Nearly Afar
There was a time, not too long ago, that I was fairly well known as a technology writer with a decidedly “pro-Apple” bent. I never really minded that description because it felt roughly accurate — most of the stories I wrote about Apple were undoubtedly positive. I felt that was warranted. There was a lot to be positive about over the past 20-some years as the company went from the brink to the most valuable company in the world! These days, I seem to get hit more with the opposite stick. That I’m too anti-Apple in my stances on various things here on Spyglass. To that I say: also fair enough! I think there’s a lot to be critical of as the most valuable company in the world continues their quest to figure out the always-important question: what’s next?
My point is simply sort of the point of this whole site: to give honest takes and opinions on various topics. Do I have my own biases? Sure, like everyone, I have things I like and things I don’t like. And now I have a myriad of financial conflicts given my work as an investor over the past dozen years.1 But I do try to challenge those beliefs from time to time — and to write about them! – that has also been the story of my entire technology career, starting as a PC diehard and Windows-fanboy before jumping ship to Apple when I simply found their products to be superior for my needs. And then working at Google for over a decade. But I have no agenda beyond putting those opinions and thoughts out there into the world. It’s as much for me as it is for anyone else. A notebook, of sorts. Published for all to see.
As this site has grown, a number of companies have started reaching out about various things I’ve been writing here. And so I figured it was a good point to jot down my stance on how I’m going to engage with such interactions.
Given that I’m no longer a reporter, nor do I aspire to be one again, I’m not in the business of doing briefings. I’m happy for others to do those and, if interesting, for me to link to those takes with some of my own thoughts. Likewise, I’m not really aiming to do reviews of most things. But again, if something interests me enough, I’ll probably write down some thoughts about it! Not under embargo, but rather whenever the inspiration strikes to write about something I’m legitimately interested in, and using.
I will, occasionally, agree to talk to/meet with a company if there’s something of enough interest that I can’t otherwise get access to on my own (think: pre-release products or the like) if I think it will help form my own thoughts on various other topics.2 But for the most part, I aim to keep my distance, writing from afar.3
That last bit has always been a key part of Spyglass, to me — and the very name of the site plays into it, of course. After years and years being on the inside, as it were, I aim to have a stepped-back vantage point to both challenge my own thinking and hopefully clarify my writing. It’s the hope of built-up knowledge mixed with new perspective to yield illuminating insights.
But that all sounds terribly pretentious. I’m really just a guy reading a lot and writing down thoughts to clarify them. Some people have found this useful in the past to their own thinking and workflows, which I’m always grateful to hear. Mainly, I just wanted to jot this down to be able to send it to a subset of people who reach out without repeating myself over and over again.
1 Admittedly, I've been sort of sporadic in always explicitly calling out such financial conflicts -- again, I'm not a journalist -- but I'm going to try to be better about it just for transparency's sake, if nothing else. And because I'm happy with/proud of those investments/stakes! But obviously my aim here isn't to boost my own book, as it were, so I'll be more clear on that.
2 And, of course, if I'm factually wrong about something in an opinion I write! I will correct such things, obviously.
3 One thing I'm especially mindful of here: agency capture -- aka: regulatory capture. That is, the notion that the interests of various companies tend to creep in to the writing when you talk to them a lot. This sounds nefarious, but it doesn't have to be -- it's also just a part of human nature for conversations to naturally bias thinking and thus, writing. I've been doing this long enough that I see it time and time again all across the web. I've felt it too. I am not immune! Apple gets accused of this influence the most, but it's all over, from companies big and small. From publications big and small. I really want my thoughts to be fully my own without such influence creeping in...