My house is getting too full of stuff, so as part of my spring cleaning I’ve decided to sell my prized Johnny Seven OMA One Man Army toy gun. If you grew up in the sixties, you probably know this was the ultimate toy for any young ’soldier’ in 1964. The owner of this awesome weapon could easily defeat an entire neighborhood of kids armed with their pathetic cap guns and Lone Ranger six-shooter. Continued »
Weapons of Mass Destruction – Sixties’ Style
May 30th, 2006Apple’s Big Apple
May 19th, 2006
Five year ago, some people thought Steve Jobs was crazy to open Apple-branded retail stores. I’m sure those people are ‘thinking different’ today. As usual, Apple’s managed to create a media frenzy over its snazzy new store in New York, and looking at the photos, it’s easy to get caught up in it even from here.
I figured the stores would work out well. The existing Apple resellers (especially in the US) were not doing the best job of reaching non-Mac users. If you found Macs at all, they were being ‘explained’ by the same 18 year old kid who was selling car stereos and washing machines two aisles over. Who better than Apple to tell the Apple story to the uninitiated? Besides, if Windows users had a chance to actually see and touch a Mac, they are much more likely to ultimately buy one.
The Minnesota Connection
But there was another reason I knew the stores would succeed…the guy who Steve chose to run them: Ron Johnson. Ron came from Target, where he helped them achieve their incredible success. It was obvious to me that Apple was serious about the stores if they they put someone like this in charge. Continued »
I Think I’ll Apply For a Patent on Using Paragraphs
May 16th, 2006The Creative Labs lawsuit and the patent on which it depends is a perfect example how totally farked up the US patent system has become. I mean really, do they even read these applications before they grant the patents? If there is anywhere that prior art applies, this has got to be it. Makes me mad just thinking about it.
But thanks to Chris Breen at Playlist, I at least got a little chuckle out of the sad situation.
Hell Frozen? Apple Responds to Aperture Rumors
May 4th, 2006
Having worked in the pro apps group at Apple, I am probably more shocked than most by this article in Macworld where Apple officially responds to the recent negative rumors about Aperture. In case you missed it, it has been reported on Think Secret and Daring Fireball that the Aperture engineering team had been gutted, possibly threatening the product’s future.
This is the first time I can think of where Apple has responded so directly and swiftly to a rumor without using their lawyers. I know a lot of Aperture’s early adopters were very concerned about what these rumors meant to their investment. Kudos to Kirk Paulson and his team (especially Joe Schorr) for putting the customer first. I’m sure it involved some interesting meetings at Apple to get approval for such non-standard external communications.* Continued »
