Elliott C. Back: Internet & Technology

If you thought having a few duplicate files was bad, imagine the hell of a quadruplicate U2 album:

Everyone’s talking about the Zune error screen which, according to Newsvine is far too sexy for public consumption:

What is it with Microsoft and having poor taste? This isn’t just a small “oops, guess we messed up” mistake, and in all likeliness, it’s a conscious decision even. They are trying far too hard, apparently hoping to link the Zune with the image of raving orgasms and happy couples kissing in the grass. Is this Microsoft’s response to the general consensus that iPods are so sexy, people have commented (numerous times) they would make love to the thing?

Here’s the error screen so you can try and make a decision yourself (link goes to a rip from the binary):

I wondered what it was called, so I pulled the following strings out of their binary:

var s_bkgArray = new Array(“SL01-welcome.png”, “SL02-spread.png”, “SL03-seeIt.png”, “SL04-watchBig.png”, “SL05-radio.png”, “SL06-personalize.png”);
var htmlInstallError = “S085-apperror.htm”;

The actual file is just named some random bg85.png or something, which is useless. The binary also has no meta-data associated with the image, unfortunately. So, all we know is that there’s a pretty asian girl in a state of partial undress making a screaming face with a couple (possibly women) kissing in the background. Final verdict? Not interesting! Move on!

Today I had the bad luck of getting off the subway and finding that my Vision:M screen had mysteriously imploded:

The iPod clone was wearing an invisiSHIELD cover, sitting in a leather case, and in a side pocket of my pants with nothing else in it. It wasn’t sat on, crushed, or banged to my knowledge, yet the LCD is totally kaput. I’ll be calling Creative to see if I can get an RMA for a new screen, exchange it up for a new Vision:M, or if I can just buy and install the LCD parts for myself.

Update: Buying an iPod (which I like better) was the solution…