OK, I remember hearing about 6 years ago on Democracy Now by Amy Goodman about companies buying lengthy commercial time on major news channels but instead of news being shown, some of the 'anchors' were actually giving supposed news 'reports' which really just ended up being product plugs for the companies willing to fork over enough money for these advertisements.

They ads are slick, legitimate 'looking' commercials in meant to look absolutely authentic as news reports. The hazy line between advertising and journalism was completely smashed.


It's not stopped in my opinion.

I strongly suspect this report: http://www.cnn.com/2010/T...tml?hpt=C1

is one of those fake commercials.


Firstly, the reporting is so completely biased in its presentation. It's so completely skewed towards making the iPad look like a better product than the kindle (and it is a better product overall) that it simply can't be a ligitimate story.

When you finally get to item #8, there's just no way to NOT know it's a commercial:

A certain format of online video, called Flash, does not play on the Apple iPad.
While there are some workarounds for this, many Web sites are redesigning themselves, using a type of code called HTML5, so they will work on the iPad.




A certain format? A CERTAIN format?

BITCH. PLEASE!
flash is the format for online media presentation.
This has to be information planted by Apple. It simply can not be unbiased reporting. It would be likened to saying "a certain office suit called Microsoft Office"

It is true, websites are moving towards HTML5, which in it's current incarnation is really just a subset of the markup langage we're going to see fully fledged in a bout 10 years time. But flash is so completely ubiquitous that to to just brush it off as 'a certain ...' anything is just propoganda.

Flash is dying, no doubt. HTML5 is probably going to stomp it within 5 or 10 years time. But Flash is still the best video presentation tool so far, and whether Steve Jobs likes it or not, he's going to need to figure out why his mac products (I'm speaking of computers here and not iPhones/iPads which can't play flash at all) perform so poorly with flash technology.

But then again, Jobs always seems to get what he wants. So maybe he will be the nail in the coffin to flash.



A certain my ass.


.
[Edited 4/3/10 14:15pm]

You are a certain cutie pie.

Yes, there are a lot of so-called news stories which are glorified commercials and PR puff pieces for various companies and products, most of which are usually sold to affiliate TV stations to fill time during newscasts or when they can't sell any straight-up infomercial time. But what's more disturbing is the sheer laziness on the part of the news networks to vet these pieces and make sure that they represent real news and not a glorified commercial. The biggest offenders are the major pharmaceutical companies who sponsor certain stories about heart disease and/or some other ailment which people suffer chronically from, and it just so happens that when these patients are given a certain drug (which just happens to be made by said pharmaceutical company - what a coincidence ), their health significantly improves.

WHY DO PEOPLE BUY APPLE?!

WHYYYYY

Apple is evil, which is why I only support benevolent companies like Microsoft.

The iPad folks also bought an entire episode of Modern Family on Wednesday. It was disgusting.

evenstar3 said:

When you ask them this, the only thing they ever say is

"Because !"

That's not an answer!

TheVoid said:

This whole report reads like a iPad FAQ-thread..

This shit SHOULD be news..

Mushanga said:

YUP.


SHAME ON DOW

PunkMistress said:

So I went to buy a laptop yesterday. Researched it, knew exactly what I wanted- an ASUS laptop for $729. I get to best buy, think I'll be in and out in 15 minutes, but noooo. The goddamned employee I told which laptop I wanted spent the next 50 minutes trying to convince me to buy a fucking MACBOOK for $1000.

Finally I wore him down and somewhat convinced him that just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I'm a computer illiterate moron who needs a Mac to be able to use a computer, but he was still bewildered as to why I'd want a PC instead. It's like mac fanboys have Steve Jobs created microchips planted in their brains.

I have enjoyed my desktop Mac for 3+ years, but if I ever get a portable computer, I don't think it will be Apple.