Linked List: July 30, 2012

Monday, 30 July 2012

Michael C. Moynihan unravels New Yorker staff writer Jonah Lehrer’s fabulism.

David Pogue:

The MagSafe 2 connector fails that balance test. Badly. The magnet is too weak. It’s so weak, it keeps falling out. It falls out if you brush it. It falls out if you tip the laptop slightly. It falls out if you look at it funny. It’s a huge, huge pain.

Can’t say I’ve noticed this with the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display, but I don’t move that around while charging. Maybe it’s more of a problem with Airs?

Update: Widely varying replies from DF readers on Twitter.

HP Teases Unannounced Tablet in Latest Commercial ★

Looks familiar; can’t quite put my finger on it.

Adam Lisagor on the ‘Genius’ Ads ★

Adam Lisagor:

The new Apple ads are good. But Apple ads are supposed to be great, and that is why the new Apple ads suck.

Astute Criticism of the New ‘Genius’ Ads by Ken Segall ★

Ken Segall:

Therein lies another problem with this campaign. In the effort to show that the Genius is the most helpful guy in the world, Apple has created customers who, shall we say, are on the dim side. In past ads, Apple has shown “ordinary people doing extraordinary things,” simply because Apple products are so easy to use. Now we have thick people who want to be better, but need a Genius to help. Not exactly flattering.

I’m not defending this aspect of the ads. “These Mac users are pretty dumb” is dangerous territory, no matter how deftly it’s treated. But the idea here is that they’re not supposed to be flattering. The idea is these on-screen Mac users in need of help are supposed to make the viewer at home feel like, “Hey, I’m smarter than that guy.” The idea that these spots insult Mac users’ intelligence reminds me of the misguided criticism that the old “I’m a Mac/I’m a PC” ads were insulting to would-be switchers because Hodgman, the PC, was a doofus.

There’s really no way to evaluate the effectiveness of these spots without talking to people who’ve never bought a Mac but are thinking about buying their first.