There was a common thread in the parade of articles reporting on the demise of our former place of employment -- tech blogging, as we once knew it, is dead and that other site that we once worked for was financially hamstrung from moving into the future by a corporation that didn't want to invest money in a "niche" market.

The market for information about Apple is a "niche"? The company has sold over 1 billion iOS devices; that's equivalent to one in every seven humans on the planet owning an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. We think that we can make Apple World Today a thriving and growing destination on the internet, and here are some of the ways we're going to do it:

More in-depth articles

We're big fans of Federico Viticci's posts on MacStories, and while we probably won't be writing 10,000 word reviews of Workflow anytime soon (we kid, Federico), we want to make our posts -- when possible -- more detailed and in-depth. Dave Caolo's post on Alfred Remote is perhaps the best example of this, as it includes an interview with Vero Pepperrell of Running With Crayons about the process that went into creating the app.

A mobile focus

Remember the app we had at the other site? It was actually pretty good, but updating it became a non-priority for our corporate owners. Eventually we had them pull it from the App Store since it was such an embarassment. Here at AWT there will be no need for an app, since we're using a responsive design that is readable and usable on any device regardless of screen size. Hey, and you can always save a bookmark to your iPad or iPhone home screen for instant access.

Shorter reviews

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems that most people want much more concise reviews than the tomes we sometime published over at the other place... So we'll be trying to do a balancing act between length and details. Some of this will be handled by...

More video and audio

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then video is essential for providing a ton of information in a short amount of time. One idea is to do 60-Second Tips on video so those readers who want to know how to do something can just watch a short video and walk away with knowledge they may not have had before. We'll also move more of our reviews for both apps and accessories to video. Down the road, we want to do video podcasts and livestreams.

Community

One of our Patreon goals is to add forums to Apple World Today. That's a bit scary, since forums can turn into hostile pits of vicious nastiness very quickly. So we'll wait until we have the money to pay for moderators who can keep things calm, nice, and family-friendly, but we really want to add forums. Other ideas for community? Well, there are things like Google Hangouts to do, but our favorite idea -- and one that requires a ton of backing on Patreon -- is to start hosting a series of one-day mini-conferences around the world. Dream big!

Less rehashing of news and rumors

It's the night before our launch, and we're still trying to figure out how we're going to handle news. Let's face it, most Apple websites rehash the same news over and over again. Why waste space in posts for that? We're thinking of a) perhaps doing a daily video update of news or b) just including news highlights with links in the sidebar. What do YOU think?

Fewer ads

Our biggest desire is to avoid the banner ad hell that most websites, especially those owned by our former employer, have become. That's why we're looking at doing two things: relying on a few sponsors who are depending on you to go out and buy their product to keep them afloat and supporting AWT, and working that Patreon crowdfunding. Let's throw the advertisers back into the trash heap and take back our internet; make Apple World Today your "public radio" of Apple news and reviews!

A broader outlook

We are Apple geeks first and foremost. I've been using Macs since 1984, and have been writing about the products online since 1986. But we have to look outside the Apple ecosystem on occasion to not only see what's happening with the competition, but to look at trends that may shape our future. Expect to see some posts on occasion that may talk about things other than Mac and iOS.

Well, that's it. All we can ask is that you support us, support our sponsors, and keep your bookmarks pointed toward Apple World Today. We want to succeed and grow, and the only way we can do that is through you. Thanks for joining us on this adventure!