Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/12/19/apple-bothering-people-with-un.html
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This hadn’t struck me yet, but I disabled notifications from the TV app, just in case.
Normally I disable notifications from just about every app that doesn’t give me any value, but I must have missed this one (probably because I’ve never launched it, and it lives hidden amongst all the other undeletable Apple crap in my Shovelware folder.)
And yes, there’s a shitty U2 album somewhere in my iCloud library that I also can’t delete. Fortunately, iCloud and the Music app are so user hostile that I almost never encounter it. WTF, Apple? What’s so hard about understanding that your imaginary largesse does nothing but piss thousands of people off?
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When an app asks if you want to be sent notifications, the correct answer is almost always “no”.
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Personally, I never got the appeal of this show concept, but de gustibus non disputandum est. BB did cover this show a few times earlier - https://boingboing.net/tag/carpool-karaoke - before deciding (IMO correctly) that it was crap.
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I htink you mean https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/muckety-muck
It’s an unfortunate dilemma: once you exceed the scale where an individual’s moral compass can actually steer an operation(which for most contemporary hardware, software, and combinations of the two you have; that sort of complexity isn’t small shop stuff) your best assurance of good behavior is a vendor too hungry and threatened to dare upsetting the customer; but your best assurance of your vendor that is going to release updates rather than bleed to death is one with enough power that they’ll suspect that they can get away with messing with you(and probably be right).
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I’m really not sure what they were thinking with the U2 thing(the only party more delusional than Apple was Bono declaring the exercise to be “very punk rock”); but Apple has made a long-standing policy(frequently though not universally successful) of operating on the theory that they know what their customers want better than their customers do.
When correct this tendency helps them open new markets and avoid the bottom feeding that makes cheap laptops so terrible. When wrong it comes of as high-handed arrogance on the part of someone with a tight grip on the platform; because that’s what it is.
The somewhat uncharacteristic element here is the little twist of pathos: burning reputation to try to spam up an audience for your lousy little TV show is so…plaintive… You’d think that having a nation-state size money pile would allow you to refrain from stooping for subscriptions like a precarious YouTube personality; but apparently not.
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I miss out on all the fun.
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I think they’re saying that the Apple-produced version is what’s crap. I recall seeing pretty universal praise before when it was just a segment on Corden’s show.
Honestly, everyone should have seen this coming from a mile away (it sucking, that is). Taking a minor segment from a talk show that succeeded virally largely because of its spontenaiety and shoehorning into Apple’s very conservative ecosystem just seemed doomed to failure. Especially as a tentpole for their entire streaming video production push. Netflix and Amazon both went super-big with theirs combining “prestige” shows, high-visibility film production, comedy specials, Spanish-language programming, etc. I just don’t see Apple giving it the steam it needs to succeed. Especially if it sucks.
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More a trial run than a tent pole, something to dip their toe into the waters of original online video content.
I’ve read somewhere that Apple is spending over billion dollars on content for its subscription tv offering which will launch next year sometime. Carpool Karaoke is definitely just a minor show they cranked out while they were getting their feet wet with this whole original video content thing.
ETA: ok, a mere 900 million. With 4+ billion more scheduled between now and 2022.
https://www.investors.com/news/technology/click/apple-streaming-video-tv-aapl/
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Right, fair enough. I know they’ve got more programming in the offing and a pretty captive audience, but people are used to bold, innovative material these days. I just don’t see Apple taking the kind of risks that make a Breaking Bad, for instance.
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They do seem a bit square. OTOH, major studios like, say, Sony or Walt Disney seem pretty square, but they have been able to overcome their corporate squareitude to turn out some really excellent content. I’m going to wait for Apple’s series to begin dropping and read the reviews before passing judgement.
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Impossible! Using an iOS push notification to send advertising is a violation of the Apple terms of service.
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You don’t say…
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I tried to follow the instructions, and couldn’t remove it either. Now I just use spotify.
I get that this might be a minor irritation but some perspective: it’s not as if it’s a fucking U2 album they are shoving down your throat.
Now that is unforgiveable. I don’t really know who this James Corden is but I can guarantee he’s not so much of a raging, inflamed, infected, weeping arsehole as Bono. How do I know that? Because if he was, like Bono, he would have let me and everyone else in the world know. Often.
That’s my standard. I take a split second to think, “will my life be better if I allow this app to bug me?”
But again, the problem here is the Apple created app doesn’t ask; much like the way they pester you to update without offering you a “fuck off with that noise” response that stops it from popping up again a day or two later.
I feel like they are the most passive aggressive corporation I’ve interacted with as a consumer (so far).
But it’s better than MS who don’t care what you happen to be doing when they decide it’s time for you to update.
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