Mac Soda

Try, try, again. Microsoft realized that their new ads weren’t doing so well (although the last one was funny), and have decided to retool their ads, this time having a PC look-a-like stand and say “I’m a PC, and I’ve been made into a stereotype”. Now I don’t know why Microsoft thinks this will make them look cool: I think it will make them look like a desperate company who is getting pummeled by an old, but successful, competing ad-campaign. They should have stayed with Seinfeld for a few more ads, because if you’re paying 10 million dollars, you might as well get your money’s worth.

Enough said.

Wow, this isn’t everyday news. Apparently HP is so fed up with Vista and Microsoft in general, that they are going to build their own, Linux-based OS to compete. The focus of the OS will be to make the OS “simpler and easier for mainstream users”. That sounds familiar…

While I bet this attempt wont turn out so great, I think its awesome that a major PC maker is taking a stand against the folks in Redmond. The two OS makers, Microsoft and Apple are in very controlling positions: Microsoft because it controls the OS everyone uses, and people don’t like it, and Apple because they control the OS everyone loves, but won’t let anyone but their own customers use it. HP is smart to take a stand, but I’m sure it will take a while for them to finish it, and by the time its done, Windows 7 will probably be out.

All I have to say is that if Windows 7 tanks, Microsoft may not be the dominating monopoly we know them to be for much longer.

2.1 arrived, and I’m as thrilled as you can get. I have had a long history of iPhone 2.0 bugs, which you probably know if you’ve read my blog for a good amount of time. Unfortunately, I have to wait for it to back up, since it crashed last night on 2.0.2. So I have to wait at least 4 hours to get my hands on it.

I’ll post my thoughts when it arrives.

I have been playing around with iTunes 8′s biggest feature: Genius, and have not been impressed. I know this will be much better later, but for now, it appears no work went into this at all. Here are some of the song recommendations it gave me, and my friends.

Song: Numb/Encore by Linkin Park

Recommendation: Sweet Baby James by James Taylor

Song: Just Dance by Lady Gaga

Recommendation: Mountain Music by Alabama

Song: Jerk it Out by Caesar’s Palace

Recommendation: I Walk the Line by Johnny Cash

Have you gotten terrible “genius” recommendations? Let me know in the comments, and I’ll add them to this page.

I just watched Microsoft’s new advertisement, and it beat the old one big time. I love Seinfeld, and I actually enjoyed this ad a bunch more. The best line, when Gates asks Seinfeld why their living a normal life with a family: “You’re living in some kind of moonhouse hovering over Seatle like the mothership, I have so many cars, I get stuck in my own traffic! We need to connect with real people!”

I feel that this ad beats all of Apple’s recent Get A Mac ads in humor: in effectiveness, Apple’s ads win, because they are about selling computers, but I really enjoyed this, and thought it was a great, funny advertisement. I hope it gets talked positively about, so that we can see more ads like this.

You can view it in high quality on Microsoft’s website here.

For the record, I couldn’t stand the last ad.

Wow. I like the look of this device… its how the Kindle should have looked. But boy, did they do an awful job introducing it. It seems so rehearsed, but at the same time, so poorly executed. Click here to see it for yourself.

See here. Time sums it up perfectly, so I won’t elaborate.

Hopefully the work he gets back to is the MacBook, MacBook Pro, Mid-Size tower event coming October 14th.

I was reading on Macenstein and came across a comment that summed up what’s going on with Apple right now.

“i think the heyday of apples “one more thing” is over and any product that apple comes up with now is foreseen from all the apple rumor mills… and then over hyped and then slammed “well its ok but i wish it could wash my socks AND underwear at the SAMETIME”.

i love apple but either im getting old and uninspired or its the other way around.”

Apple is not releasing underwhelming updates: we’re overhyping them. The blame really comes down to all the rumors. When the rumor mill first started, it was usually wrong, and if a product’s details were completely revealed, it wasn’t a big deal: because Apple had something up their sleeve that the sites hadn’t uncovered. Now, the sites are outing everything: from specs, to cases, to price points, even to actual photographs, and the result of this is Apple’s keynotes never have surprises, leaving us feeling underwhelmed at the end, like its Apple’s fault. Apple has stopped threatening sites with legal action because of the bad press, and therefore there is nothing they can do to save their product intros.

I am offering a solution for those who agree with me, and wish they could just see the keynote, without reading any rumors: at least for just one event. If you are among this group of people, send me an email (which you can find on my contact page), and I will place you on a list of people, to whom I will send an email when Mac Rumors posts their “spoiler free” link. That way you can view the keynote, in its entirety, without having any idea what will be coming. I will be offering this service through Mac Soda for every event this year, and for Macworld 2009. If it proves to be popular and successful, I will continue offering it beyond that event.

Save Steve’s keynotes from being boring: watch the events completely spoiler free!

UPDATE: Apparently Mac Rumors already offers this. I still think we should do it though, so email Arn to participate in the experiment! If I wasn’t blogging, I would participate as well!

Amazingly enough, my predictions were very close to what came, and I called some obscure features way before the rumor mill. Here are my predictions again to see how close I came…

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Prediction: iPod Shuffle: At 49 dollars, its hard to imagine the price dropping anymore. However, I’m sure we will see some sort of an updated design, definitely thinner, and while a screen is possible, its unlikely. More space, and thinner are what to expect here.

Actual: This was the most surprising of everything in my eyes. I expected a redesign, and instead got colors. Oh well… I don’t use the shuffle anyways!

2. iPod Nano: Some say touch, others say click wheel. I say both. I believe that just as the iPod Touch didn’t kill off the Classic, the iPod Touch Nano won’t kill off the Nano. The iPod Touch Nano will be extremely thin, and will sport a 2.5 inch screen, with prices starting very cheap (99-149?). Expect 4-8 GB of space. As far as the click-nano is concerned, I believe it will stay fat, add more space, and will come in multiple colors, as 9 to 5 Mac claims. While some are interpreting this as more than one color on the frame, I have a feeling they will be able to change colors, as Apple has a patent for this, and because it would be awesome. Prices should drop in line with the Touch Nano, and space should be boosted.

Actual: I was wrong at first, but I later revised it. See the very last prediction…

3. iPod Classic: Thinner, Cheaper, Bigger Hard Drive. Yawn. This is probably the Apple product I care the least about.

Actual: Thinner, Cheaper, Bigger Hard Drive. Discontinuation of 160 GB.

4. iPod Touch: GPS should be added. Maybe a camera and speakers and a mic to go with the iPhone. 64 GB of space is possible. While some may think that’s crazy, Steve Jobs said that the iPod Touch will always have more space than the iPhone, so if people expect a 32 GB iPhone, a 64 GB Touch has to come first. I also expect it to be thinner (if that’s even possible: that thing is so thin!), and perhaps sport a plastic or aluminum back. That chrome back scratches too much for my liking as it is now. I also would like to see volume buttons to match the iPhone. Expect a substantial drop in price: As it is now, It doesn’t make sense to pay 499 for a 32 GB Touch, and 299 for a 16 GB iPhone. I’d expect all price points to drop 100 dollars (or at least 50).

Actual: No GPS. Speaker. Volume Buttons. Price drop was in between my 100 dollar and 50 dollar estimates.

5. PowerBook G5. Two Button Mouse. iNintendo. Beatles on iTunes. Steve said he expected them in early 2008, and time’s running out. Remastered catalog, DRM-Free, All albums available immediately plus a new “special” album of some sort (Greatest hits type thing). Paul McCartney Performs at event.

Actual: Sigh….

6. iTunes 8.0. iTunes really is in need of some sort of a refresh, a new way to organize and view content. One idea I had was to take the “Events” theme from iPhoto and iMovie and bring it over to iTunes. Basically it would let you view all your music by month, with album artwork appearing as it does in iPhoto for photos. You could skim to view the album artwork, and merge or separate your events. Events could be renamed Mixes. Just one idea out of many possible.

Actual: I called iTunes 8 early on, and I was really close with the whole events deal. Instead, they added grid-view, which is what I depicted in this mockup I made. They also added a feature called Genius, which is similar to Pandora (but based on my testing, not as good… close though.)

7. iTunes Movie Rentals could become 48 Hours. If Australia has it with the same movies, we will get it too. 

Actual: Nope. But expect this to be announced when the Apple TV gets updated next.

8. NBC Back on iTunes. From Flipping Out, to The Office, to Heroes, they have some of the best content available, and iTunes needs it.

Actual: CALLED IT!!! NBC is BACK!!! The most interesting thing about it is that NBC won: they got the flexible pricing they wanted. All NBC shows are in HD, and cost… $2.99.

NEW PREDICTION: iPod Nano will be given an accelerometer in order to accommodate the new widescreen display. The click wheel could possibly change the text depending on the orientation. And who knows? Perhaps the nanos could come in a rainbow of colors…

Actual: I was spot on with the accelerometer. It seemed like it was necessary to add. I love the “shake to shuffle” feature as well. Also, 9 to 5 Mac was right again, as they always are…. the nanos are rainbow colors! And they’re awesome!