I'm the Governor of Alaska and I'm a PC!

The first attempt at this made people happy.  I am ALL about happy people!

Since Microsoft wants to show regular and extraordinary people "ARE" PC...

If Sara Palin did a Microsoft I'm a PC commercial

I can see Russia from my house and I'm a PC...

I'm A PC and I wear glasses.

Tina Fey wears glasses

I'm A PC and I wear Contacts

I'm a PC and God Contacts me

God tells me she is a PC

I'm A PC and this is my GUN

I can blow your head clean off and Im a PC

I was For...

Against ...

Then took the money ...

But regardless of how many opinions I have...

I'm A PC and I approved this message

Add more in the comments!

RIP Windows Mobile

The most interesting thing in the crush of Android news today was not the comparisons to the iPhone or to a lesser extent the blackberry. The biggest news today was the profound ommission of WinMo even in passing as a reasonable alternative to either the iPhone or Android.(GooMo. It is too goody not to use)in any of the thousands of news/blog postings regarding the launch.

Windows Mobile is dead. Long Live GooMo and the iPhone.

I'm Earth Friend Jen and I'm a PC!

As most of you have likely seen, Microsoft is running a new batch of commercials extolling us that we should all want to be  PCs,  by showing us all the people that "Are" PC's that we might like to be like.  

Since as it turns out the commercials produced by Crispin, Porter + Bogusky were produced on Macintosh computers Microsoft should get Earthfriend Jen to do a cameo on their new I'm a PC commercial because as you may have already guessed EFJ (yea were tight) is produced on a Mac too.

Jen Moss is a woman who promotes the use of hemp as clothing and water as a healing force by parading nearly nude around Ojai, CA.

Try these!

I wear nothing... and I'm a PC

or I'm a PC and I'm an earth friend...

From her home page:

 “Treat the earth well:  It was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children.  We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors.  We borrow it from our Children.”--Ancient Indian Proverb

The cool thing is that since EFJ (yea we are that close) produced her home page on a Mac just like the I'm A PC commercials.

All links from this blog should be safe for work.  link from the link at your own risk

When the "Rest of us" want more: a switchers parable

So here is a partial proprietary and perhaps even parsimonious LIST of things Apple has not made better for "Switchers"

These are things that, as a Mac User you know are there, and dread them coming back to haunt you.  You have seen the light and have carried much water for Jobs & Co. convincing the great unwashed that the thing they need to do, the ONE thing that will make their computing life more complete,  is to switch to a Macintosh.

Having done so, said unwashed person comes to you a couple of weeks after getting their Mac Pro/iMac and says agitatedly....

Where is the right click?  Well you say, if you just hold down the Control button when you click that will bring up the same menu functionality...  WHAT.  ADD  A RIGHT CLICK  the single mouse click thing was tired in 1994, now it's just stupid.

There is no Print Screen button on the keyboard.  How do I Make a screen print?  Your friend asks.  Well,  you can give them this list, but be careful,  because Macs support many different image types that are often not supported on the PC.  Nothing worse than Opening up a presentation on a PC and having none of the images you worked so hard to steal/find be there.  Damn you Tiff.

Why can't I play video?  Oh you can just not WMV video. without downloading.  Flip 4 Mac  ignore ALL the adds and get the FREE one.  This functionality should exist out of the box, really.

Why cant I Control-C/V/B/X/Z?  Oh you can you just have to scrunch up your pinky and use the command button instead.  WHAT?  The Mac is not Windows and this little penance will remind you how lucky you are to have such a wonderful machine.  

Here's an Idea, how about a Switchers panel on the Systems Preferences panel that will let you customize some of these "features" so that people can work in an environment that is comfortable for them.  That way the people that we convince that the Mac really is a better computing environment won't want to beat us unmercifully (as often, I really am a slacker) .

Apple TV: The Last Ten Feet, the Unification

The last 10 feet has become the mythical love object of all tech companies seeking a path to your living room and it would appear that Apple is uniquely poised to provide a product that could seize the imaginations of America as they bring about the Unification...

Apple TV has been thru two generations.  After extensive research and a month in the himalayas meditating  it has become clear what SOME of the issues have been that have kept Apple TV in the "Hobby" Category and some of the hurdles that must be jumped in order for the product to reach wider acceptance.

What we have now.

The Cable co. Gives you a set top box for free.  It has limited rental capabilities and perhaps a PVR (For which you pay a subscription).  We tolerate it because it is free.

DVD player, either we use NetFlix or make weekly trips to Blockbuster but this is the way we rent movies.

We watch TV for free when we want and tolerate commercials because thats the way it has always been.  It works, and we need a compelling reason to change to something new.

Possible or claimed unifiers

XBOX (read jetplane in your living room)

PS3 (cool but ew)

VUDU (like Apple TV without Apple)

Apple TV

None have taken off in any significant way.  

What Apple TV has not been  (but maybe possibly in the future)

Cheap or subsidized by Cable co.

Universal acceptance by content providers for rental and or purchase

PVR.  (With a fee)

Think about the things that "We" (geeks, who else reads this?) want Apple TV to be and think about the things Apple can actually do or has control over and add in the thing that JQ Public will actually buy and you can begin to see that expectations are impossibly high. In the end there are few reasons to replace what you already have in place.

To sell broadly Apple TV must Replace some or all of the products and services that it currently competes against.  It must be a Set Top Box Replacement.  It must be an effective replacement for Blockbuster/Netflix and it must have a working PVR.  It must do all that AND sell for like 30 bucks apiece (not really but close, Because thats what Moto sells theirs for).

Content providers have a healthy distrust of Apple and of digital distribution. Many new releases are not available for Apple TV.  There are currently 2,700 (vs 6000 Netflix) movies available on iTunes and many current releases are only available on DVD.

Apple TV is expensive to make.  There is a lot of tech in there and early reports upon the release of V2. were that the margins were among the narrowest of all of Apples products.

Apple Also knows Apple TV has the potential to cannibalize home PC Sales because if you can do email and internet on it, some people could use it as a home PC and forgo the PC purchase.

It is embarrassing that in 2008 we cannot easily (BY EASILY I MEAN EASY FOR MY MOM) get content from our computers to our televisions.  I think that there will be a time that we will be able to seamlessly watch what we want where we want how we want but that day is not today.

Top five things Apple TV need to succeed

1, Content.  

2, Content. 

3. Content.

4. Something a little less important than content COST

5.  Something irrelevant except that it takes up space in order to keep the list FIVE.  EASY to understand and use.