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Are Engadget and Gizmodo selling out to Apple???

ok, I get that you're upset that these sites are supposed to give us their unbiased opinion on products in order to help us, the consumers, make better informed purchases. I agree. That pisses me off too. But thats just the world of marketing. The only way around it is to realize this and ONLY purchase what you need based on your own research. It's easier said than done
 
chstr said:
ok, I get that you're upset that these sites are supposed to give us their unbiased opinion on products in order to help us, the consumers, make better informed purchases. I agree. That pisses me off too. But thats just the world of marketing. The only way around it is to realize this and ONLY purchase what you need based on your own research. It's easier said than done
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Thanks for showing me that people are starting to get the point now
 
HBOC said:
It is the internet. Everyone talks, I don't really care if people bash whatever. Yes it is annoying, but i find it funny that people will defend what they bought to the death, like they actually had a hand in the design process...

There is NO ONE review/tech site that NO ONE thinks is biased. People think consumer reports is biased... just the nature of technology sites..
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I agree completely. Also, part of me obviously gets some twisted satisfaction from reading the crap because I read it.

I'm reminded of "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" when Jay asks what the internet is and Holden replies:

"The Internet is a communication tool used the world over where people can come together to bitch about movies and share pornography with one another."

Except here movies are tech products.
 
TheShagler said:
ARN!!!! I had given up on this thread and I came back one last time and I see this.

Thank you so much for understanding the point of this thread.

For all that are listening, Arn said that he would feel pretty uncomfortable writing about stuff he clearly knew about and acting as if he knew nothing (creating hype). Now layer that over willingly doing it, and getting paid for it.

That is lack of journalistic integrity. Something that Engadget and Giz, and any popular blog should hold themselves to.

There are many different ways Giz and Engadget can make money on their site. I hope that they don’t sell their credibility by selling the body (or core content) or there blogs.

And today it very much seemed like they did with apple posts. (Remember it was the fact that they created hype, and acted as if they knew nothing (when they clearly knew something) that has caused me concern.
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whats your problem?

you stated your intital conspiracy theory...fine...but then you are hackling anyone who argues against you and then praising anyone who remotely understands where you are coming from.



Here's my take....

Everyone and their mother knew the apple store was down at around 9:45am and gizmodo had only one story about it today (10:56am) before the product release at noon.

the story copied from gizmodo:

AppleInsider claims that they got word of all the product announcements coming today from Apple, including specs for a new iMac, new Mac Mini, and some other surprises. Update: K84 BEST BTR product may be a new MacBook.

MC207LL/A - K84 BEST BTR- USA
MC238LL/A - MAC MINI 2.26/2x1GB/160/SD/AP/BT-USA
MC239LL/A- MAC MINI 2.53/2x2GB/320GB/SD/AP/BT-USA
MC340LL/A - AIRPORT EXTREME (SIM DUALBAND) - USA
MC343LL/A - TIME CAPSULE 1TB (SIM DUALBAND) -USA
MC344LL/A - TIME CAPSULE 2TB (SIM DUALBAND) - USA
MC408LL/A - MAC MINI 2.53/2x2GB/1TB/NO ODD/AP-BT-USA
MC413LL/A - IMAC 21.5"/3.06/2x2GB/1TB/4670-256MB-USA
MC434LL/A - APPLE VESA MOUNT ADAPTER
MC461LL/A - MACBOOK 60W MAGSAFE POWER ADAPTER - USA

K84 Best BTR? Sounds like a new Bluetooth Keyboard. SIM dualband? Are the AirPort and Time Capsules tying in with cellphones? Apple VESA mount adapter? Since when Apple does that kind of accessory?

The new products will not be earth-shattering material—Apple won't announce anything wowiezowie without an event—but I'm curious about the whole SIM dualband thing.

Update: MacRumors claims that the ""MC207LL/A" product is a MacBook running at 2.26 GHz with a 250 GB hard drive and 2 GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 RAM." They say this is unconfirmed, though. [AppleInsider and MacRumors]



now, I wouldnt say that is drawing up hype, its simply saying what was already made public on other sites. The author of this piece didnt do any of the product reviews/write-ups either. Its very possible he had no clue, but I think he probably knew about the problems...but could still write a small blurp like he did and that is fine.

also, i was actually surprised gizmodo didnt post anything about the apple store being down earlier than 11am --that tells me they did know about the products and purposely waited until other sources mentioned it and then they posted on it.
 
iOrlando said:
whats your problem?

you stated your intital conspiracy theory...fine...but then you are hackling anyone who argues against you and then praising anyone who remotely understands where you are coming from.



Here's my take....

Everyone and their mother knew the apple store was down at around 9:45am and gizmodo had only one story about it today (10:56am) before the product release at noon.

the story copied from gizmodo:

AppleInsider claims that they got word of all the product announcements coming today from Apple, including specs for a new iMac, new Mac Mini, and some other surprises. Update: K84 BEST BTR product may be a new MacBook.

MC207LL/A - K84 BEST BTR- USA
MC238LL/A - MAC MINI 2.26/2x1GB/160/SD/AP/BT-USA
MC239LL/A- MAC MINI 2.53/2x2GB/320GB/SD/AP/BT-USA
MC340LL/A - AIRPORT EXTREME (SIM DUALBAND) - USA
MC343LL/A - TIME CAPSULE 1TB (SIM DUALBAND) -USA
MC344LL/A - TIME CAPSULE 2TB (SIM DUALBAND) - USA
MC408LL/A - MAC MINI 2.53/2x2GB/1TB/NO ODD/AP-BT-USA
MC413LL/A - IMAC 21.5"/3.06/2x2GB/1TB/4670-256MB-USA
MC434LL/A - APPLE VESA MOUNT ADAPTER
MC461LL/A - MACBOOK 60W MAGSAFE POWER ADAPTER - USA

K84 Best BTR? Sounds like a new Bluetooth Keyboard. SIM dualband? Are the AirPort and Time Capsules tying in with cellphones? Apple VESA mount adapter? Since when Apple does that kind of accessory?

The new products will not be earth-shattering material—Apple won't announce anything wowiezowie without an event—but I'm curious about the whole SIM dualband thing.

Update: MacRumors claims that the ""MC207LL/A" product is a MacBook running at 2.26 GHz with a 250 GB hard drive and 2 GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 RAM." They say this is unconfirmed, though. [AppleInsider and MacRumors]



now, I wouldnt say that is drawing up hype, its simply saying what was already made public on other sites. The author of this piece didnt do any of the product reviews/write-ups either. Its very possible he had no clue, but I think he probably knew very well...but could still write a small blurp like he did and that is fine.

also, i was actually surprised gizmodo didnt post anything about the apple store being down earlier. that tells me they did know about the products and purposely waited until other sources mentioned it and then they posted on it.
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I agree with you... With respect to Giz. They did pump up a little hype but the real protagonist here was Engadget. Giz did it a little but Engadget really pump'd it up. Posting stories the night before, and all this morning about Apple rumors.
 
TheShagler said:
I agree with you... With respect to Giz. They did pump up a little hype but the real protagonist here was Engadget. Giz did it a little but Engadget really pump'd it up. Posting stories the night before, and all this morning about Apple rumors.
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I get your point, but where exactly is your evidence they had them for days in advance? It's just speculation.

Come on. You know if they really wanted to hype it up, they'd flat out say, "Um sorry we can't comment on whether something will be released tomorrow..."
 
TheShagler said:
I agree with you... With respect to Giz. They did pump up a little hype but the real protagonist here was Engadget. Giz did it a little but Engadget really pump'd it up. Posting stories the night before, and all this morning about Apple rumors.
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what are you talking about?

i dont routinely check engagdet but i just took a look at the site..and I see one story about the apple store being down and possible new products and it was written by one person who didnt do any of the reviews/unboxing (which was all done by Josh). And that one posting just talks about how gruber/fake steves were going at it last night.

I think you are just trying to start trouble over this topic because you aren't making sense and I highly suspect your motive given you just started posting on here.
 
iOrlando said:
what are you talking about?

i dont routinely check engagdet but i just took a look at the site..and I see one story about the apple store being down and possible new products and it was written by one person who didnt do any of the reviews/unboxing (which was all done by Josh). And that one posting just talks about how gruber/fake steves were going at it last night.

I think you are just trying to start trouble over this topic because you aren't making sense and I highly suspect your motive given you just started posting on here.
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Nope not creating trouble. I was just bothered by what I saw enough to want to share my thoughts. Given the topics on this website, and the fact I've been here many times (lurker) I figured this would be a good place to start up conversation.

And thanks for doing a little research before making blatantly incorrect statements, but your statements are still incorrect.

http://www.engadget.com/bloggers/nilay-patel/

Also take a look at some of the comments on these treads. Others clearly agree with me.


http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/20/...touch-gestures-bluetooth-four-month/#comments


"oblivonbp @ Oct 20th 2009 12:04PM
Wow they released this information before the apple store updated"

"MS @ Oct 20th 2009 12:07PM
Looks like engadget were 'made aware' of these updates to post them all at once...

That's fine, but why pretend they didn't know anything, and fiegn excitment about the store going down, what's coming etc...?"


"Brian @ Oct 20th 2009 12:13PM
Agree with MS. Why have a post pretending like they don't know anything and then drop 4 fully written posts on us before the store is even re-opened? I feel cheated."


"MS @ Oct 20th 2009 12:31PM
All posts went up, perfectly formatted and edited at 12.01. In the publishing and news world non-disclosures abound, and like I said earlier that is fine. In the Macbook post they've had hands on as well, there is no problem with any of this.

What is a bit silly is for Engadget, supposedly a tech news blog reporting all that's fit to report, to open a piece on one hand about the store going down and pretend like they know nothing about what is going on, and on the other already have the details available.

I don't feel cheated, in fact I could hardly care less, but please Engadget, be a bit consistent."


"Orrett Junior @ Oct 20th 2009 1:15PM
Seriously guys, if you've checked the latest tech announcements from Engadget it is clear to see they are told this stuff way in advance, but they feign any knowledge of it. Case in point:

PS3
Zune HD
Sony VAIO X Series

When you're one of the biggest internet blogs and have more then a handful of workers in Redmond, Cupertino etc. who are willing to spill details on yet to be announced or released gadgets, software etc. it pays to give Josh, Nilay and the rest, info in advance so as to keep more information private.

Heck I'm pretty sure Engadget knows more about Windows Mobile 7, Mac Tablet, or Project Pink then they're willing to disclose.."

Clearly others too think theres something going on here.
 
TWIT a few episodes back covered the issue of journalistic integrity of a blogger or reviewer covering tech products for a company they owed their livelihood upon. Specifically, a few people took David Pogue to task for not asking El Jobso hard questions about the lack of a camera in the iPod touch 3rd gen. In an interview with Leo LaPorte, Pogue did a credible job in defending himself, but both agreed this lack of demarcation and blurring of roles was endemic in the tech reporting industry.

If you're a well respected tech journalist, etc., you either suck apple's stem (bravo to the person who coined that phrase) and join their hype producing team, or stick to your guns and be left out in the cold.

Did either site say when they got the machines? Usually it's mentioned at the start of a review. I don't see how an NDA about a prerelease product can gag a reference to it after the product has been released. If Apple's NDAs are THAT draconian, every tech blog and site should refuse to play along.

David Pogue has taken a hit on the internets after the iPod release about his journalistic integrity for being such an apple fanboy. It should be the same with others. If you're getting special treatment in return for your reviews, you should be honest and disclose that up front.
 
iOrlando said:
whats your problem?

you stated your intital conspiracy theory...fine...but then you are hackling anyone who argues against you and then praising anyone who remotely understands where you are coming from.
Click to expand...

What's really troubling is that he registered with MacRumors JUST to post this! It is even in the WRONG forum. What does this have to do with "Buying Tips & Advice"? I'm no mod (obviously), but this should have gone in the community forum..

Furthermore, if he is this tech savvy and ethical, he should have known this.. .:) Forgive me father, for I am drunk;)
 
clyde2801 said:
David Pogue has taken a hit on the internets after the iPod release about his journalistic integrity for being such an apple fanboy. It should be the same with others. If you're getting special treatment in return for your reviews, you should be honest and disclose that up front.
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This happened with a reviewer over at gamespot.com a year or so back. It was some game (like GTA and Godfather combined...something wadaa and Kane) and the guy gave it an honest review. Thing was that the publisher had paid Gamespot to give it a good review.
 
HBOC said:
What's really troubling is that he registered with MacRumors JUST to post this! It is even in the WRONG forum. What does this have to do with "Buying Tips & Advice"? I'm no mod (obviously), but this should have gone in the community forum..

Furthermore, if he is this tech savvy and ethical, he should have known this.. . Forgive me father, for I am drunk
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exactly. very strange behavior. I smell "plant".
 
I totally agree with the OP. I also read their reviews within an hour of Apple announcing them and they were very thorough. Their excitement was faked.

AnDy
 
If I was Apple releasing a slew of new products without a media event then I would sure want word to get out there quickly. The morning of release I would put some units in a car and drive them to the office of the two most prominent tech blogs.

I didn't get the impression that Giz or Engadget had too much notice. Some of the photos I saw were seriously in a parking lot.

http://gizmodo.com/5385841/apple-imac-hands-on

That doesn't strike me as having too much play time before everyone else.
 
I'm happy just to let the OP vent without insult. Can't we just give a few electronic bits to a MR newbie to rant and rave? Think of all the money we all save on psychiatrists by being part of this community.

Go ahead Shagler, rave on!
 
I did read that Apple has had these products in the can and ready to go for weeks, waiting for the go ahead from Marketing before releasing.

It could have been they carefully orchestrated delivery to the major blogs on the morning of the launch. They cover all other bases very carefully: videos, press releases, news letters, etc. etc. I wouldn't rule out this not justbeing another part of their strategy to generate hype and interest.

Apple hates details leaking. If engadget had the products long before the announcement then why have they yet to produce a review. All they have offered so far is a brief hands on.
 
TheShagler said:
Acting like you know nothing… Building Hype…. And then having Pictures, Reviews, and Positive comments moments after the product is announced is suspect, and a problem.

The Key to this problem is around the Hype that these blogs create.

Hype = Product sales.

We expect the blogs to be unbiased and to report the news, not a media for selling products to us.
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The iMac review was in the back of a car on gizmodo, which tells me they simply expected online updates and WENT TO THE STORE! Not that hard, had you been in the mall or at the store you'd probably be able to do it too.

All the Giz reviews I read were, in my brief time this and that, then they simply got the units. I could have driven 20 minutes to my store and done this just as quick, what's the big deal?

The product was shipped before the announcement, I don't see what your complaint is about.
 
In Engadgets video, he clearly says they were delivered "Dumped on us Today", I guess it's ultimately up to you to determine if today is actually announcement day or some other day. :rolleyes:

The OP does have a point, this was an issue years back, and there was a certain gaming site that had an issue (last year).

In defense of Engadget, they've always been Pro-Apple and they've clearly bitched about stuff they weren't happy with (sharp edges on the aluminum Macbook's/Glossy Display/...).

I do have to agree that Money is really the bottom line though. There's a lot of interest in Apple products and reviewing them (good or bad) generates traffic and drives up ad revenue. Dvorak was great at this and everytime PCMag was lagging, he'd bash Apple to drive hits to the site.
 
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