Engadget Repeatedly Disses Athletes
I keep telling friends and Operation Gadget readers that you shouldn't look at the major gadget sites like Engadget for credible discussion of fitness gadgets and sports technology. The editors of that site have adopted a sneering point of view toward the stuff that we're interested in.
There's no better example of this attitude than the article Nokia intros 5140i fitness phone. For illustrative purposes, I'll quote from it and place emphasis where I think the tone is most negative:
All right, fitness geeks, Nokia’s got sumthin’ for you. The 5140i is a tri-band handset designed for "active-minded consumers" (as opposed to the rest of us sluggishly-minded folk) that offers dust and splash resistance and "durability," which is apparently not a feature found in other phones. The deal with this mobile is it pairs up with special fitness-related software on Polar wrist computers (yeah, that means they’re watches) to download training data to your phone after a workout. The software keeps track of stats you fitness-types need to know, like heartrate and other various sundries (we wouldn’t have any idea — they never let us out of Engadget HQ)....
I won't get personal with the author of this piece because I'm pretty sure that the tone is an affectation that they've decided impresses some segment of their audience. What hipster sub-demographic likes this attitude?
You know, this reminds me of life in my high school. There was a large group of people back then who wanted to be good at the sports they participated in, they just wanted others to think that they did it effortlessly. When they thought nobody was looking they practiced as hard or harder than the serious athletes, but if you pointed this out they'd say, "Nah, I'm just out here to have fun," and they'd slow down to a jog.
Most of us young suburbanites grew out of such tendencies years ago. Isn't it time for Engadget to grow up too?
Comments
sounds like they're actually making fun of themselves, lighten up!
Posted by: reader | May 3, 2005 12:47 PM
Dave,
Did you not at all understand the sarcasm and irony in the post in question? The author of said post is obvioiusly joking about not being fit and the stereotype of nerds being out of shape (i.e. us). And then you begin a diatribe that blatantly fails to cite any other such examples of this supposed attitude of our site--perhaps because while we write about quite a lot of fitness-related gadgets (http://www.engadget.com/search/?q=fitness will bring up a few), we continuously do so with a self-effacing, neutral, or often laudatory perspective.
Since you seem intent on engaging on a point by point basis, I'll help elucidate what appears to have been lost:
"fitness geeks" refers to "geeks" (i.e. nerds, etc.) who read our site, who are also into being fit. This audience includes members of our own staff.
"as opposed to the rest of us sluggishly-minded folk" refers to the awkward language used in the Nokia press release--it's quite an extrapolation to assume we're making a "jock-joke" here, but even still it's inward-aimed humor.
"yeah, that means they’re watches" is intended debase Polar's marketing-speak. That should also be fairly obvious.
"stats you fitness-types need to know, like heartrate and other various sundries (we wouldn’t have any idea — they never let us out of Engadget HQ)" This couldn't possibly be any more obviously a self-deprecating comment.
I assume and hope that for the sake of open dialogue you'll pass this through to be published in the comments on your site.
Best,
Ryan
Posted by: Ryan Block | May 3, 2005 1:33 PM
Ryan:
I have to be honest with you, I try to keep up with Engadget and I didn't take these comments in the way you guys intended them. The tone of the article I cited and several other recent articles about fitness technology may have seemed like self-deprecation when they were written, but they came across as condescending to me.
If you look at Operation Gadget's archive:
http://www.operationgadget.com/cgi-bin/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=Engadget
... you'll find plenty of situations where I've praised your coverage and only a few where I've taken issue with you. This happens to be one of the times I've been critical.
I'm pleased that my article provoked a response, I'll continue reading your site, and I'll be sure to give credit when it's due.
Dave Aiello
Editor
Operation Gadget
Posted by: Dave Aiello | May 3, 2005 2:11 PM