The Daily Beast

As a print journalist Tina Brown conquered London and New York, something Toby Young could only dream of. Now, the former editor of Vanity Fair and the New Yorker has turned her attention to internet publishing with the launch of the Daily Beast, a culture and news site that aggregates news (or, ‘sifts, sorts and curates' according to Brown. It also has original content.

Like The Huffington Post, the Daily Beast is one of those news websites that seeks to act as a guide through the mass of information out there. Its name is taken from the newspaper in Evelyn Waugh's Scoop, it's very red, and, for as an aggregator (or, sifter, sorter and curator) is much more interesting to look at than Drudge. It resembles a cross between a British tabloid newspaper and a celebrity magazine in its glitz, boldness and confidence but somehow manages to make that appealing rather than annoying.

One of the most interesting things about the site is its neologisms. Registered users can post stories to The Cheat Sheet, The Big Fat Story is a one page visual and text summary of the big story of the day and the Buzz Board contains the thoughts and recommendations of the great and the good - currently on the site the likes of Madeline Albright, Newt Gingrich and Eric Idle.

Will it succeed? Well, Tina Brown has an awesome track record and will be very keen to lay the ghosts of Talk to rest. The site's tagline is Read This, Skip That. We think the site has enough élan to ensure that users will do more of the former than the latter.