iPod sighting in SpaceRef: is it just me, or...

....does that whole report stink of "product placement"?

Istr, a few years back, when a Shuttle crewman was photographed during
off-duty hours hanging by his sleeping cube listening to a portable CD
player, the caption did _not_ report extensively on what brand of CD
player the crewman was listening to, nor what kind of headphones the
player was connected to, nor the performer recorded on the disc, nor the
record label that released the disc, nor did NASA issue any big, grand
press release with the foto, stating that it shows "Crewman X in
off-duty hours, listening to Tangerine Dream's 'Stratosfear'-- now
available on Virgin Records -- on a Sony Discman Pro with Bose
Ultra-Light Noise-Canceling headphones." I don't think Steve Jobs is
****ting his pants with unexpected delight as much as congratulating the
Apple marketing department for doing such a good job at "slipping one in".

Nor do I recall any big deal being made about the make and model of
handheld cassette machines the Apollo crewmen used to listen to music
and record notes on.



A minor thing, I suppose, in the whole scheme of things, but still
symptomatic of something that's thoroughly infested US media these days
-- advertising or marketing messages disguised as news.

It happens a lot on most of the local channels in DC. The NBC affiliate,
WRC/channel 4, is probably the worst in town. There've been a sizeable
number of times where I've heard the early-morning (pre-"Today" show)
news anchors reading copy that flat-out sounded like advertising copy
while looking us all right in the eye with that dead-earnest anchorman
look and reading it as if it were an actual news item. It's usually at
its worst around Christmas.


--

..

"Though I could not caution all, I yet may warn a few:
Don't lend your hand to raise no flag atop no ship of fools!"

--grateful dead.
__________________________________________________ _____________
Mike Flugennock, flugennock at sinkers dot org
"Mikey'zine": dubya dubya dubya dot sinkers dot org

mike flugennock wrote in
rvers.com:

...does that whole report stink of "product placement"?

No. It stinks of "Mac fanboi pointing out Apple products in NASA photos
whenever he gets a chance."

Istr, a few years back, when a Shuttle crewman was photographed during
off-duty hours hanging by his sleeping cube listening to a portable CD
player, the caption did _not_ report extensively on what brand of CD
player the crewman was listening to, nor what kind of headphones the
player was connected to, nor the performer recorded on the disc, nor
the record label that released the disc, nor did NASA issue any big,
grand press release with the foto, stating that it shows "Crewman X in
off-duty hours, listening to Tangerine Dream's 'Stratosfear'-- now
available on Virgin Records -- on a Sony Discman Pro with Bose
Ultra-Light Noise-Canceling headphones."

That wasn't a NASA press release, you idiot.

It was a page on spaceref.com, run by Keith Cowing of NASA Watch. NASA most
assuredly has nothing to do with pimping iPods.

Take a chill pill and relax.

--
JRF

Reply-to address spam-proofed - to reply by E-mail,
check "Organization" (I am not assimilated) and
think one step ahead of IBM.

"mike flugennock" wrote in message
rvers.com...
...does that whole report stink of "product placement"?

Not really. Keith (of NASA Watch) has been doing this sort of thing for a
while. He plays Where's Waldo with high resolution pictures from inside
ISS, looking for "every day" things you'd see on the ground. Mostly what
turns up seems to be the crew's personal or recreational items. In this
case, a 4G iPod is easily recognizeable.

Jeff
--
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a
little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor
safety"
- B. Franklin, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (1919)

Jorge R. Frank wrote:

That wasn't a NASA press release, you idiot.

It was a page on spaceref.com, run by Keith Cowing of NASA Watch. NASA most
assuredly has nothing to do with pimping iPods.

Take a chill pill and relax.




There's an iPod on Discovery also!
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=22762
Aren't iPods wonderful?
You sure someone from Apple hasn't infiltrated SpaceRef? :-)

Pat

"mike flugennock" wrote in message
rvers.com...
Nor do I recall any big deal being made about the make and model of
handheld cassette machines the Apollo crewmen used to listen to music and
record notes on.



So, did Apollo 13 get it right?

Jorge R. Frank wrote:
mike flugennock wrote in
rvers.com:


...does that whole report stink of "product placement"?


No. It stinks of "Mac fanboi pointing out Apple products in NASA photos
whenever he gets a chance."

No, it's Guy Who Has, In Fact, Used MacOS Since 1985, But Who Prefers
Advertising Content Where Advertising Belongs And Editorial Content
Where Editorial Content Belongs And Who, In Fact, Would Not Have Noticed
The Friggin' IPod If Not For The Two Big Articles In SpaceRef That Made
A Big Deal Out Of It.


--

..

"Though I could not caution all, I yet may warn a few:
Don't lend your hand to raise no flag atop no ship of fools!"

--grateful dead.
__________________________________________________ _____________
Mike Flugennock, flugennock at sinkers dot org
"Mikey'zine": dubya dubya dubya dot sinkers dot org

Jeff Findley wrote:
"mike flugennock" wrote in message
rvers.com...

...does that whole report stink of "product placement"?


Not really. Keith (of NASA Watch) has been doing this sort of thing for a
while. He plays Where's Waldo with high resolution pictures from inside
ISS, looking for "every day" things you'd see on the ground. Mostly what
turns up seems to be the crew's personal or recreational items. In this
case, a 4G iPod is easily recognizeable.

I guess a couple of iPods turning up in the cabin of a Shuttle or ISS is
not such a big -- or even semi-big -- deal as is a publication like
SpaceRef making a huge deal out of it in two articles.

I like to play "guess which laptop" in Shuttle/ISS fotos all the time,
and I'm sure the foto editors at SpaceflightNow and SpaceRef like to,
too, but never to my memory have either of these publications bothered
to post an entire report mentioning the extensive use of IBM ThinkPads
throughout ISS.

Actually, something else I love doing is downloading the highest-res
fotos of crewmembers working in the Shuttle cockpit and seeing if I can
read the displays or checklist book items.

--

..

"Though I could not caution all, I yet may warn a few:
Don't lend your hand to raise no flag atop no ship of fools!"

--grateful dead.
__________________________________________________ _____________
Mike Flugennock, flugennock at sinkers dot org
"Mikey'zine": dubya dubya dubya dot sinkers dot org

Pat Flannery wrote:


Jorge R. Frank wrote:

That wasn't a NASA press release, you idiot.

It was a page on spaceref.com, run by Keith Cowing of NASA Watch. NASA
most assuredly has nothing to do with pimping iPods.

Take a chill pill and relax.




There's an iPod on Discovery also!
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=22762
Aren't iPods wonderful?
You sure someone from Apple hasn't infiltrated SpaceRef? :-)

See the O.P., gang. This is why I made a specific point of mentioning
how relatively unimportant it is, though still kind of curious.

I mean...at least, the Rooskies were pretty much above-board about their
golf stunt being made into a tv commercial of some kind. (Man, they must
be _really_ broke.)

--

..

"Though I could not caution all, I yet may warn a few:
Don't lend your hand to raise no flag atop no ship of fools!"

--grateful dead.
__________________________________________________ _____________
Mike Flugennock, flugennock at sinkers dot org
"Mikey'zine": dubya dubya dubya dot sinkers dot org

mike flugennock wrote:


Actually, something else I love doing is downloading the highest-res
fotos of crewmembers working in the Shuttle cockpit and seeing if I
can read the displays or checklist book items.


"Mars needs women"? :-)

Pat

mike flugennock wrote:


I mean...at least, the Rooskies were pretty much above-board about
their golf stunt being made into a tv commercial of some kind. (Man,
they must be _really_ broke.)


Oh, it's been worse than that. Back in the early days of Mir, the
cosmonauts were once required to do an ad for a Moscow car dealership
and ground control almost had a mutiny on their hands.
Then there was the Israeli Truva milk ad, which became the first
commercial filmed in space.
Comrade! Advertise on Mir!
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mir-00zp.html
Comrade! Space advertising!:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_advertising

Pat