White Noise

Not where I would put my money

The other day Macworld ran a report that the WSJ announced that Microsoft had just prepared a $300 million dollar ad campaign against Apple.  Jerry Seinfeld ( who I love ) will be getting $10 million for his piece in the ads.  I started thinking about why the Apple vs Mac ads are so effective.  I think it is because they use humor and each ad is targeted to one particular aspect that Apple excels in. They are not trying to be all things to everyone. 

So Microsoft comes out with some new ads.  People may go out and buy the product.  But what happens after? What happens when they get the product home and it does not perform like they imagined? or that they need a part time IT relative to help them use it.  Wouldn't it be more effective to use that $300 million internally to correct any issues and then launch an ad campaign to promote that?  Maybe it is just me....

A new mecca

There was no way I was going to be in new York without going to the glass globe. The store just awesome!

Admit it

... you want one... it is pretty freakin' cool looking. 

The flash demos show some really interesting functionality.  Apple may have changed the the way we look at mobile devices.  The design is exceptional.  We will have to wait until June to see if the customer experience with it is as good as it is hyped.

I Did it !

I finally  made the commitment and put the sticker on.  This is a big deal. You have to understand I have never put anything on my car other than a small alumni sticker at one point.

I am sure this will generate very interesting comments !

Music and Sports

It appears that a new partnership has blossomed between Apple and Nike.  It blends a bluetooth device with a receiver to allow runners to combine music and  statistics to see how they are doing. One of the interesting things which we will have to wait to see how it develops  is Nike promises to offer
specific athletic tuned music workouts.

Workout routines developed for use with Nike+iPod time- or distance-based workouts. Each routine offers coaching, motivational, and training tips over a continuous mix of music. 

In truth I am a little surprised that something like this did not develop sooner.  Other than the sneakers, Nike is also contributing an interface to track your progress .  When you sync you ipod  you will be able to see your runs and track your goals  over the internet.  [Note: this is not an original idea - my friend  Joel is doing this on his blog manually now - but I do think this may inspire some other amatuer athletes.]

Impressive

This week Apple opened its latest store in New York on Fifth Avenue.  It is a 5 story glass cube that is surrounded by skyscrapers. The building is very reminicscent of I.M. Pei's Pyramide du Louvre.

The store is actually underground and going to be open 24 hours a day  7 days a week.

Just a very cool building !

Something I did not expect to see

Notice the 5th bullet. Usually it was the other way around.

To the proud MS employees...

I am very sorry you had to see this!  This was posted a couple of days ago on tuaw.com and I am still laughing at it.

I think this is hysterical even if you are not an supporter.

Watch this.

Think Different - Be Different

One of my favorite ad campaigns of all time is the Think Different campaign Apple ran.  The use of the unique historical figures and the message about not following the masses was perfect to show the uniqueness of working with an Apple computer.

In the past two weeks I have found two references to people/services to allow you to modify your mac to be more personal and more unique. Modding macs has been around for a long time but these examples take it to a new level.

Etchamac is a company that will laser your design or pattern on to your power book or ipod for a price.
This takes personalization to a new level in my mind.  I have often thought about why PC makers do not inspire this type of external love for their products. Stickers on your PC are one thing but this takes it to a new level, and the detail that can be achieved here is amazing.

TUAW.com  pointed out an article on MAKEs website where Phillip Torrone put the Tarsier from the O'Reilly book on vi on his powerbook.  The image is incredible.  So along with Thinking Different now Mac enthusiast cab be different as well !

iTunes Recommends

For the second time in 2 weeks Apple has upgraded iTunes with new features as the result of the new iPod that supports video.  One of the new features that I think deserves more notice is the music recommendations.  This appears to be very similar to Amazons service.  The more music you buy the more it will fine tune the selections for you.  I decided to check out what Apple thought I might like since I have bought several songs from the site. When I reviewed my recommendations and I got a few good laughs.

Late in 2004 k.d.lang put out an album called Hymns of the 49th Parallel.  It is an album of cover songs  ranging from artist like Neil Young and Joni Mitchell.  After previewing the album I bought it.  Mostly because there was a cover version of Martin Sextons haunting song "Hallelujah".  Based on this purchase Apple recommended that I might like Billy Idols Devil Playgound. While I am still a punk at heart and I am sure will love that album I still can not figure out the Apple recommendation algorithm.  I think there are a few missing variables in the equation !