The First Musical Instrument Created for the Apple iPhone: Ocarina.

November 11, 2008 by admin · 1 Comment
Filed under: New Stuff 

Just in time to head off a boring wait in Black Friday’s check-out lines — the iPhone Ocarina. Now you can amuse yourself and other frenzied shoppers by turning your iPhone into a musical instrument — the ocarina. Simply blow into the microphone and and play the four holes on the iPhone screen. Guru suggests a hearty rendition of the Burl Ives classic: “Have A Holly Jolly Christmas.” Or perhaps the sacred “Feliz Navidad.” Both undoubtedly do justice the ancient heritage of this traditional instrument.

Thanks to LikeCool and Smule Ocarina.

More cool from Smule: Ocarina is a social application. (I knew it — everything has to be a social app these days. Where are the anti-social apps? I want one.) Tap on the globe icon and you will see and hear other Ocarina players throughout the world. (Also likely standing in line at Target) The globe view will highlight the source of the music. Rate your favorite performances so that others may benefit from your judgment. Name your Ocarina if you want listeners around the world to identify your performances. With this robust application beautiful music is created, appreciated and shared. (I am so wanting to hear Inna-Ga-Da-Davida Baby)

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Apple Reports $1.14 Billion Profit as Sales Jump 27%

October 21, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Technology 

TECHNOLOGY ALERT
from The Wall Street Journal.

Oct. 21, 2008

Apple reported a $1.14 billion profit as sales jumped 27% to $7.9 billion, as demand for the company’s premium products held up amid the souring economy. CEO Steve Jobs said he was unsure “how this economic downturn will affect Apple” and the company gave a wide range of financial targets for the holiday quarter. In the September quarter, unit shipments of Macintosh computers rose 21%, while iPod unit shipments rose 8%. The company also shipped 6.9 million iPhones.

Guru’s Note: My daughter just gave me a luscious new Nano Chromatic in Guru Orange. I think Apple will still shine during the holidays.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, go to: http://online.wsj.com/public/page/news-tech-technology.html?mod=djemalertTECH

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The New York Times Calls the New Microsoft ‘I’m a PC’ TV Commercials Risky — Guru Calls Them Right On.

September 21, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
Filed under: marketing & advertising 

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Last Thursday Microsoft switched to the next phase of its $300 million television campaign. Thank God.

I can’t imagine why the New York Times considers it both ambitious and risky. Risky is being so bland, BS-sy and boring that your chief rival Apple is allowed to brand-nap your product and millions of users.

While some found the quixotic commercials featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld in search of real people worth a watercooler chat, many (including moi) found them baffling. But after the many years I spent working on Microsoft projects, I have a pretty good grasp of why the company felt it needed to take a gigantic leap away from advertising as usual.

Happily, ad agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky could tap into local talent. In recent years, Bill has decidedly morphed away from being the Evil Dictator of the Evil Empire to becoming a kind of folksy spokes-geek. He always played that role in the playful company videos that typically first aired during his Comdex or CES keynotes. It suits him.

The new campaign, which carries the theme “Windows. Life without walls,” still features Bill, this time in a cameo role, with the humble-pie email address: bill@windows.com.  In the new spots, he is surrounded by everyone from celebrities like Deepak Chopra and Eva Longoria to everyday PC users, from scientists and fashion designers to shark hunters and teachers, showing off their individualism.  And their pride in using their PCs.

 But what it really does well is what everyone says Obama should do — hit hard at the competition.

The new “I’m a PC” spots are so right on, even for this proud owner of a glossy green Mac Book, that all I can say is ‘It’s about time.’

PS: The new ‘I’m a PC’ group on Facebook already has 527 members.

Update: Straight from Appleinsider’s Irony Files comes this tidbit — the ‘I’m A PC’ commercials were actually made on Macs. A Flickr user named LuisDS made the discovery. AppleInsider says he found traces of Apple’s Mac OS X operating system and Adobe’s Creative Suite 3 in the metadata files of the video.

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Steve Jobs Presents Christmas 2008

September 9, 2008 by admin · 2 Comments
Filed under: Technology 

This morning at Apple’s Let’s Rock event in San Francisco, a still-thin but always-cheeky Steve Jobs introduced what’s certain to be on everyone’s Christmas List this year. The no-brainer stocking stuffer is the juicy new fourth generation nano, hotter than ever in nine new neon colors. This thinnest iPod ever sports a sleek new design with a curved aluminum and glass enclosure. It also incorporates Genius technology and features a built-in accelerometer that automatically switches to Cover Flow when rotated and automatically goes into Shuffle mode when lightly shaken.

iPod nano (4th generation) comes in 8GB and 16GB models, starting at just $149.

Catch full liveblog coverage from Yerba Buena Center via Gizmodo.

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July 11: More Sinners Than Winners, From The Packers to Silicon Valley to IndyMac to The New iPhone.

July 11, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
Filed under: New Stuff 

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The Week of July 11 is crammed with Sinners and only one (semi) Winner:

  • After shoddy treatment from Ted Thompson, Brett asks to be released from Green Bay. 
  • Single White Female, the sequel. The Mercury News reports that with the ouster of Dianne Green, CEO of VMWare, none of Silicon Valley’s 150 biggest corporations have a single female CEO.
  • The Basin Complex Fire ravages more than 103,000 acres of pure, pristine California and moves closer to Carmel Valley.
  • Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae tank. Then mortgage giant IndyMac Bank is seized by the Feds.  This bank deserved to be outed for its sleazy shenanigans.  Who’s next?
  • And the obsession with all things Apple grows, with the launch today of the new iPhone3G, released this am at AT&T and Apple stores around the US. It’s faster, cheap, cooler than ever — and also capable of bringing down Apple’s activation system.

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Uber Droolworthy: The New ‘Twice As Fast, Half the Price’ 8G $199 iPhone is Coming July 11th.

June 9, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
Filed under: New Stuff, Technology, style & design 

Just short of a year ago, on June 29th, 2007, to be exact, I stood in line for the hottest tech toy ever, Apple’s droolworthy iPhone.

By July, I had already passed this shiny new thing on to my daughter. ‘Crackberry’ addict that I discovered myself to be, I returned to my trusty Blackberry, with the easy QWERTY keyboard.

My daughter loved the iPhone almost instantly. But she has since learned that the iPhone can be a heartbreaker. It failed her during an awesome OK GO ‘Mighty Mic” concert for Darfur at UCLA, when the measly 2 megapixel camera failed to save the juicy pix of Damian, Tim and Dan she snapped from the edge of the stage. It failed her last Wednesday when it dropped and the fragile screen cracked. It fails her repeatedly by slogging along on the uber-slacky AT&T network.

So the question is:  how many of these 1.0 glitches will be cleaned up in the new iPhone 2.0?   Rumors have long centered on a faster, cheaper iPhone, to be launched sometime this summer.

Stay tuned.  Steve’s at Moscone Center right now, wowing the throngs with details.  The place is at capacity, with Apple addicts lined up more than 24-hours ago to get in on the first buzz. Even better, its crammed with developers.

Here’s the official stuff.

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The Church of Apple Gets A New iPod Bible: iLounge Launches The Free iPod + iPhone Book 4.

June 3, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
Filed under: New Stuff, Parenting and children, Uncategorized, entertainment, lifestyle & leisure, marketing & advertising, media & publishing, style & design 

Now this is droolworthy.
If you worship all things Apple, this brand new version of what has been called the iPod ‘bible’ is bound to ramp up your religiousity a few notches. With 268 pages of bleeding edge content from hot website iLounge.com, this free book is likely to set another record for mondo-millions of downloads. Packed with juicy new information about the iPod, iPhone and iTunes, this sleekly designed and streamlined fourth-edition is, only hours after its launch, already being dubbed iLounge’s best pub yet.

Along with in-depth guides and ratings of more than 1,800 iPod and iPhone-related products, readers will find new cool features like “iDesign Retrospective,” a look at how talented designers created the world’s most impressive iPod accessories, “Sneak Peeks” , exclusive world premieres of 20+ new accessories and even the inevitable “iPhone Baby”, outlining the ways expectant Moms and Dads can get baby hooked on Apple while in utero. 150 iTunes Answers has been reorged and updated, with 100 pages of tips, tricks and pix.

Another inevitable in these days of user-generated-content, but still compelling nonetheless: The Next-Generation iPhone and Photo Galleries: luscious photographs and images submitted by iLounge readers that depict the past, present, and future of Apple’s iPhone family, as well as the latest globe-trotting iPods.

And even better, iLounge made their instant classic hassle-free as well. When you go to the site to download it, you will find a wide variety of options for easy viewing: from desktop to laptop or smaller pocket-size screens, including the iPhone and iPod touch.

Download The Free iPod + iPhone Book 4 in Adobe PDF format at http://www.ilounge.com/book4/.

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iPhone is the new Ferrari?

August 8, 2007 by admin · Leave a Comment
Filed under: New Stuff, Uncategorized 

 

Some of us were born to drive a Red Ferrari. That’s always been my fantasy. Me, blonde hair blowing in the balmy breeze as I zig-zag around the cliffs of Big Sur with summer in my heart and the sun on my shoulders.

The reality is — I drive a VW Bug convertible. Sure, it’s bright yellow with adorable daisy wheels and equally adorable daisy taillights. Everytime I go out for a spin, especially with the top-down, I get waves and grins. It’s just that kind of car. Fun and flirty — but nobody’s idea of a drool-worthy fantasy. (Unless you’re 16 with a spanking-new driver’s license)

That’s why I am looking at my still shiny-new iPhone, now more than 30 days old and barely used, as my Ferrari Fantasy. Truth is, I would be terrified to take a new zillion-dollar Ferrari for a spin anywhere but the dealer’s driveway. Fantasy Ferraris also don’t venture up freeways or into Safeway parking lots. Fantasy Ferraris don’t venture into middle school to pick up kidlets with backpacks and dripping Speedos. Fantasy Ferraris pretty much only go to Pebble Beach or West Palm.

iPhones don’t go anywhere either. Recently I went on a couple of business trips, one to Boston, the other to Vegas. Did I take my new iPhone? Nope. Aside from the chaos that airport security might create, on the road there were too many prying eyes ready to rob me of my Attempt at Cool. I am already rattled enough traveling these days. In fact, the ONLY place I feel comfortable taking my new iPhone is anywhere in Silicon Valley. Anyone trying to be cool already has one. And anyone who doesn’t has decided to wait for the inevitable Version 2.0. So I know I could leave my treasure on a table at Tamarind and it would still be there when I rushed back to get it.

So yes, my iPhone still wreaks of cool, still is an elegant sight to behold, and still drops jaws when I show off the video feature.

But for me, it’s not the workhorse I need. It is my fantasy.

Any other iPhone owners there still sticking with their tried-and-true beat up Blackberries?

 

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I Came. I Saw. I Activated.

June 30, 2007 by guruofnew · Leave a Comment
Filed under: New Stuff 

 

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Last night around 8:44 PM, I became one of the 60 coolest people in Monterey, California.

Usually on the Monterey Peninsula, this degree of uber-cool is reserved for the hipsters at the Monterey Jazz Fest or Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

But last night, the diehards at the Del Monte Shopping Center AT&T Store beamed way past the Tony Bennetts and the Bill Murrays. In the geek world of glitter and glam, it’s all about the getting your hands on the iPhone.

I was one of the lucky ones. I didn’t have to camp out overnight or even bring a chair like my neighbor-in-line, Nancy. I showed up at 4:45 armed with a Grande Cappuccino, slumped against the fake mall-wall granite and caught up on a stack of yellowing Wall Street Journals. Around me, the chatter was all about Apple, of course, the ease of at-home activation, the brilliance of the launch, the embargo on hard facts — such as, how many iPhones were actually inside the sealed bags we saw as we hugged the AT&T store windows, fogging them up like the drooling groupies we were?

Speaking of rock stars, Steven, the AT&T store manager, magically appeared every so often with updates. We couldn’t tell if he genuinely didn’t know how many units were stashed behind the counter or if he was merely trying string along the growing line of geeks who would leave iPhone-less that evening. The enticement was: stick around and order — which rocketed you to the head of the list — and get the real thing in 2-4 weeks. Those poor unfortunate, cool-impaired souls who did not fully understand the urgency of braving the lines, would have to wait for months. Even Manager Steven was forced into geek oblivion by the AT&T employee requirement to stay away from the goodies for an interminable 30 days.

By 6:01 the line was bulging and swaying so much that a man driving by our little crowd shouted: ‘Hey, is this for American Idol?’

By 7:50, we were starting to worry. We knew that they were only letting 8 customers in the store at a time. We had seen very few ’survivors’ emerge. ‘Backpack Dude’, our symbol of fortitude, was stuck in the clog at the door. Steven had twice been outside to count. This did not bode well in terms of the mysterious inventory.

Life went on. Nancy’s husband went to buy her at burrito (no rice) at the Chipolte nearby. Nahme’s wife showed up with their 3-year old, fresh from visiting the sea otters at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. My daughter arrived with her girlfriend and left quickly, deeply embarrassed by her nerd mother. The conversation around me was shifting to the merits of porta-potties. We all were grateful for the gorgeous 70 degree Monterey weather and Apple’s genius in not launching during snow season.

Steven did another count. Nancy and I plus two guys behind us made the cut. Everyone else was given the ordering option. Not a single person ditched.

It’s 7:56 PM and I text my daughter proclaiming: “I’m IN! (Need catheter)

Inside, I am assigned to a logo-shirted AT&T rep named Jolene, who zips me through the AT&T disclaimers, which I am asked to initial: Activation. Rate Plans. Service and Support. Jolene, flushed, is fighting for a computer. Do I want to keep my Blackberry? Yes. I am addicted to my ‘Crackberry’ and not sure if I can switch from one high to the next (iPhone) that easily. We wait a few minutes for the server to catch up with the deluge and she shows me a variety of iPhone cases. I decline. I will be visiting the mother ship soon and can see the full line while on the Apple campus.

8:43 PM Here comes my receipt — plus of packet of AT&T coupons, etc. AT&T clearly has been working overtime on all fronts to try to handle the launch. Still, everything that is AT&T is orange and blue — the old colors cheap printers always used. When Jolene hands me the oddly sealed orange-white- blue bag with its precious iPhone inside, the cool gap between AT&T and Apple jumps in your face.

8:44 PM I rip open the bag. There it is, as sleek, slim and smug as Mr. Jobs himself.

I skip about 3 events so I can speed home, get online and get activated via my heavily-used iTunes account.

9:17 PM This pursuit of cool has worn me out. I figure there is a possibility I still may be relatively hip for another 8 hours or so. I slip my iPhone into its cradle — and I slip into mine.

Part 2: I activate!

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