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It’s Cucumber Time, Baby!
By Mark Evans | August 9, 2008
Is it just me or is the tech world really dull these days?
Usually, Techmeme is a source of interest and inspiration but the last few weeks have been dull, dull, dull. If it’s not another story about Apple, the MacBook or the iPhone, it’s TechCrunch putting the spotlight on a Twitter spoof featuring Hitler, or yet another story about nefarious computer viruses.
In the newspaper business, the dearth of news is called the “silly season”, although I prefer the Dutch expression “Komkommertijd”, which means “cucumber time”. When I was a reporter, “cucumber time” meant it was an opportunity to create stories by writing features that editors would normally dismiss as not being newsworthy or interesting.
Now, you can brush aside the slow news flow as seasonal given it is August and many people are taking vacation. But since I started writing about technology in 1995, there hasn’t really been a slowdown during the summer. Usually, the news keeps on coming throughout the year.
Maybe the lack of news is a sign we’re on the cusp of a technology slowdown, and that there’s less happening. I’m not suggesting the bubble is about to burst but there’s definitely less activity or, at the very most, far less interesting things happening.
When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. So, what do you do when life gives you cucumbers?
Technorati Tags: techmeme, techcrunch
Topics: Web 2.0 |
August 10th, 2008 at 3:44 am
If lacking news write about something that isn’t news. Easy.
August 10th, 2008 at 8:34 am
“When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. So, what do you do when life gives you cucumbers?”
Why cucumber sandwiches of course…..
August 10th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
If you’re focused on TC you’re getting too narrow a view. Check out DEMO.com and other sites for news. There’s plenty going on. It’s not the “silly” season, it’s the season for digging in and doing original reporting not what the PR agencies push out. Mary
August 10th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Pickles? or Greek dressing like I made today:
Start with plain yogurt, add salt, pepper, tiny bit of lemon juice, chopped cucumbers, yummy!!
August 11th, 2008 at 7:56 am
Mary:
I agree there’s a great opportunity to do original reporting at this time of year. As well, it’s also an incentive to rely on your own ideas as opposed to chiming in on what other people have to say.
August 11th, 2008 at 8:18 am
I agree… however one thing I’ve noticed about the Techmeme group of bloggers is that they all complain about the echo chamber, and the lack of original thought and simply responding to other people… yet they all continue to do it without fail.
I wasn’t including you in that group though =P dw
August 12th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Oh, it’s definitely a slow summer. We are basically scouring wherever we can for the tech journalism equivalent of the dog or weather stories that usually fill up normal newspapers. If only the P.R. firms of startups we ignore throughout the year would realize they’d get incredible exposure if only they’d launch their products in July or August.
August 12th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Shane,
No need to worry. I’m sure the PR firms will realize that in a few weeks when everything starts to heat up again.