Ultimate iPhone Review — Will It Blend?

I've been enjoying the Will it Blend videos forever. There's something about a labcoat clad crazy man putting things like marbles and soda cans into a blender and after reducing them to powder, warning you not to breathe in the particles. Well today they ask the ultimate question of the latest over-hyped internet sensation Will the iPhone Blend? Fans of these videos can probably guess the answer... and this story made my morning. I've been waiting for an excuse to link these forever. If you haven't seen these, you're in for a real treat.

Comments

Will it Blend? Who Cares!

[ReidMaynard]

Visit My Website

Globaltics

Re:Will it Blend? Who Cares!

[Anonymous Coward]

Jesus Fucking Christ... would you please stop trolling slashdot with links to your fucking site? Put it in your sig and leave comments like most normal people.

Re:Will it Blend? Who Cares!

[Anonymous Coward]

In case anyone is hesitant to click on the above link, it's not goatse. It's a 'global political discussion' site, and it looks like it uses Slash. It is, of course, highly relevant to the destruction of desirable consumer electronics. :)

Re:Will it Blend? Who Cares!

[Anonymous Coward]

In case anyone is hesitant to click on the above link, it's not goatse. It's a 'global political discussion' site, and it looks like it uses Slash. It is, of course, highly relevant to the destruction of desirable consumer electronics. :) That's exactly what I would say if I wanted someone to click my goatse redirect. Nice try though.

Spoiler

[danbert8]

It does blend. Quite well actually, better than the Ipod in fact. By the way, you really don't want to BREATHE that stuff.

Re:Spoiler

[tsa]

What is all that black stuff anyway? He has blended electronic stuff before but what was left was never that black IIRC.

Re:Spoiler

[Broken scope]

Burnt plastic?

Re:Spoiler

[Evanisincontrol]

It's pieces of the iPhone's evil, black heart.

Re:Spoiler

[danbert8]

I would assume it was either the LCD touchscreen, the Li-Ion battery or the combination of both. Who knows, but it was definitely cooler than most. Though I did like the IT blending one just because they threw in a Windows Vista CD.

Re:Spoiler

[CaptainPatent]

No, it just spews a black cloud of overrated whenever the marketing hype wire in the iphone is severed.

Re:Spoiler

[Anonymous Coward]

Or be in the same room! I love how they skip over the battary exploding. Guess it isn't good for advertising having your blender explode.

This and the fact he doesn't cover his mouth when opening the blender makes me think the whole thing is fake. Faking it is a lot cheaper than buying all those expensive goods to blend and a lot safer. It is not like anyone would be able to tell the difference in between the real thing and faking it. If watch slowly you would notice the bounce of the iPhone during the full speed and the slow-mo are different (so maybe they killed more than one iPhone!). If you look closely at 0:35 the internal you see is this brown-ish circlular thing. Nothing like the internals of the iPhone! Maybe they are using fake iPhones? I see nothing simillar in the iPhone (if anyone does please reply!). The only thing which is brown is this wiring unlike the Zune.

I don't get why his ebay account has a purchase of a 4GB model on the 5th for $600 but it does look like either he is using fake iPhones or faked the whole thing,

I say Blendtec are genuis as business and marketing. I wouldn't mind to have been working at such a place during my teen years. It would of given me quiet a bit of experience.

-- OU. I would of logged in but my password is random and I am on a shared computer.

Re:Spoiler

[Anonymous Coward]

How exactly does the first post get moderated redundant? It was hinted at that the iphone blended in the summary, but it was not specifically stated.

Re:Spoiler

[jessecurry]

I couldn't hear the sound at the office, but it was so great when everything turns to black dust and fills the container. I sent it to everyone in the office that doesn't read /.

Re:Spoiler

[Penguinisto]

...and here I thought it was just the ashes of all those kittens Apple cremates daily, after using them to make sacrifice to Steve Jobs. They have to hide the remains somewhere (that pile is getting awfully big back behind the Cupertino offices...) What better place to stash kitten ash than in consumer products that seem to be flying off the shelves. It is also well known that kitten ash is a vital component in making sure that LCD screens shine brighter while reducing battery draw. How, you ask? Well, since all kittens are innocent, and their cute little souls remain attached to their earthly remains for some time, the cremated kitten tends to glow quite a bit when in the presence of an electrical field, due to electromagnetic reaction against the lingering kitten soul.

It's cheaper than the standard backlighting, easier on your battery, environmentally friendly, and is super quiet (except for the occasional barely-discernible "mew!" at startup). Now if it weren't for all those damned moralists out there, I could have one of those 25" LCD's that're augmented by kitten ash that the State Department refuses to import! Sure, color calibration is a bitch (cats are somewhat color-blind), but once it's all set up, you get a peaceful soft glow that is very easy on the wattage.

(seriously though - I think it's prolly the battery contents, which could be reacting with either a metal or some other subtstance in the iPhone's makeup.).

(...and yes, I own and use a Mac @ home).

(...and yes, I have two cats living @ home with me. Whether they fear me or I fear them - I leave up to you to decide).

/P

Re:Spoiler

[timster]

If you watch the "crowbar" video, where they actually do a bunch of cell phones, you can clearly see some small explosions. Of course, the iPhone uses a lithium-polymer battery, not lithium-ion, so it's unlikely to explode anyway.

Re:Spoiler

[Kehvarl]

The battery seems to be uncompromised until the black stuff appears, so I would assume the black stuff is a pretty good indication of why we don't puncture Lithium Polymer batteries.

Re:Spoiler

[immcintosh]

My first thought was the contents of the LCD, which in my experience is a black liquidy stuff.

Re:Spoiler

[RootWind]

My bad, finger slipped, clearing mod.

Re:Spoiler

[Iron Condor]

What is all that black stuff anyway?

The iPhone's soul...

Re:Spoiler

[clarkcox3]

Probably smoke from burning lithium (i.e. when the battery is punctured).

Re:Spoiler

[Thing 1]

It's pieces of the iPhone's evil, black heart.

"Mom, Dad, don't touch that! It's pure evil!"

Re:Spoiler

[Xaositecte]

It breaks my heart that none of the Mods have seen Time Bandits...

+1 funny everyone!

Re:Spoiler

[Thing 1]

Someone listened. Thanks! :)

Re:Spoiler

[Titoxd]

So I guess that's how God disposes of the kittens doomed to die from global masturbation.

It always seems to

[andyh3930]

As well as being fun, its an amazing ad for the company, everything they but into their blenders ends up as toxic dust!!!

Re:It always seems to

[niceone]

As well as being fun, its an amazing ad for the company, everything they but into their blenders ends up as toxic dust!!!

Yes, and the guy says at the end that he's thinking of putting the stuff on ebay... I wonder if he would actually be allowed to sell that toxic dust? I bet there's a law against it even though it's just the same stuff as is in the iPhone (well, it is the iPhone).

Re:It always seems to

[Technician]

everything they but into their blenders ends up as toxic dust!!!


Not quite.. Look up the crowbar one. It reminds me of a slippery politician. The crowbar get a sidestep. So you are left wondering will it blend?

While the iPhone video is slashdotted, enjoy these.

If you want to look into the tougher jobs, look up the videos for "Will it shred"
Here is a starter for a BMW
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNvvSWEbuTs
Computers/Printers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1_uvM-5xKs&mode=re lated&search=
Boat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JL77ECcOoQ&mode=re lated&search=

Re:It always seems to

[Hotawa Hawk-eye]

Go look at eBay item number 170129995323. You get the iPhone remnants, a blender, a DVD, and an autographed T-shirt. Not bad, if you're in the market for a blender or are into pulverized electronics.

Re:It always seems to

[jimstapleton]

As well as being fun, its an amazing ad for the company, everything they but into their blenders ends up as toxic dust!!!

Yes, because I really want my spaghetti sauce to become toxic dust. I think I'll take a blender that doesn't make everything toxic.

Re:It always seems to

[jordan314]

Heh it says "Condition: used". I'm sure it's only slightly scratched.

Re:It always seems to

[Rogerborg]

Can they blend one of their own blenders? Wow, meta headrush.

Re:It always seems to

[Anonymous Coward]

Amazingly, the dust still had to be sent to Apple to get the battery out.

Re:It always seems to

[Spazntwich]

I can't help but feel a need to clarify the grandparent's post considering you seem to have missed the point.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongue_in_cheek

Tongue-in-cheek is a term that refers to a style of humour in which things are said only half seriously, or in a subtly mocking way.

Re:It always seems to

[Random832]

And in case the PP didn't get it, the iphone ends up as toxic dust because it is made of toxic dry materials. If you just put a piece of wood in, you'd end up with ordinary (not toxic) dust, and if you put spaghetti sauce in you won't end up with any kind of dust unless you use a lot less water than normal people do.

Re:It always seems to

[Anonymous Coward]

That depends, do they make Klein Blenders?

Re:It always seems to

[BlueLightSpecial]

http://www.youtube.com/user/Blendtec/ link to the iphone blend/others if the site is still /.'ed

Re:It always seems to

[cellocgw]

And in case the PP didn't get it, the iphone ends up as toxic dust because it is made of toxic dry materials. If you just put a piece of wood in, you'd end up with ordinary (not toxic) dust,
Bzzt!
In fact, lots and lots of nontoxic dry things (to the touch) are toxic when pulverized and inhaled. That's why woodworkers wear masks and use dust collection systems.
Or a grossly over-used example: look at the difference between a fully assembled skyscraper and the dust cloud it generates when it collapses.

Re:It always seems to

[jimstapleton]

Obviously the mods found their funny caps today, sorry you couldn't find yours. However, if it helps you out, I'll give you a hint by quoting you...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongue_in_cheek

hope that helps, and I hope your sense of humor comes back... It sucks to be without one.

Re:It always seems to

[geekoid]

Everyone is going on about how you don't get it;while All I can think is "What kind of heathen makes spaghetti sauce in a blender?"

Yes, I assumed you were being tonge and cheek about the toxic waste.

Hint to responders: no one would believe a blender makes toxic dust out of anything put in it...not even a person who uses a blender for home made spaghetti.

Re:It always seems to

[Mister Whirly]

If that is the case, I would suggest buying spaghetti sauce that doesn't contain any toxins to start with; I hear that really cuts down on the amount of toxic dust produced. Of course the sauces that DO contain concentrated toxins are generally priced much lower than the higher quality ones that contain only food grade ingredients. But it's really up to the consumer if they want to save that extra .50 cents or not...

Re:It always seems to

[kestasjk]

Maybe get it insured by PayPal, and claim it got so badly ruined because of poor postage handling.

Re:It always seems to

[jimstapleton]

Everyone is going on about how you don't get it;while All I can think is "What kind of heathen makes spaghetti sauce in a blender?"

When you are pressed for time, after boiling down the tomatoes, sometimes it's a necessary evil. Nonethless it should be avoided, and you are the only person who put an intelligent question in response to my post :-)

Re:It always seems to

[Spazntwich]

You responded to a tongue in cheek comment with sarcasm, implicitly indicating taking it as a literal indication of the OP's desire to own a blender that turns everything into dust. The mods being idiots shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.

It's always amusing to see people wiggle around and try to excuse their own gaffes, but when it comes down to it, his comment is funny, and yours is not.

Re:It always seems to

[Anonymous Coward]

If you're pressed for time, just grab a jar of Ragu. If you're going to make home-made tomato sauce, you should take your time and do it right.

Re:It always seems to

[Iron Condor]

Computers/Printers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1_uvM-5xKs&mode=re lated&search=

"Hi, I'm a PC"
"...and I'm a shredder..."

Re:It always seems to

[luckingfame]

I'd like to throw that iPhone cocktail in the face of every member of greenpeace.

Re:It always seems to

[TommydCat]

Here are some funny caps you can borrow until you get your own:

HAXFLAVORCHEETOES
ROFLOCOPTOR
PWNED
ORLY
SRSLY
NOOBDOTCOM
HAX
BUTSECS

And the ever devastating
OMGPONIES

Re:It always seems to

[geekoid]

"...after boiling down the tomatoes, ..."
ok, You get points back for that. I thought you were one of those people that shoved everything into a blender raw, and then dumped the contents into a pan to simmer for an hour.

If you are in a rush, there is alway: http://www.contadina.com/ProductNutrition.asp?prod =24

Pizza squeeze in a plastic bottle!
I kid.

Re:It always seems to

[Ambidisastrous]

Minor clarification: The fully assembled skyscraper would also be harmful if you inhaled it.

Re:It always seems to

[timeOday]

look at the difference between a fully assembled skyscraper and the dust cloud it generates when it collapses.

But how toxic is collapsed building dust, really? We've all seen many building demolitions where crowds stood near and cheered, and I never heard any uproar about "toxic dust" until after 911. When somebody comes forward and claims to be a victim of terrorist "toxic dust," it's pretty hard for the government or even the media to object - that'd sound like taking the terrorists' side! My guess is you'd have a hard time winning $2.5M for dust inhaled due to any other incident.

Re:It always seems to

[Your Pal Dave]

In a normal demolition job all of the potentially toxic materials such as asbestos, furniture, computers &c. are removed prior to implosion. This was obviously not the case for the WTC.

Re:It always seems to

[jimstapleton]

There is nothing wrong with with sarcasm in response to tongue in cheek, it happens all the time. Especially when there is a good play that can be made on it. Again, I'm sorry at your loss, I really do hope your sense of humor comes back. It'll make things easier for you and those who have to try to tolerate you.

Re:It always seems to

[raga]

Breathing even wood (or spaghetti) dust regularly can be toxic. I know people who have worked 10+ years in saw mills (third-world country, no mask) and ended up with major respiratory problems.

Re:It always seems to

[Spazntwich]

Ahahaha. I continue to laugh at your total lack of grasp of humor.

I'm assuming you're one of the many self-described Asperger's sufferers that seems to so frequently "grace" slashdot. Again I reiterate: His comment was funny. Yours was pathetic. Your argument ad populum as to the rating of it speaks more to the idiocy of the typical slashdot moderator than anything involved in the real world.

The ultimate victory? Knowing you continue to spew your bile in person as many others look on in wonder and disgust at your oblivious and sad attempts at humor.

Enjoy your stay on earth.

Gotta admit, that blender is quite good...

[MSFanBoi2]

I don't think I've seen anything stop it from blending.

Re:Gotta admit, that blender is quite good...

[qplnm]

There was one where they were about to try a crowbar, then took it out and replaced it with something else. I didn't watch them with sound so I don't know why they did that, but it seemed pretty obvious the crowbar wasn't going to blend. Everything else went in about 30 seconds though!

Re:Gotta admit, that blender is quite good...

[techiemikey]

Didn't the wiimote give it a good fight though?

Re:Gotta admit, that blender is quite good...

[Mushdot]

I've submitted CmdrTaco for blending. Maybe he can stop it.

Re:Gotta admit, that blender is quite good...

[Anonymous Coward]

Were they actually trying to blend the crowbar? The only time I've seen the crowbar was in the intros (it looked like they were trying to bend the blades) and I assumed it was just used to show the strength of the blades.

Re:Gotta admit, that blender is quite good...

[Lurker2288]

I think there was a spoof video that featured several rocks and a pair of scissors. Not only did that not blend, but after about 10 seconds the scissors punched a hole in the side of the blender and went flying out. Of course, they might not have been using the official Blendtec blender, so this is purely speculative.

Re:Gotta admit, that blender is quite good...

[arivanov]

It would have been stopped if the battery was fully charged. Looking at the video it most likely had just residual charge in it. Umhhh... The sweet smell of burning lithium polimer... Umhh.... Sweet...

Re:Gotta admit, that blender is quite good...

[dbolger]

To coin a phrase, "consider the source"! By your logic, every piece of trash marketed on late night television is worth its weight in gold. I've never seen a Super-Deluxe Kitchen Knife fail to slice through anything those people have tried it on either. "Will It Blend" is a marketing gimmick, and from what I've read, its a very successful one too.

That said, I think the videos are totally awesome, and were I buying a blender based on something other than "I need a blender and am currently standing in a domestic appliance store", I'd seriously consider these guys based on that.

Re:Gotta admit, that blender is quite good...

[nisse-j]

Actually, sometimes it doesn't blend: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a78-aqY_FU

Re:Gotta admit, that blender is quite good...

[Anonymous Coward]

Antimatter. That will stop it.

Re:Gotta admit, that blender is quite good...

[frdmfghtr]

You do have to give the iPhone credit though...Assuming that the screen was really on, the screen stays on through a pretty severe first few beatings--the bezel is bent and coming off, but you can still see the screen glowing (very) briefly after that.

Re:Gotta admit, that blender is quite good...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, well - the screen on my broken iPaq glows too, but that's all it does since the display circuitry is fried.

Oh its not so bad

[JeanBaptiste]

I've been breathing that stuff for a while and nothing has ha *THUD*

(he wouldn't just type thud, would he?)
(maybe he was dictating)
(oh shut up)

Re:Oh its not so bad

[dsginter]

(he wouldn't just type thud, would he?)

It is generally accepted that computer crashes, dropped connections and death is represented by the "NO CARRIER" stamp (line noise optional). For example:

Hey guys - I'm currently installing a nitrous oxide system on my chainsaw and I'm wondering what happens if I turn this mixture adjustment screw^%$#^%%^&

NO CARRIER

Re:Oh its not so bad

[thc69]

King Arthur: [about the inscription on the rock] What does it say, Brother Maynard?
Brother Maynard: It reads, "Here may be found the last words of Joseph of Aramathia. He who is valiant and pure of spirit may find the holy grail in the Castle of Aaauuuggghhh...
King Arthur: What?
Brother Maynard: "The Castle of Aaaauuuggghhhh"
Sir Bedevere: What is that?
Brother Maynard: He must have died while carving it.
King Arthur: Oh come on!
Brother Maynard: Well, that's what it says.
King Arthur: Look, if he was dying, he wouldn't have bothered to carve 'Aaaauuuggghhhh'. He'd just say it.
Sir Galahad: Maybe he was dictating it.
King Arthur: Oh shut up!
Sir Robin: Well does it say anything else?
Brother Maynard: No, just "Aaaaauuuugggghhh".
[knights making groaning sounds]
Sir Bedevere: Do you think he could have mean, 'Camaaaauuuuggghhhh'?
Sir Galahad: Where's that?
Sir Bedevere: France, I think.
Sir Lancelot: Isn't there a Saint "Aaaaavvvveeeesss" in Cornwall?
King Arthur: No that's Saint "Ives".
Sir Lancelot: Oh, yes. "Iiiiiivvvveeessss"!
[All knights saying, "Iiiiiivvvveeessss"]
Sir Bedevere: Whooooouuuuaaa!
Sir Lancelot: No no no, it's "Aaaaauuuugggghhhh" from the back of the throat.
Sir Bedevere: No I mean, "Whoooouuuuaaa!" as in surprise and alarm.
Sir Lancelot: Oh, you mean like, "AAAHH!"
Sir Bedevere: Yes, that's it. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Re:Oh its not so bad

[complete loony]

Yeah, but how did he hit the submit button?

Re:Oh its not so bad

[tux0r]

Where's the +1 Absolutely Frickin' Hilarious? Funny stuff...

- M

Re:Oh its not so bad

[Anonymous Coward]

Truly dedicated /.ers have their browsers hooked up to a dead man's switch, so that if they are incapacitated, they automatically submit whatever is currently in the "Post Comment" field. A sort of "L4st Psot!!1!!," if you will. Here, let me demonstr1-0$%#$I)%^%)#%

NO CARRIER

Re:Oh its not so bad

[n3m6]

try this.

I've been breathing that stuff for a while and nothing has happppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp

Re:Oh its not so bad

[Spacezilla]

I always thought the "NO CARRIER" posts were kind of silly, since the comments are submitted by forms and if the connection is cut, nothing gets submitted.

Thank you for giving me a somewhat plausible explanation that will let me enjoy the "NO CARRIER" jokes. :)

As funny as the videos are....

[manowar821]

They kind of piss me off, too. It's always a waste of a good device/product. Also, it's like an advertisement. No thanks.

Re:As funny as the videos are....

[Choad Namath]

At least it's entertaining, even if it is blatant advertising. Seeing an iPhone turned into black dust is strangely satisfying.

Re:As funny as the videos are....

[shoptroll]

That's the entire point. It's supposed to be an advertisement. But it's a lot better than most of the adverts you see on tv these days.

Re:As funny as the videos are....

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course it's an advertisement! But hardly a "waste" of a good product -- links on digg, slashdot, and all the mac sites to boot for under a grand is the cheapest ad campaign ever.

If you're looking for wasteful advertising, try the Olympics.

Re:As funny as the videos are....

[Ngarrang]

They kind of piss me off, too. It's always a waste of a good device/product. How is that? I thought it was an excellent use of a blender. The blender survived just fine.

Re:As funny as the videos are....

[idesofmarch]

OK, mister grouchy-pants.

Re:As funny as the videos are....

[gEvil (beta)]

Also, it's like an advertisement.

I'm amazed by how many people can't recognize a blatant advertisement when it's staring them in the face. It's not "like" an advertisement, it *is* an advertisement.

Re:As funny as the videos are....

[cyphercell]

After recently purchasing a $85 blender that bit the dust on a box of frozen strawberries, this is just the kind of advertising I appreciate right now.

Re:As funny as the videos are....

[ahoehn]

As someone who work at an ad agency, let me say, I would be freaking thrilled to come up with an idea half this good. Not only do these clips entertain the viewers, they also highlight what's excellent about the product being sold. Compare that to something like the Subservient Chicken, which is entertaining but really says nothing about Burger King's product.

I hope Blendtec sticks with whatever agency/marketing intern came up with this concept. It's solid gold.

Re:As funny as the videos are....

[vigmeister]

It's like... you know? like how there are some like kids in California who like use words like, 'like' to like fill gaps in like their sentences? I think that's like the sense in which the GP is like, saying like that it is like... 'like an advertisement'.

P.S. The use of the word 'like' by 13yr old teens is the pinnacle of obfuscation.

boratv("I LIIIKE!! Ver' nice!");

Cheers!

Re:As funny as the videos are....

[T-Bone-T]

Do you post that every time someone says "like"? That didn't make any sense. Nobody misused "like".

Re:As funny as the videos are....

[vigmeister]

No. This was an original exclusive. Someone said "This is like an advertisement" and someone else ragged on them becasue "It WAS an advertisement" and I was just amused at the pedantry.

Cheers!

Re:As funny as the videos are....

[Sheltim]

Well that's your problem, you have to take them out of the box first!

Re:As funny as the videos are....

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course it's an advertisement! But hardly a "waste" of a good product -- links on digg, slashdot, and all the mac sites to boot for under a grand is the cheapest ad campaign ever.

If you're looking for wasteful advertising, try the Olympics. ... or any other 'professional' sporting event.

Re:As funny as the videos are....

[mrchaotica]

Unless you get your frozen strawberries packed in metal or something, any reasonable blender ought to be able to handle the box too.

Re:As funny as the videos are....

[Anonymous Coward]

They kind of piss me off, too. It's always a waste of a good device/product. Also, it's like an advertisement. No thanks. As long as it's not an advertisement for that Phone, it's fine by me.

(And yeah, I'm sure it's a great Phone, but one tires of such things after seeing several hundred blurbs about it on slashdot and elsewhere...)

Re:As funny as the videos are....

[devnullkac]

I can't wait for the video where they drop in a (possibly disassembled) blender from one of their competitors.

Re:As funny as the videos are....

[JazzLad]

I wouldn't buy it used, though .... mmmm lithium residue!

Re:As funny as the videos are....

[CopaceticOpus]

I agree, but at the same time it might be more luck than genius. I'd be curious what the same ad agency would come up with for a more mundane product. "Does it stack onto a Burger King Chicken Sandwich?" doesn't have quite the same appeal.

Re:As funny as the videos are....

[Fifty Points]

I hope Blendtec sticks with whatever agency/marketing intern came up with this concept. It's solid gold.

What makes you assume someone was paid to come up with this idea?

Re:As funny as the videos are....

[The One and Only]

And if you DO get them packed in metal, just use a Blendtec blender. Yes, It Blends!

Re:As funny as the videos are....

[Anonymous Coward]

If they meant it like "people in California," then the proper transcription would be: "it's, like, an advertisement." They also plainly did not mean it in that sense, because people don't write like they talk. They'd sound completely illiterate if they did.

Re:As funny as the videos are....

[Sandcastle]

The Subservient Chicken campaign was meant to push the message that BK will custom make your burger (sandwich for USasians). The chicken will respond to your every command, just like the BK "kitchen"...

Ugh... did I really just something from that marketing course on slashdot? And it involved a man in a chicken suit!

Re:As funny as the videos are....

[aethera]

I've been in your place before, though for us it was a $40 blender that bit it in just a few months of smoothies. Blendtec blenders really are all they're cracked up to be, vitamix's are almost as good but equally expensive. But my best blender is a harvest gold hamilton beach blender I bought at a thrift store for three dollars. it took a while to find one with the seals still in good shape, but I swear that thing would blend concrete. It put up with a ton of abuse and lasted three years or so. Before I got my kitchen aid mixer (not the cheap one you usually see in the stores, but a somewhat more expensive prosumer model) I had an early 50s mixer that also rocked. Nothing like good solid american made steel motors. But speaking of that Kitchen aid, I did once (foolishly) get a wooden spoon stuck in the paddle, and "Yes, it blends....er.. mixes" It was in about ten pieces by the time i could reach the switch, at lowish speed.

Re:As funny as the videos are....

[cyphercell]

The people in charge of marketing at burger king should have been fired years ago. When they came up with that stupid king, someone should have been shot.

Great for kids!

[PIPBoy3000]

My kids and I spent nearly an hour looking at all of these last night. Sam kept exclaiming "That's totally awesome!" Even four year-old Emma enjoyed the blending of the Barbies.

I assume the whole thing is a viral marketing deal for the brand of blender, but it's so beautifully done. My wife and I decided that it was pretty obviously marketing towards men. Women might enjoy chopping up a rake or two, but men's eyes grow wide and they get a funny grin whenever you start tossing in glow sticks, marbles, iPhones, and other fun things.

The other thing of note is that he probably should have been wearing a respirator for some of these tricks. The marbles in particular were very nasty. Breathing in small amounts of glass smoke is incredibly bad for your lungs. That's why they banned asbestos, after all.

Re:Great for kids!

[mnmn]

Did you get to the section where they blend frogs and gerbils?? ...

(ok ok, I was only kidding. Stop with that look on your face!)

Re:Great for kids!

[tsa]

The Barbie dolls were the best blending IMO! Ooo what a bad parent you are if you use that for punishment!

"Bad, bad girl! Give me your Barbie! HAHAHAA!!!!"

Re:Great for kids!

[qplnm]

Women might enjoy chopping up a rake or two, but men's eyes grow wide and they get a funny grin whenever you start tossing in glow sticks, marbles, iPhones, and other fun things.

Really? I'm a woman and I thought the glow sticks were about the best one. The marbles were cool too. All the electronics gadgets just get reduced to black powder - boring after the first one.

I was excited to see if the pens resulted in a pool of inky goo, but most of that seemed to stick to the sides. Disappointing.

Re:Great for kids!

[Anonymous Coward]

Since you needed to qualify things, How old is the other Emma?

Re:Great for kids!

[SuperBanana]

Breathing in small amounts of glass smoke is incredibly bad for your lungs. That's why they banned asbestos, after all.

Asbestos has nothing to do with glass, only certain kinds of asbestos fibers are cancer-causing, and they are incredibly small- invisible to the unaided eye. But, fiberglass dust/fibers are now known to be harmful; always wear workgloves, long clothing, and a respirator when handling/installing fiberglass insulation. Lot of firms have gone to blown-in borax-treated newspaper fluff because it's safer to handle and easier to install.

Re:Great for kids!

[Lord Ender]

It is viral marketing (a favorite on digg for a while), but it is for blenders that START at $400. Who spends $400 for the ability to make margaritas?

Re:Great for kids!

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean this?

Re:Great for kids!

[Satanboy]

These blenders are mostly designed for companies who need to blend large amounts of items over a long period of time.
The dual blade design and the super powerful motor allows for very quick blends, which is especially good at a bar, drink serving restaurant, or a coffee shop.

I've been a fan of these videos and have read up on these blenders. I would have loved a blender like that when I worked at a bar, it would have made alcoholic smoothies so painless to make and would have cut down on the noise of making them as there would not have been a prolonged buzzing as you ground ice. Not to mention you can server more drinks as that thing will do the blends as you make another drink at the same time.

It's a great blender, that's all there is to it, not for home use really, but a business could really use something like that.

Re:Great for kids!

[vought]

Who spends $400 for the ability to make margaritas?

I'm just taking a shot in the dark here, but....restaurants? Bars? Frat houses? People both rich and stupid enough to have an H2 in the driveway?

Re:Great for kids!

[brarrr]

Which part of "Presented by Blendtec" in the window title (and elsewhere) gave away the insipid viral marketing angle?

Re:Great for kids!

[Lars T.]

Who spends $400 for the ability to make margaritas?

I'm just taking a shot in the dark here, but....restaurants? Bars? Frat houses? People both rich and stupid enough to have an H2 in the driveway? Hey, hey, slow down - a $400 blender is much more use than an H2.

Re:Great for kids!

[Hoi Polloi]

What if your guest asks for a frozen drink with ground up marbles and ipod debris? THEN what would you do Mr Smarty Pants?

Re:Great for kids!

[Anonymous Coward]

Aaaah, but to blend margaritas in the Sahara...

Re:Great for kids!

[ShamrawkNRoll88]

I work at a Starbucks Coffee Co. cafe. We use blendtech blenders for Frappucino's. They really will blend most things that we would ever think of putting in them. People ask to have their brownie's blended into their frappucino's (which is against company policy - and I hate doing it because customers that make demands like that annoy me) and they do it just fine.
They never break either... ours have been strong and kicking for a good 4 years.

Re:Great for kids!

[Anonymous Coward]

Really? I'm a woman and I thought the glow sticks were about the best one. You're a woman that reads slashdot. That's not quite the same thing as a woman.

Re:Great for kids!

[pongo000]

Asbestos has nothing to do with glass

While I'm sure folks appreciate your safety message, please don't try to practice chemistry at the same time. Both glass and asbestos are silicates, and are indeed chemically related. The danger from asbestos is that, even though it's inert, inhaled crystals that fall within a narrow range of size lodge deep within the lung tissue and cause scarring that can lead to further complications.

In fact, inhaling glass dust can lead to silicosis, which is just as devastating.

Re:Great for kids!

[jessecurry]

oh wow! one person that goes against the stereotype! alert teh intArnetz :p

Re:Great for kids!

[3dr]

Hmmm, that gives an idea.

H2 - will it blend?

Re:Great for kids!

[TheBig1]

Brownies? As in the chocolate cake, or the girl guides?

I'd be surprised if any blender couldn't do the first without problems; the second may be a little more trouble...

I kid, I kid!

Re:Great for kids!

[Anonymous Coward]

Glass dust is bad for your lungs, yes, but it's nowhere near asbestos, which is toxic to long-term exposure, and comes in fibers that are blown around easily and are of a shape that stick in your lungs -- it's the combination of all these factors that do you in . The toxic smoke out of the blender is by comparison rather heavy. All he has to do is hold his breath for a few seconds. I mean no, probably not a great idea, but he won't be dropping over dead from it anytime soon.

Re:Great for kids!

[pyrrhonist]

I kid, I kid!

iKid - Will It Blend?

Re:Great for kids!

[Anonymous Coward]

Naw, more like this

http://www.milk.com/wall-o-shame/polytron.gif

awesome

[silgaun]

I've never seen these videos before. This is one of the coolest thing I've seen in a while.

Re:awesome

[Anonymous Coward]

Check out the industrial shredder videos on YouTube ... whole cars getting munched and crunched.

Best use

[p51d007]

of an iPhone I've seen yet! Overpriced, overhyped

Re:Best use

[smf28]

agreed. i really hate apple. and i'm not saying this without reason. my reasons for hating apple are quite clear:

1. interfaces are oversimplified and prevent real work from being done in many cases pertinent to me.

2. oversimplified interfaces ensure that people never learn about computers, and is analagous to using a calculator in a third grade arithmetic class. the interfaces should rather focus on being well-designed, capable, and efficient with a good balance of learning curve and power, not entirely focus on being "simple". this way, work will get done efficiently, the population will know a little about computers instead of none, and so on.

3. oversimplified and unintuitive hardware. cd-rom drives that don't have an eject button at the OBVIOUS location, where you put the freaking cd in. cases without power buttons.

4. badly-designed hardware. slot-loading cd drives that scratch disks, don't eject disks, and have no easy way to manually take them out in emergency. batteries that cannot be replaced by the user, on iphone and many ipods.

5. badly-designed hardware as a marketing tactic to get people to spend more on tech support (batteries, being the biggest culprit).

6. proprietary hardware. the "apple display connector". non-standard usb cables on some keyboards. non-standard earphone jacks on the iPod instead of simply having standard mini USB connector and standard 1/8" jack connector separately so any cable from your closet can be used to transfer data.

7. bad looks. i hate white hardware. okay, this is just my opinion, though.

8. non-intuitive software. for one, the easiest way one can think of using an mp3 player on windows is to shove it into a USB drive, have the drive pop open as any thumb drive would, drag mp3's into it, and eject it. but nooooooo you have to either install iTunes or get some hack that updates the iPod DB. sheesh. i can think of countless other examples in the apple world.

Re:Best use

[Raffaello]

I'm sure Steve Jobs will cry himself to sleep tonight because of your incisive critique.

Re:Best use

[Tacvek]

For the record, I have spent perhaps 2 hours tops using an Apple Computer. So I'm no expert. However I have been quite impressed by what I have seen of OSX.

It is important to remember the target markets of Apple: New or fairly inexperienced computer users, and certain specialist markets (like video editing).

1. interfaces are oversimplified and prevent real work from being done in many cases pertinent to me.

The interfaces are simplified, but often the powerful features are there, you just need to look harder (not in all cases of course). Hiding certain powerful tools helps new users immensely as it prevents them from accidentally Messing things up. The more powerful stuff is more hidden. For example the calculator has a very nice scientific mode, and apparently even has an RPN mode. Yes, the stock calculator program supports RPN! That is surprising. Often power stuff can be used by holding down one of the keyboard modifying keys (shift, option, etc.) while clicking. Other times there are keyboard shortcuts. It may not be easy to discover some of these, but they are often there. After all, open the terminal app, and you have a full BSD system (unless you chose not to install it). I will admit the not being able to discover some of the advanced things easily is not great.

Oversimplified interfaces ensure that people never learn about computers, and is analagous to using a calculator in a third grade arithmetic class. the interfaces should rather focus on being well-designed, capable, and efficient with a good balance of learning curve and power, not entirely focus on being "simple". this way, work will get done efficiently, the population will know a little about computers instead of none, and so on.

The target market has generally has little computer knowledge, and often little to no interest in learning very much. Lets face it, most people who use the computer to browse the web (go to very specific sites and/or watch YouTube videos), email, and basic word processing don't have much need to understand RAM, File systems, etc. Understanding that there is a limit to the storage space of the computer is useful, but that is about it. Also note that simple is often efficient (although of course not optimally efficient, and not always efficient).

3. oversimplified and unintuitive hardware. cd-rom drives that don't have an eject button at the OBVIOUS location, where you put the freaking cd in. cases without power buttons.

I will agree with this point completely. The CD-drive thing especially. I know the Macbooks have obvious power buttons, as does Mac Pro. The Mac mini has a clearly marked power button on the back. However, I have never been able to find a power button on the iMac.

4. badly-designed hardware. slot-loading cd drives that scratch disks, don't eject disks, and have no easy way to manually take them out in emergency. batteries that cannot be replaced by the user, on iphone and many ipods.

I have little to no experience with the hardware being bad. I will say that the batteries not being removable appears to have everything to do with Steve Jobs sense of aesthetics. A battery cover would look terrible in his opinion, and besides it could get lost.

5. badly-designed hardware as a marketing tactic to get people to spend more on tech support (batteries, being the biggest culprit).

I'm strongly doubting this. Originally Apple did not have a battery replacement program. This appeared to be because Steve Jobs honestly believed most users would choose to buy a new iPod model for its new features, etc. before the battery wore out. Further I think they already were selling OEM batteries to third party repair shops, who could then replace the battery. Apple appears to be fully co-operative with third party repair shops, but of course, makes no guarantees on behalf of those shops. Also remember that for the cost of replacing the battery

Re:Best use

[tylernt]

However, I have never been able to find a power button on the iMac.

I had trouble with that, too. I think I eventually found what looked like a sticker on the side or back. Pressing on the sticker turned the thing on. How can Apple claim to be so cool, when they can't even get the power button right?

Re:Best use

[Anonymous Coward]

And of course... the apple fanboys have marked your post as flamebait.

I never understand why people on slashdot suck apple's dick. Apple is just as evil as Microsoft!

Re:Best use

[smf28]

> It is important to remember the target markets of Apple: New or fairly
> inexperienced computer users, and certain specialist markets (like video
> editing).

inexperienced computer users need to learn a little. not much, just a little. using apple computers are like saying inexperienced english speakers should always read at kindergarten-level. rather, they should challenge themselves a little, it will help the population become a little smarter. linux is gaining popularity in asia and africa because it's cheap (i.e. free), and guess what? they'll get smarter. and they'll get their work done faster on their more powerful OS.

"video editing" as a market for apples? geez, come on. you do video editing on a freaking mac ?! i would prefer windows or linux any day [video software availability set aside]. i mean, sheesh, i couldn't think of doing video editing on a system that doesn't have a right mouse button or which has cases that aren't easily expandable to have 5 or 10 DVD drives. (and don't tell me i can put a mouse in that has N>1 buttons on a mac. tell me instead why that isn't the default choice and why i have to always purchase additional stuff to get what i want on macs.) and please tell me why there is an eject button on the keyboard, which is perfectly ambiguous in the case where you have multiple drives to read from. no thanks, i don't think this is my type of video editing system.

> because Steve Jobs honestly believed most users would choose to buy a new iPod model for its new features, etc. before the battery wore out

heh! so he did have a sneaky strategy! usually you'd buy a new battery and snap it in yourself. i said apple had a sneaky tactic to make you buy their battery and tech support. but no, it was even more sneaky! they now want you to buy a whole NEW DEVICE!

if i had designed the iPod shuffle for instance, i'd have it accept a STANDARD microSD card and replaceable li-ion battery, and provide a 2 GB card already installed into the device when retailed. and guess what, in 10 years i could probably use the same thing with a new microSD card that has 200 GB instead of 2 GB and not have to chuck the whole device. do you realize that a crapload of iPhones are going to be in LANDFILLS in probably 5 years from now? that's a real waste!

> Well, the iPod is intended to be used only with iTunes.

"used only with" is a stupid way to design hardware, especially a music player. hardware should be as transparent to the user as possible, i.e. drag files into the thing on any of 3 OSes instead of ever having to install software. the installing of music library management software should be OPTIONAL by default, and otherwise, it should act like a thumbdrive, playing any mp3 or ogg it finds on the device. that's the most transparent way it can be, and it's the way a lot of non-apple music players are.

Re:Best use

[LKM]

inexperienced computer users need to learn a little. not much, just a little. using apple computers are like saying inexperienced english speakers should always read at kindergarten-level.

Do you realize how insane that sounds? Computers are tools. They should be usable by normal people without them having to learn anything about what makes them tick. You don't have to know about how electric motors work to drill a hole in a wall. You don't have to learn about physics to ride a bike. You don't have to know how to produce a sausage in order to buy one. You don't have to know how an engine works to drive a car. You don't have to know about the brothers wright to fly a plane.

The burden is on the software engineer to make his applications usable and save. If he fails, it's never the user's fault.

Your elitist arrogance is inappropriate. I hope you don't design UI for a living.

Re:Best use

[smf28]

i think you didn't quite see my point. my point is, computers should be designed to get tasks done efficiently rather than focusing on being simple. if that getting things done efficiently involves a slightly steeper learning curve, so be it. people need to deal with that.

also, i believe that computers should be adaptable to the user. windows is reasonably good at this and linux is very good at this. macs, on the other hand, ask the user to adapt to the ways of the OS, something i think is very backward.

Re:Best use

[LKM]

i think you didn't quite see my point. my point is, computers should be designed to get tasks done efficiently rather than focusing on being simple. if that getting things done efficiently involves a slightly steeper learning curve, so be it. people need to deal with that.

Computers can be efficient as well as simple. And since most users aren't experts at most tasks they perform on a computer, simple takes precedence because in those cases, simple is efficient.

also, i believe that computers should be adaptable to the user. windows is reasonably good at this and linux is very good at this. macs, on the other hand, ask the user to adapt to the ways of the OS, something i think is very backward.

This is an utterly absurd statement to make. I personally use several Linux distros (mostly Ubuntu nowadays), Mac OS X, Windows XP and Windows Vista. The Windows flavours are currently the least malleable. Linux and Mac OS X are both just flavours of Unix. You can open a shell and hack away. On the Mac, all applications are basically folders. Open them, and you can change them. The UI on Mac apps is generally specified in user-editable files. You can hack, change and configure everything on a Mac. You can even replace the Finder with another file manager, similar to Linux. Windows simply can't compete.

My guess is that you have more experience with Windows and Linux, thus don't know how to configure Macs, and thus think that they can't be configured. You are, however, wrong.

Re:Best use

[smf28]

you can also change the file manager and everything on windows.

not that i like windows, i'm personally a linux fan. but i'd take windows any day over mac os.

just try to launch two separate instances of photoshop on a mac, for instance, without copying the executable to waste space. you hit the icon a second time and it just switches to your first instance instead of launching a new instance. just one of many annoyances.

Re:Best use

[LKM]

just try to launch two separate instances of photoshop on a mac, for instance, without copying the executable to waste space.

First, as you say, you can do that by simply copying the app. Second, why in the world would you want to do that? You can open more than one file in one instance of Photoshop, you know. In fact, the fact that you can't switch to an application by double-clicking it in Windows is one of Windows' most annoying things.

Re:Best use

[Titoxd]

"video editing" as a market for apples? geez, come on. you do video editing on a freaking mac ?! i would prefer windows or linux any day [video software availability set aside]. i mean, sheesh, i couldn't think of doing video editing on a system that doesn't have a right mouse button or which has cases that aren't easily expandable to have 5 or 10 DVD drives. (and don't tell me i can put a mouse in that has N>1 buttons on a mac. tell me instead why that isn't the default choice and why i have to always purchase additional stuff to get what i want on macs.) and please tell me why there is an eject button on the keyboard, which is perfectly ambiguous in the case where you have multiple drives to read from. no thanks, i don't think this is my type of video editing system. Simply put, you have no idea what you are talking about. When someone who works in television broadcasting is salivating over my lowly iMac due to its video editing tools, and wishing her company would cough up the money to buy Mac Pros, your argument is simply not believable. Also, if you need to buy anything to get your mouse to right-click on a Mac, you were scammed. It took me less than a minute to figure out how to configure my Mighty Mouse on a new iMac, even when I had never used Mac OS X before. It simply is the same as in Windows: you click on System Preferences (Control Panel) -> Keyboard and Mouse -> click on the Mouse tab, then assign the right button to the "Secondary button". Failing that, there's always Ctrl+Click. You can always right-click on the drive you want to eject and click "eject" in the pop-up menu. Your opinion that Mac OS X is inferior because it does things differently than you wish them to do is exactly opposite to your primary argument.

heh! so he did have a sneaky strategy! usually you'd buy a new battery and snap it in yourself. i said apple had a sneaky tactic to make you buy their battery and tech support. but no, it was even more sneaky! they now want you to buy a whole NEW DEVICE! No one I know actually buys a battery for any mobile device - they just buy a brand-new device anyways. By the time batteries begin to fail, keys are not working, or the device's technology is obsolete. Besides, with its sticker price, do you seriously believe someone is going to throw an iPhone to a landfill, when a replacement battery costs a fraction of its original purchase price? No. More likely, iPhone 2G will be released by then, and Apple will offer an "upgrade" for a fee. It's not a conspiracy, it's business.

"used only with" is a stupid way to design hardware, especially a music player. hardware should be as transparent to the user as possible, i.e. drag files into the thing on any of 3 OSes instead of ever having to install software. the installing of music library management software should be OPTIONAL by default, and otherwise, it should act like a thumbdrive, playing any mp3 or ogg it finds on the device. that's the most transparent way it can be, and it's the way a lot of non-apple music players are. That would be true if iPod + iTunes's business strategy were not to blur the distinction between software library management and hardware. However, when the main selling point of the iPod is that the user doesn't have to do that, and that the computer will do it for him, the difference between both is negligible. You still haven't explained why installing iTunes "should" be optional. Is it just because you say so? Again, if you don't like doing a thing a particular way, you don't have to do it. There is no need for theological-level pontification, particularly when the company you're yelling at is simply using a different paradigm from yours.

Re:Best use

[smf28]

> Simply put, you have no idea what you are talking about. When someone who works in
> television broadcasting is salivating over my lowly iMac due to its video editing
> tools, and wishing her company would cough up the money to buy Mac Pros, your
> argument is simply not believable.

okay, and then there are people i know in the movie industry who use mainly unix.

> No one I know actually buys a battery for any mobile device - they just buy a
> brand-new device anyways. By the time batteries begin to fail, keys are not working,
> or the device's technology is obsolete.

the fact that technology becomes obsolete so fast is a very "mac" idea. many other brands of devices are designed to have parts upgraded on and on for at least 2 or 3 generations of the device, making it both cheaper for the consumer and less wasteful as a whole. compactflash mp3 players from 5 years ago can just have a new 16GB card stuck in now and still be a wonderful cutting-edge player for their size. a microSD player from now could probably have a 100GB card stuck in them 6 years from now and also be a wonderful player at that time. the cost of a battery and a memory card replacement is much less than a new player when it just gets released. the average iPod fan, on the other hand, just has to keep buying full new iPods every 2-3 years if they want the latest. same with mac laptops and other mac hardware.

> You still haven't explained why installing iTunes "should" be optional. Is it just
> because you say so? Again, if you don't like doing a thing a particular way, you
> don't have to do it.

"if you don't like doing a thing a particular way" ... this is *exactly* why i say installing iTunes should be optional. if a device only does its generic job (i.e. store data and play music), it *should* do it in the most generic way possible (i.e. read as a standard thumbdrive AND play any mp3 it finds on that thumbdrive). it's not hard to have a device just simply read its directory and play mp3's on it. the fact that the songs must be dragged into iTunes before the device is pointless for those that do not care about using iTunes's library management (which are, of course, the many people who either have other library software, don't like iTunes, or don't like using library software, or use a non-supported OS). all of these people have to download 3rd party hacks to get the iPod to play its mp3's, and this is not only bad support on the part of Apple, but prevents such people from using the device for a good couple of months after it's first released.

if you bought an external hard drive, i'm sure you'd expect to be able to plug it in and use it right away, on any PC -- windows, mac, or linux. most of them work exactly this way. if you had to install software to use it, you'd probably be pretty pissed, especially if you intend to have portability. same with the iPod... i should be able to plug it in on one PC, drag some mp3's onto it (without installing iTunes), unload it onto another PC, drag some from somewhere else, and so on. i mean, most sony and other mp3 players already work this way.

Re:As funny as the videos are....DUH

[g051051]

It's not "like an advertisement", it's nothing BUT an advertisement. And it's sure nice to see a company advertising it's products in a funny, entertaining way that also nicely shows off the products' capabilities, without fluff.

Too bad...

[shoptroll]

I've seen a couple of these. Pretty good.

Now... They need to do a Nintendo DS or a PSP. I'd love to see them do one of the bigger consoles, a la smashmy____.com, but I don't think they'll fit.

Re:Too bad...

[wooferhound]

We Need a Bigger Blender . . .

Re:Too bad...

[Idbar]

Gotta love the "Noooooooo" during the slow motion (I bet a couple of /. readers did the same) and the iSmoke(tm).

Sell it on eBay...

[Choad Namath]

Assuming this is real, he wasn't just joking at the end.

Re:Sell it on eBay...

[Anonymous Coward]

That looks legit- the seller only has one other transaction... an iPhone he bought on July 5.

Re:Sell it on eBay...

[TheThiefMaster]

I like how it says "Product: iPhone Condition: Used" :)

Re:Sell it on eBay...

[slapmyass]

current bid:$203.50 for freakin dust?!

Re:Sell it on eBay...

[danbert8]

Considering the blender that comes with it is worth 400 bucks, I'd say it's not a bad deal. Unless of course, the blender is the one they used in the show too, in which case it's probably a bit screwed up.

Re:Sell it on eBay...

[rob1980]

Dust, and:

In addition to the remains of the iPhone you will be recieving a brand new Black Total Blender- $400 value, a "Will It Blend?" DVD of the first 50 videos and an autographed "Tom Dickson Is My Homeboy" t-shirt!

Re:Sell it on eBay...

[milgr]

I like how it is listed under the category "Cell phone->No service"

Re:Sell it on eBay...

[seanadams.com]

Looks legit to me. If you click through the photos you will see him and the iphone dust from several different angles. These shots were not parts of the video, and presumably not available elsewhere on the net.

Re:Sell it on eBay...

[kilo242]

Also the seller's only feedback came from when he won an iPhone auction.

Re:Sell it on eBay...

[residieu]

You're just jealous you didn't think of giving away "slapmyass is my homeboy" t-shirts.

Re:Sell it on eBay...

[slapmyass]

ah, ok... haha I guess I can use the blender as a wood chipper hehe

Re:Sell it on eBay...

[dueyfinster]

Maybe Slashdot should be: News for Nerds, Stuff that shatters?

Re:Sell it on eBay...

[Captain Spam]

I don't think he's joking. A while back, he also blended one of his old iPods once he got a new one, and I he auctioned the results of THAT, too. Granted, back then I don't think they also had the DVD to offer. Or the blender and T-shirt.

Re:Sell it on eBay...

[Minwee]

I assume that he already tried to return the phone, but couldn't get Apple to honour the warranty.

Re:Sell it on eBay...

[jimicus]

Perhaps they could try returning it under the warranty?

Re:Sell it on eBay...

[bagsc]

I like how the user only has one previous transaction: buying an iPhone.

Server

[Anonymous Coward]

Looks like the server has been blended as well. :)

front page material?

[jgarra23]

I love the will it blend videos but should this be the the first article on the front page?

Re:front page material?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes.

This guy's a liar!

[cthellis]

I checked eBay... Nothing!

Re:This guy's a liar!

[Anonymous Coward]

Try here.

Not everything blends!

[pointfiftyae]

The one with the crowbar is incredibly frustrating... It would have been quite fun to at least see them try!

Direct link to youtube

[choas]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg1ckCkm8YI

Just in case the server 'blends'...

Re:Direct link to youtube

[AncientPC]

Direct link to video instead of some random blog post that points to the site.

Innovative and Groundbreaking

[rueger]

Sure the innovative and groundbreaking iPhone will change the face of blending forever. Never before could you blend a full featured implementation of Apple's award winning Safari browser.

The iPhone is pretty tough

[PorkNutz]

Notice how long the screen kept going. Even after the blender had started shredding the phone... the screen was still working. Impressive.

-----
Übergeek Necktie T-Shirt
Funny Shirts @ ProStoner.com

Re:The iPhone is pretty tough

[Bios_Hakr]

How could the LiPo have not exploded? I use LiPos on my RC helicopters. If the battery is broken or punctured, they tend to start a fire...

Re:The iPhone is pretty tough

[rossifer]

I use LiPos on my RC helicopters. If the battery is broken or punctured, they tend to start a fire...

Actually, I think you've got it a bit backwards. Puncturing a lipo is how you deactivate them when you want to throw them into a landfill (though you really should recycle them instead of tossing them). That's completely safe as long as the cell isn't fully charged, and even then, it's not that dangerous.

When a lipo cell has an overcurrent failure, part of the cell vaporizes (puffed cell failure). In particularly bad failures after heavy use (low voltage, abusive current loads, etc.), the vapors can ignite from the heat of the cell. When this happens, the cell wall is guaranteed to fail, and then you get the green flames of death.

But just poking a hole in your lipo won't start a fire. I also fly RC helis (T-Rex 450).

Regards,
Ross

Re:The iPhone is pretty tough

[stinkbomb]

You know, I have sigs turned off so I don't see obnoxious ads like yours.

Re:The iPhone is pretty tough

[neolith]

I too fly heli's and other lipo powered aircraft (Really? RC geeks hang out at slashdot? Whodathunkit?), and I think this misconception stems from the fact that on some hard impacts, a wire can get broken or even the tabs on the lipos themselves, cause a short circuit, which then leads to puffing or even fire. Post crash forensics lead to the conclusion that the damage to the battery itself led to the situation. Both improperly charging, and rapidly discharging can lead to lipo fires, but physical damage to the cell doesn't directly. It can damage a cell or bust a connection, which then leads you charging in effect a 2 cell lipo on a 3 cell setting, but I digress...

Re:The iPhone is pretty tough

[darkmeridian]

I thought it was the backlight that kept on glowing. But it is impressive how well the optical glass seems to protect the screen.

Re:The iPhone is pretty tough

[Fifty Points]

You know, I have sigs turned off so I don't see obnoxious ads like yours.

How, may I ask then, did you see it?

Re:The iPhone is pretty tough

[Bios_Hakr]

TREX 450S Carbon here. I upgraded to the all metal head. I go by 'xptical' on RCGroups and HeliFreaks.

Re:The iPhone is pretty tough

[jpkunst]

Because the OP has his advertisement in a fake 'sig' in the body of his message.

I immediately 'foe' people who do that.

JP

The REAL spoiler

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

The real spoiler is in the slow motion bit. Listen closely & you can distinctly hear the iphone death cry 'Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan'.

iPhone. The Shatner of cell phones.

Re:The REAL spoiler

[Baddas]

It's not 'Khaaaaan!' it's the 'Nooooo!' sound from the last star wars movie.

Let me be the first to say...

[PlatyPaul]

... that I have never before seen anything so awesome in my entire life.

Moon landing? Berlin Wall? Not even close.

Totally... frickin'... sweet.

Re:Let me be the first to say...

[ThisIsWhyImHot]

Virgin alert!

Re:Let me be the first to say...

[mgblst]

And here we have it Gentlemen, primae facea evidence that the world is doomed. Here we have a comment from one of our future leaders and decision makers, homo-idiotus.

Re:Let me be the first to say...

[Anonymous Coward]

hahaha ur a friken douche.

dude, it's a $400 blender...

[Anonymous Coward]

at 1500 watts that means it's over 10amps, probably closer to 13 and more powerful than your vaccum and many wood routers.

What amazes me is how long the iphone screen seemed to stay lit in there!

Re:dude, it's a $400 blender...

[Anonymous Coward]

Watts are the correct units of power, not amperes, so it's not enlightening to convert. You're just dividing by volts but those vary from country to country.

Re:dude, it's a $400 blender...

[Anonymous Coward]

Imagine that you pay $100 more for an iPhone and it doesn't work as a blender.

Li ion-Polymer battery

[cyfer2000]

I don't have an iPhone, but I guess it uses a Li ion-Polymer battery. Otherwise, I would expect to see an explosion.

Re:Li ion-Polymer battery

[Anonymous Coward]

More reason to believe it is fake.

Re:Li ion-Polymer battery

[spgturbo]

Would have been more fun if water was added...

Re:Li ion-Polymer battery

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, what happened to the couple watt-hours stored in the battery? Note that he blended the iPhone while 'on' so the battery *was* in there.

Re:Li ion-Polymer battery

[jbeaupre]

How about lime juice, tequila, triple sec, and ice for a nice margIrita.

Breaking News! Re:Innovative and Groundbreaking

[Anonymous Coward]

Apple introduces blendins as web application model to compete with mashups.

Surprisingly durable

[khendron]

Of course it blends (everything blends in these vidoes), but I was impressed by how long the iPhone display remained active in the slow-motion review.

Re:Surprisingly durable

[chadwik01]

I couldn't believe how it remained active either. At first I thought it was just a reflection but it was actually still displaying video.

Re:Surprisingly durable

[PrescriptionWarning]

i bet its because everything looks better in slow motion, at least thats what Chappelle's Show taught me :)

Re:Surprisingly durable

[Anonymous Coward]

It would have been cool to have the live video of it being blended, streaming to the iPhone as it was being blended.....

Globaltics = Goatse!

[Anonymous Coward]

Remember, never click a link in a slashdot comment that starts with 'G'.

Not that great

[LighterShadeOfBlack]

My kids and I spent nearly an hour looking at all of these last night. Sam kept exclaiming "That's totally awesome!" Even four year-old Emma enjoyed the blending of the Barbies. You do realise you're going to have to keep your blender under lock and key for the next 12 years right?

Re:Not that great

[tool462]

Security through obscurity never works. That's how I learned to pick locks as a kid...

WM5 Phone

[Stevecrox]

Do you know I watched this on my Windows Mobile phone and seems to have broken it the video just keeps looping over and over I'm not certain but I think the "happy" midi tune plays every now and again

Re:WM5 Phone

[illumin8]

Do you know I watched this on my Windows Mobile phone and seems to have broken it the video just keeps looping over and over I'm not certain but I think the "happy" midi tune plays every now and again

BillG called and he said "working as designed" so I decided to close your bug report...

Re:WM5 Phone

[Anonymous Coward]

That's because your phone is broken even without being blended.

Re:WM5 Phone

[Anonymous Coward]

You know, that's pretty impressive...

after all, it blended YOUR smartphone and wasn't even near it!

waste?

[Anonymous Coward]

[tree hugger]

Is it really fun to see all the work and natural ressources necessary to build such a gadget being wasted for the amusement of the beavis and buttheads of the world?

[/tree hugger]

Re:waste?

[Notquitecajun]

Huh-huh...you said "butt."

Re:waste?

[Coleco]

yes

This is exactly what was holding me back!

[Anonymous Coward]

I know about the safari browsing, the music player, the ultra sharp LCD screen and everything like that. What was really holding me back from buying one is I didn't know how blendable it was! Thank you Blendtech for squaring this one away and I'll be sure to pick one up tonight!

"breath in"?

[Anonymous Coward]

The word is BREATHE. Is it that hard to get right?

Will it Blend - Live Cat

[Se7enLC]

It's amazing/disturbing what people will do in video responses on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W13Wj34Lpt3

Re:Will it Blend - Live Cat

[Anonymous Coward]

God damn. It's gone already.

Re:Will it Blend - Live Cat

[Anonymous Coward]

Blended.

Obi Wan:

[RicoX9]

I felt a great disturbance in the intertubes, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.

Crowbars don't blend....easily.

[TapeCutter]

Many moons ago I worked at a sawmill, the wood chipper would get blocked on a regular basis and required a crowbar to unblock it. I was not the first person to try and blend the crowbar. These (accidental) experiments demonstrated that crowbars don't blend easily, but you can slice the end off one if you have several tons of flywheel behind the blade.

Re:Crowbars don't blend....easily.

[smellsofbikes]

I spend a lot of time in metal yards, buying scrap for various art projects. One of the frightening things to watch is people using stock woodworking equipment on aluminum, and I'm talking running a 2" thick plate of aluminum 5" wide and 10' long through a radial arm saw with a standard carbide blade on it. The noise is incredible, especially when they're running, say, huge sheets of 1/8" plate aluminum through tablesaws.
I have yet to buy/use one, but people are selling blades that are rated to cut steel using a standard cutoff/skilsaw, one of those handheld ones. It's hard to describe the showers of sparks coming off these things. My neighbor across the street and I both have abrasive cutoff saws, and we can easily throw sparkstreams across the street into each other's yards cutting heavy steel tubing. But of course those are *designed* for cutting steel. It's frightening watching woodworking tools that can tolerate/handle steel.

actually now I'm reminded of a time when my brother was cutting a hole for a garage door in a building, with a skilsaw, and someone came up and set a storm sewer grating against the wall where he was working. He said the cut speed really slowed down and there were a *lot* of sparks, but he got through several of the crossmembers, which were probably 3/4" square, before the skilsaw really started acting unhappy. He said he thought he'd just hit some nails. (it wasn't HIS skilsaw so he didn't stop immediately: the tragedy of rental tools writ large.)

Re:Crowbars don't blend....easily.

[TapeCutter]

"It's frightening watching woodworking tools that can tolerate/handle steel."

There is also an old trick where you can put a normal circular saw blade in backwards to cut corrogated iron roofing, it works but it also makes an unbearable noise.

BTW: It doesn't do the saw any good, they don't like the metal bits in the motor windings.

Re:Crowbars don't blend....easily.

[smellsofbikes]

I've never heard of that. That's *awesome*. So by running the saw backwards you effectively reduce the rake angle of the teeth, making it steel-capable. What a fabulous idea. Next time I have a dying skilsaw I will try that.

Yeah, another thing I learned was to be *very* careful when you're cutting big graphite blocks (for machining into high-temp casting dies) on a cutoff saw. Big clouds of carbon also conduct electricity pretty amazingly well and you get some seriously spectacular arcing.

Sad

[DogDude]

It's pretty sad you'd say that, actually. When I was a kid, we'd actually do things like this (physically... with our hands). Now, kids just watch them on YouTube because parents are afraid of... well... everything apparently ("glass smoke"? Are you serious?).

the real Ultimate Review

[interactive_civilian]

Cute, but if you want a real ultimate review of the iPhone, get your butts over to ArsTechnica to read their incredibly comprehensive iPhone review. They cover just about everything you could want to hear (including some brutal stress testing that culminates in the iPhone being flushed down a toilet) and the following discussion has some good follow-ups by the authors.

Yeah, maybe a shameless plug, but it is the best iPhone review I have seen so far.

Re:the real Ultimate Review

[Bazman]

Well that's as maybe, but its the ultimate review for *that* particular iPhone!

1913 Webster definition of ultimate is rather apropos:

3. Incapable of further analysis; incapable of further
            division or separation; constituent; elemental; as, an
            ultimate particle; an ultimate constituent of matter.
            [1913 Webster]

Nobody smashes stuff for entertainment purposes!

[Chas]

Absoloutely nobody

Every other sentence

[PIPBoy3000]

I think they got sick of me saying "You realize you can never, ever do this, right?"

They're used to disclaimers at this point. It began with the plasma in the microwave video, I believe. Both my wife and I have master's degrees in science, so my kids are pretty much doomed to that sort of odd curiosity about things. My four year-old is quite good at scientifically scooping out the guts of slugs and snails, for example.

Re:Every other sentence

[norton_I]

I have master's degrees in science

You mean you're not a real doctor?

Re:Every other sentence

[neonmonk]

He just told you that so he could 'examine' your prostate. =D

Way to Enjoyable

[mprindle]

Ok that was way to enjoyable to watch an iPhone be blended. I was actually trying to stifle a laugh at my desk. This is the first I have seen a Will it Blend video so now I have to go find the rest of them. :)

The ultimate end to this blending thing

[paiute]

"We found the Holy Grail"

it blends

"Cure for cancer"

blend it

"Kids, in this cage is the last living mouse lemur on Earth."

where's that outlet?

Maybe he should blend

[Anonymous Coward]

his fucking hands and wrists so he can fucking bleed to death so his fucking stupidity will cease. Maybe you fucktarded shitdot sheeple should do the same then there will be a whole lot less fucktards in the gene pool.

GO AHEAD FUCKING FLAME AWAY OR WASTE YOUR GOD DAMNED MODPOINTS FUCKTARDED SHITDOT SHEEPLE!
BETTER YET, SLIT YOUR FUCKING WRISTS!

Re:Maybe he should blend

[anakin876]

had to post it AC huh? couldn't actually post it with your username? What do you fear sir? That your asstarded comment might be linked to you in some way in the future?

Re:Maybe he should blend

[hotdiggity]

had to post it AC huh? couldn't actually post it with your username? What do you fear sir? That your asstarded comment might be linked to you in some way in the future?

Maybe it was his iPhone they blended.

Re:Maybe he should blend

[R00BYtheN00BY]

SHITDOT SHEEPLE aaaaaaahahahahahahahaha

Re:Maybe he should blend

[Fifty Points]

WASTE YOUR GOD DAMNED MODPOINTS

Waste? Quite the contrary, my friend. Posts like yours were the reason mod points were created.

iSmoke

[thewiz]

only when someone sets me on fire.

I'm surprised that BlendTec hasn't come out with the iBlend.

yes - crowbar vid

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifzdez7FRbk

Anon for lack of karma whoring - took 2 seconds on google ''"will it blend" crowbar''

And the video is down

[Anonymous Coward]

ZOMG! We did it! We managed to fucking slashdot YouTube... parts of the HTML are still loading, but no video. Way to go Slashdot!

P.S. Other video's are still loading okay. Presumably they're on a different server. But it's still quite an achievement.

Re:And the video is down

[Rod Beauvex]

Heh, wow. I haven't seen anything get Slashdotted in awhile.

Re:And the video is down

[1000Monkeys]

At least last night the video on the website wasn't hosted on YouTube. It's up on YouTube, but that's a lower res version.

What ever happened to

[Anonymous Coward]

..Linux powered open source phones? State of the art hardware and the combined creativity of all hackers and twiddlers of the world. That would BE the killer application! Anyone?

Re:What ever happened to

[Wakko Warner]

lol no it wouldn't.

Mom! Dad! Don't touch it! It's evil!

[Bieeanda]

(Spoiler for Time Bandits. If you haven't seen the movie yet, shame on you.)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=v60-qRvmzKA

$599 smoothie

[starbuckr0x]

Good god, that's one expensive smoothie! Have to admit, though, it put up a pretty good fight in those first few whacks!

Re:Bought it on eBay too

[shippers]

And judging by his feedback it's not the first time this particular phone has been on eBay...

I don't quite enjoy it so much

[jollyreaper]

I can appreciate the novelty of grinding up old junk like golf clubs, marbles, etc. But trashing a new piece of electronics for the novelty value? Not so much. There are sites out there like Smashmyxbox where pranksters would go to the effort to buy the latest and greatest novelty and then smash it in front of fans waiting in line. I could respect it more if it were an act of social commentary but it's basically a frat prank video intending nothing more than a Nelson Ha-ha! The laughter I hear from the cameraman on the video is no different from the laughs directed at people in serious pain. The youtube video I'm thinking of in particular is the kid trying to do a trampoline basketball dunk. He wasn't trying to do something intentionally dumbass like riding a skateboard down a handrail or get a fluorescent bulb smashed across his bare back, he just bounced too high, got his foot caught in the rim, and felt it wrench as his whole body went the other way. I wouldn't be surprised if he broke something there. But instead of a genuine gasp of horror and a dropped camera, we get giggles and a tight focus on a boy screaming in pain. Holy fuck, isn't this fun?!?!

Re:I don't quite enjoy it so much

[Anonymous Coward]

The laughter I hear from the cameraman on the video is no different from the laughs directed at people in serious pain.

And that's where your argument gets derailed.
The excessive hyperbole seriously weakens any point you are trying to make.

No matter how hard you try to equate the two
blending an iPhone != laughing at someone breaking their ankle

Re:I don't quite enjoy it so much

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm guessing you're just jealous he blended an iPhone when you don't have one.

Re:I don't quite enjoy it so much

[jollyreaper]

I'm guessing you're just jealous he blended an iPhone when you don't have one. Nah, that's really not the case. I think the PS3 is an overpriced piece of shit and I felt the same way about PS3 smash videos. I think the iphone is overpriced and brilliantly marketed but I don't want one. I have a blackberry 8700 provided by my company and it serves my purposes well enough. My personal rule with portable electronics like this is that you should never pay more than $150 for whatever you're getting because they have a nasty habit of breaking. So if I'm going to buy something portable, I usually buy last year's model after it gets discounted with the new one hitting the shelves. Works out well for me.

Re:I don't quite enjoy it so much

[jollyreaper]

And that's where your argument gets derailed.
The excessive hyperbole seriously weakens any point you are trying to make.

No matter how hard you try to equate the two
blending an iPhone != laughing at someone breaking their ankle If you say so. It's deriving pleasure from the misery of others. I used two examples, PS3 and the trampoline. If you think that the trampoline is out of place, let's strike it from the record. In its place I will submit the "scare" videos and taped reactions to them. The victim is sat down at the computer watching a flash video that runs for 20 seconds and then has a scary face pop up with a jarring scream. I've seen some of these where they direct the prank at a young child. Well gee, isn't that funny, the kid probably craps himself he's so scared and all the adults are laughing at him. That's going to stick with him for years to come. I don't think it's funny but I seem to be in the minority.

Re:I don't quite enjoy it so much

[icebrain]

I see a little bit of a difference... namely, that nobody is getting hurt when an X-box is smashed, or an iphone blended.

And laughing at those in pain is more excusable when the pain is caused by extraordinary stupidity.

For example, car accident = bad.
My friend falling down and getting road rash because he tried to "ski" down a hill on two razor scooters = funny.

Re:I don't quite enjoy it so much

[W2k]

The victim is sat down at the computer watching a flash video that runs for 20 seconds and then has a scary face pop up with a jarring scream. I've seen some of these where they direct the prank at a young child. Well gee, isn't that funny, the kid probably craps himself he's so scared and all the adults are laughing at him. Sounds hilarious! May I have the URL, please?

Re:I don't quite enjoy it so much

[bdwebb]

Gee...could it be that this is a product advertisement? Oh...wait....yep.....I think.....yeah it is.

Honestly...you could respect it more if it were an act of social commentary?? Please.

Lighten up a little bit. Comparing a guy trying to sell his blenders by annihilating an iPhone (fucking hilarious btw) to a cameraman laughing at his friend breaking his ankle? I'm just going to stop right here and assume you were being ridiculous on purpose.

Re:I don't quite enjoy it so much

[cowscows]

First off, comparing somebody destroying a mass-produced electronics device to somebody getting seriously injured is kind of silly. Nobody was hurt by blending an iPhone. The world was not deprived of a rare/priceless item. I don't understand what there is here to get upset about?

I guess you just don't believe that people should have fun for fun's sake. You could make an argument that what they did to an iPhone wasn't particularly funny or original, but the willitblend website has been around for a while and had tons of traffic, so obviously a whole lot of people find it amusing.

Anyways, your little rant about somebody breaking their ankle has absolutely nothing to do with iPhones in blenders, but I will say that trying to dunk a basketball off of a trampoline is not any safer or smarter than trying a rail slide on a skateboard. Both are obviously dangerous tricks to attempt, and I have a hard time feeling too sorry for anyone who gets injured doing either of them.

Re:I don't quite enjoy it so much

[rob1980]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh87njiWTmw There's also this one.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEXaMyquDcc

Re:I don't quite enjoy it so much

[Bearpaw]

I can appreciate the novelty of grinding up old junk like golf clubs, marbles, etc. But trashing a new piece of electronics for the novelty value? Not so much. There are sites out there like Smashmyxbox where pranksters would go to the effort to buy the latest and greatest novelty and then smash it in front of fans waiting in line. I could respect it more if it were an act of social commentary ...

Isn't it? I could certainly see it as a commentary on materialism, commercial hype, etc. It actually reminds me a little of the time I torched a twenty dollar bill to make a point. (And no, the point I was trying to make was not "I have lots of money." I didn't.)

Re:I don't quite enjoy it so much

[i_liek_turtles]

They are rather different, in the fact that a) That kid is in some serious pain, regardless of whether or not some douchebag laughs, and b) Smashing electronics is fun, even if you don't have people waiting in line for theirs. Whether or not you play with your new toy, they're still getting theirs.

Re:I don't quite enjoy it so much

[jollyreaper]

I can appreciate the novelty of grinding up old junk like golf clubs, marbles, etc. But trashing a new piece of electronics for the novelty value? Not so much. There are sites out there like Smashmyxbox where pranksters would go to the effort to buy the latest and greatest novelty and then smash it in front of fans waiting in line. I could respect it more if it were an act of social commentary ... Isn't it? I could certainly see it as a commentary on materialism, commercial hype, etc. It actually reminds me a little of the time I torched a twenty dollar bill to make a point. (And no, the point I was trying to make was not "I have lots of money." I didn't.) Well, this is a subjective opinion, others might have a different view. The videos I saw seemed geared towards getting a shock reaction from the people in line rather than acting as a catalyst for debate. It's kind of like those "social awareness" films from the 60's that market themselves as frank documentaries about the marahjooanha lifestyle but it's really just a way for people to feel better about going to see a T&A movie.

My posts here are getting the shit downmodded out of them so I'm certainly outside of the majority view on this one.

Re:I don't quite enjoy it so much

[jollyreaper]

First off, comparing somebody destroying a mass-produced electronics device to somebody getting seriously injured is kind of silly. Nobody was hurt by blending an iPhone. The world was not deprived of a rare/priceless item. I don't understand what there is here to get upset about? I'm not upset, I'm not ranting, I'm just expressing a point of view. I thought this was a discussion board, not a mutual agreement circlejerk. I'm not sitting here saying "everyone who laughed at that video is hitler," etc. I made a comparison to the basket ball trampoline video, then withdrew it and submitted another comparison to the fright videos. Beats me why this is considered trolling.

I guess you just don't believe that people should have fun for fun's sake. You could make an argument that what they did to an iPhone wasn't particularly funny or original, but the willitblend website has been around for a while and had tons of traffic, so obviously a whole lot of people find it amusing. Now that's a stretch. I've already stated that I find the basic blending ideas he has amusing such as blending golf clubs, marbles, and other trash he has no other need for. Of course tossing an iphone into the mix will be very cost-effective publicity because everyone will talk about it and see it. I know it's cost-effective for him to do so. I just thought it was wasteful, that's all. Personal opinion, nothing more. He can blend his own phone if he wants to. I don't have an iphone but if I did, I'm free not to blend it.

Anyways, your little rant about somebody breaking their ankle has absolutely nothing to do with iPhones in blenders, but I will say that trying to dunk a basketball off of a trampoline is not any safer or smarter than trying a rail slide on a skateboard. Both are obviously dangerous tricks to attempt, and I have a hard time feeling too sorry for anyone who gets injured doing either of them. And nobody requires you to sympathize with someone who hurts himself on a bail. You might, you might not, it's your choice. The only opinion I'm venturing here is that it's a bit dickish to actively take pleasure from watching the pain.

Re:I don't quite enjoy it so much

[nuzak]

The stick up your ass: will it blend?

Re:I don't quite enjoy it so much

[The One and Only]

Except it was to prove that the blender will fucking tear through everything you put in it. That's more than good reason for a series of "Will It Blend" videos.

Re:I don't quite enjoy it so much

[Fifty Points]

The youtube video I'm thinking of in particular is the kid trying to do a trampoline basketball dunk

Okay...

He wasn't trying to do something intentionally dumbass

I think we may disagree there. ;)

Re:I don't quite enjoy it so much

[bryan1945]

Just to be annoying-

"My personal rule with portable electronics like this is that you should never pay more than $150 for whatever you're getting because they have a nasty habit of breaking."

Good luck on finding that laptop. :)

Re:I don't quite enjoy it so much

[jollyreaper]

"My personal rule with portable electronics like this is that you should never pay more than $150 for whatever you're getting because they have a nasty habit of breaking."

Good luck on finding that laptop. :) A laptop doesn't take the same kind of beating as a cell phone, PDA, or gameboy-type device. Cell phones hang at your hip and fall at inopportune moment to fall. I won't say this is a universal truism, just something that seems to bear out with the sample set I've observed. We tend to get more berries and cell phones in from the field all mutilated and destroyed than we get trashed laptops. And by that same token, a cheap laptop is only a hundred or so more than an iphone. It's personal opinion but I think that's a better value than an iphone.

Re:I don't quite enjoy it so much

[heinousjay]

I thought this was a discussion board, not a mutual agreement circlejerk

Boy did you take a wrong turn at Albuquerque.

Re:I don't quite enjoy it so much

[mvdwege]

I thought this was a discussion board, not a mutual agreement circlejerk.

A particularly ironic statement, since it is you that is whining on getting counterarguments.

Mart

Re:I don't quite enjoy it so much

[bryan1945]

Like I said, I was only being annoying. :)

Besides, ever hear of someone dropping their laptop into a toilet?

"Ah, boss, I need a new laptop."
"Why?"
"I dropped it into the toilet."
"?!"

When will they blend a

[digirus]

mouse?

Re:When will they blend a

[Taagehornet]

Will you settle for a goldfish ?

A few years back a Danish art museum displayed an exhibition with ten blenders containing living goldfish, where the public were given the chance to switch them on, and of course a few couldn't resist the temptation. The whole thing caused quite a stir...

Fun?

[mi]

As well as being fun ...

Fun? I was, actually, rather revolted... It always saddens me, when things break irreparably. I once felt depressed for a week after accidentally dropping an old hard-drive on the floor — it worked before, but broke due to my sloppiness...

To do this sort of thing on purpose, with a shiny, new (and beautiful!) piece of high-tech electronics is a sin. To enjoy watching it is perverse, in my humble opinion...

Re:Fun?

[nerdup]

Being depressed for a week over dropping an inert piece of metal on the floor is more perverse than getting a charge out of watching one great piece of engineering chew up another, in my humble opinion...

You might want to reexamine your priorities

Re:Fun?

[NutMan]

I had the same thought. Once I attended a small group discussion on hunger at a local University. A student from Africa said that when he first came to the U.S., he was in the cafeteria one day when a big food-fight erupted. It made him sick because of the contrast between the U.S. & Africa. He saw people starving over there, but here food is so plentiful we waste it by throwing it at each other as a joke.

Re:Fun?

[mikael]

To me, it's a terrible waste of money and technology. My parents would have gone mad if I had ever deliberately broken something as expensive as that.

Rich kids with too much free money to spend...

Re:Fun?

[mabhatter654]

But Blendtec is doing a public service putting this on the internet so dozens of people don't have to attempt something really stupid. Now a site blowing plastic army guys up with M-80s would be cool!!! Or a site with "chemistry gone wrong" of all the chemistry experiments you're NOT supposed to do.. but are really cool!

Re:Fun?

[blincoln]

Rich kids with too much free money to spend...

Agreed. It's in the same category of stupidity and arrogance as rock stars smashing instruments.

The cluster of "Look! We're revealing the secrets of the iPhone! By breaking it!" articles on release were equally lame in my opinion.

If you have something useful that you don't want, have the good nature to give it to someone who can make use of it.

Re:Fun?

[mobby_6kl]

It's the iphone we're talking about here! It was a real pleasure to see the overhyped POS gound up into a pile of black dust. Ahhh...

Re:Fun?

[mrchaotica]

Rich kids with too much free money to spend...

The guy in this video isn't a "rich kid with too much free money to spend," he's the owner (I think) of a blender company trying to advertise his product.

Re:Fun?

[flooey]

To me, it's a terrible waste of money and technology. My parents would have gone mad if I had ever deliberately broken something as expensive as that.

Rich kids with too much free money to spend...

You do realize this is an advertisement, right? He's spending $500 on an iPhone, plus production costs, in order to sell what's likely to be thousands (possibly tens of thousands) of dollars in blenders. Not exactly a waste.

Re:Fun?

[zero_offset]

Let me guess: the result was for everyone to feel bad about this terrible contrast and engage in little personal guilt trips for "having it so good", instead of asking why his African ancestors apparently can't grow crops and raise food animals like everybody else on the planet has managed to do for the past 50,000 fucking years.

Re:Fun?

[mi]

The iPhone itself is an innocent piece of electronics. It can not be blamed for the hype...

Should a beauty-pageant contestant be killed/maimed/raped, so that someone somewhere gets relieved of the hype over Miss YourRegionHere?

Yes, the iPhone is "just a thing", not a human being, but the desire to destroy it, the anger felt towards it (justified by "the hype") are not entirely dissimilar...

Re:Fun?

[Anonymous Coward]

Drought, War, and Politics

Re:Fun?

[Eunuchswear]

Instead of asking why his African ancestors apparently can't grow crops and raise food animals like everybody else on the planet has managed to do for the past 50,000 fucking years.

Uh, maybe 12000 years actually.

Bet you feel a lot less cocky now, shithead.

Re:Fun?

[zero_offset]

Consider the statement rhetorical.

Re:Fun?

[1729]

You do realize this is an advertisement, right? He's spending $500 on an iPhone, plus production costs, in order to sell what's likely to be thousands (possibly tens of thousands) of dollars in blenders. Not exactly a waste.

Since the blenders are about $400 and this commercial is all over the internet now, this commercial will pay for itself many times over. I can't justify (rationalize!) a $400 blender, but I want one now. I'm going to add a Blendtek blender to the gift registry for my upcoming wedding. (So far, my fiancee has made all the registry choices, so I figure I can throw in one extravagant kitchen toy.)

Re:Fun?

[Jeremy_Bee]

It still is pretty juvenile, and it *is* depressing that people still find this crap entertaining after who knows how many hundred episodes.

What the heck is this "story" doing on slashdot anyway?
It's neither relevant nor especially funny and it's been done to death for almost a year now.

Additionally, as you mention, it's an ADVERTISEMENT. So again, what the heck is it doing here?

To the guy that said it was "perverse" to feel bad about breaking a hardrive (when it's your fault no less), yet relishing in it's destruction is some variation on good clean fun...

you are the one that clearly needs to re-assess your priorities.

Re:Fun?

[mrchaotica]

you are the one that clearly needs to re-assess your priorities.

WTF?! No, you need to get down off your fucking high horse for a minute and re-read what I said before you assume anything of me! Did I ever say anything about my "priorities?" No, all I did was make a factual statement that had nothing to do with my personal opinion of the matter, whatever it might be.

Clearly, you need to re-assess your habit of putting words in other people's mouths and making an ass out of yourself by talking down to them!

Re:Fun?

[tsa]

A small piece of advice: STAY AWAY FROM ROBOT WARS! You'll be traumated for life, after having watched that show,

Re:Fun?

[tsa]

That is because your ancestors were so busy getting slaves out of Africa and exploiting the people and resources there as much as they could that the continent was ruined beyond repair.

Re:Fun?

[evilbessie]

...and "because it's cool"...

Re:Fun?

[Anonymous Coward]

Where the hell is "+1 ZING!" in the mod list???

Re:Fun?

[paul248]

http://pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF103AD-Food_Fight.gif# 169

Re:Fun?

[Jeremy_Bee]

Well I apologise, but you seem to have misread me.

What I said was:

To the guy that said it was "perverse" to feel bad about breaking a hardrive (when it's your fault no less), yet relishing in it's destruction is some variation on good clean fun... So I wasn't referring to you but compacting two comments into one post.

This guy ("nerdup"):

Being depressed for a week over dropping an inert piece of metal on the floor is more perverse than getting a charge out of watching one great piece of engineering chew up another, in my humble opinion...

You might want to reexamine your priorities ... is the one that made the remark that I was responding to.

Sorry for the confusion.

Re:Fun?

[StikyPad]

Where I come from, guilt trips are so plentiful that we hurl them at each other in sport. Needless to say, when I visited the Land of Make Believe, where guilt trips are virtually nonexistent, I quickly grew to appreciate what I had so long taken for granted. Nowadays, I save my guilt trips for people who really need them -- myself sometimes, but I try to send them to the Land of Make Believe whenever possible. Please consider doing the same.

Re:Fun?

[timeOday]

The guy is a marketing genius (OK, rather incredibly lucky). Youtube shows his ads to millions of people for free, even a few 30 second ads on local TV would quickly surpass $500. (Wait, did I just imply the $90BN ad industry is not a waste - or rather a menace?)

Re:Fun?

[mi]

Ha! At least, those robots — as well as military hardware, BTW — are created for the purpose. iPhone is not. It could've worked for years, and made someone rather happy...

Still, there were news-stories about soldiers getting emotionally attached to their minesweeping robots... And they aren't any more "sick", than people in love with their pets — including K-9 policemen.

Re:Fun?

[justin12345]

We now know that humans have been growing crops and raising animals way further back then 12,000 years, though not 50,000. So your both wrong, you cocky shitheads.

Re:Fun?

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually looking at his auction on ebay for the blended phone I see he has one positive feedback for an iphone he bought for $575. Still not a bad deal all in all.

Re:Fun?

[jweller]

Do you want to pay for the postage?

Re:Fun?

[tsa]

The iPhone that got blended worked only for a few seconds, but it brought a smile to the faces of many people. I think in that way it served its purpose in life quite well.

Re:Fun?

[Thing 1]

If you have something useful that you don't want, have the good nature to give it to someone who can make use of it.

Conversely: have the good sense to know how to make far more resources from few resources by creatively destroying them.

(They just pocketed a ton of ad revenue!)

Re:Fun?

[Eunuchswear]

[citation needed]

Re:Fun?

[willutah]

And he might even make that back since the bidding is already up to $660 on eBay!

Had to be said:

[Lars T.]

- I think that voids the warranty.
- I don't think Apple will replace the battery on that one.
- So now they are stuck with a 2 year AT&T plan and don't even have an iPhone.

Re:Had to be said:

[SnapperHead]

Wrong ... you can purchase an iPhone without activation. You just can't do anything with it until its activated. To show the device working, chances are they swaped in a sim card from an activated phone. (Just have to resync it with iTunes). Getting a replacement sim card from Cingular is very easy, they don't charge for them with the iPhone. I know this because I had to have my iPhone sim card swapped out 3 times now. This is because when I activated it I had trouble trying to port a NJ number to California. I had to activate it, do a relocation then a port.

Yes, they are out $500 ... but thats all, no contracts or anything.

Shredding LiPos

[paffy]

I really like the idea of shredding a highly reactive Lithium Polymer battery in a container secured by your own hand. I can't wait for the "Will shotgun cartridges blend ?" video ! P.

And according to this

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.willitblend.com/videos.aspx?type=safe&v ideo=iphone

it is something you can do safely at home :-)

(hint: look at the url)

Scratches

[jbeaupre]

They could ask for a refund or replacement claiming the screen scratches too easily.

Will "Will it Blend's" servers melt? Yes!

[KarmaRundi]

/. does its own version of "will it blend" with servers. Will they melt when pummeled with traffic from around the world? In this case, yes.

I'm a liar!

[cthellis]

...and people on eBay are idiots!

Just add water

[skitle007]

Service is probably better than my current with this iPhone. Just add water and poof....wet dust.

NOT Blend?

[mabhatter654]

I looked thru the site but has anything NOT blended? Those are some tough blenders, I did see one clip with a crowbar, but I didn't want to watch all the videos.

Wow Slashdot only 1/2 day behind digg...

[Anonymous Coward]

digg - Slashdot's news today, Yesterday!

Re:As funny as the videos are....DUH

[irving47]

YES. Thank you. This is the type of commercial I'll watch again and again. If they make it short enough, I might not even bitch about it if I am forced to watch it in a movie theater.... Well.. maybe I shouldn't get carried away!

That is the question

[Captain Spam]

I showed this video to a friend of mine yesterday. I told him the basic premise of the website and what to expect when he got there. This friend of mine is a bit of a faithful Apple fan, to be sure.

The phrase "Someone should be shot for that" came up during the resulting discussion. Great times!

Movie Commercials...A pox upon them!

[g051051]

If ever there was a practice that deserved it's own brand new circle in hell, it's playing commercials before movies. I specifically go to movies late just to skip the commercials.

Re:Movie Commercials...A pox upon them!

[zobier]

If ever there was a practice that deserved it's own brand new circle in hell, it's playing commercials before movies. I specifically go to movies late just to skip the commercials. Which you're perfectly entitled to do. Mute the TV during ads, show up late to the cinema (here in .au we have allocated seats), use Adblock on your browser, get a media player that ignores command restrictions. I don't like crappy commercials as much as the next guy, but saying these ppl belong in hell is a bit harsh; You're free to ignore commercials.

It's OK unless...

[Chabil Ha']

He writes "guaranteed not DOA".

What is wrong with just posting a link?

[umm qasr]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item =170129995323

Re:What is wrong with just posting a link?

[Anonymous Coward]

The highest bid is $380 -- not bad considering it comes with a brand-new $400 blender too.

Re:What is wrong with just posting a link?

[jimicus]

True, but I wouldn't imagine the phone is worth very much now.

Ultimeta iphone review

[BlueParrot]

"It is just a phone!"

Hey, I was even nice enough not to mention all the crap you have to put up with if you buy one...

Finally...

[Zpin]

an interesting iPhone story!

Point taken, however...

[Ellis D. Tripp]

finely divided glass dust is NOT something that you want to inhale.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicosis

Not to mention the fact that the blender jar and blades are now contaminated with the remnants of the iPhone, rendering the blender unfit for food preparation. I know I wouldn't be too happy if my kid ruined an expensive blender, even if they were doing something cool in the process.

Re:Point taken, however...

[DogDude]

finely divided glass dust is NOT something that you want to inhale.
Not to mention the fact that the blender jar and blades are now contaminated with the remnants of the iPhone, rendering the blender unfit for food preparation.

You're proving my point.
When I was a kid, kids did stupid things, got hurt, broke things learned from their mistakes, and grew up to be normal people. Now, we've got kids afraid of their own shadows, and on all kinds of dangerous prescription crazy drugs to help them deal with their neuroses. The kids coming out of today's ultra-neurotic parenting are gonna be fucked up people and I feel bad for them. Hell, I know 6 year olds that are on anti-depressants that are covered head to toe in antibiotic SPF 1000 sunscreens just to leave the house (and even then, only to play in an adult-supervised, fenced in back yard). That's sick.

Crapple

[naio21]

Crapple is a shitty company.

Blend a Book

[jameskojiro]

Preferably the Holy Bible, or the Koran or Dianetics. But if they blend a Koran I guess we will be seeing a follow up episode, "Will Tom's decapitated head blend for the glory of Allah". If he blends a Bible then I guess the pope will just get pissed off and bitch about it. If he blends Dianetics he will get his ass sued by the "Church" of $cientology.

Maybe he would be better off blending the latest Harry Potter book when it comes out, but then he might piss off Dumbledore and Tom would get turned into a blender, doomed to spend the rest of eternity blending things that shouldn't be blended.

Re:Blend a Book

[Anonymous Coward]

I would much rather see a Bible reduced to paper dust than see it lumped in with dianetics.

Of all of the books you mentioned, shredding a Bible would likely brink the least heat. You seem to intuitively know this because you couldn't come up with anything better than a whining pope.

So you're an atheist, congratulations on your "enlightenment".

Around here you're preaching to the choir anyway, so please keep your venom to yourself.

Re:Blend a Book

[Anonymous Coward]

This post of yours... how much time did you take coming up with it? Enquiring minds want to know!

(Not Muslim, Christian or Scientologist, btw)

looked at another way

[raygundan]

Doing this once and publishing video of it results in a massive savings in resources compared to each person who wants to see this happen having to do it themselves. Think how many wasted iPhones and non-food-safe toxified blenders would be created if even one in ten thousand people who watched this video had instead simply heard about it and decided to try it themselves.

If you want it to last, and last, and last...

[crovira]

Remember, "homemaker style" consumer class equipment pales in comparison to professional equipment.

Even at that, $400 for a blender puts it into pro-sumer class.

Hey if its the LAST living mouse lemur on Earth,

[crovira]

its only a matter of time.

I say crack up the video camera and give the lonely l'il feller the "ride of a lifetime!"

(Keep the goop on ice and maybe we can figure out what MAKES a lemur.)

Common sense = proving your point?

[Ellis D. Tripp]

There is a difference between neurotically smothering your kids, and recognizing that there can be hazards involved in certain activities, and taking precautions where warranted. You will notice that NOWHERE in my post did I say that crazy blender experiments shouldn't be done (too much potential for fun), but common sense would dictate not snorting the resulting powdered remains, and using a blender that you don't intend to use for preparing food.

I did a lot of crazy shit when I was a kid or teenager, including activities that today would draw the immediate attention of the BATF, DEA, DHS, and FCC. Because my parents didn't share my curiosity about science/engineering, I did a lot of stuff on my own or with friends of a similar age. It is only by dumb luck that we didn't get seriously hurt with some of our "projects".

Now that I have a kid of my own (whose favorite TV show is "Mythbusters", BTW), one of my favorite activities is to show him various science experiments and demonstrations, some of which would horrify those of the "soccer mom" stereotype (like the time we fired off a bunch of old automotive airbags and the noise brought out the cops, or set an old microwave on fire by nuking various non-food items). But I ALWAYS make a point of demonstrating proper safety precautions, including drawing the line at demonstrations that cannot be done safely in a suburban backyard. Those are either not done, or they wait until we can find a suitable place to do them.

Sure, most of the kids of past generations survived their own experimentation unscathed. But how many didn't? How many kids would have gone on to a great career, but poisoned/maimed/electrocuted/blew themselves up simply because they were ignorant of the hazards involved with whatever they were playing around with?

Re:Fun? - Not all fun and games

[Anonymous Coward]

Coincidentally this is also part of Apple's battery replacement procedure.

Even more awesome

[snowwrestler]

Then I guess you've never seen the awesomest picture of all time.

nice chemistry lecture

[SuperBanana]

While I'm sure folks appreciate your safety message, please don't try to practice chemistry at the same time. Both glass and asbestos are silicates, and are indeed chemically related.

Right back at you. There are two kinds of asbestos- one is cancerous, the other is not. And glass particles do not cause silicosis, silica does...

Garnet, Talc, Mica, and Quartz are all silicates too. Saying "glass and asbestos are chemically related" is about as relevant as comparing water to hydrogen peroxide, asshat.

Re:nice chemistry lecture

[pongo000]

The the CDC must be wrong, along with every other medically-qualified resource that has shown a causal effect between glass manufacture and silicosis.

Admitting defeat is far more manly than hurling unwarranted insults.

Re:nice chemistry lecture

[Puff Daddy]

Actually, there are 3 types of asbestos, they're all dangerous, and the GP didn't say anything about cancer.

Tom Dickson Jr is a genius

[drix]

Lots of people complain about the fawning praise lavished on the iPhone by a credible press. Tom Dickson is the only person I have seen yet who was shrewd enough to co-opt this for his own gain. It's like he established a hype resonance field--taking all the iPhone puffery, squaring it, and making it his own. I'm guessing he didn't wait all night to score those two iPhones. He probably picked a couple up off eBay for two grand; that he's willing to blow half that on a 10-second video clip testifies to how much more he's getting in return.

Tom Dickson Jr., I salute you.

Re:Tom Dickson Jr is a genius

[Thing 1]

He probably picked a couple up off eBay for two grand; that he's willing to blow half that on a 10-second video clip testifies to how much more he's getting in return.

1 minute 37 seconds to be precise :)

And I'm sure he made that back in advertisements (i.e. blender sales -- there were no ads on the page); plus, the eBay he mentioned at the end is now up to $570 (he's paying shipping, plus the $400 blender, but still -- I applaud his marketing genius!).

Tungsten Carbide

[Anonymous Coward]

I reckon that my tungsten carbide tooling for my lathe and mill would give it something to think about!

Toxic dust

[AYeomans]

... everything they but into their blenders ends up as toxic dust!!!

Toxic dust? Surely that's the magic smoke!

Well, somebody saw this coming

[slackr]

That's funny, I just saw a comic about this on Monday. Who would have though this would be such an obvious thing to do? (OK the WIB version is funnier...)

meta:disconnection-meme

[zobier]

I personally prefer the MPHG meme, NO CARRIER is auuuld. I think it's better form, however, to leave the follow-up discussion to child posts.

but why?

[drkness]

watched only one video of the will it blend series a month or so ago.. I would need to ask the question why blend? alright I get the reason if someone opened it up but blending .. nope! well if the come up with a hammer and put up the videos will they be called 'will it break?' but yes there you go .. not watching another one of those will it blend videos..

Re:but why?

[Vegeta99]

Did you see "Blendtec.com" in the back? They're just trying to advertise to you that their blenders are a bit ridiculously powered. Worked for me, though, I visited their website.

The iPhone he bought on eBay

[Anonymous Coward]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item =330142582706

Don't be sad.

[More_Cowbell]

It can be fixed.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092494/

See? All better.

democratization and increased value

[SoyChemist]

You Tube has not just democratized film production, but also increased the value of advertisements. With high quality viral advertising like this, I actually feel that the video deserves my attention. With television ads, I often feel that they invade my attention and are unworthy of it.

Re:It always seems to (you forgot something)

[Anonymous Coward]

You forgot to mention the people, TONS of machinery & electronics, decorations, plastics for packaging, sewage, cleaning agents and two fueled jet planes! I believe they normally remove all those things before demolishing buildings.

Time.

[Anonymous Coward]

Apropos for 95 years ago, perhaps.

What?

[LKM]

interfaces are oversimplified and prevent real work from being done in many cases pertinent to me.

What? This is Unix. You can do whatever you want. Please provide examples detailing where the UI prevented "real work from being done."

2. oversimplified interfaces ensure that people never learn about computers

GAH! I hate this argument. It's so fucking stupid. What you're basically saying is that you want to force people to use unusable stuff just so that they are forced to learn. This is insane. Nobody does that! It's like asking for cars to have no electronics because due to all the electronics, people don't have to learn about how an engine works.

Look, if you have a choice between something that is hard to use and something that is easy to use, picking the hard item is not smart. It's stupid.

3. oversimplified and unintuitive hardware.

Where by "unintuitive" you mean "not matching what I've learned while using another system." So not only do you want to use the hard-to-use system because it forces you to learn, you also want every other system to behave like the hard-to-use system.

4. badly-designed hardware. slot-loading cd drives that scratch disks, don't eject disks, and have no easy way to manually take them out in emergency. batteries that cannot be replaced by the user, on iphone and many ipods.

Never heard about the slot-loading drives scratching disks. The batteries are somewhat annoying, but you can replace iPod batteries on your own, and frankly, I've never wanted to replace a battery in a cell phone or an iPod, so I don't really care. You get something in return, too: Better design.

5. badly-designed hardware as a marketing tactic to get people to spend more on tech support (batteries, being the biggest culprit).

What? Is this conspiracy theory day?

6. proprietary hardware. the "apple display connector". non-standard usb cables on some keyboards. non-standard earphone jacks on the iPod instead of simply having standard mini USB connector and standard 1/8" jack connector separately so any cable from your closet can be used to transfer data.

Apple goes with proprietary if they think they can significantly improve upon the open solution. They've done it less and less often recently.

7. bad looks. i hate white hardware. okay, this is just my opinion, though.

Few Apple hardware is white anymore.

8. non-intuitive software. for one, the easiest way one can think of using an mp3 player on windows is to shove it into a USB drive, have the drive pop open as any thumb drive would, drag mp3's into it, and eject it. but nooooooo you have to either install iTunes or get some hack that updates the iPod DB. sheesh.

Uh. What. Manually dragging your MP3 files on a MP3 player that is mounted by Windows is more intuitive than just plugging it in and letting it sync automatically? Using Windows to manage your portable music player is more intuitive than using your music management application? I think you should consider the possibility that your definition of "intuitive" does not match most other people's definition of "intuitive." I would guess that using your hard-to-use system has kind of destroyed your calibration in that area.

don't be silly

[commodoresloat]

It's just kool-aid.

So..

[cluke]

In WoW terms, he disenchanted it and got some arcane dust?