Investigation From The ‘New’ TechCrunch
March 21, 2024
7:35 am
Kyle Wiggers filed this powerful investigative piece on all the dreck you can find in OpenAI’s GPT store. Expect more digging like this from multiple
>> TechCrunch
Layoffs Strike TechCrunch
January 30, 2024
8:24 am
TechCrunch suffered layoffs yesterday. At least five editors were affected
TechCrunch Surveys Readers To Set Course For 2024
November 13, 2023
7:55 am
TechCrunch last week fielded a reader survey built to define what TC readers see in 2024, and perhaps, how many editors produce it.
Our Q&A With GPT-4 About Kyle Wiggers
November 12, 2023
8:39 am
The following is a “conversation” between SWMS and GPT-4 regarding recent work from TechCrunch senior reporter Kyle Wiggers. It has been edited for length and clarity, as we do our Q&As with humans.
Google Bard: ‘TechCrunch Was Better Than ZDNet and The Verge’
November 8, 2023
11:30 am
Ever go to Techmeme and wonder which article is “the best” on a given topic? Generative AI can help answer that question. We looked at news published this week from ZDNet, TechCrunch and The Verge…
What’s Next For TechCrunch Contributed Content?
October 18, 2023
11:33 am
What will become of contributed content at TechCrunch now that gatekeeper Walter Thompson has left the publication? Subscribers are asking.
Connie Loizos Succeeds Matthew Panzarino As TechCrunch EIC
August 30, 2023
6:04 pm
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Connie Loizos Ascends to TechCrunch EIC
August 29, 2023
11:34 am
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TechCrunch Updates Its Contributed Content Guidelines
August 17, 2023
2:07 pm
Gatekeeper Walter Thompson generously spells them out. He asks that you not pitch him directly — use the alias instead.
SWMS Dossier: Natasha Mascarenhas, The Information
June 22, 2023
5:56 am
Venture capital reporter Natasha Mascarenhas loves to share, and people care. Perhaps you are among her 46,000 followers on Twitter. Few can post a Tweet like this and get 37 likes and almost 9,500 views.
YOUR ACCOUNT
FRIDGE NOTES
Congress to Investigate the Omnicom-IPG Deal
December 20, 2024
Well, for now it’s Jim Jordan… but such news illustrates the kind of world we seem to be headed for. Adweek has the details, subscription required.
SWMS Predictions for 2025
December 10, 2024
No “predictions” post will appear on this site. That said, quite a number of subscribers have asked for a Zoom/MS Teams presentation on what 2025 will bring. A conversation is precisely the right tool for the job. After the election — and with AI transforming publishing and life — “2025” is best discussed among peers, not predicted. So if you’d like to have a confidential group exchange on what stands to unfold, and why, and how comms pros can come out on top in spite of it all, drop a line and we shall schedule something.
Talk About Confidentiality…
December 10, 2024
According to Adweek, Omnicom CEO John Wren and IPG CEO Philippe Krakowsky were in merger talks for eleven and a half months before the transaction was announced this week. Amazing that it didn’t leak.
Introducing ‘SWMS Sound Thinking’
November 22, 2024
Should PR pros stop visiting X, with all its lies and hate? It’s only going to get worse. Or are tidbits from targets too important to walk away from? Click here to watch tech edit vet David Strom and I disagree (at high speed) about this, as one compelling visual after another pops up on your screen. In 2025, SWMS will officially launch “SWMS Sound Thinking,” designed to be “argumentative insight in six minutes or less.” Each segment will explore a timely and controversial topic of interest to tech comms pros. This prototype runs 5:25. Hope you enjoy it — feedback vital and welcome! –Sam
Business Insider Reporters Starting to Go on Camera
November 19, 2024
New EIC Jamie Heller has asked her reporters to start going on camera — for the BI TikTok channel — to explain the big, deep-divey story they just published. Other publications do this — especially archival Fortune. BI is now on that too. Game on.
The ‘AI Fantasy Draft’ From Eric Newcomer
November 13, 2024
At this time last year, Eric Newcomer and his two podcast co-hosts — Max Child and James Wilsterman — each formed an “AI startup fantasy team” and picked five AI startups to seed their rosters. We’re now in year 2 and it’s time to draft again. The podcasters wonder… which startups do they dump? Which do they add? The player whose startups accumulate the most total value by Nov. 1, 2028 is the winner, so there’s plenty of time to make adjustments. Here’s a link to the AI fantasy team podcast — you may need a password. Not sure.