Shake a baby - the worst iPhone app ever
Filed under: Technology
"We've got an app for that" has been a dynamite ad campaign for Apple's iPhone. Some of the best apps take advantage of the built-in accelerometers, which measure movement, to give the phone some Wii-like features based on manipulation of the phone in the user's hand. A shake, for example, can roll dice or set virtual slot machines into motion or randomize restaurant suggestions.
I'm sure the designers never envisioned the degree of brainlessness to which some app writers would exhibit. Point in question here is "Baby Shaker," an app that allows a player to quiet a howling baby by shaking the phone. As if there's any humor in shaken baby syndrome. What's next? "Plow over a jaywalker?" "Pillow a rich elderly relative?" "Sucker-punch a clueless app writer?"
Fortunately, Apple has withdrawn the app, with an apology.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-24-2009 @ 7:12PM
Esther said...
Most people shake babies to stop them from crying.....with tragic effects. Many years ago, on a New York City news radio station, (either WCBS-AM, WBBR-AM, or WINS-AM....forget which one), a SOLUTION to this problem was aired!
It's this: when your baby cries, MAKE AN AUDIO TAPE-RECORDING OF THE BABY CRYING. When it cries again,
(even 2 seconds later), PLAY THE RECORDING OF
T H A T BABY CRYING, (THAT baby, and no other baby).....and the baby WILL STOP CRYING. It's my theory that the baby will be SO surprised to hear itself, (almost like the first time one looks in a mirror), that it will simply stop! (A neighbour of mine tried it.....and it works!!!!) This is still somewhat of a new thing to do....hopefully, babies who unexpectedly hear their own voices wpn't bear any psychological scars from this.....but ANYTHING is better than being a shaken baby....especially a shaken baby who doesn't survive!
Please pass this info on to anyone you know who has a baby....and/or parenting magazines! Thanks!
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4-26-2009 @ 8:55PM
fire2box said...
This whole story has been dumb, from the people that made the app to the people reporting these are sick people.
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4-26-2009 @ 10:11PM
Paul said...
The biggest crying baby issue with this story are the folks like Mr. Barlow here. It's a silly, tasteless little game. Being tasteless isn't illegal, last time I checked. The fact that boring, uptight people have to all band together to get their panties in a collective bunch over trivial BS like this is a sad commentary on both our society and the fact that anybody can have their sub-par writing published online, provided they always stick to the "safe" side of the story.
Boo hoo.
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