Wednesday, September 13, 2006
What kind of day was it?
What kind of day was it? The kind of day where I was about to ask Phil Schiller a question but was distracted because someone walked right in front of me. That someone was Steve Jobs.
What kind of day was it? The kind of day where I watched a bearded guy pull up on a Segway, and I didn't realize until long afterwards that he was Steve Wozniak.
This really is getting more surreal all the time.
What kind of day was it? The kind of day where I was about to ask Phil Schiller a question but was distracted because someone walked right in front of me. That someone was Steve Jobs.
What kind of day was it? The kind of day where I watched a bearded guy pull up on a Segway, and I didn't realize until long afterwards that he was Steve Wozniak.
This really is getting more surreal all the time.
Friday, September 08, 2006
Sitting here in the Fort Lauderdale Airport using their free terminal-wide wireless internet access. Funny how some airports try to rape you with ridiculous wireless rates, and others just give it away free. Might have something to to with the fact that here in South Florida, three international airports in a fifty mile stretch means competition and customer choice. Free wireless here at FLL does indeed make me think I'll lean toward choosing this airport over PBI in the future if all other factors are a tie. The opportunity to make good use of the two hours before takeoff without having to pay through the nose for it is a major plus. As is the fact that FLL still sells chewing gum, while PBI for some reason does not. Not sure how many other flyers use gum to ease the ear-popping nature of taking off and landing, maybe I'm the only one. Seems odd that an airport would get rid of gum of all things.
Whoops, there's my zone. Gotta go. PodCamp Boston here I come.
Whoops, there's my zone. Gotta go. PodCamp Boston here I come.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
All about PodCamp Boston this weekend
This weekend I'll be traveling to Boston for the first-ever PodCamp, representing iProng and in particular iProng Radio. This event only came into existence a few weeks ago, and the founders have built it from the ground up in that time, but they've built so much momentum in such a short period of time that I think really has the chance to be something special. iProng is a Media Sponsor, and there will be an iProng table as well as a seminar offered by my co-host Shelly Brisbin, but I'll be there mainly to learn. iProng has fully embraced podcasting only fairly recently, and I've got some catching up to do. Never too late to start learning.
The weekend agenda is filling up pretty fast (inclcuding an off-site concert and a party at Harvard, of all things), but if any of you native New Englanders have suggestions on what this first-time Boston visitor shouldn't miss, I'd love to hear them. And by all means, if you have any potential interest in podcasting at all and you live within driving distance of Boston, come out and join us for PodCamp. Full registration is completely free, but registration is required nonetheless.
On another note, because the dates of the event are September 9th and 10th, the only real logistical choice for an out of towner like me is to fly home on September 11th. I was hoping to avoid doing so, simply because I didn't want to deal with the presumably long security delays that are likely to occur on that particular day. But so be it, and if things do get goofy with security, at least I'll have stories to tell. Ironically, I have no fear of flying on September 11th for any potential safety reasons. I just don't want to miss my flight because the guy in front of me has toothpaste in his carry-on.
This weekend I'll be traveling to Boston for the first-ever PodCamp, representing iProng and in particular iProng Radio. This event only came into existence a few weeks ago, and the founders have built it from the ground up in that time, but they've built so much momentum in such a short period of time that I think really has the chance to be something special. iProng is a Media Sponsor, and there will be an iProng table as well as a seminar offered by my co-host Shelly Brisbin, but I'll be there mainly to learn. iProng has fully embraced podcasting only fairly recently, and I've got some catching up to do. Never too late to start learning.
The weekend agenda is filling up pretty fast (inclcuding an off-site concert and a party at Harvard, of all things), but if any of you native New Englanders have suggestions on what this first-time Boston visitor shouldn't miss, I'd love to hear them. And by all means, if you have any potential interest in podcasting at all and you live within driving distance of Boston, come out and join us for PodCamp. Full registration is completely free, but registration is required nonetheless.
On another note, because the dates of the event are September 9th and 10th, the only real logistical choice for an out of towner like me is to fly home on September 11th. I was hoping to avoid doing so, simply because I didn't want to deal with the presumably long security delays that are likely to occur on that particular day. But so be it, and if things do get goofy with security, at least I'll have stories to tell. Ironically, I have no fear of flying on September 11th for any potential safety reasons. I just don't want to miss my flight because the guy in front of me has toothpaste in his carry-on.
Finally, the iMac goes back to $999 where it belongs
Thank you, thank you, thank you Apple for putting the basic iMac's price under a thousand dollars where it belongs. This is the first time in years that the Mac's desktop pricing has made any sense, and you're going to sell a gazillion of them.
It's somewhat ironic that one of the most blatantly obvious examples of what was wrong with Apple's $1299 iMac base price was the fact that Apple's laptop line started at sub-$1000 and Apple's legitimate desktop line was three hundred dollars more expensive. I say ironic because the iMac's price has finally gone to where it should just a few months after Apple's laptop line jumped to a base price of $1099. After all those years of having it so blatantly backwards, Apple's not only made things even, but reversed it so that its desktops are cheaper than its laptops. Which is exactly the way the world expects it to be. So in that sense, one more of the "I don't understand why Apple does something in an odd way, so that's my excuse for not upgrading to a Mac" items is now gone from the list.
The cool part is that a $1000 iMac makes all the continued mistakes Apple is making in the sub-sub-$1000 space far less of an issue. The masses who are turned off by the model that only a geek could love can instead easily be pointed in the direction of the $1000 iMac, which isn't much more expensive. That's a world of difference from yesterday, where everyone who was turned off by the geek lunchbox had to be pointed in the direction of a $1300 machine, and far too many of them simply lost interest.
And the coolest part is that if Apple is dumping its new iMacs out on the market like an afterthought just a few days before a major media event, then whatever they've got in store for next week must be really big. And no, I'm not talking about a fifty-two inch iMac.
Thank you, thank you, thank you Apple for putting the basic iMac's price under a thousand dollars where it belongs. This is the first time in years that the Mac's desktop pricing has made any sense, and you're going to sell a gazillion of them.
It's somewhat ironic that one of the most blatantly obvious examples of what was wrong with Apple's $1299 iMac base price was the fact that Apple's laptop line started at sub-$1000 and Apple's legitimate desktop line was three hundred dollars more expensive. I say ironic because the iMac's price has finally gone to where it should just a few months after Apple's laptop line jumped to a base price of $1099. After all those years of having it so blatantly backwards, Apple's not only made things even, but reversed it so that its desktops are cheaper than its laptops. Which is exactly the way the world expects it to be. So in that sense, one more of the "I don't understand why Apple does something in an odd way, so that's my excuse for not upgrading to a Mac" items is now gone from the list.
The cool part is that a $1000 iMac makes all the continued mistakes Apple is making in the sub-sub-$1000 space far less of an issue. The masses who are turned off by the model that only a geek could love can instead easily be pointed in the direction of the $1000 iMac, which isn't much more expensive. That's a world of difference from yesterday, where everyone who was turned off by the geek lunchbox had to be pointed in the direction of a $1300 machine, and far too many of them simply lost interest.
And the coolest part is that if Apple is dumping its new iMacs out on the market like an afterthought just a few days before a major media event, then whatever they've got in store for next week must be really big. And no, I'm not talking about a fifty-two inch iMac.
Monday, September 04, 2006
Alright, the Intel transition is done, so let's see the new Mac hardware designs
Now that the Mac's Intel transition is complete, it's interesting to note that of all of its computer models, only the iBook received a radical redesign to go along with the processor changeover. The PowerBook picked up a number of new hardware features and such, but still looks like the same machine from six feet away. And all of the Intel-based desktop models look identical to their PowerPC counterparts, despite their radically redesigned interiors.
While the initial temptation might be to conclude that Apple has simply gotten lazy or lackadaisical when it comes to the Mac, I think a conscious decision was made early on by the company to keep most of the Mac models looking the same in their first Intel incarnation as they did in their final PowerPC incarnation in order to provide visible metaphorical continuity during the course of the processor transition. In other words, if an Intel-based Mac still looks like a Mac model that we're all familiar with, then we're more likely to accept that an Intel-based Mac is sill indeed a Mac.
So how does that explain the activity on the laptop side? I think the iBook was just so long in the tooth from a design standpoint that they felt the time had more than come to do something about it, continuity concerns or not. And the laptop name changes likely came from an equal desire to rid themselves of the name "Power" and to (better late than never) sneak the word "Mac" into the names of the Mac laptop models. Back in the late 90's when the word "Mac" was synonymous with "plague" for most of the population, not referring to Mac laptops as being Macs was a calculated decision. But with the Mac's resurgence in mainstream acceptability (if not necessarily acceptance), it was becoming almost criminal to have two of the most popular Mac computers not be only identified as being Macs.
So now that the transition to Intel is complete, the question is whether Apple is going to recall Jonathan Ive from the year-long vacation he's apparently been on, and turn him loose on the next generation of Mac hardware design. Just make everything as cool as the MacBook and it'll be fine.
It's been Monday for just a few hours now, and yet I just realized that this week is essentially already spoken for. Daytime Monday through Wednesday will be all about testing and reviewing the recent upsurge of accessories. Monday evening will be all about barbecue. Tuesday evening is the iProng Radio taping. Wedneday evening is my local Apple User Group meeting. Thursday daytime is left open for last-minute stuff relating to PodCamp. Thursday evening is all about finding a good sports bar from which to watch the NFL season opener. And Friday morning I'm on a plane to Boston.
My weeks usually end up being that filled, but rarely does my schedule look so concrete before the week even begins. Hmm, not much room in there this week for the unexpected. But I'd rather have things this way than the other extreme. Of course, the minute I get back from PodCamp on Monday, the next three weeks will become very much about Portable Media Expo. Our presence at this year's Expo borders on ridiculous, and there's turned out to be an incredible amount of planning involved in what all we're doing. But it's all going to be good, I think. Good for us, good for the expo, good for attendees.
In any case, September is more or less spoken for. Now watch Apple go and remamp the entire iPod lineup during the month of September just to keep me on my toes. Conventional wisdom says they'd better hurry up and get new iPod models to market in time for the holidays in order to counteract Microsoft's upcoming competitor, but I can't imagine Microsoft gets its product to market in 2006. This is, after all, a company who has never once gotten a product out the door in the same year it was originally scheduled to do so. Lest ye forget that Windows 95 was originally supposed to be called Windows 94.
That having been said, if Apple is indeed going to significantly update the iPod lineup prior to the holidays, now would be a good time. Everyone (including Apple) suffers if the accessory market doesn't get its corresponding new products to market in time for the holidays, and I think Apple learned that last year. September 7th was a day that made a lot of iPod accessory makers smile. Those smiles all went away on October 12th. Not because they didn't like what they saw, but because it was way too late for them to be seeing it.
Come to think of it, the iPod nano celebrates its one year anniversary this Thursday. Considering all the swirling rumors, you have to wonder if the nano will still be a current-model iPod by then.
Now that the Mac's Intel transition is complete, it's interesting to note that of all of its computer models, only the iBook received a radical redesign to go along with the processor changeover. The PowerBook picked up a number of new hardware features and such, but still looks like the same machine from six feet away. And all of the Intel-based desktop models look identical to their PowerPC counterparts, despite their radically redesigned interiors.
While the initial temptation might be to conclude that Apple has simply gotten lazy or lackadaisical when it comes to the Mac, I think a conscious decision was made early on by the company to keep most of the Mac models looking the same in their first Intel incarnation as they did in their final PowerPC incarnation in order to provide visible metaphorical continuity during the course of the processor transition. In other words, if an Intel-based Mac still looks like a Mac model that we're all familiar with, then we're more likely to accept that an Intel-based Mac is sill indeed a Mac.
So how does that explain the activity on the laptop side? I think the iBook was just so long in the tooth from a design standpoint that they felt the time had more than come to do something about it, continuity concerns or not. And the laptop name changes likely came from an equal desire to rid themselves of the name "Power" and to (better late than never) sneak the word "Mac" into the names of the Mac laptop models. Back in the late 90's when the word "Mac" was synonymous with "plague" for most of the population, not referring to Mac laptops as being Macs was a calculated decision. But with the Mac's resurgence in mainstream acceptability (if not necessarily acceptance), it was becoming almost criminal to have two of the most popular Mac computers not be only identified as being Macs.
So now that the transition to Intel is complete, the question is whether Apple is going to recall Jonathan Ive from the year-long vacation he's apparently been on, and turn him loose on the next generation of Mac hardware design. Just make everything as cool as the MacBook and it'll be fine.
It's been Monday for just a few hours now, and yet I just realized that this week is essentially already spoken for. Daytime Monday through Wednesday will be all about testing and reviewing the recent upsurge of accessories. Monday evening will be all about barbecue. Tuesday evening is the iProng Radio taping. Wedneday evening is my local Apple User Group meeting. Thursday daytime is left open for last-minute stuff relating to PodCamp. Thursday evening is all about finding a good sports bar from which to watch the NFL season opener. And Friday morning I'm on a plane to Boston.
My weeks usually end up being that filled, but rarely does my schedule look so concrete before the week even begins. Hmm, not much room in there this week for the unexpected. But I'd rather have things this way than the other extreme. Of course, the minute I get back from PodCamp on Monday, the next three weeks will become very much about Portable Media Expo. Our presence at this year's Expo borders on ridiculous, and there's turned out to be an incredible amount of planning involved in what all we're doing. But it's all going to be good, I think. Good for us, good for the expo, good for attendees.
In any case, September is more or less spoken for. Now watch Apple go and remamp the entire iPod lineup during the month of September just to keep me on my toes. Conventional wisdom says they'd better hurry up and get new iPod models to market in time for the holidays in order to counteract Microsoft's upcoming competitor, but I can't imagine Microsoft gets its product to market in 2006. This is, after all, a company who has never once gotten a product out the door in the same year it was originally scheduled to do so. Lest ye forget that Windows 95 was originally supposed to be called Windows 94.
That having been said, if Apple is indeed going to significantly update the iPod lineup prior to the holidays, now would be a good time. Everyone (including Apple) suffers if the accessory market doesn't get its corresponding new products to market in time for the holidays, and I think Apple learned that last year. September 7th was a day that made a lot of iPod accessory makers smile. Those smiles all went away on October 12th. Not because they didn't like what they saw, but because it was way too late for them to be seeing it.
Come to think of it, the iPod nano celebrates its one year anniversary this Thursday. Considering all the swirling rumors, you have to wonder if the nano will still be a current-model iPod by then.
Friday, September 01, 2006
What are the odds that the Publisher of iProng.com is the only person in the world who's been getting a strange error message from iLounge.com for the past four days?
Earlier this week I mentioned how odd it was that I seemed to be the only person in the world who was getting a very strange error message from iLounge.com instead of being able to see their site. I asked friends all over the place to check and see if they were getting the same message, then I wrote about it here to see if anyone in the world was getting this same error message, or if anyone had ever even seen this particular error message in all their internet travels. I even logged onto my neighbor's network with my laptop, to find that suddenly I could access their site just fine simply by using a different IP address. In other words, my IP address is the only one in the world that is seeing this error message.
Being the publisher of iProng, their biggest competitor, the whole thing seemed a little, well, peculiar. I know what you're thinking, but they wouldn't do something like that, would they? Then again, there are only three possibilities here:
1) Through sheer cosmic coincidence, one person in the world was randomly selected to get this bizarre error message, and it just happened to be the Publisher of their main competitor.
2) Someone associated with their site thought it would be cute to block me from being able to visit their site.
3) Someone not associated with their site hacked their server and blocked me from being able to visit their site.
I find all of the above scenarios highly improbable, but nonetheless, one of the three has to be true. So two days ago I sent a friendly email to both of the principals of iLounge, informing them that I was getting this strange error message from their site and that I appeared to be the only one and that it appeared to be directly connected to my specific IP address. I was careful not to make any assumptions or accusations, but I figured I should make them aware of the situation nonetheless. For all I know someone has hacked them, meaning that we've got a common enemy here.
Relations between iLounge and iProng have never exactly been warm (this is our only competitor in which this is the case), but you'd think that this is something that they would want to get out in front of. You'd think they'd either reply with "We've had other people reporting this same error message, we're working on it," or even "We didn't block you and we have no idea why you can't see our site."
But two days later, there's been no answer from them at all. One of the two of them has published an article as recently as yesterday (so says my neighbor's internet access), so it's highly unlikely that they're both on vacation right now. Their failure to reply to my friendly email casts a new level of doubt over this situation, and leads me to think that just maybe, what I thought was impossible two days ago is indeed the case after all: someone on the iLounge staff thought it would be cute to block me from being able to view their site simply because I'm the competition.
I can't tell you how much I hope this isn't true, because it doesn't speak well to the future of the iPod website industry. But what else am I left to conclude?
Four days straight of seeing the above error message, and I'm the only person in the world who's seeing it, and it goes away as soon as I use a different IP address. Two days of no reply from them, after bringing the situation to their attention. It's not that I care about being able to visit their site, I'd just like to know why they would do something so childish and ultimately self-defeating, if indeed this is their doing. I really hope the explanation turns out to be something else.
Earlier this week I mentioned how odd it was that I seemed to be the only person in the world who was getting a very strange error message from iLounge.com instead of being able to see their site. I asked friends all over the place to check and see if they were getting the same message, then I wrote about it here to see if anyone in the world was getting this same error message, or if anyone had ever even seen this particular error message in all their internet travels. I even logged onto my neighbor's network with my laptop, to find that suddenly I could access their site just fine simply by using a different IP address. In other words, my IP address is the only one in the world that is seeing this error message.
Being the publisher of iProng, their biggest competitor, the whole thing seemed a little, well, peculiar. I know what you're thinking, but they wouldn't do something like that, would they? Then again, there are only three possibilities here:
1) Through sheer cosmic coincidence, one person in the world was randomly selected to get this bizarre error message, and it just happened to be the Publisher of their main competitor.
2) Someone associated with their site thought it would be cute to block me from being able to visit their site.
3) Someone not associated with their site hacked their server and blocked me from being able to visit their site.
I find all of the above scenarios highly improbable, but nonetheless, one of the three has to be true. So two days ago I sent a friendly email to both of the principals of iLounge, informing them that I was getting this strange error message from their site and that I appeared to be the only one and that it appeared to be directly connected to my specific IP address. I was careful not to make any assumptions or accusations, but I figured I should make them aware of the situation nonetheless. For all I know someone has hacked them, meaning that we've got a common enemy here.
Relations between iLounge and iProng have never exactly been warm (this is our only competitor in which this is the case), but you'd think that this is something that they would want to get out in front of. You'd think they'd either reply with "We've had other people reporting this same error message, we're working on it," or even "We didn't block you and we have no idea why you can't see our site."
But two days later, there's been no answer from them at all. One of the two of them has published an article as recently as yesterday (so says my neighbor's internet access), so it's highly unlikely that they're both on vacation right now. Their failure to reply to my friendly email casts a new level of doubt over this situation, and leads me to think that just maybe, what I thought was impossible two days ago is indeed the case after all: someone on the iLounge staff thought it would be cute to block me from being able to view their site simply because I'm the competition.
I can't tell you how much I hope this isn't true, because it doesn't speak well to the future of the iPod website industry. But what else am I left to conclude?
Four days straight of seeing the above error message, and I'm the only person in the world who's seeing it, and it goes away as soon as I use a different IP address. Two days of no reply from them, after bringing the situation to their attention. It's not that I care about being able to visit their site, I'd just like to know why they would do something so childish and ultimately self-defeating, if indeed this is their doing. I really hope the explanation turns out to be something else.
