joel johnson

Don't Buy Blog-Hyped Gadgets

Don't Buy Blog-Hyped Gadgets

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.

Alton Brown Saves Us Money With Proper Knife Care

The Food Network’s Alton Brown explains proper knife knife care, and how to get the most bang out of your cutlery chums. The video also features some *very* dynamic camera blocking.

Joel Johnson, Left. Morgan Spurlock, Right.

Joel Johnson, Left. Morgan Spurlock, Right.

The Consumerist’s Poor Customer Service

So as much as it pains me—Joel—to say this, I’ve got to tell you what I did, because it’s painfully ironic.