jasoncross.org » Work

The New Job

jasoncross — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 18:25:45 +0000

I know I haven’t updated this blog in awhile…and I probably won’t update very much from here on out. Fair warning.

I got a new job as a Senior Editor at PC World. Just started last week, and I’m still getting my feet wet. Jumping in right before the Christmas holiday break and then CES is a hell of a time to start. Lots of meetings, lots of learning the product database system and publishing system and gearing up new coverage for next year and so on and so forth.

Right now, I’m getting up to speed by taking the reins of the laptop/notebook beat. But I’ll be heading up a “system group” that covers notebooks, desktops, some parts and peripherals, how-tos and stuff, things like that. It’s a goal to re-boot the graphics card coverage over there early in 2010.

So that’s all for now.

I’m Co-Hosting Press Pause

jasoncross — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:14:13 +0000

Good news, everyone! It looks like I’m going to be the permanent co-host of Mevio’s video game show Press Pause. I’ll be talking games every week with the main host Carlos Rodela. Now, Press Pause is a fairly small operation right now, but we have some ideas to expand it. Still, you should tune in. It’s a fairly quick and painless show, and we try to keep it sort of lively. Yeah, I still have a lot of learning to do about being on camera, I’m working on it. So if you’re here, you probably have at least a passing interest in what the hell I’m up to. If you want to check out the show or help the show get better and more popular, follow the action items after the jump.

Stuff for you to do:

1. Watch the show, dummy! You can also grab it on iTunes and Zune. Leave constructive feedback at presspause@mevio.com.

2. Watch live and chat. The show tapes every Thursday at 3pm. We stream the taping of the show on justin.tv/presspause, and we interact with the chat room before and after the show. We ask you guys stuff, we answer your questions.

3. We’re in San Francisco, so if you’re a developer in the Bay Area, we’d love to shoot a quick and painless interview where you can talk about your games or company or whatever. Or we can talk about the meaning of life. Or what your favorite morning beverage is. We’re not picky. And we promise not to ask how many levels or how many weapons your game has. If you’re not a developer or publisher, use the power of the many social media thingies on the Inter-tubes to tell them you wanna see them go on Press Pause.

4. Follow us on Twitter. I don’t think there’s an official Facebook page yet.

Update: Just a clarification. This isn’t a new full-time job or anything like that. It’s a one afternoon a week gig. So you’ll still see my freelance work on other sites, and I’ll continue to update here.

Samsung NP-Q320 Review at PC World

jasoncross — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:47:50 +0000

My latest laptop review is up now at PC World, for the Samsung NP-Q320. It’s a pretty good notebook for the price. At just under $1,000, I think it hits the sweet spot for price/performance for a lot of folks. Those $600 notebooks just have too many compromises, I think. At that point you might as well go for something really small and light in the $400 range. I generally prefer a notebook that is small and light enough not to be a burden to carry around (no 17″ models for me…I’m just not the market for that), and for me a really good notebook has got to have discrete graphics. Even if it’s just the extremely low-end GeForce G 105M, as in this Samsung, it’s still way better than integrated graphics.

Of course, if I were buying a notebook for myself, I’d probably wait until the middle of October and get one of those really awesome new HP Envy notebooks. They’re a lot more expensive, but oh-so-awesome. (Probably. Who knows what “gotchas” they haven’t told us about yet.)

Guest Appearance on Press Pause

jasoncross — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 14:47:10 +0000

Yesterday I went in for a guest co-host sort of appearance on Mevio’s video game show show Press Pause. Thanks to Carlos for having me on. After going over the news and upcoming releases, we chatted about digital distribution and how it’s messing up things like sales charts. It’s especially true on the PC, where you can download brand new hot AAA games the same day they’re available in stores, and those sales never get counted on the “charts.”

Anyway, I’m going to try embedding the episode after the break here. I have no idea how I did – I can’t stand watching myself on video, so I try not to do it.

Geek 101: A Graphics Card Primer

jasoncross — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:29:33 +0000

Just posted over at PC World’s Geek Tech Blog is a new feature I wrote this week called Geek 101: A Graphics Card Primer. They’re apparently going to have a series of “Geek 101″ articles, this is just the first. The article is a very high-level look at some basic terms, companies, and considerations in the consumer graphics market. It intentionally leaves a lot of nitty-gritty stuff out to avoid confusion as much as possible. This is for general computer users to get a better handle on what’s going on in the graphics market and what they should be thinking about when buying a graphics card, or looking at what graphics card comes in their next PC or notebook.

So that’s the latest freelance thing to go up. I do other posts at the Geek Tech blog from time to time, and I’m not going to link all of them here. This one was much larger and more involved than most, so I thought I’d call it out.

Where You Can Find My Work

jasoncross — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:46:51 +0000

This week I’m on Tekzilla talking about video cards. Episode 103. The host, old co-worker and all around great guy Patrick Norton, asked me where viewers can find my blog, and said something about how I should put links up here to my freelance articles. Which of course, I should do. It’s one of the reasons I started this thing, and I still haven’t gotten around to it. So let’s fix that right now.

Here are some links to recent things I’ve done. I’ll make new posts to the blog under the Work category as new stuff appears.

I post from time to time on PCWorld’s Geek Tech blog. There are too many entries for individual links.
Dell Mini 10 review for PC World.
Lenovo IdeaPad G530 review for PC World.
ASUS N90SV-A2 review for PC World. (A trend is forming!)
I did a few technology preview articles for the November issue of Maximum PC. None of it is online yet, but go check it out in print.
I wrote this Apple Tablet: A Deep Dive Look Into the Likely Tech Inside for the October issue of Mac|Life.

So that’s about it for now. I’ll post individual links to other stuff as they go online. And as always, I am for hire. See this old post for details and to download my resume.

Freelancing for Geek Tech (and hopefully Game|Life)

jasoncross — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 23:51:18 +0000

So one of the freelance gigs I’ve landed is blogging for the Geek Tech blog at PC World. I just posted my first blog post over there, a quick hands-on look at a neat Twitter and Facebook app called bDule along with its nifty Silverlight 3 based web version, Sobees. I get paid by the page view (kinda), so go check it out.

And then I noticed on Chris Kohler’s twitter that they’re looking for a talented journalist to contribute to Game|Life part-time. So if you’re reading this, you should totally go email Chris and tell him how awesome I am. His email link is on the right side of the Game|Life page.

A Truly Productive Day

jasoncross — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:32:45 +0000

Today was quite the productive day. I finally got the last of the stuff cleared out of the storage unit I’ve been renting for far too long. So that’s one monthly bill I won’t need to pay.

I also finished my first assignment as a Professional Full-time Freelance Guy. It’s nothing glamorous, just a notebook review for PCWorld, but it’s a start. I’ll throw a link up here when the review goes online.

I’m also doing the Tech Edit on one of Wiley’s “For Dummies” books. I downloaded the first of the chapters today, and I need to get crackin’ on that. Now, I’m not writing it, mind you…I’m not sure I want to open up that can of worms just yet.

Still, things are…you know…happening.

Looking for a job – take my resume!

jasoncross — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:40:48 +0000

As of this Friday, 6/26/2009, I’ll be without a job for the first time since before I left college. I have spent the last 13 years writing about video and PC games (on the web and in print), then writing about PC hardware and consumer electronics (primarily on the web but somewhat in print). Now they’re closing up Extremetech.com, at least in the form it’s in now. So we’re all hitting the bricks, as it were.

I’m not sure what the next step in my working life is going to look like, but I don’t think there are a lot of people out there with 13 years of experience doing what I do. If you think you may have a job for me, or know someone who does, don’t hesitate to contact me at jason – at – jasoncross – dot – org. (Think that will fool the spam searching algorithms?)

If you’d like a copy of my resume, you can grab it here. Because that version of my resume is public, I don’t have phone numbers for the references. I’ll be happy to provide one with the phone numbers to anyone who needs it.

You can view my LinkedIn profile here.