This is exactly the type of response you’d expect from a CEO who sees Bill Gates attempting to turn the ship in his direction. The ship may be awkward and slow but it’s certainly not a ship I’d discount.

I remember so many of my PC gamer friends making fun of Microsoft and their decision to enter the console business and go head to head against Sony and Nintendo. Five years and a few billion dollars later, you can’t discount that the Xbox team is doing a lot of things right. They are winning over the hard-core gamers which I didn’t think was possible. I was at Target tonight and there was a line to play the Xbox360 demo unit. Even some moms stood back and watched the kids play Call of Duty 2. The same line existed at Wal-Mart when I was there last week. $400 is a lot to spend for a console but, then again, that’s the price of a 60 gig iPod so maybe it’s not so outrageous.

Come mid January, will we look back and say this was an Xbox 360 or iPod Christmas? Most of my friends and coworkers are *talking* about the 360 but few have one on pre-order. And about half of them own iPods but are lusting after the iPod video. Santa may bring both if you’re lucky.

As for me, I’m waiting for this.

Today Sony announced an exciting new program where each new CD will include one RIAA watchdog. From Wal-Mart to Sam Goody, any customer who wishes to purchase a music CD produced by Sony will be forced to provide food and shelter for one RIAA officer who will live with that customer as long as the Sony CD is in the home. The officer will spring into action each time the CD is inserted into a computer CD ROM drive. As long as the CD is in the drive he or she will look over the customers shoulder to ensure no unauthorized “ripping” or copying is taking place. If the officer observes any such illicit behavior, he or she will immediately call the “Sony Home Watch Program” to report the offender. Special attention will be taken to catch as many students, grandparents and children under the age of 12 as possible.

When reached for comment, a Sony executive said, “We had no idea our customers were so smart and we are baffled they have a problem with us installing hidden files that can’t be removed”.

Any store that specializes in luggage. Seattle and umbrellas go hand in hand. I figured Macy’s or Nordstrom would carry good quality umbrellas but they only carried the cheap ones that don’t last through one wind and rain storm. Bergman luggage had a nice selection of high quality umbrellas that should last at least a few seasons in Seattle.

Is Google the new Microsoft? The spotlight is shining brightly on Google (and its stock price) but people are already griping that they wield too much power. Then again, it should be much easier to switch web services than operating systems. Are we any better off trusting Google with our data than we are Microsoft? Whatever the outcome I’m thrilled to see competition thriving in the industry. I wonder what would happen if Microsoft were to spin off a dozen or so small companies and free them to create cool products? Couldn’t the small team approach used at Google work for Microsoft as well? If I were Bill I’d start by spinning off Xbox and MySpaces. Both of those groups have great ideas and know how to generate excitement.

Sprint announced a new wireless music download service which sounds very interesting until the price ($2.50 per song) is mentioned. Is there a market for people willing to pay more than twice the iTunes price per song? Then again, I’m probably not the type Sprint is targeting since I don’t understand the hoopla surrounding ringtones either. But I like the idea just not the price.

This should be illegal. I cannot believe that Sony feels it’s ok to install this crap on people’s computers. On NPR Technology they interviewed a spokesman from Sony who said, “Most people don’t know what a rootkit is so it shouldn’t concern them”. It’s hard to imagine that level of arrogance. Virus writers are already taking advantage of this rootkit. Sony assumes everyone is a pirate, and tactics such as this surely drive some of us back to P2P, Usenet and Bit Torrent. I’m sure this same junk will show up in games and DVDs. Download the Rootkitrevealer to see if you’ve been hit. The EFF has published a list of infected Sony-BMG CDs.

Nov 11 update: Stung by bad publicity, Sony halts anti-piracy CDs until they can come up with a scheme that’s much more difficult to detect.

The web is where it’s at. I no longer look forward to installing a box of shrink-wrapped software on my computer no matter how cool it may be. I remember driving to Software Etc and purchasing a game called Police Detective which came on 22 floppy disks. That was 1993 and it took over an hour to install the game on my 486DX. Even the first version of Windows 95 I purchased came on a dozen or so floppies. Slowly, games and programs were released on CD. Now, some of the larger ones are released on DVD although not as quickly as many thought.

We now arrive at the Google Age of software where applications are released online at a rapid pace. Thousands of users test the apps, Google listens, and changes are made quickly. The patches and updates are seamless to the user. The thought of having to go to a website like Windows Update, install the correct Active X controls and then have it search your machine and finally download updates and reboot is so 1999. And that’s after all the time I spent installing the software in the first place!

I look forward to the day when packaged software is history. At the very least, offer your software for download. Better yet, put it on the web where I can reach it from any machine and improve, tweak and patch it while I’m busy getting work done. It’s not my job to baby-sit the program.

I came across this tracker for iPod content tonight called Podtropolis. I sure wish I could easily move content off my DirecTivo to my iPod but this isn’t a bad option at all.

Two of my favorite iPod related sites with excellent reviews and opinion: Playlist and iLounge.

A list of my favorite podcasts. I’ve linked to Yahoo descriptions since not everyone has iTunes installed.

60 Minutes
Digital Life
Nerd TV
NPR – Motley Fool Profiles
NPR Technology
Rocketboom
Slate Magazine
This Week in Tech
Z100 Phone Taps

I broke down and bought one of the new Apple iPods with video. I’ve been getting more into podcasting and was tired of moving files back and forth from iPodder to my iRiver mp3 player. I was hoping that iTunes would make the process easier as well as allow me to view video. Plus, it just looks so dang cool.

After two weeks with the new iPod, I’m so confident that I made the right decision that I sold my iRiver H-120 on Craigslist. The new iPod and iTunes are not perfect but the sum of their parts more than make up for a few shortcomings. Here are my thoughts on both iTunes and iPod:

The color screen is very nice looking. I ripped and encoded Batman Begins and The Office and then moved them over to the iPod and have been watching both on my commute each morning. I can’t see myself watching hours of video at a single setting, but it’s a great solution for catching the video podcast of Rocketboom each morning. If you’re interested in encoding your own video for iPod playback checkout DVD Decrypter and Videora. If you have kids, make sure to grab the Pixar short called “Boundin” off iTunes. My three kids have watched it about ten times and can’t stop laughing.

ITunes works well as an mp3 organizer, not so great for mp3 playback. I’ve been spoiled with the Izotope Ozone DSP plug-in for Q-player. I haven’t been able to find many DSP plug-ins for iTunes on the PC. But playlist creation is straightforward and the way in which it works with the iPod is a huge time saver. I’m no longer spending 30 to 40 minutes a night orgainzing and uploading my podcasts.

ITunes and Podcasting go hand in hand. Compared to dealing with iPodder, iTunes makes it much easier to find and download your favorite podcasts to the iPod. Apple has added several small touches that make for an excellent user experience in this area. I especially enjoy how easy it is to see all available downloads for a specific show and chose only those that I wish to download to my PC and upload to my iPod. I can’t imagine there is a better solution for those managing lots of podcasts. The iPod even organizes your video podcasts into a folder automatically.

The iPod just feels right in my hand. I know some will discount this but Apple seems to have taken great pains to ensure the device just feels right. From its rounded underside to the gorgeous clean lines, Apple makes everything else feel pedestrian. Nothing on the iPod feels out of place or tacked on.

Only a few areas for improvement I’ve found so far. Video playback within iTunes for Pixar shorts I purchased was terrible. I had to cut and paste the videos and use QuickTime Pro to get each video working properly. A remote would be a nice. Included headphones are still embarrassing. Just toss them and grab a pair of Sennheiser PX100s. Can’t get it to sync contacts with Outlook 2003.

Overall experience with both iTunes and the iPod has been very good. I keep reading about Microsoft releasing an “iPod killer” anytime to get them back in the game. What they don’t seem to understand is that it’s not a single product that makes the Apple experience so enjoyable. Rather it’s the combination of the various iPods, iTunes software and music store. Chris Pirillo is right that the software included in all other mp3 player is worse than terrible. But Microsoft is going to have to put out something a whole lot better than Media Player. I just don’t see Microsoft making much headway against Apple for the foreseeable future. As much as I enjoyed my iRiver player, it feels old compared to my new iPod even though I’m giving up some features. The iPod doesn’t do quite as much as it did, but the iPod does the most important tasks so much better that it’s hard not to admire what Apple has done. OK, I’ll lay off the Apple flavored Kool-Aid for a few days.

As I went through the checkout line at Safeway last night I noticed “Attack of the Blogs” was the cover story on Forbes Magazine. I decided to pick it up and see what all the fuss is about. I read the entire article on the train into work this morning and have concluded this is the most negative article about blogs I’ve come across in the mainstream press. It makes many bloggers out to be petty and vindictive people who spend most of their time spreading lies. The article goes on giving examples of people and businessines who have been brought to their knees by bloggers who have attacked their company or product. The article gives several suggestions on how companies can fight back against the bloggers. Some of the suggestions sound reasonable until they mention “attacking the host” and “sue the blogger” as viable options.

On a side note: This is the first article on blogging I’ve read that doesn’t mention Scoble or Winer. Very strange indeed.