Where’s my breakfast wrap–served fresh with sweet Gizmation—you ask? As you may know, Nick has ridden off into the sunset on a space travelling dinosaur, and it’s been a baptism of fire this morning settling into the editor’s chair. But as I focus on the latest Aussie news, I wanted to take a moment to say ‘ello, and ask what you’d like to see more of on Giz.
More reviews? Less Apple? More Australian exclusive regular features like our Shooting Challenges, Developers Cubed interviews, or our weekly NBN wrap? Maybe you have an idea for a new regular feature. Let me know over at this week’s Whitenoise discussion thread. I’ll be actively listening and responding to your comments.
I’ll also be tweeting away on @giz_au; and you’re free to heckle me further via @danny_allen.
For the curious: the nostril-tastic pic above is me at the Inari shrine in Kyoto last week (managed to sneak in a week’s holiday before joining Giz). And yep, being a geek, I made the pilgrimage to Akihabara in Tokyo.
Stay tuned for some truly weird and wonderful pics…
Are Flicked Through Like Vinyl Records
Matt
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 12:09 PMLess apple sounds good to me!
Welcome to the editors chair, Danny!
Chumly
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 12:24 PMseconded.
welcome Danny.
Lyndon L
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 2:37 PM+1 for less Apple stuff :)
Also, keep the NBN stuff coming.
Welcome to the chair :)
andronicus
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 8:47 PMI like the apple stuff. They are the major player right now in the consumer landscape, the coverage should be representative of this.
Danny Allen
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 9:41 PMFor sure, just planning to keep it balanced. I’m relying on you guys to be the judge of that for me ;)
olearymo
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 12:16 PMWelcome aboard Danny! Great to see you and I think we all have great epectations :D
Personally, I’d like to see basically all the things you mentioned. Many here would say ‘yes’ to the ‘less Apple’ thing, but I think it’s not so much a less Apple news as a less Apple-centric kind of thing. I feel Lifehacker has got this down pat.
Cameron
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 12:22 PMLess US only crap! Sure it’s interesting to see the latest amplifiers and what not getting released, but unless it’s got an Australian price and release date attached it’s useless info to me.
Oh and less Apple is always welcome!
mansunz
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 12:54 PM+1. the apple stuff can stay too. :)
damo
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 12:32 PMWelcome aboard Danny.
For me:
1. I think the balance of stories you have is generally fine. I liked the way Nick would update the stories to make them relevant to Australia and especially liked it when he participated in the comments at the end of the article. This often served to quell nasty comments too.
2. Am ok with Apple as long as it doesn’t descend into ridiculous non tech stories.
3. Nick’s comps were fun. Would love to see more creative competitions that challenged the readers a bit. Good prizes helps too!
4. Shooting challenges good too even though I’ve never found the time to get into it. Maybe if there was a small sponsored prize they would really take off.
Good luck friend.
olearymo
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 1:25 PMdamo has hit the nail on the head here with me. All of these things!
Paddy
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 12:35 PMI’m happy with Apple, but then I like Apple stuff.
As much Aus-centric stuff as possible. Lots of us follow many blogs which cover the US stuff but good Aussie news is hard to find.
poedgirl
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 12:36 PMYou have the same surname as me!
Anyway, welcome to Giz. We hope you can live up to your predecessor’s stellar reputation for bringing us Aussie gadget related news.
I’m quite happy with how Nick left the state of articles. I feel we had a nice balance between all kinds of content.
iikimochi
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 1:27 PMWelcome Danny.
& same last name as me too!
I would love less apple & More Aus related.
NacaYoda
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 12:44 PMI love a Breakfast Wrap of the previous 24 hrs / overnight / weekend stories of interest. I’m missing it already!
I don’t mind Apple news. I’m accepting of their current market dominance (smart phone, mp3 and tablet) and the increasing interest in their product range is totally understandable. Report away. If it is interesting (and not just some BS advert in disguise) then I’ll read it and appreciate it.
Love a competition. Love a tit-bit about a freebie (PSN, iOS app, eBook download etc). Just keep them relevant to Oz readers and we’re all good.
Good luck in the chair!
NY.
Seamus Byrne
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 12:47 PMPoor Danny got thrown in the deep end this morning. The Wrap will be back tomorrow! It was just a total trial by fire today, complete with net outages here in the office! Lucky Danny! ;-)
Paddy
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 5:32 PMSure that wasn’t a Lulzsec initiation to Giz AU?
Danny Allen
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 10:03 PM+1 — Breakfast served per normal on Tuesday.
swati
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 12:45 PMDefiantly more Australia specific stuff whether this is localised pricing and release date’s or Aus specific article’s.
Ken
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 12:49 PMWelcome Danny.
You’ve hit it right on the head, for me…
More reviews! Less Apple! More Australian exclusive regular features like your Shooting Challenges!
Sam
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 1:06 PMI can only echo a few of the above:
- Apple is fine, people like it – but I’d like to see all the primary platforms (iOS, Android, Windows, OSx and Linux) covered equally without bias.
- Better grooming of US articles would be good too. Nick saw a LOT of US content come through, a lot of it not relevant or interesting to Australian readers. I’d happily see less content if it had higher relevance.
Also, when will the Facebook commenting system be brought back? I miss being able to check my previous comments to see if there has been responses. I major overhaul to the comments system so that users can create accounts, and it acts more like a forum so that readers can interact better would be awesome!
Danny Allen
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 10:02 PMI’ll pass that comment system feedback on. Cheers man.
Mike
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 1:13 PMWelcome Danny! Good luck, the giz commenters like eating staff alive more often than not :p
I don’t mind the apple stuff, it’s tech (if overpriced/hyped) after all.
Jon
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 1:14 PMWelcome welcome !
i reckon we need a bit more reviews and i’d love to see more of a quirky, weird, cool, interesting story and products that you’d think coming from japan or anywhere on earth ! , like… How wi-fi connection that we often use is originated from Australia ? :D
more of designs and cool arts wouldn’t hurt.
Danny Allen
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 10:00 PMJust posted a Japan story for ya!
Jon
Tuesday, June 28, 2011 at 9:04 AMhaha Cool! thanks! loved it! :D Definitely hit the spot ! and of course as a consumer/reader i’d have to say : More ! more ! :D hehe.
Luke
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 1:23 PMSet yourself the challenge of not being beaten to the punch by the US writers on Australian stories! Sometimes in the past it’s been a little embarrassing that big Australian tech stories or articles about cutting-edge local research have been broken by the US team while the AU writers have been lamely parroting press releases about mobile broadband plans or gaming console accessory release dates, for instance.
Maybe bundle the solely-US-relevant stories into a daily/weekly recap.
Consider doing the occasional ‘Hey, this is cool’ small story from wherever in the world, even if not AU-related. In the end, readers (even Aussie readers) come to Gizmodo for cool tech stuff, obviously not just Aussie tech stuff. No reason why only the US writers can post cool WWII-era tech photos!
Danny Allen
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 9:59 PMReading you loud and clear. Follow @giz_au so you can Tweet us a tip when you spot something cool, too. Having been a writer on the U.S. edition of Giz, I can tell you they rely heavily on reader tips.
olearymo
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 1:28 PMOh! Also, Danny, I dunno about everyone else…
but some kind of fun ‘Danny’s First Day’ piece might be entertaining? Especially with these ‘trial by fire’ and net outage comments.
It seems Nick is enjoying a well deserved holiday here (going by his tweets) while poor Danny is thrown in the deep end :P
Rod
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 1:31 PMMore steak and cola in the breakfast wraps.
Glenn
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 1:44 PMI don’t care about less or more Apple, I just want less (or none) biased reviews on non-Apple products.
Marcus
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 2:25 PMI want the site to look more like the US version. The AU site looks like it is about 10 years behind the US site and looks like it has about 10x as many ads….
US site cleaner, faster, nicer, pretty much better in every way.
olearymo
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 4:36 PMAre you from Bizarro World?
Your comment must be the first positive thing I’ve heard anyone say about the US site. The most recent design of Gizmodo, Lifehacker and Io9 US are universally reviled.
(Tip: To make them bearable, go with ‘ca.io9.com’ etc. ‘Classic’ view.)
ozoneocean
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 2:30 PMYES, definitely less Apple- things always need far more balance in that regard. Giz is WAY better than most places with this though, but it takes constant maintenance. Just cover the Apple stuff like any equivalent product from any brand with any other OS, rather than giving that particular brand extra emphasis and you’ll be fine.
And that would apply to Android or Windows, or Palm or whatever if they were in a similar position.
Craig
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 2:33 PMWelcome!
+1 for less Apple. Or, like Glenn, just more/better “non-Apple”.
Cranny
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 2:37 PMMore general stuff too that’s not always about tech stuff which you guys have been doing. So many fun and interesting stories in the past that are not just nerdy etc.. Hope giz will stay as is..
bugwan
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 2:54 PMI love the NBN updates – although there’s not much of it making news of late…
Australianisation of news stories is really important for me – if I see a misplaced “zee”, I’ll cry!
I’m over the Apple coverage too, but I get why it’s there…
Danny Allen
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 9:49 PMCan’t promise we’ll catch every yankified zee, but can say I’ll be focusing more on the NBN stuff: Like this.
Flame
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 2:58 PMHi Danny!
I enjoy the Aus-related stuff esp. the Developers^3 articles.
lulz
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 4:06 PMOMG Nick’s gone, thank f**k for that.
G’day Danny. And yes, less Apple, or at least less bias.
Dexx
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 4:22 PMHahaa, Loving the “less Apple” love!
Welcome aboard, and I look forward to nitpicking your spelling, grammer and any other general Nazism I can share. Oh wait, That’s other users…
But still, I’ll be “watching”… (read: Reading) :P
Danny Allen
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 9:46 PMHeh, feel free to DM me on Twitter if you notice a typo or three.
Cpt. Pajama Shark
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 5:08 PMHeya Danny,
I’d like more dinosaurs please!
Danny Allen
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 9:45 PMmoar roar!