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And now, for something completely different...
More here:
http://kirai.bitacoras.com/bill-gates-masajeando-a-steve-jobs/
and
http://www.valleywag.com/tech/bill-gates/morning-frivolity-geeks-gone-wild-in-a-japanese-bath-178594...
Apple Introduces the New U2 iPod
Tuesday June 6, 8:30 am ET
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060606/sftu071.html?.v=55
CUPERTINO, Calif., June 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Apple® today introduced the new iPod® U2 Special Edition as part of a continued partnership between Apple, U2 and Universal Music Group (UMG). The new U2 iPod is based on the fifth generation 30GB iPod and holds up to 7,500 songs, 25,000 photos or over 75 hours of video and features a distinctive, all-black stainless steel enclosure, red Click Wheel and custom engraving of U2 band member signatures. U2 iPod customers will also receive 30 minutes of exclusive U2 video downloadable from the iTunes® Music Store. The new U2 iPod is available immediately for $329.
"We're thrilled to continue working with one of the greatest bands in the world to bring U2 fans a special edition of the world's best digital music player," said Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president of worldwide iPod Product Marketing. "With its distinctive new design, including an all-black stainless steel enclosure, the new U2 iPod is sure to be a hit."
Featuring seamless integration with the iTunes Music Store and the iTunes digital music jukebox, the new U2 iPod features Apple's patent pending Auto-Sync technology that automatically downloads digital music, podcasts, photos, audiobooks, home movies, music videos and popular television shows onto the iPod and keeps them up-to-date whenever the iPod is plugged into a Mac® or Windows computer using USB 2.0. The new U2 iPod features up to 14 hours of battery life for music playback.*
Pricing & Availability
The new 30GB U2 iPod is available immediately for a suggested retail price of $329 (US) through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. The new U2 iPod includes earbud headphones, USB 2.0 cable, a case and dock insert. U2 iPod customers will also receive a coupon for 30 minutes of exclusive U2 video content downloadable from the iTunes Music Store.**
Fun With Dashboard Widgets...
Ever wonder how hard can it be to make a widget? I've been trying now and again, and after some code mucking, we're ready to debut version 1.0 of our own dashboard widget!
The widget acts like any other Apple Dashboard widget. You can activate it and move it to any portion of your screen. Utilizing RSS, the widget will check the site every 15 minutes for new posts, and will display their headline and date in the widget, so you can see if the site has been updated, and click directly to the post.
In fact, the 1.0 version of the widget has all posts available from the site, going back to the beginning of the year!
A screenshot is here:
To download, click here: http://www.louisgray.com/files/lgraycom_widget.zip
MTV Online Music, Video Store to Launch Wednesday
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060515/mtv_online_music.html
MTV Enters Online Music Fray With Launch of New Download Service
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- For years, MTV Networks Inc. sat on the sidelines while Apple Computer Inc., RealNetworks Inc. and others racked up sales of music downloads. Now the cable network group that helped popularize music videos two decades ago is entering the online music fray with URGE, a new service that makes its public beta debut on Wednesday.
URGE comes integrated into the newest version of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Media Player, which users of Microsoft's Windows will receive in coming weeks as an upgrade. Prior to that, the player upgrade will be available for download at the URGE and Microsoft Web sites.
At launch, URGE will have more than 2 million tracks, which can be purchased individually at 99 cents or as full albums starting at around $9.95.
The service also will offer unlimited downloads at a monthly rate of $9.95, or $14.95 for the ability to transfer songs to any of more than 100 compatible portable music players.
Initially, URGE will also feature streaming videos, with video downloads becoming available for purchase later this year.
URGE will also be the featured music service on Microsoft's media player, which will continue to have built-in links to several other services.
The company has begun clearing content from its vault of exclusive appearances by recording artists on staples such as "TRL" and "MTV Unplugged" for sale on URGE, said Van Toffler, president of MTV Networks Music Group.
The tie-in to MTV should also help URGE sell consumers on the upside of subscription services better than others have to date, said analyst Phil Leigh with Inside Digital Media.
"The thing that works to their advantage is they have a well-recognized brand that is popular to a demographic that is going to be receptive to purchasing digital music," Leigh said.
Still, URGE enters an online music market struggling to compete with online piracy and the dominance of Apple's iTunes Music Store and its market-leading iPod digital music player.
And like established rivals RealNetworks' Rhapsody and Napster Inc., URGE is not compatible with Apple's Macintosh computers or its market-leading iPod digital music player.
That incompatibility, combined with the availability of music on Internet file-sharing networks, has made subscription music plans a tough sell.
Earlier this year, Napster said it had more than a half-million subscribers. RealNetworks, which doesn't break out the number of Rhapsody subscribers, says it has more than 1.7 million paying customers for the service and its cadre of radio streaming plans combined.
Apple's iTunes Music Store, which doesn't offer a subscription plan, has sold more than 1 billion songs since its launch three years ago, while more than 50 million iPods have been purchased since 2001.
"Whether the consumer really wants a service that's only compatible with non-iPod players is going to be the big issue," said Steve Gordon, entertainment attorney and author of "The Future of the Music Business."
Toffler acknowledges the popularity of Apple's store and player, but argues both the a la carte singles model and the subscription business are still in their infancy.
"Only 5 percent of music sales happen digitally," he said. "Hopefully, through the TV channels we have and the dot-com sites ... we can educate people about the virtues of subscriptions. It's not about selling a million singles."
View Your iTunes Library on the Web
Example: http://www.louisgray.com/music/
I've mentioned KavaSoft on this board before, but the one-person company just released an update to their iTunes Catalog software which dramatically improves their online cataloging features - making it appear just as you were viewing your iTunes library, and it browses your personal music as if you were at the iTunes music store.
If you have a Web site, or just want to poke around with one of the very best independent software applications for the Mac I've ever seen, check it out.
http://www.kavasoft.com/iTunesCatalog/
And it handles large libraries just fine, as you can tell with my 3,400+ song, 18 days, 28.5 Gig demo.
http://www.louisgray.com/music/
- louismg
Avie's Millions
One need only look at the SEC data to see that at the beginning of March, Avie sold $20 million in AAPL stock, and was left with only a smattering of shares. This is on top of a $22 million sell in February and a $21 million sell in January.
http://www.secform4.com/insider/showhistory.php?cik=1214091
In all, since August of 2005, Tevanian sold more than $136 million in Apple stock.
When you've sold it all, and there's no upside left... there's no upside. It's redundant, but it looks like he took his $136M, on top of all other selling he's done to date, and moved on. Wouldn't you?
- louismg
Avie Tevanian to Leave Apple
Adios Avie
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=19&entry_id=3821
Avadis "Avie" Tevanian, Apple Computer's Chief Technology Officer, is leaving the firm to "pursue other interests," the company confirmed Monday. Tevanian, who came to Apple in 1997 from his previous post working for Steve Jobs at NeXT, played a key role in developing Mac OS X, the company's widely adored operating system.
Although Apple wouldn't say what Tevanian's plans are, Vice President of Worldwide Corporate Communications Katie Cotton wrote in an e-mail that, "He plans to take some time off in the interim. He hasn't left yet, though. His last official day is March 31."
Tevanian, who is considered an operating systems whiz and, is also a Carnegie Mellon graduate. This was culled from an interview he gave the Pittsburgh university's computer science department:
Question: Did you ever have a moment of epiphany while a student at Carnegie Mellon?
Tevanian: Yes. The day I met Steve Jobs. NeXT, the company he was CEO of then, was very interested in using the research we had done (the Mach operating system) and this was when I heard just how interested he was in it. I ended that day with a feeling of - it is time for me to get in gear, finish my Ph.D, and get out in the working world. The end result was that I made it through the Ph.D. program in only 4.5 years - which is very short for the CMU CS Ph.D. program - especially in the systems area.
Just another example of the Steve Jobs school of motivation. Maybe Avie had enough motivation after nearly 10 years?
http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0306tevanian.html
March 27, 2006 - Apple's software engineering chief of nearly a decade, Avadis "Avie" Tevanian, Jr., will leave the company at the end of March, the San Francisco Chronicle reported tonight on its Web site.
Apple confirmed Tevanian's departure today, according to a post by Chronicle reporter Alan T. Saracevic on the newspaper's technology blog, The Tech Chronicles.
Tevanian will leave to "pursue other interests" according to the Chronicle. "He plans to take some time off in the interim," Vice President of Worldwide Corporate Communications Katie Cotton told the newspaper in an email. "He hasn't left yet, though. His last official day is March 31."
More Re: Jobs Dumping Stock
the news is in the links that have the story wrong
And that news continues to spread.
From TheStreet.com:
http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/comment/investing/10275689.html
As a longtime Mac user and fan -- but no longer an Apple shareholder -- allow me to start a minor firestorm: Apple's chart looks like hell. The stock is down 30%, and Steve Jobs just dumped almost $300 million worth of shares. So at $59, with the company about to turn 30, is Apple a buy, hold or sell?
SEC Form Link:
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/320193/000118143106019230/xslF345X02/rrd111744.xml
Guess I missed it.
Carry on, all.
Jobs Sells 45 Percent of AAPL Stock, $295 Million Worth
I'm surprised nobody noted this report here... but do you see this as a sign of confidence, a sign of greed, or other?
Jobs dumps Apple stock
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/24/jobs_apple_stock/
Insider Trade Data
http://biz.yahoo.com/t/45/4149.html
AppleInsider claims this was to pay for taxes.
Apple's Jobs pays $295M in taxes on 10M vested shares
http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1621
No wonder we are seeing AAPL trend down, eh?
- louismg
Microsoft Delays Office 2007 As Well...
http://news.com.com/2100-1012_3-6053504.html
Fresh on the heels of a delay in broad availability of Windows Vista, Microsoft confirmed late Thursday that it is also pushing the mainstream launch of Office 2007 to next year.
As with Vista, Microsoft hopes to finish the code for Office 2007 this year and make it available to some large businesses by the end of December.
"We have, however, decided to coordinate with Windows Vista to hit retail store shelves in January 2007," a Microsoft representative said in an e-mail to CNET News.com. "We believe this will provide an easier experience for consumers and retailers alike."
Microsoft announced the Vista delay Tuesday. With the twin push backs, the PC industry's holiday season is shaping up to be quite different than the one originally expected. Microsoft has said it doesn't expect the Vista delay to dent PC sales in the fourth quarter, but analysts have largely disagreed.
Microsoft is making major changes with the new Office, which will feature all-new XML-based file formats as well as a completely overhauled user interface, among other changes.
By pushing out the Office launch date, however, Microsoft will regain the ability to launch the two products in tandem. Microsoft had been planning a massive fourth quarter launch for the products.
Earlier on Thursday, Microsoft announced it was naming Office head honcho Steven Sinofsky to head a new Windows and Windows Live development group. Microsoft said Sinofsky will work with Microsoft Business Division President Jeff Raikes in the coming weeks to help determine who will lead the Office business after his move.
The change in launch timing for Office 2007 was noted earlier Thursday by Jupiter Research analyst Joe Wilcox on his Microsoft Monitor blog.
Microsoft in November had released an initial test version of Office 2007, then known by its Office 12 code name. A broader test version is planned for this spring.
Early Google Finance Reviews Mixed
Business 2.0 says...
Google Finance flops?
http://biz.yahoo.com/hbusn/060321/032106_business2_browser0231.html
Years ago, Google's statement of corporate philosophy told users that the search engine didn't "do horoscopes, financial advice, or chat." Well, one out of three ain't bad. Google Finance's launch, right on the heels of the Google Talk chat service, leaves only horoscopes for Google to conquer. And much of the blogosphere is panning the new financial service. Venture capitalist Paul Kedrosky calls it "all whiz, no bang." Forrester Research analyst Charlene Li says users of sites like Yahoo Finance and MSN Money are unlikely to switch. And Business 2.0 senior writer Om Malik, in perhaps the most cutting critique, compares using Google Finance to "watching Al Pacino in a stinker like Two for the Money." Maybe Google will have better luck with Google Horoscopes.
GigaOM says:
Google Finance Disappoints
http://gigaom.com/2006/03/21/google-finance-needs-some-muscle/
The much awaited launch of Google Finance service finally happened - in beta of course. And in one word, it is simply disappointing. Its like watching Al Pacino in a stinker like Two for the money. Tony Montana was so long ago!
But back to Google Finance. After playing around with it for about 15 minutes, it is obvious that it will be a long time, and I mean long time in Internet years that is, before Google Finance really catches up to Yahoo Finance, which in fact is the gold standard. (Just by the virtue of lack of competitors, as it might be.)
My inner cynic says that the reason Google launched this service this quickly is because it wants to capture those high CPM/CPC dollars from stock and mortgage brokerages. Yahoo Finance is like an ATM for guys in Sunnyvale, and Google till recently had nothing to capture the “exuberant enthusiasm in the stock and real estate markets.”
But TechCrunch likes it...
http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/03/21/google-finance-lots-of-flash-ajax
The rumor is that Google internally tested Google Finance through two full versions before releasing it today, and the extra attention shows. This is a great looking product overall. And they’ve taken things at least a step further than Yahoo Finance in its current form.
Google Pages vs. Safari
http://pages.google.com/unsupported
Sorry, your web browser is not yet supported.
Our programming wizards tried their darndest to get Google Page Creator to work with as many browsers as possible. But alas, even the most expert practitioners of web sorcery must sleep now and again, lest their JavaScript magic run dry.
So, for now, you'll need either to download a new version of Firefox or download a new version of Internet Explorer (Windows only), and then come right back.
Some features to Google Finance...
Start here:
http://finance.google.com/finance?q=AAPL&btnG=Search
It ties in stock moves to news. (As IF they're related). For example, in AAPL's chart, you see (A), (B), (C) and (D). Click on one of the letters, and you see a news piece highlighted. The idea is that one is tied to the other.
Also, click "Max" above the chart. Then you can move the cursor left or right and see historical prices. That's fairly nifty.
Google's AAPL stock board would be here:
http://groups.google.com/group/google.finance.22144
Use and abuse at your own risk.
(Notably... the first post was SPAM...)
- louismg
Google Finance Debuts Tonight
http://finance.google.com/finance
Rather than forge their own way with a "Moneygle" site or some other such nonsense, this page is ripped right from the Yahoo! playbook. With Yahoo! Finance having a significant headstart, Google Finance aims to offer stock charts, financial news, chat rooms and many of the familiar items we've come to expect from Yahoo! Finance and other similar sites on the Web.
Enjoy,
- louismg
Google's Latest Announcements
I haven't been too overwhelmed with what Google's been up to lately. Their Video service is junk, and if what you said about Pages is any indication, it's more of the same.
Last week, I wrote that Google was "Stretching for Announcements"
http://feeds.feedburner.com/LouisgraycomLive?m=241
The quality of their products, and recent announcements for itsy-bitsy features like sports scores through a toll-free number, aren't what I'd expect from a $100 Billion company (by market cap or revenue). Don't get me wrong, I don't use any other search engine and GMail is fine, but they bought Google Earth and Blogger, and are just as responsible for those "introductions" as Microsoft has been for a lot of their apps. (i.e.... not responsible)
On the Web creation side, after years of using BareBones BBEdit, and dabbling with TypePad, I switched to RapidWeaver from Realmacsoftware. It's not perfect, but it's great - and well beyond what I expect Google Pages to be.
More here: "The Site's Secret Sauce"
http://feeds.feedburner.com/LouisgraycomLive?m=141
iPod: Not Just Entertainment
When you think of Apple's iPod, you probably have some images in your head - the white earbuds connecting to the device, or the neon silhouette ads prominent in their commercials and billboards. You may think of "1,000 songs in your pocket", or the newly introduced iPods that play video, including TV shows from the networks and select cable shows. But for me, my iPod is boring. I get it out when I need to get work done, and when I connect it to the home laptop, my wife knows I'm focused on work from the office.
The reason for this is that ever since acquiring my first iPod (a mere 12 hours after they were announced), I've used the iPod as the go-between portable hard drive between the home computer and that of the office. The iPod functions as backup storage for the company Web site, and the primary repository for day to day tasks, and archived activity. With 60 Gigabytes available and an ultra-fast Firewire connection, it's just as good as the local disk drive, and work stays in the same state from one machine to another. While it's true that nearly 30 Gigabytes of music is stored on the iPod, as well as my address book and a small handful of personal files, it's definitely a work device.
I've grown reliant on the iPod being available, which has only caused me grief in two instances - once when I left the device at home on a day of a presentation, and zipped back home to get it, missing an hour of office productivity, and the second, much more alarming, incident, when I left a previous iPod, with 20 Gigabytes of data on it, in the seat cover of a flight from Chicago to Baltimore. While I had done periodic backups of the data, it's sure that some data was irrecoverably lost, and whoever took the seat on the flight immediately following had a nice surprise in store - and they certainly weren't interested in letting me know they found it, for after repeated calls to the BWI airport, none was ever reported found. I ended up having to purchase the latest iPod the following weekend from the Apple store and started the arduous tasks of restoring the data from backups, e-mail attachments and whatever I could find - and have been much more diligent about backing up since.
Because I think of the device as my work iPod, it's plugged into the computer at the office first thing every morning Monday through Friday, rendering all its stored music unavailable to me. I've even considered getting a second iPod, a smaller one, just for listening to music at the office, without disturbing my coworkers. Truth is I don't know if I could do that, and still look professional enough while getting everything I need to done, so that idea hasn't manifested itself, but it may some time. It also would seem funny to lug in two iPods to go with the two computers I've already got in the cubicle (one Mac and one Dell), making things just a bit crowded.
My iPod is essential, but not for what most people think. It's a serious work device. A portable hard drive, backup device and yes, it does fit in my pocket.
CBS Sports & Apple Offer 2006 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament on the iTunes Music Store
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060314/sftu155.html?.v=8
Tuesday March 14, 4:46 pm ET
Condensed Versions of All 63 Games From CSTV Available With New iTunes 'Season Pass' for Just $19.99
NEW YORK and CUPERTINO, Calif., March 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CBS Sports and Apple® today announced they will bring the 2006 NCAA Division I Basketball Championship distributed by CBS Corporation's College Sports TV (CSTV) to the iTunes® Music Store (www.itunes.com). For the first time ever, college basketball fans can pay $1.99 per game for condensed versions of all the 2006 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball championship games. Customers can also choose the new "Season Pass" feature on iTunes for $19.99, and receive condensed versions of all 63 games the day after they are played for viewing on a computer or iPod®. Full-length versions of this year's semifinals and championship game, as well as compilations of buzzer beaters, upsets and memorable championship games from past NCAA Tournaments will also be available on iTunes.
The new "Season Pass" feature on iTunes is the easiest way to purchase the entire 2006 NCAA Tournament. Every game will automatically be placed in a customer's download queue the day after it airs on CBS. Customers will be notified about new game highlights as they become available via email, and can be downloaded once they log into iTunes.
In its first major deal since being acquired by CBS, and as a part of the Company's strategy to enhance its relationship with college sports fans, CSTV, in partnership with CBS Sports, will produce the condensed versions of CBS Sports' broadcasts. CSTV also will provide expert analysis and commentary on each game of the package, as well as utilize its vast collection of 250 college sports web sites to market the service to sports fans all over the country.
"While CBS Sports' coverage of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship remains the centerpiece of the March Madness experience, iTunes is a great way for viewers to catch games they miss or to keep their favorite moments for viewing on their iPod," said Sean McManus, president of CBS News and Sports. "This was how CBS envisioned the future when we made the bundled rights deal with the NCAA in 2003."
"We're thrilled to bring all of the 2006 NCAA Tournament action to college basketball fans on iTunes," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of iTunes. "With the new 'Season Pass' feature, fans can purchase and view highlights from every tournament game the day after it airs for just $1.99 per game or $19.99 for the whole tournament."
"Having the ability to watch condensed versions of every tournament game on your iPod brings a unique, new dimension to the NCAA March Madness experience," said Brian Bedol, president and CEO of CSTV. "The ability to watch 'games-to-go' that fans otherwise might have missed as their favorite teams travel down the Road to the Final Four is a great example of how CSTV continues to innovate and improve the college sports fan's experience."
The new highlight packages will feature condensed versions of all the games of the 2006 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship, as well as full-length versions of the National Semifinals and Championship Game. In addition, Thought Equity (www.thoughtequity.com), in conjunction with CSTV, is producing compilations of buzzer beaters, upsets and memorable championship games, which are included in classic game packages. Among those games are Duke's win over Kentucky in 1992 on Christian Laettner's last-second shot in the regional final; Jim Valvano's North Carolina State team that shocked Houston to win the 1983 NCAA Championship; North Carolina's victory over Georgetown from Michael Jordan's game-winning basket in 1982 to win the championship title; and Syracuse's freshman sensation Carmelo Anthony leading his team over Kansas to its first ever championship title in 2003.
Rumor: Apple iGame
http://stationa.net/?p=216
(Very likely to be an April Fool's joke edition)
Apple Enhancing iTunes Offerings
1. http://www.apple.com/itunes/videos/
(NEW) Season Pass
Buy the entire season of a TV show at a discount.
2. http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=129585258&s=143441
Law and Order SVU Added
(That's a good thing)
3. http://www.macnn.com/articles/06/03/09/apple.tweaks.podcasts/
Apple Enables Paid Podcasts (Rush Limbaugh cited as one reason)
"Limbaugh said that he has been working to Apple to achieve a solution to allow members of the (paid) Rush 24/7 service to access restricted content on iTunes: "There's no additional charge for the podcast service, but it's only available to members, and so having it downloadable via iTunes was not compatible with Apple's method of doing business. Well, that didn't stop us.... We have been working with the powers that be at Apple, and we have reached via technological advancement and software," according to a transcript on Limbaugh's website."
- louismg
Macally Power Adapter Arrived Today
fibait, I thought I'd let you know I picked up the macally power adapter after your recommendation, and it's up and running. The Apple power adapter was on again/off again, at best... and it will join its cohorts in our landfill shortly. The Apple power adapters may be fancy, but they're not that useful.
- louismg
In Storage, Apple Is Shining
http://gigaom.com/2006/03/07/in-storage-apple-is-shining
Given the stunning growth of iPod phenomenon and general good fiscal health of Apple, it is easy to overlook some of the progress the company is making in the enterprise markets, especially when it comes to storage. According to some reports, Apple’s storage products have been selling like hot croissants on a cold Parisian morning and at the end of “second quarter of 2005, the company had shipped 76 petabytes of storage.” The sad part is that Apple itself doesn’t keep people upto date on its progress in these markets.
Robert Cox, vice president of research, who tracks the storage business for Gartner says that in 2004, Apple did about $78 million in storage sales and were #12 ranked storage vendor in the world, but by end of 2005, Apple’s storage sales were around $185 million. The company had moved into the 10th spot overall. “They have done a good job of selling into the small and medium business market,” says Cox. (South Park uses Apple storage by the way.)
According to his estimates, nearly 40% o XServe RAIDs are connected to non-Mac OS servers. “They are in a good and a growing market, and have done a good job of building a reliable and easy to use device from commodity components,” says Cox. The network attached storage business is a $14.5 billion a year business, and the $185 million doesn’t exactly seem that very much. Their high quality products, are better priced compared to other name brand players such as EMC, Dell, HP, Sun and even Net App.
Do the math: the gigabyte-per-dollar ratio of Xserve RAID is the best in the world for Fibre Channel storage, and trumps most SCSI storage solutions as well. Xserve RAID offers up to 7TB of high-performance redundant storage at under $2 per gigabyte — a fraction of the cost of storage from Dell, HP, Sun or IBM.
Cox thinks that company will continue to do well in 2006 and should move up a notch or two in the world wide rankings. Apple, will have a tougher time, thereafter. It needs to transition from current generation technologies such as SATA and embrace SAScsi, a new architecture that can give Apple a big leg-up against fiber channel based storage devices. I wonder why Apple shies away from prompting well in the storage and server markets.
Macs on the Left, iPods on the Right
So, we already know that George W, Tony Blair and even the Pope have iPods...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4435639.stm
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/06/blair_ipod/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/06/pope_ipod/
Now, the left-wing blogosphere is unequivocally Mac.
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_03_05.php#007827
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/3/7/15328/37350
And not going back.
- louismg
Macs are cheaper than PCs by half
Monday March 6, 1:42 pm ET
http://biz.yahoo.com/hbusn/060306/022706_business2_browser0227.html
The last place you'd expect to find praise for a Mac is the pages of a PC trade magazine. But Network World columnist Winn Schwartau runs the numbers on what it truly costs to run a PC and a Mac in a business, and finds that a PC is nearly twice as expensive as a Mac when one takes support costs into account. Antivirus protection, firewalls, and IT labor to keep a PC secure and operational add up to a bill of $1,300 to $4,000 a year, according to Schwartau. Of course, there's one hitch in Schwartau's calculations: As the Mac gets more popular, it's becoming more of a hacker target, and protecting against those new threats could drive security and support costs up over time.
Going above and beyond
http://www.networkworld.com/best/2006/022706bestbreaker-schwartau.html
Selected by Winn Schwartau, president of Interpac, "On Security" columnist. Discuss MacTel.
In April 2005, Apple introduced the OS X 10.4, also known as Tiger. In January, it announced MacTel computing. And now imagine desktop and laptop computers that don't crash for months at a time. Imagine PCs that are close to immune to the endless train wrecks caused by viruses and worms. Imagine increasing the performance of a secure computing environment by as much as 400% overnight. Imagine an engineering company that builds and delivers properly integrated hardware, properly configured security default conditions - almost plug and play. Imagine a computing environment in which the endpoint is not a viable target for the bad guys. And imagine that the total cost of ownership for these benefits is lower than what you are paying.
No, I am not a converted Mac bigot. My company still uses WinTel machines for many things, but not those daily mission-critical tasks for which availability is the paramount security issue. My concerns are not that different from that of the typical small to midsize business or global enterprise. I want my computer to: work every time; be 100% compatible with my enterprise and applications; and have a high degree of immunity to the prevailing threats out of the box.
Corporations tend to ignore anything but WinTel machines, partly out of habit and partly because the Dell/HP/Network Associates/Symantec representatives are in their faces every day with next-day promises. Consider this the endless cycle of the heroin sale in IT. Macs also get ignored partly because they're so different, partly because they weren't quite ready for prime-time enterprise play and partly because they are more expensive then WinTel machines.
I chose to test this last thesis because price is a leading consideration in all aspects of IT operations and a fairly simple exercise. I designed a total cost of ownership (TCO) tool to see whether Apple's higher prices were justifiable. The criteria that go into a TCO go beyond per-box cost, per-seat operating system and Office licenses, and shipping.
The tool will work for any configuration: WinTel, Mac, MacTel, Linux and so on.
We included all of the third-party security products needed to keep a WinTel machine somewhat secure and checkbox compliant. We considered the prorated costs of per-user upgrades, patches, relicensing expenses and overhead factor from lawyers, managers and technical staff.
The TCO tool considers reliability costs, downtime per user per year, productivity losses/gains, reboots and system maintenance. The enterprise also needs to consider the help desk and other support time/costs per user per PC.
The TCO tool also allows you to calculate the resale value of the computer. It did not take long to discover that Mac's resale value is much higher than WinTel's.
The results of this TCO astounded me. For my small enterprise, owning a WinTel box for three years costs twice as much as owning a MacTel. When I talked with several of our clients, I found that the burdened cost of ownership per PC - just for support - ranged from $1,300 to $4,000 per year.
If I can cut down on the burden of monthly and annual subscriptions, and dramatically reduce my annualized per-seat support costs, not only does my TCO go way down, but as an added plus my technical headache factors decrease, too.
Apple's two- to five-year road map is clear. As it begins to stake ground beyond small enterprises, it will want a piece of the global enterprise. In June 2005, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said: "We are talking to Intel." Duh! How hard is it to imagine that OS X was simultaneously being developed for an Intel platform, and how long has the OS X parental code been running on Intel? The answer is for years. The MacTel Skunkworks has been in place for several years. I read this as reliability.
Apple's non-iPod growth is going to need to come from displacing Microsoft's Vista as the de facto next-generation operating system for enterprise migration. At recent security shows I have seen that more than 50% of my compatriots use Macs and recognize that OS X was a huge leap forward. We are all suggesting some forms of migration. The small enterprise and home office should migrate completely, and some midsize enterprises will take the plunge as what I called the KISS-OS becomes more cemented in the IT zeitgeist.
I believe that much of Apple's enterprise future will rest with the adaptation of the appliance mindset and eradicating the cultural meme: one size fits all.
If you can live with some of Apple's arrogance (don't expect too many niceties - Apple is an engineering company, after all), you should really take a look at the security TCO of WinTel vs. Mac. If you are honest with your answers, you may find that you can get many of your enterprise endpoints more secure than ever for a lot less than you thought.
Who's using it? I don't expect that any major enterprise is going to go out and convert 100,000 seats to MacTel. But I am seeing large organizations deploying Mac networks across specific departments, and I mean more than just graphics. Entire sales and marketing departments within some financial firms are actively migrating to Mac and MacTel. Gene Fredriksen, chief information security officer for Raymond James Financial, in St. Petersburg, Fla., says he is deploying additional Macs within portions of the enterprise to reduce TCO of user computing.
Mac migrations in the low tech area of big companies will precede any global shift. Why should a company pay more than $2,000 a year for PC support of a clerk who only uses Web applications when a $500 Mac Mini will do? Retail environments and customer service desks are poised for a more reliable and less expensive smart terminal. Many distributed corporate applications are appliance-oriented, with only one or two uses. The current bloated and fault-prone "I can do anything if you know what you're doing" operating system is not for everyone, and we are paying for it dearly in IT budgets.
OS X also keeps users from doing things they shouldn't. Most enterprises do not want users installing software on their machines - they want a box to run mail client and browser, and a couple of Office applications. Effective restricted rights are the default, and make Mac/MacTel ideal for non-administrative enterprise distribution.
How much will it cost the average enterprise? MacTel is priced from $1,300; enterprise volume purchase agreements also are available
Origami Not A Gaming Device
Slashdot: http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/03/02/1758232
Gamespot: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6145278.html
But what do we know?
- louismg
Microsoft Is Going Right After iTunes/iPod
It's one thing to be excited that Apple has executed so well with the iPod/ITunes combo, but it doesn't sit well to be directly in the bullseye of Microsoft - never has. Microsoft may tell the world that their direct competitors are of the Google and Linux variety, but iPod/ITunes has got the world's attention and is making headway on Windows.
Origami looks interesting. Also looks bulky and heavy. We'll see.
- louismg
Mac OS X and OEMs
lango, don't get me wrong. I think OEMs can be a tremendous opportunity for Apple if selected well and executed well. If I recall, the purpose of Apple moving to a common hardware reference platform (CHRP) was to enable more simplicity in developing Macintosh computers. Apple of 2006 is a lot different than the Apple of 1996-97-98, which saw the company struggle.
Apple has a commanding presence in music now, and significant pickup on the OS side for a variety of reasons. A partnership with someone like HP (though not them now) or others would be very interesting. My concerns were that an Apple iLife for Windows campaign would be a lot harder than the iPod for Windows campaign has been.
- louismg
Windows iLife
I don't think you'd see that much pickup. Windows consumers simply do not purchase applications that aren't bundled by Microsoft, unless they are anti-virus tools (made necessary by Microsoft) or are games or are for helping to do their taxes...
The Windows sufferers I know are perfectly happy with their green hills background in XP, they prefer solitaire over minesweeper, and didn't realize there was anything except Internet Explorer.
Besides... wouldn't they prefer Microsoft MovieMaker and FrontPage over iMovie and iWeb? They think they are already set. The only way for Apple to do this well would be to make iLife for Windows and have a major OEM or three bundle it. Not that they would...
(Waiting for lango or other comments on PC software markets - covering ears)
TUAW: Speculation: Will Steve take out Disney?
Oops. I got "quoted" as a "blogger". That was unexpected...
http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/27/speculation-will-steve-take-out-disney/
Posted Feb 27th 2006 12:30PM by Jan Kabili
We've just gotten used to the news of Disney's agreement to acquire Pixar. That deal makes Steve the largest Disney shareholder, with ownership of 7% of Disney's stock. Now Barron's is speculating that Apple may turn the tables and make a bid to acquire Disney.
Barron's floated the idea of an Apple bid for Disney this weekend, quoting analyst Christopher Whalen saying: "I think he [Jobs] has an open option. Disney is badly undervalued right now. Jobs may get an opportunity to take it out." Whalen supports this idea by pointing out Steve's "familiarity with both the content and technology side of Hollywood" and the notion that Disney shareholders "would welcome a merger led by their apparent savior, Steve Jobs."
What's the likelihood this scenario will play out? Blogger Louis Gray thinks it can only happen in "a business reporter's dream." He argues that the financials don't add up and worries that taking over Disney would quash the possibility of Apple offering shows from competitors like NBC or Viacom/MTV on iTunes. Now I don't pretend to be a financial analyst, so I'm just taking it all in. An Apple acquisition of Disney does sound wild; but honestly, at this point nothing Steve does would be a surprise.
Microsoft's Origami
Early photos show Origami in avocado green, and it certainly can't fit into your pocket. If you watch the promo for it, you can see one user trying to listen to MP3s, but then he takes the machine and stuffs it in his backpack, while connected to his headphones.
Reminds me of those massive cellphone clunkers you can see in early '90s films...
With all of the money and massive engineering muscle Microsoft has available and a history of working well with OEMs, we'd be naive to think Apple can continue to dominate the market virtually unopposed, but I hope that Apple can push the bar even further forward just before everyone thinks they've caught up.
Apple has had the nads (technical term) to kill the iPod Mini when it was incredibly hot, just to bring in the Nano. They are taking risks and winning.
Should be interesting.
- louismg
Slashdot: Is Apple Looking to Buy Disney?
It seems that the prevailing opinion on Slashdot is that this isn't going to happen and it's a pipe dream. I don't dare say who gave them that idea...
http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/02/26/1356255
- louismg
Apple and Disney?
Aren't you a little worried that this isn't what Apple is supposed to be doing? I don't care about Mickey Mouse and Disneyland. I think Apple should be focused on delivering the very best of technology. They are a technology company that happens to also intertwine with movies and music on occasion. They're not media moguls. Pixar is at the end of the day a very successful, but isolated, movie studio.
The best asset for Disney right now is ESPN, and maybe ABC close behind. What would Apple do with ESPN or ABC? Is that the direction to move the company? A Disney acquisition - which looks impossible on paper - would be about a lot more than moving iPods and iTunes...
I'm highly skeptical.
- louismg
Congratulations and good luck!
Charles, I have a kinship with the new addition to your family. I too was born 8 weeks early and topped the scales at just over 4 pounds. Of course, that was nearly thirty years ago, and modern medicine wasn't as good as it is now. That explains my significant mental and physical defects!
Congratulations - we wish you and the missus the best.
- louismg
NBC "Conviction" Pilot Free on iTunes Before Airing on TV
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewVideo?id=125561787&p=125453900&s=14344...
Dick Wolf, the producer behind the mega-hits Law and Order, Law and Order: SVU, and Law and Order: Criminal Intent is back at it again with yet another courtroom drama, called Conviction. This drama has been said to focus more on the characters than on the cases, in a significant change from the traditional L&O series we've known for more than a decade.
NBC is getting behind the show in a big way - offering heavy promotions through the Olympics, and in what's a world first, that I know of, the show's pilot is available for download on iTunes before it airs on TV.
You can get it now. The show is set to debut on Friday, March 3rd on your boring old television.
Are any of you moving to Intel Macs right away? I'm not.
I have a long, sometimes painful history of being an early technology adopter. I was using the first VisorPhone adapters with Handspring years before they introduced the Treo line of hybrid smartphones, purchased an iPod less than 12 hours after Steve Jobs introduced them, upgraded to Mac OS X Public Beta before it was available to the mass market, and was using Netscape Navigator before it was a 1.0 release.
With all that said, people expect I'd be first in line to snap up an Intel-Powered iMac or MacBook Pro. After all, didn't Steve Jobs say the new laptops, powered by Intel were 3 to 4 times as fast as the old model? Doesn't that make my 1.25 GHz PowerPC G4 seem like a dinosaur in comparison? Surprisingly, no. I'm perfectly happy with my laptop, power adapter issues aside. The PowerBook as 1 GB of RAM, an 80 GB hard drive, and is plenty fast for whatever I need to do. Also, we understand the issues with benchmarks. Vendors can run a suite of tests and announce those where they play the best. Reviews have come out saying that the new MacBook Pro is not in fact 3 to 4 times faster, and may be slower in some cases for particular activity. Besides, how fast does it need to be to read e-mail, write in Microsoft Word and surf the Web? At that point, the limiting factor with speed is your broadband connection, not the CPU.
So - add it up. You have a lack of demand, and not enough compelling reasons to take a gamble on what so far is an unproven architecture. I expect that version 1.5 and version 2.0 of the MacBook Pro will add additional speed and functionality unavailable in this first version. In fact, Apple announced this week that the first round will be even faster than originally announced. I don't see that as an accident. And this doesn't even take into account the migration of applications by developers of PowerPC apps to a Universal binary that runs equally fast on PowerPC and Intel architectures. I think I can wait until Adobe, Microsoft, and all the smaller developers I depend on for the apps that I use are ready.
More on Apple Power Adapters
(First, thanks for the link, fi)
I bumped into this story this afternoon, after I posted my comments.
http://beust.com/weblog/
"The Apple power adapter. Do I need to say more? Can you think of anything more ugly or less practical? My space on these power strips is limited, so please, keep your charger as lean as possible. The Apple power adapter is an insult to good taste and convenience."
I swear it's not me - but it's good to see others agree with the issues.
Yofal,
Dell's power adapters don't wrap up or coil well. You just "stuff them" into the laptop bag, and pull them out when needed. The issue is that the cords are more rugged, like those you'd see on standard appliances, while Apple's are more akin to the iPod headphone cords - thin and prone to fraying with use. One of the bigger issues may have been solved with their recent introduction of magnetic adapters, but the metal oval at the end that plugs into the laptop can be easily bent with frequent use, or the occasional laptop drop that hits it from the side. There's no amount of manual tweaking that can get the metal back to its original state.
I see it as a form vs. function thing. They look great, but don't live long.
Additionally, their form actually makes things worse. Their square shape means it takes up at least two slots on a power strip (the Dell takes one), and if you've ever tried to put the Apple power adapter into a recessed plug (very common), you'll find it won't go - you're literally putting a square device in a round hole.
- louismg
Apple Power Adapters: Piece of Junk
All, I'd be curious to see if you've run into the same issues our household has around Apple's power adapters. In our house, they are constantly getting bent, tweaked or wiring is exposed, just from standard use in the house, and in transporting to and from my wife's school.
We must've invested in 2 power adapters per year for the last 3-4 years, even as the iBooks and PowerBooks kept working. I haven't been too impressed.
More complaining here: http://www.louisgray.com/live/
Blog RSS Feed: http://www.louisgray.com/live/files/page0.xml
Full Screen iPod Video Photos
http://ipod-fullscreen.blogspot.com/
(Photoshop or not?)
Does this mean nothing?
http://insideapple.apple.com/
Just for kicks. Let your rumor-mongering without facts ensue!
- louismg