We call them BATs - Big Ass Tablets
October 7, 2013 5:40 PM Subscribe
A look behind the scenes of Fox News' new news room, featuring new giant touch screen interfaces for the news investigators and an interesting image display wall.
You mean "Big Area Tablets", surely.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 5:46 PM on October 7, 2013
posted by Elementary Penguin at 5:46 PM on October 7, 2013
Wow. Usually I'm like "How crazy can it be" and I'm right, not very crazy. This time my cavalier attitude left me unprepared for just how crazy that was.
Then I noticed the desk phones. Surely they should be using skype on their big ass tablets. They haven't changed at all have they
posted by Ad hominem at 5:49 PM on October 7, 2013 [4 favorites]
Then I noticed the desk phones. Surely they should be using skype on their big ass tablets. They haven't changed at all have they
posted by Ad hominem at 5:49 PM on October 7, 2013 [4 favorites]
Let's start a petition, saying that we will only start watching Fox News if they make the tablets even bigger. Let's see how far we can ride this luck dragon.
posted by Sticherbeast at 5:49 PM on October 7, 2013 [43 favorites]
posted by Sticherbeast at 5:49 PM on October 7, 2013 [43 favorites]
+100 for avoiding the use of the word "journalist" in the OP.
posted by XMLicious at 5:50 PM on October 7, 2013 [27 favorites]
posted by XMLicious at 5:50 PM on October 7, 2013 [27 favorites]
To be fair, it's not any stupider than the Election Day hologram from 2008 or whenever it was.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 5:50 PM on October 7, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Elementary Penguin at 5:50 PM on October 7, 2013 [2 favorites]
Fox News: monitoring the situation very closely.
posted by hal9k at 5:51 PM on October 7, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by hal9k at 5:51 PM on October 7, 2013 [3 favorites]
Good for even bigger lies.
posted by double block and bleed at 6:03 PM on October 7, 2013 [9 favorites]
posted by double block and bleed at 6:03 PM on October 7, 2013 [9 favorites]
That is the most opulent, over the top cargo-culting I've ever seen.
posted by mhoye at 6:04 PM on October 7, 2013 [9 favorites]
posted by mhoye at 6:04 PM on October 7, 2013 [9 favorites]
This is all a hoax perpetrated to disguise the fact that Fox News has replaced most of its staff with undocumented Munchkins.
posted by islander at 6:11 PM on October 7, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by islander at 6:11 PM on October 7, 2013 [2 favorites]
The idea that the show could cut to the contents of any of those screens at any moment is not bad, if that's what they meant. If it just means Shep can creep up on someone and stand over their shoulder while we (the Fox News-watching Mefi public) get a blurry blue-tinted angle view of a really low resolution screen, then I take back what I said.
Other than that, eh more technoporn. In service of Fox News. Even if Shep does from time to time say some pretty funny things.
posted by dumbland at 6:11 PM on October 7, 2013
Other than that, eh more technoporn. In service of Fox News. Even if Shep does from time to time say some pretty funny things.
posted by dumbland at 6:11 PM on October 7, 2013
A Fox news executive is having a very vivid opium dream.
He sees a bright light, a silhouette fades into view, it's a non-threatening businesswoman in a pantsuit.
She's holding a tablet in her hand, the tablet is labeled "iTouch Device" in Impact on the back.
She points a finger to a single, rounded button on the screen. It says "Innovate". She touches it.
Immediately words float out of the iTouch Device. "Social media" "Mobile Space" "App Store", all swirling around.
The light fades out to reveal a roaring crowd. Four and a half stars are lit up behind the businesswoman.
The Fox news executive wakes from his opium dream, grabs his cellphone and texts his assistant "Tear down Studio B immediately, I have an idea"
posted by hellojed at 6:11 PM on October 7, 2013 [6 favorites]
He sees a bright light, a silhouette fades into view, it's a non-threatening businesswoman in a pantsuit.
She's holding a tablet in her hand, the tablet is labeled "iTouch Device" in Impact on the back.
She points a finger to a single, rounded button on the screen. It says "Innovate". She touches it.
Immediately words float out of the iTouch Device. "Social media" "Mobile Space" "App Store", all swirling around.
The light fades out to reveal a roaring crowd. Four and a half stars are lit up behind the businesswoman.
The Fox news executive wakes from his opium dream, grabs his cellphone and texts his assistant "Tear down Studio B immediately, I have an idea"
posted by hellojed at 6:11 PM on October 7, 2013 [6 favorites]
No surprise that the world's most outrageously-audacious finger pointers need the world's most obnoxiously-ginormous touchscreens.
posted by prinado at 6:15 PM on October 7, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by prinado at 6:15 PM on October 7, 2013 [2 favorites]
Those touchscreens look like an ergonomic nightmare. Look at that lady sitting at one- she'd have to stand up and lean over to reach halfway up the screen!
posted by Pope Guilty at 6:16 PM on October 7, 2013 [7 favorites]
posted by Pope Guilty at 6:16 PM on October 7, 2013 [7 favorites]
I wonder if those people know they're just there for show or if they're interns convinced they're performing some useful task.
posted by uosuaq at 6:23 PM on October 7, 2013 [7 favorites]
posted by uosuaq at 6:23 PM on October 7, 2013 [7 favorites]
I can't believe it, but Fox News has actually out-goofied CNN with their ridiculous "holograph" effects.
Are those people sitting at the screens extras, basically human props, or are they actual Fox News news staffers? If it's the latter, a fun game to play would be to zoom in on their screens in the background in Hi Def and see what stuff they're browsing. I wonder how long it'll be before one of them is caught playing Cookie Clicker or some analogue?
posted by JHarris at 6:25 PM on October 7, 2013
Are those people sitting at the screens extras, basically human props, or are they actual Fox News news staffers? If it's the latter, a fun game to play would be to zoom in on their screens in the background in Hi Def and see what stuff they're browsing. I wonder how long it'll be before one of them is caught playing Cookie Clicker or some analogue?
posted by JHarris at 6:25 PM on October 7, 2013
fox is really getting shit on, which is no surprise, but I really like this innovative use of tech. I see these BATs as advertisements for fox's social media - i.e., nobody's going to know that the intern is on twitter if she's using her phone, but on the BAT they will know for sure.
posted by rebent at 6:25 PM on October 7, 2013
posted by rebent at 6:25 PM on October 7, 2013
Do these have the new auto-fondle ap? Asking for a friend.
posted by vozworth at 6:28 PM on October 7, 2013
posted by vozworth at 6:28 PM on October 7, 2013
Is this what is drawing way-too-many so-called real journalists to leave floundering media entities for the Fox Propaganda Network? The toys?
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:29 PM on October 7, 2013
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:29 PM on October 7, 2013
You know, I'd actually be pretty excited to have one of those podium/tablets in my house...
posted by 256 at 6:31 PM on October 7, 2013
posted by 256 at 6:31 PM on October 7, 2013
You look behind you, startled. They are circling. And they are growing. #NIGHTOFTHEFREEIPAD
posted by moonmilk at 6:32 PM on October 7, 2013 [7 favorites]
posted by moonmilk at 6:32 PM on October 7, 2013 [7 favorites]
It still cannot compete with the Batcave...
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 6:33 PM on October 7, 2013
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 6:33 PM on October 7, 2013
Wait, when did sitting one foot away from a 4 foot screen become healthy? Follow-up, is that what turned Shepard into an oompa loompa?
posted by phaedon at 6:33 PM on October 7, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by phaedon at 6:33 PM on October 7, 2013 [2 favorites]
Low res screens for low res news. A match made in heaven.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 6:44 PM on October 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 6:44 PM on October 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
I give it two weeks until someone is caught on-air watching porn on theirs.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 7:20 PM on October 7, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Horace Rumpole at 7:20 PM on October 7, 2013 [2 favorites]
Stay tuned for Buster Friendly's big expose...
posted by ennui.bz at 7:20 PM on October 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by ennui.bz at 7:20 PM on October 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
Quickly putting the contents of some random journalist's screen on air live? This is going to be hilarious.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 7:22 PM on October 7, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 7:22 PM on October 7, 2013 [3 favorites]
Ah yes, giant keyboard buttons. Truly, the way to go for speedy news delivery.
posted by Slackermagee at 7:28 PM on October 7, 2013
posted by Slackermagee at 7:28 PM on October 7, 2013
Behind the scenes: working on the new Fox News theme music.
posted by moonmilk at 7:32 PM on October 7, 2013
posted by moonmilk at 7:32 PM on October 7, 2013
news investigators
"Are you a journalist?"
"No, I'm a news investigator."
posted by Sys Rq at 7:35 PM on October 7, 2013 [6 favorites]
"Are you a journalist?"
"No, I'm a news investigator."
posted by Sys Rq at 7:35 PM on October 7, 2013 [6 favorites]
I've seen a lot of terrible and desperate Window 8 tablet ads lately, and I think this tops them all. I wonder of they actually paid money to look this dorky.
posted by Artw at 7:36 PM on October 7, 2013
posted by Artw at 7:36 PM on October 7, 2013
They're windows based. They will crash, and I will giggle a little when they do.
posted by disclaimer at 7:48 PM on October 7, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by disclaimer at 7:48 PM on October 7, 2013 [3 favorites]
In the video - is that Jon Stewart's cousin?
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 7:50 PM on October 7, 2013
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 7:50 PM on October 7, 2013
So they made a video to show off that people will be ...using really big computers? That's it?
posted by Null Pointer and the Exceptions at 8:18 PM on October 7, 2013
posted by Null Pointer and the Exceptions at 8:18 PM on October 7, 2013
I just gotta say, for the record. Safari on my iPad crashes way way more than my Windows 8 VMs I use for development.
posted by Ad hominem at 8:22 PM on October 7, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by Ad hominem at 8:22 PM on October 7, 2013 [3 favorites]
Since when is the phrase "news investigator" a thing? No one is trying to pretend that anything on Fox is what used to be called "investigative reporting," are they?
If the idea was distinguish Fox employees from journalists, seems like the term "presenters" or even "Fox employees" would have sufficed.
posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 8:24 PM on October 7, 2013
If the idea was distinguish Fox employees from journalists, seems like the term "presenters" or even "Fox employees" would have sufficed.
posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 8:24 PM on October 7, 2013
I was also thinking this might be cool for Sketchup or something. A 5 food tablet to use IE 10 in fullscreen mode is the height of ridiculousness though.
posted by Ad hominem at 8:26 PM on October 7, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Ad hominem at 8:26 PM on October 7, 2013 [2 favorites]
I'd pay money* to have one of those "information specialists" with the giant touchscreens just sit and ready metafilter comments through an entire "news" show.
* probably bitcoins
posted by mcstayinskool at 8:35 PM on October 7, 2013 [2 favorites]
* probably bitcoins
posted by mcstayinskool at 8:35 PM on October 7, 2013 [2 favorites]
They're windows based. They will crash, and I will giggle a little when they do.
Depends - I have yet to have either Microsoft Ford Sync or Surface Pro crash.
You do realize that the infamous "bluescreens of death" were caused mostly by crappy drivers. In theory - if MSFT controls the platform hardware from the bottom-up, this becomes less and less likely. It was one of the advantages Apple has had for years, but Microsoft did not want to alienate their hardware partners by providing their own devices.
Sigh, cannot find the article I saw in Reddit last week - however Microsoft analysed thousands upon thousands of bluescreen crash dumps and generally found the problems were driver-related. Next, they built a variety of analysis tools and also looked at the source-code samples they were publishing via the Windows Driver Kit and found many of their examples were teaching incorrect techniques.
So - lately, things have improved dramatically. One thing most people do not know, is that whenever a Windows OS asks you to send crash/error information back to MSFT, there are actual human beings who review and attempt to troubleshoot the issue.... eventually... The team size is not infinite and the backlog is tremendous, sometimes it takes years, but if your crash or error is not a single occurrence, someone will eventually be debugging it...
Disclaimer: Yes, I am ex-MSFT, No - I do not own any stock and yes, I have an iPad which is my "go-to" tablet for now. And yes, having people sit in front of giant tablets is tremendously hilarious...
posted by jkaczor at 8:46 PM on October 7, 2013 [16 favorites]
Depends - I have yet to have either Microsoft Ford Sync or Surface Pro crash.
You do realize that the infamous "bluescreens of death" were caused mostly by crappy drivers. In theory - if MSFT controls the platform hardware from the bottom-up, this becomes less and less likely. It was one of the advantages Apple has had for years, but Microsoft did not want to alienate their hardware partners by providing their own devices.
Sigh, cannot find the article I saw in Reddit last week - however Microsoft analysed thousands upon thousands of bluescreen crash dumps and generally found the problems were driver-related. Next, they built a variety of analysis tools and also looked at the source-code samples they were publishing via the Windows Driver Kit and found many of their examples were teaching incorrect techniques.
So - lately, things have improved dramatically. One thing most people do not know, is that whenever a Windows OS asks you to send crash/error information back to MSFT, there are actual human beings who review and attempt to troubleshoot the issue.... eventually... The team size is not infinite and the backlog is tremendous, sometimes it takes years, but if your crash or error is not a single occurrence, someone will eventually be debugging it...
Disclaimer: Yes, I am ex-MSFT, No - I do not own any stock and yes, I have an iPad which is my "go-to" tablet for now. And yes, having people sit in front of giant tablets is tremendously hilarious...
posted by jkaczor at 8:46 PM on October 7, 2013 [16 favorites]
Isn't there a photo on Twitter showing their megascreen holding a grand total of four tweets?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:04 PM on October 7, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:04 PM on October 7, 2013 [4 favorites]
It's the fat white bezel that makes them look like scaled up iPads.
posted by Artw at 9:07 PM on October 7, 2013
posted by Artw at 9:07 PM on October 7, 2013
Perceptive Pixel for 27", 55", and 82" devices. They make even bigger ones!
posted by Ad hominem at 9:11 PM on October 7, 2013
posted by Ad hominem at 9:11 PM on October 7, 2013
You see what was previously the Surface in museums quite a lot, though generally not running Win8. They're pretty cool.
Putting a giant bezel on them and mounting them at 45 degrees makes them look dumb.
posted by Artw at 9:22 PM on October 7, 2013
Putting a giant bezel on them and mounting them at 45 degrees makes them look dumb.
posted by Artw at 9:22 PM on October 7, 2013
You do realize that the infamous "bluescreens of death" were caused mostly by crappy drivers.
And also, Macs have supported more than one mouse button for a long time now. Doesn't mean the jokes are going to stop any time soon.
posted by dumbland at 9:29 PM on October 7, 2013 [4 favorites]
And also, Macs have supported more than one mouse button for a long time now. Doesn't mean the jokes are going to stop any time soon.
posted by dumbland at 9:29 PM on October 7, 2013 [4 favorites]
looked at the source-code samples they were publishing via the Windows Driver Kit and found many of their examples were teaching incorrect techniques.There ought to be a special place in hell for the people who write tutorials with bad practices. It's doesn't happen just at Microsoft by any means, bad example code abounds out there, and the more rope the platform gives to hang you, the worse the example code, it seems. Almost as bad is the lack of good positive examples, and obscure documentation if there's any at all. Wherever there's bad use of a programming language or platform, look towards these reasons first, and towards technical aspects of the platform/language second. Perhaps even something abominable like PHP could be used in decent ways if there weren't so many bad examples out there.
posted by Llama-Lime at 10:15 PM on October 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
What a usability nightmare. Just watching those upper-body gestures from a seated position makes my neck ache and shoulders weep.
Those are fit, trained stunt performers, not journalists.
posted by Chinese Jet Pilot at 11:36 PM on October 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
Those are fit, trained stunt performers, not journalists.
posted by Chinese Jet Pilot at 11:36 PM on October 7, 2013 [1 favorite]
It isn't that the screens are now larger than the people.
It's that the people in the newsroom are now acknowledged to be exactly pocket-sized -- as many have suspected all along.
posted by dhartung at 12:38 AM on October 8, 2013
It's that the people in the newsroom are now acknowledged to be exactly pocket-sized -- as many have suspected all along.
posted by dhartung at 12:38 AM on October 8, 2013
It's iPads all the way down, people.
posted by brundlefly at 12:52 AM on October 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by brundlefly at 12:52 AM on October 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
Why does Shepard Smith look like a Sim I created in Sims 3?
his cheekbones frighten me
posted by MultiFaceted at 1:37 AM on October 8, 2013
his cheekbones frighten me
posted by MultiFaceted at 1:37 AM on October 8, 2013
You do realize that the infamous "bluescreens of death" were caused mostly by crappy drivers
You do realize a sensible system design which valued resilience would not have permitted the possibility of essentially unaudited 3rd party code to be given the opportunity to crash the system. The problem with MS is not their technical people, who are as good (and bad) as anyone else's. It is that their customer facing products give every impression of having been constructed by bonobos, this is a marketing problem (and probably a derail)
posted by epo at 2:32 AM on October 8, 2013
You do realize a sensible system design which valued resilience would not have permitted the possibility of essentially unaudited 3rd party code to be given the opportunity to crash the system. The problem with MS is not their technical people, who are as good (and bad) as anyone else's. It is that their customer facing products give every impression of having been constructed by bonobos, this is a marketing problem (and probably a derail)
posted by epo at 2:32 AM on October 8, 2013
Key pull quotes:
This is Buzzfeed TV with an unhealthy helping of Roger Ailes' legendary commitment to fairness, accuracy and non-partisanship.
posted by MuffinMan at 3:06 AM on October 8, 2013 [2 favorites]
"A lot of people don't have the time to sift through everything at once and to figure out what's true [....] We're gonna do that for them. We're gonna sift that that information, find out what's true and we're gonna let 'em know.""News". Heh.
"We'll use these people here, information specialists, to try to make sure things are, well, vetted and confirmed, to the degree that we can."
This is Buzzfeed TV with an unhealthy helping of Roger Ailes' legendary commitment to fairness, accuracy and non-partisanship.
posted by MuffinMan at 3:06 AM on October 8, 2013 [2 favorites]
Because idly doodling around with a twitter stream was just not newsy enough at regular 12pt size on a standard monitor, now we can diddle around on twitter looking for something to "report" with the font size set to 2 inches! Smell the progress!
posted by Rhomboid at 4:21 AM on October 8, 2013
posted by Rhomboid at 4:21 AM on October 8, 2013
MuffinMan - this is the quote that made me lose my shit:
>Fox's new newsroom will serve as a fact-checking machine for Twitter's firehose
posted by kcds at 4:39 AM on October 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
>Fox's new newsroom will serve as a fact-checking machine for Twitter's firehose
posted by kcds at 4:39 AM on October 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
It's true, Windows is hecka stable these days and I haven't seen a BSoD in years -- except on big displays in shopping centers, or ATMs, which still makes me giggle because THOSE THINGS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE MAGIC.
posted by Drexen at 5:35 AM on October 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Drexen at 5:35 AM on October 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
BBC News also confused its viewers last month, albeit with an extremely lo-tech prop.
posted by TheAlarminglySwollenFinger at 6:04 AM on October 8, 2013 [5 favorites]
posted by TheAlarminglySwollenFinger at 6:04 AM on October 8, 2013 [5 favorites]
"Just like you, we get our news from the internet," Smith says, "and this is the place where viewers can watch us shit it all out as it happens."
posted by forgetful snow at 6:59 AM on October 8, 2013
posted by forgetful snow at 6:59 AM on October 8, 2013
Wow. Its like Spinal Tap writ large. Those tablets go up to 11.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 7:42 AM on October 8, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 7:42 AM on October 8, 2013 [2 favorites]
Ten to one at least one of those people is playing Galaga right now.
posted by Rangeboy at 8:20 AM on October 8, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by Rangeboy at 8:20 AM on October 8, 2013 [3 favorites]
There ought to be a special place in hell for the people who write tutorials with bad practices.Hence the hate for W3Schools.
posted by karlshea at 9:15 AM on October 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
I'd probably trust them on SEO, sometimes you have to scroll a bit to get to the Stack Overflow or MDN link you actually want.
posted by Artw at 9:24 AM on October 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 9:24 AM on October 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
BBC News also confused its viewers last month, albeit with an extremely lo-tech prop.
I love it. Carrying paper is going to be my new thing "you need 5 minutes to go over to talk about the AWS migration? Well I was just about to stick some paper in the printer but I'll stop by later" at which time I'll just leave for lunch.
posted by Ad hominem at 9:30 AM on October 8, 2013
I love it. Carrying paper is going to be my new thing "you need 5 minutes to go over to talk about the AWS migration? Well I was just about to stick some paper in the printer but I'll stop by later" at which time I'll just leave for lunch.
posted by Ad hominem at 9:30 AM on October 8, 2013
I'm not positive, but this system looks like it comes from Oblong Industries, a company founded by a couple of friends of mine. Hyping the tech in your newsroom looks goofy but what the Oblong guys are doing is very interesting. Direct manipulation of video assets with a pointing interface is particularly fun. It's also useful, particularly the way Oblong handles having many users in a teleconference setup.
The hook for Oblong's work is always "Minority Report-style" (snarkily, here in The Verge) and that's not an accident. One of the Oblong founders was a consultant on the movie and adapted some of his work from the MIT Media Lab to design a plausible interface for the film. Then he went and built it for real. It's good stuff.
posted by Nelson at 9:46 AM on October 8, 2013 [2 favorites]
The hook for Oblong's work is always "Minority Report-style" (snarkily, here in The Verge) and that's not an accident. One of the Oblong founders was a consultant on the movie and adapted some of his work from the MIT Media Lab to design a plausible interface for the film. Then he went and built it for real. It's good stuff.
posted by Nelson at 9:46 AM on October 8, 2013 [2 favorites]
I will defer to the guy with the Latin sounding name...
posted by Inkoate at 10:35 AM on October 8, 2013
posted by Inkoate at 10:35 AM on October 8, 2013
And if you won't believe him, listen to The Mutants!
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 3:58 PM on October 8, 2013
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 3:58 PM on October 8, 2013
I don't get it. Where's the tank with the precogs?
Why pay good money for a precog tank when you can make up the news for free?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:07 AM on October 9, 2013
Why pay good money for a precog tank when you can make up the news for free?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:07 AM on October 9, 2013
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