The Sam Whitmore Sampler

SWMS Tech Media This Week Podcast: What Will CMP Do with David Berlind?

Now that CMP has the services of former ZDNet blogger David Berlind, what next? CMP itself is a mass of moving parts, with an acting CEO and a fluid management structure underneath. One possibility is to integrate his Mashup Camp franchise with the Web 2.0 Summit, the annual brainfest hosted by John Battelle and Tim O'Reilly. Why not add a technical component to that event, perhaps the day before? CMP could bring the strategic and tactical Web 2.0 under one roof and offer the whole megillah for a single price. But who asked us?

Om Malik suffered a mild heart attack on Dec. 28. His Jan. 3 post reveals that he's going to be OK, but he'll have to do without scotch, caffeinated coffee and his favorite fatty foods. Please join us in wishing Om a speedy recovery.

Hear more in this week's SWMS Tech Media This Week podcast (8:10), which is now posted.

To listen to our podcast right now, click on the URL below:
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SWMS Tech Media This Week Podcast: Enterprise Tech Making an Edit Comeback

That's what A-list editors said at this week's PRSA "Tech Media Predicts '08" symposium in Mountain View, Calif. WSJ deputy editor Don Clark cited virtualization as a technology that bears watching, especially as it moves from servers to desktop computers.

Clark said he doubted whether green tech/clean tech could save the planet, to which Forbes reporter Victoria Murphy Barret replied, "We can save the planet if people can make money at it."

Enterprise tech content will take many forms in 2008. Newly launched Line57.com is trying to go one better than the now-defunct Line56. Blogger Om Malik says he's looking to roll out an enterprise-related web site early next year. Also expect enterprise vendors to be publishers in their own right. Ever see TIBCO's hilarious Greg the Architect videos? We thank our friends at CHEN PR for the pointer.

Hear about all this and more in this week's SWMS Tech Media This Week podcast (6:53), which is now posted.

To listen to our podcast right now, click on the URL below:
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One last thing: in our last podcast we said that veteran tech editor Sean Gallagher had returned to Ziff Davis as a contributor. Though he did file four pieces for ZD last month, Sean has reminded us that he remains independent: a blogger for InfoWorld and a freelancer for other several other publications.

SWMS Tech Media This Week Podcast: eWeek Gets Some of Its Editors Back

Several former eWeek journalists want their old jobs back, eWeek editorial director Eric Lundquist told us today.

One already got his wish: Lundquist says he will announce the return of a well-known former eWeek reporter later this month.

Sean Gallagher exited TechTarget in September to return as a contributor to eWeek's Channel Insider. A former lab analyst misses being able to test products before he writes about them, Lundquist says.

If Ziff Davis Enterprise's new executives have a strong 2008, expect eWeek to rehire much of the talent it lost to layoffs and panic departures.

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SWMS continues to study tech publishers who run vendor-contributed content as editorial, as PC World and CMP's bMighty.com currently do.

"How-to's, for example, are fairly agnostic and in some cases are quite close to what we would do ourselves," PC World editor-in-chief Harry McCracken told us last week.

What we're learning is that publishers must take care not to publish for free what sales reps are out in the field trying to sell. It may take time for tech publishers to craft policies that enable editors to acquire increasingly compelling vendor-generated content without undermining the sales staff.

Hear more about these topics on this week's SWMS Tech Media This Week podcast (6:17), which is now posted.

To listen to our podcast right now, click on the URL below:

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SWMS Tech Media This Week podcast: Fox's Neil Cavuto on Advocacy and Point of View

Will the new Fox Business Network be as political as the Fox News Channel? Speaking at this past week's Future of Business Media conference in New York, anchor Neil Cavuto says "advocacy" and "point of view" are two different things.

Cavuto says he disagreed with Bill O'Reilly's attack on jetBlue for its sponsorship of the Daily Kos Conference held this July in Chicago, labeling that as "advocacy." But Cavuto says he makes no apologies for having a strong point of view when presenting news on the air, adding that his viewers expect no less. Something to keep in mind as the Fox Business Network finds its feet…

More on this, as well as frank comments from IDG president Bob Carrigan on the seven-year drop in tech media industry print ad pages, in this edition of the SWMS Tech Media This Week podcast (5:32), which is now posted.

To listen to our podcast right now, click on the URL below:

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[IDG is a paid subscriber to SWMS.]

SWMS Tech Media This Week Podcast: Veteran EIC Steve Fox Departs InfoWorld

Longtime InfoWorld editor-in-chief Steve Fox has departed for Affinity Labs, a San Francisco-based builder of online communities. Eric Knorr assumes the reins as EIC.

CMP Technology's new Internet Evolution packages the thoughts of tech executives, intellectual bloggers and community all under one roof. This project represents a healthy stretch for trade-focused CMP; we'll watch how things go.

Hear about these items, as well as a revealing quarterly IT buyer study from TechTarget and the CMO Council, in the latest edition of the SWMS Tech Media This Week podcast (6:19), which is now posted.

To listen to our podcast right now, click on the URL below:

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[IDG and CMP Technology are paid subscribers to SWMS.]

SWMS Tech Media This Week Podcast: Tech Vendors as Publishers

See this article on instant messaging security? It was created by Symantec and appears on PCWorld.com with this explanation:

This story was editorially selected as relevant and is used with permission from Symantec. PC World received no compensation for posting this article.

Says PCWorld.com EIC Harry McCracken: "This is an experiment - we'll see if visitors like this stuff."

See this video on disaster planning? It runs on CMP's bMighty.com site "courtesy of Cisco."

Welcome to the emerging world of "vendor as publisher," wherein tech vendors advertise with the IDGs and CMPs on the sales side, and use them as content distributors on the edit side.

Hear more on this trend, as well as our thoughts on BusinessWeek's new redesign and the 2008 expansion of SWMS editorial teleconferences, in this edition of the SWMS Tech Media This Week podcast (7:26), which is now posted.

To listen to our podcast right now, click on the URL below:

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SWMS Tech Media This Week Podcast: Who is Mark Anderson?

Who influences the influencers? Mark Anderson does. But who is Mark Anderson? Eric Savitz from Barron's, Tom Krazit from News.com and Eric Auchard from Reuters all answer that question - as does Mark himself - in the latest edition of the SWMS Tech Media This Week podcast (7:03), which is now posted.

To listen to our podcast right now, click on the URL below:

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SWMS Tech Media This Week Podcast: A Former EIC Starts Anew in PR

After 15 years at CMP Technology, Brian Fuller left the editorial business for a VP job at Blanc & Otus (an SWMS subscriber). How does Brian like it? Does he miss running EE Times? Hear answers to these questions and much more on the latest SWMS Tech Media This Week podcast (8:05), which is now posted.

To listen to our podcast right now, click on the URL below:

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SWMS Tech Media This Week Podcast: Task-Based Tech Sites

Do former IDG sales-side executives Connie Johnson and Kelly Conlin see something others don't? What about edit-side vet David Strom? He sees it too.

The era of task-based tech sites is unfolding. "Editorial" once again is being outflanked and reinvented. For tech PR and for all of us, what are the implications?

Learn more about Most Effective Media, NameMedia and Digital Landing in the latest SWMS Tech Media This Week podcast (6:54), which is now posted.

To listen to our podcast right now, click on the URL below:

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SWMS Tech Media This Week Podcast: Local, Vertical are Paths to Media Success

BusinessWeek's forthcoming Chicago edition is but another advance toward local editorial, in print and online. Xconomy.com, which tracks Boston's tech scene, seems off to a good start. The glass is half-full.

Facebook may be hot but it's a horizontal play. Think vertical. Social networks AfterZiffDavis, AfterIDG and AfterCMP -- formed by former members of these publishers -- illustrate the power of vertical social nets. And the more vertical they are, the better they'll fare with members and advertisers.

Hear more on this - as well as an important question we pose to you - in this week's SWMS Tech Media This Week podcast (6:43), which is now posted.

To listen to our podcast right now, click on the URL below:

http://slapcast.com/users/SWMS