MacOnMacs: Judge your "experts" wisely

I just finished reading the Wharton Prof. (Widely) Misses Point of Apple Name-Change on Wired's Cult of Mac blog. The title of the article is a little misleading in that the name change argument is just one of three major points brought up by the writer about how wrong-headed people can be when evaluating technology products. The three points Wired disputes are:

• Design is just about being cool (relative to the iPhone);
• People will be disappointed by the video quality of the Apple TV (talking about how 480p upconverted to 720p is somehow lacking compared with most people's viewing habits); and
• the titular Apple dropping "Computer" is a sign of surrender (drawing some terribly false conclusions about why Apple Computer Inc. has become Apple Inc.).

I think the Wired writer makes some very compelling points and really demonstrates that people need to take some of these "expert opinions" with a serious grain of salt (see: every iPod-killer article ever written).

I'm not being an Apple fanboy here, this kind of uninsightful reporting is done all over the place, but I think this shows the value in knowing whose content you're reading and, even if you find them reliable, backing this up with a little exploration of your own. In any case, just wanted to draw your attention to this PLUS Wired's Cult of Mac blog is great reading for all you Mac-heads out there, so you should check it out.