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  • Fake "proprietary screw" experiment shows how easy it is to hoodwink the Apple blogosphere

Fake "proprietary screw" experiment shows how easy it is to hoodwink the Apple blogosphere

Posted: , by Daniel P.

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By now it is an everyday phenomenon that each small step Apple takes or doesn't take - from trivial patent filings to the type of trees on the Cupertino campus - is being reported with zealot frenzy by the Apple-dedicated blogs and most every other publication that focuses on the industry.

Last week Lukasz Lindell, a Swedish designer, decided to show just how easy it is to make Apple news out of thin air and bamboozle the reporting community. He created a very convincing, but entirely impractical screw design in his 3D rendering program, shot the picture in an email to himself and took a screenshot to make it look like James Bond work.

He then submitted the report to Reddit, implying in the email body that this is an asymmetric Apple screw that has been in development to keep prying hands off of the iGadgets. Needless to say, in a few hours Apple-dedicated blogs picked on it, and, while at first the story was reported with shreds of doubt about the source, after it hit Facebook comment streams, all critical thinking was lost, and the deep analyses of the implications behind this proprietary asymmetric screw began, until the hoax was revealed by the Swedish designer:

It is somewhat disturbing at times when the bandwagon takes off and speeds up, without people being critical. People stand up for situations that may never have happened, and spin on it which ultimately results in that it will be treated as facts, or a faktoid.

We rendered the image, put it in an email, sent it to ourselves, took a picture of the screen with the mail and anonymously uploaded the image to the forum Reddit with the text “A friend took a photo a while ago at that fruit company, they are obviously even creating their own screws.

Finally, we just want to say sorry to you who feel cheated, but the meaning behind the experiment may provide a longer-term results, that we become more thoughtful about things we see on the Internet.

This experiment confirms once again how powerful Apple's viral marketing strategy is - the company rarely issues official statements or touts its products outside of its website, stores and announcements, but each small step it takes creates enough buzz to keep it front and center in the tech news cycle every day of the week.

via Forbes

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1. starandmountain posted on 14 Aug 2012, 03:34 14

hahahahhaaah, dumb?

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2. Droid_X_Doug posted on 14 Aug 2012, 03:36 6

The only thing that surprises me is that the screw wasn't 'rumored' to be a telepathic link to Steve in the hereafter. I guess the requisite number of participants in the game of Telephone wasn't reached.

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3. darktranquillity posted on 14 Aug 2012, 03:47 10 1

ifools

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10. Hammerfest posted on 14 Aug 2012, 08:03 6 2

iKnow right?

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4. bobfreking55 posted on 14 Aug 2012, 03:49 2 8

i wonder why this is only applicable to apple.

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5. Nookie4u posted on 14 Aug 2012, 03:53 9

I initially thought that screw meant like to screw the iBlogs until I saw the actual 'screw' lol.

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6. jael206 posted on 14 Aug 2012, 04:01 10

apple screw screwed apple!! hahahaha!

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7. Bluesky02 posted on 14 Aug 2012, 04:51 5

Hahaha nice one, what a reality.... :D

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8. smartphonemad posted on 14 Aug 2012, 05:31 5

This changes everything

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9. MeoCao (unregistered) posted on 14 Aug 2012, 06:46 5

People will believe whatever when they hear the words "proprietary" and "Apple" linked together.

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11. speckledapple posted on 14 Aug 2012, 08:23 3 2

Actually it just shows how much people use companies like Apple to fill their lives somehow. Those people are often not very critical nor intent on looking pass what is there. So sad.

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12. ivanko34 posted on 14 Aug 2012, 09:38 5

Apple has already sent it to his local patent office

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28. joey_sfb posted on 14 Aug 2012, 23:50

And filed a lawsuit against the Swedish designer, damage amount to be determine should range from 2 to 3 billion dollars.

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13. McLTE posted on 14 Aug 2012, 10:56 1 2

This is really nothing to do about Apple.. and all about the internet bloggers that do NOTHING to substantiate any stories before reporting.

This just highlights irresponsible reporting!

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15. lyndon420 posted on 14 Aug 2012, 11:21 3

I'm assuming this was more directed at apple's users.

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16. remixfa posted on 14 Aug 2012, 11:24 3 1

your point is mostly correct, but it is also specifically about apple bloggers since they go in a frenzy over any piece of info they find.

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14. remixfa posted on 14 Aug 2012, 10:58 3 1

anyone else notice that it looks a lot like the computer input ports that R2-D2 accessed and spun left/right in the original Star Wars movies? :) just immagine an access hole right in the center, and boom.. its a replica.

Dont even ask my how I remember that lol.

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17. Jobes posted on 14 Aug 2012, 11:48 2

Hahaha I thought the same exact thing, R2-D2 hacking the elevator console.

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18. tedkord posted on 14 Aug 2012, 12:34 2

Apple stealing more from droids? ;)

My concern is for the readers of the blogs that went public with this exclusive. Many had already begun rationalizing that Apple had invented screws, now they have to unlearn that.

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23. Jobes posted on 14 Aug 2012, 18:08 1

Apple simply invented and filed for the patent on the "look and feel" of how to to "screw you"

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26. remixfa posted on 14 Aug 2012, 23:37 1

oh.. i see what you did there... ooooh. very clever sir. :) lol

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25. jael206 posted on 14 Aug 2012, 22:49

hahaha.. droid + swiss knife = R2-D2

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19. Savage posted on 14 Aug 2012, 13:10 2

Wow! People wetting their pants over a fake screw just cause it's invented by Apple?
Ridiculous. Don't give Apple any more ideas to patent!

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20. aoikemono27 posted on 14 Aug 2012, 13:19 1 1

Most people who buy iPhones don't know or care about these BS rumors. The impact of bloggers and tech sites, and the so called "reaction" from readers, is all overblown. The same two people going nuts in the comments section does not constitute a movement.

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21. master0fursinz posted on 14 Aug 2012, 15:49

LMAO!! This guy is awesome.. reminds me of the commercial "if its posted on the internet its gotta be true".. "Cant post anything on the internet that isnt true"

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22. Immolate posted on 14 Aug 2012, 18:06

iScrew. Sounds like a confession.

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24. jael206 posted on 14 Aug 2012, 22:45 1

sigh.. this only shows how deep people are "screwed" by apple

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27. remixfa posted on 14 Aug 2012, 23:38 1

the amount of puns off of this and my star wars reference are hilarious. Who would have known that such a simple thing could spawn so many puns. lolol.

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29. Edmund posted on 15 Aug 2012, 07:56 1

lmfao... a bit like fooling blind fanboys with a photo-shopped pic of a phone that doesn't actually exist - the galaxy note 2

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