but with Ian leaving, I think most (all?) of the old guard has left and this is probably the final nail in the coffin.
I've always enjoyed Ryan Smith's articles, but I think he's been busy with other duties since taking over. I have noticed that the quality of work coming from their junior writers improves over time. I mean just look at Ian. I always enjoyed his writing, but in the past few years it has gotten really really good and he's expanded to doing many Q&As and interviews (where you know, he actually asks interesting and tough questions).
Don't count them out just yet - they still got Billy Tallis excellently covering the storage side of things. At least I think they do, haven't seen much of him in a while.
Anandtech has been one of my primary sources for quality tech journalism and unbiased reviews, mostly thanks to the works of Ian and Andrei. In the industry where folks report the TDP as actual power consumption these guys were true beacons of knowledge. Their articles will be sorely missed.
I'll still be around, doing my YouTube channel on tickover before other ventures are ready. Just need to square some things away, and I'll probably announce via Twitter next week.
Anything input always welcome!