Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Actually, the next generation Zune is getting great buzz.
(via Mashable)
Category: Apple
retail done right – The Apple Store
Here in rural Parksville, British Columbia the small, aging independent stores have the whiff of extinction.
With more and more people shopping online, what’s the future of retail?
… I’d guess stores will be more like car dealerships, where people can try before they buy.
In May of 2001, Apple opened its first retail outlet store in Tysons Corner, Va. It was immediately met by critics and the typical roster of Apple-haters with predictions of doom and massive financial losses. Eight years later, Apple has more than 255 retail stores worldwide, and are the darling of the retail computer industry. So what makes them so successful? …
to read why, click through to the Apple Blog – Apple Retail Store Success: It Ain’t Rocket Science
It is fun to visit and hang out in the larger Apple stores.
A pleasure.
Not everyone is thrilled with their famed customer service, however.
seen the NY Times funny iPhone video?
Seems they don’t want me to embed it on this site.
Click through to watch the brilliant iPhone Mac vs PC tribute video.
iPhone 3GS – What it means to Canadians
From Amber MacAurthur, geek babe:
On June 8th, 2009, news of a faster and cheaper iPhone made headlines. This latest release includes new enhancements such as a built-in camcorder, longer battery life, and voice control. The camera is now 3 megapixels, which will increase the quality of photos substantially, and on the camcorder side, you can trim videos you shoot simply by using your finger. Apple calls this 3GS, “the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet,” with up to 32GB of storage. Most importantly, this time around, Canadians will not be left behind.
Rogers has confirmed that, along with Fido, they will be launching the new 16GB and 32GB Apple iPhone 3GS on June 19th. The prices are $199(16GB) and $299(32GB), both will be available in black or white. The existing iPhone 3G (8GB) will be for sale for just $99 (on a three year voice and data contract). If you don’t want to sign a contract, that is also an option. Rogers and Fido will, once again, be offering the $30/6GB plan for iPhone customers for a limited period.
On the software side, both iPhone 3GS and 3G users will be able to download a free update, which includes the much desired cut, copy, and paste, among dozens more additional features.
Insofar as tethering, which allows you to share your iPhone internet connection with your computer, Rogers will support this feature for existing models and new models of the iPhone on both brands.
All of this news is refreshing for Canadian iPhone lovers. No longer will we have to sneak across the border to get our Apple phone fix or gaze into the eyes of proud iPhone owners on YouTube. Instead, we’ll be sharing the features of this year’s sexiest phone around the same time as the rest of the world.
Gizmo Diva – The iPhone 3GS – What it means to Canadians
The app I’m most interested in is the new Accuterra … Must Have iPhone App for Hikers.
Microsoft ROCKS, Andy
Happy Birthday to my Adventure Racing buddy Andy, a mucky muck with Microsoft.
As a present, I’d like to highlight all the things the Evil Empire MS has done right lately, starting with their new search engine.
I tried Bing and found it nearly as good as Google. That’s a huge improvement over the old Live Search.
Microsoft is already seeing a Bing bump in market share.
Famously incompetent in advertising, Microsoft has hit a sore spot in their recent Laptop Hunters Apple bashing TV commercials.
Gamers are abuzz talking about the recently debuted MS technology, the badly named “Natal” Motion Control for Xbox 36. Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
And I’m hearing great things about the next Zune, the MS iPod competitor.
I’m not yet hearing that “Microsoft is Cool”. But Andy is Cool.
new 1TB external hard drive backup
My new Iomega eGo Desktop Hard Drive, USB 2.0, 1TB.
Amazon – US$124.95
I got mine at London Drugs in Canada for C$179.
The excellent Apple Time Machine software makes backing up my laptop a breeze.
This backup stays safely home. I’ll take my OLD 500GB LaCie Rugged backup drive on the road with me, dedicated only to hauling around video.
Get a Mac. Or PC.
Mac strikes back at the surprisingly effective recent Microsoft ad campaign targeting Apple.
Click PLAY or watch a cute Apple ad on YouTube.
my dream – laptop with no spinning disk
I hate the sound, heat and unreliability of traditional Hard Drives.
Carrying around a disk spinning at 10,000 rpm. Not a good idea.
Leo Laporte tried adding this flash drive to his MacBook.
Amazon – Corsair Storage Solutions – Solid state drive – 128 GB – internal – 2.5″ – SATA-300 US$330
It worked for Leo.
Installed a Corsair SSD into my unibody Macbook Pro. Boot and app launch times are lightning fast. Almost instant….
But others report problems.
There’s a 256 GB version for $760.
The price is far too high. But I hope Apple comes out with a reasonably priced flash drive model by the time I need to buy my next laptop.
Apple profits up, Microsoft down
Apple makes $1.2bn profit in one of its best-ever quarters
Microsoft has first quarterly fall in revenue in 23 years
… At a time when one technology giant after another — Dell, Microsoft, Motorola, Sony, Sun, Yahoo — has stumbled, Apple seems to be doing everything right.
It’s not just that the company is making money, or that it’s just re-entered the Fortune 100, or that it’s kept growing at 40 per cent per year even as it hit $33 billion in sales — though in the teeth of the worst recession since at least the early 1980s, those two accomplishments alone would be remarkable. It’s that Apple has become a cultural icon. …
Without all that money to burn, maybe Microsoft will stop doing so many stupid things. It’s embarrassing.
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.”
Rick McCharles 