Writing about technology for newspapers is a tough gig. You aren't just writing for us geeks. You have to write for grandpa who refuses to get a cell phone, for the boss who doesn't see a reason to upgrade a fax machine, for the mere mortals who _need_ technology "dumbed down." Not because they are dumb but because don't have a foundation of knowledge to build on -- or interest in gaining that foundation.
Though I did stop reading anything from Kim Komando once she explained how a floppy drive worked, and she got all the facts wrong. (That was long enough ago that someone might explain how a floppy disk worked.)
Personally, I liked his work when he was writing Desktop Critic articles in MacWorld -- very enjoyable, but not really technical. For example, when I received the April fools issue, I would always flip directly to the back to read his article first. However, since then (circa 2000 or so?), I haven't really followed him at all.
Comments
I wonder if he'll work remotely. ;)
I never understood the appeal of this guy, nor his qualifications. Both he and Mossberg were woefully non-technical for technical reviewers.
Writing about technology for newspapers is a tough gig. You aren't just writing for us geeks. You have to write for grandpa who refuses to get a cell phone, for the boss who doesn't see a reason to upgrade a fax machine, for the mere mortals who _need_ technology "dumbed down." Not because they are dumb but because don't have a foundation of knowledge to build on -- or interest in gaining that foundation.
Though I did stop reading anything from Kim Komando once she explained how a floppy drive worked, and she got all the facts wrong. (That was long enough ago that someone might explain how a floppy disk worked.)
His appeal is precisely that he's non-technical. There's a large audience for that.
If Pogue was the only tech reporter, there'd be a problem, but he's not. The web is full of extremely technical blogs and forums.
But Mossberg at least gets the relevance of new tech... Pogue always seems to get on bandwagons when they are extremely mature.
Personally, I liked his work when he was writing Desktop Critic articles in MacWorld -- very enjoyable, but not really technical. For example, when I received the April fools issue, I would always flip directly to the back to read his article first. However, since then (circa 2000 or so?), I haven't really followed him at all.