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I wrote a blog post back in February 2014 that highlighted 40 blogs that inspired me, revisiting this post I decided to write about 2021 blogs that inspire me. But first how did the original list hold up in 2021?
Original list in 2021
| Name / Category | Description |
| Analysis | |
| Wall Street Journal Corporate Intelligence blog | No longer exists, the link defaults to the Wall Street Journal front page. |
| Edge Perspectives with John Hagel | – No longer exists |
| Monocle Monocolumn | Monocle has kept the archive online, but the Monocolumn is no longer updated. It has been abandoned in favour of the Monocle Minute |
| Organizations and Markets | Organizations and Markets have their archive online but wrote their last post in 2016, ten years to the day when they first started writing posts |
| Asia | |
| Analects | The Analects last post was in November 2014 |
| Asia blog | The Asia Society have a blog which alternates between amazing photography from the region and analysis pieces with an academic / think tank type feel. It is still maintained |
| Asian Security Blog | Still sporadically posted to by Robert Kelly a Korean-based professor of international relations, it has some interesting posts analyzing the complex relationships across APAC. In 2017, became better known when his children gatecrashed a television interview he was doing via Skype with the BBC |
| Bytes of China | No longer available |
| China Real Time | The blog has disappeared and now diverts to the WSJ’s Asian news section. |
| ChinaTechNews | ChinaTechNews seems to have stopped at the end of 2020 |
| Hong Kong Hustle | Stopped in 2017, but the archived posts are still available |
| Jing Daily | All things luxury sector related in China. |
| Jottings from the Granite Studio | Now diverts to Jeremiah Jenne’s personal site |
| May Daily | May Daily no longer exists |
| Scene Asia | No longer exists, instead it diverts to the WSJ home page |
| Business | |
| Andy Kessler | Blog of the business author and former Wall Street analyst, mostly just posts the copy from his Wall Street Journal articles there now. |
| Bronte Capital | Australian authored blog with some interesting analysis on some of the business stories of the day with a very strong focus on US companies |
| Strategyprofs.net | The archive is still available. The last post was written in 2016 |
| Union Square Ventures | A mix of curated content and original analysis by staff from a New York-based venture capital firm |
| Design | |
| Cool Tools | Kevin Kelly’s website which is a spiritual successor to the Whole Earth Catalog. |
| designboom | Great new product site which cover product design to architecture products, handy to look through for inspiration |
| Dezeen | Similar to designboom but more focused on architecture |
| IDSA Materials and Processes Section | No longer active |
| Thinking and Sharing | Hasn’t been updated since November 2020 |
| Ideas | |
| BBH Labs | Random assortment of posts from the innovation team at BBH, always something to think about |
| Excapite | Ideas of exploration in the network economy |
| PARC blog | Blog no longer active |
| Insights | |
| CEB Iconoculture Consumer Insights Blog | Merged into GartnerGroup’s other blog posts |
| Creative Culture International | Nuggets of consumer behaviour insights from around the world |
| GfK Insights Blog | Global market research agency posts based on some of the research they carry out, has a mixed bag of content |
| The comScore Data Mine | No longer active |
| WPP Reading Room | No longer active |
| Online | |
| China Internet Watch | Think Techcrunch for China |
| China Social Media blog | No longer active |
| Facebook Developer Blog | Less of a pleasure, more of a professional necessity to try and keep with up with the latest developments on the Great Satan of social |
| Technology | |
| Fluxx | No longer running a blog |
| Infinite Loop | Ars Technica’s Apple-focused channel, quality analysis |
| Michael Geist | Canadian expert on intellectual property and online privacy. Blogs analysis with a North American focus |
| Tech-On! | Blog no longer published in English |
| The Wirecutter | A ‘best of ‘ website that looks at different technology categories |
What surprised me about the 2012 list is how many blogs covering different aspects of China in terms of the technology scene, culture and online life have disappeared or stopped being updated. Despite the fact that now, more than ever, they are needed.
Major media outlets have walked back from building blogs based on interest areas or personalities ( like a traditional newspaper columnist).
By comparison, I have a compiled an exemplar list of inspirational 2021 blogs. I look at more but that would be ludicrously long to compile.
2021 blogs that inspire me
| Name / Category | Description |
| Analysis | |
| Marginal Revolution | Economics blog of Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok, both of whom teach at George Mason University |
| Naked Capitalism | Naked Capitalism is an educated critique of post Reagan / Thatcher Chicago School of economics |
| Global Risk Insights | A mix of current affairs and economics from an international team of policy wonks and economists |
| Lawfare | Current affairs analysis in association with the Brookings Institute |
| ProMarket | A curated newsfeed of articles on the intersection of technology, policy and economics |
| VoxEU | EU focused policy blog under the auspices of the Centre for Economic Policy Research |
| Asia | |
| Asian Sentinel | Asian Sentinel is edited by a couple of veteran Asia based journalists. The content comes from a number of experts in the region in specialisms such as finance, economics and policy. |
| Chosun Ilbo | English language Korean newspaper |
| Hong Kong Free Press | The Hong Kong Free Press is an English language online-only new site focusing on Hong Kong |
| Metropolis | English language online magazine focused on life in Japan – culture rather than policy and news |
| Jayne Stars | English language blog that collates Hong Kong celebrity news from Cantonese language media. It is was important for me to keep an eye on this when working in Hong Kong. It is also a good way to track the slow death of the Hong Kong domestic media industry. |
| Nippon.com | Online magazine ran by the Nippon Communications Foundation |
| PingWest | China-based English language site that specialises local technology sector news |
| SoraNews24 | English language version of a Japanese news site that focuses on ‘fun, weird, and intriguing news from Asia, particularly Japan’. It has some great Japanese consumer insight content including retail experiences |
| South China Morning Post | The South China Morning Post historically was the paper of record for Hong Kong. It’s medium-to-long term usefulness looks in question with the National Security Act and the Chinese government pressure for Jack Ma to divest media ownership |
| Tech in Asia | English language site that is focused on the South East Asian and East Asian technology sector |
| What’s On Weibo | English language site that provides insight into the top stories and memes trending on Chinese social media |
| The Wire China | Subscription-based online Chinese news magazine covering business, policy and economic issues |
| HKU Legal Scholarship Blog | Hong Kong University faculty of law blog on local developments |
| Design | |
| Cool Hunting | A mix of the unusual and cool from around the web |
| Cool Tools | Kevin Kelly’s website which is a spiritual successor to the Whole Earth Catalog. |
| designboom | Great new product site which cover product design to architecture products, handy to look through for inspiration |
| Dezeen | Similar to designboom but more focused on architecture |
| Core77 | Curated design and architecture |
| Retro To Go | Products with a retro design and sensibility |
| 1Granary | A magazine focused on profiling designers and artists |
| Colossal | Colossal in their own words – “an international platform for contemporary art and visual expression that explores a vast range of creative disciplines.” |
| Design milk | An online magazine and e-commerce site focused on modern design |
| Dexigner | One of the OG design blogs started back in 2001 |
| Retro To Go | Retro To Go curates vintage and new products that are retro influenced product designs |
| Ideas | |
| Ad Aged | George Tannenbaum is a 40 year creative veteran in the advertising industry. His blog is a mix of smart thinking and ranting about ageism and other isms in the ad industry (there’s a lot of them to rant about) |
| Aeon | Aeon is a smart digital magazine run along the same principles as PBS or NPR in the US |
| Baekdal | Management consultancy type content on the media industry, primarily aimed at publishers, but useful for ad people like yours truly |
| Clot Magazine | An online magazine about art that uses ‘science’ as its media – full of interesting curios |
| Creative Culture | A mix of academics and consultants covering a wide range of cultural issues. I am never sure what I’ll find here, but it’s seldom dull. |
| Futurism | Curation of interesting stuff |
| Hello Future | France Telecom has a blog about the bleeding edge of technology. Alongside the usual 5G flag waving you’d expect from a major mobile network operator there’s some thoughtful content |
| Kellogg Insight | Articles from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Many of which are well written |
| Knowledge | Articles written by INSEAD teaching staff and alumni |
| Union Square Ventures | Venture capital fund who write about some of the thinking that underpins their investment themes |
| Yale University Press Blog | A blog that covers the central ideas in the books that they publish. The articles go from current affairs to art, history and science. |
| Technology | |
| Radio Free Mobile | Despite the name, covers technology and does some interesting business analysis. I really like the way everything is delivered in succinct bullet points |
| Semiconductor Digest | Semiconductors are the most overlooked, yet important part of technology today. Well worth keeping up with the latest developments here |
| Chilling Competition | Analysis of the intersection between legal and technology, with a particular focus on anti-trust and competition law |
| Tech.eu | Europe based technology and innovation news |