Tuesday, 16 September 2008

I'm going to start off by.....

.... pissing off a large proportion of you.
Here is a accurate, drawn, representation of 99% of people who own Apple products.

8===D

And here is a representation of you when you purchase an Apple product.

Apple --> 8==O") <-- You (Sucking off Apple)

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Ok, time I think to explain before half off the internet read this, come to my house and start launching miscellaneous fruit and vegetables at it.
You are all a product of, admittedly, brainwash clever marketing, and my cases for example shall be the I(Look at me I'm packed with 5 year old technology and overpriced)phone and the MacBook(Fits in an envelope as there's nothing in it and incredibly overpriced) Air.

Iphone (1st Generation)
This one is so clear cut that a simple list of cans and cant’s will demonstrate what I'm getting at...
Small Print: Before people start defending it from what I'm writing by saying "Ooo but Apple has fixed all that now" while having your penis up Steve Jobs arse, I'm using the 1st generation Iphone for a reason. This is the one that was more hyped than Jesus, from a company bigger and worshipped in more countries than Jesus and cost more than the Holy Grail..... Drank from by Jesus (Fans of The Da Vinci code, don't even think about it), and better illustrates the point that people are uninformed and unintelligent consumers.

Can't or Doesn't:

  • Have a user battery replacement option

  • Send picture messages

  • Record Video

  • Copy and Paste

  • Have built in GPS

  • Have 3G!(This one is incredible for something that boasts video calling, someone please tell me what the quality is like without it)

  • Allow 3rd Party plug-ins, only Apple extensions

  • Allow for OS customisation

  • Take good quality photos (2 Megapixel)

  • Have a flash


Does, Can or Will:

  • Explode in your face (I'm not shitting you, Google 'Exploding Apple Battery')

  • Allow you to move things with your finger (Just because you can doesn't mean you should. I can think of plenty of things that are not good to touch or move with your finger, poo for example)

  • Make a dent larger than a nuke in the Grand Canyon to your bank balance

  • Tie you to a specific network meaning they can charge what they like for price plans as you have no other option

  • Limit you to 4GB or 8GB or storage


Now for a competitor product that has more features, is cheaper on contract, more robust, more customisable and fuck me I could go on but I won't.
Nokia N95 - In the interest of fairness I will use the 1st generation of this as a comparison.
Can, Does or Will:

  • Unlimited storage with cards

  • GPS, 3G and Video Calling

  • Have a user battery replacement option

  • 5 Megapixel camera with flash

  • Customisable OS

  • Have almost limitless options of software from 3rd parties

  • Cheaper


Yet people still buy the Iphone

And I could go on but I'm bored of the Iphone already so I'm going to move onto the Air now before making my overall point.
I bet a large number of people have seen the advert for the Air where some anonymous person pulls it out of an envelope to show have amazingly thin it is ("The thinnest laptop ever!"- Steve Jobs). Now try and think of another key selling point Apple advertised about it..... Still thinking? Go on, keep trying. Good. You’re fucked for one aren't you?
Click here after reading the whole note!
What that is a link to is an article describing the fact that Hewlett Packard developed a thinner laptop in, wait for it 1997! 11 years ago! Wow, Apple, you’re on the cutting edge of technology here my friend. Currently there is a Sony Vaio out that is 0.5 millimetres thicker than the Air(about the width of a gnats cock), and that is the only part where the Vaio falls down.
For the same price as the Air you get.... Better battery life, faster processor, more and faster RAM, more storage, Nvidia graphics chip, ohh, and a little thing called a DVD drive and burner and it's that part that grips my proverbial more than anything else. How many people in this day and age would seriously think, "Hmm I need a new desktop computer but I don't need any form of drive CD/DVD or otherwise"?
Yet it's of this exact statement, Apple has convinced the thousands of douches that have purchased it thus far is something to consider.

Yet people still buy the MacBook Air

But I don't hate Apple and I mean it. Really.
I am in unequivocal awe of their marketing team who, like a demented ape, is able to shovel and throw shit at the consumer in such vast quantities yet still retain a clean, zero poo stained, image.
What this is all about is you. Yes you with black polo neck sweater, silly beret and an affinity for fine cheese and poetry readings who seem to be the stereotypical crApple consumer.
These people have bought into Apple so much it's no longer a producer, company or any other business orientated synonym, it's a fucking cult. Here follows an actual quote by an Apple product user.

"I am so happy to be part of the Apple movement, it like being welcomed into a loving family"
- Anonymous tithead in the New York Apple store queue waiting 3 days for an Iphone.

It's because of these people technology is restrained from progressing.
Style in most aspects of life is a good thing. Clothing, food, housing, haircuts, music, art are all good examples where style is paramount to the average consumer. Technology should NOT be one of these things.
Apple make great looking products I'm willing to concede that point but by fuelling the demand for styled technology you slow down it's progress. If everybody was to accept this point and purchase based on substance, who knows where we'd be now!?

Personally I blame Apple consumers for why I'm not flying round in my own personal hovercar and why we haven't developed 3 million ways to cure cancer.

Wednesday, 3 September 2008

Food is the enemy

Today in Manchester I actually met somebody who has an irrational phobia of food....
Well that's not strictly true, they are afraid of cooking (Mageirocophobia ; yes I looked it up), but they do get twitchy around most foods and supermarkets and have to drink special milk shakes so that got me thinking, can you have an irrational phobia?

If you are afraid of something is it really irrational? I used to think no, if it frightens you it frightens you. I would never call a person irrational just because they are afraid of something. Would I?

The definition of an irrational phobia is something you fear in excess to the mean. What this means then that if someone fears something more than the average person they are irrational? I'm sorry but there is nothing irrational about being afraid of spiders...

Most spiders don't bother me in the slightest, they really don't (read:denial?), but there is one type that gets to me every time. They are the ones I like to call the H. G. Wells variety. You know the ones, tiny bodies, huge legs used for gouging your eyeballs out and teeth, teeth that bite; I don't care what anyone says they are not more afraid of me.

Anyway this prompted me to look up some REALLY 'irrational' phobias, and we're talking way out of left field here, check these out:

Fear of...

Bald People 
- Peladophobia 
Bogeyman or Bogies
- Bogyphobia
Step mother
- Novercaphobia
Shadows 
- Sciophobia or Sciaphobia (I'm sorry but does anyone else think that one would really suck?)
The Colour Purple 
- Porphyrophia (Barney DOES actually creep me out)
Hearing Good News
- Euphobia ("I'VE WON THE LOTTERY!" *Jumps out window* "AGGHHHhhhh" *Splat* *Dead*)
Jumping From High and Low Places 
- Catapedaphobia (Like Darleks, easily defeated by stairs (Yes they can fly now but that's artist licence I'm sorry. these days they are just not real Darleks))
Garlic
-Alliumphobia (I thought this was only Count Duckula)

Reading these started to sway me to the fact that yes there maybe just cause for calling some an irrational phobia...
...But I still wasn't convinced...
.........Until I found this one........

It's called Panophobia and it's the irrational phobia of...
EVERY MOTHER FUCKING THING!

Yes that's right folks there are people who are afraid of everything. Can you imagine how absolutely hilarious it must be to witness one of these people walking down the street? Screaming and pointing at other people, cats, cars, windows, prams, the sky, gravity (That one always gets me down), God, air, themselves etc.

Yes you can be irrationally afraid of something I must conclude but not, I hasten to add, all phobias are irrational (damn you War of the Worlds).
Anyway, should anyone ask me if I have an irrational phobia I shall answer "Yes! I have an irrational phobia of irrationality" and watch their heads explode.