21st:
___ faster and deeper

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Marveling at the speed with which today's technology evolves and mutates is already an information-age cliché. Everybody knows that the online calendar moves in supersonic "Web years."

Still, speed isn't everything. Since we started Salon 21st last February, we've been committed to bringing you a more in-depth, less hype-ridden picture of the world of technology and culture than you'll find in the trades, on most technology-news Web sites and in the "digital lifestyle" magazines. Our weekly publication schedule gave us the chance to take the longer view.

That's a perspective we cherish -- and we're not going to give it up, even as Salon 21st leaves its regular Thursday slot behind and charges forward to join the rest of Salon's daily departments. Speed isn't everything -- but on the Web, speed counts for a lot.

In our new daily 21st, which starts today, we'll continue to bring you the kind of groundbreaking reporting and trenchant analyses from the front lines and back alleys of the digital revolution that you've come to expect from us. And Let's Get This Straight, Scott Rosenberg's weekly column of media commentary, will continue to appear once a week. In addition, we'll be providing faster responses to, and analysis of, the day's biggest technology stories. Beginning in January, contributing writer Andrew Leonard will join us full time, adding even more of his unique voice and deep knowledge of Net culture to our section.

We're also adding some more elements to our editorial roster so that we can bring you fresh new material each weekday. We've always provided thoughtful coverage of books about technology and culture; now you'll find book reviews in Salon 21st every week, and we're broadening our focus to include science books (and even the occasional science-fiction novel).

We'll be reviewing Web sites more frequently. And we're going to start reviewing a small number of select products -- software and hardware, essentials and gadgets. But we'll never waste your time with the kind of timid, scattershot product reviews that fill too much of the technology press. We'll write about stuff that's available, not announced or "beta." And we'll cover only the products that matter to real people.

Finally, we're launching a new feature called the 21st Challenge -- an experiment in interactive humor in which satirists Charlie Varon and Jim Rosenau will test your wit and invite your ideas.

We hope you like the new 21st! As always, let us know what you think, either in Table Talk or < href="mailto:scottr@salonmagazine.com">via e-mail.

Scott Rosenberg Salon 21st editor