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Ars Technica
Ars Technica logo.png
Ars Technica-front page.jpg
URL ArsTechnica.com
Commercial? Yes
Type of site Technology news and information
Registration Optional
Owner Condé Nast Digital
Created by Ken Fisher
Jon Stokes
Launched December 30, 1998
Alexa rank 1,931 [1]
Current status Online

Ars Technica (play /ˌɑrz ˈtɛknɪkə/); Latin for "Art of Technology",[2] is a technology news and information website created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, science, technology policy, and video games. Ars Technica is known for its features; long articles that go into specific detail on their subjects. Many of the site's writers are postgraduates, and some work for research institutions. Articles on the website are often written in an opinionated tone, as opposed to a journal.

Ars Technica was privately owned until May 2008 when it was sold to Condé Nast Digital—the online division of Condé Nast Publications. Condé Nast purchased the site along with two others for $25 million, and added it to their Wired Digital group that also includes Wired News and Reddit. The website's staff relocated to Chicago, Illinois, and also have offices in San Francisco, California. The cost of operating Ars Technica has always been funded primarily by online advertising. The website generated controversy in 2009 when it experimentally blocked users who use advertisement blocking software from viewing the site. Ars Technica has also offered a paid subscription service since 2001.

Contents

History

Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes created the Ars Technica website and limited liability company in 1998.[3] Its purpose was to publish computer hardware and software-related news articles and guides;[4] in their words, "the best multi-OS, PC hardware, and tech coverage possible while [..] having fun, being productive, and being as informative and as accurate as possible."[5] "Ars technica" is a Latin phrase that translates to "art of technology".[4] The website published news, reviews, guides, and other content of interest to computer enthusiasts. Writers for Ars Technica were geographically distributed in the United States at the time; Fisher lived in Boston, Massachusetts, Stokes in Chicago, Illinois, and the other writers in their respective cities.[3][6]

On May 19, 2008, Ars Technica was sold to Condé Nast Digital—the online division of Condé Nast Publications.[note 1] The sale was part of a combination purchase by Condé Nast Digital of three unaffiliated websites costing $25 million total: Ars Technica, Webmonkey, and Hot Wired. Ars Technica was added to the company's Wired Digital group that includes Wired News and Reddit. In an interview with The New York Times, Fisher said other companies offered to buy Ars Technica, and that the site's writers agreed to a deal with Condé Nast because they felt it offered them the best chance to turn their "hobby" into a business.[7] Fisher, Stokes, and the eight other writers at the time were employed by Condé Nast, with Fisher as editor in chief,[8][9] and they began relocating to Chicago.[10] Layoffs at Condé Nast in November 2008 affected websites owned by the company "across the board", including Ars Technica.[11]

Content

The content of articles published by Ars Technica has generally remained the same since its creation in 1998. Articles include commentary and opinion by the writers, and are usually accompanied by pictures for illustration, or for aesthetic purposes. They are now categorized by four types: News, Guides, Reviews, and Features. News articles relay current events. Guides instruct readers on how to do things; for example, the Ars Technica System Guide that advises readers on which computer parts to buy when building a computer. Reviews give opinionated assessment of hardware and software products. Features are longer informative articles. The website's readers can post their comments and start discussions at the bottom of each article. Ars Technica also hosts OpenForum, a free internet forum for the discussion of a variety of topics.

Originally, most news articles published by the website were relayed from other technology-related websites. Ars Technica provided short commentary on the news, generally a few paragraphs, and a link to the original source. After being purchased by Conde Nast, Ars Technica began publishing more original news; investigating topics and interviewing sources themselves. A significant portion of the news articles published there now are original. Ars Technica was criticized in 2006 for quoting a blogger in a news article without giving attribution for the quote; after the blogger raised the issue, the article's writer apologized and retroactively added attribution.[9] Relayed news is still published on the website, ranging from one- or two-sentences to a few paragraphs.

Ars Technica's Features are long articles that go into specific detail on their subject.[12][13] For example, the site published a guide on CPU architecture in 1998 named "Understanding CPU caching and performance".[14] An article in 2009 discussed in detail the theory, physics, mathematical proofs, and applications of quantum computers.[15] The website's 18,000-word review of Apple Inc.'s iPad described everything from the product's packaging, to the specific type of integrated circuits it uses.[16]

Ars Technica is written in an informal, opinionated tone, as opposed to a traditional journal, but its articles are often written by people with some expertise on the subject they are writing.[17][18] Many of the website's regular writers have postgraduate degrees, and many work for academic or private research institutions. Website co-founder Jon Stokes published the computer architecture textbook Inside The Machine in 2007;[19] John Timmer performed postdoctoral research in developmental neurobiology;[17] Timothy Lee is a scholar at the Cato Institute, a public policy institute, which has republished Ars Technica articles by him.[20][21] Biology journal Disease Models & Mechanisms called Ars Technica a "conduit between researchers and the public" in 2008.[22]

Layout

Ars Technica's page layout has been significantly changed five times since its creation, most recently in 2009.[10] The current layout consists of two vertical columns topped by a horizontal navigation bar, interspersed with two banner advertisements. Links on the navigation bar lead to the website's 17 sections. Any given article is listed under a section that organizes it by its general subject: Infinite Loop (Apple), Uptime (business), Gear & Gadgets (electronics), Opposable Thumbs (video games), One Microsoft Way, Open Ended (open source), Nobel Intent (science), Law & Disorder (technology policy), Hardware, Media, Security, Software, Staff (articles about Ars Technica), Telecom (telecommunication), Web, and Exploring Datacenters. The left column lists the most recent articles of all types and their associated images. The right column showcases the ten latest Features with larger pictures; below the Features, it lists aggregated news, job listings for technology companies in the United States and Canada, and other varied links.

Revenue

The cost of operating Ars Technica has always been funded primarily by online advertising.[23] Originally handled by Federated Media Publishing, selling advertising space on the website is now handled by Condé Nast.[8] In addition to online advertising, Ars Technica has sold subscriptions to the website since 2001, now named Ars Premier subscriptions. Subscribers are not shown advertisements, and are able to see exclusive articles, post in certain areas of Ars Technica forum, participate in live chat rooms with notable people in the computer industry, and other benefits.[24] To a lesser extent, revenue is also collected from content sponsorship. A series of articles about the future of collaboration was sponsored by IBM,[23] and the site's Exploring Datacenters section is sponsored by data management company NetApp. In the past, Ars Technica collected shared revenue from affiliate marketing by advertising deals and discounts from online retailers, and from the sale of Ars Technica-branded merchandise.[25]

On March 5, 2010, Ars Technica experimentally blocked readers who use Adblock Plus—one of several computer programs that stop advertisements from being displayed in their browser—from viewing the website. Fisher estimated 40% of the website's readers had the software installed at the time. The next day, the block was lifted, and the article "Why Ad Blocking is devastating to the sites you love" was published on Ars Technica persuading readers not to use the software on websites they care about:[23]

... blocking ads can be devastating to the sites you love. I am not making an argument that blocking ads is a form of stealing, or is immoral, or unethical [...] It can result in people losing their jobs, it can result in less content on any given site, and it definitely can affect the quality of content. It can also put sites into a real advertising death spin.

The block and article were controversial, generating articles on other websites about them, and the broader issue of advertising ethics.[26][27] Readers of Ars Technica generally followed Fisher's persuasion; the day after his article was published, 25,000 readers who used the software had allowed the display of advertisements on Ars Technica in their browser, and 200 readers had subscribed to Ars Premier.[23] Adblock Plus developer Wladimir Palant responded, stating that blocking advertisements in general is justified because websites receive revenue from them regardless of whether they are seen or ignored by readers:[28]

Only an ad that generates a sale (either directly because the user clicked it or indirectly via brand awareness and similar) provides value. If you see yourself being paid without providing a value than [sic] you either tricked whoever is paying you [...] or it is a temporary state where whoever is paying you didn’t adjust to the new realities yet.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Arstechnica.com". Alexa. Alexa Internet. 2010-04-10. http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/arstechnica.com. Retrieved 2010-04-10. 
  2. ^ "About Us". Ars Technica. Condé Nast Digital. http://arstechnica.com/site/about-ars-technica.ars. Retrieved 2010-04-10. 
  3. ^ a b "Report: Ars Technica bought by Wired Digital". Mass High Tech Business News. American City Business Journals. 2008-05-16. http://www.masshightech.com/stories/2008/05/12/daily36-Report-Ars-Technica-bought-by-Wired-Digital.html. Retrieved 2010-04-10. 
  4. ^ a b Kara Swisher (Interviewer), Ken Fisher (Subject). (2008-04-18) (Adobe Flash). Ars Technica's Ken Fisher Speaks!. Dow Jones & Company. http://online.wsj.com/video/ars-technicas-ken-fisher-speaks/3326C79E-33A6-472C-9C5C-668782EE39C8.html?KEYWORDS=%22ars+technica%22. Retrieved 2010-04-10. 
  5. ^ "Welcome to Ars Technica". Ars Technica. Ars Technica. 1999. Archived from the original on 1999-08-05. http://web.archive.org/web/19990508064339/www.arstechnica.com/welcome.html. Retrieved 2010-04-10. 
  6. ^ "The Ars Technica Group". Ars Technica. Ars Technica. 1999. Archived from the original on 1999-08-05. http://web.archive.org/web/19990508065814/www.arstechnica.com/who.html. Retrieved 2010-04-10. 
  7. ^ Carr, David (2008-05-19). "Geeks Crash a House of Fashion". New York Times. The New York Times Company. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/19/business/media/19carr.html. Retrieved 2008-05-20. 
  8. ^ a b Michael, Arrington (2008-05-16). "Breaking: Condé Nast/Wired Acquires Ars Technica". TechCrunch. TechCrunch. http://techcrunch.com/2008/05/16/breaking-conde-nastwired-acquires-ars-technica/. Retrieved 2010-04-10. 
  9. ^ a b Kara, Swisher (2008-03-17). "Ars Technica’s Ken Fisher Speaks!". All Things Digital. Dow Jones & Company. http://kara.allthingsd.com/20080417/ars-technicas-ken-fisher-speaks/. Retrieved 2010-04-10. 
  10. ^ a b "Welcome to Ars Technica v5.0!". Ars Technica. Condé Nast Digital. http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2009/01/welcome-to-ars-technica-v50.ars/2. Retrieved 2010-04-10. 
  11. ^ Kafka, Peter (2008-11-11). "Condé Nast Web Arm CondéNet’s Turn for "Across the Board" Cuts". All Things Digital. Dow Jones & Company. http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20081111/conde-nast-web-arm-condenets-turn-for-across-the-board-cuts/. Retrieved 2010-04-10. 
  12. ^ Fallows, James (2009-10-05). "Festival of updates #3: Snow Leopard and "huge pages"!". The Atlantic. The Atlantic Monthly Group. http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2009/09/festival-of-updates-3-snow-leopard-and-huge-pages/24564. Retrieved 2010-04-10. 
  13. ^ Arthur, Charles (2009-09-29). "Snow Leopard: hints, hassles and review roundup from around the web". guardian.co.uk. Guardian News and Media. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2009/aug/29/snow-leopard-apple-reviews-roundup. Retrieved 2010-04-10. 
  14. ^ "Understanding CPU caching and performance". Ars Technica. Ars Technica. 1998-12-01. Archived from the original on 1999-08-05. http://web.archive.org/web/19990508170711/www.arstechnica.com/cpu/caching.html. Retrieved 2010-04-10. 
  15. ^ Altepeter, Joseph B. (2010-02-01). "A tale of two qubits: how quantum computers work". Ars Technica. Condé Nast Digital. http://arstechnica.com/science/guides/2010/01/a-tale-of-two-qubits-how-quantum-computers-work.ars/. Retrieved 2010-04-10. 
  16. ^ Jacqui, Cheng (2010-04-06). "Ars Technica reviews the iPad". Ars Technica. Condé Nast Digital. http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2010/04/ipad-review.ars/. Retrieved 2010-04-10. 
  17. ^ a b Brumfiel, Geoff (2009-04-01). "Science journalism: Supplanting the old media?". Nature News. Nature Publishing Group. http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090318/full/458274a.html. Retrieved 2010-04-10. 
  18. ^ Bonetta, Laura (2007-05-04). "Scientists Enter the Blogosphere". Cell (Elsevier) 129 (3): 443–445. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2007.04.032. PMID 17482534. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WSN-4NMMB5G-3&_user=10&_coverDate=05%2F04%2F2007&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1287306446&_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=e5909238c0f859c8436298d6a6ff32ae. Retrieved 2010-04-10. 
  19. ^ Stokes, John (2007). Inside the machine: an illustrated introduction to microprocessors and computer architecture. No Starch Press. ISBN 1593271042. http://books.google.com/?id=Q1zSIarI8xoC&pg=PR15&dq=%22Ars+Technica%22#v=onepage&q=%22Ars%20Technica%22&f=false. 
  20. ^ "About Cato". cato.org. Cato Institute. http://www.cato.org/about.php. Retrieved 2010-04-10. 
  21. ^ Lee, Timothy B. (2007-07-06). "Google Should Stick to What It Knows Best". cato.org. Cato Institute. http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11467. Retrieved 2010-04-10. 
  22. ^ "Useful Websites". Disease Models & Mechanisms 1 (2-3): 88. 2008. doi:10.1242/dmm.001305. http://dmm.biologists.org/content/1/2-3/87.full.pdf. Retrieved 2010-04-10. 
  23. ^ a b c d McGann, Laura (2010-03-09). "How Ars Technica’s "experiment" with ad-blocking readers built on its community’s affection for the site". Nieman Journalism Lab. The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard. http://www.niemanlab.org/2010/03/how-ars-technica-made-the-ask-of-ad-blocking-readers/. Retrieved 2010-04-10. 
  24. ^ "Ars Premier FAQ". Ars Technica. Condé Nast Digital. 2009-09-15. http://arstechnica.com/site/subscriber-faq.ars. Retrieved 2010-04-10. 
  25. ^ "The Ars Emporium". Ars Technica. Ars Technica. 2001. Archived from the original on 2001-12-17. http://web.archive.org/web/20011217214051/arstechnica.com/etc/emporium/. Retrieved 2010-04-10. 
  26. ^ Asay, Matt (2010-03-09). "Is ad blocking the problem?". CNET. CBS Interactive. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10465944-16.html. Retrieved 2010-04-10. 
  27. ^ Valention-DeVries, Jennifer (2010-03-08). "To Block or Not to Block Online Ads". The Wall Street Journal Blogs. Dow Jones & Company. http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/03/08/to-block-or-not-to-block-online-ads/?KEYWORDS=%22ars+technica%22. Retrieved 2010-04-10. 
  28. ^ Palant, Wladimir (2010-03-16). "Adblock Plus and (a little) more". adblockplus.org. http://adblockplus.org/blog/the-unnecesary-ars-technica-rant. Retrieved 2010-04-10. 
Notes
  1. ^ Condé Nast Digital was named CondéNet at the time.[1]

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