Kerfuffle

All I need do to feel the impact Steve Jobs had on my life is to look around my home

Always the multi-tasker, I was looking at my MacBookPro whiie simultaneously presiding over the monthly meeting of our local library's board of trustees.  For reasons totally random, I opened Firefox and clicked on the Daily Kos bookmark.  It was on DK, of all things, that I lerned Steve Jobs had died. 

Knowing I would be admitting to the rest of the people in the meeting that I was not looking at library circulation spreadsheets, but rather was surfing the internet, still I felt I had to say something.

"This has nothing to do with anything, but Steve Jobs died." 

It brought the meeting to a halt.

After a little bit of Apple talk, the meeting resumed, and I went back to multi-tasking.  Google+ was alive with thoughts about Jobs and expressions of sadness.  My Twitter feed was ripping by, and I noticed a lot of these: .  Once I remembered how to find the  (shift+option+k) I tweeted  :(

Steve Jobs died.  Fuck.  The meeting dragged on, and I found myself thinking of how many hundreds of millions of lives this man had impacted.  How much this this guy impacted my life.  (Not to mention how much money he cost me.  All worth it.)

I just did a quick mental inventory of Apple stuff at our house:

 A MacBook.

 Two MacBookPros.

 Two iPod Nanos.

 An original 64GB version iPod Video.

 An original iPhone.

 An iPhone 4.

 An original iPad.

 Two Airport Extremes.

 One Airport Express. 

Additionally...

 I leave the house most every day with a MacBookPro, an iPad and an iPhone.

 My iPhone spends the night on my nightstand.

 I have over 36 days of music stored on iTunes.

 My email address ends in @mac.com

 I subscribe to MacWorld, MacLife and iPhoneLife (really)

Yes, I suppose one could describe me as a fanboy. But a more accurate description would be that I am someone who appreciates the confluence of form, function, style, quality, integration, innovation, imagination and magic that is found in nearly every Apple product.  Simple as that.

It's more than fair to say that Steve Jobs had and will continue to have an impact on my life.

Godspeed, Steve Jobs.

Amazon's Silk, their new Kindle web browser, may just be a game changer

Yesterday, my friend and former colleague Harvey Briggs included a post on My View From the Shore that asserts Amazon's new Kindle Fire tablet will "torch everyone but Apple" in the tablet game. 

This is a classic disruption strategy. While everyone else is battling for the same customers at the top end of the category, Amazon found a way to open the market to a huge swath of people for whom a $500 tablet just doesn't make sense.

Very few people who "need" an iPad will trade down to get one of these. But those tablets stuck in the middle will see their volumes fall to a product that's just good enough but a whole lot cheaper. The fact that Amazon is being launched with an integrated multimedia ecosystem guarantees it.

I totally agree with Harvey.  Essentially there are those people who will always want the high-end Apple product, and for them cost is not considered a barrier.  Others want something that costs a lot less and offers the key functions of content delivery, web access and email.

Both Apple and Amazon understand and offer something besides price that is key to category success in tablets: content.  Both have vast collections of content that they continue to grow by the minute.  All of the other tablet manufacturers and marketers out there simply don't have that.  They rely, essentially, on others (notably Amazon and Apple's iTunes) for content.  They're not even re-sellers, just also-ran conduits that make no money on the real product (aforementioned content).  How key is content compared to hardware? BusinessInsider.com opined yesterday, we may see Kindle devices actually be free some day soon... since it is simply the last link of Amazon's content delivery chain.

From my survey of two (my partner, a Kindle-user and me, an iPad user), content access and its portability are the primary if not only reasons we use those particular devices.  We both have laptops for all our computing needs, and smartphones for all our mobile needs.  The Kindle and iPad fill this in-between need that is, for us, totally about content.

But that's not the only reason Amazon is will rock the tablet market in a huge way.  They are going to do what others -- except, some might say, for Apple -- have not been able to really do:  use cloud computing to do the heavy lifting of browser functions, making browsing fast, easy, and (most importantly) invisible.  The best thing for complicated technology is for it to work really well without you knowing it.  I hope I am correct in thinking Amazon's Silk browser will deliver on this in such a huge way as to dramatically change the way web surfing technology works.

Here's a group of Amazon geeks to explain it, and they explain it quite well...

I love my iPad.  But something tells me that we'll be getting one of these in the house this Christmas.  If I order it early enough.

[cross-posted on my course blog, J646 Overtime]

Was PC's likability the fatal error that crashed the I'm a Mac campaign? It's possible given the character is more lovable than the operating system it represents.

The marketing folks at Apple finally said it publicly:  The "I'm a Mac" ad campaign is dead.  So dead that Apple has removed the ads from their website and replaced them with product-specific promotional ads.

The campaign became iconic rather quickly.  Mac (actor Justin Long) and PC (humorist John Hodgman) became larger than life, developing a following beyond their own day jobs that was driven by the campaign.  Of course, not everyone loved it.  Shortly after its debut, one of its many detractors called the campaign mean-spirited. Slate's Seth Stevenson gave the campaign a C+, panning it for pitting cool kid against nerd.  He criticized Apple for an "off-putting brand strategy."  I wonder if he still feels that way, given where Apple is today.

One look at Apple's brand architecture, along with it's high level of management and execution, suggests that it's a good thing Apple ignored Stevenson (as they seem to do with all critics) since their brand appears to be stronger than ever some four years after the campaign began.  As for Microsoft's brand, well, they're no BP on the loathe-o-meter right now, but they are hardly what one would call beloved either.  To be fair, a lot of Apple's popularity and success right now is driven by its trio of mobile devices, the iPad, iPhone and iPod.  But all of those share the same DNA from the Apple master brand.

Marc Perton, writing for The Consumerist, offers what I'd say is a leading reason for the death of the I'm a Mac campaign...

Apple has finally caught on to something many of us have known for years: John Hodgman's befuddled "PC" is far more appealing than Justin Long's smug "Mac," so the "I'm a Mac" ads aren't really very effective at converting PC-users to Mac fans.

I have to agree that Hodgman's PC was the star of the ads.  Long's Mac was simply the straight man.  Hodgman actually made me dislike Microsoft less than it made me like Apple more.  (Admittedly, it would be hard for me to like Apple much more, as a brand, than I already do.  I'd be hard pressed to give up my MacBook and iPhone.)

Ad campaigns each have a life span.  Some are mercifully short; others have staying power that can work over decades.  It probably is the right time to say goodbye to this one.  But not without one last look, courtesy of the team over at OneMoreThing...

Palin says her "facts" are better than AP's facts while Amazon dumps her book, pre-release, into the bargain bin also, too

To read Ron Fournier and some of the other Associated press political writers out of Washington DC is to know that these days the AP is tacking right.  That's one of the things that makes this so funny...

From HuffPo...

Former Alaska Governor lashed out at the Associated Press Sunday for doing a fact-check on her memoir, "Going Rogue."

"Amazingly, but not surprisingly, the AP somehow nabbed a copy of the book before it was released," she wrote on her Facebook page. "They're now erroneously reporting on the book's contents and are repeating many of the same things they spewed during the campaign and afterwards. We've heard 11 writers are engaged in this opposition research, er, "fact checking" research!"

The AP reported that Palin's account often contradicted her record as well as current events. Her depiction of the McCain campaign is also frequently at odds with internal campaign emails.

Even funnier:  the book isn't officially released until tomorrow, but over at Amazon, it's already in the bargain bin for $9.00 (You Save: $19.99 (69%).  Before it's actually released.  Before it's fucking released.  HA!

Incidentally, this is the same book that had El Rushbo lauding it as one of the "most substantive books" on policy he'd ever read.  Seriously, Boss, you need to get yourself a library card and do a little more book learnin'. 

The bargain bin!  Before it's released!  Really.  Best that she stick to Facebook. 

Apparently, Mac users are three times more likely to hog tables at Starbucks

I almost always seem to learn something new when i look at the Silicon Alley Insider Chart of the Day. 

Today, I learned that the slacker-hip stereotype of Mac users in coffee shops and cafes has some validity.  Apple owns the cafe wifi market.  It seems that a little over 25% of WiFi users in cafes are surfing around on a Mac, although Mac only has about a 7.5% market share of laptops.  Even more telling, about 98% of the mobile devices connecting to the internets in cafes are iPhones or other Apple toys.

Yet another cool thing about the new iPhone, and it's not even from the App Store: Crime-fighting tool

There's a great story on Mashable today from Jennifer Van Grove that details the role an iPhone played in sending some backwater larcenists to the slammer.

A teenager, Dustin Simantob, returned with his dad to their car after a canoe trip.  There they discovered the car and others in the same spot had been broken into.  Among the items stolen was young Dustin's iPhone.  Upon his return home, he remembered that he had set up the "Find my iPhone" feature.  Through MobileMe, find it he did, and he turned over the exact location to the local police.  Officers promptly visited the home of a family they suspected of similar crimes but never before had proof.  They did this time.

Van Grove learned of the story when the teen sent Mashable an email.  She verified the story with the Mesa County (Colorado) Sheriff's Department, and published the email in it's entirety.  With full credit to Van Grove and Mashable, here's the unedited email:

“so, my dad and I went on a 3 day father and son river trip and parked the car where we get out of the river to leave, so we get up to the cars and all 4 cars had one window broken and all the valuables taken from the car, so we ended up submitting our case to the near by cop and started on our 5 hour journey home, when we got back i remembered that i had set up the “track my iphone” on the mobileme site and immediately got on and tracked it.

it ended up being at a house near by where it was stolen, so i called up the cop that had taken our case and told him where it was located. as soon as i told him the address, he started to laugh, apparently the family had done a few things like this before and the local police had been trying to catch and arrest them but could never get proof that they had been the culprits.

now they had proof. so 4 police showed up at the door of this house and ended up getting mine and my dads iphones back along with my wallet and the Garmen GPS, they also were able to recover the two phones and wallet that was taken from the other car that was broken into. so thanks to obileme we will all be getting our belongings back and a family of criminals will be put in jail.”

This strikes me in several ways.  As FAILs go, it's hilarious.  It also points up a unto fore considered (by me, anyway) benefit of the new iPhone 3.0 software.  I can assure you that had I not already set up the "find" feature for my iPhone, I would be doing it immediately after reading this story.

It's worth noting, as Van Grove did in her post, that this can and should become a key selling feature for iPhones.

If you were pretty sure your phone was stolen, instead of the typical "if you find my iPhone message like the one above, it might be fun to post something like:  "Have you ever been served with a search warrant at 3 AM?  You may want to put some pants on."

The introduction of the iPhone 3G-S means that on June 19 my first generation iPhone will be twice as behind

From our pals in Cuppertino comes word that the iPhone 3G-S and accompanying iPhone OS 3.0 will be available next week.

From Chris Foresman at ars technica...

Apple has officially taken the wraps off the third incarnation of the iPhone. Dubbed the iPhone 3G S, it will come in 16GB and 32GB flavors for $199 and $299 respectively, with the current 3G model available unchanged for $99. The iPhone 3GS will be available on June 19; iPhone OS 3.0 will arrive two days before that, on June 17. 

Those in the US, Canada, France, Italy, UK, and Spain will be able to get their hands on the new iPhone on the 19th. The iPhone 3G S will gradually be introduced worldwide as new countries are added every few weeks. Keep in mind that those prices are with AT&T contracts; "naked" iPhones will run $499, $599, and $699 for the 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB models respectively.

Many of the new functions and features were tipped over the past several weeks, and there are reviews all over the place for the Googling.  The ars technica post hits the high hard ones for those who haven't been following. 

One feature I like -- and have needed on a few occasions is this one:

He [Apple SVP of iPhone software Scott Forstall] also gave an impressive demo of a "Find My Phone" feature. This feature allows a user to log in to MobileMe to locate a lost iPhone using geo-location. Further, said Forstall, "If you lose your phone, you can send it a message from online or your home phone—it'll play a sound whether or not you left it in silent mode." The sound will allow you to find it in your house, or if you left at a restaurant, for instance, help a waiter find it. And, if the phone is truly lost, you can send the phone a wipe command remotely using MobileMe—keeping your personal data safe from thieves.

That's cool.  And handy.  I recall a few months ago my friend Ben put out a Facebook message asking friends to call his phone, hoping either he or one of them would then hear it's ring.  If only this would work for car keys.

Apple's official announcement can be found here.  And they also have a new TV spot up here.  My iPhone may have to have an unfortunate accident in the coming weeks. 

Hulu app for iPhone close to market; The best way yet to be a couch potato without the couch

I'm a sucker for iPhone apps.  I have maybe eight or nine pages of them, and have cast aside several more along the way.  So far, one category that has been underwhelming is that of video streaming.  Hulu is reportedly about to change that.

From Silicon Valley Insider...

Hulu is in the process of developing an app for Apple's (AAPL) iPhone and iPod touch, we have learned from a plugged-in industry executive. The app is coming soon (within a few months) and is "badass" -- as excellent as Hulu's Web site. Video will work over both wi-fi and 3G, we're told.

It won't be the first Web video app for the iPhone -- CBS's TV.com app is on the market, as are Joost, i.TV and several others -- but it could be the best. Hulu's tech and design teams have demonstrated themselves as the best in the Web video industry, as everyone is now trying to emulate them. One hurdle, we assume: Because of Hulu's streaming architecture, it might not be possible to download videos to watch later, such as on the subway or an airplane.

Good news for Hulu fans, iPhone fans, and people who can't get enough video in their lives.  Bad news for people like me who are app-addicted and easily distracted from doing things that are actually important and/or necessary.

iPhone OS 3.0: The best mobile platform will be getting even better

The upgrades coming to Apple's iPhone operating system as OS 3.0 are looking pretty cool. 

As simple a function as it is on a laptop, cut/copy/paste hasn't been part of the iPhone OS so far.  That will change.  It will work across all applications, making calendars, maps and directions, contact information, HTML text and even third-party apps.  Handy.  The part about it I like the most is how you tell the iPhone to "undo" a move:  shake it, like an Etch-a-sketch.

Landscape mode will now work on all native applications as well.  This will be a real plus for mail and SMS texting, especially for people not blessed with tiny fingers.  Other new stuff includes MMS capability, multiple picture mailing, and the ability to control external devices like medical equipment.  Gamers will love the peer-to-peer capabilities.  There will also be a  solid iPhone version of Spotlight to search across all applications and content, which will live o the left of the main interface page in a permanent position all its own.  This will go a long way in managing apps if you're like me and have way too many of them already.

The Apple site has a video up of the presentation to software developers and the trade press here.  It's worth wading through to see the demos of some of the cool new stuff.

As Information Week notes, the new SDK (software deveopment kit), which is now in the hands of software developers in beta.  This is good news for people who go nuts over applications.

"It's a huge release for Apple," said Gartner analyst Van Baker. The ability to sell content from within applications will be a significant win for developers, who will be able to generate applications that depend on a subscription model, including city guides and e-book readers, Baker said. For example, the Amazon Kindle application for iPhone has a much clumsier shopping experience than on the dedicated Kindle hardware -- so much so that Amazon itself recommends users shop either on the Kindle hardware, or through a Web browser on their PCs.

Using iPhone 3.0, Amazon and other e-book developers will be able to build a rich shopping experience into the Kindle iPhone software.

Likewise, publishers of city guides will be able to sell, or give away, the guide software, and then sell guides for individual cities. And magazine and newspaper publishers will be able to more easily sell content -- assuming they're able to find customers willing to buy. 

Cool stuff.  Can't wait.

Just cut my arm off, why don't you?

Sweet Jesus on a graham cracker!  I've got my MacBook back!

Honestly, what an awful five days.  Isn't that fucking pathetic?  I worried about this thing until the very minute I had it back in my possession.  Never mind that it was fully backed-up and that it was in the very capable hands of an authorized Apple service place.  Set aside that it was more maintenance than repair, so there was little risk.  I still fidgeted about, and finally called yesterday to see how it was coming along.  Worse, when they called back to say it was ready to go, about 3:30 yesterday afternoon, I actually considered blowing off a dentist appointment -- an important one -- so I could drive in to Madison to retrieve my little white-cased pal.

That's warped.  But it's true.

For the little bit of Internet activity I did do, I used Tom's laptop.  It's a Toshiba and therefore a Windows PC.  And, sorry Tom, it is a piece of crap.  Well, I guess it functions, but I hated it.  I actually was more pacified using the iPhone as a substitute for my laptop.  At least it had my hundreds of bookmarks, handled all the email accounts, and had a lot of music in it.

Setting aside what is obviously some kind of psychosis on my part, I do find it interesting when I consider how much I rely on this machine.  It is my connection to all my preferred news sources, it pulls down the podcasts I actually do listen to, and it holds the software I use to manage everything from finances to travel to, of course, blogging.  During the time I was without the laptop, I kind fo tuned ot of world affairs.  I saw headlines on the iPhone, and heard stuff on the radio.  But I didn't turn to television or my first media love, newspapers.  I just went along oblivious.

One of the good things that came from being without the beloved MacBook:  I now have a much better understanding of what the iPhone an do.  Even though the one I have is not the new model, it does have the 2.0 OS, so I can download all these new applications.  I probably added 15 different apps over the weekend, with my far the best being Last.fm, Pandora and AOL Radio.  The fact that I can navigate through AOL Radio (probably the first nice thing I have ever said that included "AOL" in it) over to WXRT-FM, my favorite station from Chicago.  With the iPhone's built-in speakers, it actually sounds pretty good just playing while sitting on the kitchen counter.  Who knew?

I totally realize how nerdy/geeky this sounds.  And I don't care.  I love this stuff.