technology makes my brain hurt

Maya linked to this article, from the U.K., that discusses why manufacturers should make their tech products more "girlie" so as to better attract female consumers.

Who wrote this article, Barbie?

I mean, sweet baby jesus, I'd love a hot pink iPod but this is a joke, right? Right!?!

Just a few of the gems from this piece:

Would you rip files at a high or low bit-rate? Do you prefer AAC, WMA or MP3? If you are completely baffled by these questions, you are probably a woman.

and

"I've just started borrowing my husband's iPod, but he had to give me a lesson in how to switch it on and find a track, and I've got two pages of instructions that I take with me whenever I use it," says Lucy Dobbs, editorial director of a publishing company. "I would never attempt to download a song, because I know I'd make a mess of it"

and

However, the fact is that most women prefer to spend their lunchhour browsing in Chloé - not Comet. They refuse their boyfriend's offer of a two-player PlayStation bout of Mortal Kombat, even if it's the only way to get some quality time with him. And, although three-quarters carry a mobile phone and 10 per cent of women surveyed recently admitted using their phone to send sexy pictures to their partners, there is little female interest in the new, all-emailing, all-videoing mobiles.

I know I hardly speak for the rest of y'all women folk, but this article takes such a laughingly generalized approach. Just because I don't want to play Mortal Combat doesn't mean I'm a luddite. In our house, I'm the one who sets up the computer networks, handles the DSL issues, troubleshoots any computer problems, etc. And sure, there are some "stereotypical" gender roles to which Cory and I adhere: I cook, he mows the lawn, etc. But I think such things are more the exception and not the rule. (Although Cory does upload a mean album to his iPod - obviously he figured out his tech priorities quickly.)

Maya suggests that it's a part of a recent U.K. trend of the Brits pitting the sexes against one another, but I, unfortunately, have witnessed similar examples Stateside - albeit they were much less obvious and NOT part of an article in a mass circulation newspaper. The first thing that jumps to mind is that godawful, offensive ad I always see in the morning on Headline News -- the one with the vacant-eyed housewife talking about how her three-year-old child is better at computers and this is why she must buy hokey "learn how to use your computer" CD-roms.

Silly nitwits.