Andrew Orlowski

Collected Journalism

Tag: WiReD

  • “A country bumpkin approach to slinging generalizations around”

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    Anderson plagiarism

    WiReD magazine Editor-in-Chief Chris Anderson has copped to lifting chunks of material for his second book Free from Wikipedia and other sources without credit. But it could be about to get a lot worse.

    In addition to the Wikipedia cut’n’pastes, Anderson appears to have lifted passages from several other texts too. And in a quite surreal twist, we discover that the Long Tail author had left a hard drive backup wide open and unsecured for Google to index, then accused … Read More

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  • WiReD UK: it’s back!

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    There was a surprise in the goodie bag for attendees of WiReD UK’s launch party. Alongside a copy of the launch issue and a Windows game, was a small bottle of Thunderbird – the fortified wine beloved of students and park bench alcoholics.

    Actually – I made the last bit up. There was no Thunderbird. But you’ll need something similar – or maybe stronger – to anaesthetise your synapses after trying to read WiReD. After a 12 year absence, the … Read More

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  • Anderson downgrades Long Tail to Chocolate Teapot status

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    Long Tail

    “The end came quickly,” as authors of morbid weepies like to say. On Monday WiReD magazine editor Chris Anderson effectively admitted game over for his “Long Tail”, the idea he’s been dragging so lucratively around the conference circuit for the past four years. In as many words, he downgraded it from “the future of business” to something that’s, er, not very helpful for your business at all.

    “I’ll end by conceding a point: It’s hard to make money in the … Read More

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  • The Long Tail can seriously damage your business

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    The most comprehensive empirical study of digital music sales ever conducted has some bad news for Californian technology utopians. Since 2004, WiReD magazine editor Chris Anderson has been hawking his “Long Tail” proposition around the world: blockbusters will matter less, and businesses will “sell less of more”. The graph has become iconic – a kind of ‘Hockey Stick’ for Web 2.0 – with the author applying his message to many different business sectors. Alas, following the WiReD Way of Business … Read More

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  • Wired UK: Our readers design the cover

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    WiReD UK: Andrew's effort

    WiReD magazine is coming back to the UK. I set Reg readers the task of Photoshopping some covers here. You can see the results in a gallery here.

    Wonderful stuff.… Read More

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  • Bringing it all back Hume: Anton Wylie

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    A philosophy of science that may be the best thing we’ve ever run

    WiReD magazine’s editor-in-chief Chris Anderson has just seen the end for scientific theories. And it is called Google.

    The concept of the mind, and by extension that of a person, was also affected, with far reaching implications.

    In psychology, Behaviourism was one favoured development. Its ontology does not include people with minds, only biological entities with patterns of behaviour. The rise and rise of neuro-science is correlated

    … Read More

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