[H]ardNews 3rd Edition

More Hardware Hubbub:

For those needing a daily dose of drama, read on. I returned home on Sunday to find that Steve has posted a link to this editorial at AMDMB.com. Ryan Shrout, owner of AMDMB, goes into some detail about his recent experiences at a LAN event in which he was denied access to some publicly displayed technology from AMD.

I was told by a representative of AMD that I was not going to be allowed to even enter the building because Tom’s Hardware (THG) had forced a media blackout for all other online press. That means that as a member of the press, I was not allowed to enter the building, take photos or write about the hardware events that would occur inside.

I had made my mind up to keep my yapper shut on this topic as some of the issues were worked out after Ryan went public with the situation, then I read this mail from Omid Rahmat of THG at the InqWell.

There really does not seem much sense having to deal with this sort of thing, although it has to be said that I am sick and tired of fanboy sites that do nothing but slam everyone for their own edification. Soapbox amateurs who just want to get a few rants up on a page, and paint themselves as gurus. What has it got to do with hardware and technology? Nothing. They're Tom wannabes, or Anand wannabes, or Kyle wannabes, or even Mike wannabes. I would hope they aspire to something greater, but the nature of society today dictates that we all have a grasp that exceeds our reach.

This would of course seem to be obviously aimed squarely at Ryan Shrout of AMDMB.com. I do know Ryan Shrout and have had many conversations with him and he simply does not deserve the above statements. I have shared dinner tables with him as well a cab ride or two. He is a very intelligent young man with a good head on his shoulders. He knows right from wrong, and is one of the few people in the industry that I will vouch for and have done so. I think that if Ryan posted his experiences, that is basically the way it happened, no matter how much mud gets slung his way. AMDMB.com is an asset to our community and I am proud to call them a peer.

"Soapbox amateurs" are very much in part what makes our hardware community such a great place. Keep fighting the good fight Ryan. I will put my own amateur soapbox up now and let you get back to a bit of tech news.