Buttongate explored

The best hacks, memes and reactions to the Mac mini's odd button position.

For many years, the launch of a new iPhone was always followed by some “gate” controversy — Antennagate, Bendgate, Batterygate.

That seems to have stopped with the last couple of iPhone releases. Potential criticisms just don’t seem to gain traction.

But the new Mac mini is currently in the full throes of “Buttongate” — an online collective meltdown over the placement of the redesigned computer’s on/off button, which has migrated from the back to the bottom.

While it remains to be seen whether this is actually a problem in real life, it hasn’t stopped the Apple community from throwing out some pretty amusing hacks, memes and reactions. We rounded up some of the best.

Also in today’s newsletter:

— Leander Kahney, EIC.

P.S. I think this week’s slate of Mac announcements worked really well for Apple. It allowed the press to give each machine the coverage it deserved — and gave customers time to take it all in, too. Hopefully, future product launches will follow a similar format.

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One more thing ...

You're asking, “Where does aesthetic judgment come from?” With many things — high-performance automobiles, for example — the aesthetic comes right from the function, and I suppose electronics is no different. But I've also found that the best companies pay attention to aesthetics. They take the extra time to lay out grids and proportion things appropriately, and it seems to pay off for them. I mean, beyond the functional benefits, the aesthetic communicates something about how they think of themselves, their sense of discipline in engineering, how they run their company, stuff like that.

— Steve Jobs, 1989.

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Is the Mac mini button a design blunder?

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