Strange Bug in Apple's iSync

[symphonix]

Apple today announced that they are aware of the "pre-emptive synching" bug that can affect iSync on many of the faster G4 based Apple computers.

"It was simply a case of the software running on machines faster than it was designed for," Apple spokesperson Duane Hervian said today, "the iSync software was syncing with address book entries that haven't even been entered yet."

In most cases the synchronisation of events and contacts from times in the future failed, but in some rare cases users had observed address book or calendar entries appearing from nowhere.

"I opened my address book one morning to find it suddenly full of contact numbers for job agencies." One user told this macosx.com reporter, "The next day, I lost my job. Coincedence? I think not."

Another user reports finding a barbeque party scheduled with friends he had not yet met.

Another single man was shocked to find that he had his own wedding scheduled in just over a year, to a girl he hadn't met yet.

"I'm not sure if I want to go through with it," he said, "backing down now might disrupt the chain of causality and destroy the fabric of the entire universe. But compared to getting married, that's not really all that scary."
He added that he planned to "try and act surprised." when he did meet his future wife.

Some users see this bug in the iSync software as a potential security threat of epic proportions. Others say it may be just an early indicator that Apple are in the process of developing time travel technology.

Microsoft are planning on releasing their own pre-emptive address book syncing software soon, which will enable windows users to recieve ads for products that haven't been released yet, and be arrested for pirating software that hasn't even been written yet.

Meanwhile, Apple say that a recently released security update "should prevent any further temporally displaced contacts and events from appearing." However, they urge users to "be careful not to read anything they might already have, as there is a high risk that doing so might corrupt their system, and, in fact, all of the universe."

[adambyte]

! I just ordered my bluetooth adapter!

Coincidence? I think not!

[Randman]

Reminds me of a section of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy that said rather than deal with all of the lawsuits pending against the book's publishers for copyright infringement, they simply sent the Guide back through time. And then the publishers of the past sued the original creators for copyright infringement... and they won!

Speaking of which...

http://www.siriuscc.com/

[Darkshadow]

Gah, Microsoft in control of a time machine. There's nothing scarier than that!

[Trip]

Ever since I read The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy I havn't been able to read any other book. I try to start one, but I just can't do it!

Anyway: I loaded my friends Address Book up on his new G5 and found out I'm married with 3 kids who are also married and he's the future president of an Apple owned business. How fun.

[symphonix]

Yes, I am a bit of a HHGG fan and have collected all of Douglas Adams' books. Maybe thats where I got my inspiration from.

Trip: You might also like the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. He can write in that same thinking-outside-the-square style. I'd suggest starting with "The Last Hero" illustrated one, as it gives a neat introduction to a few of the more enduring characters.

Oh, and Trip, I tried syncing my contacts book with an XServe 24-processor cluster and got the 28-digit phone number for a great little restaurant at Mars Base Five.

[~~NeYo~~]

What exactly is "The HitchHikers Guide To The Galaxy"? I've heard it mentioned a few times, is it Originally from America or something?! I've not heard of it anywhere in the UK!

Cheers!

[Decado]

Douglas Adams was british if im not misstaken...
He was a HUGE apple-fan. Several of his characters got macintosh. He once stated in an interview that when compaq wanted to give him a computer, he said "sure i can take it but i wont use it, i got an apple macintosh". according to him the woman trying to give him the compaq answered that she and the other people she worked with at compaq also used macintosh-computers at home.