I think John Gruber is one of the smartest analysts writing about Mac stuff anywhere. You won't recognize his name from CNET or Wired or Macworld -- he self-publishes on his Web site, DaringFireball.net.

Gruber dreams of making a living wage from his writing, but that's not easy. He prefers not to assault his readers with banners or pop-up advertising. He tried Google's AdSense program, but soon spotted a problem: advertising relies on quantity; his readers want quality.

Hence the Daring Fireball Membership Drive. Gruber is asking his readers to buy a membership in order to gain access to several perqs, including a full-content Daring Fireball RSS feed.

I signed up today -- the last day of the t-shirt deal and the membership contest. Memberships will still be available tomorrow (and the next day), but these deals expire at midnight.

If you want to see more good writing from Gruber (like this and this and this), get a Daring Fireball membership today.