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Smells Like G4 Spirit (9/14/99)
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AtAT has long been considering the technical hurdles we'd have to clear in order to jump feet-first into the wonderful world of Smellovision™, but there really hasn't been that much reason for us to pursue it in any serious manner. That is, until now. Have you heard about the Power Mac G4's, uh, "distinctive odor"? Now that's something we'd like to be able to share with our faithful viewers, but sadly, we lack the technology to do so. In fact, we also lack the G4; we're just reading about this, ourselves. Apparently folks who are lucky enough to have one of Apple's new personal supercomputers are discovering that gigaflop performance apparently comes with a price. And a stench.
Yes, that's right; according to a Salon article, the new G4s have a tendency to, well, stink. At least temporarily. Apple even posted a Tech Info Library article about the phenomenon last month, noting that the presence of the smell is "similar to odors generated from new carpeting or a new car," and it's "not tied to any specific product." But we don't recall hearing about that "New Mac Smell" until the G4s started showing up, the first time we read about the odor was in MacInTouch's G4 review, which called special attention to the stink.
Apple claims that "in most cases the odor will dissipate over a short period of time," but the term "short" is pretty subjective. Would you want to smell, say, burning plastic for even a "short" period of time? It's only a matter of time before some enterprising individual starts selling G4 air fresheners-- little graphite-colored cardboard pine trees to hang on your brand new G4 to help cover the smell until the effect wears off. Available soon in three scents: Forest Pine, Ocean Breeze, and, for the true Apple fans out there, Eau de Steve. Order now!
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SceneLink (1781)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 9/14/99 episode: September 14, 1999: There's no new iMac in Paris, but at least the iBooks are shipping. Meanwhile, the iBook's "Best PC" award at a huge Tokyo computer conference just might bode well for the Japanese acceptance of Apple's chubby consumer portable, and the new G4s apparently stink, in the most literal sense of the word...
Other scenes from that episode: 1779: Vieilles Nouvelles (9/14/99) So much for the scattered predictions of Big News™ in Paris. Not that we at AtAT were expecting anything earth-shattering, but we admit we were rooting for the underdog rumors of a "Kihei" (that's "iMac 2" to those of you not hip to the lingo) introduction during Steve Jobs' keynote address at the Apple Expo... 1780: Bigger, But Still Better (9/14/99) So that's the skinny in Paris; how about an update on Mac doings in Asia? Don't forget, the World PC Expo 99 just finished up in Japan last week. We know, it's tough to shift gears, but gone are the days when Apple's impact was only visible at Mac-specific shows and conferences...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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