When sour grapes causes misrepresentation
The web is a wonderful source of information and community, the likes of which has never been seen before. It’s also the vehicle that some use to spread false information while trying to create a negative impression about others and that’s just a crying shame. One such person recently started a personal blog and has embarked on a course of personal attacks and innuendos against those he perceives have a grudge against him. Normally I advocate ignoring such ridiculous attacks but since starting his personal blog David Ciccone has stepped up his spreading of false information and a post he made today on davidciccone.com is further proof that Ciccone will do and say anything to create a negative impression of those he has a beef with. Since he recently started his blog he has taken aim at the owner of ScottEvest, Kevin Tofel and today me. His post is so full of erroneous information I’m going to address it here. This will be the last time I ever post about Ciccone and his bizarre rants.
Ciccone’s post takes offense at this post I made quite some time ago here on jkOnTheRun that awards DualCor a “Vaporware of the Year” award for their cPC handheld computer. First of all, the last I checked the cPC was still unreleased and thus the Vaporware designation still firmly applies. Ciccone contends that I wouldn’t have posted what I did if I had the whole picture, but of course he doesn’t shed any light on what that picture might be. No doubt he will claim he’s under NDA because as he points out he worked for DualCor for a few months. He also states that I reached out to DualCor, when the fact is the CEO of DualCor contacted me (and Ciccone knows that) prior to the CES last year and asked me to meet with him during that event. I met with him (and blogged it here) and a couple of months after that event the CEO of DualCor contacted me again and asked me to join their Board of Expert Technical Advisors, which I did. The true course of events are exactly as I mentioned in the Vaporware post, Ciccone’s insinuations notwithstanding. To insinuate or imply that anything else happened is not only irresponsible but downright misleading, as Ciccone by that time was in fact working for DualCor and had inside information that the events happened exactly as I blogged them. He had numerous phone and Skype conversations with me about them so he can’t even claim ignorance as an excuse, he’s flat out trying to mislead his readers and he knows it.
Ciccone seems to feel that I shouldn’t have written anything negative about DualCor because the engineers at that company all have families to support. What that has to do with objective journalism escapes me. The cPC was then and still is unreleased vaporware, families or no. The chronology of the cPC that I wrote happened publicly and exactly as I wrote about them, and no amount of nebulous claims can change that fact. It is obvious that Kevin and I were correct in our decision to distance ourselves and replace Ciccone as a host of the MobileTechRoundup podcast for his history of making personal attacks against others. We took the high road and made a clean break with Ciccone and his current actions shows us were were correct in our decision. He was doing it then and he is still trying to cast a negative image against those he has a beef with and this is just further proof of that. It is kind of sad, actually.
The summary of my Vaporware award post still says it all:
So let’s recap, the core components are obsolete and must be switched for newer models; the company is still trying to resolve the heat issues; they will add Bluetooth and WiFi to version two of the cPC, even though they can’t produce a version one for the reasons Mr. Howe mentioned earlier; they can put the radios outside the case of the device but they don’t know exactly where yet; when they finalize their decisions on version 1.0 they will be ready to offer a super-duper version two. That pretty much sums up why I am awarding the DualCor the jkOnTheRun Vaporware of the Year 2006 award for their cPC dual operating system handheld computer. What I can’t get my head around is whether this award should go to version 1.0 or 2.0.
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Good one. Always wondered why David disappeared. Now I know why. Oh and did you see the post he had put up about a IM he sent to Jason Calicanis when Engadget went down?? Jason apparently thinks alot of the same things we do, but has more guts to say them.
I have been watching this DualCor thing since it came out that it was in development and yes…it’s vaporware. I can’t get one. Apparently only people like Julie from the gadgeteer can get one. To think I was going to recommend the DualCor for a project at work. Oh well….
James I deffinetly agree. The things that sets me over the edge is the “faimlies” comment. Oh, so Cnet, which writes negative reviews all the time, is ruining peoples lives because they get fired and don’t have food to eat?
We NEED to be realistic here. The DualCor promised an all in one device, cellular, everything for $1500 in March. Now look where we are.
So much for wireless, er, excuse me, so much for the device! Sure, it’s hard to make a design like this, but all the other companies got it right. (OQO, Sony)
Good post James, keep it up.
NOTE: I attempted to post this comment on Dave’s blog site. I’ve never posted there before, so i don’t know if it will be approved- but i just felt I had to say something, somewhere.
I don’t know the history of Dave and James, but it’s not fair to attack James for “inaccurate information” and then not follow up with an explanation as to what the truth is.
How about a line by line explanation of what was wrong with James’ post?
Is Dave taking this personally?
I also don’t understand how using the term vaporware to describe a device that is overdue by 12months is taking a stab. Dave would have more insight into what went on at Dualcor, but it’s never been shared- and then after believing it to be THE thing to change mobile computing, Dave abruptly left Dualcor and that was the last we heard about it.
Again- Dave would know the most about Dualcor, but nothing in James’ post (or assumption) is wrong- the device doesn’t exist- (and from what we here, will not exist in the form that was preached about 12 months ago)- ie, vaporware.
lastly: what does a blog posting by James have to do with the careers and familes of the employees at Dualcor? I would assume that Dualcor has a lot more people to worry about (investors, creditors, etc) than a post by James.
this really is just silly.
(note: by posting this remark, i hereby remove any responsibility from myself regarding the effect it may have on the professional lives and investments my comments may have on those mentioned in this post, as well as their families and future generations there of)
Silly Wabbit, Trixs are for kids…
All publicity is good publicity and taking shots at James Kendrick will get you hits. Nice response James.
Mark
while not being a techie insider like some, i would still have to think that common sense would dictate that the best way to help the families of the employees of Dualcor would be for the company to ACTUALLY RELEASE A PRODUCT FOR PUBLIC CONSUMPTION… quit pointing fingers and spend your time working on an actual product…geez. keep sticking it to’em JK….
Heath
I don’t want to take sides on this but I really don’t see how you can take the high road on this one, James. We all know you made this personal way back when you denounced DualCor after the integrated wireless radio thing came out. It would have been one thing to disapprove of the situation the way Rob Bushway did, but you went incindiary on it and the posts regarding the cPC have not cooled much since. Honestly James, you know I like you guys a lot, and I’ve jumped ship from the cPC, but I think the posts re: the cPC have been low points for the blog. Unlike some of your critics, I agree that you should include opinions, but not at the expense of fair-mindedness.
Now, for the sake of fairness, do I think Dave “hit the nail on the head” with his recent post? No, but I think he was headed in the right general direction. It’s not about the engineers and their families, but about the company itself. It’s a small startup trying to create a new form factor and I think they bit off more than they could handle. They tried. They failed. I was rooting for them, but I’m not surprised they couldn’t pull it off. No need to keep harping on it. They’re still trying, but I don’t think there’s much point. I think Windows Sideshow offers a much better route for building a dual-boot type of mobile device. Let’s look forward to that and put the cPC (and this feud) in the past.
the vaporwave award was in the hands of OQO for two years AFAIR and they finally released their OQO and now nobody remember about those awards.
Nobody judge a Man for how many times he falls but for how many times he is able to stand up.
JK I regard you as one of the greatest mobile tec bloggers out there, I also have an high regard for Dave too, however the tension between you and Dave as to me been apparant right from the get go of mobile tec roundup.
Recently I noticed a very subtle snipe by Dave when he linked Kevin’s Video on his site, but despite is obvious sour grapes that I can probably understand more if it was you who had the beef with Dave.
I have to be honest I was a little upset for you and Kevin, when Dave left the podcast and then conviently aquired your old sponser.. Battery Geek for his own podcast.
I supect that the ‘bad blood’ you both seem to have with each other lies much deeper than a fair and appropriate post on duelcor, Although I would understand if you had a little deeper message in there. Maybe the same message was in your high appraisal of the Mobility Guys Podcast.
James You have in recent times positively mentioned your old sponser in numerous podcasts, These more noticeable since Dave left, now personally speaking if I was trying to woo back a sponser than maybe I would go about it the same way.
My point in all this, is we call interpret opionions, statements in many different ways, some of us who are more enlightend will interpret these much more accuratley.
keep up the outstanding work and focus on what you excell in…Mobile Tec
FYI, David Ciccone’s prestigious designation as an MVP has recently been revoked, likely due to online squabbles and pissing contests such as this. I’m not surprised by these chain of events in the least.
Here is my point:
The dualCor failed, so far. JK has a right to post his opinion, this is a blog, NOT CNN! It’s the freedom of speech to be able to speak your opinion and talk about how you feel about a certain device or concept.
JK has been with mobile devices for a long long time and I believe he is more than justified to post and publicize his thoughts on the DualCor that the vast majority (even Engadget) seem to agree with!
Also, Daves yanking of his MVP is further evidence of his troubles. The family statement really set me over the top when he mentioned it. I know he’s given negetive reviews before, so according to his knowledge, “he’s ruined families by taking their money.”
Cue the Melrose Place theme music.
Nice one JK!
XD
Hi Kevin and James,
You are not alone. We all feel for you. He pulled similar tricks upon Windows Mobile MVP’s which took a personal blow. It is a shame that people can’t distinguish the content from the person.
Jaap van Ekris
A Windows Mobile MVP