Filed under: Humor, Odds and ends, iPhone, App Store
Fear the Bloomberg Bozo
One of my Denver-area buddies, fellow Apple consultant J. Charles Holt of PEBMAC, was checking the Bloomberg Mobile iPhone application (click opens iTunes) this morning to see how the market was doing. What he found in the app is something downright weird -- Bozo the Clown. Charles originally posted this find on MacRumors.
Being the skeptic that I am, I followed his instructions, took a screenshot of the app's opening screen. As you can see from the image below, there doesn't appear to be anything odd with the picture:
At certain angles it does appear that there is something in the leftmost monitor. Charles sensed this, brought the photo into Photoshop, and did a bit of work with the Brightness / Contrast feature. (see the results on the next page)
Being the skeptic that I am, I followed his instructions, took a screenshot of the app's opening screen. As you can see from the image below, there doesn't appear to be anything odd with the picture:
At certain angles it does appear that there is something in the leftmost monitor. Charles sensed this, brought the photo into Photoshop, and did a bit of work with the Brightness / Contrast feature. (see the results on the next page)
Not having Photoshop, I made a screenshot on the iPhone, sent it to my Mac, and opened it in iPhoto. I played with brightness, contrast, and sharpness, and here's what resulted:
Yep, folks! It's Bozo the Clown! The image below is an enlarged picture from the screenshot, while the real deal is below that:
What does this all mean? Are all investors Bozos? Are the folks in Washington, DC all Bozos for proposing the bailout? Or did an iPhone developer have too much time on his/her hands?
A tip of the Bozo hair to J. Charles Holt
Yep, folks! It's Bozo the Clown! The image below is an enlarged picture from the screenshot, while the real deal is below that:
A tip of the Bozo hair to J. Charles Holt
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
jonathan ober said 4:40PM on 9-25-2008
thats funny. nice to see these things make into the apps or other places. make me smile.
i once worked on a project with some guys that told me in a previous project they made a flash animation that when you typed in the bosses name it played a kiss song with a small animation of the band within the actual site. it was there that i knew the true humor/frustration with developers would really come to life.
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Jared said 4:42PM on 9-25-2008
I do see the picture in my app. I took a picture and it is a very light outline of Bozo the clown.
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badjoke said 1:05AM on 9-26-2008
You have to edit the levels in photoshop to see it better.
Noah said 5:09PM on 9-25-2008
Haha. I love things like this. :)
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Bassir said 4:47PM on 9-25-2008
Is this for real? Or are you guys making fun of the world's superpower?
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south said 10:31PM on 9-25-2008
no, i don't see anyone making a joke about China here :)
Bassir said 4:29PM on 9-26-2008
China's fun won't last very long.
Umut said 5:00PM on 9-25-2008
I can see it too. Disturbing...
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Liv said 5:00PM on 9-25-2008
I had to turn the brightness all the way up, but sure enough it is there.
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Pepe said 5:10PM on 9-25-2008
Glad to see that Eastereggs do live on :-)
Glad also to see what the Bloomberg dev-team new to be true :-)
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Sam said 5:23PM on 9-25-2008
I think we've found the root of why the markets are crashing.
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Dave said 6:21PM on 9-25-2008
shhh, it might be pulled from the App Store if word is spread. :(
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Big John said 5:36PM on 9-25-2008
Awesome.
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Jack said 6:05PM on 9-25-2008
Good way to get a few more downloads... leak a little 'easter egg' and watch the blogosphere go mad advertising your app. Worked for me, had to download it just to make sure.
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Tourian said 11:11AM on 9-27-2008
Omaigod you spent money on something just to check if there is a faded out picture of a clown?
From the Common Sense Association: GET A FUCKING LIFE.
bobics said 7:05PM on 9-25-2008
Omaigod, it's free. DF.
Idiots aside, pretty funny... I use this app daily.
Brendan said 2:18PM on 9-28-2008
It's free, Tourian honey.
Kenneth said 6:44PM on 9-25-2008
I didn't believe it, so I took a screenshot and checked it out in Photoshop, sure enough it's there! Haha, cool.
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Roy said 7:19PM on 9-25-2008
haha, SCORE for easter eggs!
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Mark said 7:30PM on 9-25-2008
Also at the intersection of clowns and finance:
http://www.overthinkingit.com/2008/09/25/the-dark-bailout/
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