Scientific American used to be a great magazine, but a few years back they made an editorial decision to become less nerdy, more sensational, less interesting. Technology Review has somewhat filled the gap for me, although the new editorial policy is way more business oriented than I would prefer.

The June 2005 issue had a few interesting bits in it. Larry Lessig has a good free culture essay. And Howard Anderson, of Battery Ventures, has a somewhat shocking essay on why he no longer wants to be a VC.

Ever wonder what we did for a living in early-stage venture funding? I bet you think we spent the day searching for the next insanely great company. But we spent most of our lives in endless meetings with people who were lying to us: scientists who swore that their patents were solid and entrepreneurs who insisted that they had no competition. We lied right back at them: said our money was different.

That was the old way, and it was tons of fun, and we all made too much money. I'll miss it. But now the markets are too rational, and the returns are too small and uncertain. So, time to leave.

And while it's in the July issue, I can't help but quote this zinger:

I recently began writing a Web log, or blog (under protest: starting a blog at this late stage feels a little like developing an interest in disco music in 1980)
tech
  2005-07-23 20:13 Z