Howdy! Remember when I used to write about software and Apple stuff? It’s been a while, right? Sometimes, just sometimes, I get people asking me about when I’m going to do more of it. I honestly don’t feel the same feverish passion about Apple stuff the way I used to. It’s not that I like Apple’s products or the software that I use on them any less. I use my iPhone and Macs just as much as I ever did. Perhaps even more since I got the MacBook Air that I’m writing this on. It’s just that I don’t care about the news cycle anymore. I don’t read Apple blogs anymore. A lot of that has to do with the fact that I switched from Google Reader to Fever full time again, and Fever does a good job of just giving me the really hot news items. I occasionally click on a link to Macstories but it’s not everyday. I don’t go to Apple blogs just to skim. The big blogs (read: blog networks) have a bland voice and I don’t find them interesting. I fell in love with Smoking Apples long ago because it was independent, beautifully laid out, and I liked Milind’s voice. They were great about finding beautiful and interesting software, which I argue, is the most exciting thing about computing. The big blogs, if they ever find these cool little pieces of software, are really late to the party. The smaller guys were much faster and had better taste. There were plenty of small sites thought that ran reviews on every shitty little piece of software that they got App Store promo codes for. I, as well, was guilty of taking free software, and then reviewing it even though I didn’t give two shits about it. Remember that location-based iPhone game I reviewed? Bored me to tears to write about it, but I did it because I felt compelled to. Why? I don’t know. It’s not like I even requested the promo code.

So Smoking Apples kind of died a long slow death. The writers (and content) slowly disappeared. I still don’t know why. But it’s like a case of the flu, once someone catches the bug to not write, other writers pickup up on the sinking ship feeling and stop writing as well. And when my favorite Apple blog started fading away, so did my overall interest in keeping up with the news cycle. I still enjoy talking about Apple stuff; I have an Apple podcast that I do with Gabe Glick, but that’s not every week anymore, and we save the show for big topics and often have guests on to talk about things. It’s a communal experience where you’re sharing your thoughts with others in real time, not just yelling at the great black void that is the Internet. It’s a tough thing trying to be serious about writing when you don’t know if anyone’s listening. Building an audience is hard. Even if you’re saying things that people might like to hear, it’s a pain in the ass getting that message to their ears to begin with. I made a lot of great connections through Smoking Apples, and then subsequently pissed them all off through Twitter.

So what’s my point with this post? Hell if I know. I think what I was trying to get at was I would like to write about Apple stuff again, but for the last six months, I haven’t been able to work up the passion for it. What I do know is that I don’t want to write the same stuff that TUAW and Macstories do. I’m more into the weird tinkery stuff that Dr. Drang or Practically Effecient do.