Looking for a blogging sweet spot

You may have noticed the updates getting fewer and farther apart here. I'm spending a lot more time away from my desk (and in front of a desktop-sized screen) and a lot more time either on a iPod Touch or in front of my Apple TV. This is good — it is very cool to have so many new alternatives for media. That is what this blog is about, after all. But my blogging platform used here just doesn't lend itslef to a more mobile entry method.

Conversely, I'm posting a lot more to my Twitter feed (http://www.twitter.com/couchguy). The 140-character limit of Twitter doesn't allow for longer, meatier posts and comments on cool links.

So I'm going to experiment with an alternative for awhile. I've opened a new blog at http://couchguy.tumblr.com/. The topic there is going to be similar to this blog — an Apple-centric look at home media technology. But I'm going to open things up a bit to include related home media platforms not strictly limited to Apple products, and try to include interesting looks at the mobile media revolution as well.

Most of all, I'm going to try to use Tumblr's easier-to-access posting options and iPhone app to encourage me to post more often. I'm going to shoot for shorter posts with more links, but I will also be working on longer pieces, including a new visit with the Average family in 2011 that I'm preparing now.

This blog will remain up until I'm sure how the new format will work out. If this proves to be the "sweet spot" I'm seeking, I'll point the couchapple.tv URL over here. In the meantime, come see what I'm posting at http://couchguy.tumblr.com/.

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Posted by Guy McLimore at 1/9/2010 11:39 AM
Categories: Opinion,CouchApple
 

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  • 1/9/2010 9:32 PM Rick K wrote:
    Hey, Couchguy!

    Your new blog sounds like it might be interesting. Will there still be a strong ATV presence? I have pretty specific tech interests and so I come here for ATV news and commentary but what I may not need is a generic tech site. Just no interest, I guess. I used to visit EngadgetHD regularly but now it's not that distinguishable from Engadget Classic so I rarely think to hit the bookmark or even listen to the podcast. In any event, will there still be the not-often-enough lengthy Couchguy rant for us to read? They are works of true brilliance!

    While we're at it may I make a suggestion? I, for example, come here to find out about ATV. While I know many are enamored with Twitter and I have an early account myself, I'm not so sure we all need to read tweets from you or your friends which are nothing more than political ravings. I visit CouchApple regularly but am just as regularly put off by people tweeting whose depth of analysis is limited by a bumper sticker length attention span. It is possible that some who might become very loyal to hitting your blog for tech info could lose interest after reading 140 characters of such Superior Intellect(™ SD2285 K.N. Singh). Why go out of your way to read comments (not pertaining to the reason you visited) slamming you? Perhaps it is possible to limit the tweets to site-pertinent material? Or hide it a bit in a link or something?

    As I said, my interest may fade anyway depending on the new material but this will happen much more quickly with that Twitter feed in the sidebar.

    Thanks for your consideration!
    Reply to this
    1. 1/10/2010 3:55 PM Guy McLimore wrote:
      Rick:

      Never fear, the new blog will still feature the same sort of CouchGuy Apple-centric rants you enjoy. (And thanks for the kind words about them!) I just hope to be able to add more frequent shorter pieces as well.

      I'm going to try to expand the focus a bit to include more about the Apple mobile media scene, as well as some media tech that isn't strictly Apple-originated but may be of interest to the CouchApple crowd. (It isn't all just happening in the living room, or all on Apple-only hardware -- though Apple is still setting the standard!)

      I've been waiting to see if Boxee is going to be able to bring the new Beta version to Apple TV, for example, but the Boxee Box just announced is very cool, so don't be surprised if I write about it in the near future. From what I've seen, the Apple TV is going to have to grow some to keep up. (Though I still find Apple TV 3.0 far easier to use than the Boxee Beta...)

      As to the tweets, the CouchGuy Twitter account is my 140-character sounding board for all sorts of things beyond just the blog. I do agree, however, that people like yourself who seek out the blog just for the Apple content should feel free to ignore it. For that reason, I've currently suspended the Twitter sidebar attached to the new Tumblr blog.

      Unfortunately, the only way to do that is apparently to detach the Twiler feed from the Tumblr blog altogether. Sadly, that will make the Tumblr blog a little less useful than I'd hoped at first. Tumblr allows me to pick and choose which blog entries generate automatic Twitter updates -- but as near as I can tell if I attach a Twitter account to the Tumblr blog it automatically posts all the tweets to the blog -- and that's not what I want. If anyone out there can tell me how to make the Tumblr/Twitter connection not so much an all or nothing affair, I'd appreciate it. I'm still a Tumblr novice, so there may be a way I haven't figured out yet.

      The new Tumblr blog also seems to lack a comment feature (at least one that allows me to vet the comments, which given the level of spam comments on this thing is a requirement). In the meantime, feel free to send comments about the new blog to me at couchguy@couchapple.tv and I'll post the ones of general interest.

      CouchGuy

      Reply to this
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