AOL refreshes Netscape as social news site with a twist

How does Netscape relate to Apple stories, you guys ask? Well, there's this: http://www.beta.netscape.com/tag/apple/

and then there's this:

http://www.beta.netscape.com/tag/steve+jobs/

hmmm thats true.. you dont see engadget posting about this new netscape thing, even though they're also under the same company...

okay, this is my opinion on the subject. as unproductive as it is to complain about this (noted by zach), it's equally if not even more unproductive to post this in the first place when it doesn't have a place in an Apple fan site. but i can understand it to a certain degree since they are all part of the same company or whatever. but still, it's not that cool and i think the basic idea is that it's kind of annoying and people don't seem to like what Netscape is doing anyway.

What i don't get is why this is posted in the first place?? Honestly, this is an Apple fansite, who cares about your sister projects that have nothing to do with Apple? And if you really want to plug it so badly, start posting ads for it or something. Don't make it your actual content and get completely off-topic.

Fishes,
Patrick

Netscape is downright terrible and unusable.

"I like the new Netscape a lot. Digg is an awesome idea, but it just never worked well for me in practice. I don't read the comments and the tiny descriptions in Digg are pretty irritating. Also, the titles are very often quite useless. So far the editorial add ons for the stories at Netscape have been really nice."

Geoff, I'm sorry but you're insane. Netscape uses the same idea as Digg. How does Digg not work out practically when Netscape does exactly the same thing Digg does in idea and also in practice? You also say you don't read comments in Digg yet Netscape has comments too. And what "tiny descriptions" are you talking about? Digg has readable font for post descriptions, and even a functional font resizing button at the top-right of the page below the ad.

And speaking of ads, Digg is clean and unobtrusive with text ads, and very sparse at that. Netscape has lots of ads and most of them are irritating graphics. The color scheme is subpar, the way information is organized is all over the place, and . The UI is just cleaner at Digg. I mean, can someone seriously give me a good reason to visit Netscape over Digg that doesn't involve contradictory reasoning and "new features" that I don't care to use? Even the new version of Digg that's coming out will include broader topics so I don't see that as an advantage for Netscape.

A pox on bloggers who refer to themselves as journalists. Unfortunately, I believe that many of them do not know the difference between what actual journalists do and posting an opinion to a web page. It is about time they learned.

I like the new Netscape a lot. Digg is an awesome idea, but it just never worked well for me in practice. I don't read the comments and the tiny descriptions in Digg are pretty irritating. Also, the titles are very often quite useless. So far the editorial add ons for the stories at Netscape have been really nice.

I don't think you can blame TUAW for cross promoting the site. However, TUAW pretending to be independent is kind of silly. But something that makes all these blogs so strong is how they work together. The interplay between Engadget, Autoblog, Luxist, and the others allows for some really in depth coverage in each field. A hidden cost of that integration is the occasional cross promotional post which really isn't much of a price to pay for such great coverage.

For Jon, Kevin, John, and the like: chill out. If you're really so bothered by the self-promotion, don't read this blog. If you don't like the new portal, don't visit it. I, for one, don't like the new site and I'll stick with Digg, but I'm not out on netscape flaming off. It adds nothing to productive to the conversation and it wastes your and everyone else's time. Note your displeasure, as is your right, but don't sound so offended and self-righteous.

And saying plugging a sister site is unprofessional? Hardly! You've obviously never been involved in a REAL profession. Plugging sister products is the name of the game for the material good market. Same goes for journalistic endeavors; big magazines often plug sister publications' material (if you don't believe me, I'll dig up some material). The blogosphere is no exception, either.

My signature: "I wish I had something cool to say like narco"

" a professional journalistic twist"

I don't hold high hopes for this given the shameless off-topic cross promotional shill on the front page of TUAW.

"Why are we telling you about all this since it isn't specifically Apple-related, you ask?"

Yes, actually, I do.

"Well, we should probably tell you the project was headed up by Weblogs Inc.'s CEO, Jason Calacanis."

Oh.

Got any other nice CEO side projects to push? We'd love to know all about them so we can check them out and go have some fun with. Go on, you've got the whole front page of TUAW at your disposal. Feel free. Don't mind me. I just come here for the Apple news ...

"Granted, Weblogs Inc., including TUAW, are owned by AOL, but we could still call it crummy if we wanted to"

Well, you would say that.

Do you even imagine this statement could be taken seriously? Even if it were true, it can't be credibly asserted by you because of the financial relationship.

"... fortunately, that isn't the case."

Well, that's all right then.

" Still, if you're looking for some Apple-specific details"

Yes, actually. Kinda what I come here for.

"before you fire off a flaming comment"

Don't think of this as a flame, you'd get the wrong idea. Think of it more as being called on inexcusably unprofessional behaviour.

"how does 'full-Safari compatibility' work for you?"

It doesn't. Not at all.

While C.K. is still a blogger on our list, he's actually gone off and gotten a *real* job within WIN (Weblogs Inc. Network). Y'know, shiny new corner office, limo service, automatic opening doors at the grocery store - the whole works. So he's being compensated a tad more than us grunts still in the trenches, but he's also working as more of a WIN ninja in the background.