Some are beginning to question the quality and effectiveness of Apple's "Get a Mac" advertising campaign. Brandon Watts of OSWeekly.com has taken a look at Apple's newest round of ads, saying that their simplicity makes them perhaps too easy to parody. He also says:
There's no doubt that this ad campaign is interesting due to its simplicity and approach. Of course, you can't just expect Microsoft to sit still and let these messages go in one ear and out the other. In an effort to give Apple a taste of its own medicine, Microsoft recently signed a deal with the enormously talented comedian Demetri Martin to have him star in a marketing campaign for Windows Vista. It sounds like Microsoft is also trying to take a fresh approach to how they advertise their upcoming OS, and I'm hoping for some healthy competition from their side, as well. It's your move, Microsoft.[via MacNN]
This afternoon I was greeted by a lovely email from Verizon Wireless, informing me of two things. The first was that "everybody loves chocolate," and the second was "The LG Chocolate is here!" Now, what exactly could this mean? Well, the picture reveals all.
Verizon, in partnership with phone manufacturer LG, has introduced a new cell phone titled "Chocolate." This phone may be the closest anyone has ever come to producing an iPhone. A brief list of highlighted features includes: expandable memory (up to 2 GB, 1000 songs), touch sensitive click-wheel-like controls, slide-out number pad for dialing, 1.3 megapixel camera, and Bluetooth. Sounds pretty normal, right? Well here's where it gets competitive.
The phone has wireless access to Verizon's VCAST network, allowing download of songs for $1.99 and thousands of other digital media clips. Additionally, users can download songs from their computer to the device for only $.99. Of course, users can also transfer any MP3 or WMA music files they already own. The phone also includes GPS-like software called VZNavigator, which gives real-time directions and maps. All this for $150 with a new 2-year contract. The competition sure is heating up for Apple.
A close friend of mine is working at SIGGRAPH, helping give a workshop about video podcasting. Intrigued, I decided to attend. I know Cyrus is our resident podcastologist, but I've dabbled in audio and video before (what we called, in my day, the A/V).
The workshop fortunately was a Mac stronghold. There were about ten MacBook Pros, and a similar number of 60GB 5G iPods available. Rather than just recording our video with the built-in iSights (where's the fun in that?) we assembled a slideshow of teapots in Keynote to which we added audio accompaniment via iMovie. For those of you wondering about teapots, they are sort of the ur-object for computer graphics (see Utah teapot). I like the idea of using pictures for video podcasts rather than just your standard talking heads. I'd upload mine but I don't want to show off.
One odd quirk that my friend mentioned to me: though you might think GarageBand is the ideal programming for constructing a video podcast, it's apparently unable to export video in an iPod-compatible format. The video will play in iTunes, though. Can anyone back this up?
After quite a while of hovering around the high 50's and low 60's, it's seems that Apple Computer may once again be on the rise on Wallstreet. Apple's current $68 per share price comes partially as a result of an analyst's upgrade of the company.
Keith Bachman, an analyst at Bank of America, claimed today that a strong demand for Apple's MacBook computer and a possible upgrade of the iPod nano later in the year earn Apple a "buy" rating and target price of $79. Bachman noted, however, that he was not taking the possibility of an iPhone into consideration, which he expects to be introduced in 2007.
What happens when one day you wake up and find out that all of your friends are working for Apple?
David Cohn, a New York City journalist, wonders:
At one point I could name 15 people who worked at the Apple store at the Grove, just off the top of my head. I can still name a few, and I can also spout off the names of friends who work at Apple stores in Century City, The Beverly Center, and the store on 5th avenue in New York.
Yesterday I had problems with my charger and being in LA, I head to the Century City store where I was greeted by three good friends from high school. We were able to shoot the shit and I was able to get good service. Believe me, this post isn't complaining that all my friends work at the Apple store, I find it rather cool to walk into the store to get big smiles, hugs etc. But there is something about the whole 'all of my friends work this one corporation,' that leaves me puzzled.
Apple seems to higher in clusters. Obviously there is a bit of recommendations flying around, which happens in any business, but I wonder if their hiring clusters are statistically significant? How is it that all of my friends got hired?
How does Apple decide what hipster group they are going to attach themselves too? Why did my group of friends get labeled as a perfect group of Apple employees and how did Apple slowly convince all my friends to work there? Isn't it odd not only that Apple wanted to hire all my friends and that all my friends in turn were happy to work for Apple? It's as if Apple is a cult that demands you to give it money in return for false beliefs that they are the sole proprietor of some futuristic product....oh, right. My point, however, stands -- it seems strange that one corporation would hire so many people that I know to work retail for them.
Despite the old chestnut that Macs are superior to PCs for graphic work, there are plenty of the latter at SIGGRAPH. I'd say that the breakdown so far goes somewhere between 50-50 and 60-40, favoring PCs. That includes both the attendees with laptops as well as the computer hardware behind a lot of the presentations. There's really no doubt that it's still a Windows world though, especially as I come across the day-to-day realities: a screen in SIGGRAPH's Guerilla Studio prominently asking if this is a legitimate copy of Windows, for example, or a crash on an otherwise impressive-looking touchscreen interface that yielded the familiar "this program has encountered an error and needs to close" dialog box.
Most surprisingly, though, is that Apple does not have a presence on the show floor. While the exhibition doesn't open until tomorrow, a quick perusal of exhibitor list shows Microsoft, Google, HP, and others. I wonder if it's because the use of Macs in this arena is simply a foregone conclusion or if it's another sign that Apple prefers events in which it's the big fish.
I'm glad to see that Rogue Ameoba is still keeping on top of things. Today, they've just updated Audio Hijack Pro, a program I rely on frequently when I need to capture audio from Skype. As someone who's used it since the early days of podcasting, I can say that it's gotten a lot better and simpler to use. So, fellas, keep up the good work.
So, you may recall that I sent my MacBook in last week to get repaired for its mysterious shutdown curse. The Genius at the store quoted me a one week turnaround time for my computer—a week that has now come and gone.
I've been keeping abreast of my MacBook's progress via Apple's support website, but ever since they recieved it (on the 25th), the status has been locked at "On hold - Part on order." On order? From whom? You're Apple. All attempts at humor aside, I have to imagine they're actually awaiting a part from the manufacturer, but the fact that the delay has been almost a week makes me wonder how widespread this problem is. Revisiting the original Apple discussion board thread reveals that I'm not alone in my "on order" delay, leading me to believe the either a) they were not experiencing a lot of this problem, thus did not have a sufficient stock of parts or b) their backlog has been depleted by having to replace a lot of these parts. Of course, it could always be c) I have no idea what's going on. Yeah, that's a distinct possibility.
Good morning, dear readers. It's a beautiful day at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center where I am coming to you live from SIGGRAPH 2006. For those of you not familiar with the event, it's probably the largest conference/exhibition in the world devoted to computer graphics. The show itself is sponsored by ACM SIGGRAPH, a membership organization of computer graphics enthusiasts. This year's show is anticipating 25,000 attendees from six continents—in a last minute switch, all of North America's participants have been replaced by Antarctic penguins.
Anyway, I'll be here most of the week bringing you the show highlights: the cool, the hot, the room temperature, so keep an eye out. I'll be using a special code to denote related postings, so if you see the cryptic phrase "SIGGRAPH '06" in the headline, you can bet that it has something to do with, you know, fish.
Cool screensavers have been a way to show off since the days of After Dark (the original cool version). Fenêtres Volantes just might be the way to have the coolest screensaver in the office.
I’m not talking about the flying Windows screensaver. It takes your currently open windows, and makes them twist and fly around your desktop. They even fly back into place when you start using your computer again. It’s even freeware.
[via Digg]
