In a break from traditional content, here's something that the 361 team recorded a few days ago... It's AAS & AAWP editor/publisher/owner Rafe Blandford's 'origin' story. Packed with details that even I didn't know and with a few chuckles along the way, this is a must-listen hour of chat for anyone who reads the sites. 

From the 361 podcast description:

This week we put Rafe Blandford in the spotlight - his formative experiences with Psion devices (and broken limbs), founding the ‘all about’ empire, being a blogging pioneer and getting ‘inside Nokia’. Rafe shares his experience at the fore-front of online media, hitting 1m readers per month, ‘really big servers’, knowing more about Nokia than Nokia Execs and being laughed at by Steve Ballmer.

And here's the audio itself - a quick tip: listen after the closing credits - there's a bonus 10 minutes of reminiscences that you'd otherwise miss!

Very interesting - even if I get the impression that the AAWP years were skipped over too much due to time constraints. Maybe this episode should have been an hour-long special?

You can subscribe to the 361 Degrees podcast here via RSS, of course, if you're new to it. And then, in case you want more of Rafe's voice, there's our own AAWP podcast. The AAS podcast finished at the end of 2014.

I was left wanting more though! More on the AAWP years, more on his view of the future, more on his love of walking in Wales, more on concrete, etc. If you have any extra questions or topics to ply at Rafe, maybe we can tackle them in a quiet week on the AAWP show!

PS. Then and now (below)! 2004 and 2016: