I spent the day in Manhattan, where I had meetings at my employer’s office. After work I walked down 33rd Street from Park Ave. South to Seventh Ave., where is Pennsylvania Station. The first day […]
Category: Tech
Where are iTunes Free Music Videos?
Apple’s music store offers many ways to discover new music. I also have been using Yahoo! Music, which offers great value—how’s five bucks a month for unlimited downloads—but doesn’t offer as many ways to find […]
LOL
I witnessed the clash of the old and new worlds while driving the other day. The cause: lol. To my 11-year old daughter, lol means “laughing out loud,” because of her use of instant messaging. […]
Design Matters
Last night, during an IM conversation with Nate Mook (of Betanews fame), he broached the topic of smiles, saying Apple’s little iPod nano makes people smile. It’s just so damn cute. So are babies, for that matter, and they make people smile, too. Coocheecoo!
Search as the New User Interface
In my next blog post, I plan to write about good design. As prelude, I offer my May 23, 2005, column for Betanews:
In 1984, Apple’s Macintosh introduced the world to the graphical user interface, eventually changing how people interact with computers. The GUI may not have been Apple’s idea—great credit there goes to the folks at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center—but the company did deliver the first meaningful, commercial product.
Good Thing in a Small Package
I am back from Los Angeles, where I attended Microsoft’s developers conference. Waiting for me: A shiny new iPod nano. Much thanks to Apple for sending this huge surprise. I nearly bought one last Friday […]
iPod Shuffle: Apple Understated
Back in February, Betanews published a column from me about Apple’s iPod Shuffle. I’m working on another column, on iPod nano, and decided to post the earlier one here.
Jobs Does the Job
Today, I took some time to watch Steve Jobs’ iPod nano Webcast. I’ve got to tell you that he gives a better performance than most magicians. And the slight of hands are amazingly subtle. For example, he used iChat to video conference with Madonna in London.
The Mother of Invention
This evening, my wife, daughter and I drove over to Bethesda, Md., for an open house at Imagination Stage; my daughter decided to take an acting class there. Afterwards, we took a stroll through downtown […]
Buy Refurbished and Save
I often recommend that people buying new PCs should consider refurbished. In my experience, used is typically better than new. I want to say always, because I’ve never had a bad refurb.
Refurbished is a computer sold secondhand by the original seller, which could be the manufacturer or a retailer. Hypothetical: Jack Consumer buys a new Mac from Apple, but after getting the computer home he sees the new Dell TV commercial with Sheryl Crow. He returns the Mac and buys a Dell. Apple still has to sell that computer, but now potentially at a loss and discounted to future buyers. Maybe Jack liked his Mac but it had a bum hard drive, so he exchanges it for another. Apple still has to sell that computer, albeit with the hard drive replaced, again discounted.
Where Macs Remain
Tonight was open house at the middle school my daughter may attend next year. During the tour I got a look around the media center (a.k.a. library), where a surprise awaited. Over the last couple […]
A Switcher Repents
Back in September, a friend lugged away the last of my Macs. I relinquished them following a July switch back to Windows. I determined to use Windows on a full-time basis, which suited my fickle mood and work situation. But the Macs are back, in a surprising return to previous enthusiasm. The decision is a personal one and does not reflect my work position with respect to covering Microsoft.
Microsoft’s approach to its MSN Spaces blogging service is what set me off. The service requires proprietary technologies to either view or post some content to MSN Spaces blogsites. I decided that going back to the Mac, which I had grown to miss over six months, best supported my philosophical position. The Internet is classic example of what kind of scale open, supported standards can create. Personally, Microsoft’s technological approach isn’t wholly consistent with my personal position.