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Author Topic: Gadgets that make you look like a jerk  (Read 13811 times)

zridling

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Gadgets that make you look like a jerk
« on: January 23, 2009, 07:51 AM »
Surprise, surprise, the news channel MSNBC (I think you know what the MS stands for) claims its hatred of Linux. They also threw down some nasties on Apple gadgets. (Trivia: less than 10% of Apple's revenue now comes from computer sales; it's a confirmed gadget company now.)

The-Cat-Enjoy-The-iPod.jpg

The gadgets making their list and their snarks:
  • BlackBerry (You need an intervention)
  • Bluetooth (Do you mind? People are trying not to hear about your life over here!)
  • TiVo (Not a big deal at all.)
  • Apple's MacBook Air (You're a self-indulgent boob)
  • iPod accessories (Buying molded white plastic schlock isn't going to hip up your dorm room or office)
  • Linux (You feel your mastery of computers excuses your inability to control a neck-beard)
  • Segway (Used primarily by tour groups, visibly embarrassed police or postal officers, and very rich people)

Josh

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Re: Gadgets that make you look like a jerk
« Reply #1 on: January 23, 2009, 08:02 AM »
Blackberry, I am mixed on this. I have one due to work and it works all over the world. It is a very useful device and I am actually quite attached to it.

Darwin

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Re: Gadgets that make you look like a jerk
« Reply #2 on: January 23, 2009, 08:14 AM »
Well... I agree with most of the list you've reproduced, Zaine (except for Linux, of course! Don't know about TiVo and Blackberry, either...).

Edvard

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Re: Gadgets that make you look like a jerk
« Reply #3 on: January 23, 2009, 09:38 AM »
Bluetooth Headset:  :down: :down: :down:

Cool if: It's a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away and you refer to your boss as "Lord Vader" as you're giving him the red carpet tour around the fully operational battle station.
Not cool if: It's not.
 >:(

justice

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Re: Gadgets that make you look like a jerk
« Reply #4 on: January 23, 2009, 09:42 AM »
Sorry, I disagree with the entirety of the list, except for the ones I haven't used.   :P They must have been jealous after their miserable christmas or something. A new breed of transportation devices, extensions to making devices more useful, one of the most polished consumer devices ever marketed, intelligent behavioural video recording and options that do away with cables. It's hard to think of a better list of innovative devices. Hardly something that makes you look like a jerk.

Writing an article about it on the other hand...
« Last Edit: January 23, 2009, 09:46 AM by justice »

Ehtyar

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Re: Gadgets that make you look like a jerk
« Reply #5 on: January 23, 2009, 02:07 PM »
Can we drop the "accessories" from "Ipod accessories"? :P

Ehtyar.

zridling

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Re: Gadgets that make you look like a jerk
« Reply #6 on: January 23, 2009, 05:02 PM »
Which one doesn't fit the list? Obviously Linux, which is not a gadget at all. And TiVo is just a brand name for any other DVR device. When was the last time you heard anyone bragging about their DVR? And I'd love to have a BlackBerry; they look like endless fun.

superboyac

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Re: Gadgets that make you look like a jerk
« Reply #7 on: January 23, 2009, 06:11 PM »
neck beard is funny.

mahesh2k

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Re: Gadgets that make you look like a jerk
« Reply #8 on: January 24, 2009, 03:50 AM »
MS is hitting shot in the dark with some gadgets.

BlackBerry I don't think Microsoft have any alternative to beat this one.
Bluetooth Partly agree.
TiVo --------
Apple's MacBook Air Oh yeah, MS is bad mouthing about it as many A-list blogger switched to AIR.
iPod accessories So in that case, Zune got excellent accessories?  lol :D
Linux Aah, if so then why bother to fund for Mono? Your apps can run on Windows & Apple. Why fund for Mono? :P Why sponsored "heroes happen here"? Why "Codeplex"?  ;)
Segway -------------------


f0dder

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Re: Gadgets that make you look like a jerk
« Reply #9 on: January 24, 2009, 07:03 AM »
I pretty much agree with the list (and with Ehtyar - iPods themselves are also for wankers).

Bluetooth headets can be useful, but shouldn't be worn in public.
- carpe noctem

Deozaan

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Re: Gadgets that make you look like a jerk
« Reply #10 on: January 24, 2009, 12:54 PM »
Blackberry: I don't know. I only know one person who has one and he's a workaholic so while the "snark" might be accurate, I don't think it automatically makes you look like a jerk if you have a Blackberry.

Bluetooth: I think some clarification is in order. Bluetooth is a great technology. One particular use of that technology is Bluetooth headsets for cell phones. Yes, Bluetooth headsets for cell phones are extremely annoying and make you look like a jerk in public. But they have their uses for those people who insist on using the phone in the car, or if you are playing games on your computer and need both your hands free. :P But let's be honest here, shall we? You don't need a Bluetooth headset to sound like a jerk in public. Plenty of people hold their phones up to their ears while they talk in public and are still jerks.

TiVo: I'm not sure what the snark means. But I also don't understand how owning a TiVo makes you look like a jerk. I, personally, hate watching television and the only thing that makes it bearable is a TiVo. (In this case I'm using TiVo to mean DVR, much like how people often use "Kleenex" to mean a "blow-your-nasty-snot-out-of-your-nose-and-into-your-hands-tissue.") TiVo is a big deal to me when it comes to TV. It's almost the only way to get me to watch TV.

Apple's MacBook Air: Why not just say Apple's [anything]? I know this is a major stereotype, but it sure seems like the large majority of Apple users only use Apple products because it is fashionable or popular. Apple just exudes a certain air of elitism, even from their own marketing. It's not just the users, but the company itself that gives off this image: "I'm cool, fashionable, and good looking because I have an Apple [insert product here]!"

iPod: See the above.

Linux: I'm not sure about this one. It does seem somewhat true, depending. To use a high school analogy, people who use Apple products are like the Jocks and Cheerleaders trying to be popular/superior by showing off their fashion and money in a world of admittedly geeky technology, while Linux users can often be seen as Geeks and Nerds trying to be popular/superior by showing off their intelligence and computer mastery. While it is true that most people I know who use linux will make a snarky comment about its superiority over Windows from time to time, generally it seems the people who do that are doing it in more of a way that anybody who just loved a product and truly thought it was better would plug their own favorite product when the "competition" was mentioned. An example conversation:

Windows Guy: I just got a new computer and I'm considering whether or not to put Vista on it.

Linux Guy: You should put Linux on it. Ubuntu for the win!

Windows Guy: ... So anyway, [goes on to talk about the merits of Vista vs. XP.]

Linux Guy: [Joins in on normal, rational, civil conversation about Vista vs. XP.]

Whereas replacing Linux Guy with Mac Guy would result in something like this:

Windows Guy: I just got a new computer and I'm considering whether or not to put Vista on it.

Mac Guy: Microsoft is total garbage. I can't believe you actually bought a PC and haven't gotten a Mac yet! Macs are so much better!

Windows Guy: That's not true.

Mac Guy: Yeah? Well then how come there are so many viruses for Windows? Because Microsoft sucks (LOLZ)!

Segway: I've only seen these things in movies. People actually use them for day-to-day use? I can understand their use but they seem bulky to me. I'd rather go for an electric scooter, as in a relatively normal sized scooter (that you move by pushing your foot across the ground) but with a small electric motor on it. That way it's more compact and you don't run people off the sidewalk.

zridling

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Re: Gadgets that make you look like a jerk
« Reply #11 on: January 24, 2009, 08:13 PM »
neck beard is funny.

I'm thinking of growing one. Any downside? It would match my back-beard.

Darwin

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Re: Gadgets that make you look like a jerk
« Reply #12 on: January 24, 2009, 09:04 PM »
I've got one - a gadget GUARANTEED to make you like a jerk:  the Opti-Grab...

zridling

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Re: Gadgets that make you look like a jerk
« Reply #13 on: January 25, 2009, 02:12 AM »
Navin Johnson: I damn thee! (pointing to his Opti-Grab glasses)  ;D

optigrabs.jpg

Josh

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Re: Gadgets that make you look like a jerk
« Reply #14 on: January 25, 2009, 02:20 AM »
Does this make me look like a jerk?


zridling

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Re: Gadgets that make you look like a jerk
« Reply #15 on: January 26, 2009, 08:09 AM »
No, I'd want to know where the person got it (thanks for the link)!

Darwin

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Re: Gadgets that make you look like a jerk
« Reply #16 on: January 26, 2009, 08:43 AM »
Holy Carp, Batman! That there is a real t-shirt! Check out the washing instructions:

Washing Instructions

   1. Carefully peel animated decal from front of T-Shirt
   2. Unplug ribbon connector behind decal and remove decal
   3. Unplug battery pack and remove it
   4. You can leave the ribbon cable inside the shirt
   5. Machine wash gentle cycle on cold
   6. Hang to dry
      Please Note: If you plug the connector into the battery pack backwards the shirt will not animate properly. It will not damage the shirt. Simply reverse the connector.

Wouldn't wanted to jump in the pool wearing that... you'd really look like a jerk if  you did  ;D

redstarnyc

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Re: Gadgets that make you look like a jerk
« Reply #17 on: January 29, 2009, 07:24 AM »
I've got one - a gadget GUARANTEED to make you like a jerk:  the Opti-Grab...

Hey, Navin is a friend of mine!

I'm mixed on the blackberry too.  It does make me look like a loser but its useful for work.  I use it for my gmail, tracking my expenses, and pretending to be at work when I'm really at home playing with my son.
RedstarNYC

40hz

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Re: Gadgets that make you look like a jerk
« Reply #18 on: January 29, 2009, 09:36 AM »
Segway[/b]: I've only seen these things in movies. People actually use them for day-to-day use? I can understand their use but they seem bulky to me. I'd rather go for an electric scooter, as in a relatively normal sized scooter (that you move by pushing your foot across the ground) but with a small electric motor on it. That way it's more compact and you don't run people off the sidewalk.

I always wondered if they actually sold any of these things until I almost got run over by one coming out of a music club in the Black Rock section of Fairfield CT.

Very strange. Black Rock is a pretty funky area to begin with. And the Segway was being driven (operated?) by a guy who looked like he was either in a rehab program, or had just stepped off a commune back in the 70's. Quite a few people out on the sidewalk seemed to know who he was, and didn't seem the least surprised to see him tooling along on his 2-wheeled contraption.

Now, I always thought one of the reasons Segway never got off the ground was because of its high price tag.

So...what was a Segway doing in Black Rock? And how did that guy manage to get his hands on one?

Weird night. And I hadn't even been drinking...


f0dder

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Re: Gadgets that make you look like a jerk
« Reply #19 on: January 29, 2009, 09:46 AM »
I was pretty puzzled when I saw a segway here in Aarhus - kinda expected it to be a US-only phenomenon.
- carpe noctem