I think the Ben Heck hate is really misplaced. Before he got the element14 gig he didn't do a video blog, I don't think, and his hacks were far fewer, longer between them, and of higher quality and design.
My main gripe with his stuff is that he seems to have everything he needs on hand or available from a friend. no one else in the world has access to the stuff he has access to like that, so it really, really limits my ability to "draw a line" between my own abilities and his. If I can draw a line between myself and you, then I have a path --a plan-- to get my own abilities up to yours. If I can't draw that line, then I don't know how the hell you got to where you are and your skillset is unattainable to me. For someone making videos meant to inspire people to "make" then having an unattainable set of resources is not exactly a good place to be.
All of that said, I'm 100% confident that Ben is indeed a good person and I believe that he's doing what he sees to be good work. I think that's awesome. Power to him, and a healthy "WELL DONE" to Element14 for working with him to, or letting him, produce the videos he produces. I'm not watching but I know that there are lots of folks who are inspired to "make" more because of him.