We all love a good laugh now and then. Whether it’s at the expense of someone else, or a genuine happening of the universe, humor comes in many shapes, sizes, and colors. But being that we’re tech gurus, the things that really make us chuckle revolve around gadgets. In recent memory, there’s no better story to pick fun at than the iPhone 4/Gizmodo Bar blunder that is now pretty much known to everyone.
In the real word, a judge will ultimately decide the outcome of the iPhone 4/Gizmodo leak. But that leaves all of us wondering what exactly Steve would do if here were given the final say. A mystery it is no more. Stop wondering and watch the parody inside…
**Update: Looks like filing that rumor in the rumor cabinet was worthwhile after all — (Link)
File this in the “half rumor” file cabinet for now. I say “half rumor” because the comments on which this post is based are in German. A German dialect that is apparently too much for Google Translate to handle. The resulting english output is anything but readable. But we press on. Supposedly bloggers and journalists attending a Microsoft event in Germany were warned by a Microsoft employee/rep to “not mention or use any Apple devices during the press conference”. Hmmm, can anyone say communist policies? I’m all for being determined and loyal to your own brand, but telling individuals who voluntarily come to your press events what they can and cannot use is ridiculous. Even Apple with their totalitarian ways don’t exercise such restraints. Then again, this is all based off of Google Translate’s attempt and utter failure at trying to decipher the cryptic German message.
With the initial shock of a “no-Mac zone” put behind them, the journalists sat through another apology of sorts by Microsoft for the lackluster WinMo 6.5 and extreme delay in WinMo 7′s release. Pretty standard affair these days. Though denying entrance to your events to get people interested in your products simply because they choose a competitors product that they feel is better is a pretty poor way to gain any sympathy or mend a broken relationship with their potential customer base. Just sayin’…
So fellow bloggers, journalists, and mere citizens: What would you say to Microsoft if they tried to stop you from whipping out your Macbook at a Microsoft event?
9to5 Mac
- September 9, 2009 9:58 am
According to Sascha Lobo, co-initiator of the Internet Manifesto, Journalism has to adapt to today’s as well as the futures emerging technologies. Photo: Reto Klar
Bloggers as of late have been getting a fair deal of flack from more “reputable” news sources with fat checkbooks and more legal resources than most of us would know what to do with. Time and time again we have seen bigger news publications attack smaller blogs for piracy, siphoning content, and all out theft on the digital front. Though, this borrowing and sharing of ideas (*clears throat*…the whole purpose of the internet) and the so called “rules” that apply, only go one way. Whenever big publications are threatened, legal hounds are released. But when bloggers and smaller blogs across the internet are pillaged, well, that’s a different story. This double standard and utter nonsense has infuriated many. Myself included. Thankfully, the little guys aren’t taking it lightly.
15 of Germany’s most popular blogs and bloggers came together to create the “Internet Manifesto”. It is a document informing telling everyone, big publications included, how the internet works no matter the attempts to force it into nice little pay containers and walled gardens. The Internet Manifesto has garnered a great deal of attraction already as the site it is hosted on has been up and down due to traffic. The Manifesto highlights how this growing feeling of entitlement is a disease and that the internet is a new business model — applying old business models and failing to innovate to the changing markets and times will only cast those involved further into irrelevance.
The Internet Manifesto in it’s entirety just inside for those of you wanting some enlightenment, knowledge, and more importantly, a good read.
The digital age has brought the death of many older industries and technologies as constant progress has brought about new methods, processes, products, etc. Perhaps one of the most publicly known and widely talked about issues regarding dying industries is that of the newspaper industry. While some will argue that newspapers aren’t dying (right), or that there is nothing wrong with the industry itself and it is merely going through a period of increased “leaching” by smaller news outlets and blogs, the newspaper industry as a whole isn’t doing so hot.
Of course, in the day and age of finger pointing and no one being able to take the blame for their own personal screw ups, it seems only natural to shove the blame off to other entities — precisely what many news outlets are doing. Anything and everything from blaming Google, news aggregators, to technology and electronics as a whole hasn’t esacped the newspapers industry assault on modern technology. However, there is at least one news organization that “gets it”, this digital revolution. That organization is NPR. A perfect example of how an old industry is molding into anew is briliantly illustrated with their new NPR iPhone app.
(Video of the app in action and more after the jump)
I’m sure many of you get your daily dose of news from some form of digital means, eschewing the now archaic and grossly inefficient paper based model. Why spend countless minutes searching through pages of slaughtered trees when you can have an unlimited amount of papers available to you online, at your finger tips? So is the way of the world. Unfortunately, as more readers move online, ad revenue from traditional paper papers continues to fall meaning the publishers have to find new methods of making money. Sadly, it has taken the form of ad after ad and the continual downsizing of actual content per page. While I whole heartedly support ad usage, having more ads than worthwhile content isn’t a very good business model to attract readers and entice them to open up their wallets. The picture above comes compliments of Microsoft program manager Dare Obasanjo and shows just how much online journalism has changed in a few short years, albeit with an obvious twist of humor thrown in. Still, it is very clear the problems that online journalism still face in that they are clearly outside of their comfort zone and have no idea what they are doing. Ahhh, ’tis nice to reminisce.
Source: Alley Insider
