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Jon Stewart assails Apple for becoming "Big Brother"
- mrscotchboy 17y agoIn classic Jon Stewart fashion, he reemed Apple...major points for "minority report" and telling them to knock down AT&T's door...that's what they SHOULD be doing!
- RodgerTheGreat 17y ago"Reamed"?
- mtinkerhess 17y agoAre you correcting the spelling or asking for a definition? Urban Dictionary has definitions for both spellings.
- ahk 17y agoWhat a turnaround! Just a few days ago everyone was highly sympathetic towards Apple losing one of their most valued secrets (not really all that much though) and boycotting Gizmodo and everything. Now with even Jon Stewart mocking them, calling them Big Brother and asking them to look in the mirror, this has turned into a major PR disaster for Apple. IMO, if they don't respond quickly and positively, this could turn out to be the point where they start losing the coolness/"with it" factor.
- sgman 17y agoJudging from their past actions, I don't think they really care about the PR effect of this.
- jkincaid 17y agoI disagree. They don't care if a bunch of Apple fanboys or tech bloggers get upset about something, because the general public usually won't notice. Daily Show gets watched by a more mainstream audience, and I suspect it's a demographic that plays a big part in making Apple's products popular.
- jsz0 17y agoIt's definitely a more mainstream audience but The Daily Show, popular by cable TV standards, only gets about ~1 million viewers per episode or 10% the number of people who bought an iPhone in Q2 2010, or about 1% of the people who own an iPhone/Touch since its launch. So I guess my point is we're still talking about a very small audience.
- ahk 17y agoMaybe so, but I think it's different this time. Would you be able to walk into a Apple store again and buy something there knowing that this was a company that ordered the goons to break down the doors of some guy's house? Face all those cheery Apple employees and Geniuses and not silently think if they supported the actions of their company?
- petercooper 17y agoWhat a turnaround! Apple is the "A-list celebrity" of the tech/gadget industry. People both mock celebrities for minor faux pas and openly weep for their bad fortune.. so it goes with Apple.
- Scriptor 17y ago> Just a few days ago everyone was highly sympathetic towards Apple And just a few days before that everyone was angry about 3.3.1. :) This video still seemed pretty benign. However, I wonder if this is that start of shift in how people view Apple. They've had other criticisms, for sure, but this is one of the first times they're publicly called out as being oppressive.
- ryoshu 17y agoSome of us (programmers) are still upset over 3.3.1. We don't have the platform that the Daily Show has, but Apple will never receive another dollar from me. My brand new Studio XPS 16 is wonderful (the 1080p RGB LED screen is slick) and I'm glad I bought it instead of a MacBook Pro. Apple is free to screw over developers, and developers are free to vote with our wallets.
- look_lookatme 17y agoI'm more upset over the HTC lawsuit (though aspects of 3.3.1 and the Gizmodo thing aren't helping). Apple is dishing chilling effects all over the place. Right now I've switched software, not sure when I'll be getting new hardware, but it most certainly won't be an Apple product -- for the first time since 2003. I realize they don't care about people like me and our perception of them, but that's not the point for me.
- natmaster 17y agoThe sheep flock with the herd. @sheep: Please leave Hacker News.
- vl 17y ago>this has turned into a major PR disaster for Apple I think it's a major PR victory for Apple. Jon Stewart just told everybody that he loves Apple products, likes new iPhone, wants one and that Apple broke some doors. Now everybody knows that they have to get new iPhone this summer. This controversy spiked public interest and this media coverage would not be achievable for them even if they pay godzillion dollars.
- eavc 17y agoNo, Jon Stewart just told everyone that Apple makes good gear but that they've become "the man." That's a big deal considering the nature of Apple's customer base.
- jimmyjim 17y agoVideo seems to have been removed. Here's at least one direct link: http://www.cultofmac.com/jon-stewart-rips-apple-for-iphonegate/40710 http://www.cultofmac.com/jon-stewart-rips-apple-for-iphonega...
- noilly 17y agostraight from horse's mouth http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-april-28-2010/appholes http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-april-28-2010/appholes starts in earnest around ~2:00; probably region locked
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- wtn 17y agoAT&T, Google, and Facebook know 100X more about me than Apple.
- cookiecaper 17y agoHow is this relevant to the video? He didn't claim that Apple had any personal information on its users. It sounds like you're bringing up an unrelated point to deflect attention from Apple's actions. That is not appropriate!
- mbreese 17y agoI think what they were trying to say is that Apple isn't necessarily acting like "big brother", and that there are other companies that are potentially more dangerous to you personally. Apple is acting more big brother-ish to their developers than their users... That being said, I'm not sure that the police raiding Chen's home had anything to do with Apple... that's a big leap to make.
- BRadmin 17y agoI don't believe he's giving an opinion about Apple's actions, rather the accuracy of calling them "Big Brother" in light of the fact that other companies maintain a lot more information about their users than Apple does.
- wtn 17y agoYes, the video wasn't working when I tried to view it earlier.
- cakesy 17y agoWere you trying on a macbook?
- RyanMcGreal 17y agoThe Big Brother analogy isn't about how much information you collect, it's about how much control you assert.
- thought_alarm 17y agoApple control the police? And the courts?
- xenthral 17y agocontrol is such a nasty term. Steer, like a kindly ship captain.
- snewe 17y agoDirect link: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-april-28-2010/appholes http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-april-28-2010/appholes
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- slantyyz 17y agoFor Canadians, that link won't work, but this one will: http://www.thecomedynetwork.ca/Displayblog.aspx?bpid=a346dad3-3f45-4a69-8273-d18ac1fdab7e http://www.thecomedynetwork.ca/Displayblog.aspx?bpid=a346dad...
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- hailfawebbe 17y agoDaily Show really dropped the ball on this one. Got the facts all wrong and didn't even mention how sleazy Gizmodo was in this ordeal. For shame. http://bolcroatia.com/ http://bolcroatia.com/
- gizmo 17y agoHmm, I think Jon took a few too many creative liberties here for the sake of entertainment. 1. According to Gizmodo the door was broken in because the journalist wasn't at home. He was having dinner in a restaurant, arrived later when the search was already in progress. The authorities acted respectfully with his belongings, etc. There is a huge difference between ringing the bell a few times and breaking the door when nobody answers and driving a truck through the front door at 60MPH, just because you can. Jon suggests the latter approach was taken. 2. He said that Apple claimed the prototype wasn't theirs, and that they didn't want it back. Comedy Central completely made this up! Apple definitely wanted the device back the moment it got lost. 3. Stop hammering on the "THEY BROKE THE DOOR!" bit. It's completely standard police practice, and it's not the Wrath Of Jobs. That said, it goes without saying that Apple isn't the little guy anymore, and calling out Apple for its Big Brother tendencies is completely fair.
- ronaldj 17y agoThis is great. Apple isn't the company I fell in love with. Can anyone say that this still represents the Apple we know today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USn5t5nQWU8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USn5t5nQWU8
- jrockway 17y agoMicrosoft was supposed to be the evil one. But you guys are busting down doors in Palo Alto while Commandant Gates is ridding the world of mosquitoes! What the fuck is going on?! It's all mixed up! At least Apple doesn't charge you $80 to change your desktop background on a netbook. But otherwise, I agree. Apple is hurting the field -- locking down hardware, mandating woefully outdated legacy programming languages, and specifically crippling their hardware and software. Microsoft, on the other hand, is not nearly so bad. At least they are trying to push F# on the world, which I see as a good thing.
- omaranto 17y agoWhat do you mean by the $80 to change the background bit? (I'm not disagreeing, I genuinely don't know what you're referring to.)
- jrockway 17y agoWindows 7 Starter does not have the ability to change the desktop background. You have to upgrade to "Windows 7 Home Super Awesome OMG" or whatever to get that.
- rythie 17y ago1. Apple doesn't make a netbook 2. The cheapest Laptop Apple sells costs $999. The iPad costs $499. Where as the most popular netbook on amazon.com costs $362 (Asus EeePC 1005PE). This is certainly more than the $80 difference Microsoft charge.
- statictype 17y agoAt least Apple doesn't charge you $80 to change your desktop background on a netbook On the other hand, they do charge you $99 an year for the privilege of putting code you wrote on a device you own.
- arethuza 17y agoWhat about an Xbox 360? According to this page it is $99 a year to be able to distribute Xbox Live Community games: http://creators.xna.com/en-US/XboxLIVECommunityGames http://creators.xna.com/en-US/XboxLIVECommunityGames
- GHFigs 17y agoWhy do so many people seem to fixate on the door?
- JCThoughtscream 17y agoDoors and locks are deeply ingrained symbols of privacy and access. The police busting down his door is, as Stewart notes, behavior we expect for /meth labs/, not bloggers.
- jrockway 17y agoYeah, but he paid for a stolen phone!!! BURN HIM! HE TURNED ME INTO A NEWT!
- JCThoughtscream 17y agoAnd to play devil's advocate on /this/ side of the debate, paying for property of dubious ownership is considered a crime unto itself, and for pretty good reason. Journalists aren't so heavily protected by shield laws that they can break crimes willy-nilly in pursuit of a story. Or any regular old story. It's one thing to break open Watergate - it's another entirely to buy a phone from a guy that they know doesn't have legal ownership of it, all for the sake of one-upping everybody else for the /review of a commercial product/. It's arguably pretty bad precedent to just let it be. While Apple's, and the police's, actions have been comically overblown, /so was Gizmodo's/. If /nothing/ else, they really ought to be eating crow for engaging in sleazy checkbook journalism.
- jrockway 17y agoThe movie scene I was referencing describes the situation exactly. Someone does something mildly bad and technically illegal, and a crowd forms that wants to kill for the sake of killing. He gave back the phone. Give him a month probation or whatever, but don't take everything he owns.
- siculars 17y agoI'm really with Stewart on this one. Both in that I love Apple products and that I think Apple is becoming "The Man" they used to rail against. Can you be a dominant player and not be "The Man"? Well, I think Google is making a good go of it. For what it's worth I'm going to Google I/O this year and not WWDC. Market be damned, my philosophy compels me to seek out open. And nowadays Google is out-opening Apple.
- ThomPete 17y agoGoogles business model requires openes I really don't think it's fair to compare the two. Apple sell products, google sell advertising. Apple is dependent only on their own ecosystem, google on the entire Internet. I would be much more worried about the data that google collects about you than apple. And let's not forget that google is not more open than you don't know exactly how their search algorithms work and have no saying on the premises used to rank you.
- Retric 17y agoI think Google is in a much more big brother relationship with it's users than Apple is. Apple restricts it's HW and what can run on it, but it does not keep track of it's Users. IMO, Apple is really much more Disneyland where everything is expensive, looks nice, and is under their control. Also working as a vendor at Disneyland really sucks and involves a lot of rules which can change at any time. But, Disneyland only has the power to kick you out not hand out details of your private life. PS: I used to develop for Mac OS 8 and while it sucked for a completely different set of reasons it still sucked. I don't think Apple really understands how important developers are because they tend be the first mover and don't have to work to get them.
- eavc 17y agoBut iAds changes this. Google only cares about your info to better target you. Now Apple has an ad platform and will want to do the same.
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- pkaler 17y agoThere are a couple errors in Jon Stewart's reporting. We don't know if the phone was lost or stolen. If it was stolen then Gizmodo has broken the law. If the phone was lost and Gizmodo did not attempt to return the phone then Gizmodo has broken the law. It appears that Apple reported the lost/stolen phone to the DA. We don't know when. It may have been before or after the story broke. Frankly, this whole story is overblown. It should strictly be a legal matter but it has turned into a TMZ/Valleywag story.
- cookiecaper 17y agoAre there laws against attempting to return the lost after you've taken photographs of it? They did return it, they just took some pictures first.
- Locke1689 17y agoThere are laws against knowingly buying stolen property or property known to belong to someone else.
- monkeygrinder 17y agoShame, I can't see this video from UK. 'Not available in your country'. Still don't understand the reasoning behind regional limits on online video - esp as it airs on TV.
- cmang 17y agoI think it may have to do with advertising targeting different regions. If they're advertising something you can't buy in your country, then what is the advertiser paying for?
- monkeygrinder 17y agoStill, they can change the ad - based on your IP address. No, it's up to the content owners. Luckily i've found a workaround: http://www.labnol.org/internet/video/youtube-blocked-video-not-available-in-your-country/2680/ http://www.labnol.org/internet/video/youtube-blocked-video-n...
- cmang 17y agoSure, but that assumes they have ads or ad providers for your region. What if they don't? Then who pays for it? Just a guess, really.
- c3o 17y agoThat's because they have a contract with Channel4 to stream it in the UK: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart/4od http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-daily-show-with-jon-s... Not sure if the episode mentioned is already on there, since I in turn can't view the videos there...
- xenthral 17y agoAwesome, they recorded the gizmodo website shot (2:17) with firefox :)
- schmidp 17y agoWhile the facts don't work out, am I the only one who enjoyed the clip? I think it's hilarious and I he pretty much gets the fear/thoughts of many Apple fans/developers/users.
- hkuo 17y agoThis actually saddens me on Jon Stewart's part. I'm a huge fan of his with his ability to report the more truthful side of politics. This lessens his credibility to me since his facts are misrepresented or missing. He completely ignores the "finder's" role in this and his not-so-secret desire to make money on his discovery, and fails to address the moral obligation on Jason Chen's part as a professional journalist, all for the purposes of making Apple look like the only bad guy here. Ergo, all for the purposes of making a "funnier" bit for the purposes of entertainment. Additionally, his jab at Gray Powell joking that he was using the iphone to pick up chicks takes the cake. Completely false and misleading! I think Jon Stewart needs to take a look in the mirror on this one.
- eavc 17y agoIn the interest of humor, some details drop out and some are glossed over. This story resonates because of all the other ways Apple now resembles what they used to rebel against. The stormtroopers thing is just a very visual metaphor.
- sophacles 17y agoYou are aware that Jon Stewart is a comedian, with a comedy show on a channel devoted to comedy right? The only place the news and facts come in is when they are the basis for a joke.
- rosshudgens 17y agoThis is the problem with Jon Stewart's platform. People take it too seriously. Stewart has explicitly said that taking him seriously is a misstep - don't. He is going to say some poignant, legit stuff, but if you take it as a comprehensive take on the news, you're doing him a disservice.
- hkuo 17y agoTrue. Good point. I suppose my main disappointment is in the fact that he has generally had a good track record of distilling complicated things down to common sense "no-duhs". But he's failed at this in this case, to me at least.
- paulgb 17y agoCanada link to video: http://watch.thecomedynetwork.ca/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart/full-episodes/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart---april-28-2010/#clip294011 http://watch.thecomedynetwork.ca/the-daily-show-with-jon-ste...
- adolph 17y agoThe word according to Jon: it can't be a criminal act if you blog about it afterward.
- wan23 17y agoAm I the only person who thought that whole sketch was an ad that Apple probably paid for? Stewart never said anything bad about the products, and in fact every 20 seconds said something about how awesome they were. Plus he had an iPad on screen for a good two minutes.
- mdg 17y agoTo my knowledge[1], Apple never pays for product placement. [1] read something online somewhere once.
- danudey 17y agoThat wouldn't surprise me to find out. I've seen a lot of shows that use Mac laptops (e.g. How I Met Your Mother), but the logo is always covered. I guess the laptops look nice, but they don't want to give free advertising to Apple.
- mdg 17y agoThis is strictly my opinion speaking, but the Macbook looks like the "default" laptop. Much like how the "default" video game controller was the old school NES controller (but probably has since been replaced with the ps2/3 dualshock).
- danudey 17y agoI can't understand why Apple would pay Jon Stewart to misrepresent the truth against their favour. He had an iPad on screen for a good two minutes, while insinuating to the audience that Apple's goons broke into Chen's house and stole their computers after Chen gave back a phone that they originally said wasn't theirs. In reality, Apple asked the DA to investigate what they believed to be theft of property, in response to which the police executed a search warrant on Chen's computers.