Appledystopia: Independent Technology News, Reviews, Tips, and Tutorials Since 2012
Founded in 2012, Appledystopia’s mission is to provide independent technology news, reviews, tips, and tutorials, mostly revolving around the Apple ecosystem. With our small, dedicated team of experienced writers, you’ll find we differ from corporate websites regurgitating Apple’s public relations and marketing. Unlike large corporate websites, our writers also know how to write code. We’ve all worked in technology for decades. Appledystopia can offer insight far beyond the corporate media.
With two team members in Silicon Valley and one in Boston, we’re well-situated to absorb any information from big tech. We know and have worked with Google, Apple, Facebook, Twitter, and Microsoft employees. Our editor-in-chief worked at Intuit and CVS/Caremark for most of his professional life. At Appledystopia, we live technology.
Appledystopia is fiercely independent. We can get away with being honest about technology because we’re not accountable to any corporation. We work for you, the reader. We never host sponsored content. We don’t abide by tech corporations’ marketing and PR departments. Our goal is to provide high-quality articles to improve your technological life.
The Hype Stops Here
Are you sick of clickbait? So are we. Unfortunately, the majority of big, corporate tech websites thrive on hype.
The Apple Car is a perfect example. Top tech writers bring out Apple Car rumors whenever it’s a slow news day. First, we heard that the Apple Car was coming in 2020. It’s 2022, and still no Apple Car. Now they pushed the goal post up to 2025. Apart from some beta testing, there aren’t even self-driving cars, let alone one from Apple. The “best” tech writers made it up so you’d look at ads on their website.
Appledystopia wrote about the Apple Car years ago, saying it was complete hype. We were right. Apple isn’t working on a car. Unscrupulous writers were working on enriching their employers and wasting your time with Apple fan fiction.
We’re not perfect, but we don’t profit from hype, misinformation, and lies.
Beyond the Superficial
Don’t you hate it when you read an article or watch a YouTube video, and they only mention the most superficial aspects of a product? So do we. We can all see that the new iPhone comes in various colors. Yes, the screen looks nice. It feels good in one’s hand. But what can it do? Why should anyone buy it? These are questions we answer.
We love getting into the nitty-gritty of technology. If there’s a new security flaw, we’ll explain how it works in great detail and how you can fix it. Curious about how batteries, processors, and software work? We love to explain complicated subjects to regular folks.
We Are Not Laypeople
The problem with tech journalism is that laypeople mostly create content. They’ve never written a line of code. Many of them barely know how to use an iPhone. Yet they write articles that seem more like fiction than reality. Many are dishonest and make up false leaks, clickbait, and other garbage. Because they work at major publications like Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, The Verge, Forbes, BGR, and many others, they’re cloaked in a sheen of legitimacy. We see right through it.
Twitter is like some supernatural force to the average tech journalist. I’ve read some who think every time a user posts a Tweet, it’s added to every follower’s feed. That’s cute, like a momma bird regurgitating worms into many baby birds’ mouths. But that’s not how it works. Also, Twitter is one of the least-used social networks, but since journalists work it to earn extra income and fame, it helped propel a scrappy, bare-bones social media platform to superstar status.
I remember back when the iPhone 5S came out. It was the first smartphone with a 64-bit processor. The media panned it as Apple releasing the same phone all over again because it looked the same. They’re unaware of the difference between a 32-bit and 64-bit processor. Today, we see the media drooling over Dynamic Island, because Apple told them it’s impressive. It’s animated graphics on a phone screen. Time for a reality check!
We’re not quite sure how these people gain employment. If you’re a sports writer, you know about football, baseball, and related activities. Someone covering the White House usually knows about the government. But when it comes to technology, we let anyone who owns an iPhone tell us technological fairytales. Because they’re considered journalists, some assume they’re unbiased and knowledgable. We don’t make this assumption.
Each one of our writers has a background in technology. We were never impressed by Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or any social media platform. We don’t even consider these companies to be big tech. Is Frito-Lay a big tech company? They employ far more sophisticated technology than Twitter. Yes, the company that makes your Cheetos is more technically advanced than Twitter. So why all the fuss?
If you’re educated in technology and bristled by ridiculous tech reporting, then Appledystopia is for you. Even if you’re not versed in technology, we love to explain complex subjects to regular people. If you need help understanding something, send us an email by clicking on the author’s profile link. We’ll usually answer within a week.
We’re Not Reckless
Reading a lot of tech websites, we’re often astonished at some of the things they’re asking users to do. For example, a few websites say you should poke toothpicks into your iPhone’s microphone holes to clean them. Please don’t! You’ll end up breaking your microphones. Other sites claim you should clean your iPhone with alcohol or glass cleaner. This will end up stripping off the oleophobic coating.
Even worse, some websites steal content from us, adding extra steps to outrank us in search results. Websites and YouTubers ripped off one of our most popular articles about battery calibration. The problem is, they added extra steps to evade plagiarism and fluff up their content. Calibration is a simple process, handled automatically by newer iPhones. These sites and YouTube videos tell people to drain and charge their batteries twice. Your iPhone only has about 500 charge cycles, and you lost two because of a dirty trick. Following our guide, you can calibrate your iPhone’s battery without wasting a single charge cycle.
We’re not reckless. You won’t ruin your iPhone or other Apple product if you follow our how-to guides and use our tech tips. Adding extra steps to fluff up our content and rank higher is tempting. That’s unfair to you and the few other websites that operate with integrity. We don’t do it. We always present the easiest, safest, and most helpful ways to do things with your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and more.
Appledystopia Is On Your Side
We are consumer advocates. We always take the people over profit or corporations. To that extent, we like to help consumers find the best prices and deals on Apple products. We know Apple gear is expensive, but you can find fantastic deals if you shop around.
Although we partner with Amazon, we also create and maintain content to help you save money at other retailers. We have no relationship with them. Our goal is to find you the lowest price on an Apple product. If Costco sells it for less than Amazon, we’ll inform you.
We’ll also tell you when last year’s model is a good deal. Sometimes Apple’s product refreshes leave much to be desired. If so, buying last year’s iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, or MacBook may be an excellent value. If this is the case, we’ll let you know.
We Believe in Responsible Advertising
Are you sick and tired of websites loaded with ads that slow down your iPhone and use up tons of cellular data? They also burn up extra battery power playing all of those embedded videos. If that’s not enough, most ad networks are spying on you somehow.
We hate websites like that too! That’s why we keep the advertising simple. All of our ads are simple image files with standard HTML links. Currently, we use the Amazon Associates program to monetize this site.
Even on our largest pages, all ads combined use very little data. Just one of our ads uses a measly 20KB of data. An embedded video ad found on a Big Media website can often burn through several hundred megabytes of data, even when you’re not paying attention to it. They put several of these ads on every page.
A recent study found that web pages use up to 79% of your data for advertising, with the average being 48%. You deserve better!
We find all of this just as frustrating and annoying as you do. Respecting your intelligence, we believe that a simple image is enough to convey the value of a product or service. We won’t burn through megabytes of your cellular data to get a few cents from a sleazy ad network.
If you appreciate this, please support us by purchasing a product from Amazon using our affiliate link. We thank you for your support!
We Don’t Do Sponsored Content
Many website owners are landlords. They rent out their websites to any Tom, Dick, or Harry who pays them to publish an article. Most of the pieces are ads masquerading as content. This business is known as “sponsored content.”
Appledystopia does not participate in any sponsored content scheme. Our team writes all of our articles. We refuse all requests to publish sponsored content and guest posts.
We Care About What You Think
Due to a persistent defect in Google Search, we were forced to remove comments from our site. Google extracted the dates displayed in search results from the last comment date, not the update date/time of the article. It had the effect of making our articles seem old and out of date. And yes, we did our part correctly.
You can still contact us the old-fashioned way. Each one of our writers has an email contact form on their bio page. You can access their bio page from the by-line of any Appledystopia article.
Thanks for visiting!
