geekosystem

Hong Kong based newspaper Apple Daily claims that the electronic devices the Chinese government calls "inspection and quarantine cards" and are required for certain cars are actually listening devices. The newspaper, which has an anti-establishment reputation in China, has released several photos identifying the components they claim are used to listen in on drivers.

The Taiwanese animation mavens at Apple Daily have evolved beyond simply retelling news stories with quirky Machinima into the realm of high art. Consider their latest short, which covers the iPhone 4 saga.

Not only does it manage to succinctly cover the basics of the controversy, the allegations of worker exploitation by Foxconn, the police raid on Gizmondo Gizmodo editor Jason Chen's suspiciously warehouse-like home, Consumer Reports' bombshell review, and Apple's free bumper offer, all in under two minutes, but it equips Steve Jobs with a Darth Vader helmet and a lightsaber, turns AT&T logos into literal balls-and-chains, and depicts the Reality Distortion field as a literal electric-blue forcefield. In short, the writers for the new Futurama should be a little worried for their jobs right about now.

Video below:

Adult Swim News (otherwise known as the Chinese program Apple Daily) recaps the entirety of the Kevin Smith/Southwest Airlines conflict, from the seating, to the ousting, to the tweeting, to the podcasting, to the... the angry mob marching through the streets?

As always, there's no translation from the Chinese, so hit the jump for your daily, physician recommended, dose of surreality.

So: Remember the patently insane machinima video describing the whole Tiger Woods affair? And how the Internet came together and laughed at it, because, wow, it looked like someone was using The Sims 3 to report the news? And how all the stars of America's celebrity firmament tumbled directly into the Uncanny Valley? Well, after Tiger Woods' press conference today, we now know that that the video's portrayal of marital fisticuffs was false. Who knew that weird Chinese tabloid videos are not to be trusted?

Remember Apple Daily, the Taiwanese tabloid that produces CGI videos depicting the events of major Western news stories? And how their segment on the Tiger Woods scandal started a mini-empire of Internet virality? Adult Swim is now airing the videos as "Adult Swim News" segments. Can a show composed entirely of "viral" "internet" "vids" be far behind?

(That is, one that isn't on G4?)