[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

Uh, no.

"I wrote my review from the perspective of an advanced amateur; I’m not a professional editor.... I found FCP X infinitely more powerful than iMovie, yet infinitely less intimidating than the old Final Cut."

He writes reviews for amateurs, not professionals. When you blast him for having a different perspective than the pros, ultimately you're failing to recognize that he's just doing his job. It's like slagging Jon Stewart for being glib and snarky when he reads the news; it's not because he's a bad news anchor, it's because he is a comedian who is lampooning the news.

My point was that Pogue's review (and perspective) was completely wrong for that software. FCP (as the "Pro" moniker would indicate) was (note the tense) a professional product. Pogue wrote a puff piece about it, and got called on it by the users who do use the software.

In other words, writing a review from the perspective of Apple's hoped-for audience, rather than the audience that actually uses FCP, was a huge error in judgement. And going back to Apple's PR department to help them do damage control w/ a follow-up article only made things worse for Pogue's credibility. Many of the commenters on the follow-up piece recognized this move for what it was.

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

There was one, count it one, specific comparison to the iPad in his review -- basically to point out that the new Nook doesn't scroll and doesn't have multitouch. That's it. It's hardly a crime to point out that the Nook won't scroll like almost every other computer device we're accustomed to, including on (like it or not) one of the leading options for reading ebooks.

Any mention of the iPad in comparison to a specific e-book reader (whether it's the Nook, Kindle, Sony Reader, or anything else) is out of place. It's like comparing a pickup truck to a sports car. If people were looking for a sports car and could afford one, they'd buy one. He was needlessly plugging an Apple gadget. Plain and simple. It would be like doing a review of a notebook computer and mentioning all the features you're not getting because you're not choosing a desktop. He does it because he likes plugging iProducts, the same way he does for every other conceivable product that might have a product that Apple sells. I'm not sure he's even capable of doing a review without mentioning an Apple product.

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

The rest of the review offers a positive opinion of the Nook and Kobo, and is loaded with compliments.

Yeah? And? He still makes comparisons to devices not in the same device class, and this is how he concludes the article:

All of this is clear evidence that the clunky primitiveness of the Paleozoic e-book era is finally drawing to a close. At this rate, before you know it, e-book readers will arrive solidly in the Jurassic period.

Backhanded compliment, anyone?

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

The very fact that you're taking umbrage at what amounts to the most trivial mention of an Apple product in the review, and treating a positive review of the Nook & Kobo as proof positive of Pogue's bias, merely deepens the display of your own bias.

It's not a trivial mention, when it's designed to detract from the product you're reviewing. The whole tone of the review was meant to imply that e-readers represent some prehistoric technology ("prehistoric" in the sense that the technology isn't as advanced as the iPad).

At least when Pogue compares other tablets to the iPad, it's an apples to apples comparison.