CNET doesn’t like Windows Vista

I assume that cNet staffers run Macs and have a good sense of humor. Check out the ad running on the same page as their Windows Vista Guide.

Technorati Tags: Windows Vista, cNet, Apple

Apple still attacking Vista

Apple is still rolling out the anti-Vista ads. Vista has certainly had its share of problems but I’m hearing more and more complaints about Apple’s new Leopard operating system. Isn’t Apple supposed to be the company that makes stuff that “just works”? Scoble calls it the “brand promise” and he does a better job than I do of explaining it. Maybe the days of the major OS upgrade are over given these two giants can’t create an operating system that’s worth upgrading to.

If were Microsoft I’d go on the offensive and call out Apple and their problems with Leopard instead of sitting back and creating marketing crap like this. Yes, you’ll be speechless alright! Speechless to the point of frustration.

Hey Apple, that desktop background looks like someone went to WinCustomize and chose the worst rated background. Man, that’s bad.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Leopard, Windows, Microsoft, Vista

My favorite talk at Gnomedex 2007

Guy Kawasaki gave my favorite talk at Gnomedex this year. I think it was Dave Winer who said that he was “the real Gnomedex keynote”. I agree.

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Technorati Tags: Gnomedex, Guy Kawasaki

Favorite Steve Jobs Quote from today’s iPod launch

I wonder if he came up with this line on his own?

“The new iPod touch. It’s one of the 7 wonders of the world.”

It’s arguable whether or not the new iPod touch is a wonder of the world but the iPod is certainly a wonder for Apple. The numbers of staggering: 110 million sold, 600 million copies of iTunes distributed, 95 million TV shows sold. Incredible.

Engadget has typical fantastic coverage of the event here. Nobody wows them like Jobs. I want an iPod touch with a little more storage.

Technorati Tags: iPod, Apple, Steve Jobs, Quote

Apple clutter vs. PC Clutter

What a great picture showing a major difference between a Mac and a PC.

My PC’s cable management looks a lot worse than the PC in this picture. Kim has the Dell 410 and it doesn’t look this messy because we keep the computer on the floor and drape the cables off the back of the table facing the wall.

But the new iMac does look very elegant as one would expect. But it still seems strange to me that when the iMac become out of date I’d have to toss the whole thing, monitor and all. My experience has been that my monitors usually outlast my computer by at least a generation or two.

Technorati Tags: Dell, PC, Apple, iMac, Ad, Clutter

Apple does it again with new keyboards

I wish the new Apple keyboards would work on a PC. I thought there was a chance they would but the requirements are as follows:

Mac computer with available USB 1.1 or USB 2.0 port
Mac OS X v10.4.10 or later
Keyboard software update

These make my Microsoft keyboard look like junk, but I wonder how comfortable they are in use.

Just gorgeous design though yet again from Apple.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Keyboards

10 minutes with an iPhone

I visited the Apple store in Bellevue this afternoon and Apple might as well call it the iPhone store. There were two giant iPhone replicas in the display case as well as two large tables of full of iPhones to touch and demo.

Say what you will about Apple but they know how to display their merchandise. Go into a Best Buy or CompUSA and their cameras, computers, mp3 players and phones are usually tied down. If you’re lucky, they are attached to a metal tether that’s long enough to lift it 6 inches off the table. You have the sense the last thing they want you to do is actually test out their products.

But the Apple store is just the opposite. Everything in the store is situated and displayed as if to say, “Pick me up and see what I can do!”. Which is exactly what I did with the iPhone. A few quick thoughts gleaned from the 10 minutes I spent with it:

Oh that display! Simply gorgeous.
Touch screen worked better than I expected.
It’s smaller and thinner than I thought.
Compared to my Motorola Q, the iPhone felt speedy
It’s bright. Did I mention that gorgeous screen?

For obvious reasons I couldn’t test out the phone feature but as a video iPod it was fantastic. Apple is so much further ahead than Microsoft and its Windows Mobile it’s not even funny. Compared to the iPhone, Windows Mobile is years behind.

It’s probably a good thing the iPhone doesn’t support Exchange mail or I’d want to ditch Verizon and switch.

Technorati Tags: iPhone, Apple, Motorola Q, Microsoft

is the iphone the BMW of phones?

Dave Winer says yes.

Have you ever driven a mid-to-high-end BMW? I have, recently, I test drove a 535i. The car feels as if it has a grip on the road, it’s got a confidence, it’s upright, and fast, and it maneuvers, but most important, it feels good to sit in one, and it feels even better to move one. Feels, feels, feels. We buy these things for the feeling. Same with Apple’s products.

Makes me want to test an iPhone for a while to see how it lives up to the comparison. But it does make sense on several levels. BMW, like Apple, has a small market share. Both make drool-worthy products. Both have obsessive fans to critique every small detail of their products. Both companies are arrogant. And both make products that cost more than many completive products.

If the iPhone is a BMW then my black Motorola Q is VW Jetta.

Technorati Tags: Apple, iPhone, Motorola Q, BMW

iPhone video links

A sampling of the best iPhone videos I watched this weekend.

New York Magazine article on Steve Jobs

The entire 8-page article is worth the time to read. But this quote stood out and may describe one big weakness to the iPod/iTunes model:

“All this stuff (internet radio, subscription models, Pandora, Last.fm) is Apple’s blind spot,” says Fred Wilson, the New York venture capitalist and rabid music buff. “Right now, the download model is necessary because I want to take music in the car or to the gym. But once we have true mobile broadband, the streaming model is going to take off. Then there’s never really going to be a need to own files at all. It’ll all just be there in the cloud.” As for music discovery, Wilson says, “I’ve never found one single artist or song on iTunes … It’s an online version of Tower Records, only worse.”

I can’t wait for the day when I can share my playlist with anyone and my podcasts and music are sync’d to all my PCs, my car and my phone. In the meantime, I will buy CDs and rip them to MP3 where I can upload to my iPod.