Is Jakob Nielsen's UseIt column still the "de-facto" standard?

I just received my bi-weekly email from Jakob Nielsen that told me about his new usability column, over on Use It.

Is it just me, or are his columns getting more and more irrelevant? I remember finding his site, a couple of years ago and reading every single column he published - and I have been doing so ever since. I bought the book. I almost went to a conference of his. I sent countless people to his site. But lateley I only gloss over his columns. To me they become less and less interesting and relevant: Either he’s trying to sell me a report or he talks about some esoteric applications (or both, as in the current column: Investor Relations Website Design (Read the column, buy the $248 121 page report).

Thanks - but no thanks.