Paul Boutin

I write daily for the NYT’s Gadgetwise blog about the part of the Internet I like the most: Facebook, Twitter, blogs, text messages, IM, etc. All the ways people, not machines, use the Net to connect with other people.

Here’s a bookmarkable link to all my posts.

Topics range from how-to’s, to funny stories, to head-scratching at the President’s abandonment of Twitter.

I also report daily for VentureBeat about Apple, the iPhone, digital music & video, and probably Twitter because I can’t stop myself.

That’s my new work lineup. I blog daily at IDG’s revived Industry Standard site. I’m aiming to do two features a month for the New York Times technology section. Wired has put me back on their masthead, this time as a Correspondent. I need to start corresponding with some article ideas.

Once in a while I do a book review for the Wall Street Journal.

After twenty years in San Francisco, I’m eyeing Los Angeles as a bigger media mecca and a change. I’ve lived in New York enough to know I’m a California man. I fantasize about living in the Venice - Santa Monica waterfront area, like David Duchovny in Californication.

My dream job as Valleywag’s full-time senior writer lasted five months before publisher Nick Denton pulled the plug.  Yeah, he’s a quitter.  I’m currently taking a vacation before starting a new gig I’ll tell you about when it’s official and happening.  You can email me at paulboutin at mac dot com.  I’m avoiding IM and the phone for now.

As of July 1, 2008 I’ve got my dream job: Writing full-time for Valleywag, the Page Six of Silicon Valley.  I’ve wanted to do it since the first time publisher Nick Denton asked me to help him find a writer (hint, hint, Paul) in late 2005.  I’ve been sneaking the ‘Wag items, ideas and jokes for more than two years, while working elsewhere to make ends meet.  I’ve helped Denton and new editor Owen Thomas (a close friend for over a decade — we’ve always wanted to work together) hire some talented upcoming writers.  Now,  finally, we’ve figured out how I can write for Valleywag myself, without ending up living in a cardboard box on Market Street.  I gotta say Valleywag’s new health care plan makes it easy to be 47 years old instead of 22 and still write for love.

New York Times - computers, cellphones, cameras, TV, plus any Web 2.0 stuff that survives Uncov.
Sample article: A Universe of Gadget Advice

Wall Street Journal - book reviews on tech and science.
Sample article: The Apple of his iBook

Valleywag - Silicon Valley Users Guide, general griping.
Sample article: How to Remain an Anonymous Critic

Slate - pop-culture technology, technology pop culture.
Sample article: A Grand Unified Theory of YouTube and MySpace

Wired - whatever they want. I’m just a churl who cain’t say no.
Sample article: What We Don’t Know

I also just filed 25 Days That Changed Everything for PC World’s 25th anniversary.

Are we all gwumpy today? Let Professor Chips soothe your angry angry heart.

Five seconds of gloating, ok? Alright, done. I’ll be doing technology articles for non-technologists in the Times, starting with this guide to online gadget gift shopping.

It’s my birthday. New sunglasses. Again. The animatronic reindeer — one big, one little — are watching over San Francisco from the balcony behind me.

By popular demand: Google Analytics screenshots of VW top content, new-vs-returning visitors, and other stats from a typical weekday. Click the thumbnails for full size. I’m always skeptical of anything more abstracted than an httpd access log, but Google dashboards are prettier to look at.

It’s taken nearly two years, but our little Silicon Valley gossip blog now pulls 100,000-plus pageviews a day regularly, even on Saturday. Credit goes to Owen Thomas’s scorched-earth strategy: Hire enough writers to put up two to three dozen posts every day. I’m a mere 5 percent of volume, because I only post at night and early in the morning when I’m not working. But still, it’s stupidly fun to be part of the site.