Z-Flex 2012 Animal Series

The us vs. them thing was meant as more a reflection of prieiitros than high school dynamics.As a product, I think Wired and other publications would benefit from combining forces and moving their editorial direction online. Referring back to Joel\’s original point, it would be advisable if Wired\’s online presence was central to its future.All would benefit to hear its talented voices outside of print as well as in. People look for authoritative voices. Wired has them. As readers start to choose from a menu of news and blogs scattered across the web, these stars will be an influencing part of their decision right alongside brand.I firmly believe an stronger online strategy would make for a stronger product exactly what Chris Anderson is looking for in the NYTimes article. It might even be cheaper in the long-run.I haven\’t mentioned what I think of the business side much. I\’ve been primarily focused on content. But since I\’m drunk on commenting here (for some reason) and like to hear the sound of my own typing, I\’ll start by saying I think Wired\’s online ad future is bright.Thanks to relative online inexperience among ad execs, Google and Yahoo\’s online auctions and general confusion between brand and search advertising, online ads are unrealistically cheap compared to its value right now.With a dearth of newspapers, I expect that to change. Key ad spaces will get more crowded over time as the economy gets better and brand advertisers start looking for more space. This will be good news for television and high-traffic websites like Wired.com. I agree with other commenters that in today\’s ad space, the ad sellers have to go out and convince advertisers their ad budget belongs online. With dwindling print ad space and the unique technological advantages of advertising online (such as tracking impressions and click-throughs), it shouldn\’t be too hard for a knowledgeable ad rep, just different.As an aside, I was often concerned about the amount of Conde Nast properties being hocked on Wired empty ad space (aka, self promotion). If you want my advice, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and/or Federated Media giant ad networks should replace it as default ad placement. With 11 million uniques, I\’m guessing that small change probably would\’ve paid my salary and more. I\’m willing to bet the Gadget Lab pages could convert content-generated ads pretty well.I also agree that many Wired staffers understand the internet quite well (thank you , but they were resigned to wait until someone could convince Conde Nast to do what was necessary. I\’m sure they\’re still waiting for Conde Nast\’s tech team to get their heads out of their asses. In fact, I know this is true. I joined in their wait while I was there. I think a lot of them are reading this. Hopefully this discussion will provide some ammunition.P.S. If I were to play a futurist, I predict the day I see the first woman President elected, I\’ll read about it on the e-ink device I got for free when I subscribed to the NY Times and order a paper copy for posterity via a link online.