Apple - page 73

The Fluffer: a $35 fluffy case from NYC’s Fluffpod. Fits 4th-generation iPods.

(Via TUAW)

As noted on MacMischief, Apple’s market cap is nearly $50 billion, pushing into the league of industry giants like Dell and Hewlett Packard.

“With its recent stock price closing of $59.95 per share of stock, Apple Computer Inc. now has a market capitalization of $49.8 billion.

After years of being only a fraction the size of rivals such as Dell and Hewlett-Packard, Apple now appears within striking distance of both companies ($72.3 and 82.5 billion, respectively). Apple’s stock has been on the rise due largely to the continued success of both its iPod and Macintosh product lines.”

Of course, Apple is a weeny minnow compared to Microsoft, which is capped at $283 billion.

Talking of iPod babies, on Monday (Halloween), Nick Fruhling sent an email:

“This is me and my son Felix this morning going into the office…”

“I was Steve and he was a shuffle, if you can’t tell.”

Wu-Tang’s new album — Think Differently Music; Wu-Tang Meets Indie Culture — is the oddest homage to Apple I’ve ever seen in pop culture. It’s so cultish, it’s disturbing.

The title borrows Apple’s “Think Different” advertising slogan, and the cover image is Wu-Tang’s symbol remixed with Apple’s old rainbow-stripped logo.

At first, I thought it was phony — a fanboy mockup — the kind of desktop wallpaper you’d see at The Apple Collection. Perhaps it’s ironic, but I don’t think it is.

According to an Amazon reviewer: “Wu Tang Meets Indie Culture is a compilation album put together by Dreddy Kruger, an affiliate of the Wu Tang Clan and a part time rapper … The concept was bringing Wu Tang affiliated rappers/producers and the best of the hip hop underground together for some crazy collaberations (sic).”

A lot of rappers are big Apple fans. There are more shout-outs to Apple in hip-hop than any other music genre. The Coup’s “Me and Jesus the Pimp in a ’79 Granada Last Night,” for example, goes: “Microsoft muthufuckas let bygone be bygones / but since I’m Macintosh imma double-click your icon.” Gunshots.

Still, this is weirder than that. If anyone knows what’s going on here, please post an explanation in the comments. I’m pretty sure you guys know more than I do.

(Via MacFeber and TUAW)

Apple has sold more than 1 million videos in three weeks through the iTunes music store.

“Selling 1 million videos in less than 20 days strongly suggests there is a market for legal video downloads,” said CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement. “Our next challenge is to broaden our content offerings, so that customers can enjoy watching more videos on their computers and new iPods.”

The ITunes store offers about 2,000 music videos, popular TV shows and shorts from Pixar.

In 2003, when the iTunes store launched, it sold one million songs in its first week.

Every year Forbes pokes fun at captains of industry by turning them into Halloween masks. This year, Steve Jobs is cast as Darth Vader because of his recent turn to “the dark side.”

Steve Jobs as Darth Vader. Net worth: $3.3 billion. Source of wealth: Apple Computer and Pixar. Steve Jobs was the chosen one who promised to make things right in the computing world. But as time passed, his hunger for power took over, leading him to sue hapless bloggers and embrace dark arts, like digital-rights management.

Left: Lugz; Right: Apple.

The growing spat over Apple’s new Eminem iPod ad, which appears to have been ripped-off from a 2002 spot for Lugz footwear, may result in legal action, according to the New York Times.

“We’re going to take all the steps we need to protect our rights,” a Lugz spokesman told the Times.

“We’re very upset,” Larry Schwartz, executive vice president and principal at Lugz in New York, said in an interview. “The look and feel are awfully similar.”

“We think very highly of Apple,” Mr. Schwartz said. “We don’t understand how this could have happened.”

In response, Apple’s ad agency, TBWA/Chiat/Day, has issued its first statement about the ad.

In the statement from TBWA/Chiat/Day, part of the TBWA Worldwide unit of the Omnicom Group, the agency described itself as “dedicated to creating original ideas.”

“We do not plagiarize, borrow, or steal them, and have a strict policy of not accepting third-party ideas in our creative process,” the statement read. The agency’s Playa del Rey, Calif., office has long created campaigns for Apple including award-winning ads that carried the theme “Think different.”

… But in its statement, TBWA/Chiat/Day said, “We can assure you that the ‘Detroit’ spot was created without any reference by TBWA/Chiat/Day to the ‘Arrow’ spot.”

“Our intention was to develop a campaign that was a natural and independent evolution of the ‘Silhouettes’ campaign,” the statement read. “Any similarities between the two spots are regrettable.”

“Drown out annoying roommates and co-workers today!” says the developer of Noise, a handy little ap for generating pink noise.

“Also known as a signal with even power distribution on a logarithmic frequency scale, pink noise masks background noise to help you concentrate.”

(Via MacFeber)

The problem with having yuppie customers is they are so quick to sue. The class-action lawsuit against Apple over scratched nanos strikes me as petty and greedy — even though I own a nano (scratched, natch) and am probably eligible to join.

Digital-Lifestyles has a summary of the suit:

More details about Jason Tomczak’s class action against Apple for releasing defective iPod Nanos have emerged on The Inquirer’s site.In the action, started in a San Jose district court, Tomczak alleges that the iPod Nano’s easily-scratched screen renders the display unreadable and thus breaches state consumer protection statutes.

Tomczak alleges that Apple kept on shifting the Nanos even when they knew that there were problems with the design and by failing to recall the MP3 players, the company “passed the expense, hassle and frustration of replacing the defectively designed Nanos along to class members.”

The plaintiff alleges that with Steve Jobs whipping the Nano out of his pocket in a TV advert, Apple led consumers to believe the machine was durable.Tomczak argues that even this simple act could lead to a scratched screen, claiming that the resin used in the product was not as thick and strong as in previous iPods.

The plaintiff wraps up his case by alleging that Apple knew about the dodgy quality problems before release but, “fierce competition on the digital music industry” compelled them to release it anyway.

From the heart of Japan’s youth culture — Tokyo’s trendy Shibuya district — Flickr user Purpin describes how Apple is advertising the iPod nano:

As part of their rather unique advertising campaign, huge iPod nano posters now adorn the platform walls of Toyoko Line Shibuya Station.

As you depart the train you’ll be faced with a stream after stream of 1:1 iPod nano cutouts, in which you can pull off and take home. Obviously, I helped myself to a few as well.

Needless to say, with its tens of thousands of people passing through Shibuya station daily, those iPod cutouts won’t last very long.

Fortunately, I was lucky enough to be able to catch a glimpse of the staff furiously “refilling” the empty spaces with new cutouts in between the waves of departing passengers (I took the pictures after the evening rush. I can only imagine how busy these guys can be during rush hour!).

Much to my suprise, I later realised that these cutouts weren’t made of cardboard but of plastic, and are very rigidly built too. On the reverse side were the URL and QR Codes of a site where you can download iPod nano wallpapers for your mobile phone.

Having living somewhere way out from Tokyo, I was very lucky to be able to get my hands on these cutouts AND witness those “refillers” in action. Hats off to Apple and their wonderful advertising.

Update: Apple Japan has more pix of the nano promotion, which give a good idea of its placement in the subway.

“

The New York Post notes the similarities between Eminem’s new iPod ad and a 2002 spot for Lugz footwear.

(Like the ads, the Post story bears a similarity to my blog post here on Monday).

Anyway, according to the Post, the Lugz ad was created by New York animation house Psyop on behalf of unnamed ad agency. The Eminem ad was made by TBWA, Apple’s longtime agency.

The Post reports:

“Justin Booth-Clibborn, executive producer for Psyop, said his firm has endured its share of copycats and there are no plans to “make waves.” Still, he admits that even he was struck by the similarities.

“Of all the times that things look like our work, it is the most strikingly similar,” he said.

A posse sticker of your favorite CEO, courtesy of Victor Agreda.

Apple’s at it again. New pro lineup:

Power Mac: Dual-core PowerPC chips across line. Two models: Dual and Quad, which features two dual-core processors, up to 2.5GHz per core. Four PCI Express slots, and “wicked-fast workstation graphics” that can power up to eight Cinema Displasy! Eight! Starts at $2,000; top-of-the-line starts at $3,200.

PowerBooks: Higher res displays (1440-by-960 on the 15″), longer battery life and SuperDrives as standard. $1,400-$2,500.

Aperture: Pro touch-up and archive photo tool. Supports RAW. $500. Not really a Photoshop killer; more like iPhoto on steroids. Get this — it requires Dual 2GHz G5 or faster, 2GB of RAM, 5GB of HD space for ap and tutorials (not counting giant RAW files), and ATI Radeon X800 XT card or better! No worries about it getting pirated: who has the hardware to run such a beast?

I actually don’t like product announcements like this. It makes my 18-month-old PowerBook and G5 look feeble and decrepit. Damn Apple!

“This is my brand new handmade (my wife made it) mac sweater!” writes Sigalakos
on Flickr. “Based on the previous sweater featured here in flickr (sorry i can’t find a link to that). This is a more indie approach with short sleeves.”

The previous Happy/Sad Mac sweater Sigalakos refers to seems to have been removed, but there’s a pic and some details on TUAW.

The new iPod ad starring Eminem bears an uncanny resemblance to a 2002 ad for Lugz, a brand of hip hop footwear.

The two ads share the same concept and execution, the same color palette, and the same graffiti-style motion graphics superimposed over the live action.

Coincidence? Or same advertising company?

A new Automator action converts video for the new iPod in one easy step — much easier than most of the other convoluted techniques out there.

It converts .mov and .dv files, and requires Quicktime Pro ($30).

(Via Jim Heid)

Victor Agreda, Jr. , who normally posts over at The Unofficial Apple Weblog, kindly posted some predictions over here about Apple’s announcement in New York Wednesday, saving me the trouble.

Victor writes:

“The PowerBooks will get iSights, as will Apple LCD monitors. We’ll see a sort of iPhoto Pro, but mostly it’ll be a cataloging tool with great RAW support.

Also some other software surprises, and of course, the updates to the G5 towers (dual core dualies, yeah baby!).

You heard it here first for some reason.”

About the anticipated updates, analyst Rob Enderle said: “Apple is very good at getting people revved up into a frenzy to buy something from the company even if they’re not sure what.”

There’s an odd moment in Eminem’s new iPod ad for Apple that seems to illustrate his contempt for either Apple or advertising.

As the ad starts, Eminem’s singing his hit Lose Yourself while a silhouette dancer wearing white earbuds prances about. But suddenly, at the ad’s midpoint, Eminem shouts, “Move it out!” and shoves the iPod dancer aside. The dancer flies out of the frame.

The gesture’s appropriate for a rap video, but not an iPod ad. It’s odd that Eminem got away with such a thing — shoving the figure representing the buyer out of the picture. It undermines the whole ad.

See for yourself. Watch the ad here.

The ad has a history, of course. Eighteen months ago, Eminem sued Apple for allegedly using Lose Yourself without his permission. I seem to remember him making noises about “selling out” at the time. Obviously he changed his mind, but I wonder if the shoving is his way of trying to maintain his dignity?

On Flick: This graduate stuck an Apple logo on top of his graduation cap.

The big flaw in ThinkSecret’s fun-spoiling story that next week’s special event will about PowerBooks and Power Macs, is that Apple doesn’t hold special media events for these kind of upgrades.

Incremental upgrades of existing products are usually ushered in with a press release, or a Macworld mention at best.

Oh, and now ThinkSecret’s saying it is about the iPod, but not the video iPod. New iPod–but not video–on next week’s itinerary.

Sorry, but I’m not convinced.

Paul Gillibrand’s Apple brunch. It’s the full monty!

Se the full Flickr set, including the interactive plan.

(Via Fscklog)

Apple will introduce a major product on October 12 — and it may be the long-awaited video iPod.

The company on Tuesday sent out invites to an event at the plush California Theater in San Jose, where Steve Jobs and Bono introduced the U2 iPod last year.

“Join Apple for ‘One More Thing…'” the invite says, refering to Steve Jobs’ famous line before he unveils a major product.

The invite gives no clue about the product, but AppleInsider — a somewhat reliable rumor site — says it’s a video-capable iPod.

The new iPod will be 60 Gbytes and sport a large, high-resolution color screen.

“The release of the iPod video is expected to be accompanied by a ‘major update’ to Apple’s iTunes music store that will include a significant number of music videos and other short video content,” AppleInsider says.

The site says a video-cpable Airport Express is also in the works.

The quExp widget is handy for keeping track of the enourmous amounts dropped at the Apple Store, as Macfeber’s Roger ?erg notes.

Artist David Ellis specializes in installing turntables in unlikely places, like tree trunks.

Ellis’ Drum Painting Project mixes analog record players with speakers made of cow, deer, and sheep hide.

Here’s a surprisingly affective music video for a song called Jed’s Other Poem (Beautiful Ground) by the band Granddaddy.

Made on an Apple II, it consists only of the lyrics scrolling across the screen in ways that illustrate the song.