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A Glitch in the (Netflix) Matrix

Wednesday round-up.

May 21, 2014 at 5:11PM
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

This is not a movie, but it should be:

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Come with me if you want to chew:

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

From Summarybug, which posts oddly mangled movie summations.

VINTAGE You may have finished watching Sunday's "Mad Men" and thought "interesting fast-food restaurant interior; what did it look like before they dressed the set?" I did. Not right away. Later. It didn't seem likely they found a real Burger Chef. But then I went to bed and gave it no more thought - until this story popped up in a feed: the original location of the Burger Chef used in the closing scene. It was a Burger Chef, albeit a decommissioned one. Yelp has a picture of the interior before it was re-spiffified, here.

It has one vote for being "Very Helpful."

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

NO ESCAPE Ugh, no. 9to5Mac:

There might be some backlash to this. Imagine the conversation in the store:

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"This is the latest Nest model; it learns your habits and sets the temperature accordingly.

Great. Nice. But does it have ads?

"There's an content-supply system built into the main display."

So that's a yes. What kind of ads?

"This model integrates into your Google account, so, if you've been looking for gazebo roof replacements, it'll alert you to new deals posted since your last search."

How? With a chime?

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"That's customizable. You can silence it from any device logged into your Google account."

Why do I want my thermostat to alert me to a lower price on gazebo root replacements?

"You can opt out any time. But it's part of the integrated information package - if your fridge is Google-aware, you can transfer the alerts to the front-panel display. Or your phone. Or your TV through your Chrome dongle."

What do I look like, a Sorayama drawing? I don't have a Chrome dongle. How can you honestly say I want ads on my thermostat?

"Well, the fact that you're here in the store instead of buying online tells me you're not particularly tech-savvy, and we're hoping you just install it and get used to the ads and never figure out how to turn it off. You'll get used to having interesting, useful ads piped to your house on every device, but if you like, I can teach you one weird trick for making the ads reduce in frequency and duration."

HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY Update on that roundly reviled McDonald's mascot: it's been in the works for years. Daily Dot found a 2012 page that shows Happy in many guises, and some of them made me realize what's irksome about the character. The eyes, those teeth - tt's like an Aardman character without the soul.

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Votd Hmm. Well.

Only possible response:

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Does that need explaining? Sigh. Okay.

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