Pete Mortensen - page 30

Image by Mina Ramzy

His Steveness was in prime form during last week’s Apple Shareholders meeting, and AppleInsider’s got the goods. The iCEO dissed Microsoft, acknowledged interest in 3rd-party iPhone apps and mocked the people of the developing world. He’s so predictable that way:

“I wish developing great products was as easy as writing a check,” he said. “If that were the case, then Microsoft would have great products.”

…

When asked about the iPhone’s closed development platform and whether the company recognized the need of large institutions to build their own applications for the handset, Jobs replied that Apple was “wrestling” to balance the requirements for security and stability with the desire for custom application development.

…

During the shareholders meeting, Jobs also entertained the suggestion that Apple could mimic Microsoft’s strategy of offering developing nations Windows Starter Edition — a low cost version of Windows XP as an alternative to the much more expensive Windows Vista. “Do you think we should offer Mac OS 9?” Jobs quipped in response.

“I think Apple could sell the developing world Tiger while selling Leopard here,” the attendee replied. Jobs paused for a moment and said that could be an option.

Nice one, Steve! You just looked like a big ol’ jerk. We’re keenly aware that you’re not interested in being perceived as a major philanthropist, but you could at least pretend some times… There’s much more at the AI story.

Apple’s Jobs addresses critics, new product directions [AppleInsider]

Technorati Tags: iphone, OS 9, Steve Jobs

As if we need evidence that Apple’s continued commitment to innovation and great design is paying off beyond the iPod line, check the March sales numbers of the company’s computers. Through retail channels, Apple’s MacBook family are the fourth-most popular laptop offerings in the U.S. at 10 percent of all sales, and its desktops are No. 5 with 8 percent. This does leave out Dell from the conversation, but it’s always better to leave Dell out of things, isn’t it?
Click through for the final numbers.
Apple Laptops Grab 9.9% of Retail Sales, Desktops 7.7%[Apple 2.0]

Technorati Tags: marketshare, sales

Since Apple introduced the iPhone, we haven’t had a fun product to speculation about in a month or two, and that means no ridiculous Photoshop renderings of unannounced hardware products. Well, we can’t have that, can we? Thank goodness that we have the still-mysterious Mac Tablet to think about. After all, it’s not like Apple would create a truly mind-blowing form factor for the anticipated Centrino Pro (Santa Rosa) MacBook Pros, is it?
A forum linking off of Chinese site TechWeb posted some photos it purports to have uncovered of the actual Mac Tablet. Except that it’s quite obviously cgi. Still, it looks cool, doesn’t it? I’d use one.
Via Digg.

Technorati Tags: mac, rumor, tablet

Though Apple still won’t acknowledge rumors that it’s about to make a serious video gaming play beyond iPod games, a third party has stepped in and shown that the AppleTV is ready for games now. It’s called Omelette, and it’s basically just Bejeweled. But hey, it works, right? Counterstrike is definitely going to be next.
Via Ars Technica.

Technorati Tags: appleTV, game, hack

Though Apple still won’t acknowledge rumors that it’s about to make a serious video gaming play beyond iPod games, a third party has stepped in and shown that the AppleTV is ready for games now. It’s called Omelette, and it’s basically just Bejeweled. But hey, it works, right? Counterstrike is definitely going to be next.
Via Ars Technica.

Technorati Tags: appleTV, game, hack

Silicon Valley makes no sense. In January, Apple and Google got so close that the rumor mills buzzed with word that they would form an alliance with Sun to take on Microsoft…again. Yesterday, Sun made some pretty big announcements: They rolled out JavaFX development platform, which truly promises to deliver on the dream of “write once, run everywhere” that the company has promised since it launched Java more than a decade ago, and that always means more opportunity for apps to come to the Mac.
On the other hand, they showed off a mobile phone platform that will try to compete with Apple’s iPhone by, you know, LOOKING EXACTLY LIKE AN iPHONE, but across manufacturers and at a cheap price. While I think Apple’s ability to make data syncing a snap is the real competitive advantage of the iPhone and that the company’s implementation of multitouch will be better than anyone else’s, I still think other companies aren’t out for the count yet. Sun might be making the platform for that competition. And the Valley is still buzzing on word that Google might release its own phone. So why are Apple, Google and Sun best buds one moment and worst enemies the next?

Technorati Tags: google, iphone, java

Every few years, another writer who hasn’t followed Apple’s design heritage for very long decides to figure out where it comes from and why it’s been such a success. And every few readers, they end up talking with people extremely tangential to the process who haven’t been involved for at least 9 years. The latest is poor Daniel Turner, writing for the MIT Technology Review:

But the omerta that prevails at Apple proved too strong. Company representatives declined to speak with me, and sources only tangentially engaged with the industrial-design process said that they could not talk either. When I asked Paul Kunkel, author of the 1997 book AppleDesign, for tips on obtaining interviews, he laughed and said, “Go sit outside the design-group offices with a pizza.” What follows is as clear a picture of the Apple design process as we could get.

Which is to say, very out of date and filled with speculation. Don’t get me wrong — I think this as good a job as anyone could do analyzing Apple’s design group without getting behind the veil, but it’s nothing new to anyone following Apple long-term. I think it’s particularly telling that the writer couldn’t even get someone from Frog that worked on Apple products in the 1980s to speak on the record. A designer with no Apple ties had to step up.
Give it a read, though: It’s worth it just for the shocking revelation that Steve Jobs just might have a major impact on the final design of the company’s products. Huh. Couldn’t have guessed that!
The Secret of Apple Design: Technology Review
Via Digg.

Technorati Tags: apple, design, innovation

As if to counter the high quality of “Choose a Vista” and the other two official “Get a Mac” ads rolled out yesterday, two rather poor and underdone unreleased ads have trickled to the web. And they’re dire, making lame jokes about drivers and viruses. Let’s just hope these literally came from the cutting-room floor, shall we?

Technorati Tags: get a mac, viruses, vista

The more I try to cantankerously deny my love for Apple’s “Get a Mac” ad campaign, the more they manage to win me over. The best of a new crop posted Monday night is “Choose a Vista,” which features John “PC” Hodgman spinning a game wheel to select a version of Vista. Cries of “Big Operating System! Big Operating System! Daddy needs an upgrade!” Will stay with me for a long time. The other ads, “Genius” and “The Party’s Over” are after the jump.

Technorati Tags: get a mac, vista

We at Wired set off quite a catty-wumpus last week by reporting that one of the reasons PC World Editor in Chief Harry McCracken departed the publication was that a piece called “10 Things We Hate About Apple” upset the company’s publisher, who supposedly favored a pro-advertiser bent to editorial.

As if to deny such reports, the magazine has now posted the article and its lovey-dovey companion piece, along with a cryptic reference to its tortured origins that doesn’t quite mention what really happened:

By now, you may have heard something about a couple of articles we’ve been planning about Apple and its products. We sure have.

The article itself is pretty toothless: “5. Where’s the BluRay?” Ooooooo. I’m shaking in my boots. Can this really have ended a respected tech journalist’s career?
PC World – 10 Things We Hate About Apple
Via Digg.

Technorati Tags: ethics, PC World

BusinessWeek released its list of the top 50 most innovative companies over the weekend, and, as usual, Apple won. This is the third time in a row. Now, far be it for me to knock any effort that names Apple the winner of anything, but I’m not terribly convinced by the methodology used to put the ranking together by BW and Boston Consulting Group. Surveying senior executives just seems so 1980s, and it inevitably means that quite shallow measurements are advantaged — flashiest product intros, most profitability attributable to new products, etc.

I mean, how honored can you be as most innovative in the world when Microsoft is No. 5? Or Sony moving up three slots to No. 10 in the year that they introduced the PS3 while Nintendo is at No. 39? Or Wal-Mart at No. 11 when Target’s down at No. 15? The entire index is suspect. Except for the part where Apple wins, of course.

Note to the senior executives of America: “Most Innovative” does not mean “hottest on the stock market.”

The 50 Most Innovative Companies [BusinessWeek]

Technorati Tags: apple, innovation

We’re down to just a month until Apple takes the wraps off what few unannounced features remain for Mac OS X Leopard. So let’s all sit back and revel in rumors of what Apple might do next, courtesy of AppleInsider:

According to the filing, different Dashboards could contain one or more of the same widgets and “state” information for a widget could be maintained separately for each Dashboard in which the widget appears, or it can be commonly maintained across all Dashboards in which the widget appears.

“Different Dashboards can be available or ‘owned’ for different users of a computer or other electronic device, such that each user can only access their own Dashboard(s),” Apple said in the filing. “A user can specify a Dashboard as being available to other users, if desired. A user can also specify, for any or all of the Dashboards he or she creates, whether other users are permitted to make changes to the Dashboard(s).”

Uh…sounds good!
Apple filing depicts interactive Dashboard cube interface [AppleInsider]

Technorati Tags: dashboard, leopard, mac os x

Yep, we just jumped the shark. Time to move on, Apple.
YouTube – South Park Mac vs. PC
Via Digg.

Technorati Tags: get a mac, South Park

Sometimes, the alternate-universe humor mocking Apple is only 3 percent more insane than actual Apple news. The hilarious Crazy Apple Rumors Site just announced the launch of Mac OS 9.3:

According to sources at Apple, the company is entirely at a loss to explain where this seed came from.

“I didn’t do it,” said senior vice president of software engineering Bertrand Serlet. “I can’t even get Leopard done in time. I’m swamped. Stupid iPhone and Apple TV. Nobody asked me whether or not we should make those. I mean, I haven’t gone to the bathroom in three weeks. OS 9? Je pense que non.”

Sign me up!
Image via Answers.com
Via Digg.
Crazy Apple Rumors Site » Blog Archive » Apple Seeds OS 9.3

Technorati Tags: mac, OS 9

Though DVRs are still far from mainstream technology, some folks are already moving from the time-shifting of a DVR to the place-shifting offered by Sling Media, which uses a hardware/software combo to take incoming TV streams and make them available at any time at any place over the Internet. But until yesterday, the software didn’t run on Mac. No more. the new Sling Player for Mac OS X is compatible with a wide variety of sources and viewing hardware:

With this software release, Slingbox owners can now view their television directly on their Macintosh computer screen. With full remote control, they can watch content from their home entertainment system whether from cable, DVR, DVD and even a full range of Apple entertainment products including: Apple TV®, Front Row, iPod® in Apple’s Universal Dock® or iPod in an iPod Hi-Fi.

They did a great job meeting Apple’s own interface standards, judging from the screenshot. Anyone already got it up and running? How’s it going?
Sling Media – Sling Media’s Popular SlingPlayer Now Ready For A Mac Near You

Technorati Tags: slingbox, slingplayer

Wondering whether Apple’s public pledges of environmental responsibility would appease the company’s Green critics? Wonder no more. Greenpeace just publicly lauded the company’s suddenly forward-thinking stance on its own impact on the environment:

It’s not everything we asked for. Apple has declared a phase out of the worst chemicals in its product range, Brominated Fire Retardants (BFRs) and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) by 2008. That beats Dell and other computer manufactures’ pledge to phase them out by 2009. Way to go Steve!

But there’s always more to be done, of course:

But while customers in the US will be able to return their Apple products for recycling knowing that their gear won’t end up in the e-waste mountains of Asia and India, Apple isn’t making that promise to anyone but customers in the USA. Elsewhere in the world, an Apple product today can still be tomorrow’s e-waste. Other manufacturers offer worldwide takeback and recycling. Apple should too!

Either way, a big change. One other note: In all the excitement yesterday, I somehow missed that Steve’s environment made a public commitment to start using LED displays this year, all but confirming a long-standing rumor that upcoming laptops would soon transition away from LCD technology. All of which makes me extra-happy that I have held off on buying a new computer, eh?
Eh? Enh.
Tasty news from Apple! | Greenpeace International

Technorati Tags: apple, green, Greenpeace

PC World Editor-in-Chief Harry McCracken quit suddenly on Wednesday. According to our colleagues at the magazine, the sudden departure resulted from pressure to kill a story called “10 Things We Hate About Apple” that allegedly displeased CEO Colin Crawford. It’s pretty sordid.

The piece, a whimsical article titled “Ten Things We Hate About Apple,” was still in draft form when Crawford killed it. McCracken said no way and walked after Crawford refused to compromise. Apparently Crawford also told editors that product reviews in the magazine were too critical of vendors, especially ones who advertise in the magazine, and that they had to start being nicer to advertisers.

Yikes. Good for you, Harry.
Epicenter – Wired Blogs

Technorati Tags: ethics, PC World

The Virgin Mary has nothing on the patron saint of our cult! Photo by Luke Edgar Seeley, who notes:

I ordered a medium latte at a local cafe and was surprised to find that the barista had, with his mastery of steamed milk, poured a face and the words “I Love Steve Jobs” into my latte.

I don’t know if I believe it, but I want to believe. Who could ask for more?
A Steve Jobs Latte on Flickr – Photo Sharing

Via Digg.

Technorati Tags: espresso, steve jobs

Though DVRs are still far from mainstream technology, some folks are already moving from the time-shifting of a DVR to the place-shifting offered by Sling Media, which uses a hardware/software combo to take incoming TV streams and make them available at any time at any place over the Internet. But until yesterday, the software didn’t run on Mac. No more. the new Sling Player for Mac OS X is compatible with a wide variety of sources and viewing hardware:

With this software release, Slingbox owners can now view their television directly on their Macintosh computer screen. With full remote control, they can watch content from their home entertainment system whether from cable, DVR, DVD and even a full range of Apple entertainment products including: Apple TV®, Front Row, iPod® in Apple’s Universal Dock® or iPod in an iPod Hi-Fi.

They did a great job meeting Apple’s own interface standards, judging from the screenshot. Anyone already got it up and running? How’s it going?
Sling Media – Sling Media’s Popular SlingPlayer Now Ready For A Mac Near You

Technorati Tags: slingbox, slingplayer

As you might have heard, all hell broke loose today as the code to crack HD-DVD encryption spread all over the Intarwebs, to the chagrin of Digg Founder Kevin Rose. It’s a pretty big day, no matter how you feel about DRM. I’m not going to link directly to the code, because I’m not about that, but a playful OS X developer has created a screensaver that takes the 16 numbers in the code and randomly moves them around, so the actual order isn’t certain. To be clear, the configuration in the image above is not the correct order. Keep it clean, kids, but remember the events of the day in style.
Sixteen_Hexadecimal_Digits_Screensaver_for_Mac_OS_X
[Via Digg]

Technorati Tags: hd-dvd, screensaver, software

Some of the best Apple theorists just don’t write enough. That’s certainly true of Daring Fireball creator John Gruber, who makes an impact every time he posts a major essay, but doesn’t post all that many essays. In his newest missive, he deconstructs Steve Ballmer’s arguments against the iPhone. It’s a laudable effort. Check it.

Some of these pundits and analysts are morons. Ballmer, however, is a very smart man, but what he’s saying about the iPhone is going to make him look stupid if it’s successful. He clearly doesn’t get what makes the iPhone so appealing, and his dual obsession with the price and business users is baffling.

Daring Fireball: The iPhone’s Funny Price

Technorati Tags: iphone, ballmer

Apple loves to make big announcements on Tuesday mornings. Today, they reminded us that not all big announcements are created equal. Apple PR informed the world that — brace for it — none other than Apple CEO Steve Jobs will kick off the company’s Worldwide Developer Conference on Monday, June 11.

Don’t all of you wet your pants with excitement at once.

Apple did confirm that Jobs would show off a feature-complete version of Mac OS X Leopard, including whatever mystery functions got left out of the 2006 showcase, and the company will will distribute a beta to all in attendance. And that’s something to get worked up over.

Steve Jobs to Kick Off WWDC 2007

Technorati Tags: leopard, wwdc, Steve Jobs

I don’t know where we in the Mac game would be without Fake Steve Jobs, the anonymous blogger who pretends to be Apple’s CEO so we don’t have to. Today, he tackles the continued resistance to the iCEO’s attempts to demolish his historic mansion, the Jackling house. And if you think Fake Steve is cowed by the California Supreme Court’s rejection of his request, you don’t know Steve:

These nuts got a court to say that I can’t destroy my own house and instead have to find a way to move the house from the location. But they can’t come up with any money to move the house. Or a place to put it. Or something.

Gold.

Technorati Tags: fake steve

Apple owns the discourse around design and innovation these days. Everyone wants to be like Steve Jobs, and everyone wants to invent the new iPod. People also want to be Google, but being Google seems to be a lot harder, and the founders aren’t terribly charismatic, so Apple gets a lot more attention regardless.

As a result, and because of the world I live in at my day job, I get into a lot of discussions about the role of design strategy and the value of innovation. Specifically, that understanding what people really need is the best way to create new products, services and businesses that will really connect with people.

All of which is a preface to encourage you to check out a comment of mine that BusinessWeek Innovation honcho Bruce Nussbaum highlighted into a blog post over there. It was at the end of a business day, so I think I might sound a little more snarky than I meant to:

YouTube’s actual future is far from certain, and Second Life will surely be passed by another player, as it superceded The Sims, which superceded a lot of MUDDs and the like. Bill Moggridge even asked, “What is the YouTube of design?”

And I have to say, I don’t particularly care. YouTube, Second Life, Flickr, Vlogs, blogs, they’re all different solutions trying to meet some very core needs of people, whether they know it or not. And needs outlast solutions. I won’t perform a straight-up needs analysis on these sites, but they definitely come from wanting to express oneself creatively, connect with other people, feel famous or even lead a different life, as in the case of Lonely Girl 15 and some others.

By the time we start analyzing a solution, the next way to meet the needs it addresses is already underway. We’re going to miss the most important opportunities unless we see beyond the fun and exciting solution we hold in our hands.

Check it out.

Technorati Tags: nussbaum, design

I know this is late notice, but I wanted everyone to know that I would be speaking about the Nike + iPod at the Second International Conference on Persuasive Technology April 26 with my Jump colleague Conrad Wai.

Persuasive tech, if you’re scratching your head right now, is any technology that attempts to persuade its user to do something differently. This includes smoking cessation aids, political attitude adjusters, fitness motivators, with the Nike + iPod Sport Kit obviously being the latter.

Conrad and I are putting a stake in the ground: Persuasive Technologies Should Be Boring.

Anyway, I thought you might want to know. We’ll be posting our paper on the subject to the Web in the next few days, so I’ll hook you up when the time comes.

Technorati Tags: ipod, nikeplus