Apple founder Steve Wozniak was in Australia to speak at the Pivot Summit in Geelong, Victoria. Woz was asked his feelings about the iPhone X. What spun out of that short talk was a series of headlines, like:
“Woz Slams The iPhone X, Confirms Google Is Taking Advantage Of Consumers”, from ChannelNews, and “Apple iPhone X not what Steve Wozniak wants” from the The Australian.
At the same time, 9to5Mac ran this take on the exact same event:
Speaking at the Pivot Summit in Geelong, Victoria today, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak shared a few new tidbits about his experience with the iPhone X so far and his thoughts on Face ID vs. Touch ID. Woz also offered up a few anecdotes about his years working with Steve Jobs. Wozniak is one of several speakers at the one day conference focused on providing insight about emerging technology.
And:
Speaking prior to the launch of the iPhone X, Wozniak expressed that he wasn’t interested in picking up the phone on day one, offering little explanation as to why. Apple CEO Tim Cook decided to remedy the situation himself and personally sent Woz an iPhone X to try out. His verdict? “I kinda like it.”
So which take is accurate?
Here’s Woz, via email, referring to the 9to5Mac article:
“This article is on the mark. Another article was like typical Australian sensationalism saying that I didn’t like my iPhone X. How ridiculous.”
I found this whole thing interesting, thought it worth posting. Straight from the horse’s mouth.
Isn’t this the definition of modern journalism? A writer decides on what slant they want to take on any given story and write that narrative. It’s playing on the natural human condition to not be completely one way or another. Whether we talk iPhone X, iPhone 8, Nexus, any Samsung phone, there are going to be things we like, things we don’t like.
Unfortunately, let’s call it the Buzzfeed effect, sensationalist articles get more viewers because people like controversy more then affirmation. Woz likes Face ID, oh, that’s nice. Oh my gawd! The co-founder of Apple who hasn’t had a role in the company in 30 years doesn’t like Face ID!
Which gets more hits?
We are human beings, we are naturally (cannot find a better word) biased.
There is nothing modern in being a douchbag.
This is one of the reasons I miss Angry Mac Bastards
True, journalism has always had biases in what/how they report news. I think there’s a common belief that click-baity headlines are a modern invention, but I’m positive that throughout history these types of headlines have been utilized to draw readers in.
Your positivity is backed up by historical fact:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_journalism
There has also been very good, unbiased journalism. It’s up to us to educate on how to determine which is which, and those critical thinking skills are what we are truly failing to teach. (Not that we did a great job before, but we’re so much further down the road now beyond the Information Age and could do so much better.)
Journalism in the UK and Australia have been the most deceitful of the entire world, in my history. Many times Australian press would ask a question and get an answer and frame it as Wozniak slamming Apple when I wasn’t. I guess bloggers need to make a name for themselves with sensationalism. Once I was asked if the first iPhone (or second?) should have been 3G and I thought about it and said “yes” because half the phones in our AT&T stores were already 3G. The headline was how I was slamming Apple. Another time, 2 weeks after Steve Jobs had apologized for too immediate a drop in an iPhone price I was asked about the price drop. I paused to think and said that it was too much too quickly, the same as Jobs had said. In fact, if you had bought your iPhone[s] on American Express, you got the full $200 price drop back under their price protection policy. The Australian headline was about how I was slamming Apple for the price drop. Give me a break. But don’t be the succor who is duped by such sensationalist press.
Clickbait pure and simple, unfortunately. As far as the iPhone price drop, some people are never happy no matter what you do, so you have to play games with them. It’s too bad really.
Woz is a completely normal human, which means he’s usually an asshole and would rather have what he has now, only faster, than whatever’s coming.
Woz poopooing Apple gear is cliche at this point. Different year, same story. Meanwhile, he’s done absolutely nothing of note since leaving Apple.
To be fair, I think he’s running on about half his original brain power. There’s nothing really wrong with Woz being Woz. The fault is in the media for treating him like an oracle. (Okay, and maybe a little in him not learning to say “no comment.”)
Umm… Was Woz’s comment racist? ¯_(ツ)_/¯
My teachers were mostly great at teaching critical thinking, but then I started out in public schools when more men were still wearing fedoras or homburgs.