After new Apple product releases, I skip through the usual suspects of podcasts like AppStories or even Test Drivers to find something worthwhile and informative. The latter surprised me as it contained a (short) interview with two guests from Apple’s product management and marketing teams. While not going into depth it still was a welcomed addition. 
I also was skipping through the recent AppStories episode 242 when I heard Federico Viticci referring to commentators on “reddit” addressing reviewers (of course other ones) in regards to the topic of the tech-media and podcaster echo-chamber, which we also discussed before on here by coincidence. 
Since I’m sure it will find its way. An open letter:
Dear Federico Viticci,
you missed the point. People that criticize the echo chamber and groupthink are of course not longing for the ramblings of someone entirely uninformed as you put it. Your assumption of tech competency is black and white, while that is not the case for those doing “real work” in the “real world”. It shows at least 50 shades of space gray.
I’m sure that the commentators on “reddit” didn’t specifically request that your verbose 22 pages i(Pad)OS review should be replaced with a more concise one written by an engineer. It’s fine.
The criticism was entirely misinterpreted. It was not about those day one hardware/software reviews like yours. The main point of the discussion always has been that getting insights into how tech-enthusiastic experts outside of tech-media use the available technologies in their field carries more value than hearing for the hundredth time how someone writes blog posts or records a podcast. It would allow everyone to expand their perspective and maybe find interesting new workflows.
The always well-received episodes with interviews of non-podcasters/-tech-media on MPU are a prime example that there is demand for this content.
Not to mention that your overly generalized remark regarding the quality doesn’t hold up. By your description, nobody other than the “infallible” tech-media-bubble is even able to review anything at all. You can read countless well-written and -tech-educated posts by laymen in forums like this one, (actually) on reddit or on personal blogs. Most of the authors aren’t “real reviewers”, whatever that might entice. And to be honest, since writing is essential in almost every knowledge-work jobby-job these days, those hobbyist posters do that god damn well. Some even in an excelling way.
I’m not going to explain why drawing the comparison of you reviewing an airplane cockpit isn’t even applicable in the slightest in this situation.
Other than with airplanes, we trust hundreds of millions of users to, well, use those devices daily in both, professional and private settings. As a consequence, those users gather decades of individual experience and obtain interesting opinions outside of the Apple groupthink canon.
It can be tough to attempt to do something as a profession that is essentially the hobby of millions. Yet, I do not think that belittling or even ridiculing those users with perfectly valid opinions—independent of their tech-savviness—is the right approach. Keep in mind a small subset of those are also your potential listeners and readers.
I agree, they maybe wouldn’t get every little detail right if they were to write up a long-winded review. Yet, that is also by far not the case for the majority of podcasters. Especially not in comparison to many developers, which are far deeper in the trenches than a podcaster or tech-news writer ever will be. And that is okay.
However, as a journalist—no matter if self-taught or not—you could seize the opportunity and be the facilitator of those interviews. Instead of just using pleaded authority why not guide or maybe even translate if those “uninformed” do such a painful job, as you described, which I highly doubt.
What was uttered in that particular episode did not have the right tone.
Un abbraccio 
Some non-groupthink content ideas:
- Interview a doctor that is excited about the new iPad mini specifically, and actually carries it around in their lab coat pocket.
- Find a doctor that uses that USB-C ultra-sound device mentioned in the keynote.
- Chat with a hobby pilot about how the iPad changed aeronautical navigation and what the limitations are when using it in the small cockpit.
- Find sailors that use iPads for navigation and find out how it is used in the harsh surroundings and what the workarounds are for the lack of connection and what software is used.
- Talk to a realtor that uses the iPad (mini) to get the paperwork done and what software limitations or obstacles in user acceptance there are.
- Or a shopkeeper or restaurant owner that uses it as a PoS system. What are the limitations? Why was the iPad mini chosen specifically? How do they manage a small fleet of devices if used by waiters to take orders. Is everything set up manually or via MDM?
- Try to interview someone working for IKEA about their AR previews and what the Lidar scanner allows them to do and what their hopes for the future of that technology are.
