4 ms·
They try so hard to do a polished presentation that everything is kinda fake and unauthentic. I don't understand how this attitude survived so many years.
by antirez 4mo ago
They try so hard to do a polished presentation that everything is kinda fake and unauthentic. I don't understand how this attitude survived so many years.
- sixothree 4mo agoThe minimalism evocative wealth display is off-putting.
- kettlecorn 4mo agoIn a time where people are increasingly disillusioned with the tech industry & billionaires the imagery Apple puts forward of a literally siloed utopian ultra wealthy landscape probably does rub people the wrong way, at least at a subconscious level. In the past Apple has been pretty good at anticipating and responding to shifting cultural dynamics. I wonder if they'll recognize and adjust?
- thewebguyd 4mo agoI'm not sure it actually rubs people the wrong way, given Apple's sales numbers. Apple positions themselves as an aspirational brand. Everything they do is on purpose to enforce that. When people are upset at reality most people look for an escape into something else, not dive further into whats actually happening. The siloed utopian landscape is the point. Apple tries to sell a modern, clean lifestyle status symbol. They are selling products for the person you hope you become, not the person you are right now. "Buy an iPhone, and this is what your life could look like." Same deal as fad diets and gym memberships, its the illusion of being able to buy your way into a lifestyle without doing the hard work. Apple is selling an identity.
- kettlecorn 4mo agoI agree with that, but I don't think it's incompatible with my observation. Apple has often in the past positioned itself as an aspirational product for those who aim to be tasteful, talented, beautiful and wealthy. The risk of becoming too disconnected from reality is that the typical person may stop aspiring to the sort of rich-person reality Apple presents. Think of how many of the symbols of wealth of prior generations, like fine tableware, were rejected by younger generations.
- IMTDb 4mo agoPeople smiling while using Siri and holding their phones 2 meters away from their faces looks genuinely disturbing and fake. We are at that point where I hope their next stream will be AI generated so it looks more natural.
- krzys 4mo agoPeople smiling while using Siri look genuinely disturbing.
- Caracas288 4mo agoAnd talking for exactly 10 seconds while the ai generates to maintain the semblance of a live demo.
- sonar_un 4mo agoGo watch the dev videos, they feel 100% AI. The people are real, but everything else about it is uncanny valley.
- kilroy123 4mo agoYeah, I find it so cringe. You can tell they all had the same exact training too. They all move their hands and arms in the same weird fake way.
- mathisfun123 4mo ago"think different"
- qwertyuiop_ 4mo agoBingo they all have the same coaches, watch Satya, Sundar and heck even Cisco ceo they all have conformity now lol
- BugsJustFindMe 4mo agoThe uncanny hands-but-not-fingers movements they all do really bothers me. Their hands flop around but stay completely limp. Like they're robots who heard that humans move their hands when talking but don't have any fine motor control.
- slg 4mo agoYeah, the biggest problem is really that they all have the same approach, so these specific details stick out more through repetition. They don't let their presenters speak in their own voice or in their own presentation style. It's ironic for the company that made that 1984 commercial. The attempt at using different speakers to add variety actually ends up doing the opposite because the similarities become even more evident when a dozen people all behave in the same way.
- cguess 4mo agoThis has been a thing for all tech companies for years. According to what I was told by some FANNG people (I've never worked for them myself) some employees were/are were sent to public speaking classes after being hired specifically to teach socially awkward programmers how to talk on stage, and this is what they teach them, weird hand movements and all.
- llm_nerd 4mo agoThey communicate the products and product changes quickly, comprehensively and accurately. This was a change that happened at the beginning of COVID, but it turns out most people liked it so it stuck. Many of us don't want to watch people fumble with presentation problems. We don't want the lead in, setup, filler banter, so on. I'll take this sort of "you spend your time perfecting your presentation instead of wasting thousands/millions of people's time doing it live"
- try-working 4mo agoNobody likes this. How did you come up with the idea to claim that was Apple's reasoning?
- llm_nerd 4mo agoSeeing people whining and gnashing and bitching, in vein it should be observed, about this sort of nonsense is so uproarious and, quite honestly, pathetic. Like the root post whining that it's too polished. Christ. Get a grip and go touch grass if this is the sort of pathetic nonsense someone actually takes the time to whine about. It's actually funny how every single presentation like this always gets topped by profoundly boring people complaining about some aspect of the presentation: The people aren't standing right or moving the way you want. OMG look at his jacket. That joke wasn't funny. Etc. Christ. Yes, most people just want the information, not some sort of organic, "all-natural" presentation.
- kspyy 4mo agoamen, god forbid they try to make a polished display of new features instead of fumbling through live presentations
- deleted 4mo ago[deleted]
- jmcodes 4mo agoI think some people mistake "I don't value the human layer of a communication" with "The human layer has no value". A presentation is a live audio visual medium. If you just want the information as facts with no affect why not read the stats later?
- tapoxi 4mo agoI really miss, as a late 90's/early 2000's apple fan, seeing Steve come up and joke with the audience then just show off real products or features and why they're cool. They really sterilized this whole thing after he passed. It's as exciting as a Microsoft keynote now. Just watch a normal presentation like Mac OS X 10.2 or 10.3, it's not iPhone level earth shattering but he made it fun.
- evan_ 4mo agoI remember one where there were technical issues so Steve just started telling stories about the old days with Woz... impossible to imagine that from ANY tech company today
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 4mo agoThe curse of money. The more they have the safer they play it.
- merlindru 4mo agoIronically that's often what ends up costing one the most, i feel like
- mrexroad 4mo ago> Curse of money Sure, but I think it’s also b/c the target audience for these keynotes has shifted. Given their immense market cap, now there’s an increased fiduciary responsibility to control how presentation lands, such as earnings reports, which comes at the expense of the fun.
- hyperhello 4mo agoSomeone with no money must survive with short term thinking: hunt and kill a wombat on the savanna or something. From there you work your way away from short term thinking; you might have enough to get through the week already, so the threat of starvation is more long term. Eventually with enough in the bank you have nearly no urgency; you could conceivably mishandle your bonds when they mature in twenty years or something. But with enough money, literally the only risk is short term thinking and immediacy. Bending over to pick up a penny is not going to even be considered. If my ship ever really comes in and docks at the harbor I’m going to remember to keep my wallet full of cash, so I can stop and get that strawberry ice cream cone without worrying about the long term consequences, which are all I would have left.
- ahartmetz 4mo agoEven Steve Jobs not long after returning to Apple. His presentations were supposedly the very best shit, but just felt super fake to me.
- lljk_kennedy 4mo agoOddly, the strange handheld look and constant reframing of the talking head shots are pulling me wildly out of focus and distracting me terribly. Wonder what drove the choice to do it.
- mikenew 4mo agoAuthenticity requires vulnerability and that's not something Apple can do.
- siva7 4mo agoare these even real people there? they look so perfectly orchestrated in every hand and body movement, void of any mistake but also soul. you really can't get further away of a real human connection than this.
- diimdeep 4mo agothat second dose of soma had raised a quite impenetrable wall between the actual universe and their minds. - Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
- qingcharles 4mo agoNow they are showing their AI image generator. It looks about two generations behind, so it's essentially slopmaxxing. Really horrible and unauthentic looking. "Take a picture of your friend, then make a funny picture of her holding a cake." How about no? The bits that are fine: removing distractions from photos, extensions to the edges, fixing color/exposure etc.
- joakleaf 4mo agoIt feels fake, because they speak in a way that sounds unnatural and overelaborate. It is so long, with so many unnecessary sentences. And it feels like everything is said at least twice; First a generic statement about the new feature. Then a specific example, or a deeper explanation of what the first generic statement was. Then a demo. And then a conclusion to the future. The old Steve Jobs keynotes focused on the most interesting things, but now it feels like they are afraid not to include everything. So everything gets diluted. It would help a lot if they would stop saying the same lines:"And now...", "We cannot wait for you to try our new XXXX ... ", or "We could not be more excited to...", "We are excited to... ". "With that, now over to person-X"
- theshrike79 4mo agoTo me it just sounds so very American. Using so many praising adjectives they stop meaning anything anymore. If everything is fabulous and great and you’re always excited or proud, that becomes the baseline.
- Freedom2 4mo agoCurious how this trait is American? Is there something about the way Americans speak that is fake?
- dijit 4mo agoYeah, absolutely. At least to my British ears, Americans rarely sound authentic. Its always grandiose statements and elaborate smiles.
- jimbokun 4mo agoSure but occasionally that attitude leads to men walking on the moon.
- 2143 4mo agoI think this “awesome”, “amazing”, “super exciting” phase came much later than the moon walking era. Remember it’s been over 50 years since humans walked on the moon. Much has changed. See these old videos, where people talk in a straightforward way: Car transmission https://youtu.be/JOLtS4VUcvQ https://youtu.be/JOLtS4VUcvQ How to dial your phone https://youtu.be/PuYPOC-gCGA https://youtu.be/PuYPOC-gCGA The dial comes to town https://youtu.be/p45T7U5oi9Q https://youtu.be/p45T7U5oi9Q Now go watch that Apple video again and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
- Waterluvian 4mo agoI can’t organically tell if they’re actual employees or a bunch of wish.com Kevin Butlers.
- deleted 4mo ago[deleted]
- Caracas288 4mo agoIt seems very disturbing in the current environment somehow, like nothing bad ever happens in Apple world, when in reality many things are falling apart. For example the part about cameras, where they seem to advertise them not as security products but as a lifestyle aid. The rehearsed marketing is so strong that it comes across in a very perverse way.
- thewebguyd 4mo ago> but as a lifestyle aid Apple is as much an aspirational lifestyle company as they are anything else. That's been their marketing aim for quite a while. It's less about the tech and more of a message of "This is the person/lifestyle you can be if you buy our products"
- Caracas288 4mo agoOf course, but it’s interesting to see how they apply that marketing mold to security devices, by making up use-cases which nobody is buying them for. It contrasts with the crash detection and health stuff where realistic scenarios are shown. Ok, maybe it’s not that interesting on reflection, and how are they even supposed to advertise it, with burglars?
- pfortuny 4mo agoThey are bad actors with a worse script. Just that.
- daneel_w 4mo agoIgnore the marketing language. It's after all just the packaging, not the product.
- naturalmovement 4mo agoA great unacknowledged gag would be Craig losing an additional button on his blue shirt every time they cut away, so by the end it's full-Scarface unbuttoned down to his belt.
- geoffbp 4mo ago+1 it is weird the presentations and feels fake, people must like it
- antipaul 4mo agoDunno. I love these events. Polished, well executed, fun. I always walk away inspired. But then, I'm a fan of Apple, overall, and I like most of what they do.
- charamis 4mo agoI miss the live presentations actually, from the pre covid era
- edbaskerville 4mo agoIt's Steve Jobs cargo-culting.
- adamanonymous 4mo agoThese events used to just be for developers and press but they've seemed to recognize that these events have become major marketing opportunities and will get clipped on social media ad nauseum so they started (over) polishing them
- mattbrewsbytes 4mo ago> is kinda fake and unauthentic I think Apple can't find their voice since Steve Jobs passed/stopped doing the presentations. Thats why it feels inauthentic. I imagine its also hard to really feel "best (iphone|ipad|macos|etc) yet" when they are debuting features that existed elsewhere for a while. Its just a massive disconnect from anyone but fans. The same could be said for innovative features, whats left to innovate on smart phones? In some ways both things are like having to be the person coming on after an amazing presentation or comic or musical act. How do you follow it?
- Royce-CMR 4mo agoYou have to remember that Steve spent months, stories say half a year, preparing for the keynote. Arguments would get so heated he’d fire people and bring them back the next day to continue. Hate him or love him; he knew that was the single largest stage for Apple and put the effort into each one. The keynotes today are like Apple overall, a fantastic organization that is starting to drift toward.. fake.
- wpm 4mo agoI wonder how Steve would've felt about the nagware for new AI generated pictures in the "new" Keynote CrEaToR StUdIo app, considering that the app was basically tailor made specifically for his needs in those keynotes.