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Yes, this is true: Last year Apple Inc. filed for a patent on technology that would force you to watch advertisements, no matter how hard you tried to avoid it.
[ According to Cringely's estimates, the Apple takeover may be nearly complete, as he documents in "It's Apple's world, we just click in it" | Stay up to date on Robert X. Cringely's musings and observations with InfoWorld's Notes from the Underground newsletter. ]
First made public back in October, the notion is getting more attention thanks to an essay in Saturday's New York Times by Randall Stross, who has picked a few bones with Apple in the past.
The idea is that phones, computers, set-top boxes, etc. can be sold more cheaply -- or even given away for free -- if subsidized by ads. But because nearly everyone who doesn't work in the ad industry loathes advertising, the subsidizers need to ensure people are actually watching these horrid things. Per Stross:
Its distinctive feature is a design that doesn't simply invite a user to pay attention to an ad — it also compels attention. The technology can freeze the device until the user clicks a button or answers a test question to demonstrate that he or she has dutifully noticed the commercial message. Because this technology would be embedded in the innermost core of the device, the ads could appear on the screen at any time, no matter what one is doing.
In this scheme, once an ad starts running, you'll have to interact with it to prove you've watched it. Worse, the interaction will vary -- the required activity or location of the "clickspot" will change from ad to ad -- which makes them much harder to avoid. As Macworld's Jeff Porten notes:
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Download now »Glad Apple patented this, so hopefully Microsoft can't put this in Windows now!
There is no way in hell I would ever use, look at, touch or even consider anything like that. I would rather go without what ever device they put it on then to be forced to do that BS. I mostly avoid sites that put annoyance ads up on there sites as well. When will they finally get it through their heads, if you want anyone to watch your ad, make it something we want to see. (Aflac commercials, Budwiser Christmas ones, Coke christmas ones, etc)
but hey, if you want to think I'm more clever than that, be my guest.
cheers,
rxc
Advertising might work, but this is one person who no longer has a TV connection - no aerial, no cable, no TIVO - because I found the commercials intrusive, annoying, and insulting to my intelligence (and the intelligence of about 90% of the planet, I would guess). If I want to watch something, I get out a movie and watch it on my little 13" TV or my smaller, notebook sized TV/DVD/CD player.
If the ads become a part of the OS, then I'll just have to stay with an earlier version that doesn't have that feature. What happens if we all stop upgrading because we don't want the new "features"? The people who want us to keep buying have to pull the features out.
We can "rule" the market if we just use our heads and a bit of restraint. After all, we are the ones buying.
Or you could switch to Linux.
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