Rebooting the car biz

I've always believed in a sort of Bushido code when it comes to any business. "Always prepare for death, and make it a good one." Which sounds pretty down, but turn that into something cool like, "Always win!" or something and you've got a flavor-of-the-month managerial book. But the idea is the same: you're born, you die. It's true of business as well as any living thing. Ford and GM sound like they're in trouble, but business can be reborn.

It happened at Apple. It might happen at Microsoft (when is the question). A renaissance in the auto industry? It could happen.

Chris Whittle was once asked what he would do to advertise a car company (this was when Chrysler was on the rebound, I think?). He said he'd SPONSOR the Olympics. The whole damn thing. At least the US TV rights. Pretty interesting idea. Every sport, every ad brought to you by Ford. Now have Ford subsidize real anchors, real "citizen journalists" at EVERY sporting event (hello IPTV Mr. Gates!), broadcast it live 24/7, with a constant crawl of Autoblog, with ads in-between posts, or something to that effect... well, you've got an interesting shiny thing there.

So rebooting the auto industry in a substantial way is trickier. More on that later.

Download Squad's first contest-- Vista Ultimate

Yep, Download Squad is giving away not one, not two, but three copies of Vista Ultimate. You know, the one with ALL the bells and whistles enabled? This is the full version too, so you can custom build a PC, throw an nvidia 8800 in there (or two, you trust fund baby you), and rock the DirectX10 universe with abandon. While still keeping your Win2k boxen alive and kickin'...

Check it out:
Download Squad gives away 3 copies of Vista Ultimate

repurposing your gadgets

One of the things I'm looking forward to with the iPhone is a real contender in the "one tools does most" category. I've tried a lot of doodads, most Palm-based, to get a full solution in portable form. I have a 3Com branded Palm that still works, loved Handspring with their funky little port, and still have a WristPDA I should figure out how to hack...

Anyway, I remember my first watch, it had a kooky little back-and-forth stopwatch that blipped much like KITT's "eye" on the front of the car. I created about a dozen "games" for the watch as a result. Now I'm toying with my new Casio, and I've discovered some handy uses.

There's a calendar, a document scanner, a voice recorder (no image required), and web scanner. That last little trick comes from setting the cam to "Best Shot" mode for recording Text. It disables the flash, cranks up the fine res, and turns on macro. I used it to take some pics of my Mac screen before a trip to NYC. I did a few basic Google searches, found some maps, etc. and voila-- a handy little series of web pages in my pocket (no wireless needed).

I'm doing a similar thing with the cam in my phone, grabbing URL's off posters because children prevent me from using pen and paper. Of course, the phone has a voice memo, and video playback, and audio playback, AND a web browser, IM, etc. (and yet it's primitive by gadget standards).

Now to turn the Mac hocky puck mouse into a lariat...

iPhone as gaming device

Steve dangled a pretty tantalizing fruit in front of the Mac faithful the other week. This extends beyond the iPhone (market of 957M units last year) . While quoting the size of the game console market (26M units) was a nice comparison, the Jobs is no dummy. That category gets mushy as "consoles" morph into platforms, thus yielding to growth. Imagine a Playstation 2 chip in a TV. Xbox 360 does IPTV. Share photos on the Wii. You get the idea.

Now picture Sudoku on your iPhone, but beaming the gameplay to your AppleTV. Next, imagine playing co-op games this way (as one does on the DS). Leagues of AppleTV's becoming ad-hoc game servers. One step further, the iPhone can control Mac games. Just how sensitive is that accellerometer SJ?

If Apple is becoming a consumer electronics company, it only stands to reason they will grow into the markets that are making money. It's what a company exists to do-- grow, make money, maximize shareholder value. Game consoles are the first item on the graph, the smallest market in 2006, but it's on there. Don't think the market isn't on Apple's radars somewhere. And don't count them out.

iFun

Apple ][
Originally uploaded by superpixel.

Whew. The TUAW crew (well, about half) rocked Macworld last week. Over 1 million PV's on the Jobsnote is amazing. I was astounded. There are times when I wonder how it happened. Last year's keynote we really didn't have live coverage. Just a crappy chatcast with me unable to communicate to the outside world (I was in the hall), and our other person (Laurie) couldn't hear halfway through because some nitwit started up a vacuum cleaner in the exhibitor hall (where they pump in audio).

I'm kinda bummed I didn't go this year. It could very well have been the last historic moment for a company I've known my entire life. Last year was big-- the transition to Intel chips. But this year was bigger. Gizmodo has cheekily dubbed the iPhone the "Jesus Phone." Meaning, it will somehow save the company. Or at least, bring a new way to the business... And yeah, it might. Apple is heading into Sony territory, which was something Jobsy said he wanted to do almost the very day he returned to the company back in the late 90's. Golly, that seems like a month ago...

Anyway, I started using Apple computers when I was around 6. My dad was a double major, Chemical Engineering and Electrical Engineering. He had a passion for electronics, and it was his hobby. I still remember all the robot books we had...

So one Christmas he brings home this big, beige machine that says Apple on it. It was an Apple ][. It had paddles and a tape drive. I can still remember playing Breakout on it. The best game, the one I wish I still had, was Star Wars. It was nearly impossible to play, because one paddle controlled the X and the other the Y, but the opening credits were similar to the actual movie, with an out-of-tune version of the John Williams theme song.

We still have this machine, although some time in the 80's we upgraded the insides to essentially an Apple ][+.

(originally posted on Vox)

Heeeere comes technology!

good morning
Originally uploaded by superpixel.

My wife is a bit wary of technology. I don't blame her. Whenever something doesn't work, or acts funny, and there is no apparent method behind the madness, it's often technology trying to think for us. It reminds me of the planet in Foundation, where the religious leaders were actually tech experts, able to manipulate the tech-- but it seemed like magic to onlookers.

Eight years ago, before we were married, we lived in a tiny, 650-sq. ft. house. Our coffee nook was simply a Mr. Coffee with the red LED timer.

Well anyway, here is our little coffee nook now. There's a fancier coffee machine (we love the design of it, especially the green clock), a coffee grinder, TV/DVD, and Jensen iPod dock/radio (with an AUX input still, which is great when we sometimes plug in the Airport Express for audio streaming).

You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.

Though, to be honest, I'd be happy with a piano in the living room and a French press in the kitchen.

TUAW at Macworld!

Last year I went to Macworld mostly as a tourist. I intended to blog my butt off for TUAW, but only managed a couple of posts post-show. Here's one I'm particularly proud of:
My First Macworld

This year I'm not going. Instead, we've got 5 TUAW bloggers, plus a Netscape video preditor attending-- and they are going to rock the thing. TUAW is going to cover Macworld like never before. Not only will there be interviews aplenty, both text and video, with folks both known and unknown, but hands-on reports, analysis, and of course, a little post about all the new cool things floating around the 2 halls that comprise this year's show. I think I'm more excited to see what TUAW unveils than what Jobs will preview...

I want to thank the indefatigable TUAW crew in advance for what I know is going to be one wild ride. You're all stars in my eyes, and I look forward to toasting you in person at next year's Macworld!

For those not going, be sure to post your questions for Leo Laporte and Guy Kawasaki here:
Tell us what to ask Leo Laporte

Tell us what to ask Guy Kawasaki
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Missed out on Middle School? Visit digg

I think the title says it all. I have noticed a serious degradation in the quality (but certainly not quantity) of the massmind over on digg.com. Comments have reached an all-time low in terms of juvenile behavior, reminiscent of the High Troll Days of Slashdot. Maybe it's a measure of success, maybe digg'ers wear their immaturity as a badge of honor, I dunno... But it's just a little sad IMHO. Also makes it quite distracting, and possibly a limiting factor in their continued growth. As they reach peak traffic, and mature into a known entity to the "average" person, the snarky stupid stuff is going to be a major turnoff.

You know, it isn't even snarky. A lot of the comments I'm seeing are devoid of cleverness, and you have to be clever to be snarky.

Plus, you're seeing a lot of dupes, old stuff, splogs, etc. Hm, wonder if digg needs an editorial layer? ;-)