Letters To Burn

A number of people already know about this, so I thought it was time to clear things up for those who don’t.

After the 8th of January I’ll no longer be writing for CNET UK, or working for CBS Interactive. It has been an incredible three years, but some offers are too large and too exciting to pass up. As of the 11th of January I will be the Editor of Wired.co.uk at publishing house Condé Nast.

Some of the most amazing people I have ever met, I met either at CNET, or as a result of working at CNET. Almost all of my closest friends are people the three years I spent working here resulted in me meeting. And on top of that, I’ve never had as much fun as I’ve had over the last 1,000 days.

1,000 days. Funny. That’s how long hamsters live.

But I digress. Aside from Wired, Condé Nast also publishes Vogue, GQ, Glamour, Vanity Fair and many more magazines and websites besides, most notably outside of the realms of recondite sciences and technology. So it’s going to be an exciting, and challenging transition from a company which almost solely focuses on technology.

Sadly though, it’s a transition which involves leaving behind the CNET UK Podcast, and my corner of the CBS testing lab (which to be fair, as Senior Editor rather than Editor or Reviewer, I’ve spent more time in recently composing music than testing kit). But in addition to running Wired.co.uk, I’ll have the opportunity to delve deeper into covering the future of technology, science, culture, art, music, space tourism, bio-engineering, video games and loads more besides, than I’ve ever been able to explore before.

There’s an amazing team at Wired I can’t wait to join, but at the cost of an amazing team at CBS I’m gutted to be leaving behind.

My Twitter username is @natelanxon, and I hope to see you at Wired.co.uk from the 11th. Here’s its site-wide RSS feed to get you started.

Alphabites — the grapheme-shaped potato food cherished by British mouths in the 80s and 90s — truly were the finest of noms. But, alas, after months of attempting to track down a pack, I have sad news to report.  This morning, Birds Eye responded to my ultimately futile quest.

“Hello from Birds Eye,

I’m sorry to tell you that we have stopped making Birds Eye Potato Alphabites due to low demand. As a regular buyer, this is obviously disappointing news for you and I apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

They’re right, it is disappointing news.

But I can offer some advice for the similarly miffed. Both the alphabet, and the humble potato, are essentially open-source products with which you are free to distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon. So no-one will stop you crafting your own. Just don’t call them Alphabites or it’ll be Birds Eye frying you.

CC image credit: Angelsk