Carver Jameson - Comments

What would I like to see happen here? I think Mike should do something else on Saturday afternoons and they should go on having the GG on Leo's network. I don't think he adds a thing to the show, other than bringing his issues to it, and who cares. The point of the show is to kibitz about tech stuff, in a self-important way. That's what's entertaining about it. There's no Edward R Murrow's here, no high minded ethics, and Arrington is the last guy to sling that particular kind of mud. And this "what are you going to do about it" schtick, which he used on me too this week, is particularly offensive. Nothing. No one's going to fight with you Mike. - Dave Winer

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...as an outsider looking in on this, what was so out-of-line about Arrington asking the simple question: "Did you pay for your Pre?" Clearly there's more to it than just that simple yes/no question, right? - .LAG liked that

is a mensch good or bad? - David Lloyd

dave, leo would have bought one if he could... that's why he got the review unit... so he could review it since he couldn't go out and buy one like he always does - and he also said that he would go out and buy one no matter what months ago ... - Chris Heath

mark mensch is good ... google is also your friend - Chris Heath

mensch is good. it's yiddish for "human being." - Dave Winer

Thanks - David Lloyd

I would like for the gg to continue, but leo doesn't need the type of drama that it brings and it will probably have to find a new home - plus steve and mike are probably a package deal, no? - Chris Heath

Mike commandeers this show all the time. I've asked Scoble many times why he falls for it. Mike is a lawyer and he knows how to manipulate people to get them to pop their stack. I imagine Leo has listened to enough of it, and he popped his stack today. I always fast-forward over Arrington's cross-examinations. - Dave Winer

On the other hand, this is all link-bait, for sure. It's Saturday, and that apology he just posted is going to get tons of traffic and comments. So his pretense at being high-minded is pretty damned transparent. It would be nice to see him take the ads off that page, if he really is sincere, esp since the topic of this blowup was conflicts of interest. - Dave Winer

It was not a "free" review unit. It has to go back in 7 days. Even if it didn't, I would return it. Calling a review unit a "free Pre" is a very sneaky way of implying malfeasance. I knew it. Mike knew it. I called him on it. I'm sorry I lost my temper, but Mike knew exactly what he was doing. - Leo Laporte

Dave... ah, thanks, that says a lot "Mike is a lawyer..." So it was a leading question, layered with other meanings. makes sense now. - .LAG liked that

Leo he was baiting you. True. And you took it. ALso true. :-) - Dave Winer

And Leo you should see the shit he dropped on me this week, everywhere, incredibly foul language, incredibly insulting. And totally transparent. - Dave Winer

I like that Leo stood up to him, knocked Arrington down a notch - David Lloyd

Yeah I should have known better. He got to me, damn it. - Leo Laporte

Apologies from Arrington are as rare as Gold Pressed Latinum - David Lloyd

Leo: my condolences, I'd be banging my head off the wall for giving him that reaction. I very much doubt anyone thinks any less of you though. Can't be a saint 24/7 :) - Ross Duggan

Leo call me if you want to talk. I'll DM you my number. - Dave Winer

Take pleasure in the fact that the tech world immediatley jumped to your defence Leo, you can't pay for that kind of public relations - David Lloyd

leo: you where right to say that to him - Joe Azzara

Respect to leo. Questioning his integrity like that solely for the theater of it is cheap. - dthree

This is starting to get dicey. - Ross Duggan

"Asking leading questions outside of the courtroom is not just rude... it's weird." http://www.trialtheater.com/article... - Karim

Leo has always been a yes man. Yes, the Pre is cool. Yes, I love me my Pre, Epic Pre. Did I mention I got it free? I'm with Arrington on this one. But now I am watching Leo review it live on his show, so I am the one that got owned. - Shannon

Please tell me this is being recorded. Some of us have things to do in realtime. Like paint our house. - Christian Burns

Leo, the other day on net@nite you even explained that mike just does this to get reactions. Sorry you fell for it. You just can't take him seriously. - Christian Burns

Leo's anger at Mike finally bubbled over. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Mike's passive-aggressive tone and subtle implication of bias were only the latest in a series of attempts on Mike's part to get Leo's goat. Unfortunately for Mike up to now, Leo has always risen above that. And despite the fact that Leo's reaction itself was over-the-top, I completely understand why he did it and I don't fault him at all. One can only maintain one's composure around Mike for so long. - Eric Geller

The two parts of the show are here: http://feeds2.feedburner.com/TheGill... - Jack

I'm legitimately curious: how has Mike Arrington become THE goto guy for the mainstream media when it comes to tech? You'd think Charlie Rose would know better... - Carver Jameson

Re the blow-up, I think Mike makes a good point. Pre-Reviews are still a conflict of interest, even if returned. But when Leo shows the review first hand on a video, there's little argument? If video it might be a mute point. - Jonathan Langdale

Short of listening to two (unknown-length but) long, tedious, podcasts (the target urls of which were given by [corrected: Jack] first in the 32nd comment above) of what sounds to me like verbal diarrhea, perhaps someone in the know would be so kind as to indicate the approximate time from the start of either where said Gilmor Gang-blow-up occurred? - ianf ⌘

For the record: here's the video of the relevant part, all 90 seconds of it: <http://www.youtube.com/watch...> - ianf ⌘

Leo admitted right from the start even before he got the unit that it was a free trial/demo unit. While I agree with consumer reports attitude that they buy everything they review it's really not practical for an independent journalist to do that. As long as the person admits to getting the unit as a 'freebie/demo/loaner' I have no problems with them doing a review. The reader/listener... more... - Lillian Banchik

Seems like something was brewing there and not just the one thing brought it on. Don't beat yourself up Leo; happens to the best of them. - Jim Gablick

"Something was brewing there already" - that's my impression as well. In fact, Leo Laporte's blowing off his top like that in response to an impertinent question from a fellow participant (a question which could simply been answered with "yes, do you see any other outlet to get it from in advance than from Palm direct," and/or "so?") was downright irresponsible and contemptuous of his... more... - ianf ⌘

ianf, i think you meant to say "Jack" linked to the "long, tedious podcasts" and not Karim. ;-) *i* linked to a page on leading questions (e.g. "So when did you stop taking bribes from Palm?") as they relate to courtroom drama :-D - Karim

Yeah, you're right, corrected it now. But aren't leading questions forbidden, or at least frowned upon and "objected to," in the American court system – or maybe only in the "Law & Order" TV series? ;-)) - ianf ⌘

IANAL but i think leading questions are allowed if the witness is hostile (e.g. during cross-examination). in real life, i don't know if you would consider "Hold on -- hold on -- did you PAY for the Pre?" to be a leading question, or whether Leo's lawyer would say, "Objection, Your Honor, the question is argumentative." pretty sure "What are you gonna do about it?" is argumentative, though ;-) - Karim

That wasn't a leading question, merely an idiot and impertinent one, esp. coming from another technews-leech as is Arrington. Why he asked it is beyond me, but, apparently, IT MADE A HELLUVA LOT OF SENSE AT THE TIME! Could he have bet someone that he can make Laporte lose his cool on camera? - ianf ⌘

I made a podcast commenting my thoughts and lessons learned from both Part 1 And 2 of that show: http://www.mevio.com/episode... - michaelwmoss

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