I just finished following the live blogging from 3 different sources: MacWorld, the NY Times, and Engadget. Why is this important? Well, if you’re interested in the live blogging of events, this is a good hint at where to look in the future. Until now, I was never sure myself; now I know who’s got their shit together.
First, theoretically MacWorld should have had the best coverage. In the end, they had the worst by a mile. A complete mess. Five minutes into the presentation their internet connection went dead (nobody else had a problem). Because of this, I would assume, they switched from what would have been the best interface to a regular blog page, but there was no auto page reloading and new entries were on the bottom of the page, not the top. A pain in the neck. They had a few images. The text was well written, made better by the fact that they had three people simultaneously live blogging (Jason Snell, Dan Moren and Jonathan Seff). The content was okay (more images, please), the interface made the live blogging useless.
Update: Jason Snell responds in the comments, including a detailed explanation of what happened with their technical issues.
The New York Times did a good job, but their coverage might be different than you’d expect. Not a lot of images during the presentation, but the text is expansive and well written. If you like reading about the event, check out the Times live blogging. In terms of the interface, it’s nothing special: a regular blog page that you’ll have to refresh yourself. At least new entries are posted on the top of the Web page. I give them credit for that.
Funniest line from the NY Times coverage:
I’m cutting out all of Mr. Jobs’s “phenomenals†and “amazings†and “incredibles,†folks. Just assume they are there.
Who had the best coverage? Engadget had the best coverage because of the ridiculous number of clear pictures. Their downfall was the the text descriptions, but this is live blogging of a consumer product roll out, so you want the pictures, right? I think so. But there needs to be better technical specification descriptions. Plus, for live blogging, Engadget had the two features that are necessary: sorting most recent updates at the top and auto refreshing of the page.
Funniest line from the Engadget coverage:
“We have a breakthrough deal with AT&T.” Wow. Some serious sharp intakes of breath here.
Did I miss some good live bloggers? Who do you think did the best live blogging of the iPad announcement?