Weird writing:

1. “Reportedly, an Apple retail or office installation has been circulating” - but they then include a tweet as their apparent source that explicitly says it’s the 5th Ave store. So why say it might be an Apple office instead?

2. Maybe they are so wishy-washy about it because they aren’t confident it’s real, but if that’s the case, then writing a lengthy article calling something “stupidity” that you can’t even confidently state occurred…

3. “Reportedly, an Apple retail or office installation has been circulating” has a hyperlink across multiple words so you’d think it would be their source, but no it’s to the Apple homepage.

The "Steve Jobs" movie features a made-up subplot about Jobs insisting that the Fire Exit Safety signs be turned off to achieve "absolute blackout" in a theater. They very reasonably point out that no fire Marshall would approve it. I'm surprised for that reason, especially in midtown Manhattan. I've seen a fire marshall do a full inspection of a Broadway show and they were very thorough. This store is just a few blocks from there.

Let’s face it, the flat UI is stupidity when it comes to anything. This is not an issue exclusive to fire extinguishers.

https://www.nngroup.com/articles/flat-design/

I wonder if this could have been made trivially compliant by using a transparent window with a sticker, like they do for AED machines.

Maybe I'm misremembering, but do most luxury stores have fire extinguishers visible to customers (as opposed to staff)? I don't remember seeing them

The article explains precisely how I feel about MacOS

Reminds me of tesla.

No turn signal stalks, instead rotating buttons on the steering wheel. No PRND stalks either. Critical controls hidden on touchscreen behind look-then-swipe nonsense.

Also funny is the same nonsense apple has done between mouse scroll wheel movement direction and "natural" touchpad direction. Tesla's old PRND stalk was down for forward, up for reverse. New cars have touchscreen only gear select, and it is UP for forward, DOWN for reverse.

They need to add a touchscreen and menu to access the fire extinguisher, probably with auto-subscription. Then all will be well.

Passive-voice "reportedly" accusations; as the article itself admits, there's no evidence at all that Apple did this. So this would appear to be completely unsupported clickbait.

This is a shitty AI slop article that even admits it has no evidence this is even real:

No official Apple statement, architectural document, or verified primary image has surfaced to confirm the specifics. No such source was identified in the research reviewed for this article.

What the circulating example does clarify, regardless of its origin, is a pattern worth examining. Brand loyalty can short-circuit critical thinking fast enough to make observers praise a design choice before asking whether it actually works under pressure.

That looks like a picture taken from a mall, outside of an Apple Store.

So, let’s not blame Apple here. Let’s blame the mall for doing something really stupid.

I think this is everything right about Apple. There is zero chance the building is not up to code, at least within the context of some exception granted to them by the city. Their extremely numerous number of employees are likely well trained on what to do during a fire, including where the extinguishers are. I can think of no stores I'd rather be in, if there's a fire, than that Apple Store. But, it makes nerds angry; they're more interested in the process than the outcomes.