Bob Cringley and his Orwellian vision for iTV

So I was down in front of Cringely's pulpit, here it was I suppose his version of coverage of the last few big Apple announcements. Bob not content with just covering the facts of the matter, hell he's columnist after all, decides to offer over his wisdom.

The iTV is intended to connect primarily to high definition televisions. Yet these were never mentioned in the product announcement by Apple CEO Steve Jobs. In fact, the term HDTV was never used despite Jobs declaration that 2005 had been the "Year of HD."

Now whilst he is quite proper and correct, Steve doesn't mention the term HDTV - instead offering

We've got an HDMI connector, this is the new connector that all new big screen flat TVs have.

I personally don't think this is Job's being coy about Apple's secret clandestine plans for an HDTV, lets face it - they've got Cinema displays, it's hardly a leap to push a few more inches out of them - and adding a bit of 1080p.

Job's lack of terminology is typical "Jobsian newspeak". He has this thing about making technology invisible. Whilst earlier in his speech he uses USB2 - as a rule he doesn't throw around terms that people don't need. If they are going to pitch this device at my father, who has gone to Walmart and had the school kid explain what these terms mean he's fine hear HDMI and thinking "Yes that's good my TV has that. It'll link up to my HDTV" Jobs didn't need to spell out the HDTV reference.



Whilst we're on that USB port which to quote Bob again

Jobs rushed right past the USB port.

Bob predicts that it's for an iSight and some Orwellian nightmare. I have a couple of issues with that claim. The iSigh to my knowledge, has never been USB only firewire - pumping across that superb quality video at the time of launch would have massacred USB. So that's out.

Why would they bother switching it to USB anyway. It isn't to far to put iSights, of the sort found in iMacs and Mac Books into the new HDTV Cinema displays bezel.

Isn't that all kind of horribly Orwellian again - giant screens with small imperceptible cameras, watching you - maybe that "deal with google" isn't about google video at all, no it's about that research published recently that says google could identify marketing via the ambient noise in your house.

I was at dinner recently, where the husband of the host's opening gambet, on seeing my Apple laptop, was to inform me "I Don't like Apple, everyone paints Microsoft as this evil empire - I think it's Apple and they're so much more insidious with it" it was a starting pistol for our discussion mainly, but now given Cringley's insight it doesn't seem that crazy.

How long before not just google, doing no evil honest, but government spooks are tapping in, listening - checking your calls to Iran visually not just audibly - all thanks to Apple.

OK I'm going overboard on the paranoia, once I've taken some Xanax and calmed down a bit, I realize it's not all dystopia. Think about Granma appearing on the TV to see the grandkids, take in some tom and jerry with them (OK Some Disney derivative) maybe look at the latest school project. Lovely isn't it.

I like Bob - I do, I read Accidental empires when I was a young whipper snapper, and again a few years later when I had a chance to understand it. He just seems a bit to wired in this latest piece.

I always loved the idea of writing about new tech stuff, not as much as making the stuff others are writing about - but it comes in decent second. I suppose that's the reason for this blog - a secret desire for an Arts major and a cushy number playing with all the latest toys and telling others about them.