Ken Auletta's 2007 New Yorker article about personal technology critic and columnist for the Wall Street Journal, Walter S. Mossberg provides a fascinating profile of the biggest name in technology journalism.
I am intrigued by Mossberg's idea of a class war between techies and consumers. Decidedly in the latter category, I appreciate Mossberg's ability to combine his expertise with the perspective of a typical consumer in order to offer a review useful to both the producer and the potential consumer.
As far as form goes, I appreciated Auletta's introduction of Mossberg's reputation and anecdote before jumping into his personal and professional history. By the time I got to the third section of the article, I was really curious about how Mossberg came to be! Additionally, I found the section about Mossberg's biases and writing flaws crucial to the balance of the article. Bascially, Auletta followed the business profile article formula smoothly--keeping me engaged and anticipating what I, as a reader, wanted to know next.
With Luddite parents of my own, I am impressed that Mossberg has made a career of critiquing and even shaping the personal technology curve. I was pleased to read that in addition to weekly columns, Mossberg keeps a video blog in which he responds to user/reader questions. I suppose I appreciate the technology connoisseur contrast to my own relations who hark back to writing dissertations on typewriters whenever I complain of technology woes.
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