Twitter was going to die.
Privacygate was going to destroy Facebook.
The iPhone 4 will turn Cupertino into a wasteland and Apple will fall.
Anyone else getting tired of the Media Internet Deathwatches? Because I am.
Look, I want to know who's failing, who's in trouble. I report on it here to warn people, to guide them, or to at least give them a teachable moment of terror. I get that these things are valuable.
What's not valuable is sensationalist stories, the "Deathwatch Of The Week", which seems to be getting way too common in the media, both regular and technical. It's not helpful. It's not informative. It's tabloid stupidity and it doesn't do any of us progeeks any good.
Honestly, what is the point?
The Deathwatch Of The Week is a template. It's just something you can drop a company name and a recent mishap into and that's it. It's Madlib Style reporting.
Which means, pretty much, it's not reporting.
Me, I'm starting to discount Deathwatch stories. Oh, sure I have the morbid fascination, but honestly . . . the pattern is now all too familiar. It all sounds the same.
But it still annoys me. Maybe someday we'll go full circle and have a Deathwatch on Deathwatch stories . . .
– Steven Savage