I was wondering if any tasteless comic made a joke/ fake ad about the new iPod being so thin, “it makes our CEO look like Jabba the Hut.”

Then I was thinking about how Steve Jobs has been a great force in our society. Here is a transcript of his 2005 commencement address at Stanford U.

And the YouTube:

Apple, iPod, Steve Jobs

PC Makers (OEMs) have decided to install multiple trial software programs, which load on boot, severely slowing down the time to get started. These trial programs have earned the nickname ‘craplets,’ and retailers offer to remove them at the time of purchase, often at a cost. This may have been noted elsewhere, but I must ask: isn’t this crazy? This is the new reality? BestBuy sales people, in addition to extending to customers an extended warranty, must also state, with a straight face: “There’s a lot of crap on this computer. Do you want us to remove it for just $30?” Such behavior seems the stuff of a monopoly (you can imagine a Phone Man coming to your parents’ home years ago, offering to remove six bogus digits from the pad), and yet the computer industry is as competitive as ever, with a resurgent, ballyhooed Apple making machines in addition to the many Wintel and WinAmD OEMs.

Questions to consider:

What is behind this development? How much commission do OEMs get from these trials? Or, do the makers get the money upfront just for loading it on the machine? In which case, they may make money despite not selling the machine? Who are these craplet vendors? Is Apple behind it? Craplets have undermined the rollout of Vista… are OEMs so upset at Microsoft that they find self-destruction admirable so long as it helps knock down Redmond?

When Microsoft was being sued throughout the late 90s for its ‘closed’ operating system, OEMs were demanding increased ability to customize Windows. Are craplets what they had in mind? This is the result of the anti-trust settlement: the right to erode customer trust by selling slower machines?

Apple, BestBuy, craplets, Microsoft, OEMs, PC makers, Vista

The iPod’s white earbuds would be easier to use if one of the earbuds was colored.
The only way to determine which piece is for Right Ear versus Left Ear is to hold one of the pieces close to the eye, turning the piece to view the single letter (“L” or “R”) faintly marked on its inner-side.
Ironically, Apple celebrates its releasing of various colors for various products, but the lack of an additional color Within an existing item makes it less usable.
You almost get the feeling that the geniuses would ‘rectify’ this problem, by releasing an all-green ear buds….amen.

What you can do: use a marker to color one of the buds. Or, use high-quality stereo headphones.
In that case, the Left and Right sides is known / derived from the shape of the phones.
Even if still ambiguous, at least the quality sound makes up for the momentary confusion. Not something that can be said of the shabby iPod phones.
(My editor just informed me that any mention of iPod phones must include the word “ubiquitous.” )

The iPod earbuds are ubiquitous but far from perfect.

Apple, earbuds, headphones, iPod, iTunes, Left, Right, stereo, usability

Apple introduced a new “iPhone” that stores up to 4GB of iTunes music and will work on the Cingular network.

Steve Jobs touted some of the phone’s capabilities, such as seducing your callers by implying that you are at a rockin’ party.

Verizon also announced a deal, with Anheuser-Busch, to market a “dui Phone.” It holds 12oz of Budweiser, allowing for unlimited drunk dialing and drunk texting after 2am.

Apple, cell phones, Cingular, drunk dialing, drunk texting, iPhone, Verizon