by Tom Kaneshige

Apple’s Crazy Weekend

Opinion
Oct 15, 20122 mins
Consumer ElectronicsiPhone

Apple was all over the place this weekend, from SNL to ad tracking to the wacky Wozniak.

Apple popped up all over the place this weekend, from late-night TV to annoying ad tracking to a bizarre interview with Steve Wozniak. Here’s a rundown of what you may have missed.

Tech Geeks and the iPhone 5: It’s Saturday Night!

A cool Saturday Night Live skit featured tech geeks from CNET, Wired Magazine and Gizmodo making criticisms of the new iPhone 5. They then squared off against Chinese laborers. I’m usually not a fan of Americans acting like dorky Asians and mocking accents – damn you, Gedde Watanabe and your character Long Duk Dong of Sixteen Candles! – but I have to admit, this skit is pretty funny.

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Thanks, Gedde Watanabe, for the Asian stereotype.

Apple’s Usability Shows Its Sneaky Side

Are advertisers tracking you on your iPhone? You bet. Your iPhone has become a secret agent delivering information about your activities to advertisers. Armed with this information, advertisers can better put you in their crosshairs. But there’s a way to turn off ad tracking – you just have to find it.

Given Apple’s famous usability features, you’d think it would be easy. Just go to Settings -> Privacy, right? Nope. Here, we get a glimpse at Apple’s sneaky side. Deep down, Apple doesn’t want you to turn off ad tracking. So it throws iPhone users, who have grown up with Apple’s ease of use, a giant curve ball.

To turn off ad tracking on the iPhone, go to Settings -> General -> About -> scroll down to Advertising -> click Limit Ad Tracking to On. For a company that prides itself on simplicity, this is ridiculous.

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Turning off ad tracking is in Privacy, right? Wrong.

Wozniak Getting Wacky?

Apple’s eccentric co-founder, Steve Wozniak of “Dancing with the Stars” fame, spouted off in an interview with South Africa’s TechCentral. He wishes Apple has not been so arrogant – and given the above ad tracking head shaker, he’s right. But then he goes off on wild predictions, such as the cloud will soon have “horrible problems” and computers will have feelings in the future. Oh, he’s also planning to move to Australia for better broadband.

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Steve Wozniak, greatest tech geek ever.