The Verge is ad-supported. If there isn’t effective advertising there is NO user experience. I don’t think you have any grounds to whine about hypocrisy. Ads here, ads there. If The Verge can capture more revenue serving their own ads, that’s what they should do.
Dieter seems so over everything. As Vlad points out, Google Babble isn’t even released and he’s already bored and unimpressed with it. I’m sure covering this industry could make you cynical, but it’s not that interesting to hear Dieter pronounce everything as “Ok, great, but yeah, it’s like, whatever.” Find some news you care about and talk about it. And realize that “whatever” is not compelling analysis.
