Bilton leaving NYTimes tech beat for Styles

Nick Bilton, who writes the Bits technology blog for the New York Times, is leaving that gig to write for the paper’s Style section.

A note from Styles editor Stuart Emmrich stated:

I’m thrilled to announce a new arrival to the Styles staff: Nick Bilton.

Nick has reinvented himself several times during his decade-long career at The Times. His first job was art director for Business Day. He then worked with Tom Bodkin and helped develop Times Reader, our first-ever news tablet app. Then he worked in the company’s R&D labs (a patent was granted for his work), before returning to Bizday in 2009 as the lead blogger of Bits. He began writing his “Disruptions” technology column two years later.

Now, Nick is reinventing himself again, this time as a weekly columnist for ThursdayStyles, writing about the impact of technology on society and culture. In his latest incarnation, he also plans to try new column formats, making social and interactive elements an integral part of the reading experience, and exploring mobile-first columns.

It’s an ideal assignment for Nick, whose eclectic interests have led him to delve into all things tech, and to become one of the sharpest observers of cutting edge technology and what it means for the way we live and work. Nick has broken stories about Apple iWatch, Google Glass and the Google X skunkworks lab; his columns on privacy have contributed to Congressional inquiries; and he put the spotlight on the F.A.A. over the rationale for its ban on the use electronic gadgets on planes, which is now being eased. In addition to writing about technology for The Times, Nick has written two books about the tech world. His first book, “I Live in the Future & Here’s How it Works,” foreshadowed some of the seismic changes that the digital revolution would. His second, “Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship and Betrayal,” brought readers inside the culture of Silicon Valley.

Nick he will be based in Los Angeles, home to companies like SnapChat, Beats Eelectronics, Oculus and Tinder, and increasingly another center of technology and innovation on the West Coast.  But I am also encouraging to visit the home office as much as possible, as I think he would be a lively and valuable contributor to our brainstorming sessions and has some great ideas of how to enhance our presence on the Web.