Friday, July 28, 2006
Hello from Atlanta, I'll be going now...
So I'm sitting at the lunch counter here in the Atlanta airport, and I'd post the picture I took of the iPod vending machine if not for the fact that somehow I got the bright idea to pack the camera's sync cable in my checked luggage. This airport appears to have wireless throughout, but none of it free. Ten dollars a day, for access that you're going to use for an hour between flights at most, seems cruel and unusual. I mean, it's bad enough I just paid nine dollars for a piece of chicken. There's a garbage can a few feet from my table, and for some reason it's been turned around backwards so that the trash chute is blocked by the wall, and not a minute goes by that yet another person doesn't walk up and ram their tray into the front side of the trash can, expecting there to be an open hole where there isn't.
Best line of the day so far, from the flight attendant over the loudspeaker as the first leg of my flight was landing:
"...and if you get home and find you've left any of your personal items on the plane, not to worry, you can just buy them back from us on eBay."
First time I've ever heard an entire planeload of people laughing. I think this beats the highly unintentionally funny line from my return flight from Macworld Expo earlier this year, "Don't worry, this plane is stopping in Chicago, you do not have to go all the way to Brazil."
So I was expecting to see all the people using iPods on my flight, as that's the de facto norm these days. But what I wasn't expecting was to see the guy getting on board with his Bose SoundDock as his carry-on, still in the box. And here I thought I was traveling with too much iPod stuff (so says the guy with five iPods in his carry-on bag). At least I have an excuse.
On the airport intercom just now:
"Paging passenger William ... ... Stewart."
That was way too much of a pause in between names there, just enough to make me fear that my last name was about to come out of her mouth. Began wondering what personal items I must have left on the flight I just got off, for them to be paging me like that. Oh well, whatever it was, I'll just have to buy it back on eBay.
So I'm sitting at the lunch counter here in the Atlanta airport, and I'd post the picture I took of the iPod vending machine if not for the fact that somehow I got the bright idea to pack the camera's sync cable in my checked luggage. This airport appears to have wireless throughout, but none of it free. Ten dollars a day, for access that you're going to use for an hour between flights at most, seems cruel and unusual. I mean, it's bad enough I just paid nine dollars for a piece of chicken. There's a garbage can a few feet from my table, and for some reason it's been turned around backwards so that the trash chute is blocked by the wall, and not a minute goes by that yet another person doesn't walk up and ram their tray into the front side of the trash can, expecting there to be an open hole where there isn't.
Best line of the day so far, from the flight attendant over the loudspeaker as the first leg of my flight was landing:
"...and if you get home and find you've left any of your personal items on the plane, not to worry, you can just buy them back from us on eBay."
First time I've ever heard an entire planeload of people laughing. I think this beats the highly unintentionally funny line from my return flight from Macworld Expo earlier this year, "Don't worry, this plane is stopping in Chicago, you do not have to go all the way to Brazil."
So I was expecting to see all the people using iPods on my flight, as that's the de facto norm these days. But what I wasn't expecting was to see the guy getting on board with his Bose SoundDock as his carry-on, still in the box. And here I thought I was traveling with too much iPod stuff (so says the guy with five iPods in his carry-on bag). At least I have an excuse.
On the airport intercom just now:
"Paging passenger William ... ... Stewart."
That was way too much of a pause in between names there, just enough to make me fear that my last name was about to come out of her mouth. Began wondering what personal items I must have left on the flight I just got off, for them to be paging me like that. Oh well, whatever it was, I'll just have to buy it back on eBay.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Maybe I'll get the "iPod in the rental car" thing right this time in San Diego
So I'm heading cross-country to San Diego in the morning, an unexpected but welcome destination in my increasingly surreal travels. This won't be the first time that iProng has done a booth at an event, but it's certainly our first event at an extreme sports event taking place at a horse racing track. I think I'm getting a little smarter about this travel thing. For instance, last time out I assumed my rental car wouldn't have a cassette deck, but failed to consider the possibility that it might not even have a working power source. Thus my plan to use a combination FM transmitter and charger was foiled and I spent the week listening to radio and CD-R's instead of my iPod. Blech. This time I've wisened up and I'm simply taking a standalone FM transmitter with me. So unless the car doesn't even have a radio, I'm in business. The trick, of course, is to use one of the few standalone FM transmitters that don't at least sort of suck. If you read my reviews then you probably know what I'm taking with me.
What'll be more interesting is the fact that I've never been to San Diego before, and with the exception of a bit of online research, I don't know all that much about the place. I'll have an entire day for sightseeing, so to speak, and I've been weighing my options on how to spend it. Although my hotel will be rather near the border, I've decided to save any jaunts down to Mexico for some other time. And I'm going to pass on any museums, historical landmarks, or anything else of that nature. This may be the only chance I get to visit this particular city for some time, so I'm more interested in what the city is now, not what it used to be. I'm thinking maybe Balboa Park in the morning, a trolly ride in the afternoon, and a nightcap in Pacific Beach. If any San Diegans want to guide me elsewhere, feel free to holler at me.
I'm trying to figure out how to eliminate the "twenty-one hour day" that seemingly always ensues on any day you're traveling to the west coast. You get up really early to catch an early flight, three hours get injected into the middle of your day due to the time zone change, and after a layover in some-odd city you arrive on the west coast in the afternoon local time, which is really early evening your time. By the time you get out of the airport, get the car, get to the hotel, get settled, go out for dinner, catch up on email, and get to bed, you've managed to let twenty or more hours go by without sleep. You're exhausted, and the kicker is that other than traveling across the entire United States, you really haven't accomplished anything all day. Oh well, we'll see how I fare tomorrow. This cross-country traveling thing should become more natural the more I do it.
Anyway, if you live in Southern California, feel free to come and see us in Del Mar on Saturday. We'll be operating from 2 to 6 pm in the infield, and as you might expect, we're showing off all the latest and greatest stuff in the iPod universe.
So I'm heading cross-country to San Diego in the morning, an unexpected but welcome destination in my increasingly surreal travels. This won't be the first time that iProng has done a booth at an event, but it's certainly our first event at an extreme sports event taking place at a horse racing track. I think I'm getting a little smarter about this travel thing. For instance, last time out I assumed my rental car wouldn't have a cassette deck, but failed to consider the possibility that it might not even have a working power source. Thus my plan to use a combination FM transmitter and charger was foiled and I spent the week listening to radio and CD-R's instead of my iPod. Blech. This time I've wisened up and I'm simply taking a standalone FM transmitter with me. So unless the car doesn't even have a radio, I'm in business. The trick, of course, is to use one of the few standalone FM transmitters that don't at least sort of suck. If you read my reviews then you probably know what I'm taking with me.
What'll be more interesting is the fact that I've never been to San Diego before, and with the exception of a bit of online research, I don't know all that much about the place. I'll have an entire day for sightseeing, so to speak, and I've been weighing my options on how to spend it. Although my hotel will be rather near the border, I've decided to save any jaunts down to Mexico for some other time. And I'm going to pass on any museums, historical landmarks, or anything else of that nature. This may be the only chance I get to visit this particular city for some time, so I'm more interested in what the city is now, not what it used to be. I'm thinking maybe Balboa Park in the morning, a trolly ride in the afternoon, and a nightcap in Pacific Beach. If any San Diegans want to guide me elsewhere, feel free to holler at me.
I'm trying to figure out how to eliminate the "twenty-one hour day" that seemingly always ensues on any day you're traveling to the west coast. You get up really early to catch an early flight, three hours get injected into the middle of your day due to the time zone change, and after a layover in some-odd city you arrive on the west coast in the afternoon local time, which is really early evening your time. By the time you get out of the airport, get the car, get to the hotel, get settled, go out for dinner, catch up on email, and get to bed, you've managed to let twenty or more hours go by without sleep. You're exhausted, and the kicker is that other than traveling across the entire United States, you really haven't accomplished anything all day. Oh well, we'll see how I fare tomorrow. This cross-country traveling thing should become more natural the more I do it.
Anyway, if you live in Southern California, feel free to come and see us in Del Mar on Saturday. We'll be operating from 2 to 6 pm in the infield, and as you might expect, we're showing off all the latest and greatest stuff in the iPod universe.
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Five years later, an Apple Store Grand Opening can still be fun
And here I thought I'd attended my last Apple Store Grand Opening three years ago. I remember going to a particular store opening in early 2004, my fifth or sixth one, and thinking that I'd done it one time too many. Sure, everyone there was having fun, but that was because this was something new to them, and for me it was just one big element of sameness. It requires a level of irrational exuberance to have fun at a computer store, and after having been to so many of them, the fun just wasn't there anymore. So I decided that was probably going to be my last opening, unless something really big and unique came along.
That big and unique something was going to be the Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan a few months ago, and I had all but made up my mind to fly up there for its opening until I discovered that I was going to be in Los Angeles at the time. So crossing Fifth Avenue off my list, I figured that was the end of the list. But then the long-rumored South Beach store in Miami was suddenly no longer a rumor, and just as suddenly, I was on my way to cover its Grand Opening with full media credentials. I expected it to be productive, reportable, fruitful. But for reasons I can't quite identify, it also ended up being something else: fun.
I'm not sure if it was the fact that it's been two and a half years since I've been to an opening, or maybe the new viewpoint (standing on the inside of the store and watching the first customer come through the doors is a whole new experience), or maybe it was just the fact that everything that happens in South Beach is just a little left of center, but this particular Grand Opening was downright enjoyable. Granted, the red carpet they rolled out for me didn't hurt. But there was an openness here that you don't necessarily see even when you're credentialed. When the highest ranking employee in the building is telling you to take as many pictures as you want, and then the various store employees are almost begging to be in those pictures, mugging for the camera, you can't help but enjoy what you're doing.
I spotted a guy in the store wearing a Napster T-shirt, and I laughed so hard at the sight that I nearly had tears running down my face. Got an interview with him too. Saw a kid who might have been eight years old listening to a display iPod nano, desperately hoped to get my camera turned on and pointed in the right direction before the kid moved, and just nailed the shot before he did. Met the Wizards of Technology podcasters in the store, never realized they were locals. Ran into a lot of people I knew there, some of whom I hadn't seen in quite some time, some of whom I knew but had never met in person. Met a lot of new people as well.
Main thing was, though, I got my story. Think it's a good one, too. Lots of interviews, lots of pictures, and lots of relevance, I think. One of my big goals for this year was to get out and do more reporting from the field, more journalism worthy of mainstream media, and I think this qualified. It's never a bad day when you can have this much fun and still be doing your job.
After the NikeTown thing last week, the Grand Opening this week, and a surprise appearance in San Diego next week (shh, don't tell anyone yet) that I didn't even know about until the day before yesterday, this job just keeps getting more unpredictable, and that's just the way I like it. Got another fun surprise coming on Wednesday as well, something I've been working on behind the scenes since May.
And here I thought I'd attended my last Apple Store Grand Opening three years ago. I remember going to a particular store opening in early 2004, my fifth or sixth one, and thinking that I'd done it one time too many. Sure, everyone there was having fun, but that was because this was something new to them, and for me it was just one big element of sameness. It requires a level of irrational exuberance to have fun at a computer store, and after having been to so many of them, the fun just wasn't there anymore. So I decided that was probably going to be my last opening, unless something really big and unique came along.
That big and unique something was going to be the Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan a few months ago, and I had all but made up my mind to fly up there for its opening until I discovered that I was going to be in Los Angeles at the time. So crossing Fifth Avenue off my list, I figured that was the end of the list. But then the long-rumored South Beach store in Miami was suddenly no longer a rumor, and just as suddenly, I was on my way to cover its Grand Opening with full media credentials. I expected it to be productive, reportable, fruitful. But for reasons I can't quite identify, it also ended up being something else: fun.
I'm not sure if it was the fact that it's been two and a half years since I've been to an opening, or maybe the new viewpoint (standing on the inside of the store and watching the first customer come through the doors is a whole new experience), or maybe it was just the fact that everything that happens in South Beach is just a little left of center, but this particular Grand Opening was downright enjoyable. Granted, the red carpet they rolled out for me didn't hurt. But there was an openness here that you don't necessarily see even when you're credentialed. When the highest ranking employee in the building is telling you to take as many pictures as you want, and then the various store employees are almost begging to be in those pictures, mugging for the camera, you can't help but enjoy what you're doing.
I spotted a guy in the store wearing a Napster T-shirt, and I laughed so hard at the sight that I nearly had tears running down my face. Got an interview with him too. Saw a kid who might have been eight years old listening to a display iPod nano, desperately hoped to get my camera turned on and pointed in the right direction before the kid moved, and just nailed the shot before he did. Met the Wizards of Technology podcasters in the store, never realized they were locals. Ran into a lot of people I knew there, some of whom I hadn't seen in quite some time, some of whom I knew but had never met in person. Met a lot of new people as well.
Main thing was, though, I got my story. Think it's a good one, too. Lots of interviews, lots of pictures, and lots of relevance, I think. One of my big goals for this year was to get out and do more reporting from the field, more journalism worthy of mainstream media, and I think this qualified. It's never a bad day when you can have this much fun and still be doing your job.
After the NikeTown thing last week, the Grand Opening this week, and a surprise appearance in San Diego next week (shh, don't tell anyone yet) that I didn't even know about until the day before yesterday, this job just keeps getting more unpredictable, and that's just the way I like it. Got another fun surprise coming on Wednesday as well, something I've been working on behind the scenes since May.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
My first pair of Nikes (thanks, Apple)
So tomorrow I travel to NIKETOWN in Miami and acquire my first-ever pair of Nike shoes. Of course, it has a little something to do with this. Alright, it has everything to do with it. I didn't wake up today and suddenly decide I need to change to a different brand of shoes for some profound reason; tomorrow just happens to be the day that the Nike+iPod platform is officially born, and that's a train I've got to be on whether I end up finding it personally enjoyable or not. I suppose I'll find out soon enough whether or not Nike shoes are as comfortable as my current preferred brand. And that'll dictate whether I end up wearing my new Nikes at all times, or whether they end up finding themselves filed away under "editorial purposes," only seeing the light of day when I need to write about them.
So now I can add "buying Nike shoes" to the increasingly list of odd and unexpected things that running iProng has required me to do. As if "owning eight iPods" wasn't odd enough in and of itself.
So tomorrow I travel to NIKETOWN in Miami and acquire my first-ever pair of Nike shoes. Of course, it has a little something to do with this. Alright, it has everything to do with it. I didn't wake up today and suddenly decide I need to change to a different brand of shoes for some profound reason; tomorrow just happens to be the day that the Nike+iPod platform is officially born, and that's a train I've got to be on whether I end up finding it personally enjoyable or not. I suppose I'll find out soon enough whether or not Nike shoes are as comfortable as my current preferred brand. And that'll dictate whether I end up wearing my new Nikes at all times, or whether they end up finding themselves filed away under "editorial purposes," only seeing the light of day when I need to write about them.
So now I can add "buying Nike shoes" to the increasingly list of odd and unexpected things that running iProng has required me to do. As if "owning eight iPods" wasn't odd enough in and of itself.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Letters of Complaint
Dear Amazon,
You've got to make some major changes if you want your Marketplace to be anything other than a big blemish on your hard-earned brand name. When you went to Amazon and put something in your cart, it used to mean something. You knew you were buying direct from the world's most competent online retailer, with consistent policies, practices, and quality. But with the advent of Marketplace, it's not immediately clear who you might be buying what from, and you end up with situations where you place two items in your shopping cart that would normally qualify you for free shipping only to find that they want five dollars shipping for one item and forty dollars shipping for the other item because the latter is coming from some company you've never heard of and the former is coming from some kid in his parents' basement. But that's not half the problem, because when the kid in his basement ends up shipping you a box full of randomly selected parts instead of the item you ordered, you're pretty much on your own to solve it. Despite your claims that you're willing to get involved, you've basically set things up so it's just me and the kid in his basement going toe to toe until someone gives up. If I wanted to buy from eBay with all its uncertainty about whom I might be buying from or whether I can trust them, I'd just go buy from eBay. Until I see that you've done something to get a handle on this nonsense, I won't be buying another Amazon Marketplace item. And frankly, the hassle of having to examine every Amazon product I put in my cart to ensure it's not a Marketplace item is enough to make we want to not shop at Amazon at all.
Dear Cingular,
Four months into our marriage, and you've done nothing to impress me and everything to disappoint me. All cell phone service providers are a joke, but you, my dear, just might be the punchline. I could go ten paragraphs about all the crap you've pulled in the past four months, but you're already fully aware of it because it's a fundamental part of your business plan. Since you and I are legally bound to each other for awhile longer, I'll stick around until then. But don't expect me to stay one day longer than our pre-nup says I have to.
Dear Apple,
I fear you may have made a mistake by partnering with Cingular. I know I sure have.
Dear Comcast,
In the three weeks since we rekindled our old flame, you've also done nothing to impress me and any number of things to flabbergast me. You brought the wrong television equipment to my house and then failed to set it up properly, and your internet has gone down three times in three weeks. And then because you hadn't disappointed me thoroughly enough, I recommended you to a family member, and then you managed to screw up that installation even worse than you did mine. It's a good thing you and I aren't legally bonded to each other, because I don't see this relationship lasting long at all.
Dear Goodyear,
If my car broke down and I just happened to be in a Goodyear parking lot at the time, I'd get out of my car and push thing down the road to some other car repair place just so I wouldn't have to do business with a place that had a "Goodyear" logo on the wall.
-----
Ah, there. Now I feel better.
Dear Amazon,
You've got to make some major changes if you want your Marketplace to be anything other than a big blemish on your hard-earned brand name. When you went to Amazon and put something in your cart, it used to mean something. You knew you were buying direct from the world's most competent online retailer, with consistent policies, practices, and quality. But with the advent of Marketplace, it's not immediately clear who you might be buying what from, and you end up with situations where you place two items in your shopping cart that would normally qualify you for free shipping only to find that they want five dollars shipping for one item and forty dollars shipping for the other item because the latter is coming from some company you've never heard of and the former is coming from some kid in his parents' basement. But that's not half the problem, because when the kid in his basement ends up shipping you a box full of randomly selected parts instead of the item you ordered, you're pretty much on your own to solve it. Despite your claims that you're willing to get involved, you've basically set things up so it's just me and the kid in his basement going toe to toe until someone gives up. If I wanted to buy from eBay with all its uncertainty about whom I might be buying from or whether I can trust them, I'd just go buy from eBay. Until I see that you've done something to get a handle on this nonsense, I won't be buying another Amazon Marketplace item. And frankly, the hassle of having to examine every Amazon product I put in my cart to ensure it's not a Marketplace item is enough to make we want to not shop at Amazon at all.
Dear Cingular,
Four months into our marriage, and you've done nothing to impress me and everything to disappoint me. All cell phone service providers are a joke, but you, my dear, just might be the punchline. I could go ten paragraphs about all the crap you've pulled in the past four months, but you're already fully aware of it because it's a fundamental part of your business plan. Since you and I are legally bound to each other for awhile longer, I'll stick around until then. But don't expect me to stay one day longer than our pre-nup says I have to.
Dear Apple,
I fear you may have made a mistake by partnering with Cingular. I know I sure have.
Dear Comcast,
In the three weeks since we rekindled our old flame, you've also done nothing to impress me and any number of things to flabbergast me. You brought the wrong television equipment to my house and then failed to set it up properly, and your internet has gone down three times in three weeks. And then because you hadn't disappointed me thoroughly enough, I recommended you to a family member, and then you managed to screw up that installation even worse than you did mine. It's a good thing you and I aren't legally bonded to each other, because I don't see this relationship lasting long at all.
Dear Goodyear,
If my car broke down and I just happened to be in a Goodyear parking lot at the time, I'd get out of my car and push thing down the road to some other car repair place just so I wouldn't have to do business with a place that had a "Goodyear" logo on the wall.
-----
Ah, there. Now I feel better.
