One of the devices pictured above is the Vision Pro, a $3,500 “spatial computer” built by the world’s largest tech company. The other is iHead, a non-existent parody product that predates Vision Pro and was made for a music video by a special effects artist who worked with Monty Python. It seems Apple is worried that we won’t be able to tell which is which.
The Apple Vision Pro isn’t due to launch until next year, but the tech giant clearly doesn’t want anything to upset the launch of what will be the first brand-new product in years — and perhaps the riskiest of all. This includes people taking the mic (maybe you can even build your own VR headset with one of the best Prime Day deals for 3D printers).
iHead is the subject of a parody recorded by famous British comedian Stephen Fry in 2019. What could be considered a parody of Vision Pro ahead of its time, has now been released as part of British singer-songwriter Tim Arnold’s Super Connected album. As a result, the album was banned from Apple Music.
The offending track is a clearly fake advertisement with a tongue-in-cheek sales pitch for the iHead, a device created by 81-year-old special effects artist Valerie Charlton. However, Apple says it won’t accept the track because it could be mistaken for a real ad.
1/5 said Muswell Hill-based local artist Valerie Charlton and author of iHead. Tim Arnold’s ‘Superconnected’ is a surreal work of art – a musical that questions one of the most important issues of our time…technology’s intrusion into our lives and minds. pic.twitter.com/HEmTbxqQaqJuly 5, 2023
Arnold cited examples of other albums that contained joke advertisements but had encountered no such band, including The Who Sell Out. He says the parody is integral to the concept of his album, which Mojo describes as a “cool rock, black mirror concept”. The album critiques how digital services mediate the way we consume music today – a theme explored in the track below whose video also features the “iHead” device.
He has signed many well-known musicians, including members of the Kaiser Chiefs, Spandau Ballet, and Wet Wet Wet. open letter Apple calls for a retraction. In the letter, Arnold points to how Apple’s first Mac ad referenced George Orwell’s 1984 book, arguing that the company now appears to be committing the kind of censorship we might expect from a Big Brother system.
“Maybe the irony of this parody revealed Apple policy that Apple customers and artists don’t know about?” You read the message. Whatever the case, this whole debacle signals a potential eroding shift in the freedom of independent artists to express their art on digital platforms.
“In my role as a mentor to young musicians, I fear that younger artists will feel compelled to comply with the objections of streaming companies, inadvertently succumbing to a culture in which those companies shape, control, and even censor art.”
The debacle also seemed to prove something we had always suspected. Apple really doesn’t have a sense of humor. However, it unfortunately produces some of the best tech around designs (just see our Apple Prime Day roundup).
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