Archive for March 2009
I’m just not cool enough to be a Mac person
Have you seen the new Microsoft TV commercial bashing Apple?
Crispin Porter + Boguksy, the agency that produced the ad, has clearly hit a nerve. The campaign goes directly at what may be Apple’ biggest vulnerability: the growing differential between Macs, which have largely held their prices throughout the recession, and PCs running Windows, which have been engaged in a brutal price war that forced the industry’s ASP (average selling price) down more than 13% in the last quarter of 2008 alone.
The deepest cut comes when the “average shopper” says:
“‘I’m just not cool enough to be a Mac person.”
Brilliant marketing, Microsoft.
No one cares that …
“Lauren” is an actress, not the ordinary American shopper the ad claims The Apple Store scene was faked; before-and-after photos suggest that she never actually went into the store to try the computers The $699 HP Pavillion dv7 she chose over a $999 MacBook is a mess. “It is the epitome of what people dislike about PCs,” writes Computerworld’s Seth Weintraub. “It runs Vista Home on a slow AMD mobile processor … its screen is abysmal … its networking is five years old … it is loaded with crapware and trial antivirus software that will have to be purchased or wiped off the machine.”
moving from hotmail to gmail
I’ve been wanting to do this for YEARS.
Hotmail is crappy.
Microsoft Entourage, the Mac version of Outlook Express email reader, is slow.
Finally I found a way to redirect my hotmail into gmail. I’ve made the switch permanently … I hope.
Google tells you how to do it
whither the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation?
Big budget cuts announced for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
For many, many years I’d been a huge fan of their AM radio divison:
CBC Radio loses 121 jobs
About $14.4 million must come out of radio, leading to a reduction of 121 jobs, including 20 in Toronto.
Changes on Radio One include:
* Cancellations of The Inside Track, Outfront and The Point.
* Reduction of regional noon-hour programs to one hour.
* Reductions in drama.
But since the introduction of podcasting, I very rarely listen to CBC AM radio.
About the only CBC content I listen to are these show podcasts:
The slashes managed to target one of my favourite shows. Too bad.
Dana sent me a link to one petition – Save Canada’s National Broadcaster.
I signed. But truth be told, I’m not all that worked up about it.
The CBC website itself made it difficult for me to find any information on the “crisis”.
That lack of ability to communicate is telling to me.
the future of computers
http://www.ted.com This demo — from Pattie Maes’ lab at MIT, spearheaded by Pranav Mistry — was the buzz of TED. It’s a wearable device with a projector that paves the way for profound interaction with our environment. Imagine “Minority Report” and then some.
Thanks Rockin’
misplaced anger – AIG bonus outrage
The best commentary I’ve seen was by Stephen Colbert.
People can work up a good anger at CEO bonus payments, corporate jets.
Understanding the REAL big picture is too complicated. Too boring. The real problem is far worse than fat cat executives cashing in. A quarter of a billion dollars is chump change in this crisis.
“A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.”
— Joseph Stalin
what I don’t know about economics
Dave Adlard called me on a contradiction on this blog.
On the one hand, I’m an unabashed booster of right wing economic thinking.
On the other hand, I gloated that the Canadian banks did not suffer the melt down of the American banking system.
Dave’s right. (I don’t actually have a PhD in Economics.)
As the story of the collapsing economy evolved in Fall of 2008, my first realization that I was wrong about unrestricted competition in banking was when Economist magazine instantly came out in favour of bailing out the banks. They could not be allowed to fail.
What !!??
That was the first time it dawned on me that banks are not the same as other businesses that should be allowed to go out of business — newspapers and automobile companies, for example.
Guys like Ben Bernanke MUST closely regulate banks. Or banks will make stupid, risky gambles with other people’s money.
For the record, I do believe in some government regulation of the market. But the less the better.
The strength of the Canadian banks in this recession is probably LUCK more than any kind of foresight on the part of regulators.
Lucky Canada.
UPDATE: Bernanke is live on TV right now trying to explain why AIG could not be allowed to fail. On the other hand, he said it would have been preferable to have originally agreed to break up the company with the first bail-out.
A company that insures perhaps 1/3 of businesses in the USA is TOO BIG.
Of course the bonuses paid to executives is symbolic. A drop in the bucket of the public money being wasted by AIG.
94% Of Users Don’t Like Facebook Redesign
TechCrunch – Facebook Poll: 94% Of Users Don’t Like Redesign
I love it.
And, luckily for me, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg isn’t listening to the haters. Because he doesn’t have to, he’s told employees.
Scoble agrees with him.
The new Facebook is now a logical, clean, easy-to-filter, river of news. The old Facebook a confusing jumble of random features.
(Everyone needs to remove the posts of those friends they don’t actually want to hear about, of course. That couldn’t be easier — simply click on the small X on the right hand side of any of their posts.)
first gopher of the year
I spotted one March 20th.
Others have been seen in Calgary close to the beginning of March.
Though it looks like a BLIZZARD outside right now, Spring has nearly sprung.
March 22 – World Water Day
ONE DROP will mobilize online communities across the Web to give the Global Water Crisis maximum exposure on World Water Day, March 22nd.
One Drop – Ripple
This is the personal charity of Cirque du Soleil’s Guy Laliberté.
impressed by Ben Bernanke
The US economy is screwed.
News gets worse and worse:
… the Congressional Budget Office’s new projection that, under the current economic rescue plan, annual deficits will force the federal government to borrow fully a third more than the administration had earlier forecast. …
One bit of good news is this guy, Ben Bernanke. I was very impressed in this 60 Minutes TV interview on YouTube.
Bernanke Fed Chairman Discusses Recession, Financial Rescues And Recovery In Wide-Ranging 60 Minutes Interview by Scott Pelley.
You might say it’s partly his fault for not regulating the banking system SOONER.
But if not Bernanke, who instead should be saving the US economy?
One guy created a viral video sensation singing about wanting Alan Greenspan’s FED Chair job. A job that George Bush gave to Ben Bernanke instead. Watch that parody based on the Police hit: Every Breath You Take on YouTube.
It might take your mind off the economy.
