Former Consumerist Editor Joel Johnson takes to task so-called “bleeding edge” consumer electronic mavens, and the bloggers that feed them tripe. In a recent screed, he advises waiting for the early adopters to make the pricey mistakes for you, “before taking a modest plunge.”

Stop buying this crap. Just stop it. You don’t need it. Wait a year until the reviews come out and the other suckers too addicted to having the very latest and greatest buy it, put up a review, and have moved on to something else. Stop buying broken products and then shrugging your shoulders when it doesn’t do what it is supposed to. Stop buying products that serve any other master than you. Use older stuff that works. Make it yourself. Only buy new stuff from companies that have proven themselves good servants of their customers in the past. Complaining online about this stuff helps, but really, just stop buying it.

Are most gadget blogs just closet flogs? — BEN POPKEN

Joel Johnson Returns…to Spank Us All for Supporting Crap [Gizmodo]

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