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Journalists Cover Microsoft, Using Macs

It’s not an easy time for Microsoft — with Steve Ballmer having to field questions about being “buffoons” and an “evil empire”  at the shareholder’s meeting (.doc) — so when they get together “the world’s most influential technology pundits and online writers” (nb: we weren’t invited) for Mobius to discuss super-secret mobile tech you’d think [...]

Guide To Black Friday Apple Bargains: Cheap MacBooks, iPods and Accessories Galore

Here’s a guide for finding the best bargains on Apple-related gear during the infamous Black Friday sales on November 27. We’ve compiled a comprehensive list of gear from leaked photos of sales flyers and descriptions of sales.
The bargains include a 2.26 GHz MacBook + $150 gift card at Best Buy for $999.99 ; a 32GB [...]

Review: Voices Is Today’s Best Thing Ever, Grab It Now While It’s Cheap

New on the App Store is Voices from the clever folk at Tap Tap Tap. You can guess what it does.

Open it up, pick a silly voice. Helium is pretty silly. A microphone appears and the app even clears your throat for you (try it, you’ll see what I mean). Now speak your brains, and [...]

Review: Sony Walkman S540 Series Video MP3 Player

Press releases, you will hardly be surprised to hear, are rarely very interesting. But one arrived in my inbox a couple of weeks ago that made me double-take.
“Sony’s S Series Walkman,” it chattered, “is a serious challenger to the iPod Nano.” Gosh, really? Perhaps the Cult had better have a look at one, then, despite [...]

Quickie: American Idol on iTunes Gives Back, Takes First

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Apple’s alliance with American Idol has caused me some discomfort this year, so I always do my best to mock the entire enterprise. As eagle-eyed reader Scott noticed, the recent iTunes and Idol charity event Idol Gives Back tends to, ahem, “borrow” the design language of a York Peppermint Patty. I’m sure this was Fox’s designers rather than Apple, but still…

About the author

Petemortensen

Pete Mortensen is the communications lead for growth strategy firm Jump Associates and the co-author of Wired to Care: How Companies Prosper When They Create Widespread Empathy, a book and blog that are significantly more interesting than you might initially think. Pete's particular Apple avocations are both around design--interface and industrial. Follow him on Twitter!

Email the author | Read more posts by Pete Mortensen.

7 comments

    please say your kidding. It’s blue and red, and the blue one is roundish. Whatever Scott noticed was overblown and meaningless. Now jTunes is a ripoff. A heck of a lot of things are rip-offs, but this one is not.

    Thats it? Is that all you have to say?
    The red ribbon design you mention is as old as christmas so its hardly original to any brand anymore. What is your “discomfort” about Apple teaming up to do charity with Idol, anyway?

    Seriously, do you even know wtf you made this blog about?

    I can spot at least nine differences in the two logos:

    1. Oblong vs Circular
    2. Different Font for brand name
    3. Different Font for subtitle
    4. Light Blue Text vs. White Text (In the oval)
    5. Ribbon has stripes
    6. Ribbon has a lighting effect
    7. Absent second white ribbon coming from blue oval
    8. Absent outer enclosing circle
    9. Light blue oval trim vs white circle trim.

    In fact, the only thing that is really the same is the choice of color!

    You can make the case that they are similar, but it definitely is not remotely close to trademark infringement.

    Wow thats great! That looks so similar you might have to call the trademark lawyers on this one! LOLOLOLOL. Oh wow I need a life :( “Honey where are you?”

    Sorry… this was one of the worst entries… ever. Almost as bad as that entry a little while ago regarding some other company also used an apple as their logo. *sigh*

    I would think a blue circle and a red banner underneath is a pretty common design scheme…

    Looks like some people’s sarcasm detectors are on the fritz today. ;)

    That being said, I think this just proves there are no new ideas in marketing than anything else. Either that, or the folks at American Idol are huge fans of peppermint patties. :D

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