Saturday, June 30, 2007

Proof of Subliminal Media Influence?

I really don't care about the iPhone.

(a) I don't want to spend $658.99 (with plan) for anything

(b) After roughly 300 recharges, the questionable battery life will start to fade

(c) My company already pays for my crackberry misadventures (note to self: write post about "snoozing with 'Berry")

(d) My device is not on the slower Edge network, yet I already look like a dumbfounded chimpanzee happening upon a stone monolith as I wait for a Google search to execute

(e) I could rely on the Wi-Fi alternative, but what if I start dating someone who frequents my favorite hotspot, and then we part ways? Too risky.

(f) Remember the first iPod? Now think 2G nano. Now you wait.

Anyway, I was watching some of the more popular YouTube videos this morning when my computer froze. The video featured New York Times technology columnist David Pogue reviewing the iPhone for the CBS evening news. I've noticed media bias in the coverage of Apple products before (e.g., MicrosoftNBC's coverage over recent months, not to mention how the news site buries negative MS publicity, such as when they were ordered to pay $1.52 billion to Alcatel-Lucent in the largest patent award in history). But this one befuddles me. Here's what happens on the clip:

Pogue first runs down a list of positives for the new gizmo, which are considerable. As he does so, he continuous to scroll through the phone's various features with the camera providing a closeup of the device. Then it gets interesting. Pogue says, "All the criticisms are also true. There is no keyboard except for on the screen. It can be a little slow at first to tap out text. It's the AT&T network, and the Internet, when you're in a wireless hotspot, is very fast. But when you're out in AT&T network land, it's very slow." (emphasis added)

No big deal, right? Obvious criticisms. But this is not about Pogue and his opinions. It's about the video's opinions. For just as Pogue's nonpolemic switches from pros to cons, he switches from the photo viewer to the iPhone's digital keypad to type a "new note." Buried in the switchover, and appearing with the text near the top of the iPhone screen (where it reads "1 of 405" in picture mode one moment and "new note" in keyboard mode the next), are these words, for a small fraction of a second:


"Very slow"


Don't believe me? Here:



And no, I don't have time to doctor images, nor would I know how. And you can try moving from screen to screen near the 44 second mark yourself:


The question that remains is, who at CBS added the text, and why? Was it just a prank, on a whim, or was it more purposeful? And if the latter, who stands to gain? I leave those answers to you, dear reader.

Vaya con Dios - Ordinary Skill