Today Apple announced a 100 million free song giveaway with Pepsi. All the details haven’t been released yet (wait for Sunday’s Super Bowl ad), but they do give the odds — 1 in 3 wins. Not too shabby. Digital music rocks.
But I mainly wanted to mention it because I thought the graphic on Apple’s homepage was freaking cool. It’s hard to be eye-catching on the web today, but I think all those Pepsi bottles does it pretty nicely.
I know my other eBay auctions may not have been your cup of tea, or they simply sold too quickly, but now I have the auction you can’t ignore:
How can you possibly do the two-lipped butterfly with chapped lips! C’mon, man, protect those puckerers! OK, it’s from 1995, so you probably don’t want to use it, but how keen would a tube of Tick balm sitting on your desk be? You’ll be the envy of the office.
Lately I’ve been eBaying my way towards a new computer, and it’s working pretty well. Today I sold the remains of my G.I. Joe collection, as well as the risque adult postcards I found hidden between the joists in my garage. If you’re interested, the collection of ex-Billy Graham library books is still available, including some retro classics.
The selling of my childhood on eBay has begun. Well, I suppose it began several years ago when I liquidated my G.I. Joe collection. Now I guess I’m selling my pre-teen and teen collectible phase.
Get ’em while they’re hot, decade-old NASCAR collectibles! Wahoo.
(all proceeds go towards a computer that doesn’t suck)
101 Ways to Save Apple – A Wired article from 1997 (link via Kottke), before all the cool things Apple’s done recently, including the Think Different campaign, the iPod, and both iMacs. What’s really interesting is how many of the recommendations have happened, including:
14. Do something creative with the design of the box and separate yourselves from the pack. The original Macs stood out because of their innovative look. Repeat that. Get the folks at Porsche to design a box. Or Giorgio Giugiaro. Or Philippe Starck. We’d all feel better about shelling out the bucks for a Power Mac 9600 if we could get a tower with leopard spots.
98. Testimonials. Create commercials featuring real-life people in situations where buying a Mac (or switching to a Mac) saved the day.
7. Don’t disappear from the retail chains. Rent space in a computer store, flood it with Apple products (especially software), staff it with Apple salespeople, and display everything like you’re a living, breathing company and not a remote, dusty concept.
40. Cash in on millennium fever with an ad campaign that portrays Apple as a return to basics, a rediscovery of simplicity and purity, a rejection of complexity. (I don’t know if the millennium part happened, but they’ve definitely started hyping their simplicity)
52. Return to the heady days of yore by insisting that Steve Jobs regrow his beard. (I’m not Jobs freak, so maybe that’s just scruff, but close enough.)
OK, I’ve got a beef with web designers who use all Flash. Have we ever heard of usability? Apparently not.
A few weeks back I switched to the Firebird browser because IE was being stupid. Seemed like a good idea at the time, though since I’ve noticed that the Flash plug-in doesn’t stay plugged in. Every time I launch Firebird I have to reinstall Flash. Now maybe I’m just an idiot and I’m not doing something right, but it’s a pain. For the most part I don’t bother reinstalling Flash every time. Which means any sites that use Flash can be difficult.
Now a site like Relevant uses Flash, but it’s only for enhancements on the page. I can still check their recent updates without needing Flash. It adds some nice visual elements, but not having Flash doesn’t ruin my experience. On the other hand, some web designers insist that you have Flash to see anything on their site. The bands Jars of Clay and Sanctus Real are two examples. If you don’t have Flash you can’t get anything.
Now let’s think about this for a minute. You’re not just making it difficult for people to surf your site, you’re making it impossible. You’re knowingly shutting out a certain percentage of people from your site (anybody know what that percentage is? UPDATE: OK, I looked it up myself. 98% of Internet users have Flash. Though the numbers are baked. 98% is for Flash 2. We’re currently on Flash 7, which has 7.2% of Internet users. Flash 6 is still at 90%, so they’re doing pretty good. I guess you’re not shutting out that many people [though why would you want to shut anyone out?], but more importantly, they’re still making difficult-to-use sites. Lame.). And what do you gain? Some cool effects. Oooh. Bands are notorious for using Flash exclusively.
The downside is that most all-Flash sites suck. Often they give you a number of little text frames to scroll through (and where are the freakin’ scroll buttons! If you can even find them, they all work differently!) or they pop up windows all over the place. It’s a navigational and usability nightmare. If you want to have all the fancy effects, use them strictly for effects. Let HTML handle the text, which will make your site simpler, easier to use, and compatible with a much larger audience base.
I’ve noticed graphic design houses do this as well. They want that wow-factor so they make this crazy Flash site. Yet the site is terrible to use. Why on earth would I hire you if you can’t make a site I can use?
You can certainly use Flash, it’s a cool effect. Just allow your site to still function without Flash. Or offer an HTML alternative (like U2). Very few sites can justify all-Flash, and when they can it usually involves lots of animation, like Homestar Runner.
I know I sound like Jakob Nielsen, but I just want a site that’s easy to use. Is that too much to ask? It’s like punishing someone for being interested in your business.
Yesterday Apple announced its new smaller, slimmer, not-much-cheaper iPod. The 4 GB iPod Mini is two-thirds the size of the original and will cost $249 — $50 cheaper than the 15 GB iPod also announced yesterday.
That’s two-thirds the physical size, less than one-third the storage space, for five-sixths the price. Not exactly the cheap techno-temptation I was hoping for. Though it does offer five times the color choices: silver, gold, green, pink, and blue.
In my ever-expanding battle with computer frustration, I switched to Mozilla’s Firebird Browser today. A few people (Jordon Cooper, Josh Lewis, etc.) said good things about it, so I figured I’d give it a shot. And it’s not IE.
For the past week Internet Explorer has decided to not load certain web sites. For no reason they show up as “This page could not be displayed.” It’s possible that google.com went down for an hour, maybe a day, but after a week I figured it was my problem. Pretty soon about 25% of the sites I visit wouldn’t load, and I decided enough is enough.
Every time I’ve tried to upgrade or reinstall IE it’s failed, so I decided it’s not even worth the time to try. I gave Firebird a shot, and I was up and browsing in less than 30 seconds. IE is no longer welcome here. Consider this yet another nail in the coffin of this PC user.
This is Abby and I video-chatting with our good friend Josh while we drool over Macs at the Southdale Apple Store. Josh was actually in California at the time, and we were able to connect after posting comments in his blog. As luck would have it (well, maybe not luck), Josh was at his computer at time time, posted a comment back, and we were in business. Video business.
Several of the Macs at the store are equipped with iSight, a fancy video-conferencing system. I’ve used it before to take pictures of myself in the store, but this was the first time I used it for its intended purpose.
Video-conferencing across the country confused a number of customers, but it was great. We got to see Henson and 5, as well as Stephanie eating breakfast. Unfortunately, the Apple Store was full of background noise, so it was hard to hear.
Of course I’m still trying to decide which Mac to buy. The eMac plays to my cheap side, though I’m still wondering if it would be wiser to buy a tower and have more flexibility (I can use my current monitor). Then my choices are the G4 or G5. I’m looking at a spread of prices from $1099 for the eMac, to $1499 for the G4, to $1799 for the G5 (they’re all SuperDrive equipped, which is why the eMac and G4 are slightly more expensive — it seems silly to miss out on DVD burning).
Anyway, I’m still waffling all over the place. The eMac is cheap, but the G4/5’s have expandability — I could add a second monitor. Of course the eMac is cheap. Is that future expandability worth $400? And if it’s worth $400, is it worth another $300 for the improved performance of a low-end G5? And where is all this money coming from anyway?
Sigh. Yesterday I had to reinstall Microsoft Office to get Access working (leftover problem from when I reinstalled my system a month or two back), and it magically fixed Outlook! I can delete e-mails again (everybody now, bah-leted!). Of course when I tried to attach files to my the first new e-mail I sent, it crashed everytime. A reboot seemed to fix things, but I find myself wavering back and forth between wishing my computer would crash so I’d be forced to buy a new one, and hoping it will hold on a little longer so I can delay that massive outpouring of cash.
Does anybody else spend this long thinking about these things?