Althouse: "Okay, so maybe the Baby Shaker iPhone app was a bad idea."

April 25, 2009

"Okay, so maybe the Baby Shaker iPhone app was a bad idea."

Uh, yeah.

18 comments:

Ernesto Ariel Suárez said...: Offensive exactly to whom?

And if it was offensive to them, why did they download it?

They may not like the baby shaker because they are acting like babies themselves.; 4/25/09, 7:24 PM
rhhardin said...: It's amusing, is all.

It's a sotto voce remark for the downloaders, that their compliance with PC cannot be counted on.

Apple isn't going to analyze of explain, seeing a sure loss in the soap opera media.

Soap opera will not be mocked.; 4/25/09, 7:26 PM
bill said...: As of this writing, top iPhone app is StickWars:
Capture enemies by dropping them into the cage.
Shake to deploy bombers...#3 iHunt 3D
Experience the thrill of lining up that big buck in your scope and squeezing the triggerBowman sounds fun:
The object of the game is to shoot arrows at your opponent and kill them before they kill you. A head shot inflicts the most damage while a shot to the chest takes second place.Just change the name of the game to "Cartoon adult who annoys me" Shaker and no one should have any problems.; 4/25/09, 7:41 PM
Palladian said...: Ugh, I hate how everyone gets cowed into the "We're so sorry! It was a terrible idea!" surrender so quickly. If you have balls enough to make such an app, have the balls to stand behind it! Some stupid woman somewhere is going to get offended by everything in the entire world eventually. Should we mold the world to suit their delicate sensibilities?; 4/25/09, 8:07 PM
Anonymous said...: @Palladian: This is not a question of molding the world. You can go ahead and mold the world in whatever way you want to. But Apple has to take care of their business, and that involves taking care of their image. There was a controversy due to a pretty clear lack of controls, so Apple made the entirely sensible decision to kill the app and move on.

Most importantly, though, this was all handled privately. No investigation, no complaints to a government agency, no pressure from bureaucrats, etc...

Just think what a terrible situation it would be if instead of Apple reviewing and deciding upon these apps, we had some sort of public government body doing it!; 4/25/09, 8:44 PM
Wince said...: I suppose Apple is thanking their lucky stars it wasn't the Abort-a-Fetus iPhone app.

There would have been no easy out on that one.; 4/25/09, 9:09 PM
Peter V. Bella said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/25/09, 9:53 PM
Peter V. Bella said...: There are people in the world who are cowards, yellow bellies, and would sell their mothers to a seraglio to get out of stuff. They are called public relations people. They infect the upper escheleons of the corproate world. They are not human.

They are the ones who determine the outcome of stuff like this. Unfortunately, companies listen to these curs. They should be called pubic relations people.; 4/25/09, 9:55 PM
Anonymous said...: As a longtime Apple devotee, I'm well aware how they've cultivated a hip, slightly transgressive image.

But even with that, I don't think dead babies are quite what Marketing has in mind.; 4/25/09, 10:19 PM
DaLawGiver said...: I would like a "Michael Shaker" app.; 4/25/09, 10:51 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Some stupid woman somewhere is going to get offended by everything in the entire world eventually.

She put the kabosh on the good stuff on Adult Swim.

Hey habout a shaken martinis app?
Afraid it may stirrup trouble with MADD?; 4/25/09, 11:31 PM
Christy said...: Palladian, The problem is that this app models behavior that lame brains everywhere will imitate IRL. Don't tell me people are smarter than that. Do you have any idea of how many Americans voted for Obama?; 4/26/09, 12:19 AM
blake said...: There used to be a DOS game called something like "Bouncing Babies". Babies would fall out of a burning building. You catch them with your fireman's trampoline, but then they'd bounce off, and you'd have to catch them again, twice more, before they'd bounce off screen.

But more babies would come, and you'd have to juggle around in the three spots really fast to save them.

And you always lost.; 4/26/09, 5:46 AM
kentuckyliz said...: That bouncing babies game sounds like there was a house fire at Nadia Suleman's house.; 4/26/09, 6:27 AM
kentuckyliz said...: And yes, I believe people will imitate it. They copy Jackass and America's Funniest Videos even to self injury. Nadia Suleman watched Jon and Kate Plus 8 and decided that was a pretty cool idea and might get her media attention and her own show and money for overbreeding.

Did the baby shaker app feature an irriting crying baby? Most people shake babies to shut them up. The app teaches valuable trailer park parenting skills.; 4/26/09, 6:29 AM
Peter V. Bella said...: "The app teaches valuable trailer park parenting skills."

That is funny!!!

About twenty years ago, a somewhat popular bar that was off the beaten path, was going to have a dwarf throwing contest. Now the contest was pitched to them and promoted my an agency that provided the dwarves to be thrown. This was one of the ways they earned their living.

The object of the game was to see which normal person can toss a dwarf the farthest down a sidewalk.

The bar painted the side of the building green and put white measuring units over it.

When the promo started, the bovine, equine, and human excrement hit the fan. The city was outraged and threatened all kinds of legal and licenscing sanctions, the newspapers were in a roil- even though many of their reporters drank there and were in favor of the contest.

The contest was never held, the dwarves had to go someplace else to earn their day's pay- some enlightened suburb, and a good night of fun was never had.

Effin do gooders!!!!!; 4/26/09, 7:25 AM
Bob Ellison said...: Apple didn't make the app. Apple just approved it for distribution on its App Store, which has thousands of tiny apps from 3rd-party developers. So it's not as though Steve Jobs himself stormed into the office one day and said "Let's make fun of shaking babies!"; 4/26/09, 8:35 AM
Bissage said...: Once again, the late, great B. Kliban has something to say.

EARTH GAMES: The General’s Game

1. Each General can choose as many babies as he wants from the pile.

2. The Generals hit each other with the babies until they get tired, and then go out for dinner.; 4/26/09, 9:07 AM