OK, these guys are beginning to tick me off.

I already blogged about the Neistat Brothers, but to summarize, these two guys bought an iPod, and after 18 months of heavy use, found that the battery started losing its ability to keep a charge (which should be an obvious consequence to anyone who uses rechargeable batteries), then got a bad tech rep (again, something everybody knows happens and should be aware of) who told them just to buy a new iPod, and then–belatedly–tried a third-party battery replacement, a very simple job, but were so inept that they wrecked their iPod and had to buy another.

Without doing any further research or taking any responsibility for their botched repair job, they wrathfully started spray-painting hateful–and incorrect–labels on iPod ads all over their city, claiming that Apple’s iPod battery is unreplaceable (untrue–it is, they just blew it) and only lasts 18 months (also not correct, it varies with use and the battery you get). They then filmed their acts of vandalism, and posted the film online, and that has become a cult hit.

Fortunately, the iPod remains a big hit, so no one seems to be taking these idiots seriously–except the press. Every few weeks or so I see the same story get repeated in some major newspaper, and the newspaper always takes these clowns at face value, without questioning their veracity or intelligence.

Just FYI, most Mac and iPod aficionados consider these guys to be bogus publicity seekers. So in whatever way you can, just ignore them.