[Newsbytes.com now redirects to the Washington Post tech section. It looks like not only are the old newsbytes.com links dead, but that as Brian says below, the content is not searchable on washingtonpost.com. From a former Newsbytesian: "There are no Newsbytes reporters left. The DC crew that was with Newsbytes moved over to Washtech about a month ago, and the rest of us were laid off. Newsbytes is not only offline, it is effectively dead. Its only remnant will be in name only, as I understand it, and that will be only as a brand for whatever WPNI does with its online syndication products from here on out." --Declan] --- Date: Fri, 31 May 2002 16:37:45 -0400 To: declanat_private From: Brian McWilliams <brian@pc-radio.com> Subject: Re: FC: Newsbytes, R.I.P. Hi Declan, I'm biased, but I think it's a loss for the Net that *nearly two decades* of Newsbytes articles will be inaccessible once the site is shut down (sometime tonight I'm told). As I understand it, the Newsbytes content will only be available from LexisNexis. Google currently has a lot of Newsbytes pages in its cache, but Archive.org reports that it was kept out by a robots.txt file. My memory may be faulty, but I can't recall a comparable destruction of Internet-based information. Brian --- Date: Fri, 31 May 2002 16:32:53 -0400 To: declanat_private From: Doug Isenberg <disenbergat_private> Subject: Re: FC: Newsbytes, R.I.P. A burning question: Will The Washington Post now archive the previously published Newsbytes articles, as IDG did when it bought some of The Industry Standard's assets (and resurrected http://www.thestandard.com)? It'd be a shame to lose so much wonderful tech news history. Newsbytes may be gone, but its excellent and comprehensive reporting should not be forgotten. A little more background to add to the story you shared, from The Wall Street Journal on May 17 (http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1021653697982741080,00.html): "WashingtonPost.Newsweek Interactive, the online subsidiary of the Washington Post Co., is consolidating its online technology news operations under the TechNews.com (www.technews.com) Web site, a strategy shift that comes amid an advertising recession that has forced many new media operations to cut costs.... "The company is de-emphasizing existing Washington Post.Newsweek Interactive sites WashTech.com and NewsBytes.com in favor of TechNews.com, which will include technology news and policy reports from Washington Post reporters, original content from online writers and content from other Washington Post Co. sources.... "...NewsBytes stories will continue to be syndicated to newspapers and Web sites, but the NewsByte.com [sic] Web site will shut down." Doug Isenberg, Esq. Editor & Publisher, GigaLaw.com FREE daily Internet law news via e-mail! Subscribe today at http://www.GigaLaw.com/news --- http://www.editorandpublisher.com/editorandpublisher/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1499399 MAY 23, 2002 Washingtonpost.com Folds Newsbytes Unit Site Consolidates Technology News By Carl Sullivan NEW YORK -- Updated at 12:35 p.m. EST Washingtonpost.com is closing Newsbytes, the tech news service founded way back in 1983 and purchased by the Washington Post Co. in 1997. Three Washington-area Newsbytes reporters will work for a new section, TechNews.com, scheduled to launch June 3, according to Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive spokesman Don Marshall. Five other full-time employees, including founder and Editor-in-Chief Wendy Woods, will be laid off as of May 31. Some independent contractors for Newsbytes will also lose their positions. [...] --- Date: Sat, 01 Jun 2002 13:11:30 +1000 From: Nathan Cochrane <ncochraneat_private> Reply-To: ncochraneat_private Organization: The Age newspaper To: declanat_private Subject: Re: FC: Newsbytes, R.I.P. Hi Declan Very sad indeed. We have been subscribed to Newsbytes from the beginning, and this really hurts all those downstream publications as well. It effectively cuts off our eyes and ears in the US. And because Newsbytes also syndicated stories from elsewhere in the world, including Australia, it means US tech coverage will become even more parochial than it is already. Newsbytes was the only tech wire service worth a damn. We regularly wet ourselves laughing at some of the stuff that crawls onto many of the other, more general wires. But I guess if Newsbytes was not making money, a paper can't be expected to be a charity case. I hope the Newsbytes reporters will be able to find jobs elsewhere within Washington Post. cheers Nathan -- Nathan Cochrane Deputy IT Editor :Next: The Age and Sydney Morning Herald http://www.next.theage.com.au --- Date: Fri, 31 May 2002 16:55:30 -0400 (EDT) From: Miguel Danielson <mcdat_private> To: Declan McCullagh <declanat_private> cc: <politechat_private> Subject: Re: FC: Newsbytes, R.I.P. Declan- What a bummer. Of course, I might add that the Berkman Center for Internet and Society has recently launched its own Internet Law news and policy portal: http://grep.law.harvard.edu I hope you will invite your readers to our new site and help us create a community-driven source for Internet law news, information, and most of all, discussion. Regards, Miguel Danielson Project Leader grep.law.harvard.edu P.S. I also note the outstanding LawMeme project at Yale Law School (http://research.yale.edu/lawmeme/) --- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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