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Press, Bloggers Fall For iPhone Cup Holder 'Joke'
netbuzz writes "An iPhone case with a built-in cup holder? The designers were looking for $25,000 to make it on the crowdsourcing site Indiegogo. One look at the contraption should have been enough to convince anyone that the thing was a joke, or a publicity stunt, but a number of mainstream press outlets (LA Times, UPI) and bloggers took the bait with little or no realization that that they might be on the wrong end of the hook. Today the Dutch marketing firm behind the effort acknowledged that it was 'a joke.'"
I mean, it is an iPhone gimmick. Shit like this is plausible.
How is this any worse than the Ramen Bowl iPhone Dock? (which is a real product)
http://www.toxel.com/tech/2013/01/23/ramen-bowl-for-iphone-owners/
A gem from the not too distant past
"No fear. No envy. No meanness." Liam Clancy
And there's that infamous VisualBasic powered Coca-Cola "complimentary cupholder" joke application which simply ejected your CD-ROM drive ...
How much stuff have we seen already - absolutely ludicrous - yet it sells?
.0001 degree kelvin? And how much heat did his fridge pump into his house to make the ice? Unsaid. But most people, being the sheeple they are, open their wallets for what the microphone man is hocking. Geez, its gotta be true -doesn't it? It was said through a microphone!
I am sure you, like me, have seen lots of stuff advertised that could not possibly work as advertised, yet someone sells it, making a mint doing so.
My neighbor bought last year some miracle thing that cooled his whole house off the ice in his fridge. Yeh. Cooled by how much?
Much of what I have seen coming down the pike for the last few decades I considered a joke. Other people took it seriously. And made money.
Some people do indeed have the sales skill to sell ice to eskimos. I go through almost any store and know my marketing skills are useless. The store seems mostly stocked with utterly useless junk - but someone buys it.
So a real joke got mixed up with all this junk. Can you blame 'em for not distinguishing the real joke from the crap the marketing people push today?
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
Clearly, technology does not make us smarter.
Well I find this much, much more palatable than the iPotty, a product actually previewed at the venerable CES:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20957844
Why the hell would anybody want a cup holder connected to their phone with hot coffee? I don't mean to sound elitist, but the idea is terrible!
I have been a captive in America my entire life. Everybody and everything uses customary units instead of metric.
How much stuff have we seen already - absolutely ludicrous - yet it sells?
Indeed.
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
it wont hold a beer
I saw this Ramen bowl with iPhone holder on The Register earlier, and I couldn't decide if it was for real or not. Thing is, if it is, I know someone I'd buy it for!
Oh no... it's the future.
A lot of press and bloggers covered Winodws 8, and most didnt realized that it was a joke too
CPU magazine once fell for a wireless AC power adapter...
The other version of that joke is one of an Australian thinking it's a place to put their beer because it says "4X".
Other Things People Thought Were "Jokes"
okay, the last one is still a joke but nobody is perfect
It's becoming more and more clear that much less than half of Americans can tell the difference between their own ass and a hole in the ground. We're a nation of morons, and while some of us are getting better, a lot of us are getting worse and more entrenched in idiotic beliefs.
I mean what next? Cupholders in hats so you don't need to hold your drinks, maybe with some kind of tubes to drink from whats in them? Na that's stupid.
I call prior art. Google for beer hats. They are available in hardhat and Stetson.
Considering that the Shipping Carts in the local supermarket have cup-holders and there are various iPad holders that you strap on your arms, I would not be surprised that you could get an iPhone holder with a cup holder.
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
Hats go on your head. Jokes, evidently, go right over it.
It's not quite the cupholder call, but in the '90s I did phone support for an ISP that had a lot of elderly customers, and one time I really did get the "any key" call.
Space game using normal deck of cards: http://BattleCards.org
That one's similar to people thinking the floppy drive was meant for credit cards.
If you can't convince them, convict them.
Allow me to make your day.
regular man whom love computer (Also, fuck beta).
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/
This sig left unintentionally blank.
It's not quite the cupholder call, but in the '90s I did phone support for an ISP that had a lot of elderly customers, and one time I really did get the "any key" call.
You aren't kidding, really huh? That's the old Simpsons joke, "Press any key."
Homer: "Oh, where's the 'anykey'? I can't find the 'anykey'!"
Well, I believe you. Walls have more common sense than some people I've met.
I can't imagine WHY you'd buy one (no power outlet in a sealed room?), but it's certainly feasible to make one. It's not even too much of a stretch to imagine some marketing hack pushing one into production over the engineers protests of its pointlessness.
... a coffie-cup-holder with a built-in peltier device?
That way you could charge up your iPhone with your hot coffie!
Or heat up your coffie with your phone!
THINK! It's patriotic
You will also note that the word 'joke' is in quotes throughout this story - the reason is, of course, that this 'joke' is no joke to Apple fanbois, many of whom are outraged after discovering that they could not pre-order this case, and not have declared jihad.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
I overheard a help desk guy where I work have this happen to him about a week ago. He was doing password phone support, and he heard over the phone "Honey, where's the any key". They also used Google as a browser.
Are you kidding?
The only place an Australian will put their beer is in their mouths.
Anything else is either perverted or European.
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
Hats go on your head. Jokes, evidently, go right over it.
Well done.
Yes—we must provide the reinforcement for their learning!
Two iphones and a cup, that would be a killer accessory!
I just want to agree with the posters here. The news these days is so ludicrous that it is becoming hard to tell what is real anymore. I suspect we may be running as a simulation written by a postgrad of some advanced civilization. At this moment he is drunk and playing with the simulation wondering how long it takes us to realize what is going on ;-)
. . . As they surely will, I see Slashdotters falling for stupider trolls than this all the time.
Can you give some examples of that? - I'm curious. All the time?
And the networkworld guy is a sour-ass.
Religion is what happens when nature strikes and groupthink goes wrong.
Another long format windows 8 joke...
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
Devil's advocate: if you ran your fridge to make the ice overnight when it's cold and used it in swamp coolers to chill the house in the day that might work. No doubt that's not what he actually had though.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
Yeah, but does the cup holder allow me to put Java on the iPhone?
I went to eat some animal crackers and the box said, "Do not eat if seal is broken." I opened the box and sure enough..
Is this really worthy of a front page article? Who is running this site anymore? Here's a hint, don't try to be Gizmodo or Engadget, be Slashdot.
It's depressing because it's true.
I thoughtful post. Thank You!
What you are describing is slurry ice storage cooling. Cool the coolant at night when the electricity is cheap and blow air though it to cool your building in the daytime. It can save a fortune in cooling costs compared to conventional air-con.
Anything else is either perverted or European.
But you're repeating yourself. ;)
!#@%*)anks for hanging up the phone, dear.
You will also note that the word 'joke' is in quotes throughout this story - the reason is, of course, that this 'joke' is no joke to Apple fanbois, many of whom are outraged after discovering that they could not pre-order this case, and not have declared jihad.
Apple has taken note, and you can be sure that they'll be offering this product for sale along with the "really new" iphone aka iphone 6.