I was going to make a joke about Thin Lizzy based off the headline alone, but then it turns out that they actually are censoring the entire store (and not just apps) which does in fact affect Thin Lizzy:
Rimshot?
Today will be better than yesterday
Emmie seems to be just fine today. She ate a little food last night and kept it down, and had no other incidents after about 6 pm last night (knock on wood…everything that happened yesterday happened while we were all at work). She had been going to town on a bully stick the past few days and I think it was the cause of the upset stomach. No more of those for her!
Apple has an announcement today. I have no interest in new iPad’s or new AppleTV’s (the former because they’re too expensive and the latter because I just bought one) but I’m still interested in the direction of the company/the industry.
Lastly, ESPN3 + Big East Tournament + FanMatch (with a sprinkle of Pac-12 tournament after work sprinkled in) = the beginning of the best time of the year for a college basketball fan.
How is everyone else’s Wednesday shaping up?
I won’t deny that I’m an Apple fanboy, but I’m not an Apple apologist, and this is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.
That said, it’s probably a good move since I’m one of like 17 people on Earth that still buys CDs instead of digital tracks. If everyone’s going to be satisfied with 256 kbps digital files, I guess it’s smart to have them coming from a better quality source.
Still. Seems like a marketing move to charge more for something that will sound almost exactly the same.
Hey, I finally got something up on the wall in my office!
(Get yours here)
Hey Apple, I know you don’t give a shit about Windows but you should really fix this UI bug. It’s been in there since at least iTunes 10.5, and there have been a few different updates since then that haven’t addressed it.
The Difference Between Amazon and Apple
Let the Kindle Fire reviews wash over you and you’ll notice a theme: the price is mentioned early and often. The price is employed as a caveat for both detractions and compliments.
Reading these reviews has helped me realize, or at least find the words to describe, the fundamental difference between Amazon and Apple. The two companies can be summed up simply:
- Amazon creates great deals.
- Apple creates great experiences.
That’s it. Neither is better, just different.
This macro distinction is what matters most when users (or investors) consider long-term relationships with either technology ecosystem. Because technology companies don’t simply sell discrete products these days. They sell services or, more accurately, relationships: long-term partnerships with transition costs and dependencies.
Just making the linguistic shift from “product” to “relationship” should force most to adjust their evaluation criteria wildly.
I’m still trying to figure out similarly simple lines for Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and others. Microsoft traded the “create” verb for “improve” a long time ago, which requires dominance to be sustainable.
Does my struggle indicate each company’s lack of focus or am I missing something?
There’s a website called Folklore.org with many stories/pictures/oral histories from the original Mac team. I found it while doing research for our Steve Jobs piece today. If you’re into computing history, it’s worth a visit.
Incredible.
This web site is really neat, and so is the book that Andy Hertzfeld (who is the curator of Folklore.org) put together from the same stories, Revolution in The Valley. Every Mac geek’s coffee table should have a copy.
