We're looking for someone to join us. We're looking for a smart, competitive journalist to cover Web tech news and to synthesize that news into the analytical and conceptual articles that we're known for.

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The ideal candidate possesses a knowledge of - and definite interest in - emerging Web technologies. We want a self-directed candidate who is the perfect mix of ambitious reporter, critical thinker and smart writer. This position is full-time and is one of the top news blogging jobs on the Web. Not only will your work be read by the millions of visitors who come to ReadWriteWeb each month, it will be syndicated on nytimes.com and will shape how tech news is covered online.

Qualifications

• You must have three to five years of journalism experience, with a solid knowledge of basic HTML and an ability to utilize social media and other online tools as a reporter. An understanding of Web-based journalism and digital media trends is a given.
• You must be a versatile writer, someone who can cover spot news at a moment's notice and then turn around and write thought-provoking news analysis. Experience working in a fast-paced editorial environment with tight deadlines is desirable.
• Sharp news judgment and high journalistic standards are mandatory, as are excellent writing and self-editing skills and an entrepreneurial attitude.
• Geographic location is not important but dependable access to high-speed Internet is. ReadWriteWeb works entirely in a real-time virtual environment and your ability to stay connected is paramount.

Ever wondered what RWW looked like 8 years ago? In this post I nostalgically look back on 8 years of homepage designs for ReadWriteWeb.

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In 2003, it was just me, blogging in my proverbial pajamas after the day job (I was a Web Manager at the time). In 2011, ReadWriteWeb is a much different thing. It now has 17 people working for it, 13 of whom are full-time. And we're looking for more. Yet it's still based on the same principles: exploring new web technology with a passion. ReadWriteWeb was, and still is, focused on discovering and discussing what's next on the Web.

There are so many things different about the blogging environment in 2011, compared to 2003, that it would take an 8-part content series to list them all. Instead I'll just note that ReadWriteWeb has always been a two-way experience. A big part of why I started RWW in 2003 was to network with people building and writing the new Web. In 2011, it's two-way in a lot more ways. RWW readers can now tweet at or about us, have a conversation on our Facebook Page, comment on our site using a service that connects to other social media, and so much more.

Not to be too pitchy, but we're extending the two-way concept to ReadWriteWeb's 4th event: the two-day long 2WAY Summit in New York City on 13-14 June. I'm very excited about this event, because it's another way that RWW has extended itself since those humble beginnings in 2003. I'm also proud of the 6 channels that RWW now has under our umbrella, from ReadWriteEnterprise to ReadWriteMobile.

Here's a look back at some of the RWW designs over the years, starting from my own DIY efforts in 2003 to the much more professional touches of our tech stars Jared Smith and Tyler Gillies in 2011.

When I started in April 2003, ReadWriteWeb sported the default template of Dave Winer's blogging software Radio Userland.

Like many enthusiast bloggers, then and now, I started out doing everything myself - including the design work. The first proper design I did was in September 2003 and it was, believe it or not, green (well before the Other Green Tech Blog arrived on the scene).

Even greener! The version below is circa May, 2004. Not my best tagline work...

This version is an iteration from January, 2005 and featured giant pencils. Those were from one of my favorite artists, John Baldessari and his exhibition READ/WRITE/THINK/DREAM (not where I got the name of the blog btw, that is explained in the debut RWW post).

RWW went red sometime around November 2005 - and that's been our color ever since! The image below is a later iteration of this:

The foundation of our current design went live over Christmas 2007:

For posterity, here is today's homepage design. And yes we will be doing a re-design this year, although I am rather fond of this design :)

I wrote most of the following words 3 years ago, on our fifth birthday. But it's as relevant today: thank you to all our readers, sponsors and supporters over the years. It continues to amaze me how many great people I meet through blogging, all over the world!

This version adds features that improve monitoring, performance, and maintenance tasks.

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Instances in the Admin Console

The release includes a new page in the Admin Console that allows you to view information about all server instances currently in use by your app, including info about Average QPS, latency, and memory. This feature requires no configuration.

Task Queue Improvements

Maximum bucket size that you can specify during task queue configuration is up from 50 to 100. And there's a new "Run Now" button in the task queue as well.

Delete All (or Part) of Your App's Data

Calling this an "experimental addition" to the admin console, there's a new simple UI for "delete all entities" - or all entities of a given kind - in your datastore. You can enable this functionality in your app.yaml file with:
builtins:
- datastore_admin: on

With this, you'll be able to see all the entity types in your Admin Console that you can delete.

But two caveats: first, this is only available by default for Python (although Java will come in a future release, says Google). And these deletes will use resources that count towards your daily budget.

Python Pre-compilation On By Default

Google announced a python pre-compilation feature in 1.3.5 of the SDK and it's now turned on for all new python app uploads. You can disable this by adding the flag --no-precompilation on theappcfg.py command line when uploading your app.

There are some additional bug fixes in this SDK. The full release notes are available in Python and Java.

We'd like to grow our Facebook fan base, as it's a good way for us to interact with you outside of our own website. So to encourage this, we will be mailing our Facebook fans this once-only offer within the next 24 hours. Join our Facebook page now to be certain of receiving this offer.

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We invite you to find out more details about the ReadWriteWeb iPhone app and download it now from iTunes.

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I'd like to thank the developer of the app, Nicolas Koenig, who runs an iPhone development shop from the Netherlands called Toopia. Toopia also created the Thermometer iPhone app, which enables your iPhone / iPod touch to get the current temperature based on your location.

I'd also like to thank ReadWriteWeb's Webmaster Jared Smith and Marketing Manager Elyssa Pallai, who both put in a lot of work to develop this app.

So check out the new ReadWriteWeb iPhone app and download it from iTunes. Then tell us what you think!

Camera Plus Pro is the only iPhone camera app which offers geo-tagging, full-resolution photo editing, and multiple and simultaneous photo uploading to various sites. You can tag, search and personalize photos. Visit now and explore other power-packed features!

We've hired a couple of experienced practitioners of cloud computing as our daily writers for ReadWriteCloud. Mike Kirkwood is a seasoned Enterprise Architect from Berkeley and has been a Sr. Manager supporting large consumer applications. Tim Hastings is a hands-on Technical Architect of web services, based in England. In addition, ReadWriteEnterprise editor Alex Williams will oversee the site and be a contributing writer.

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ReadWriteCloud aims to combine knowledgeable editorial and active community involvement around virtualization and cloud computing. We hope it will become the best source available for IT managers who want honest discussion and practical solutions on these topics. Its editorial focus is not on specific products - but on ideas, innovative solutions and new ways of thinking for cloud computing and virtualization.

With our two highly experienced topic experts and the editorial hand of Alex Williams, we're sure that ReadWriteCloud will help you gain new levels of efficiency and control over your web-based infrastructure. Check out ReadWriteCloud here.

Sean will assume responsibility for sales, business development and operations. You can reach him at sean@readwriteweb.com. Sean is at the Supernova conference this week in San Francisco, so if you're there too then feel free to greet him in the hallways.

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I'd like to thank our outgoing COO, Bernard Lunn. You will see Bernard's name around in 2010 I'm sure, as he's going to be working on a new startup opportunity.

2009 has been a great year for ReadWriteWeb and in partnership with FM Publishing, we've gained significant revenue growth during this time. So I thank Bernard for driving this for us and we wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

2010 is going to be another big year for ReadWriteWeb, so we're excited to have Sean on board!

Our Spain channel is edited by Ignacio García Ramos. Ignacio and his team will combine translation of ReadWriteWeb posts with original posts about Spain's Web market. Like the mothership ReadWriteWeb, the Spain channel will focus on Web trends and products.

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We're grateful to our partners IntegralCom, a Spanish web agency and consultancy firm based in Madrid. CEO Miguel Galera and Corporate Development Officer Eduardo Vilar have been instrumental in organizing ReadWriteWeb Spain.

Ignacio gave us the following background about Spain:

"We happen to be a country with very few English speakers (by European standards), so we feel that bringing home a valuable piece of Sillicon Valley and making it accessible to our entrepreneurs, startups and hobbyists is a way of contributing to pushing this country forward in technology. We would like to gather a community of decision takers and influential professionals around ReadWriteWeb Spain and make things happen.

Our economy has largely been based on construction and the economic turmoil has hit us hard. There is talk of "changing bricks for computers". We want to be at the cutting edge of this movement and we found no better vehicle than ReadWriteWeb.

We also share a lot of ReadWriteWeb's interests, like the semantic and the real-time web; and values such as analytical, uncompromisable journalism. It's great to stay current on those issues, thanks to your updates [at ReadWriteWeb.com] and best practices, but we'll also broadcast news and trends from this side of the Atlantic."

You can also follow ReadWriteWeb Spain on Twitter @rwwes - and all of our country sites at the Twitter list rww/international.

The opening post, translated in English here, was written by Jaime Garcia Cantero and is an in-depth look at Internet trends in Spain. Jaime Garcia Cantero is an associate of IDC Spain and assistant professor of IDG Communications of the EOI. He is considered to be one of Spain's most influential analysts.