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toblix

Apple WWDC 2012 Keynote

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I've always liked avoiding the spoilers and waiting until I can see the keynote myself. (Here's the link for today.) There were some interesting announcements today, like the Do Not Disturb setting, and a laptop with a 2880x1800 display. However, I find myself become increasingly annoyed at weird stuff I notice, like them making fun of competitors, which always strike me as particularly pathetic coming from Apple. And the focus on – and crazy applause for – completely non-spectacular stuff. What got the greatest applause this time? Fucking pull-down-to-refresh in the email client.

The new map looked really sweet. It'll be interesting to see what Google are doing here – they tried to pre-empt Apple last week by announcing something 3D coming to Google Maps. We'll see what happens, but I guess the battle of the maps is on like never before.

I like the focus on accessibility, too, like the hearing-aid thing. Sounds like a cool thing, though, knowing Apple, it could just as well be a lame attempt at a lock-in thing.

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The imminent demise of the Mac Pro line kind of saddens me (they updated the procs and ram and left everything else the same. A half-assed update if there ever was one). But I suppose it was an inevitability.

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Flash memory is not cheap or plentiful enough to make me want the new Macbook Pro, but with that screen resolution and no optical drive: nearly.

I never bother watching these things and just read summaries later. How did they make fun of competitors? (I agree about that being pathetic).

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I can't remember what it was exactly. They had this dumb Siri intro movie very atypical for Apple, in which they made a jab or two, and later it was something about the Android release names.

It's not that bad, in and of itself, but it just compounds really quickly with their glib, borderline-douchey attitude about themselves and their product, and together with the cultists in the audience clapping for every little thing it gets real bad real fast.

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Yeah, that's why I can't watch. They already have by far the best design and production values; why do they have to be such fucking pricks about it?

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Reminds me of this: http://www.guardian....5/comment.media

"Hello, I'm a Mac," says Webb.

"And I'm a PC," adds Mitchell.

The ads are adapted from a near-identical American campaign - the only difference is the use of Mitchell and Webb. They are a logical choice in one sense (everyone likes them), but a curious choice in another, since they are best known for the television series Peep Show - probably the best sitcom of the past five years - in which Mitchell plays a repressed, neurotic underdog, and Webb plays a selfish, self-regarding poseur. So when you see the ads, you think, "PCs are a bit rubbish yet ultimately lovable, whereas Macs are just smug, preening tossers." In other words, it is a devastatingly accurate campaign.

His latest piece sums up perfectly how I feel, too:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/28/charlie-brooker-pfroblem-with-macs

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The guardian published three different articles by the same guy talking about the differing degrees to which he doesn't like Apple products? They're really embracing the medium of the internet.

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I've been trying to pin down what Apple marketing feels like. This might be it:

Someone you fundamentally loathe smiling in a really disconcerting way whilst giving you a handjob.

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Myst, the most pompous and boring Video game of all time, a plodding, dismal "adventure" in which you wandered around solving tedious puzzles in a rubbish magic kingdom apparently modelled on pretentious album covers, originated on the Mac in 1993.

I laughed.

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Rule of the Internet #247: You can't criticize Apple without someone criticizing you back.

There's probably a rule with a lower number about how much mindshare need be partitioned in the service of caring about hardware you don't own.

I don't disagree with the guy (the last article at least), I was just amused by how many times the site published this guy talking about the same thing but with slightly different opinions than before.

Also: I don't understand how anyone can watch an Apple keynote, or a press conference of any kind, really, unless it's your job. I can't watch any of the E3 presentations either, it just makes me feel base, and it's only made worse if I might actually be interested in what's being sold.

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I don't disagree with the guy (the last article at least), I was just amused by how many times the site published this guy talking about the same thing but with slightly different opinions than before.

You're talking about a series of blogposts over a period of about five years. The fact that three of them are about Apple is not worth commenting on. He also writes about TV, games, and other bits of pop culture. If he'd written three posts about GTA, or how crap he thought Microsoft was, nobody would bat an eyelid.

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So I've followed in the footsteps of Brooker and found myself becoming a fan of Apple... I switched to an iPhone, loved it (despite its minor quirks) and now have plans to buy an iPad. Everyone in my office knows this, but here's a conversation I had today:

Me [frustrated that his Apple mouse trackball has broken -- like it has with every single Apple mouse I've ever used]: Man, Apple can't make mice!

Colleague [deadly serious]: Wow, you really hate Apple don't you?

Saying something bad about Apple is like saying something bad against GW Bush: All of a sudden someone appears to tell you that you're a communist hell-bent on bringing down America.

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Saying something bad about Apple is like saying something bad against GW Bush: All of a sudden someone appears to tell you that you're a communist hell-bent on bringing down America.

Apple is one of those companies that seems to trigger the Internet Superlative Dichotomy, it's either the best or the worst, it's awesome or it's horrible, they're god or satan. I guess it comes from the so-called Cult of Apple and the counter-reaction to that, but it's weird that when someone asks my opinion, it's never "What do you think of Apple products?", but "Are you an Apple person?", as if that is a yes/no question.

I found that new MacBook Pro looked pretty cool, and I would love to test Final Cut on one, but ultimately, it's too far out of my price range for doing the same thing I can get done adequately on other devices.

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The imminent demise of the Mac Pro line kind of saddens me (they updated the procs and ram and left everything else the same. A half-assed update if there ever was one). But I suppose it was an inevitability.

If they do a desktop rev later this year (iMacs, minis) and we don't see the Pros get a bump along with that, it seems like it will be their end of life for sure. I haven't owned a desktop Mac since the G5 was cool, mostly because they're too expensive to justify, but I will miss having them out there as a cool thing I can't afford or justify but still think I should own.

Edit! MacRumors has some quotes about the Mac Pro. Sounds like at least something will be happening next year, whether it's a bump of that line or a change in the lineup, who knows.

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I have such a burning neutrality for Apple.

My dad hates Apple in a way that I can't creatively describe, but it's very much. He worked at Microsoft for a while as part of something having to do with MSN and/or Hotmail, but I think it goes a lot deeper than that, most likeley back to his childhood. He's a total douche about Apple, but I guess in a technologically informed way? meaning he was that guy complaining when Steve Jobs died that people were giving a shit about him and not Dennis Ritchie, and gets mad about how Apple never acknowledges that Microsoft saved them and other stuff like that, which is a fair point but gets obnoxious after a while. My uncle on the other had is a huge Apple tool. He's a very well paid doctor or surgeon or something, and always buys every Apple product the day it comes out and is always raving about how they are just so much farther ahead that anyone else in the tech world and stuff. But he's not just that guy, he's the guy that despite being on call all the time has never once missed going to Mac World each year. But he's not just that guy, he's the guy who for his 25th wedding anniversary allowed his wife to come with him to Mac World.

I don't see how you can care so strongly about one company over the other (unless you have stock I guess). If you like Apple cool, I'm not a fan of their computers, but as a PC gamer I've basically been conditioned to be a nerd about performance/price when buying one. As a music technology major I've spent tons of time using Macs and they're good computers, I like Windows more, but I can't find fault with anyone for preferring them. For phones, the iPhone is basically as good as it gets. I don't think its better than any other phone there is, but I think that it's just as good as any other phone that there is and to deny that the app store is miles better than the android store or the WP7 marketplace is stupid. I have a high end android phone and I find it to be just as good as my sisters iPhone 4, but there are tons of apps on the app store that aren't on android and don't even have similar apps for android. As for tablets, I don't even like tablets as an idea, except I guess as color eReaders. I will probably get the Google Tablet whatever thing from ASUS when it comes out, but only because it's basically a Kindle Fire but better (if it ends up being a ~$200 price point). This is from someone who reads lots of comics though, I don't know what else I would use it for, so unless you're like me and have read every issue of Green Lantern and Batman from the 20's to present, I don't understand the draw, but whatever.

Long story short I don't see why people would take their love for one product/company over the other to the point that they berate people for not agreeing with them. What's wrong with everyone just buying that they prefer and then accepting that there are people in the world who don't agree with them and also don't care. As I say every time I start a DOTA 2 game, "GLHF and as long as we all have fun EVERYBODY IS A WINNER!!!! :)"

I almost always get called a fag btw.

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I really despise using OSX because I hate the interface so much. Much better than whatever Apple products we had when I was in grade school 15 years ago, but I still hate it. That is mostly because I used Windows, though. I don't care about the companies. Only the products. My iPod Touch is fantastic and like fifty years old (I think it is a 3G? not even a 3GS? I don't keep track of this shit)!

I also will always avoid buying Apple computers because I need the freedom of building my own. I am a PC gamer.

I don't even know why I clicked on this thread! Idle curiosity, I suppose.

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I have such a burning neutrality for Apple.

My dad hates Apple in a way that I can't creatively describe, but it's very much. He worked at Microsoft for a while as part of something having to do with MSN and/or Hotmail, but I think it goes a lot deeper than that, most likeley back to his childhood. He's a total douche about Apple, but I guess in a technologically informed way? meaning he was that guy complaining when Steve Jobs died that people were giving a shit about him and not Dennis Ritchie, and gets mad about how Apple never acknowledges that Microsoft saved them and other stuff like that, which is a fair point but gets obnoxious after a while. My uncle on the other had is a huge Apple tool. He's a very well paid doctor or surgeon or something, and always buys every Apple product the day it comes out and is always raving about how they are just so much farther ahead that anyone else in the tech world and stuff. But he's not just that guy, he's the guy that despite being on call all the time has never once missed going to Mac World each year. But he's not just that guy, he's the guy who for his 25th wedding anniversary allowed his wife to come with him to Mac World.

Wow. Talk about two extremes. Your Dad has a point about a few things, although it's not like Dennis Ritchie was ignored by those in the know. He was recognized by a lot of people and organizations for his contributions. But FUCK ME, your uncle is the worst example of something I've witnessed in real life, I've ever heard. The attitude of "Apple is so far ahead of everyone else" is sickeningly ignorant. I hate it when I come across it.

I'm intrigued by what's going to happen now that Jobs is gone, though. Without such a tyrant in control, will they still have such high standards for the stuff they produce? History points to them going straight into the gutter. Time will tell.

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