What We’re Reading

We keep an eye out for the most interesting stories about Labby subjects: digital media, startups, the web, journalism, strategy, and more.

Quartz / Leo Mirani

The future of online video: A million different versions of the same ad →

“Is it creepy? You bet. But it also makes sense. The global nature of the web makes personalization essential for advertising to work as a business model.” —JB

What else we were reading on January 28

Poynter / Rick Edmonds

4 reasons The New York Times Co. won’t be sold anytime soon →

I think Rick is right here, barring intra-family surprises — and at this point, they’d be surprises. —JB

Bloomberg / Joshua Topolsky

Welcome to Bloomberg Business →

A relaunch of the former Bloomberg.com, subsuming Bloomberg Businessweek. Remarkably (maybe too remarkably) design forward for a brand not known for it pre-Businessweek. —JB

The Wall Street Journal / Steven Perlberg

Write ads? Condé Nast staff is wary →

The Verge / David Pierce

Inside the studio where ESPN is betting billions on the future of sports →

“But in 2015 sports fans have online fantasy teams and prop bets; they’re on Twitter, Vine, Snapchat, and Facebook; they’re watching games on their phones, their tablets, and their laptops. They want to read about sports, talk about sports, and watch sports while they watch other sports. If ESPN doesn’t provide those services, someone else will.” —JE

The Dish / Andrew Sullivan

“I’ve decided to stop blogging in the near future” →

Andrew Sullivan: “There comes a time when you have to move on to new things, shake your world up, or recognize before you crash that burn-out does happen.” —JB

The Wall Street Journal / Ben Cohen

Vine is redefining how we watch the NBA →

“Limited to six seconds, they are long enough to show a full play, yet short enough to consume anywhere. This season in the NBA, they have served as a second screen that never existed for all of the action that previously went overlooked. It has become almost impossible to follow the NBA closely without spending a few seconds every night re-watching what happened in Vine form.” —JL