The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.

Then—for some unknown reason—he smashed his iPhone with it.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.

Why anyone would do this stupidity, instead of selling or giving the old iPhone to someone who may need it, is beyond me. [PreThinking]

Fanboys will open in the following cities:

• Austin TX
• Houston, TX
• Chicago, IL
• Los Angeles, CA
• New York, NY
• Philadelphia, PA
• San Francisco, CA
• Seattle, WA

Set in 1998, the story tells of a group of friends who, anxious for the premiere of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace - and because one of them is suffering from cancer and wishes to see the film before his death - decide to break into Skywalker Ranch and steal an early print of the film. A road trip begins as the friends encounter William Shatner, obsessed Trekkies, and bikers who make them undress for water.

[Official site via Official Star Wars Blog and Wikipedia]

We had a chance to ask director/writer/editor Kobi Shely about his first movie. And he had some interesting things to say about Apple and the people who really, really love them.

Tell me about shooting the documentary.
MacHEADS was produced throughout 2007 and 2008; First day of shooting started with Macworld conference in January 2007 and ended in June with the first release of the iPhone. Brothers Ron and Kobi Shely, and Director of Photography Alon Grego flew from Israel to San Francisco and met up with a local production teams. The budget came independently we managed to come up with approx $200,000.

How many people did you chronicle?
We interviewed 50 people form the community and inside Apple, but naturally not all of them were included in the final cut.

Can you define "Machead" in one sentence?
(Obviously you take more time to do it in the film.)
MacHEADS starts with a definition from the Urban dictionary - a person who regularly uses and is somewhat obsessed with Apple computers; or Macs. I would add to this A person who had put the Mac (including: UI, OS, APPLE Inc. , Steve Jobs and peripheral Mac products) in the center of his day-to-day life.

Why did you pick Mac enthusiasts as the topic for a documentary?
I think Mac enthusiasts are the best topic for a documentary as an art form the investigate human phenomenon. In fact, before starting the project I was surprised to find out that this film was not done yet. Mac enthusiasts posses all the right ingredients and traits for a compelling documentary: lust,obsession, devotion, comradery and ... sex appeal

Did making this film provide any particular insights to why/how people are obsessed with the Apple brand?
We wanted to answer the core question : How is a community formed around a brand and how did this phenomenon begin? I wasn't satisfied with the usual answers about design and the "power of the brand". I knew there was something bigger. During the filmmaking process it became obvious that there is a community and there is Apple. Although they correlate, in many ways they are separated.

In the early days the only people who were using personal computers were hobbies and scientists. Apple was the first company to actually build a prepackaged product for the rest of us. This sparked a sense of techno- utopia, different people were getting together to change the world through technology by using a Mac. And as often in these world-changing situations these people were the underdog, the minority. They had to band together to survive, their survival mechanism was similar to those penguins who hold together and got to press tightly together and exclude all outsiders to share what ever body warmth they can manage.

This is why this community is so obsessed with Mac because it managed to tap into their survival mechanism. However there is an expanding base of Mac fans who simply follow Apple because it is cool and fashionable, these are not the die hard obsessed MacHEADS.

Is Mac obsession any different from obsession with any other hobby, person or company?
I'd have to say that there is no question that it is an obsession not like any other. In the 90s crisis Mac users went out of their ways volunteering to save the company from going down, how many brands can claim that? and it wasn't just a one time thing it was through a period of almost 3 years. This kind of loyalty in my opinion brands can only dream of. What is interesting to me is that Apple never figured out how to manage their die hard fans, in some way the Macintosh community scares Apple. And now that Apple has become an overwhelming success they want to move away as far as they can from their most loyal and create a clean image of a life style brand.

Walk me through the process of post production.
Post production took us almost 8 months to complete. We are a small production company and when I say small I really mean me and my brother and MacHEADS is our first documentary project. There are benefits of being fully independent but there are also downsides of not having a team of specializing people in the process of post. We had to rely on ourselves to figure out ways to research archives go through legal issues compose the story score the music, animate and color correct the footage...I edited at my apartment on Avid Xpress Pro (using of course a G5), the online was done on Symphony, music composed in L.A by our talented friend and composer Roy Zu Arets, and sound design was executed by Ohad Tzachar who worked in N.Y for a leading broadcast company. A lot of people we worked with were in some ways Apple fans because they come from creative fields and they were very kin to get on board and help.

What's the future for MacHEADS: The Movie?
During the filmmaking process we came to realize the promise of web 2.0 and community driven distribution. Although we are negotiating with some distributors about Television deals, we believe such a film could become a good proof for the digital independent distribution potential. MacHEADS is in general a film about the community and for the community and this is why it is best fit for web 2.0 distribution. Also we hope to be able to get onto iTunes which is also a natural platform for such a movie. Now that we are done with the post production we are planning a few special screenings in San Fransisco and NY. We will naturally be going on festival circuit tour all across the world.

So are you a Machead?
No, but like most creative we use and love Apple products. [MacHEADS]

I just got back from a wedding where the groom had a Death Star groom's Cake.

Yes. A Death Star wedding cake.

Now, I know there are fanboys everywhere, but come on people. Heck, yes, I admit it. I'm guilty as charged, your honor. But although I was willing to pilot the X-Wing rocket (on retrospective, I'm glad that didn't happen), and I know the first trilogy backwards, forwards and inside-out, I've never dressed up or played lightsabers, re-enacted scenes or been to conventions. At most, I played Larry Holland's X-Wing and TIE Fighter simulators when I was in college. And, of course, built Star Wars LEGO stuff. And while I may have suggested to Addy that we should go and live in an Ewok village, I would have never, ever have subjected her to a Death Star wedding cake. Seriously.

Mainly because I didn't want to end up like Greedo, that is, or frozen in carbonite. [Thanks Rye]

But many fans of Apple often seem to want more. They care little for honest opinion. They want to pick up the paper and see in it a reflection of their own nearly religious zeal for the thing they love. They don't want a review. They want a hagiography.

It's the "hostile media phenomenon" that brings the commentards to virtual doorsteps. Stanford psychologist Lee Moss explains the mind of a fanboy to Farhad this way: "You think there are more facts and better facts on your side than on the other side. The very act of giving them equal weight seems like bias. Like inappropriate evenhandedness."

So no, they don't actually want objectivity, or fair criticism of their beloved, whenever they cry that's all they're asking for. They want everyone to totally and completely agree with them that the object of their unabashed affection truly is the BEST. THING. EVER. They're allergic to shades of ambiguity, or as Farhad puts it:

When they come upon that difference — the gulf between what's in their heads and what's on the page — the audience tends to assume the worst: The reporter must be licking someone's balls.

This is an open thread for getting your ya yas out about what console you think is best. We've found that there aren't many places for you to just go nuts on topics you're passionate about anymore, so even though we aren't huge fans of flamewars we want to give you a place to get it out of your system. You cannot be banned for anything you say in this thread, so go nuts. If any of it spills over into any other posts, however, we'll be extra harsh with the banhammer, so keep your flaming in here and don't let it get out. But for now, it's time to leave the spirit of the season behind us and head into 2008 with our fanboy hats planted firmly on our heads and our rationality checked at the door.

Wondering how to get in on the fun? Check out how to comment and register for an account. En guarde!

We were not so sure you could get 68.34ct of diamonds all in one place without owning a bank, but apparently we were wrong. Still, we are guessing the price is a little over the usual you would pay for a standard Playstation controller. Unfortunately, we do not know what the price paid was, but we are sure the rapper, Just Blaze, saved up for weeks to be able to afford the Playstation inspired bling. Now, if a neck pendant fashioned like a diamond clad PS2 controller does not earn him some serious rapper credibility, there is something wrong with the world. There you have it; crime doesn't pay, rapping does. Perhaps we should start a Gizmodo rapper clan, all we would need is a rival clan to aim our witty slurs at...who could that be? [BGR]

See? What did we tell you? If anyone asks, we freaking loathe DVD. [englishrussia via gearfuse]

You know that guy who got a Zune tattoo, and a reward of 5 free songs and some Zune stickers from Microsoft? Here's his second tattoo. Guess he wants more stickers. Perhaps there's some subliminal programming in those new ads?

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

I also notice that guy has shaved his handlebar mustache between now and then. We notice the little things, here at Gizmodo. –Brian Lam
Zune Scene [Thanks Nate, image from Engadget]

Apparently, the spike occurs the same day that HD-DVD fanboys at AVSForum, the AV enthusiast site, had organized an mass buy of HD-DVD titles. For an immature format, even a few individuals can make a difference, if only on a day.

This post lays down their gameplan for the buy on April 15th, the one year anniversary of HD-DVD's launch:

The idea is to show support for HD DVD by buying movies on a specific day. There is no better way to show support for HD DVD than by backing it financially. If there is a strong demand for HD DVD software, then hopefully Blu-ray only studios will at least go neutral.

A month later, over 350 members were signed up on AVSForums, but not alone. Countless other HD DVD fanboys on other sites joined in. And on that day, many people grabbed anywhere from 2 to a dozen discs, sometimes more — Likely not more than 10,000 copies, by my guess. But that's a significant amount on a single day for a format that has less that a million titles sold in total. They'd even managed to get the random, but beautiful BBC documentary Planet Earth box set up into the top 5 sales for movies on Amazon, which members talked about as a first for any HD disc. (Casino Royale on Blu-ray only reached #6).

And as you can see, HD-DVD's sales rank broke out of its second tier title sales rank on Amazon, if only for a day.

Funny enough, on the other side of the fence, on AVSforum's Blu-ray Fanboys, as well as those on PS3 forums are planning a retaliatory synchronized buy soon.

One thing's for sure in the format war. HD-DVD's fanboys are far more original and spirited.–Brian Lam

April 15th - Buy HD DVDs from Amazon Day! [AVS Forums, thanks Keith!]
Data [HDGameDb]

OMG, JON STEWART IS AN APPLE FANBOY. I BET APPLE PAYS THE DAILY SHOW FOR STUFF LIKE THIS. REMOVE JOBS' BUTT FROM YOUR LIPS, STEWART. I'M GONNA START WATCHING THE COLBERT REPORT INSTEAD. –Adam Frucci

If you ever wanted solid evidence that Apple fanboys and fangirls are totally bonkers, here you go. –Adam Frucci

Thanks for the tip, Blakeley!

Crazygirl's Homepage [HappySlip]

Apparently that calculatedly scruffy Mac user and his overweight nerd-like PC counterpart weren't quite attractive enough for the Cupertino Fruit Company. Taking a look at the nubile nymphet Gisele Bündchen's website, there is a mention of a project where she worked with Apple, adding credence to the scuttlebutt (pardon my Portuguese translation):

"Gisele photographed a campaign for a line of Apple computers, Mac (Macintosh) in the United States."

Gisele Bundchen poses for Apple [Gadgetizer]

Read on to see what your favorite Gizmodo writers use on a daily basis or at least have lying about gathering dust.

Big Daddy John Biggs - PowerPC Mac Mini, 12-inch PowerBook G4, Gateway Ultraportable NX100 running XP, Shuttle SFF PC with 2.0-GHz P4 and 1GB RAM running XP and Vista Beta, Toshiba tablet, old Compaq Presario from 1749 running Madriva Linux.

Intern Travis Hudson - Dell Inspiron 700m running XP, normally a custom-built XP PC motto "Live and Die by the Ex-Pee, Yo."

Nicholas "Sí Se Puede" Deleon - 12" PowerBook G4

Howling Charlie White - Mac G5, Dell X1 notebook, Dell Precision Mobile Workstation M70 notebook, Dell Precision Dual Xeon Desktop for video production, all running XP except the G5, obviously.

Jason "O-Town" Chen - 12" PowerBook G4 with 1.25 GB Ram, custom-built Intel Pentium D 805 with 2 GB Ram running XP, 12" iBook G4 with 640 MB Ram, custom-built Pentium 4 2.2 Ghz with 1GB Ram, custom-built AMD 1800+ MCE machine with 512 MB Ram.

Joel "Joel" Johnson - MacBook Pro

There you have it. XP users all, we happen to mostly love OS X but we try to keep our hand in a little of everything. What are all you non-Mac fanboys running?