Ask HN: Would you be interested in a “cyberpunk” inspired news site?

#1

Post by zabana » Sun, Apr 30, 2017, 2:25 PM UTC

Hi HN,

I've been thinking about starting a blog / news site covering topics like privacy, cryptography, robotics, software etc, with a critical view on their evolution and potential effects on society at large.

Ideally it would be made of long form, researched, in depth articles and interviews with experts in those fields.

I'd also like to feature regular "hackers" doing cool stuff (like the guy who traveled to shenzhen to build his own iPhone)

What do you think of this idea ? Would you be interested in reading such a site if it existed ?

Re: Ask HN: Would you be interested in a “cyberpunk” inspired news site?

#2

Post by shellab » Sun, Apr 30, 2017, 2:43 PM UTC

Sure! That sounds great.

Re: Ask HN: Would you be interested in a “cyberpunk” inspired news site?

#3

Post by spiraldancing » Sun, Apr 30, 2017, 3:04 PM UTC

All things that I love. I'd read that.

Re: Ask HN: Would you be interested in a “cyberpunk” inspired news site?

#4

Post by brudgers » Sun, Apr 30, 2017, 3:20 PM UTC

Everything I have read and heard about successful blogs is that people write regularly for a year or two or more and eventually people care enough to pay attention. There are probably several reasons:

1. Writing and publishing everyday or so over a sustained period of time improves a person's skill at writing in general and writing for an audience in particular.

2. One of the ways popular blogs capture first time readers is with a back catalog of other interesting posts that suggest the site is worth book-marking/revisiting.

In terms of news sites, pick a topic to start because I can go just about anywhere for a random mix of subjects. Making one is probably harder than a blog because a news site is competing with Tom's Hardware, Hacker News Reddit, Google News, Facebook, and so on. Without staff, that will be really hard.

Good luck.

Re: Ask HN: Would you be interested in a “cyberpunk” inspired news site?

#5

Post by homarp » Sun, Apr 30, 2017, 3:27 PM UTC

So basically a longer version of https://twitter.com/thegrugq + hackaday ? what technical level you would target for your audience ?

Re: Ask HN: Would you be interested in a “cyberpunk” inspired news site?

#6

Post by arcanus » Sun, Apr 30, 2017, 3:40 PM UTC

I find HN (and most of modern life in general) pretty cyberpunk as it is.

Re: Ask HN: Would you be interested in a “cyberpunk” inspired news site?

#7

Post by ejfox » Sun, Apr 30, 2017, 3:41 PM UTC

That sounds really great. I think that the day-to-day "breaking news" style reporting on this subject is common, but longer more visual pieces that get into the nitty-gritty are rare.

I'm a designer and journalist very interested in similar areas. I just started releasing a podcast focusing on similar subject matter: http://metaverse.audio

If you end up moving forward I'd love to chat. ejfox@ejfox.com