Do you hate Apple news?
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted January 30th 2010 5:02PM
posted January 30th 2010 5:02PM
Due to the overwhelming demand of 16 commenters, we present to you the Apple-free Engadget! Yes -- read all the hot news happening in the tech world without the upsetting presence of Apple-related stories. Your dream is a reality... so now you'll have to find something else to complain about!
Read - Engadget, sans Apple news
Subscribe - Engadget, minus the Apple
P.S. - You can change "apple" in the URL to whatever else you hate, too!
@surv
So what you're saying is that because YOU don't like seeing the Apple posts, Engadget should modify their behavior so that YOU'RE happy. This, of course, at the expense of other readers who may like to see the articles.
Really I'm not surprised, as you can see behavior like this on virtually any internet forum. Certain users don't like seeing certain posts, and rather than just taking responsibility and clicking only posts of interest, they demand that site operators reduce content of one type or another.
omg finally!
"P.S. - You can change "apple" in the URL to whatever else you hate, too!"
http://engadget.com/exclude/monster
oh wait...I think that's actually a default setting.
I don't think that people are pissed off that you report on apple, I do not like the company and do not own any of their products, but I do enjoy reading about what they are coming out with, every once in a while.
Lately this site has really started to feel like a paid advertisement by apple. You guys are gushing about their products on almost every second post, while almost completely ignoring other gadgets out there that are far superior (for example, the notion ink adam). Every time that you post about an apple 'rumor' you are playing directly into the hands of the apple marketing department.
Writing a condescending post directed towards your readers who do not appreciate the apple advertisements on your site is not exactly the best way to handle things. Yeah, ok, so only 16 people wrote to complain about it, but i bet that is just a small fraction of the people who are pissed off by your apple fanboys fawning over the next iWhatever.
@SuavePotato
gushing about Apple products? Where do you come up with this garbage?? Almost every single editor PANNED the ipad - GET A FREAKIN CLUE, buddy!
You guys don't get it. I don't want an Apple filter. I want writers who have a clue and aren't afraid to call bullshit when they see it.
I can't believe Joshua's comments on Twitter: "To the Engadget commenters mad about Apple coverage: you are not the voice of reason or the center, you are the irrational fringe."
Sorry, you guys have been overboard on the coverage and this comment is just degrading to your users. How arrogant.
@Vol
sorry, but Josh is right. The week leading up to the release (January 18th-22nd) there were 218 posts. ELEVEN were about Apple. That's 5%, pal. Five percent, during the week leading up to a major product announcement from one of the most important names in technology. GET A GRIP. They even tried to calm you babies down by condensing all the rumors to a single article per day, but that wasn't enough. STFU and enjoy your apple-free engadget, but I doubt it will stop the incessant bitching.
Josh, that was *brilliant* and I tip my hat to you. I'm not even an Apple fan, but I'm sick of the whining.
-PJ
It's a dream come true!
But sadly I think this means that if I use it I will miss out on the lovely "has your i/pad/pod/phone/macbook exploded on you" articles :(
Thank you so much!
Thanks for this. I just dropped my Gizmodo RSS feed for its stupid iPad "whiner" rant, and was considering dropping this one. Strangely, the feed reminds me of the days before the first iPhone. Imagine that...
@nathanhurst I was a little bummed by this too, however those earphones work with my Nexus One, so that's something I wanted to see. Still trying to see how this feed will work out.
@Student Driver I'm not bummed. Just pointing out the obvious.
Awesome. I'm annoyed with all the Apple news, but that usually just means that if it's an Apple week I just skip sites like Engadget.
This is awesome! Btw Apple is an innovator, I give it a hand for that. But to say that "Don't Be Evil" is just bullshit. That just goes to my core. Thats excluding every other act of the devil they've made. As firefox proved, you don't have to be evil to compete.
Stop whining already.
I remember readers had been specifically asking for an Apple free site for the longest time. For every Apple related posts, there had been 10X the requests.
I am an Apple fan, I'm almost 40, and I started out with an XT running DOS, moved to AmigaOS with an unheard of 512kb HDD on my system to experiment with animations, then, bought a Mac Classic, then moved on to Win95, 98, NT on IBM Intellistations for CAD/CAM work, and now OSX on Mac Pro.
But every time I commented anything Apple, the only responses I get are just name calling, assuming I'm some teenager who knows nothing but iPod. I just ended up no even wanting to comment here altogether. And those name calling responses which contributes nothing get rated high. So which is more annoying? I just stop commenting altogether, even when I see ridiculous comments than tempts me to reply.
I'm a big fanboy, I love the new directions Apple is shaping to be, I love my iPhone, but I'm not excited about iPad ( unless Wacom make a pressure sensitive pen for it and Alias makes a Sketch version for it ), so I just skipped all the articles. I can can skip them, I don't see why any non-fanboy can't.
It is so hard to skipped articles you don't care for? Just go check out Shun White's double McTwist 12 or comment on the State of the Union address or something, there are still tons of fun stuff to be found on the web.
For as long as I remember, there's been tons of requests for Apple free Engadget every time Engadget covers an Apple Event.
@TomSawyer
Okay, hold on a second - who said anything about the device being a failure? You're making a statement that has nothing to do with what I said. I gave my thoughts on the iPad. Why did you decide to put that out there? I think you're assuming that since I voiced my opinion about the iPad overkill, that I don't like Apple. That's a poor generalization. I have an iPhone and a Macbook Pro, and I love them both. Nevertheless, I did bring to attention my dislike for the volume of blog posts about the iPad.
Secondly - the fact that people poll up on Apple products is a moot point. You're generalizing again. You seem to think that if people don't like hearing about the iPad, they must not like Apple. This couldn't be further from the truth.
I also understand that (to a certain degree) there is an overwhelming vocal majority on Engadget, but the vocal majority may as well be considered bad press for Engadget and it's readers.
But all of this is beside my point - and that is that I think Josh T. needs to take a step back and focus on the journalistic perspective, rather than demote himself to the comment thread.
@cbizarre
*I never gave my thoughts on the iPad.
Ah, Engadget... A noble effort.
Unfortunately, it appears that you too are unable to purge Apple from your site.
On the /exclude/apple homepage, is a link to the iPhone app on the right, and three of the 5 Featured Breaking stories in some way involve Apple or it's devices.
4 of the 5 Most Commented are related to Apple.
Better luck next time.
Where's the PC-Free Engadget?!?!?!
Most commented are related to Apple?
Wanna know why? Read the comments. It's a bunch of people whining about Apple posts, or mocking that anyone else who'd read Apple related news are clueless teenagers. Eliminate those, there won't be much comments in Apple related posts.
Now all the anti apple fanboy cry babies can go back to shutting the shit up. Man they are the worst. * smooths hand over a house full of apple products*
Apple makes us all puke and engadget is riding along on this moneytrain we gotta stop. People, let's continue this new state of mind! We demand action now! No more brainwashing! No more gadgets we dont need! No more crap! Let's spend our money to useful things! I ask for someone who stands up and makes a better gadget website then this so I can leave this site behind me. We must move forward. Look @ serious reviews, not clownmovies like this of crapgadgets. This is not what we want. Engadget you make us puke. Thanks a lot.
Bottom line is, there's a bunch who just feel the need to inform everyone that they think nothing of Apple, and that somehow that makes them wiser, superior.
And now that there's an option out there for them to stop, they are coming up with excuses not to.
Another apple reference? Gawd, when is this going to stop?
Did anybody else see this as a bit of a joke? A sort of STFU and stop complaining from Engadget. What did the five fingers say to the face? Now, I am an admitted former Apple fanboy and current broken iPhone owner. I say former fanboy because thanks to Engadget's coverage of all things Apple, my eyes have been opened to the fact that Apple is just another profiteering company that has found a magic blend of products that are appealing to consumers and an innate ability to create such a buzz about its products that they become a 'must-have' item. Apple may be the very best at what they do but I couldn't help but be left with a queezy feeling in my stomach after I watched Stevey J's keynote last week. I miss the excitement and admiration I had for that forbidden fruit of a company, but I've moved on and I only have Engadget to thank. And I mean that whole-heartedly.
@cocopete
"Did anybody else see this as a bit of a joke? A sort of STFU and stop complaining from Engadget."
I think we all got that.
I'm not an iAnything owner and probably never will be. Was there a perceived excess of apple coverage on this site here recently, Yes. But guess what kids... some would consider what apple makes to be "gadgets" and this is in fact a site called "Engadget" so take from it what you will.
Here's a thought... why don't you worry about being you and let them worry about being them and if we all meet in the middle, great. If not then go away and continue to focus on your being you and let them focus on them being them and call it a wash.
Cry, bitch, and moan all you want but at the end of the day this site is still a blog holding true to the definition of the term, regardless of what you might THINK it should be.
Better yet, if you think that Engadget is complete and total crap then go start your own site and 1-up them in their own game. Then you can come back here and tell us all about how fantastical your world is and how you got where you are because you were in no way, shape, or form influenced by a completely wretched and horrible site like Engadget.
By the way... when you have haters, it means your doing something right. I once heard a man say: "Do what you love and what you believe in and you're f*cking bulletproof. If You do what you absolutely believe to be right, you're f*cking bulletproof" You should all go and watch the movie Heckler.
@surv
It's pretty immature to think your opinion is the opinion of everyone.
How lame... and unadult-like...
@cbizarre
I think it's kinda cool that Josh doesn't mind commenting and interacting with us... IT makes me like Engadget more.
And while I agree that Josh shouldn't let the comments get to him...
I don't think it's cool to act high and mighty about it. Would YOU be able to ignore all the comments if you were in Josh's position? Have you had experience as a journalist on a hugely popular news site? Especially on geek related matters...? What you are saying is pretty judgmental itself.
Personally, I like Apple... I want to hear all the news and articles about their latest products. I won't argue with you on the drawbacks of Apple products... I know they have them... Someone saying "There are too many Apple posts" is just their opinion.. it's not a critique... It's not something Josh can take and use constrictively.
It's just a bunch of geeks being A-holes. It would certainly be more "mature" for josh to ignore them.... but too much is too much...
If anything/.. it's all the Anti-apple geeks/nerds on here that make stupid comments on every apple article that make me not like the site... instead of thought out discussion.. it's just stupid put down comment after stupid put down comment. IT's incredibly lame and I'm hoping hte Apple-free version of Engadget cuts down on that... but I know it won't....
"Would YOU be able to ignore all the comments if you were in Josh's position? Have you had experience as a journalist on a hugely popular news site? Especially on geek related matters...? What you are saying is pretty judgmental itself."
I'm a firm believer that if you really stand by your work, then f*ck the naysayers. I'm not saying I'm better than anyone - and I have emotions like everyone else, but if I was writing on a blog that a great number of people view every day, I would really have no choice but to take the high road. I'm not trying to act "high and mighty" as you put it. No, obviously I'm not in Josh's shoes. Josh's work generates good amounts of traffic, and the more people you have reading your posts - the more assholes you have commenting on them. It's part of the job.
You can't please everyone, and I'm sorry to say that there are a great deal of pretentious assholes out there. That's how it has always been. These people are relentless and have no sympathy, so why bother trying to defend your work to them? I strongly believe that Josh is a talented and smart writer, based on his work here at Engadget. If he would ignore the elite geek army, his work would be tops.
My opinion about the iPad posts still stands. Not Apple in general, just the iPad. Yes, that's just my opinion. Quite honestly, that's what makes the comment section so great - you can state your opinion in a respectful manner. Too many people abuse this, and just make mean spirited remarks that are irrelevant to the posts. I can't tell you how pissed I get when I see people picking out minor typos and grammar errors in these blog posts.
But believe me when I say that I do like hearing about Apple products. I do still want to know when and what is coming up in the Apple world. Despite the huff about the iPad, I want to continue to read about Apple.
This is too damn funny. Those 16 commenters should be named in here!
hahahaha
Nicely done.
@000000
I see your last point, but I would think the articles would be very boring if they didn't make quips and inject opinion. It is why we come to this site and not another - to read what these writers vs others are saying.
Apple is a company to follow just because it is a reference in managing. Their CEO Steve Jobs is also quite a remarkable businessman http://managersmagazine.com/index.php/2009/01/discurso-de-steve-jobs-fundador-de-apple/
Love it!
Guys, guys, the first rule of t'internet: DON'T FEED THE TROLL
(you know, the one who wrote this article.)
lord