The Media's Crush on Apple

conq writes "BusinessWeek reports: "It's the first time in my memory that a product announcement by Steve Jobs has caused the AP to send an alert -- especially since this development was fully expected. And it says a lot about the intensity of media attention Apple generates. When is the last time a NewsAlert went out based on the words of Michael Dell or Bill Gates? Clearly, the AP's editors determined this news was important enough to warrant such action."

Steve Jobs is a dream boat..

[tont0r]

and his tears cure cancer.

RDF Check

[lpangelrob]

Steve Jobs: What can possibly explain the rapidly growing strength of my Reality Distortion Field?

Neo: Hmm. Upgrades.

I think the bias is warranted...

[Digital Vomit]

I think the bias is warranted. I mean, how many OSes do you know that can interface with and take down an alien ship's computer using a virus?

Re:Last week?

[Tibor the Hun]

Bill Gates is the Nostradamus of our lifetime.
In his own words he has eliminated spam, brought speech and handwriting recognition to everyday computing, and has a solid foothold in our livingroom with their useful windows media center PCs.

Our potential truly is their passion.

Apple on the other hand just keeps releasing products that we can do nothing else with but use them...
OS X, Garage Band, iTunes, Spotlight...

Re:Yeah, the AP is a lot different the Slashdot

[Shut the fuck up!]

At Slashdot, anytime Apple farts it makes the main page.

By the looks of it, Apple ate at Taco Bell last night.

Wait a minute...

[eclectro]

I thought it was Linus that floated one inch above the ground.

Re:I think the bias is warranted...

[karmatic]

True. With Apple, you have to install the virus. With a Windows PC, it comes preloaded.

Re:Well, Gates WAS a "Person of the Year"

[Avohir]

...His expertise is reliability and customer support ... thank you for praising Dell, please wait while your praise is rerouted to New Delhi...

Re:Well,

[winkydink]

Because Google hasn't done so much as fart (though you'd see it on the front page if they did) since Friday.

Re:Wait a minute...

[Jay Random the Other]

Quite right.

Linus floats one inch above the ground.

Steve appears to float one inch above the ground, but that's an illusion caused by the RDF.

Bill stays at ground level, but the ground shrinks one inch away to avoid touching him.

Any more silly questions?

Re:Last week?

[Rei]

I have no problem with the media picking this up, but what the heck is up with appledot.org?

Apple: The Media's Crush on Apple
IT: 'The IT Crowd' UK Sit-com
Science: Taiwan Breeds Transgenic, Fluorescent Green Pigs
Apple: Windows on Intel Macs - Yes or No?
Apple: Apple Responds to iTunes Spying Allegations
IT: Lawmakers Try to Protect Kids From Spam
Apple: Sun and Apple Could Have Merged

Sorry, slashdot.org. Typo.

Re:Not the media

[Steve Fuller]

You must be new here - Welcome! We've been fascinated with Apple for a long time.

Re:Last week?

[Surt]

I have to thank Bill Gates, since his intervention 2? years back I can gratefully say that my spam rate has dropped to 1/1000th of its previous level. I'm not sure what he did, but whatever it was, it worked great!

Re:the widespread media usage has NOTHING to do w/

[cosmo7]

Of course not.. the fact that the majority of media workers use apples does NOT make them biased.. of course not...

Well, it cuts both ways. I remember back in the early 90s reading over the shoulder of a sub at PC Format magazine (one of the more entertaining UK titles). He spent a few paragraphs dissing Marathon as a loser game and Bungie as an inept developer for 'something called the Macintosh', which he claimed he had never heard of, despite the fact that he was typing all of this on a Quadra 900.

Re:XBox 360 and Dell PowerVault ML6000?

[Reverend528]

Sequel products are rarely considered very innovative.

So, ignoring "sequel" products, what has Apple released? The personal computer, the ipod, the one-button mouse, and the compatibility-challenged UNIX. Is that really so impressive?

Re:Last week?

[GoodbyeBlueSky1]

You must be new here

Re:Last week?

[Wyatt Earp]

If they'd been here a while they'd recall that once upon a time Apple couldn't get a single positive article on here. Even the iPod got slammed around here.
http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/10/23/ 1816257&tid=107 [slashdot.org]

Apple releases iPod
Posted by CmdrTaco on Tuesday October 23, @10:20
from the well-thats-not-very-exciting dept.

The BrownFury writes "At an invitation only event Apple has released their new MP3 player called the iPod. iPod is the size of a deck of cards. 2.4" wide by 4" tall by .78" thick 6.5 ounces. 5 GB HDD, 10 hr battery life, charged via FireWire. Works as a firewire drive as well. Works in conjunctions with iTunes 2. Here are Live updates". No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.

Re:Well, Gates WAS a "Person of the Year"

[Prophet of Nixon]

Strange, everyone I know has DIY computers, and none of them freeze. Dells don't freeze either. They just have periodic random hardware failures, forcing frequent use of their quality Indian support. I think Dell's big secret is in eliminating quality control from their manufacturing process myself, though I think Packard Bell pioneered the technique.

Re:Last week?

[Anonymous Coward]

Need help with that BSOD?

Re:Well, Gates WAS a "Person of the Year"

[poot_rootbeer]

I think that [Bill & Melinda Gates being named People of the Year] constitutes some affection by the media.

Only if you believe that old imaginary phrase "As the editors of Time Magazine go, so goes the entire media industry." One story covering the Gateses (and the ensuing stories about the story) don't really carry the same weight of newsworthiness as an Associated Press NewsAlert.

[Michael Dell's] expertise is reliability and customer support.

You'd think some of that expertise would rub off on the desktop computer business he heads. Dell is so well known for its cheap components and poor support practices that it earned the nickname 'Dell Hell'.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Last week?

[arloguthrie]

All I know is that I've forwarded that email from Bill Gates at least 1,200 times, and I still haven't gotten a check. Bill Gates is a dirty liar.

Re:I think this article is a little overblown

[Skrekkur]

You are forgetting the OS X honor system virus

"This OSX virus works on the honor system.
Please delete random files on your hard disk, then forward this message to everyone you know. Thank you for your cooperation."
And yeah I heard that there were some macro viruses that worked only in microsoft office on OSX :)

If the internet is a world without walls or fences, why do we need windows or gates?