Even more oddities spotted in the news

[Bob Schroeck]

If it was just that, nothing. But ... they could have done it more simply and more abstract. What they did, with the long and lingering shots on each individual item's destruction -- especially when it was something like the artist's mannikin in a crouched, frankly terrified-looking pose like a plaster figure at Pompeii, with its arms up to protect itself -- that seemed terribly arrogant and dismissive. And maybe it's just me, but the paint seemed intended to look like blood. They could have done the "squeezed all these things into one" much more cleanly and simply, but instead they seemed to have deliberately gone out of their way to make the whole thing suggestive of actual violence.

[robkelk]

"We've squeezed all these tools of creativity into one little gadget!" What's the problem with that?

If that's what they had shown, it would have been an overreaction. What they did show was, to quote Justine Bateman, "crushing the arts."

Also, quoting the article that I linked to:

The ad was not even original. A keen Xitter user pointed out that electronics firm LG used almost exactly the same concept and visual for its smartphone campaign in 2008 – crushed instruments, splattered paint, crumbling hi-fi components, they're all there.

Did Apple copy the ad and hope no one would notice? Was the company that generated a staggering $383 billion in revenue in fiscal 2023 too lazy to check? Either way, it may be a sign that quality has slipped at the brand once considered the gold standard in marketing.

Which is somewhat more important than the fanboi reaction. What happened to Apple's originality?

[classicdrogn]

It's true that it has a very "social media stunt for clicks" vibe to it, but, well, commercial. Catching people's attention is literally the sole reason for its existence. As for originality... it seems that went out of fashion this decade, what with all the remakes and reboots and and sequels dominating most of the media space.

[robkelk]

... but, well, commercial. Catching people's attention is literally the sole reason for its existence. ...

That isn't how advertising works... at least, not how effective advertising works. (Or anything else, for that matter. If "catching people's attention" was all it took to be successful, all I'd need to do to be a successful writer is come up with a couple-dozen really good titles and not bother writing the stories that go with them.)

If an ad doesn't keep people's attention even after seeing, hearing, or reading the ad, then it has failed.

If an ad doesn't make the target audience want to accept and follow up on your message (whether the message is "buy this", "vote for me", "act the way we want you to act", or something else), then it has failed.

The Apple ad definitely succeeded in the first part -- people remember it, and at least one reputable news agency has written a story about it.

The Apple ad has failed in the second part -- people in the target audience do not accept the message.

One out of two isn't good enough. It's a bad ad.

[classicdrogn]

Yes, but you were talking about the lack of originality. I was agreeing that it's lacking in it, just a minor variation on the LG ad mentioned, or numerous youtube channels where various things are blown up or shot in slow motion, or put into a blender or a hydraulic press. I'm not going to argue about the impact of the message, because it clearly landed very differently for me than you.

[robkelk]

Dragon Ball Z Reese's Puffs Cereal Reaches Its Final Form

Note that collecting seven boxes does not guarantee a wish from Shenron.

[Dartz]

Hitler for Mayor. His opponnet - Lenin.

[robkelk]

It isn't much, but it has a big name.

The Nathan Fillion Civilian Pavilion is now a real thing

[Dartz]

Portal between Dublin and New York closed because Dubliners are even bigger arseholes than New Yorkers....

From the colourful cows that travelled the world, before getting beheaded here.
To the statue of a sea-god that vanished
To some WW1 commemoration that got splashed with red paint.
Or the perpetual vanadlism of the Luke Kelly head.
And the destruction of Nelson's pillar.

Ireland is where art goes to die.

But even it's destruction may have artistic merit.

[Labster]

It isn't much, but it has a big name.

The Nathan Fillion Civilian Pavilion is now a real thing

Sounds like a great place to host a cotillion.

[Bob Schroeck]

It isn't much, but it has a big name.

The Nathan Fillion Civilian Pavilion is now a real thing

Sounds like a great place to host a cotillion.

Only if the attendees are Brazilian.

[classicdrogn]

Or Sicilian - it could be a big crime family wedding to make peace between northern and southern hemisphere cartels.

[Bob Schroeck]

There might be a billion of them.

[robkelk]

Think One Star dining is only elegant dining rooms with tables set with pressed white linens? Think again

MICHELIN Guide awards one star to a Mexico City taqueria

[robkelk]

When growing conditions are too good, what do you do with 10 million pounds of potatoes that you can't sell?

Give them to food banks across North America, apparently.

Ottawa got 40,000 pounds of them... and they were all gone in a week and a half.

(I think this is one of those good news/bad news stories -- good in that the food didn't go to waste, bad in that there's that big a demand for inexpensive/free food.)

[hazard]

40 000 pounds gone in a week and a half?

Week and a half is about 10 days, and depending on diet it's somewhere between half a pound and a full pound a day per adult on average.

Somewhere between 1 000 and 2 000 people were fed like this in Ottawa alone who might otherwise have been short.

[robkelk]

Yeah, and Ottawa only has a population of around 1,000,000. One wonders how fast the potatoes that went to San Diego flew off the shelves.

---

Oh, like this is ever going to be useful.

Researchers from the University of Groningen's Speech Technology Lab say they have created a multimodal algorithm that can detect sarcasm in speech.

Because clearly the world's biggest problem was not having computers capable of rolling their eyes and saying, "Yeah, right."

---

AI Catholic 'priest' defrocked after recommending Gatorade baptism

Of course, there wouldn't be a need for this if people professing to be Christians – or indeed any doctrinal faith – would actually read the rule book of their religion. You might be surprised at the contents.

[hazard]

Oh, like this is ever going to be useful.

Researchers from the University of Groningen's Speech Technology Lab say they have created a multimodal algorithm that can detect sarcasm in speech.

Because clearly the world's biggest problem was not having computers capable of rolling their eyes and saying, "Yeah, right."

Look, the people of Groningen are good folk, honest, sober minded people, and far from stupid. Sarcasm is just not something they are used to, and this will help people who are sarcasm blind beyond just those who are honest.

[classicdrogn]

You mean Gatorade doesn't have the holiness Baptists crave!?

[Bob Schroeck]

AI Catholic 'priest' defrocked after recommending Gatorade baptism

Of course, there wouldn't be a need for this if people professing to be Christians – or indeed any doctrinal faith – would actually read the rule book of their religion. You might be surprised at the contents.

They don't want to be surprised at their contents. That's why they make up their own.

[robkelk]

You should be bidding, yeah!

Light-up dancefloor from ‘Saturday Night Fever’ expected to sell for $300,000

Also up at the same auction: one of the Arks of the Covenant, and the Dude's bowling outfit.

[Bob Schroeck]

A little fun from the Onion:

Jerky, 7-Fingered Scarlett Johansson Appears In Video To Express Full-Fledged Approval Of OpenAI

[robkelk]

Google to push ahead with Chrome's ad-blocker extension overhaul in earnest

On Monday, some people using Beta, Dev, and Canary builds of Google Chrome will be presented with a warning when they access their browser's extension management page – located at chrome://extensions.

The banner will say that legacy Manifest V2 browser extensions will stop working soon.

Those extensions include ad-blockers and other content filters that rely on the Manifest V2 API. And though leading ad-blocking extensions more or less support Manifest V2's successor, conveniently named Manifest V3, there is still some argument that these filters will be disadvantaged under version 3 when they are no longer allowed to use version 2.

Meanwhile, Firefox still supports Manifest V2 and has no plans to stop.

[robkelk]

No, they weren't knighted by a dancing queen.

All Four ABBA Members Reunite to Be Knighted at Royal Ceremony in Sweden

[Bob Schroeck]

GAINAX files for bankruptcy.