> Dieter Bohn Leaving The Verge

Ten years after we founded it, The Verge continues to be the best place to discover the import and impact of technology’s place in our culture — but after today, the team will be doing that without me. After 20 years in media, I’ve decided it’s time to do something new. If you’ve been a Vergecast listener, you know that disclosure is our brand, so here’s mine: I’m headed to Google to work on the Platforms & Ecosystems team. I am excited to help shape the future of software platforms like Android and Chrome — and continue to work at the nexus of technology and culture, just in a different way.

Congrats to Dieter. Best of luck on the new position. Here’s hoping Google actually values what it is you have to say, making these products better.

Technology itself is culture, and a phone or a laptop or an algorithmic feed is in itself a cultural object just as worthy of analysis, critique, and serious attention as any piece of artwork or fashion trend. This is why I prefer the term “instrument” over “tool” as a metaphor for most technology. Both are useful metaphors, but “instrument” has connotations about creation and precision that “tool” lacks. And most importantly, it suggests that we have a relationship to the objects we use to create personal expression – to create culture.

This idea is so deeply embedded in the philosophy of reviews at The Verge that it’s difficult to see — and to a casual reader perhaps indistinguishable from a bare speeds-and-feeds kind of review. A simpler way to think of it is that we always take the things themselves seriously, living in the strange space between “just another phone” and “vital instrument our readers will never be more than a few feet away from and use hundreds of times a day to live their lives.” If that kind of object isn’t worth taking seriously, what is?

I feel like this is appropriate for his entire career and was exemplified at The Verge. I’ve often pointed both tech and non-tech friends to his product reviews because they often strike a balance of just nerdy enough to talk about the specs and why they matter with this is the real world implication and why it may or may not matter to you, the user.

His short documentary on the Treo was fantastic as well. Really brought back some memories and added a lot of background as to what was going on behind the scenes. He’ll be missed for sure.

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