A veritable smorgasbord of short links

Steve Jobs offers a $100 store credit consolation prize to early iPhone adopters who got boned by yesterday's $200 price cut announcement: Link. Here's some iRage from angry customers on the Apple boards: Link.

(image above) -- Tech/fashion designer Angel Chang recently presented a new collection inspired by a visit to the International Spy Museum in Washington DC. Snip from Style.com: "One of Chang's most delightful innovations for Spring is a Manhattan map print that she developed in conjunction with Red Maps (they also did the show invite), which publishes guides for the design-centric crowd. The heat-sensitive print only becomes legible when exposed to warmth—from the touch of a hand, say. One thing to keep in mind: Chang's newfangled, lo-fi take on the GPS pretty much eliminates the 'I got lost' excuse for tardiness."

Meerkats prefer Canon SLRs: Link

War Comes Home: "hidden costs on the US, as told by veterans who have served." Link.

Glamour magazine has photoshopped "Ugly Betty" star America Ferrera into the size zero for their latest cover: Link.

The Rape of the Real Doll: ultrarealistic sex dolls and the people who use them (and sometimes have relationships with them, or simulate rape with them, or -- eh, just read the article). Link, see also this previous Boing Boing post: When Amber Met Amber.

Yahoo Finance launches an ajaxy "sentiment scraper" to sniff out and display the "bullish/bearish" vibe of a given online discussion, which can then be compared to actual stock value. Link.

Seven crack cocaine addicts recently were paid to test the affects of mixing cocaine with the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder drug atomoxetine (also known as Strattera), which creates a sensation similar to a low dose of coke. Good times! Link

(Thanks, Manolo, Michael Manoochehri, Susannah Breslin, Jeff, Jonathan)

[#1 posted by Anonymous , September 6, 2007 2:05 PM]

No one got "boned" on the iPhone. Tech bloggers should know that early adopters always (I repeat always) pay a premium for new technology; 'twas always thus. How many of us paid $1200 for our first Apple ][? Or over $3000 for our first Mac? Did we get boned? I don't think so. If this fact of tech life honks you off so much, start paying attention and never buy version 1.0.

[#2 posted by june , September 6, 2007 2:19 PM]

Someone at Glamour needs to watch the entire first season of Ugly Betty, then have the meaning of the word "irony" explained to them.

[#3 posted by beerzie , September 6, 2007 4:10 PM]

"early iPhone adopters who got boned by yesterday's $200 price cut announcement" is slightly misguided passive contruction.

You should have said "early iPhone adopters who got boned by themselves"

[#4 posted by spacemarmot , September 6, 2007 4:57 PM]

What, are we supposed to feel sorry for the iLemmings?

[#5 posted by Anonymous , September 6, 2007 6:03 PM]

Straterra can cause liver damage and is banned in Canada. This is a serious drug to be abusing - could cost them their lives....

[#6 posted by A New Challenger , September 6, 2007 8:04 PM]

Price cuts happen, but summer isn't even over yet, and a $200 cut is huge. I don't think anyone expected a huge drop that soon. Even the PS3 went more than half a year before that thing they called a price cut was implemented. Sure, the early iPhone adopters knew they were going to get boned, but the quantity and quality of the boning was on a scale only heretofore known by PC gamers buying graphics cards.

Also, here's a British Real Doll documentary called Guys And Dolls that I haven't finished watching but is certainly creepy, interesting, and real.

[#7 posted by Anonymous , September 7, 2007 12:49 AM]

This may not be the right place to say this, but:
I usually skip the short links b/c there's no focal point (ex: an image) to go along with the lines of text. Just one person's opinion.

[#8 posted by Anonymous , September 7, 2007 7:03 AM]

It strikes me as a little shortsighted that people complain so much about the prices of luxury items. Now, if people had been paying an extra dollar every gallon of milk, then suddenly milk went down a dollar, people might have cause to complain. (Why had they been paying more? they might ask.)

But a cellphone? I'm not sure that it's any different than buying a very expensive diamond or vacation or specialty imported prosciutto. The company in question has complete leeway to charge whatever they like, if people will buy it.

[#9 posted by Anonymous , September 7, 2007 9:20 AM]

Good grief. How do you figure size 0 for the Glamour cover? Laziness? Ignorance? Grasping sensationalism? Yes, Ferrera's image has been digitally manipulated, and they are using several tricks involving how the body is angled in relation to the camera to create the illusion of a slimmer silhouette. But the combined effects bring her down to a size 6, or 4 at the least. Look at the hips and ribcage dimensions in the picture. A size 0 is significantly smaller. Like Bryant Park smaller.

[#10 posted by Anonymous , September 7, 2007 9:57 AM]

Early adoption is always a risk. The iPhone buyers have no reason to whine. They got it early, just not as early as they would have liked. If I buy something at full price and then go back to the store a week later to find it on sale, do I make a huge fuss about it? No. It's the luck of the draw. Apple doesn't owe its customers anything, contrary to what they may believe.

[#11 posted by Rodney , September 7, 2007 11:19 AM]

@ #9 Anonymous: I think you are totally missing the point.