Where Geeks Go for News

Joe St Sauver, Ph.D.
Director, User Services and Network Applications
joe@uoregon.edu

Users sometimes ask where they can go online to keep up with technology news (besides keeping an eye on UO's Computing News, of course!).

The most timely news usually propagates through the technical community via a variety of mailing lists and Usenet newsgroups. However, the volume on some of the more popular lists and newsgroups can be overwhelming.

For big stories, most users will be just as well served by checking some of the more popular web-based computer and network news resources. Some of the more popular sites of this type are (in alphabetical order):

• ArsTechnica ( http://www.arstechnica.com/ )
  "The PC enthusiast's resources."
  
• CNet News.Com ( http://news.com.com/ )
  Offering a "mainstream" technology focus, CNet provides a nice source for conventional technology news and analysis, commonly featuring items from Ziff Davis technical publications.
  
• Freshmeat ( http://freshmeat.net/ )
  Excellent source of news about Linux (and other Unix, and Palm OS) software.
  
• [H]ard|OCP ( http://www.hardocp.com/ )
  Hardware news and evaluations.
  
• IDG.net ( http://www.idgnet.com/ )
  "The Global IT Network," IDGNet usually features stories from Computerworld, ITworld, MacWorld, PCWorld, and related titles.
  
• Internetnews.com ( http://www.internetnews.com/ )
  "Realtime News for IT Managers."
  
• Kuro5hin ( http://www.kuro5hin.org/ )
  "Technology and culture, from the trenches."
  
• LWN: Linux Weekly News ( http://lwn.net/ )
  "Your Linux info source."
  
• Network World Fusion ( http://nwfusion.com/ )
  Describing itself as the "leader in network knowledge," Network World Fusion is an excellent source of network-related news and information.
  
• SiliconValley ( http://www.siliconvalley.com/ )
  . "Inside the Tech Economy."
  
• Slashdot ( http://slashdot.org/ )
  Billing itself as "News for Nerds. Stuff that matters," Slashdot is an incredibly influential site viewed by hundreds of thousands of users each day. Slashdot is so popular and so influential that mere mention of a website on Slashdot can result in a sudden stampede of viewers, often enough to slow or crash some sites (a phenomenon generally referred to as a site "being /.'d").
  
• The Register ( http://www.theregister.co.uk/ )
  The Register's motto is "Biting the hand that feeds IT," and it can be counted on to have a variety of interesting and timely articles.
  
• Tom's Hardware Guide (http://www.tomshardware.com)
  The best source on the network for detailed analysis of current and forthcoming PC hardware.
  
• Wired ( http://www.wired.com/ )
  The Wired News website is the online companion site for the magazine Wired and is perhaps at its best when providing in-depth and forward-looking coverage of technology issues.