Apple needs to get a sense of humor

[maflynn]

Looks like ellen poked some fun at apple during one of her shows and then the next day had to apologize because the apple folks were miffed.
endgadget.com

Seems typical of apple these days - no sense of humor.

 

[cmaier]

I thought you said something about "humor?" Ellen isn't funny. Maybe she was apologizing for how lame her jokes are?

 

[maflynn]

Generally I agree with you as I don't find her funny at all.

With that said, apple has been acting like its got a hair across its butt.

 

[dukebound85]

Generally I agree with you as I don't find her funny at all.

With that said, apple has been acting like its got a hair across its butt.

hair across its butt? lol

but yes, i agree with your sentiment

 

[Disc Golfer]

Apple's humorlessness rivals that of many vegans.

 

[*LTD*]

Well is that all the information we're going to get?

I'd like to know what the actual basis (possibly legal) for Apple's complaint was and how she actually got the complaint, and exactly who at Apple did the complaining.

Note that she didn't simply "say" things or make claims about the iPhone, but rather, she actually demonstrated its physical use via a fake commercial aired on her show (which looked almost exactly like an iPhone ad, with iPhone + Apple logo at the end [probably not a very smart thing to do].)

Unless of course this was all planned by Apple and Ellen.

 

[stuffradio]

It's called satire. This was clearly a joke. People like Jon Stewart made fun of Apple for its draconian rules recently, and he has a right to. I thought America had Free speech? The commercial Ellen did was funny, if you don't think it was funny that doesn't mean she was wrong.

If Apple keeps going the direction it's going, stocks will plummet because people will not want to be associated with a company that made fun of big brother in 1984, and then turned around and became that same company.

 

[cmaier]

It's called satire. This was clearly a joke. People like Jon Stewart made fun of Apple for its draconian rules recently, and he has a right to. I thought America had Free speech? The commercial Ellen did was funny, if you don't think it was funny that doesn't mean she was wrong.

If Apple keeps going the direction it's going, stocks will plummet because people will not want to be associated with a company that made fun of big brother in 1984, and then turned around and became that same company.

Big brother isn't a company.

 

[stuffradio]

Big brother isn't a company.

Apple is the company I was talking about, not Big Brother.

 

[jaw04005]

Apple is a big sponsor on Ellen’s show. She pretty much gives away iPod touches every other day.

Too funny she had to apologize. I love how she basically did an ad for them.

 

[ccdan]

A company that tries hard to appeal to extreme conservatives by banning applications like baby shaker, nudity or anything deemed "offensive" by a bunch o retards, can never be funny, no matter what...

 

[awmazz]

A company that tries hard to appeal to extreme conservatives by banning applications like baby shaker, nudity or anything deemed "offensive" by a bunch o retards, can never be funny, no matter what...

So what you're saying then is that extreme leftists are all totally fine with baby shaker not being beyond the bounds of social acceptance?

I think you're trying to politicise something that simply isn't political.

 

[awmazz]

had to apologize because the apple folks were miffed.

At no point did I get the impression from what she was saying that Apple was forcing her to apologize. The fact she even played it again in its entirety means she was under no pressure at all.

Had to apologize is far different from wanted to apologize. How a simple three letter word can change an entire story into a beat-up.

 

[stuffradio]

So what you're saying then is that extreme leftists are all totally fine with baby shaker not being beyond the bounds of social acceptance?

I think you're trying to politicise something that simply isn't political.

I agree, here we have a Democrat trying to spin things into something it was not.

 

[maflynn]

I'd like to know what the actual basis (possibly legal) for Apple's complaint was and how she actually got the complaint, and exactly who at Apple did the complaining.

Note that she didn't simply "say" things or make claims about the iPhone, but rather, she actually demonstrated its physical use via a fake commercial aired on her show (which looked almost exactly like an iPhone ad, with iPhone + Apple logo at the end [probably not a very smart thing to do].)

Dude, like apple you're taking this way too seriously. Its was clearly a joke and was meant to for a laugh. Everyone watching could see it was an attempt for some chuckles.

 

[*LTD*]

Ellen might have been straying into a bit of misrepresentation here. It's not actually satire or parody, which are situations that no reasonable person would believe to be true. Ellen depicted the iPhone as hard to use (regardless of her intent), aping the Apple-style commercial, and then followed up with the iPhone 3G and Apple logos. We've got potential copyright issues, libel issues, etc.

 

[TheBonk]

It's called satire. This was clearly a joke. People like Jon Stewart made fun of Apple for its draconian rules recently, and he has a right to. I thought America had Free speech? The commercial Ellen did was funny, if you don't think it was funny that doesn't mean she was wrong.

If Apple keeps going the direction it's going, stocks will plummet because people will not want to be associated with a company that made fun of big brother in 1984, and then turned around and became that same company.

Stocks will not plummet. Investors don't care if Apple is Big Brother. In fact, investors WANT Apple to be Big Brother. They want profits, and Apple is making plenty of it. Apple can't be an underdog forever. What are they gonna do? Stop selling products when they reach certain revenue in order to not become Big Brother?

 

[Stella]

I saw that on AppleInsider last night. While the actually parody was a bit sad, Apple do need to get that huge great stick out of its arse. Apple have been a bit anal recently. Apple need to understand parody.

The act was wasn't meant to be taken seriously.

 

[niuniu]

We've got potential copyright issues, libel issues, etc.

They've got

 

[*LTD*]

They've got

I guess that's what we're looking at. Can I not have my colloquialism and eat it too?

I saw that on AppleInsider last night. While the actually parody was a bit sad, Apple do need to get that huge great stick out of its arse. Apple have been a bit anal recently. Apple need to understand parody.

The act was wasn't meant to be taken seriously.

Then again, it looks like a lawyer at Apple did their job. Ellen obviously wasn't going to talk about crossing some legal boundary.

If it was a serious issue, Apple would have demanded much more than an *alleged* apology. Ellen showed her sense of humour, and Apple showed theirs.

This *is* Apple's "sense of humour." They're a company out to market and protect a product. They didn't sue Ellen, they gave her a gentle reminder. If Ellen is actually telling the truth. There's been no substantiation whatsoever of her claims.

 

[mysterytramp]

Seems typical of apple these days - no sense of humor.

I think the whole apology thing is part of the joke. More Ellen not being that funny.

 

[yg17]

I saw that on AppleInsider last night. While the actually parody was a bit sad, Apple do need to get that huge great stick out of its arse. Apple have been a bit anal recently. Apple need to understand parody.

The act was wasn't meant to be taken seriously.

+1

Under the fair use provision of US copyright law, permission is not needed for parody and parodies are not considered copyright infringement. A great example I can think of is Weird Al. He asks permission to parody songs out of respect for the artist, however, legally, no permission is required for him to parody a song. And due to a miscommunication, Al never got Coolio's permission to write a parody of Gangsta's Paradise, and while Coolio was upset, legally, he had no recourse because Al was protected by fair use.

So what Ellen did was 100% legal, she is not guilty of copyright infringement or anything, and Apple needs to pull that stick out of their ass.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

So what you're saying then is that extreme leftists are all totally fine with baby shaker not being beyond the bounds of social acceptance?

I think you're trying to politicise something that simply isn't political.

Not that those sort of apps are morally ok, but that Apple should not have the power to decide what is morally acceptable for you, and what isn't.

What happens when Steve Jobs steps down, and an atheist takes his place, and he decides to pull all copies of the bible and all religious apps from the app store? What happens if Apple decides homosexuality is in fact a sin, and pulls all homophobic references from the app store?

My point - as well as the "extreme leftist" point - is that while censorship is bad, it is especially bad for a private company to control that censorship.

P.S. And don't say that'll never happen. We were all around to hear how OS X will "never" be able to run on x86 architecture, and it happened...

 

[Stella]

duplicate.

 

[mysterytramp]

Not that those sort of apps are morally ok, but that Apple should not have the power to decide what is morally acceptable for you, and what isn't.

In the broadest sense, I think you're right. And for a large part, the hue and cry against every Apple misstep has led to the will of sane minds countermanding idiotic decisions from Cupertino.

But more practically I think Apple should get some slack. This is relatively new territory ... a company builds a gizmo, other companies provide software but the original company remains responsible for getting the software onto the gizmo. Or new territory only in that we're talking about millions of gizmos. Right now, I can't get a Mark Fiore app for my Samsung whateveritis. I have every right to claim it's censorship, but since there might be only a few dozen of these things still around, no one's going to care.

Getting back to the OP ... part of the anti-Apple ouevre is how fascistic it's getting in people talking about their products. That's why I think that might be part of Ellen's little skit.

... What happens if Apple decides homosexuality is in fact a sin, and pulls all homophobic references from the app store?

I think you mean the other way around ... :

mt