"panache and flair"

Based on everything I've read in the last 15 years, including the years when Jobs ruled, and when he was out on his bum, nobody should doubt he is more than panache and flair.

I honestly believe it is Steve Jobs, warts and all(and btw, read "ICon", his bio which is not exactly a puff piece), that has made Apple the legendary company it is in technology and innovation. Nothing is black and white, and he hardly qualifies as angelic, but he is clearly chiefly responsible for Apple's dramatic success.

If I thought he would be out of Apple soon, for whatever health, legal or other reason, and I deduced it without insider info before the stock tanked, I'd be out of AAPL in a New York minute. Right now, I don't have a clue as to how he's doing healthwise (other than spin), or whether he's personally got serious "backdating" liability, but if he goes down or out, I believe so does Apple (at least for the foreseeable future)

Weighing a Switch to a Mac

Fair and balanced NYTimes article?

http://tinyurl.com/km4js

lango, I've read summaries such as:

"The Complaint alleges that the defendants breached their fiduciary duties and colluded with one another to: (1) improperly backdate grants of Apple stock options to various Apple executives in violation of the Company's shareholder-approved stock option plans; (2) improperly record and account for the backdated stock options in violation of GAAP; (3) improperly take tax deductions based on the backdated stock options in violation of the Tax Code; and (4) produce and disseminate to the Company's shareholders false financial statements and other SEC filings that improperly recorded and accounted for the backdated option grants thereby concealing the improper backdating of stock options."

If you have citations to the actual court documents, I would be happy to read those if they contain more specific facts and claims.

lango, I respond

just not to your satisfaction, i.e.,to every jot and tittle, provocation, and endless diatribe. When I see something you post that I would like to respond to, I first have to ask myself, "Am I ready for this?, an ongoing slogfest of unknown dimension?"

KCMW, thanks, but
I think you place too much emphasis on the word "garbage" (which is only a metaphor for "quality of the information" in the aphorism GIGO- take a look at the sites I referenced on Babbage etc). If the input info is strong, the output reliability increases. If the input info is weak, the output reliability decreases. This is not rocket science.

I don't dispute the usefulness of an estimate or probability, just that if the information used to calculate that estimate or probability is questionable, the usefulness is less. If the input parameters into the weather model are good, the estimate is better (assuming of course, the model is a good one- actually I partnered a company which used an artificial intelligence model to play commodities and to predict weather for the military, both of which were...um..of doubtful success ). But I digress.

Lipstick on a pig doth not a lady make.

lango, GIGO

"...the results of a computation are only as reliable as the data you input."




http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-gar1.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garbage_in,_garbage_out
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/g/garbage_in_garbage_out.html

Your taking umbrage with the word "garbage" is misplaced and a bit defensive, in all due respect. I don't think that assigning arbitrary numbers to various risk factors amounts to real information yielding meaningful guidance. It merely puts a gloss of arithmetic on a mess of unknowns. I'm sorry I don't know how to say it any other way and I can't respond to everything you wrote in your rather long post other than to say I too am worried about what may happen to Apple.

OT-Poor Texas Penguins :(

Life is dicey if you're a penguin in Texas

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2006/08/four_penguins_d.html

KCMW, I still think that an Adobe deal

with or through Apple, where Adobe promotes the latest PC version of Photoshop to "macintel high enders", who would use BootCamp (or maybe even Parallels if it's fast enough) until the fat binary versions are out. This alleviates the need for giant horsepower with Rosetta on intense Photoshop work and might be cheaper for users than buying bigger machines than they need pending the fat binary release. I think it could help high end mac sales since no one knows for sure when Adobe will come through with the holy grail.

The Adobe deal that Bootz found last week upgrading CS2 for 300 bucks shows that Adobe might be amenable to a "PC version now/mactel version later" promotional deal.

Excellent,tommy eom.

lango, putting numbers on probable outcomes

doesn't make the risks more quantifiable, it just adds smoke. We simply don't yet know. The old adage, "garbage in/garbage out..

The SH lawsuits at this the complaint stage don't tell us much and the SEC hasn't charged anybody yet. Is AAPL now more risky, with the Pixar backdating news adding to the uncertainty on Apple? Of course, but the company could sell a lot of computers and iPods over the next several months as well. Which is a more powerful effect? I dunno, we'll see..the market in AH sez 65.2 .. How it all affects management, personnel,esprit de corps,etc, we'll have to wait on that too.

As to Steve's condition, mental state etc, I've seen him looking better, but he's had a hell of a lot on his plate lately along with last year's illness, but to misquote Mark Twain one more time: "Rumors of his death are greatly exaggerated". Parceling out more of the keynote to his lieutenants is not necessarily a bad thing- it may even be a good thing giving more face time to people he relies on and will even more in the future.

OT-Boots, I liked the Whole thing

particularly the feeding chicks and the ducks in the creek.

I noticed a few Huff stones in the cemetery with just birth dates. Maybe laying early claim to scarce space in the family plot? In the east, people buy cemetery plots beforehand but I've never seen the stones go in early with just a birth date. I own a plot somewhere north of NYC,(I forget where) and some relative in Virginia recently invited me to bed down with her family near Richmond. I told her I'd let her know... :)

options? 0 em.

thanks, clearsailing..nice tripod selection em.

WLD, agreed em.

OT-Painter's good too

I haven't used it since the old Fractal Painter days, before Corel took over.

tomm, lots of choices with Adobe :>) em

Funneee, Bootz em.

OT,thanks, Bootz,
I did use BS night scene but overrode it with ISO 200, instead of the 50 it offers, increasing the noise. Also, I did it to reduce wear-n-tear time on my finger holding the camera steady on the fence pole. Like I said earlier though, tripods are a bummer with a subcompact camera and portability. My primary modes of transport in NYC are the bicycle and walking.

OT thanks, KCMW

I agree that a tripod is better for this kind of thing. I stuck the camera on a wobbly fence with my forefinger...not really recommended technique, but I had a great viewing angle there. In answer to your cable release question, the self-timer (2 seconds is convenient) is great for shots that aren't moving like this one- the lovers were lip-locked for minutes)I put the EV control onto the right-left button which is reasonably easy to control in increments without moving the camera if you're careful. (You have a choice of EV, ISO, or whiteness control on that button- one of them only)

Yes, I've seen Grande Jatte and NY's Met has a good-sized study of it as well. Noise is fun to play with since it's there a lot on dim lit shots, like it or not.

OT Bootz,that Adobe offer is tempting

I only have Elements 2, and a classic old PS 2(!). The Elements came with a Wacom tablet so I guess I'm eligible...will think on it...I don't know if I need that power.

I was relieved last evening when AAPL limited the loss a tad. I took a bike ride in Central Park, beautiful night, and saw this scene at 8:45 under a lovely moon. I tried multiple exposures around 2 seconds or so and combined them to get more detail in shadows etc,ISO 200, a "hands on" version of the HDR software I've been reading about which automatically(?)combines them. Since registering the multiple images is so critical, I wonder if cloning isn't sometimes better, so you can line things up easier. (unless you run around with a tripod, but that defeats the point of the Casio, which is presently my everything camera)

THE LOVERS

Bootz,buyers to sellers ratio 2:1

which is very unusual for AAPL (on rising price of 67.8). Lots of folks see it as a buying op. :~)

So far, not as bad pre-opening price
as was talked about last night.

What I can't figure is why it takes so long for the company to determine what actually happened. How many people get, or got, stock options.. and how much math is involved in ascertaining what the grants were, numbers,dates, prices etc? Is the investigation an exercise in determining what happened or rather massaging the facts?Don't computers do this work rather easily? Anyone with some real world experience in these matters please comment.

As to criminal liability, I think that's a pretty remote possibility at this point. As to the Stevester doing time, I don't even want to think about it. Reminds me of Mark Twain's quip that "rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated".

Thing is they didn't get the news out...

<<Conspiracy theories aside, get the bad news out this week which should be temporary forgotten by Monday when the the great news hits the market>>

they just warned of something ominous pending, but no clue as to what's exactly involved.

That's like Chinese water torture...drip...drip...drip

The total exposure might be limited (and hopefully doesn't diminish the new mactel sales and prospects etc), but the uncertainty is a freakin killer IMHO

OT-nice shot, Bootz

what camera, lens, etc?

I liked your starfish plumbing too :)

That's so neat, Blue...enjoy em.

Blue, do screenshots of yourself

and send them to your wife at the office to remind her what you look like while you both are at work. :>0)

PS Another glorious AAPL day !!

dholt, excellent, I have to try it!

thanks, baldrick,

apparently, Skype for Mac with Video has just been released but with a heavy cautionary note.

"Skype for Mac with Video is currently a preview version.

That means we’re still working on it and that some features may not work. The Video Preview of Skype for Mac is only recommended for experienced users and should not be used on a production system that you depend on."

Preview release: 1.5.0.52. Release date: July 26, 2006

http://www.skype.com/download/skype/macosx/videopreview.html

dill, is skype audio/video available

for PPC macs?

OT- This is classic

In the aftermath of the "Hanoi Hilton" Vietnam era, a conservative Republican congressman sought a way to allow our courts to punish mistreatment of American servicemen in violation of the Geneva Coonventions. Now the administration, fearful of the consequences of the recent Supreme Court Hamdan decision that Americans could be charged with war crimes, is trying to change that law. What's good for the goose should not be good for the gander!

"An obscure law approved by a Republican-controlled Congress a decade ago has made the Bush administration nervous that officials and troops involved in handling detainee matters might be accused of committing war crimes, and prosecuted at some point in U.S. courts.

Senior officials have responded by drafting legislation that would grant U.S. personnel involved in the terrorism fight new protections against prosecution for past violations of the War Crimes Act of 1996. That law criminalizes violations of the Geneva Conventions governing conduct in war and threatens the death penalty if U.S.-held detainees die in custody from abusive treatment."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/27/AR2006072701908.html

OT- Blue, AIM is AIM

so, anyone on a PC with a webcam can communicate with your iChat with iSight on AIM. I used to do it with my nephew on a PC with a cheapie webcam. We had terrible echo though, which I always thought was poor support for AIM on his Dell (placement of mike vis-a-vis earphone)or the cheapie webcam. He tells me that SKYPE offers a better audio-video solution but I am not sure if it's available on the mac yet.

Good luck with your new toy, have fun !

Hearings starting on hedge funds on cspan3

You can watch it online if not on cable tv (I'm having trouble with both at the moment. Normally cspan3 online is excellent)

Should be interesting to see if Congress decides it should regulate them. Right now, they do not and let the funds regulate themselves(?)

zune interconnectivity

"Whether it's a portable media device, or a phone, or the Xbox or Media Center PC, the idea is you can access your entertainment from anywhere."

Another example of MSFT's deserved rep for bloatware, bells and whistles that are worthless.

To quote Keyser Soze in connection to all purpose phones:

"Someday phones may include complete kitchens, including a full set of Ginsu knives. I just want to make a call once in a while without cutting my ear on a fork."

Bootz, please be more specific :0) eom.

clearsailing, everything costs something

I originally thought about MSFT adopting designs that are compatible with the iPod array of accessories etc. I think it's more than the form factor and connectors. Depending on the accessory, it also might include accounting for where the selection controls are, and in the case of the new iPod running shoe device, probably the electronics as well.

All of these considerations affect the freedom the designers have to build the device they want and may impose limitations they don't want in size, weight etc. In other words, making the compatibility imposes some kind of cost.

And of course, if they make the new unit too "compatible", they just may buy one big lawsuit from Apple for the patent, or design infringement etc. All may be formidable obstacles for the barbarian invaders of the iPod empire.

Of course, we're just gonna have to wait and see, before we actually know what we're talking about :>0)

MPaq, interesting new tidbits
but the music player part of the scheme still has to compete with the ipod "infrastructure", by which I mean the huge ipod collection of accessories, car installations, speaker docks, mittens, socks, shoes blah blah,that people already own.

It will be interesting to see it all unfold in the next few months.

another zing about zune

This is a recap of a few of the last posts I've read about zune:

-take MSFT music initiative seriously
-what features and price points etc does MSFT have in mind?
-no one has had the resources to throw at it that MSFT does and
-think about the MSFT user base

My response- caution is a good idea in investing, particularly when a big gorilla wants to play in your sandbox. But other than that, we don't know a darn thing yet and to quote the "legendary" Z, so far it's all gum flapping. I am not worried at all about it at least for this holiday season. As for Softie's second, third or fourth shot at it, heck, they do have a lot of dough, but life's too short to worry now.

Sony, Yahoo Offer DRM-Free Downloadable Song

http://tinyurl.com/ps6ec

To me, this could shake up the whole DRM world and could be a big threat to iTunes,iPod etc, although charging two bucks a song is whack.

S.E.C. reverses itself/now will question Morgan Stanley CEO

By WALT BOGDANICH and GRETCHEN MORGENSON
Published: July 22, 2006

The Securities and Exchange Commission has asked John J. Mack, the chief executive of Morgan Stanley, to testify in its insider-trading investigation of a prominent hedge fund, reversing a decision that is at the center of several government inquiries into the agency’s handling of the case.

At the same time, the S.E.C.’s Office of the Inspector General has reopened its inquiry into the firing of Gary Aguirre, the S.E.C. lawyer who said his superiors stopped him from taking Mr. Mack’s testimony last summer in connection with his investigation of the hedge fund, Pequot Capital Management.

The inspector general had earlier concluded, without interviewing Mr. Aguirre, that the S.E.C. did not mishandle his firing, according to a government official who was briefed on the matter. Mr. Aguirre was fired last September, just days after his superiors had praised his work in the Pequot investigation and awarded him a two-step pay increase.
......
http://tinyurl.com/f8gug

The SEC took a lot of sh__ to finally do the right thing. Check out the whole article for the nasty details.

"zune" is to "zine"

as tune is to teen

as Softie is to hip

NOT