Turn-Ons: The Power Button (12/1/03)
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You know, Apple gets so much recognition in the form of magazine "awards" and the like that, frankly, the whole topic gets pretty boring after a while. Okay, sure, when PC Magazine names the Power Mac G5 the Computer of the Year, that's pretty amazing-- a Mac getting major props from a seriously Wintel-centric publication, yadda yadda yadda. Still, even the so-called "interesting" awards (like Steve Jobs getting named the fifth-best-dressed billionaire by Forbes) get washed away in a sea of, say, design journals tripping all over themselves to bestow their prestigious accolades upon the Mighty Jon Ive. It's just not all that exciting. Maybe if there were a little gold statue involved, or something.

And yet, faithful viewer trusswalker found a magazine award that really does inspire more than snores. Shield your eyes with our PG rating badge, sensitive viewers, because apparently the Mac is the king of the castle on Playboy's list of "50 Products That Changed the World." (C'mon, don't give us that look-- we swear, we only read it for the pictures of naked women.) We weren't able to find the article at Playboy's web site (and we looked really, really thoroughly), so we're taking trusswalker's word for it, here; reportedly the Mac ranks all the way up at Numero Uno, which means that Playboy considers the Mac more influential than Buffalo Wings (48th), the G-string (44th), the Jacuzzi (36th), the miniskirt (25th), the microwave oven (13th), Viagra (8th), and the birth control pill (2nd). The Macintosh-- more world-changing than the birth control pill? We sense an imminent Hot News mention! Or, um, maybe not.

What's more, the Mac isn't the only Apple product on the list. The QuickTake 100 (Apple's original digital camera, and the first anywhere priced for mass-market consumer use; if you didn't know that, aren't you a little scared that Playboy is more up on Apple history than you are?) comes in at 17, ranking higher than the DVD player (21st), and the iPod grabs a healthy 12th-place finish-- which doesn't quite beat out the Sony Walkman (9th), but hey, we're talking about a two-year-old product squaring off against the two-decades-old reigning king, so we consider that a pretty good finish.

We predict an upcoming Apple ad campaign that "practically writes itself"; seriously, how can Apple pass up a marketing opportunity like Playboy declaring the Macintosh to be more world-changing than breast implants (6th)?

 
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From the writer/creator of AtAT, a Pandemic Dad Joke taken WAYYYYYY too far

 

The above scene was taken from the 12/1/03 episode:

December 1, 2003: Steve Jobs tells all: it's reportedly "painful" to watch Michael Dell dance. Meanwhile, Japanese Mac fans go Godzilla over the Apple Store Ginza even as the iTunes Music Store prepares to crush the whole island, and Playboy lists fifty "world-changing" products, and the Mac tops the bill...

Other scenes from that episode:

  • 4361: A Medical Breakthrough (12/1/03)   Waitaminnit, Monday already? But we still have leftovers! Sigh... It's the same trouble every year; if you eat 'til you pass out, then you're not eating anymore. Maybe next year we'll invest in a big, scary blender so we can continue to ingest liquefied leftovers intravenously during the digestive coma...

  • 4362: Land Of The Rising Mac (12/1/03)   Hey, remember back when Apple retail store openings were new? People would flock from hundreds-- even thousands-- of miles around and wait in line for days on end just to check out each store on its first day open to the public...

Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast...

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