I campaigned tirelessly to enlighten my fellow classmates at Copenhagen Business School about this injustice, about why they should get a Mac. I managed to convert my entire study group and a fair number of other people too. It was invigorating to be able to convince people of the fundamentals.

…

Still, financial results of the likes Apple delivered yesterday serve as an affirmation of all that energy spent telling their story. Believing in the underdog. Like your favorite home team who couldn’t get into premier league while growing up just won the Superbowl, the Stanley Cup, and the World Series all together for the 10th time in a row — and you were the only one to believe in them. It’s an immensely satisfying feeling.

…

I’m well aware that this level of gushing is somewhat unbefitting in public, and I normally wouldn’t indulge the impulse. I’m just so proud of Apple that I’m willing to look foolish saying so.

No other company has inspired me more when it comes to marketing, design, focus, and even capitalism than Apple. Make the best damn product out there, charge a profitable price, and win the world.

What triggered this gushing? Apple’s quarterly profit results. He was just so happy they had made so much money. Which makes no sense if all you do is buy their products, but it makes all the sense in the world if you own their stock.

I still don’t understand Apple, I guess.

*Everybody except me, perhaps. I really, really dislike iTunes.

Sure, there are better-spec’d phones in the market, but the difference between the top-of-the-line and the entry-line is getting smaller by the day.  Apple is going to have a tough time responding to this new reality.  The Apple mystic is one of exclusivity and luxury.  That brand promise is tough to balance when you need to go after mass-market success with lower-cost products.  Sure, there are rumors about some sort of lower-end iPhone Lite, but I don’t like their odds of pulling this off.  iPhones are already becoming ubiquitous and boring, while Google’s multi-handset approach allows buyers to better identify with their purchase. Virgin Mobile’s Motorola Triumph is youthful and fun.  Sprint’s EVO 4Gs are high-tech and fast.  There’s the HTC Status on AT&T, an Android-powered phone that plays off Facebook updates.  There’s the Droid Pro, a business-focused phone from Verizon.

photo credit: antwerpenR

Honestly, I don’t see how Apple wins this.  They need to keep “innovating” — but how long will it be before we realize all they’re doing is using bigger, gee-wiz touchscreens on more products?  It took them about 3 years to start falling behind in the phone arena.  It’ll be a surprise to me if the iPad is able to hold off the competition as long.  The end of the Apple era is here (and here).

Update: There are issues.  Bummer.

1. These guys are fighting the perception that they’re just suckerfish on the Zuckerberg shark.  If they honestly think they’re the brains behind Facebook, they should use their brains to eclipse Facebook.  Why not start UConnect 2.0 on MySpace?
2. They’ve racketeered / extorted / won $65MM from Facebook.  Minus attorney fees which they maybe didn’t have to pay if their dad hooked them up, they’ve got the cash needed.  But they may have lacked the vision to pull in Timberlake and pull the trigger on the deal.
3. Supposedly they want to be media moguls — they want(ed?) to own / run / row Facebook, but they’re best known for dicking around in courthouses.  That’s not what moguls are know for.  If they want to be entrepreneurs, they should be doing entrepreneurial things.

That’s it.  Wish it would have happened.  Would have been wild.

photo credit: exfordy

It was like this:

It was inside out.

Actually inside out, to the extent that they had had to park on the carpet.

All along what one would normally call the outer wall, which was decorated in a tasteful interior-deisgned pink, were bookshelves, also a couple of those odd three-legged tables with semicircular tops which stand in such a way as to suggest that someone just dropped the wall straight through them, and pictures which were clearly designed to soothe.

Where it got really odd was the roof.

It folded back on itself like something that M. C. Escher, had he been given to hard nights on the town, which it is no part of this narrative’s purpose to suggest was the case, though it is sometimes hard, looking at his pictures, particularly the one with all the awkward steps, not to wonder, might have dreamed up after having been on one, for the little chandeliers which should have been hanging inside were on the outside pointing up.

Confusing.

The sign above the front door read “Come Outside,” and so, nervously, they had.

Inside, of course, was where the Outside was. Rough brickwork, nicely done pointing, gutters in good repair, a garden path, a couple of small trees, some rooms leading off.

And the inner walls stretched down, folded curiously, and opened at the end as if, by an optical illusion which would have had M. C. Escher frowning and wondering how it was done, to enclose the Pacific Ocean itself.

…

“Ah yes,” he said, “that’s to do with the day I finally realized that the world had gone totally mad and built the Asylum to put it in, poor thing, and hoped it would get better.”

Jobs has gone Wonko.

And here’s the worst: the driver number isn’t any of the previously mentioned numbers.  On the charge card they leave you for gas it says this: “The driver number is NOT your member number.”  Ok, fine.  What is it?  Doesn’t say.  So if you’re at the gas station, you guess.  Must be the account number!  I’m driving this thing, I’m using an account, it must be the account number!  Nope.  Fine, let’s use the access card number.  I am, after all, using a charge card, which is the same shape as the access card.  Let’s type that in!  Nope.  Ok, now, I know it says it’s NOT my member number, but I’ve got nothing left to try.  Nope.  Ok, what else is there?  The car has a number.  There is a vehicle number.  That’s not it.  Wait.  Call for help.  Oh, that makes NO SENSE AT ALL.  But here’s the answer:

The driver number needed to buy gas is the vehicle ID number + the last two digits of the model year of the car.

KAPLOW! Head: blown.  WTF?  Not only is the driver number not written anywhere, it’s not, in any way, influenced by the person driving the car.  It’s basically the car’s vehicle number.  But you need to know the car’s model year.  Idiotic.

I-Go, here’s an idea: ditch the driver number and just use the vehicle number.  That makes sense.  Enter the vehicle number. Where’s the vehicle number?  Well it can’t be my member number, because I’m not a vehicle.  Must be printed on the vehicle somewhere.  Oh, here it is on the windshield.  Great, now I can purchase gasoline, and I don’t need to call for help.

And if you must have the last two digits of the model year, add them to the vehicle number sticker.  There are a bunch of better options out there and you haven’t chosen them.  You have a ‘driver’ number that’s independent of the variable drivers and dependent on the static vehicle ID.  Come on.  This is idiotic, non-intuitive, and misleading.  Fix this.

Now, rumor is that the paywall took $40 million to build.  That’s insane.  Especially when you consider my genius way to beat it: the stop button … also called le bouton d’arrêt.  Here’s what you do:

1. After hitting the paywall, refresh the page.
2. Let the main content load.
3. Push the browser ‘stop’ button.
4. Enjoy an ad-free and paywall-free reading experience.

Good try, NYT.  Goodbye, $40MM.

photo credit: mattyeo | Similar ROI; similar effectiveness

• It’s thinner and lighter — not a surprise, that’s how technology trends.
• It’s faster — it got a new processor, that’s how technology trends.
• It has cameras … that Apple intentionally left off the first version so that you’d buy this version.

And yet, people NEED this thing.  They lust after it.  They’re flying in from around the world to be the first to buy it.  It’s amazing. All for a device that’s used to check emails, read books and articles, control the TV, and watch videos — a device that lives next to the couch, the coffee table’s computer.  And it makes people super excited to part with $500.

photo credit: The GameWay

Makes me think of this article in the Onion:

“Not only will I be able to perform tasks faster than before, but my new device will also inform those around me that I am a successful individual who is up on the latest trends,” said Rebecca Hodge, whose executive job allowed her to line up for several hours in the middle of the day in order to obtain the previously unavailable item. “Its attractiveness and considerable value are, by extension, my attractiveness and considerable value.”

Consumer Robert Larson agreed.

“I’m going to take my new device wherever I go,” said Larson, holding the expensive item directly in the eyeline of several reporters. “That way no one on the street, inside the elevator, or at my place of business will ever mistake me for the sort of individual who does not own the new device.”

But maybe my brother summed it up best after taking a look: “I thought about an iPad, but I went to see it and it sucks.”

Hello,

For well over a decade, the Amazon Associates Program has worked with thousands of Illinois residents. Unfortunately, a new state tax law signed by Governor Quinn compels us to terminate this program for Illinois-based participants. It specifically imposes the collection of taxes from consumers on sales by online retailers – including but not limited to those referred by Illinois-based affiliates like you – even if those retailers have no physical presence in the state.

We had opposed this new tax law because it is unconstitutional and counterproductive. It was supported by national retailing chains, most of which are based outside Illinois, that seek to harm the affiliate advertising programs of their competitors. Similar legislation in other states has led to job and income losses, and little, if any, new tax revenue. We deeply regret that its enactment forces this action.

As a result of the new law, contracts with all Illinois affiliates of the Amazon Associates Program will be terminated and those Illinois residents will no longer receive advertising fees for sales referred to Amazon.com, Endless.com, or SmallParts.com. Please be assured that all qualifying advertising fees earned prior to April 15, 2011 will be processed and paid in full in accordance with the regular payment schedule. Based on your account closure date of April 15, 2011, any final payments will be paid by July 1, 2011.

You are receiving this email because our records indicate that you are a resident of Illinois. If you are not currently a permanent resident of Illinois, or if you are relocating to another state in the near future, you can manage the details of your Associates account here. And if you relocate to another state after April 15, please contact us for reinstatement into the Amazon Associates Program.

To be clear, this development will only impact our ability to continue the Associates Program in Illinois, and will not affect the ability of Illinois residents to purchase online at www.amazon.com from Amazon’s retail business.

We have enjoyed working with you and other Illinois-based participants in the Amazon Associates Program and, if this situation is rectified, would very much welcome the opportunity to re-open our Associates Program to Illinois residents.

Regards,

The Amazon Associates Team

Some background: Wisconsin is indeed facing a budget crunch, although its difficulties are less severe than those facing many other states. Revenue has fallen in the face of a weak economy, while stimulus funds, which helped close the gap in 2009 and 2010, have faded away.

In this situation, it makes sense to call for shared sacrifice, including monetary concessions from state workers. And union leaders have signaled that they are, in fact, willing to make such concessions.

But Mr. Walker isn’t interested in making a deal. Partly that’s because he doesn’t want to share the sacrifice: even as he proclaims that Wisconsin faces a terrible fiscal crisis, he has been pushing through tax cuts that make the deficit worse. Mainly, however, he has made it clear that rather than bargaining with workers, he wants to end workers’ ability to bargain.

He’s right.  It’s not about pay cuts and concessions.  It’s about breaking unions and breaking promises.  I don’t like it.  It’s dishonest.  It’s an engineered Conan / Leno fracture. It’s pitting us against them and really we all need to do our part.  Maybe everybody SHOULD just chip in $32 and be done with it.  Direct civic action is always better than politicking.

photo credit: krossbow | Will this be a penny solution to a dollar problem?

Since then, I’ve had a lot of discussions with various webmasters and ad mangers about the value of a header 728×90 ad.  Some swear by it, while other avoid it.  I’ve never had one on this blog, and I figured it was worth a try.  So starting today, there’s a header ad.  I’ll analyze what it’s worth in a future post.