At the rate the market is going, Apple may need a sub-$500 laptop on Tuesday » VentureBeat

At the rate the market is going, Apple may need a sub-$500 laptop on Tuesday » VentureBeat:

Former Engadget editor Ryan Block more or less wonders the same thing in asking if the time is really right for Apple to be launching new expensive laptops. While, as he notes, the wheels for the new machines were set in motion long before Apple could have known the current economic situation, Block wonders if now wouldn’t be the perfect time for a netbook — a cheap sub-laptop computer — rather than new MacBook Pros.

A great example of why I stopped reading Block and Engadget.

First, he’s an Eeyore — no matter what happens, he finds a way to spin it so it sucks. (Me: “Hey, Ryan, Apple just dumped the NDAs on the iphones!” Ryan: “yeah, but they haven’t released the source code. they suck”). As they say in the newspaper business (what’s left of it), “good news doesn’t sell newspapers”. Ryan bought off on that mentality, in spades. It gets tired after a while, because there’s both a lack of balance and perspective. One wonders (a) how a company as incompetent as people like Block seem to see Apple (because everything sucks and is flawed) stay in business, much less flourish, and (b) if their products really ARe that bad, why they bother doing business with the company. Other, of course, than the fact they’re paid to write about them… (Erica Sadun is another one on my Eeyore list, although she’s not nearly as bad at it Block is and is actually worth reading some of the time)

Second, it’s typical Block-think. “I want a netbook”. “Economy is going bad”. “Therefore, Apple should release a netbook”. I’ve already talked about why I think Apple won’t do something like (or called) a netbook, but it’s kinda sad to see pundits like Block decide something (like “Apple should release a netbook”) and twist every argument around justifying that idea (Me: “Wow, tornados just obliterated half of Kansas City” Ryan: “Apple needs to release a netbook, so it can donate inexpensive computers to all of those people without homes”)

Having watched the Apple “fanboy pundit blogger analyst media wonk” people for years from the inside, it became clear which ones had a clue, and which ones were playing the “push my own agenda” or “I’m the real story here” games. Those two groups, I simply stopped reading, and life became a lot more fun…. you can guess what category I put Block and the Engadget guys in…

And while the concept of “being an eeyore” might be obvious to most, here’s my classic example of what it means to be an Eeyore:

Me: Hey, Eeyore. Look! It’s a Lamborghini!
Eeyore: They’re way too expensive…..
Me: I’m buying it for you! It’s a gift!
Eeyore: but insurance will be so expensive…..
Me: No, I’m paying your insurance, too!
Eeyore: yeah, but it’s red. I don’t like red cars.

Me? I stop wasting time with the Eeyores, because all they really prove is it’s never good enough. So why bother?

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