Following the surprise “Antennagate” conference during which Apple announced free bumpers for all iPhone 4 users, we got our first look at the company’s secret Infinite-Loop lab, the multimillion dollar facilities where the iPhone 4‘s connectivity issues were tested. We were in awe, and the uproar about smartphone antennae soon faded into obscurity.
We noted then that the antenna lab’s 17 futuristic anechoic chambers would make for an awesome Half-Life map (modders, assemble), but Canada-based Geekosystem reader Max did us one better: He’s discovered that Steve Jobs may have had some dystopic thoughts on his mind when designing the facilities’ interior…
Max noticed “an eerie similarity that borders on the uncanny,” and further provided this preface:
“Note: the remainder of this post will make a lot more sense if you have seen Terry Gilliam’s 1985 masterpiece, Brazil. Even if you haven’t seen the movie (get on that) you should still be able to see the creepy similarity, and to be honest the imagery is no less terrifying when put in context.”
One of Apple’s many testing rooms…
…Brazil.
Another of Apple’s test chambers…
…Brazil.
For those who haven’t been inducted into the Brazil club, what you are seeing is the torture chamber the protagonist Sam is imprisoned in, having been accused of terrorism by the totalitarian government employing him. The lesson, children, is to never anger Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs in an alternate Apple-run world, so obsessed with unblemished products that he bleached himself white?
As Max jests (or not):
“Clearly Apple has built a room of horrors for some sinister purpose beyond the comprehension of our relatively virginal minds. Or to test their shoddy cellphones. Same difference.”
(Many props to Max Rambles for pointing this out!)
