News [AT] Dr. Ian Cutress leaving anandtech

[gorobei]

to tech tech potato and yonder

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i look forward to paying the cat tax.

 

[krumme]

Well thanx for all the good work. Loved the interviews.
Incredible quality content for "free".

 

[Thunder 57]

What a great loss. I really don't like they way we are going with video reviews that are nowhere near as in depth on the actual technology, but just the numbers. They better find a rock star replacement as Anandtech has gone downhill enough already.

 

[Markfw]

What a great loss. I really don't like they way we are going with video reviews that are nowhere near as in depth on the actual technology, but just the numbers. They better find a rock star replacement as Anandtech has gone downhill enough already.

Yes, and for deaf people (like me) video, even with captioning is very hard to understand. Good old graphs and numbers and text are much better.

 

[AAbattery]

Yes, and for deaf people (like me) video, even with captioning is very hard to understand. Good old graphs and numbers and text are much better.

On the latest podcast episode of The Wan Show on the Linus Tech Tips YouTube channel, in their discussion about Dr. Cutress leaving, Linus said they were aware of the problem of serious tech journalism losing multiple valuable people and outlets, and they intend to expand into written articles, and also collaborate with or potentially even hire Dr. Cutress.

The part about Dr. Cutress is from 1:45:52 to 1:49:43, and the part about written content is from 2:22:52 to 2:23:55. Unfortunately no captions on their video yet, but I summarized the important points above.

 

[Ajay]

Well, that sucks. Best wishes for this fine, hardworking journalist in his new endeavors. AT has lost two of their best journalists in the past six months or so. Heck, two of the best tech journalists in he business.

 

[Hulk]

While I'm happy for Ian because I'm sure he's doing what is best for him I am going to miss the passion and knowledge he brought to Anandtech.

As we all know, Anand brought a certain style and passion to tech journalism. It's still here at Anandtech, but as the people who were here and mentored by Anand move on I hope that style and passion can continue.

If Ian's leaving was influenced by money then we need to start clicking more links around here

 

[CakeMonster]

Best of luck to Ian, I hope he goes on to something that will still allow us to benefit from his advanced knowledge and ability to communicate it.

The AT deep dives were always my go-to for new technology and architectures. Even though I never understood everything, I always had a reliable reference point to look up something when I needed to. That is getting harder these days, as now more content is on YT, as well as the written media is dominated by clickbaiters and people who make stuff up. Having no degree in circuitry I am not able to tell when I'm being bullcrapped except rely on a gut feeling. That's not ideal.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

All the best to Ian. Best of luck in your new endeavours.

I'll really miss those deep dives.

Having no degree in circuitry I am not able to tell when I'm being bullcrapped except rely on a gut feeling. That's not ideal.

Or sometimes just knowing if what's being discussed is important in the real world, or just as an academic exercise with no real differences.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Dr. Cutress did better work writing than he does on camera. A pity.

 

[DeathReborn]

https://www.youtube.com/c/TechTechPotato

Subscribe, he's worth it. If you already are, you know how good it is. His Hot Chips coverage I quite liked, very interactive with the audience and happily explains things in a nice easy to understand manner. I will miss his AT articles & wish him all the best in whatever he does next.

 

[IntelUser2000]

Hexus is dead, Hothardware is on the way there, Tech Report is on life support.

It's sad.

You lose a lot of information going to video. Picture's worth a thousand words don't apply here.

 

[Hulk]

Hexus is dead, Hothardware is on the way there, Tech Report is on life support.

It's sad.

You lose a lot of information going to video. Picture's worth a thousand words don't apply here.

For me the biggest problem with video reviews is pacing. When reading I can pause, continue to look at the word, think, process, and then continue. Can't do that with video. I mean you can pause but then you have to back up, play again, etc.. It's a mess for complex material that is difficult to digest. Also words allow you to quickly refer back to a previous paragraph quickly, look at a chart or graph, etc... If it's just presenting benchmarks then yeah, who cares about the format? But in-depth deep dives done by people who actually know what they are talking about are rare these days. Anybody with half a brain can regurgitate the tech info provided by a manufacturer but few people can analyze it, challenge it, and explain it.

 

[Saylick]

But in-depth deep dives done by people who actually know what they are talking about are rare these days. Anybody with half a brain can regurgitate the tech info provided by a manufacturer but few people can analyze it, challenge it, and explain it.

Amen. The demographic that appreciates knowledgeable, in-depth analysis unfortunately constitutes a minority in the overall tech journalism market. There's simply not enough profit doing highly technical articles to offset the time and cost required to write them. It is truly unfortunate that this is the reality of the profession. If you are a tech website or media outlet, your options are either to become a content farm and generate revenue through SEO and page views (e.g. WCCFTech, Videocardz, etc), or if you want to push out higher quality content with production value you develop a brand and sell merchandise to offset the cost (e.g. LTT, Gamer's Nexus, etc). Anandtech isn't either of those things. Honestly, given how infrequent AT articles are written these days, if AT Forums didn't exist I bet neither would the site.

 

[StinkyPinky]

I suspect he is going to Linus' new lab. Apparently it's pretty big budget and it makes sense he would be the CPU guy. (and he has his own channel also)

 

[moinmoin]

I think the approach of Hardware Unboxed (who share text versions of their videos on TechSpot.com) and ServeTheHome (who do occasional video versions of their articles) are the ones that should be used more. Dr. Cutress essentially did that with his interviews already, transcriptions here on AT, video recording on his own channel.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Gonna miss his reviews!

Good luck!

 

[bigboxes]

New isn't always better. Thanks for the years, Ian!

 

[RnR_au]

He hasn't died. I'm guessing he'll be doing more of the same. Just elsewhere. And for more money.

 

[DrMrLordX]

He hasn't died. I'm guessing he'll be doing more of the same. Just elsewhere. And for more money.

The issue is one of formatting.

 

[RnR_au]

The issue is one of formatting.

Fair enough. He is a smart cookie though, and I think he will advocate effectively for the longform format where ever he lands.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Fair enough. He is a smart cookie though, and I think he will advocate effectively for the longform format where ever he lands.

As long as there are transcripts.

 

[dullard]

For me the biggest problem with video reviews is pacing. When reading I can pause, continue to look at the word, think, process, and then continue. Can't do that with video. I mean you can pause but then you have to back up, play again, etc.. It's a mess for complex material that is difficult to digest. Also words allow you to quickly refer back to a previous paragraph quickly, look at a chart or graph, etc... If it's just presenting benchmarks then yeah, who cares about the format? But in-depth deep dives done by people who actually know what they are talking about are rare these days. Anybody with half a brain can regurgitate the tech info provided by a manufacturer but few people can analyze it, challenge it, and explain it.

I hate video reviews due to how miserably time consuming they are to search. Want to know the latency of something? Well, prepare to listen to a 2 hour video and hope it is mentioned (and hope that you are paying enough attention at that time). With written reviews, Control-F "latency" and you can instantly go to the spot you need (or to see that it isn't in that review at all).

If it isn't worth writing, it isn't worth saying. I will only watch a video review if I have totally exhausted my options and am desperate to get the result. Transcripts help, but they often are quite lacking especially with anything that requires formatting to understand well.

I liked Ian's reviews, but I didn't love them. I do wish he kept them to the facts and left his opinions for twitter.

 

[GrumpyMan]

Best wishes, may your future endeavors be profitable and fulfilling.

 

[aigomorla]

Sad to say Written Journalism is slowing dying in favor of Youtube / Ticktoc.
Forums are also not as popular as they were back in the days.

But i believe Ian also has a Youtube channel as well.

Anyhow wishing him the best, i was on this forum before he got his PHD back when Anand himself was sole owner.
It will be sad seeing one of the foundations of Anandtech leave, but nothing lasts forever.