Strange New World: Tech Picks of the Week
Game avoids extended plots that have ruined many video games.
Nov. 1, 2007 — -- Things were just plain spooky this week in the strange new world of technology.
Apple, in a misguided effort to foil hackers, stooped to a new über-paranoid low by refusing to take cash for iPhones. In other tech-related oddities, a new video game hit the market that essentially does away with plot as we know it. And finally, it turns out that the small independent electronics retailer in your town may actually be just as cheap as the big-box store. Who would have thunk it?
Here, then, are our picks of the week.
If you want to buy an iPhone, leave the cash at home and bring the plastic. To fight against what they call "unauthorized resellers," Apple is limiting sales of its iPhone to consumers with credit or debit cards only. On top of that, shoppers may buy only two units at a time.
Now, as far as we can tell, the greenback is still legal tender in this country, but apparently not so in Cuppertino, Calif. The word on the street is that Apple also will not let you use gift cards purchased with cash to buy an iPhone, so you might want to find an alternative stocking stuffer for the kids.
In all seriousness, this not being able to play nicely in the techno sand box is becoming a real problem for Apple, its users and the company's investors. Yes, you can muscle around your market when you serve a nice docile niche. But now that Apple is the leader in portable devices, even Steve Jobs must learn he can't boss around an entire culture.
Sure, we understand the need to protect iPhones, but accepting only credit isn't going to stop anybody on Craigslist from selling cracked units.
These moves will almost certainly trigger litigation and plenty of bad publicity. You have to wonder whether Apple will ever outgrow its damaged child, niche-market past.
This was supposed to be our Halloween story, but once we took it out for a spin "Hellgate London" blew us away. So here goes. Are you a gamer? Do you like to blow stuff up, slay aliens and score big points but can't be bothered with crazy plots like who's the queen of what and who's got it out for whom? Well, "Hellgate London" is made for you.
