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Never So Insulted (9/30/99)
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(Note: As of Friday, 10/1/99 at 11:45 AM EDT, the egregious error referred to in the following scene has since been corrected by ZDNN. If you missed it, sorry about that, but a kind anonymous soul sent us a screenshot.)
Here's a question for you... While surfing the 'net for tech news, do you ever push your mouse aside, sit back in your swivel chair, stare at your browser window, and wonder just what in blazes those ZDNet guys are smoking? Yeah, us too. The latest example of this phenomenon happened to us not two hours ago, when a faithful AtAT viewer who's requested anonymity told us to take a look at the main ZDNN News page. The top story is called "New iMacs hitting launch pad," which is actually a decent MacWEEK article-- but what freaks us out is not the fact that the story is listed as a "scoop" (we've seen all that info elsewhere), but rather ZDNN's choice of graphic to display next to the headline.
It appears that for a story about a new iMac, ZDNN didn't want to display a photo of a current model, because that wouldn't be edgy enough. On the other hand, if they posted one of the leaked Kihei photos, Apple's legal department would be on them in a Cupertino minute. Instead, they evidently decided to play it safe by showing a photo that may seem strangely familiar to longtime Apple watchers; yes, right under the words "new iMac" is a picture of Future Power's Wintel-based iMac rip-off, the E-Power.
Done rolling your eyes yet? Good. Now, try to set aside the mind-numbing incorrectness of showing an E-Power and calling it the new iMac just for a second. What's really insulting is the implicit suggestion that Future Power's copycat of the original iMac should be considered progress. Sigh. What would Steve say? Incidentally, Future Power quotes a "late October" ship date for the E-Power, which means Apple will probably get the new iMac out the door before Future Power ships their first-generation rip-off-- even assuming the courts allow the E-Power to be sold in the first place.
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SceneLink (1817)
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 9/30/99 episode: September 30, 1999: Kihei is coming sooner than you think. How's Tuesday suit you? Meanwhile, the rumors of a Blueberry-only low-end Kihei may herald the return of Best Buy to the Mac fold, and ZDNN's lack of taste is showing again...
Other scenes from that episode: 1815: Coming Soon(er) (9/30/99) It's pretty safe to say that the cat's out of the bag on this whole "Kihei" deal. In fact, we'd go so far as to say that the cat's nowhere near the bag; once the alleged photos of the new iMac leaked onto the web and Apple's lawyers started handing out cease-and-desist orders like they were AOL sign-up disks, the cat had left town to start a new life, clutching a restraining order preventing the bag from coming within 500 feet of it ever again... 1816: Best Buy Yet Again (9/30/99) Let's face it: Apple's relationship with national retail chains has always been at least mildly dysfunctional, and occasionally it teeters precariously on the verge of outright psychosis. Way back in the "scary days," display-model Performas in Sears and Best Buy were neglected, abused, ridiculed, and served more to dissuade potential Mac purchasers than to entice them...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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