1984
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7 anti-Apple cliches that need to die
PC vs. Mac flamewars are older than the web itself, but it seems like the more popular/successful Apple gets, the more heated the argument gets on both sides. Almost any debate about the relative merits of one platform or another is guaranteed to degenerate into an all-out shouting match. In the midst of all the fighting and name calling, the oddest thing happens: almost every time, you'll see a lot of the same points being raised by both sides again and again. Some of these points are so tired and worn out, they've reached cliche status. In online debates, there's an informal rule known as Godwin's Law, whereby if you invoke references or comparisons to Nazis or Hitler, you've automatically lost the debate. I say the items on this list have become so worn out they've reached automatic rhetorical failure status on their own. I know that every time I see one of these points appear, I immediately stop any serious consideration of any other arguments from the person who brought it up. I'm focusing on Apple haters and their cliches for this article, but don't get the idea that Apple users aren't just as guilty of cliche-ridden arguments when they argue against using Windows. If, for example, you're an Apple user and you do any of these things: -- Cite the Blue Screen of Death (or BSOD, as he's known to his closest friends) as a point against Windows -- Insert a dollar sign into Microsoft's name (Micro$oft, M$) -- Use "clever" alternate spellings of Windows (Windoze and other less family-friendly revisions) -- Call Internet Explorer "Internet Exploder" you're employing a heavily-cliched, Godwin-esque talking point, too. Read on for the seven deadly cliches of anti-Mac attacks.
Valve celebrates Half-Life 2 for OS X with a nod to Apple's '1984'
Apple's "1984" commercial has become the stuff of legend -- a symbol of breaking free from what was then an IBM-dominated market. But in a stroke of irony, Valve has released its own parody of the ad to celebrate the launch of Half-Life 2 on OS X (praise be to Steam), about five and a half years after the highly acclaimed game originally debuted on PC. Better late than never, we suppose, and like always, Valve's marketing hits just the right pitch. Video after the break, along with Apple's original and another parody near and dear to our hearts.
Half Life 2 out on Mac tomorrow
The always impressive folks at Valve have released the trailer above, which will be familiar if you've ever seen a very popular Apple commercial before. And at the end, you'll also see why they've done this: Half Life 2 is coming to the Mac tomorrow, May 26, 2010. That's pretty much all we have to say -- the first-person shooter is one of the best-reviewed and best-selling games of all time, and it'll be running natively on the Mac thanks to the Steam for Mac release from a few weeks ago. If you've never played Half-Life 2, you're in for a treat, even if you never played the classic first title in the series. We haven't yet heard about a price (the PC version is currently at $20, though Valve has a history of dropping prices unexpectedly -- Portal was free for its Mac release), and while a few outlets are saying the two episodic followups to the game will be out tomorrow as well, we don't yet know that for sure. Stay tuned, as one of the biggest classics in PC gaming finally arrives on the Mac.
Mother Mayhem and the Seers: New Going Rogue faction or greatest band name ever?
Thought crime: once the sole domain of Big Brother in Nineteen Eighty-Four, it's now cropped up in City of Heroes. Praetoria City, featured in City of Heroes' latest expansion Going Rogue, curbs the local crime with a bit of mind reading and proactive rehabilitation. This initiative is led by Mother Mayhem, the leader of a new faction called the Seers. Mayhem is a powerful psychic who contains the consciousness of two people (truly, a good deal for any superhero) and uses her talents to help bring other psychics under control. These Seers, as she calls them, are a bit like the precogs of Minority Report, able to predict crime before it happens and stop it. Continuing with the blurred-line-between-good-and-evil theme of Going Rogue, players may choose to see Mayhem as a positive force who prevents bad things from happening, or a totalitarian enforcer who violates personal privacy. Is Praetoria better or worse off with Mayhem and her Seers cleaning up crime? That remains to be seen, but in the meantime, you can get a deeper glimpse into this character and faction over on the Going Rogue website.
Apple's main ad man thinks different, steps down as Macs battle PCs like it's 1984
Apple's certainly seen plenty of shakeups in its ranks over the years and, while this one may not exactly come as a shock, it's still tough to overstate the influence of Lee Clow, who has announced that he's stepping down as chief creative officer of Apple's main ad agency, TBWA/Media Arts Lab. While he also made his mark with a range of other clients (including the Energizer Bunny and the Taco Bell Chihuahua), Clow was most closely identified with Apple, and founded the Media Arts Lab as part of TBWA in 2006 specifically to serve the company. Clow has been the man behind virtually every major Apple advertising campaign even before that, however, including the famous 1984 Superbowl ad, the "Think Different" series, the dancing iPod silhouettes and, of course, the Mac vs. PC ads. Not surprisingly, another Apple ad man, Duncan Milner, has been tapped to take his place, and Clow will be staying on as Chairman if he ever needs a little advice. Let's head on past the break for a brief trip down memory lane, shall we? [Via Macworld]
Amazon clarifies Kindle book-deletion policy, can still delete books
Amazon might have been extremely contrite about remotely deleting 1984 from Kindles, but a Jeff Bezos apology and an offer to restore the book doesn't necessarily add up to a meaningful change in policy. As part of the settlement with that student who sued over the 1984 situation, Amazon's had to clarify its remote-deletion guidelines, and they're pretty much the same as ever: they'll hit the kill switch if you ask for a refund or if your credit card is declined, if a judge orders them to, or if they need to protect the Kindle or the network from malware. Sounds simple, right? Well, sort of -- saying they'll delete content at the behest of judicial or regulatory decree pretty much leaves the door open to exactly the same situation as the 1984 debacle, just a couple procedural steps down the line and with less blame placed on Amazon. If you'll recall, 1984 was deleted after the publisher was sued for not having the proper rights, and Amazon took the proactive step of deleting the content -- and although Amazon won't do that on its own anymore, all it takes now is one strongly-worded motion before a sympathetic judge and we're back at square one. That's pretty troubling -- no judge can order a physical bookseller to come into your house and retrieve a book they've sold you, and saying things are different for the Kindle raises some interesting questions about what Amazon thinks "ownership" means. We'll see how this one plays out in practice, though -- we're hoping Amazon never has to pull that switch again.
Amazon offers to give back your Kindle's copy of Nineteen Eighty-Four
Poor Amazon -- ever since the company remotely deleted illegally sold copies of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four -- they've faced an uphill PR battle. First, the company issued an apology, and tried to explain what went down. That didn't really stop people from being rightfully upset about the incident, and its implications -- and at least one student has sued Amazon, claiming they were unable to do their school work once the e-book had been deleted. Now, they've contacted affected customers again, letting them know that they now have the option to either have their copy of Nineteen Eighty-Four -- complete with notes -- re-delivered, or, alternatively, Amazon will cut them a check for $30. Fair warning, though -- if you made any anti-Bezos notes in the margins, they've definitely been [redacted]. We kid! Full text of the letter after the break.[Thanks, Paul]
Entelligence: Two strikes for Kindle is enough for me
Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he'll explore where our industry is and where it's going -- on both micro and macro levels -- with the unique wit and insight only he can provide. I like books. No: I actually love books. In virtually every room in my home there are bookcases that are filled to overflowing. I like to purchase them, hold them as I read words written to inform, delight, and transport the reader into different times, new experiences, and enlighten them in ways they could not have imagined. Like the worst hot dog I've eaten and the worst beer I've drunk, the worst book I've read was wonderful... but books do have a downside. They're bulky to store, hard to travel with (paper is really, really heavy), and paperbacks in particular tend to not hold up well over time. So, in addition to books, I've been a fan of e-Books. My former venture capital firm did one of the first investments in Peanut Press (long sold and re-sold many times and now owned by Barnes and Noble) and more than a decade ago I struggled with reading fiction by Dan Brown on a Palm V device with low resolution and on backlight. It was a struggle -- but it was better than schlepping paper.
DSS surveillance tech from Japan makes George Orwell upset
We take a break from reporting on the impending doom of the human race to bring you news of the latest innovation designed specifically for making our pre-apocalypse lives miserable. Japanese firm DSS is now offering to snap video cameras and ankle sensors -- yes, the same kind that convicts under home arrest have to wear -- onto your employees for the ultimate in workplace surveillance. Sure, you might find out Bob in accounting takes a really long lunch, but do you really need to spend $20,000 and piss off your entire workforce to prove that? Just stalk his Tweets and Facebook status updates like a good old-fashioned employer would do.
Movie Gadget Friday: Runaway
Ariel Waldman contributes Movie Gadget Friday, where she highlights the lovable and lame gadgets from the world of cinema. Previously on Movie Gadget Friday, we tapped into the near dystopian future of fear in Brazil. Keeping on that 1980's near-future vibe (but with a slightly more sentient twist), this week we check out Michael Crichton's Runaway, starring Tom Selleck, Gene Simmons, Cynthia Rhodes and Kirstie Alley. Filled with circuitry and hardwired chips, the movie reinforces wholesome family values by featuring warranty voids as the gateway hack to murder. Leaping Insect Robot Measuring in around the size of a human head, these six-legged, spider-like, autonomous robots are mechanical in movement but shockingly precise in killing prey. The autonomous insects have the ability to propel themselves up to seven feet in the air, allowing for attacks on unsuspecting victims. Dual-functioning, the legs are able to crawl and grasp a multitude of surfaces, albeit awkwardly and rather slowly. After programming targets into a mainframe, the robots are able to identify and kill victims by injecting them with acid via a probe before short circuiting and eventually exploding into a ball of flames. Sadly, the robots lack any sort of remote control, making human errors in target-programming unable to be edited.
Atari Touch Tablet unboxed 25 years after the fact
Are you an artist wishing to unchain the shackles of traditional media, looking for a way to catapult yourself and your work into the 20th Century? A chap named Benj Edwards has been kind enough to unbox for us Atari's Touch Tablet, a classic piece of kit from the bygone age of 1984 that -- alongside the Atari Artist software -- lets users manipulate the size, location and color of shapes and lines. Digitally. The software comes in two versions: the four color version for those of you with 16K RAM, and the 16 color version for those of you with 24K powerhouse workstations. When you're done with your pixel-based Mona Lisa, you can back it up to a cassette -- which will sit in a box in your parent's garage until your older sister gets around to taping an REO Speedwagon album over it. What are you waiting for? Hit that read link.
Seeing the future from the past
We'll be seeing a lot of predictions about the immediate future in the coming days. We're not immune here at TUAW and you'll likely get some predictions from your humble bloggers, but it is really interesting to look back and see how our current technology was (or was not) predicted in the past.Here is a link to a talk by Nicholas Negroponte from 1984. At the time, Negroponte was head of the MIT Media Lab, and company CEOs were always taking their people there to see what the future might have to offer. This video is from the year the Macintosh appeared. Negroponte talked about touch screens, high resolution monitors, and the future of user interfaces. It is a fascinating presentation, and his predictions for the most part are right on target. It's almost 30 minutes long, but give it a try and I think you'll find it pretty eye-opening.It isn't easy predicting the future. I remember seeing the General Motors film about the future done for the 1939 Worlds Fair in New York. Most of those predictions were wrong, and very 'Buck Rogers.' Robots doing housework, automated cars and a lot of other things that haven't come to pass, at least not yet.Negroponte, who now is behind the One Laptop Per Child project, has had a very keen eye over time. Many of the things he predicted came to pass in products released by Apple, which have benefited users immensely. [via Funky Space Monkey]
All Blizzard forums are again locked
Nethaera just laid the hammer down folks. All of the Blizzard forums have been locked. This means you will not be able to post on them at all. It looks like they will remain locked for the remainder of the day. Quite ungood for those of us that like to use them productively.They've done this so the community manager can communicate with the community better. They need to get information out quickly, and cannot have the forum system overloaded and explode as it did last night.This is not the first time we've seen them lock the forums in the past twenty four hours, although I do hope it is the last time.On a brighter side of things, our comments are not locked! And we don't really subscribe to the 1984 doctrine. Newspeak here I come!
Laptops can be confiscated and searched at US border without cause says report
In further evidence of our rapidly eroding civil liberties, the Department of Homeland Security disclosed today that US Customs and Border Protection and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement have the right to confiscate and search a traveler's laptop or other electronic device without any suspicion of wrongdoing. The rules -- which we reported on in February -- allow for searches of hard drives, flash drives, cellphones, iPods, pagers, and video or audio tapes, and specify that the agencies can "detain" belongings for a "reasonable period of time," (i.e., as long as they please). Additionally, the DHS can share the data found with other government agencies or private entities for translation, decryption, or (astoundingly vague) "other reasons." The DHS says the policies apply to anyone entering the country -- including US citizens -- and claim the measures are necessary to prevent terrorism. In other news, Big Brother issued a statement today guaranteeing a bonus for turning over family members suspected of crimethink to the Thought Police.[Via Switched]
The iPhone, Zack Morris style
Okay, the debate can end: Apple apparently had the touchscreen phone sorted in 1984, so let the Cupertino nyaa nyaa-ing begin. Marc Esslinger, son of frog design owner Hartmut Esslinger, recently posted up some pics of his dad's early design work for Jobs and the Apple crew. Perhaps the collection's piece de resistance (at least in our mobile-obsessed eyes) is this desk phone concept developed in conjunction with -- wait for it -- AT&T. Of course, they didn't quite have the "mobile" part of "mobile phone" down yet, but YouTube would've totally ruled on that display. [Via textually.org]
Found Footage: Steve introduces the "1984" ad
Here's a great video of Steve introducing the famous "1984" ad to a boisterous crowd (we're guessing the Macintosh team) a week before it aired during the 1984 Super Bowl. I'd say they liked it.If Steve's good at one thing, it's making a persuasive speech.Thanks, Callum!Update: Reader cuda440 says, "That was at the January 1984 annual shareholder's meeting, held at the Flint Center, De Anza College, Cupertino. I know because I was there, as were nearly all of my fellow Apple employees. Obviously this was before MacWorld, and the shareholder's meeting was where major product announcements were made."Cool! Thanks for the info, cuda440!
Follow Up: Hillary-as-Big-Brother authored on a Mac
"Hi. I'm Phil. I did it. And I'm proud of it...I made the 'Vote Different' ad," said Philip de Vellis on this recent Huffington Post writeup. A "proud Democrat" and Obama supporter, deVellis authored the Hillary-as-Big-Brother ad on his personal Macintosh, uploaded it to YouTube and passed the link around to some blogs. de Vellis has now resigned from his job with Blue State Digital, a firm that has provided technology to several campaigns including Obama's. de Vellis does not specify which software he used, but iMovie and Final Cut are obvious candidates. He said he spent just one Sunday afternoon putting the ad together.
Scientists using MRI to predict intentions, Big Brother seen nodding approvingly
If you'd relegated the Thought Police from that Cliff Notes version of 1984 you read in high school to science fiction, think again, friend: scientists in Germany have just made the first major progress in being able to predict a person's intentions before they act them out. As you might expect, the team from Berlin's Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience are using modern technology's best tool for observing brain activity -- Magnetic Resonance Imaging -- to determine subjects' likely course of action when presented with a set of numbers that they may either add or subract. Now before you start freaking out that the cops are about to bust down your door all Minority Report-style for that nasty crime you're planning on committing, bear in mind that this research is still in its infancy, and that the reported success rate of 70% is still closer to chance than rigorous scientific truth. In other words, when researchers presented test subjects with a set of digits, they were only able to interpret the cortical activity correctly seven out of ten times -- the other three times, people zigged (added) when they were expected to zag (subtract). So, what does this all this mean for you paranoid conspiracy theorists out there? Not much -- for now. First of all, it's going to take as long as a decade to codify the cortical patterns associated with each one of the almost infinite variations on human thought. Secondly, MRI machines aren't exactly the most portable or inobtrusive instruments around, meaning that some pretty tech new devices are going to have to be invented if Big Brother really wants to monitor our thoughts covertly. In other words, tuck that tin foil cap back in the drawer and continue about your daily business.
Apple '1984' ad 10th in CBS countdown
In the realm of ridiculous rankings, what could be more trivial than "best Superbowl commercial ever?" And yet, CBS has devoted an hour tonight to this burning question. Three years ago, Apple's legendary 1984 ad ranked #4 in the fan voting; tonight it came in at #10.Starting at 9:30 ET/PT, voting opens on the grudge match of Anheuser-Busch's "Lamb Streaker" against the all-time favorite, Coke's Mean Joe Greene ad. That lamb is gonna get skewered. Meanwhile, I'll be watching carefully for Apple's new "Let It Be... iPod" ad.
23 years ago we found out why 1984 wouldn't be like 1984
Many people call Apple's 1984 ad (this one is slightly updated), which introduced the Macintosh, as the best ad ever made. It aired 23 years ago today during Super Bowl XVIII. Head on over to Tony Long's piece for Wired to see why this iconic ad almost never saw the light of day.Here's my question to you, loyal TUAW readers, how many of you actually saw this ad when it was aired (remember that the ad was only aired on TV twice, and only once nationally).
