A literary history of fake texts in Apple's marketing materials • Hacker News Board

Re: A literary history of fake texts in Apple's marketing materials

#131

Post by rexpop » Wed, Sep 20, 2023, 4:24 PM UTC

rz2k wrote: post #40

tptacek wrote: post #23

This is very funny, but it's also disquieting, because people who text like this absolutely do exist; I know because I'm on the list for the block I live on. Modulo a lack of spelling and grammar errors, this is what normal people sound like. The idea that very normal people behavior is this odd or telling is, itself, pretty telling!

In addition to your block's list, from the article: > Does the Dimension Apple exist? > For a long time I have enjoyed the stilted, improbable cheeriness of fake Apple texts for their extreme distance from my own texting habits and experiences. (As my friend Emma put it to our group chat “if any of you texted me like this I would immediately call your significant others to make sure you hadn’t been kidnapped.”) But i…

I don't understand this person's expectations: are their text groups gruff, pugnacious, sluggish, and terse?? What is even the point, then?

Re: A literary history of fake texts in Apple's marketing materials

#132

Post by DHPersonal » Wed, Sep 20, 2023, 4:26 PM UTC

The direct and incredibly interconnected aspect of Apple’s marketing is incredibly interesting and alluring to me. I often find their presentations brewing a sense of loss or maybe envy because the people in their universe buying their products seem to have friends who care very specifically about each other and who are very involved with the interesting lives of the small friend group. The products Apple sells seem to offer up the chance to have relationships like those, even though in practice I can’t find anyone who wants to invest that fully into the very specific Apple method of social networking.

Re: A literary history of fake texts in Apple's marketing materials

#133

Post by JamilD » Wed, Sep 20, 2023, 5:07 PM UTC

DHPersonal wrote: post #132

The direct and incredibly interconnected aspect of Apple’s marketing is incredibly interesting and alluring to me. I often find their presentations brewing a sense of loss or maybe envy because the people in their universe buying their products seem to have friends who care very specifically about each other and who are very involved with the interesting lives of the small friend group. The products Apple sells seem…

I worked there for a few years, and, though I never thought of it this way, I keep in touch with my friends there in much the same way. We send each other and ask for photos, and talk in kind of the same way (though the marketing copy is of course a bit more cheesy and contrived)

Not sure if it's a Bay Area thing, an Apple thing, or what, but I don't think it's a "fantasy"

Re: A literary history of fake texts in Apple's marketing materials

#134

Post by mannyv » Wed, Sep 20, 2023, 5:24 PM UTC

One really hilarious thing only Apple could do is have a ruling relationship of their fake people in messages/emails. Like "oh, baby is born", then "first day at school" a few years later, "diagnosed with cancer," etc.

It's a shame they didn't do this, especially for Johnny Appleseed. Or maybe they tried and got shot down.

Re: A literary history of fake texts in Apple's marketing materials

#135

Post by secretsatan » Wed, Sep 20, 2023, 5:35 PM UTC

derefr wrote: post #34

> they form group chats centered around trips that only one participant was on It never occurred to me until now, but there's actually a somewhat-coherent "sharing philosophy" woven through many of Apple's products. It seems like Apple envisions a world where social networks and "broadcast"-sharing of content don't exist. In this world, when people want to "tell people" an update about their life, they share that upd…

Did this make anyone else feel old?

Re: A literary history of fake texts in Apple's marketing materials

#136

Post by Nition » Wed, Sep 20, 2023, 9:50 PM UTC

dylan604 wrote: post #126

Nition wrote: post #72

This doesn't even delve into the hidden deceit! In the first image, the sender says they went camping in the mountains, but then sends a photo of the seaside. Did they really go camping at all? In the soapbox derby image, the sender claims they "just finished the latest renderings" for the sushi car design, yet the design is clearly AI generated! They've been lying to the team about how they're creating the designs.…

>yet the design is clearly AI generated! They've been lying to the team about how they're creating the designs. if the sender is the one tweaking the prompts for the AI to render, then why would they not be correct in saying they are finished with it. you sound like one of those that think any use of AI imagery is wrong.

No, it's just that I think of a render as a 3D render done in a 3D modelling program. I haven't seen anyone say something like "I just finished the latest renderings" when talking about AI image generation before.

Re: A literary history of fake texts in Apple's marketing materials

#137

Post by blharr » Wed, Sep 20, 2023, 10:00 PM UTC

dools wrote: post #121

Whenever someone starts using Apple as an example of how we can all do better at marketing our startups I cringe. And yet I obviously have so much to learn. When tasked with creating a fake conversation for my own telecommunications app BenkoPhone whose primary point of difference is the ability to send and receive picture messages, I created a conversation that goes like this[0]: [Contact Name: My Colleague] Inbound…

I'm a little confused on your description. You say the primary point of difference is in being able to send and receive picture messages, but can't you do that in any messaging app as well?

Re: A literary history of fake texts in Apple's marketing materials

#138

Post by dools » Thu, Sep 21, 2023, 1:41 AM UTC

blharr wrote: post #137

dools wrote: post #121

Whenever someone starts using Apple as an example of how we can all do better at marketing our startups I cringe. And yet I obviously have so much to learn. When tasked with creating a fake conversation for my own telecommunications app BenkoPhone whose primary point of difference is the ability to send and receive picture messages, I created a conversation that goes like this[0]: [Contact Name: My Colleague] Inbound…

I'm a little confused on your description. You say the primary point of difference is in being able to send and receive picture messages, but can't you do that in any messaging app as well?

Only to other users of the same messaging app. This is a mobile phone number that works with any other mobile phone number for voice calls, txt and picture messages. There are about 10 apps that do this in North America (the most start uppy of which is OpenPhone) but zero apps that do this outside of North America (apart from BenkoPhone).

BenkoPhone users can send each other messages and pictures (and other files) directly, just like WhatsApp or Signal or whatever, but when they send to a mobile number that is not hosted by BenkoPhone it will go out over the mobile network, a bit like how when you send a picture to an Android user from iMessage it goes as an MMS but if you send to another iMessage user it goes via Apple's internal messaging.

Re: A literary history of fake texts in Apple's marketing materials

#139

Post by qingcharles » Thu, Sep 21, 2023, 2:43 PM UTC

mikestew wrote: post #127

qingcharles wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are wild racoons that friendly? There is one living in my attic and I've seen racoon claws, so I'm not tempted to try and spook it.

Two days late on the reply, but in case there's any question of the friendliness of raccoons, no, they don't like you and they will fuck you up. If your dog gets hold of one, it's a trip to the vet for stitches. If you have one in your house, and you live in the U. S., I believe you want to call your state's Fish and Wildlife department or Department of Natural Resources, or summat.

He's eating all the mice up there from what I can tell, so I'll leave the fellow for now. Thanks for the advice. I've seen racoons fighting and they really fucked each other up good, so that's why I've been wary of them since.

Re: A literary history of fake texts in Apple's marketing materials

#140

Post by another2another » Fri, Sep 22, 2023, 9:47 AM UTC

bombcar wrote: post #91

distract8901 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh, maybe I'm weird, but I use the same 'voice' in all forms of communication. With the exception of the shorthand I share with my husband, I always text in full, properly formatted sentences and paragraphs. I use the same style for texts, mastodon posts, and long hackernews comments. It's also the same style I typically speak in normal conversation. Now I think about it, that's probably an autistic trait. I kind of…

My iMessage texting from my computer is quite conversational and detailed, taking particular delight in proper punctuation and spelling. My texts from my iPhone look like they were created by an AI trained on deranged monkeys attempting to recreate Shakespeare.

me 2too!!!

posted from my iPhone