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There's a weird amnesia in tech journalists that occurs when Apple does something and it's suddenly the first time it's been done. My hunch is that it's because
by huhkerrf 1y ago
There's a weird amnesia in tech journalists that occurs when Apple does something and it's suddenly the first time it's been done. My hunch is that it's because they use iPhones as their daily drivers and don't really use other devices except in passing. So for them it is new and the first time it's been done.
- prox 1y agoYou see this flippin’ everywhere. That song you like and think is new? Probably a cover or sample that goes back decades. We have an inherent recency bias, totally natural of course. But this is where you do journalism and research stuff.
- vachina 1y ago> tech journalists > don't really use other devices Sometimes I feel like I might as well read the spec sheets myself than read “reviews” written by these people
- npteljes 1y agoI think if a layman picks a niche, and really goes into it, then the layman has a fair chance beating the professional in that specific niche. So, you are not wrong with this feeling at all. What professionals have in their favor is a higher level overview of the subject, and experience with similar subjects. Usually this means that while they might not know a niche in an out by heart, they can discover it very quickly, or consider things that are not fitting into that specific niche. Also, these journalists might not be professionals at all.
- illiac786 1y agoThat is also true in medicine, as a side note. If you have a specific combination of conditions, or a rare condition, you will know more about it than doctors. The good ones know this and accept it. The bad ones are offended you know more than they do in this area – or simply go into denial. In the end, each body is a niche, which each one is uniquely positioned to know better than anyone else. But it’s hard to accept, for medical personal sometimes, and often for the patients themselves. They tend to want the doctor to be the all-knowing god.
- npteljes 1y agoYes, medicine was specifically what I was thinking about! And it's a touchy subject, just as you mention. A patient, a layman, isn't supposed to know more than the doctor. It's a delicate situation.
- yndoendo 1y agoTake all human knowledge as a whole pie. Out of that is, the experts only know 1/100 of a slice. We maybe experts in some minute context, yet there are so many that know so much more when removed from that context. Or rephrased, that Person who has to deal with something 80 percent of their life knows more than the person having to deal with it 20 percent of their life.
- maccard 1y agoReviews in any medium are entertainment whether it’s film, music, games, hardware, food. Ultimately it’s someone’s subjective opinion on something. If you actually want to be happy with your choices your best bet is to find a reviewer with the same tastes and preferences as you and follow their train of thought. If you hate horror movies, you’re not going to enjoy “bring her back” no matter what the critics say.
- qiine 1y agoand thats why "influencers" are big
- darkwater 1y agoEasy way to outsource your thinking. Next step in this epopee will be/is already GenAI.
- KerrAvon 1y agoYou can’t do all of your “thinking” yourself. You’re not a lone, isolated subsistence farmer. People have been reviewing things for other people for centuries, and it’s been a valuable service.
- darkwater 1y agoYou are not wrong, but one thing is thinking about what others said and thought previously, generating maybe new ideas, or maybe not, but at least making them yours. Just parroting or blindly believe what others says, it's a tad different.
- worthless-trash 1y agoI can't relate to their behaviour, so even if they had the same taste i would not want to be associated.
- qiine 1y ago
- dgellow 1y agoI mean, yes? That has been true for as long as I can remember
- frollogaston 1y agoIt seems like they do use other devices, but the reviews never make sense, or they focus on the spec sheet too much. Since like 2009, the most talked about smartphone in those tech magazines was always some random thing like an HTC Plus+ Maxx 25.
- legulere 1y agoApple however often is the first to do a new thing successfully however. Earlier products often did not achieve enough success to be viable or just in a niche. A lot of labor lies in the path from idea to a viable product.
- fennecbutt 1y agoLike what? No they aren't they wait for stuff to be proven in the market then do it the majority of the time. Face id is just them buying the company who made xbox kinekt etc.
- latexr 1y ago> Like what? Like smartphones with an entire interface focused on multitouch. There wasn’t another one of those “proven in the market” before the iPhone. Or, you know, the first mass-marketed personal computer with a GUI, and the first successful one with a mouse (Lisa, Mac). The Kinect example is nonsensical, it wasn’t as an authentication device. Even if they used the same team and technology, so much more went into it (like the Secure Enclave) than simply repackaging what already existed.
- alphakappa 1y agoJust look at the size of Kinect and compare it with faceid embedded in a phone. The word “just” is doing a lot of work in the parent comment.
- olyjohn 1y agoGot anything more recent than the invention of the iPhone? That was almost 20 years ago now....
- latexr 1y agoI do, but don’t really feel like nitpicking what counts or not with arbitrary rules we make up as the conversation goes along. I chose those examples deliberately because the conversation was about the company’s history and they are pretty unambiguous in their importance. Going in circles with “oh, that doesn’t count because it was not as recent as this undefined period of time I have my head” or any other restrictions is not interesting, and I don’t really care about defending Apple, I was simply providing a factual rebuttal.
- ohwrll 1y ago[dead]
- pjc50 1y agoThe press releases from Apple say "first time" and the journos paste it into the article.