Yeah, between Microsoft, Apple, Facebook and Google it's just.... too comfy, if you know what I mean? Instead of the power being at our fingertips, we're at other people's fingertips. They give us "rich experiences" and "capture our imagination" and frankly, future generations damning us seems optimistic to me, since that would require them to have some clue or care a bit.

I seriously think if this is the information age, then what is still considered "geeky" sometimes just is being able to read and write. And like Orwell said, if you can't write properly, you can't think properly, and if you can't do that, others will do it for you.

You know what I think Apple actually meant with "1984 isn't going to BE like 1984"*? Because it's more stylish. That's all. Because you get to have sex even. Because we found more efficient ways to destroy resources and control people than physical warfare. And so on... not because the basic idea is different.

(* if you don't know what I mean, look for "apple commercial 1984" on youtube, and then "apple awesome keynote" to get the FULL picture haha -- and no, I'm not even going on about conspiracies I just mean irony and Orwelll being spot on wether we see it or not)

Hmm, that's a bit bleak an outlook at the beginning of a new year, I know... but hey, if it gets me to code my own stuff, instead of just consuming, I cherish this pessimist paranoia. I recommend it ^^

@J_to_the_ohann A little conspiracy theory never hurt anyone :)

It does rather annoy me when I listen to a podcast (via RSS feed) and they go on about iTunes in the intro / closing. I don't have any Apple products and this is out of choice. At least these 'casts are available via other means, but it does raise concerns for the future if iTunes is always there in their minds and RSS is seen as secondary.

The problem goes back to the point about RSS not being user-friendly. The average person does not want to have to figure out how to use RSS feeds for podcasts when they can use iTunes to achieve the same result. Apple's disproportionate share of the portable market means that alternatives such as Android remain the tech geek's choice, while almost everyone else goes, lemming-like, for iPod / iPhone.

I remember having an early MP3 player (64MB, wow!) around the time the first iPods came out. Suddenly all the non-technical types at work were going on about their iPods as if Apple had invented portable music players. Apple certainly have a nack for making desirable hardware.