Aaron Adams’s Blowhard Blog

Why do I feel compelled to point out factual errors in media coverage concerning Apple? Am I obsessed? A pedant? Do I have nothing better to do with my time?

I answer no to each of those options. The reason I point out such errors is because I know the subject fairly well and it surprises and irritates me to see very simple facts neglected, and then incorrect conclusions drawn from those facts. It genuinely makes me wonder, when media outlets can’t get simple dates or prices correct, what are they getting incorrect about the economy? The war in Iraq? George Bush and Tom DeLay? Gay marriage? NASA? Michael Jackson? Those, or a million other issues I don’t know nearly as well, but depend on media of all kinds to keep me informed about. Apparently fact checking in computer media is an afterthought, an option that isn’t always exercised. I shudder to imagine how fact checking is treated in US and world news, where authors very often have transparent political agendas to force upon their readers.

In case you’re wondering, here are the two articles that set me off this afternoon:

News from PC Magazine: Next Mac OS Roars Like a Tiger

With Tiger, Apple continues its recent trend of doing a significant upgrade every year.

No. Apple released OS X 10.3 Panther in October of 2003. This is now April of 2005. There was no significant OS upgrade in 2004. Eighteen months is significantly longer than a year. Very little effort spent on Google would have prevented this error. The story goes on to use this incorrect data point to demonstrate that Apple has been developing it’s operating system faster than Microsoft. Whether you agree with that conclusion or not, it’s called into question because the factual tidbit it’s based on it completely wrong.

And how about this one:

Apple to Release New Tiger on April 29

Apple says Tiger will be available for $235.

No. Less than 30 seconds at the Apple website shows that Tiger will sell for $129. Maybe the author couldn’t be bothered to look.