Author: Edouard Chazal

Farewell, The Magazine.

Glenn Fleishman :

“In the newspaper and periodical world, we spell some things differently for reasons of space and to make sure the meaning isn’t lost. The first, or lead, paragraph (graf) of an article is called the “lede”: it’s where we tell you what the story is going to be about before we tell you the story. “Burying the lede” is when you hide the most important fact farther down, as I’ve done here.”

The Magazine was much more than what it used to be called.

Originally initiated by Marco Arment, the former lead developer at Tumblr and the founder of Instapaper, its aim was to promote longforms and to be the simplest magazine platform for plain text on the iPhone and iPad. No PDFs, no cumbersome layout that’s trying to fit the large and small screens at once, just the interface filled with a beautiful typography.

Thanks to a little monthly-subscription, the editor and owner (in this case Glenn) commissioned writers on virtually any kind of stories.

Back in August, I sent an email to Glenn to thank him for his work and his commitment, also to let him know that I was keeping my subscription on, even though I wasn’t reading it much lately. Maybe I sensed what was going on ?

Today, this proved to be unsuccessful and I’m sad to hear that it is shutting down as I am a long time subscriber — since Marco released it —, an enthusiastic reader and a firm believer that this was the way to produce, or at least to build the modern platform that magazines deserve.

This was one of those service that you were willing to support for a few bucks, just to let it operates by itself. Like funding a nonprofit organization in the background.

Farewell, The Magazine.

→ Glenn Fleishman

Achieving Your Life’s Work

Michelangelo did not look up one day, climb a ladder, paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and then head home for dinner. He worked, toiled, and struggled for four long years. He lay on his back (a not-too-comfortable position to work in at length) and committed to bringing a vision to life. He endured plaster falling on his face and plans foiled and reformed. Today we are the great beneficiaries as we look up at the soaring frescoes that stand as a testament to that commitment.

→ Gneo

Revisiting the Lehman Brothers Bailout That Never Was

Inside the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, time was running out to answer a question that would change Wall Street forever.

At issue that September, six years ago, was whether the Fed could save a major investment bank whose failure might threaten the entire economy.

The firm was Lehman Brothers. And the answer for some inside the Fed was yes, the government could bail out Lehman, according to new accounts by Fed officials who were there at the time.

***

Those teams had provisionally concluded that Lehman might, in fact, be a candidate for rescue, but members of those teams said they never briefed Mr. Geithner, who said he did not know of the results.

→ The New York Times

Do We Need To Fire PIMCO ?

Update : Now Felix Salmon thinks PIMCO should exit the mutual fund business altogether.

Virtually no large pool of assets in this industry is completely Pimco-free, whether we’re talking about Total Return or any of their other funds and SMAs. The issue cannot be ignored because the end-customers of these investors will have read plenty on the topic this weekend and will have questions and concerns of their own. No amount of reassurance from Pimco can change this fact right now.

This is the question that will lead off almost every investment committee meeting on earth tomorrow.

→ The Reformed Broker

Ello, goodbye.

Aral is leaving Ello :

When you take venture capital, it is not a matter of if you’re going to sell your users, you already have. It’s called an exit plan. And no investor will give you venture capital without one. In the myopic and upside-down world of venture capital, exits precede the building of the actual thing itself. It would be a comedy if the repercussions of this toxic system were not so tragic.

Personally, I don’t really mind VCs selling my datas to advertisers and brands. That’s the price I’m willing to pay for a good service.

The other way to build a social service like this would be to set a subscription, like App.net does, though it has not proven to be very popular.

Now, how to maintain a service without funding ?

This is mythical. I think Aral’s note falls short without explaining his ideal way to fund a company and feed its employees.

Venture Capital might not be the perfect match between privacy and social medias, but I think it sustains creativity and encourage entrepreneurs to take risk — sometimes in creating some pixel-perfect layouts.

→ Aral Balkan