Walt Mossberg & MKBHD Break Down The Art of the Tech Review
May 13, 2024
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Former tech reviewer Walt Mossberg and YouTube star MKBHD discuss the art, philosophy, and ethics of reviewing tech products. Topics include Tesla Cybertruck, Apple Vision Pro, AI-in-a-box, and even Taylor Swift. They explore maintaining honesty, trust, and independence in tech reviews, as well as the impact of wearable technology and Taylor Swift's business acumen.
Tech reviewers should focus on consumer utility and product quality, challenging industry norms.
Content creators must offer unique perspectives and maintain production value to stand out in tech reviews.
Maintaining trust in tech buying decisions requires honesty, transparency, and avoiding conflicts of interest in reviews.
Deep dives
Anthropic's Claude 3 Family Models: Haiku, Opus, and Sonnet
Anthropic's Claude 3 family models, including Haiku, Opus, and Sonnet, offer a balance between speed and intelligence for Enterprise AI. Haiku is highlighted for being light and fast, Opus is mentioned as the most powerful capable of high order thinking, and Sonnet is regarded as a blend of speed and intelligence, appealing to enterprise needs in navigating the AI landscape.
Influential Tech Reviewers: Walt Mossberg and Marques Brownlee
Walt Mossberg and Marques Brownlee are recognized as influential tech reviewers, each representing different eras in tech journalism. Mossberg's approach focused on plain language, consumer utility, and product quality, challenging industry norms. In comparison, Marques Brownlee, as a content creator, emphasizes the need for unique perspectives and production value to stand out amidst a crowded tech review landscape.
Navigating Trust and Ethics in Tech Reviews
Maintaining trust in tech buying decisions involves emphasizing long-term honesty and transparency in reviews. Acknowledging challenges such as affiliate links and sponsored content, both creators advocate for clear ethics statements and avoiding conflicts of interest. Ensuring earned trust through consistent truthfulness and ethical partnerships remains essential in preserving credibility within the tech review industry.
Product Endorsements and Collaborations
The podcast discusses the importance of endorsing products or collaborating with brands only if the speaker genuinely believes in or uses the product. Using examples like Dbrand phone skins and partnerships with Recode and CNBC, the discussion highlights the significance of aligning personal preferences with product endorsements to maintain authenticity and integrity.
Tech Products Review and AI Impact
The episode delves into the review of tech products like the Tesla Cybertruck and Apple Vision Pro, showcasing both admiration for innovation and criticism for design flaws. It also explores the evolving landscape of AI products, pointing out the potential of advanced AI assistants while emphasizing the need for tools to detect AI-generated content to combat misinformation.
To savvy tech consumers, Walt Mossberg and Marques Brownlee, aka MKBHD, need no introduction. Before he retired in 2017, Walt was the undisputed dean of tech reviewers. As Senator Maria Cantwell, a recent guest and former tech executive put it, “all our product reviews lived or died by Walt Mossberg.”
MKBHD began reviewing tech products on YouTube, as a high schooler, and he now has more than 18 million subscribers to his channel. He has become this generation’s Walt Mossberg, and as Jimmy Donaldson/MrBeast, the king of YouTube, put it, “you’re the video producer that decides what tech everyone in America buys.”
Yet, somehow, the titans of tech reviews had never met before. Kara rights this wrong, and she, Mossberg, and Brownlee discuss the art, philosophy and ethics of reviewing tech, as well as the Tesla Cybertruck, Apple Vision Pro, AI-in-a-box and Taylor Swift.
Click here to listen to Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast.
Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find Kara on Instagram/Threads as @karaswisher