Apple:
Huh?

Woz spotted on the Price is Right

Posted on Jul. 17, ’08, 2:54 PM PT by Thomas Gagnon-van Leeuwen

Category | Apple » People

Steve Wozniak’s love for Segways is legendary, but it appears he also enjoys the ever-popular game show the Price is Right. Oh Woz, how you like to surprise us! One just has to think about the short-lived romance with Kathy Griffin to be reminded of Woz’s unexpected twists and turns.

Gizmodo brings us photos, one of which can be enjoyed above, of the man himself in the front row of the Price is Right. They add:

Unfortunately, he was just sitting in the front row and was never called down to play Plinko or spin the big wheel, because I bet that he really knows the prices of household products and could use a new Lincoln Towncar or whatever it was they gave away that episode.

MobileMe is not so live

Posted on Jul. 11, ’08, 5:04 AM PT by Derik DeLong

Category | Apple » Huh?

I’m sorry if I got you all riled up with last night’s post. I woke to the large number of comments indicating that many of you still didn’t have the update. Being the inquisitive, empirical man that I am, I decided to test by running software update on my Mac Pro that I hadn’t updated yet. I got iTunes 7.7 and iTunes 7.7 only.

While my Powerbook was blessed with what’s beginning to seem like a myth of an update, my Mac Pro was left out for once. The software update isn’t suddenly going to change your entire computing experience, but there is something reassuring about having the latest and greatest.

Me.com now reports:

MobileMe is temporarily unavailable.
We’re working hard to restore normal service. Check back soon!

I was beginning to think that Apple would turn around the reliability of its service when they rebranded it. I really wanted to believe that the spotty uptime was a transient thing, but it seems that MobileMe may follow in its footsteps.

As so many of us get an iPhone (I’ve been denied thanks to upgrade eligibility), we’ll be reloading me.com hoping that the service will finally make its real debut. Just don’t hold your breath. We’ll keep you updated as things change.

Justin Long and Drew Barrymore are no longer compatible

Posted on Jul. 9, ’08, 2:02 PM PT by David Dahlquist

Category | Apple » Huh?

Justin Long, better known as “the I’m a Mac guy” and Drew Barrymore, better known as “that Golden Globe, Emmy Award nominated actress from E.T. and Charlie’s Angels who married Tom Green for like a week and spent the next several years living down her “Freddy Got Fingered” cameo”, have split.

I know what you’re probably thinking: “Justin Long and Drew Barrymore were dating?”. Yes. Yes they were. And now, they’re not. So there.

Looks like JustinDrew.app has crashed. Or maybe their relationship is just experiencing a spinning beach ball of death, and will return to normal after a quick reboot. All I can say is, good thing Justin’s a Mac and thus won’t need to worry about contracting any viruses from Barrymore. I mean, ugh; married to Tom Green? Okay okay, that’s terrible. I’ll stop.

Want someone else’s password? Just ask Apple

Posted on Jul. 8, ’08, 5:21 PM PT by Dan Pourhadi

Category | Apple » Huh?

From The Annals of Forehead-Slappers, I present you this wacky story from Marko Karppinen, who tried to log into his Apple Developer Connection (ADC) account only to find that his password wasn’t working.

How could that be, you ask?

Apparently, someone else changed his password.

How could that be, you ask?

This Someone Else, claiming to be Marko, asked Apple for the account’s password in this effectively-written email:

am forget my password of mac,did you give me password on new email marko.[redacted]@yahoo.com

Apple thoughtfully obliged and handed Someone Else the password, no questions asked, giving said person access to a slew of Marko’s stuff:

- My personal details
- My personal email
- All the files stored on my iDisk
- Everything I’ve synchronized to .Mac, including my Address Book, Bookmarks, Keychain items, etc.
- My credit card details as stored in my Apple Store profile
- My iTunes Music Store Account
- My ADC Premier membership, including the software seed key and other assets
- The iPhone Developer Program’s Program Portal, including details of our development team

Woops?

Marko was able to use his password reminder question to log into his account. He then contacted Apple with a “WTF, dude?” email and they responded, apologized profusely, and promised to scour their logs to see if they could figure out what Someone Else may have accessed with his password.

But still. WTF, dude?

[via The Consumerist]

Neil Young hates on iTunes, wants to develop an alternative digital platform

Posted on Jul. 7, ’08, 5:14 PM PT by David Dahlquist

Category | Apple » Huh?

In a recent interview by the UK Financial Times with Canadian rock legend Neil Young, the Godfather of Grunge had less than flattering things to say about iTunes, and most “new digital media technologies” for that matter. In sum, his complaint is that while MP3 services are great for convenience “the sound quality sucks”.

To combat the rise of easy-to-get but relatively lower quality MP3s, Young is in talks with record companies about licensing an alternative digital platform. This platform would have superior sound quality, and could potentially provide a new business model for music. Details are scarce, but it seems that this new “platform” would not involve downloading at all, and may involve purchasing music on Blu-ray disks.

As much as I respect Neil Young as an artist and musician, I must point out that he has always positioned himself against technological change in the music industry. He’s the kind of dude that still prefers vinyl records to CDs, and records his modern albums on analog gear even though modern, high end digital recording gear offers dead-on sound quality.

As heated as the debate over MP3 and CD / Vinyl sound quality may get, when it comes down to it, only the most hard core “audiophile” (one of the most pretentious terms ever, by the way), equipped with a high end sound system would be able to note the extremely subtle differences in quality between a CD and, say, a 320 kbps MP3. Is this difference big enough for the average listener to forgo the convenience of digital downloads? Not to me, and from the looks of recent iTunes sales, not to most.

Icky iPod sculpture embodies the state of contemporary music

Posted on Jul. 3, ’08, 3:49 PM PT by David Dahlquist

Category | Apple » Huh?

Everybody say “ewwww!”. This gnarly iPod sculpture shown at thespacesbetween has been created entirely by trash. Note the creative usage of discarded chewing gum and cigarette butts, as well as aluminum foil and other rolled up doo dads.

I look at it as a meditation on the quality of today’s music. Jonas Brothers? Miley Cyrus? I’ll take the garbage iPod over a real iPod packed with their music any day.

It doesn’t look like the sculpture is up on thespacesbetween site anymore, but check it out at Macenstein.

No Vista upgrade for Intel, no joke

Posted on Jun. 26, ’08, 11:40 AM PT by David Dahlquist

Category | Apple » Huh?

No, that wasn’t a misprint. Let me say it again: No. Vista. Upgrade. For. Intel. Yup, Vista is so incredibly ridiculously bad that even Intel, longtime partner of Microsoft, has decided that upgrading its 80,000-some employee computers to Vista just wouldn’t be worth the hassle and heart-ache.

According to an anonymous source with “direct knowledge of the company’s plans”, Intel conducted some serious cost-benefit analysis, which we can only assume resulted in the conclusion that the sheer amount of Excedrin, Aspirin, and possibly even Morphine that would be required by their employees to cope with Vista would overwhelm their budget. Not to mention the dramatic increase in psychiatric care which would put great strain on their employee medical coverage plans.

All joking aside, I find it fascinating that a massive technology company with such a close, long time working relationship with Microsoft would not find the benefits of switching to Vista compelling enough to make the plunge—not that we’re surprised or anything.

Of course things could change, and Intel could eventually be pressured by the massive force that is Steve Ballmer to make the upgrade, but until then, it looks like Wintel will remain Wintel XP.

What’s on Obama’s iPod?

Posted on Jun. 25, ’08, 5:15 PM PT by David Dahlquist

Category | Apple » Huh?

What Obama may lack in political experience (so the right-wing political pundits accuse), he makes up for with a solid, eclectic taste in music.

According to The Examiner, Obama’s iPod is packed with a wide array of music ranging from classic folk (Dylan), classic classical (Yo-Yo Ma), contemporary female singer songwriter (Sheryl Crow), and booty-shakin, dirt-brushin’-off-yo’-shoulda hip-hop (Jay-Z). He also embraces his jazzy side, with legends Miles Davis, Coltrane, and Charlie Parker earning their own spots on his playlists.

“Actually, one of my favorites during the political season is ‘Maggie’s Farm,’” Obama said of one of Dylan’s tracks. “It speaks to me as I listen to some of the political rhetoric.”

This happens to by one of my favorite Dylan tunes as well, and so my endorsement of Obama is further reinforced. Rock on, Obama. Rock on.

He wants to be a cowboy, baby: Kid Rock boycotting iTunes Store

Posted on Jun. 23, ’08, 1:31 PM PT by Dan Pourhadi

Category | Apple » Huh?

Well he’s packin’ up his game and he a headed out of…er, the iTunes Store.

Kid Rock’s apparently throwin’ a hissy over music revenue, saying record labels and now digital music stores are hoarding the bulk of the money from record sales, robbing the musicians and sabotaging La Révolution Digitál entirely.

To fight The Powers That Be, the Rock is turning to ‘cowboy’ (baby) diplomacy—he’s boycotting the iTunes Store, instead suggesting that people download his music for free (viz: illegally) from p2p file-sharing services.

Wired has the story, and describes what triggered Robert “Kid Rock” Ritchie’s defiance:

Rock’s tirade was apparently precipitated by a request from his record label, Warner Music Group’s Atlantic Records, that he publicly denounce file sharing. His response: “Wait a second, you’ve been stealing from the artists for years. Now you want me to stand up for you?” Ouch.

It’s a good point for a 37-year-old child who’s still playing dress-up pretending to be a rock star.

But as MacDailyNews wonders—how can he completely turn on the record labels, when for better or worse (much more the latter) they provided a conduit for his success (they’ve done a lot of crap, but I will never forgive them for that).

So Rock suggests his fans download his music illegally—does he practice what he preaches, demonstrating his ideals while setting an example for his followers?

He advises fans to download his music for free from P2P services, although he himself doesn’t have to. “I don’t steal things,” he told the BBC. “I’m rich.” As for everyone else, he says, “Download it illegally, I don’t care. I want you to hear my music so I can play live.”

In the words of the great Kid, ‘I can smell a pig a mile away.’

He may live on a farm…but he ain’t no cowboy, if you get my drift.

A peek inside the Apple Macintosh Classic

Posted on Jun. 18, ’08, 2:25 PM PT by David Dahlquist

Category | Apple » Huh?

Sure the iMac may be the most recognizable, iconic Mac desktop of today, but before the days of the iMac, the Macintosh Classic was the champ. The folks at TechRepublic have acquired one such Macintosh Classic, and have done the only thing worth doing to such an old piece of technology: take it apart and examine the insides.

“Consistent with Apple Computer Company’s reputation for design innovation and engineering skill, the Mac Classic is a study in efficiency, both in terms of space and power utilization,” TechRepublic’s Mark Kaelin reports. “With a 9-inch CRT display built right in the case, you have to cram some powerful and dangerous amounts of power into a very compact space without interfering with the flow of data through the silicon components of the computer. The Mac Classic handles this balancing act with aplomb.”

Check it out here.

[Via MacDailyNews]