IEEE Spectrum
Shares rank 14 of 15 online magazines by recommenders
People recommend it for expert technical articles and good writeups on engineering topics. Critics say some articles are filler or AI-generated, which lowers its quality.
People recommend it for expert technical articles and good writeups on engineering topics. Critics say some articles are filler or AI-generated, which lowers its quality.
9 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 67%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Expert technical content
“they still contain good technical content written by experts, but they also feature junk/filler "articles"”
Comment from 13 Jun 2026 in “Why a Computer Science Degree Still Opens Hidden Doors” “A good writeup on the tech”
Comment from 16 Jun 2026 in “Cooling at the Speed of Light” Good, readable publication
“IEEE Spectrum is such a good publication”
Comment from 19 Sep 2026 in “How OpenAI Used Its Own LLMs to Design Its Jalapeño Chip” “This is an interesting read on software projects and failure”
Comment from 25 Nov 2025 in “APT Rust requirement raises questions”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Filler and AI-generated articles
“they still contain good technical content written by experts, but they also feature junk/filler "articles"”
Comment from 13 Jun 2026 in “Why a Computer Science Degree Still Opens Hidden Doors” “leaning pretty heavily into low-quality, AI-generated articles”
Comment from 13 Jun 2026 in “Why a Computer Science Degree Still Opens Hidden Doors” “uninspiring slop since before slop was cool”
Comment from 15 May 2026 in “Steve Jobs Next Computer: His Forgotten Exile Years” Shallow, lower-quality writing
“it's a very shallow analysis written for a barely technical audience”
Comment from 19 Sep 2026 in “How OpenAI Used Its Own LLMs to Design Its Jalapeño Chip” “this really lowers the IEEE's quality in my eyes”
Comment from 13 Jun 2026 in “Why a Computer Science Degree Still Opens Hidden Doors”
Other online magazines people recommend
The four most recommended other online magazines, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Economist | 87 | 75 | 54% | 12 | 10 yrs11 owners | — |
| New York Times subscription | 68 | 190 | 26% | 12 | 10 yrs8 owners | — |
| LWN.net subscription | 53 | 14 | 79% | 11 | 22 yrs4 owners | Approved |
| Quanta Magazine | 36 | 20 | 64% | 11 | — | — |
| IEEE SpectrumThis page | 6 | 3 | 67% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
10 of the 11 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“it's a very shallow analysis written for a barely technical audience”
“IEEE Spectrum is such a good publication”
“A good writeup on the tech”
“they still contain good technical content written by experts, but they also feature junk/filler "articles"”
“this really lowers the IEEE's quality in my eyes”
“leaning pretty heavily into low-quality, AI-generated articles”
“uninspiring slop since before slop was cool”
“good to see latest in robotics”
“The article linked from it and a better read”
“This is an interesting read on software projects and failure”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.