The WSJ goes all Apple: Yet another “free feature” from tomorrow’s Wall Street Journal is about Apple. In this one, Walt Mossberg goes all gooey over the iMac G5. I guess that WSJ editor knows that stories saying the iMac G5 is the “gold standard” of desktop computers will generate some Google-juicing incoming links.

Technorati Tags: apple

Who would have guessed — iPod users have ‘pirated’ stuff on those things: (From the Wall Street Journal [free feature]) “This intersection between consumer technology and piracy isn’t something most companies are eager to talk about. (Apple declined to comment.) But because Apple CEO Steve Jobs is being touted as the savior of the beleaguered recording industry, it is at least worth exploring how all those iPods he is selling to the public are really being used.”

Sidenote: Is it just me, or does this following sentence seem awfully “bloglike” for a newspaper article:

“It didn’t take long after Apple introduced its new product for crafty Netizens to start sharing movies and TV shows formatted for the device (do a Google search with the words “torrent,” “video” and “iPod,” if you don’t believe me, or visit Podtropolis.com).

I added the boldface: since when do newspaper reporters go conversationally snarky in the middle of a news story? Break it down and this “exposé” of iPod “pirated content” is a thinly veiled how-to guide for iPod users on how to find such content.

Update: I guess this is a column, not a news story, so I stand corrected on the part about the “style” of writing. I still think he’s winking at the reader, however.

Technorati Tags: apple, ipod

This quote is flat: From an interview with Thomas Friedman in the Financial Times:

“And what’s even more interesting to me is: who invented podcasting? Nobody. It was an application that just emerged from the network.”

One of the “initial developers” of podcasting responds:

“Analogously, who wrote Tom Friedman’s latest book? No one, it just popped off the printing press.”

(Rexblog flashback, 10/11/2004: “Marconi personally taught me how to podcast“)

Celebrity endorsement: Nick Bradbury is switching back to Technorati for blog search. That’s good enough for me.

Technorati Tags: blogging

What Paul Conley Said: “I would prefer that publishers spend less time thinking about electronic design and spend more time thinking about electronic distribution.”

Observation: I love great design — print and online — however, I couldn’t agree with Paul more. People are reading your articles via newsreaders, blackberries, Treo browsers, who knows, smoke signals. When you design a website with the belief that your readers are all going to “enjoy” it via the most recent version of a web browser on a large desktop monitor, you’re displaying a high degree of cognitive dissonance (translation: you’re convincing yourself of something you want to believe, rather than that which might actually be).

Paul’s post also reminds me that I’ve been meaning to point to the (Washington) Post Remix weblog (tagline: “The Post’s Official Mashup Center”). I’ll echo Paul’s suggestion to anyone in the “traditional” media business who has the desire to “get it.” Follow the Washington Post’s enlightened lead. However, on this front, I’m sorry to say I also agree with Paul, who writes, “But truth be told, I can’t imagine that any B2B publishers will be able to do such things for several years. Heck, I can’t convince many of the folks I work with to link outside their own Web sites! Many journalists aren’t ready for the present, let alone for the future.”

(Actually, I can think of some B2B publishers who are ready to follow the Post’s lead, but I could count them on one hand. Come to think of it, the Post even has a B2B publishing unit that pumps out lots of “mashup-ready” RSS feeds. Somebody there will should get it.)

Technorati Tags: magazines, mashup, media, B2B

What Jason Calcanis said: “OK, let’s stop the bubble machine right now.”
Observation: I’ve been known to disagree with Jason on occasion, however, on this we agree. Until “widows and orphans” show up betting their pensions on the IPO of some company that is just a mashup with no revenue, we’ve got a long way to go. Despite my preference for the keep-it-small and don’t-take-VC-money for as long as you can approach, I have no problem with all the VC money flowing into early-stage companies. Frankly, that’s the business they’re in and I don’t think they’ll deserve anyone’s sympathy if they one day have to write-off their investment. But VCs and well-heeled early-stage investors losing money is not a bubble busting.
As I’ve blogged before, the least interesting part of what’s taking place now is the investment part of the story. Unfortunately, the flow of investment money is one of the few stories the general business news media (and, unfortunately, much of the B2B media world as well) know how to cover. The “transactions” of Web 2.0 (geez, I hate that term, but I’ve decided to capitulate and use it whenever I need a meaningless term that means everything) are not the story (unless, of course, you’re in the business of covering that facet of business).
Another observation: That said, I do believe there is some “monetizing of eyeballs” taking place. And frankly, that’s not necessarily a bad thing nor a bubble thing.

Technorati Tags: blogging, media, web2.0

Not in time for Christmas - Mac “Kaleidoscope” digital hub: Think Secret, the go-to source for Apple rumors (so go-to, Apple is suing him), is reporting that at Macworld (I’m guessing, on January 10 at 9 a.m. PDT), “Apple’s Mac mini will be reborn as the digital hub centerpiece it was originally conceived to be. The new Mac mini project, code-named Kaleidoscope, will feature an Intel processor and include both Front Row 2.0 and TiVo-like DVR functionality.”

It’s no secret that Apple will one day introduce something it hopes to be for the “home-entertainment” market what the iPod is for the in-your-pocket-and-ears entertainment market. Personally (and I’m biased, so take this with a grain of salt), I think Apple will be the company that finally succeeds — at least, at the top end of this market — with a fully “converged” digital hub (but I doubt they’ll ever use the word goofy term “digital hub” in describing it) that brings together audio, video, computing and online media…and hangs flatly against your wall.

Why Apple? Its product will be elegantly simple and beautifully designed. More importantly, the user interface won’t be created by Microsoft or Sony others who don’t typically display Apple’s unique insight into how to make things simple to understand and use.

Update: Dave Winer can’t overlook the attitude Apple sometimes displays with their software. He’s right.

Also, I remembered this morning that I said the following back in October: “I can predict one thing. In about 2-3 years, I’ll be purchasing a TV-media center flat screen something-or-other that will hang on my wall and be fairly large — and it will have the Apple brand on it. I won’t be disappointed in the previous model because I’ll wait until they have exactly what I want.”

I stand by that prediction. Except knock off a year.

Technorati Tags: apple