10.20.09 New MacBook: Better in Every Way? Not!
Apple does it again. After making several really nice improvements to the last of the plasic, oh, sorry, polycarbonate, MacBooks, they discontinued it and replaced it with a completely redesigned model. Ok, so that sounds good. Improve on a winner, make it cheaper, and we're on the right track. So what did Apple do? They advertize it as "Better in Every Way." I'm sure there are some improvements, but the previous model had Firewire, which is now gone. The old model had an IR sensor so you could use it with the Front Row remote, which was also included free at one point. Both the sensor and, not surprisingly, the remote are gone. The old model had a handy battery charge indicator so you could check your power level without turning on the computer. Gone. And the old model was designed so that replacing the hard drive, RAM, and battery were a snap. Not any more. The separate jacks for audio in and out have been reduced into one combo jack so you can't use both at the same time. And the price, which really needed to come down to compete with the Netbooks, didn't. Still $999 for the base model. So I would call the new MacBook a disappointment in just about every way. Bump up to a MacBook Pro 13" for $200 more and you'll be much happier. Maybe that was Apple's plan to start with?
10.18.09 Trouble with Time Capsule!
Uh oh. It looks like Time Capsule is not going to be one of those much touted reliable Apple products. The idea is a good one; combining a wireless access point and a network attached storage device is clever and useful. But the choice to enclose a power supply and hard drive in a fanless and underventilated plastic case was just plain dumb. We've had many similar problems with recent LaCie drives. Sure, fans can be noisy and annoying, but they keep your devices cool. Heat reduces the data fidelity of drives as well as shortening the life of many electronic components such as capacitors. So now there's a website where you can log the death date of your Time Capsue. The average failure time among units that have failed is about 17 months. But given that the product is only about 24 months old, this is not good. If you're in the market for that particular functionality, I'd suggest an Airport Extreme and an external OWC hard drive attached to it via USB. Separating the components also means that if one part fails, you have less to replace. Or, if you do need a Time Capsule, add AppleCare to extend the warrantly to 3 years and make Apple pay to replace it when it dies.
10.13.09 Top 10 Reasons to Get A Mac
- Innovative industrial design. Want to see tomorrow's PC? Look at today's Mac.
- No PC viruses, malware, spyware, worms, or trojan horses. Is that one reason or five?
- Macs last longer, are more reliable, have higher resale value and best overall TCO.
- Apple's software works seamlessly with the hardware.
- Your current devices (external drive, camera, printer) will move right over. True plug and play.
- Microsoft Office and Open Office are both available for the Mac.
- Your Mac can also run Windows, either simultaneously or as a boot option.
- There are no stripped down Macs. They come standard with stuff that costs extra on most PCs.
- The Mac OS is stable, secure and easy to use, and the "pro" version doesn't cost extra.
- The highest customer satisfaction rating of any computer, year after year.
10.13.09 Apple Education Licensing Program
Apple has discontinued its Apple Maintenance Program, and replaced it with the new Apple Education Licensing Program. It looks like a good deal because Apple comes out with new versions of the OS and other products pretty frequently compared to Microsoft, for example, where a new version of Office comes out only every 4 years and the Windows OS is refreshed about every 3-4 years. That got me thinking...how often does Apple renew its core pieces; the Mac OS, iLife (which everyone uses) and iWork (which hardly anyone uses)? The following graph is the result of that research. Across all versions of OS X, Apple has refreshed the OS on average every 1.41 years. Of course, as the system has become more refined, the time between refreshes has slowed. iLife versions average 1.0 years, and iWork versions average 1.33 years.
9.30.09 What is the point of iWork?
Back in the late 1990s, Microsoft made some
threatening noises about dropping Office for the Mac. It sent a chill through the Mac community at a time when Apple was struggling to get back on its feet. Of course, Apple had ClarisWorks (later renamed AppleWorks) but that was seen as not professional enough, even though it was and still is a great program that meets most people's needs. In fact I would argue that AppleWorks which, sadly, you can
no longer buy, is superior to iWork because, in addition to competent Word Processor, Spreadsheet, and Presentation modules, it also
included good Draw, Paint, and Database modules. So Apple went off and developed Pages, Numbers and Keynote to replace Word, Excel and PowerPoint just in case the worst case scenario happened. The bundled package is known as
iWork. But sales of iWork must be dismal. I know this even though Apple doesn't talk about it, because almost nobody I know who uses a Mac uses any of these tools and I know lots of Mac users. But if MS Office wasn't free at work, would I buy iWork? Probably not. With
Open Office and
Google Docs as solid MS Office alternatives, I just don't see the need for a Mac only Office suite. Kill it off Steve. Put the money you save into usability enhancements for iTunes. It sure could use 'em.
9.23.09 So now Microsoft's got a tablet concept?!
Wow. That makes things interesting. Microsoft has leaked a
concept tablet that the folks over at Apple are probably studying pretty carefully. Usually, it's the other way around. A dual screen model that folds like a book is interesting, but I'm not sure how practical it is. The interface looks slick, but complicated. Will this thing ever see the light of day? Will it be the new
Origami? You know. Origami. When Microsoft changed the world back in February 2006? Oh, right. That never happened. Well, keep trying guys. One thing you can say about Microsoft. They're pluggers. And they do an amazing job when they've got something to copy. Cough.
Zune HD. Cough.
9.9.09 New iPods
New iPods arrived as expected today. The
Nano got some great upgrades. A built-in FM tuner, a pedometer, a speaker, a microphone and a video camera. Everything but the kitchen sink! Ok, but what happened with the
Touch? Kind of a disappointment there. According to Steve Jobs, who we're all happy to see back, there's
no camera in the iPod Touch because it's for gaming and their focus was on making the Touch more affordable. But if you compare the old prices with the new, you will see that the 8GB Touch (the one Apple calls "
updated") dropped only $30 in price and got no new features; it's essentially a discounted year old model. The $299 and $399 models got more capacity but those are the same price points as last year. So while the same money gets you more, they haven't really gotten more affordable.
Rumors suggest that there were hardware problems and the cameras got pulled at the last minute. The
teardown shows there's a hole where the camera could have gone. If that 8GB model was a 16GB with a camera for $199, I'd be ordering it right now. As it is, I think I'll wait and see if Apple releases an off-cycle update after the holidays. Or possibly a software update to enable a few hidden features? Apparently the wireless chip in the new iPod Touch is capable of FM transmission and reception and 802.11N wireless, but none are currently implemented. But as my lovely and very smart wife points out, this sleight to the Touch may have been done to sell more Nanos, which are starting to look increasingly clunky compared to the ultra-slick multi-touch devices. Indeed,
sales of click wheel iPods are in decline and probably won't recover. They can always add a camera to the Touch later, after everyone has bought a Nano. And they may need to. Apple will be facing some new, and much needed competiton soon from the
Palm Pre, the
Zune HD and maybe even some
Android phones like Motorola's
Droid. That's a good thing because it would drive down prices and add features in a market that Apple has dominated for too long. I recently read a review in Consumer Reports that compares the Touch to the Palm Pre and they came out about equal. As far as the review goes, they are correct. But that's clearly wrong. The iPhone platform just passed
100,000 apps. Palm's Pre has, maybe, a hundred. As Steven Levy of Wired argues convincingly,
the Apps make all the difference and that's why Apple is winning the Smartphone War.
| Old iPod Touch (2G) Price Points |
New iPod Touch (3G) Price Points |
Discount |
$229 |
8 GB |
$199 |
8 GB |
$30 |
$299 |
16 GB |
$299 |
32 GB |
$0 |
$399 |
32 GB |
$399 |
64 GB |
$0 |
8.13.09 More thoughts on the coming MacBook Touch
Brian Lam just wrote a new
article at Gizmodo about the unannounced Apple product everybody's waiting for. Based on no insider information at all, but just on probabilities as a long time Apple watcher, here's what I think:1) It has to be priced above $500 and the entry model at least will be priced below $1000, but closer to $1000 than $500 because Apple likes its profit margin and, at least initially, there is pent up demand for this product and people will pay it. Remember what the first iPhone cost? This does not preclude a tricked out version that costs more than $1000 2) It will be called the MacBook Touch, representing a hybrid between the venerable low end MacBook and the iPod Touch. On the day it is available for sale (or possibly the day it is announced), the low end white MacBook will drop out of the product grid. 3) If it was just a scaled up iPod Touch it would run the iPhone OS and would have been released already. But I think Apple is more likely to add multi-touch to Mac OS X, and this technology will later sweep across the whole product line. There are no iPhone apps for a 10" screen. There are lots of Mac apps for one. So the OS will be a hybrid too. 4) This thing is too expensive to be just an e-book reader, but it will do that too. OLED would make the screen readable in full sun, and the selling point will be "Why spend the money on a Kindle when this does so much more?" 5) It will not be a giant phone, because that would look dumb.
6.20.09 The soon to be announced "MacBook Touch"?
There are some great concepts out there on what Apple's rumored new iTablet will look like. I'm linking to some of the best ones. Let's examine some of them just for fun. Will it be a slate, a convertible, or a netbook? It's useful to consider some of the things Jobs has said because, sick or not, you know he's been all over the design of anything this important. Steve says they don't know how to make a $500 Netbook that isn't junk and he doesn't like the cramped keyboard. But he loves the iPhone and the iPod touch, which lack an actual keyboard, even if some would say typing on the virtual keypad is also somewhat cumbersome. If you figure that this theoretical device has Bluetooth and WiFi, it barely needs physical ports or attached peripherals and can still work with lots of external devices. Can't you see Steve boasting about the first computer with no ports at all? Not even a headphone jack. A completely sealed unit! Apple has been messing around with handwriting recognition for years (they call their version Inkwell) and has, for the MacBook Air, created a Remote Disk solution for sharing an optical drive over the network. The latest MacBook Pros now sport a tiny SDHC slot. And the iPhone's multi-touch is now quite refined. So some or all of these things could make their way into this new product. Your electric toothbrush has inductive charging, so why not this new device? Just set it in a cradle and it charges itself wirelessly with no exposed contacts. It will compete with the Kindle as a book reader, and it will compete with netbooks as a fully functional computer in an ultra-slim, lightweight package. But as I mention above, it won't be cheap. Apple doesn't do cheap. It will do more than the Kindle, with a color multi-touch screen, and will definitely be more than $500. It will be beefier than an iPod Touch, so it will likely have an Intel Atom processor, and maybe even 3G for connectivity even when out of range of WiFi. Remember that a 10" capacitive touchscreen does not come cheap, but Apple can buy in volume, just like they did with Flash RAM for the iPod. So $999 feels about right. And given that they've made room for it in the product grid, I'm expecting it to be announced very soon. Welcome back Steve!
More concepts: Fortune Mag | MacFormat | O'Grady | Popular Mechanics | Gizmodo
6.12.09 Apple refreshes laptops, creates giant hole in Product Grid
Apple has a brilliantly simple product grid. Three laptops and three desktops at low, intermediate and high performance and price points. But after the most recent refresh of the laptop line, the only remaining MacBook is the dated polycarbonate white model at $999. The sleek unibody 13" aluminum MacBooks got Firewire 800 (fantastic!) and illuminated keyboards (great!) but, oddly, Apple moved them over into the already crowded MacBook Pro category, which is now crammed with six base models over a $1000 price range. Steve doesn't believe in selling last year's computer at a discount and there is now a big gap in the MacBook part of the grid. What could Apple be up to? I think the old MacBook, which should really have been discontinued by now, is only there as a placeholder until something new at the same price point is ready. There have been lots of rumors about a 10" touchscreen device and Apple really needs an answer to the Netbook. Steve is due to return in late June after his medical leave of absence, but you know he's been working on something. I'm predicting that moving the 13" MacBooks into the low end of the MacBook Pro line was because something else needed the MacBook name. And this new product will be announced by Steve in a special event sometime in July or August. The new MacBook, reinvented, with multi-touch will come in at the low, low Apple price of $999. It will look like a scaled up iPod Touch. Could be a Kindle killer if they do it right. And you know Steve wouldn't do it at all if he couldn't do it right.
4.15.09 Netbooks and Hackintoshes
Time for a new project. According to a chart I recently discovered at Boing Boing, those braver than me have figured out which Netbook is most compatible with Mac OSX. And the winner is...Dell Mini 9. Then along comes Gizmodo and lays it all out for me. WIth just a bit of tinkering, I have a fully functional netbook running MacOS 10.5.7. The screen is a bit small and the keyboard a bit cramped, but the performance is far better than I expected. With an external mouse and keyboard, it works well as a second machine. We got the 32 GB SSD with 2 GB of RAM and the higher end camera for about $400.00 Pretty sure it will blow up when 10.6 comes out, but in the meantime, it's working great. Here's a new link for anyone trying to create a Hackintosh using the latest Snow Leopard 10.6 software.
6.18.09 Closer to wanting an iPhone, no closer to wanting to pay $80/month for a data plan.
The iPhone just keeps getting better. Now that GPS turn by turn stuff is maturing, they added video, copy/paste is delivered, and the speed has improved, I only have one reason left for not owning one. AT&T and their pricey data plan. Over the mandatory 2-year contract you end up spending over $2000 on the thing! Too rich for me. I'm glad to see that the Palm Pre looks like a hit and that Blackberry continues to do well. Apple can use some competition in this market. But good luck. The app store has 50,000 iPhone/iPod Touch programs and counting. Nobody else even comes close. This is Apple's greatest advantage beyond the phone itself. Like the iPod/iTunes synergy, others can produce a great phone but without the apps, it's not nearly as compelling. I love my tiny flash based 8GB iPod nano; especially the little radio add-on so I can listen to the BBC world service at 3:00 am after I get a bottle for Thomas the sleepless. "This is Owen Bennet Jones with the latest cricket scores." I'm an NPR junkie. So maybe an iPod Touch with Skype? After all, I'm rarely out of range of a WiFi network. If you have an iPod Touch 2nd gen (the one that has microphone integration), pick up an iPhone mic from the Apple store and install Skype for $0.02/minute long distance. If you find it works for you, buy a Skype number so you can receive calls as well. This summer, you can get a new Mac and they throw in an iPod Touch for free. And that means new Touch models in the Fall. Twice the storage for the same price. Buy now or buy later. You win either way.
3.29.2009 TCO: Total cost of ownership.
Everybody's got less disposable income these days. The economy is doing wonders for the sales of super cheap, low performance laptops known as netbooks. There's also a new series of attack ads that Microsoft is testing. In them, they make the argument that Macs are more expensive that PCs. It's the first attack in a while that has a shot at working, because it's based on a half truth. Macs are indeed more expensive than no-name brand bargain basement PCs. But when comparing Macs to reputable brand PCs such as those made by Dell and HP, which come with a "Pro" version of Windows and have comparable hardware specs, the purchase prices are actually remarkably similar. The difference is that there are no* low-budget no-name brand Macs. But this is also one of the key reasons that customer satisfaction with Macs is so much higher; the hardware is reliable and software is designed to work with it. But while the up front price of a Mac is higher, the total cost of ownership, spread across the lifetime of the computer, is actually much lower than that of a cheap PC. Read all about it. While there are a handful of hard core build-your-own-box types out there, most Windows PC owners don't know how to fix their computer so, when something goes wrong, they just buy a new one. They often do this far sooner than necessary. Macs go bad less often because they are less prone to viruses and the hardware is of generally high quality, so people run them into the ground only after years of faithful service. So if you really want to save money, go open source and put Ubuntu Linux and Open Office on your old PC. Why every school in America is not doing this is beyond me. Yes, if you want quality, get a Mac. But if you're tempted by that that bargain Windows PC at WalMart, just remember that when it gets sluggish or dies due to spyware, viruses and cheap components, you got what you paid for. And don't forget to factor the cost of downtime, buying another computer, and migrating your data to it in the not-too-distant future.
Mac Clones and Hackintoshes
There is some interesting stuff happening in the world of Mac. The iPhone has both been jailbroken, meaning that you can run apps not approved by Apple, and unlocked, meaning that you can use a carrier other than AT&T on it. Apple releases periodic software updates that can either inadvertantly or maliciously (depending on who you ask) "brick" your hacked phone so all of this is risky stuff. One might argue that if a few hackers do this, it's no big deal to Apple because they already sold them the phone and AT&T is the big loser. Since Apple moved its Macs to Intel processors, one has been able to run a full copy of Windows on a Mac using various methods. This is useful. But this also means that it is possible to run the MacOS on a generic PC clone with only a few alterations. Apple must really hate this, because hardware is their bread and butter, but again, the risk is still small because only the fairly technical can accomplish this task. But as tutorials on how to do this are starting to pop up all over the Internet, what will Apple do? And now there are a couple of PC vendors like Psystar and PearPC who are selling PCs with legally purchased copies of OS X on them. And even more interesting, they are suing Apple for monopoly practices, arguing that Apple is preserving an artificial hardware monopoly with their software. Apple freely admits that they produce great products explicitly because they control both the hardware and the software. Clones would, and did the last time Apple experimented with clones, both degrade that experience and undercut sales of Apple hardware rather than significantly grow the market share. Shouldn't Apple be allowed to be the exclusive seller of hardware that runs the Mac OS, given that Apple owns both pieces? I guess only the lawyers know for sure. Take the poll on the lower right...
Cinema Displays, Old and New
2.23.2009 It is worth reminding people that Apple has never had a problem abandoning old standards (even the proprietary ones they foisted upon us) and leaving their loyal fans twisting in the wind with a bunch of useless legacy hardware. Remember the floppy? SCSI? ADB? ADC? Firewire? Well they did it again. Say hello to Mini Display Port, the latest in a long line of new video adapters that may or may not catch on. Apple just came out with a brand new line of Cinema Displays after years without a major revision or much of a price drop. They finally added a built-in iSight camera, which is great, and a MagSafe power cable to charge your laptop if you should choose to use one as a dock. They dropped Firewire ports from the hub, and there's no matte option; only glossy finish, which should annoy the graphic design and photo purists as well as people with sticky fingered small children. But the oddest thing? They discontinued the old displays (except for the giant 30" model) while Apple's entire desktop line, including the lucrative Mac Pro which sells to Hollywood types and graphic designers with deep pockets, still has DVI and can't use these new displays. This makes no sense. Unless Apple is about to refresh the entire desktop line to include Display Port. So which Mac interests you most? Take the poll on the right...
*Update: March 3, 2009: Less than two weeks later, Apple introduces, without the usual fanfare, new Mac Mini, iMac and Mac Pro towers. So you still can't buy a new Cinema Display to use with your old Mac, but at least all the new Macs will work with the new Cinema Display.
Firewire: 1999-2008 RIP?
So long IEEE 1394 aka i.Link aka Firewire. It was good to know you. Apple really bungled this one, and it's a shame. Licensing greed during the early days led to naming confusion and a reduced rate of adoption among PC vendors, and failure of Apple to promote the technology in all of its machines led to a smaller market for the makers of Firewire peripherals. Except in the area of DV Cameras, Apple's emerging standard never quite made it to the mainstream and USB2 eventually became an "almost-as-good" alternative. Although there has been plenty of foreshadowing (James Wiebe wrote the "Evolution of FireWire" white paper in 2004 and reduxxed it in 2006), the removal of FireWire from the latest MacBooks is still a bit of a shock. Mac tech people rely on Target Disk Mode and the Migration Assistant, and Mac users depend heavily on external Firewire drives and DV Cameras. It appears we can use Ethernet for the Migration Assistant and since Apple made the MacBook hard disk much easier to grab, maybe this gizmo will be a decent substitute for Target Disk Mode. USB2 works to drive a DV Camera in Windows Movie Maker, so maybe iMovie will work via USB on some legacy cameras. Fearing this eventuality, I have been hedging my bets for several years by purchasing external hard drives from OWC with FireWire 400, 800 and USB2 connectors. Since the new MacBooks came out, Apple has been deleting posts on their discussion boards regarding the removal of FireWire from the MacBook, so they are certainly aware of customer concerns, and are apparently hoping they (the concerns, not the customers) will go away. But maybe Apple will recover from this temporary insanity and put FW back in Rev B. They did add FW800 in Rev B of the original Intel MacBook Pro, so there is precedence. But unless I miss my guess, the new MacBooks will sell well and Steve will be able to justify the decision. And who knows? Maybe eSATA or USB3 will fill the hole. Or is Firewire about to make a revival? The new Mac Mini has FW 800! That's promising.
Update: June, 2009: The Rev. B unibody MacBook gets Firewire 800. So the RIP is for FW400, but FW800 looks safe for a while. Big sigh of relief. That means target disk mode lives! But does Firewire have life beyond 800? Will FW1600 and 3200 ever see the light of day? Doubtful.
BootCamp, Parallels or VMWare?
The recent Intel based Macs use the same processors that power Windows PCs. If you need Windows on your Intel Mac, there are several ways to do it. Which one is best? Well, that depends. If you want convenience, the answer is VMWare. If you want performance, the answer is Boot Camp. If you want to waste your money, get Parallels. All three require a full version of Windows to install. I recommend Windows XP because even though Vista works as well on a Mac as it does on a PC, there is no compelling reason to upgrade, and the OS is more demanding. VMWare and Parallels are similar products except that VMWare works better and costs about half as much. Both allow you to run Windows alongside the MacOS and go back and forth between the two without a restart. Both also resize the Windows partition as needed, which is nice. But both are slower than BootCamp because you are running one OS on top of another. In contrast BootCamp, which is the hardest of the three to configure, requires that you create a separate Windows partition (FAT or NTFS) on your hard drive and that you reboot the machine when you want to run Windows. This means you cannot copy and paste across OSes. FAT has a maximum partition size of 32GB, but is readable/writeable from the Mac side, making file transfer from PC to Mac a bit easier. NTFS partitions can be larger but are only readable, not writeable, from the Mac side. Therefore, a handy trick is to use a FAT formatted Flash drive for file transfers. BootCamp works well with as little as 2 GB of RAM on Apple's wimpiest machines, the Mac Mini and MacBook AIr. The virtualization programs require more RAM and beefier processors for acceptable performance. BootCamp comes free with MacOS X 10.5 (Leopard). After you install Windows on your Boot Camp Mac, be sure to install the Mac drivers that come on the Leopard DVD to make all the custom Mac hardware work under Windows. A word of caution: Once you've got Windows on your Mac, you will need to pay more attention to security. Run Windows Update regularly and keep your anti-virus software up to date.
Update: A fourth option, called CrossOver, lets you run Windows applications in the Mac OS without a copy of Windows. This uses a technology called WINE, but I haven't tried it yet.
News flash: AAPL anounces amazing stuff. Stock price plummets.
What is the deal, people? Why is it that when Steve pulls a golden rabbit from his, um, hat, all people can say is "I wanted a platinum rabbit." Overall, my AAPL stock has been doing quite well, thank you very much. But right after a keynote, the stock drops precipitously. When Apple announces a big profit, the stock drops. Why? Because it wasn't enough. Man, it's gotta be tough to be Steve. No matter what he gives, the fanboys want more. There is just no satisfying the stratospheric expectations of a fanboy. Even Steve's trademark "Reality Distortion Field" can't do that. My advice? Sell on the rumor and buy on the announcement. And while AAPL is in the tank right now, buy all you can. Don't worry. Apple has lots of life beyond Steve, even though he has been, and I hope will continue to be for a long time to come, the iCEO. Happy B-day and get well Steve. Hey, we're all interim if you stop and think about it.
2.26.2009 Update: Apple just passed WalMart to become the #1 music seller in the world. Not digital music. Music. Period. And as usual in the tech industry, nobody saw that one coming. Beating WalMart at the volume game is quite a feat. Apple to the Music Industry: "All your payola are belong to us."
AppleTV? Sold! To the highest bidder. And good riddance.
Between the Hollywood writers' strike and Apple's battle with NBC over iTunes content, which ultimately ended in a loss for both sides, I finally decided my AppleTV was not doing it for me. Another factor was the much touted and much anticipated Take 2.0 software announced at MacWorld 2008 which, frankly, kinda sucked. So we put the AppleTV on e-Bay and sold it. Not missing it a bit. But here's the question I'm sure you're asking. What is your new media hub now that AppleTV is gone? Easy. It's an Intel Mac Mini. Sure it costs a bit more, but it does everything the AppleTV did and it's a real computer too. Which means I can still buy things from iTunes. Or I can go to Hulu and watch stuff for free. Or I can stream video from Netflix, which is working pretty well. While Boxee looked briefly promising as a means to extend the functionality the AppleTV, Hulu just pulled their stuff from Boxee so there goes that. I'd still like to see a new revision of the Mac Mini. It's the right computer for these tough economic times.
Update: 3.3.2009: New Mac Mini released on my birthday. Bought one. It rocks.
6.9.2008: MobileMe? Bite Me!
I saw a homeless guy walking down the sidewalk the other day. On the front of his t-shirt, in big bold letters, it said "Bite Me!" Hunh. I think not. Sorry, but that doesn't appeal. On virtually any level. "Bite me!" is an expression that I've never really gotten. At daycare, they will expel your kid if he bites. Maybe it was my sheltered Canadian upbringing or maybe it's just a lame expression. In fact, most of the marketing things that end in "-Me" don't work for, um, me. Like WindowsMe. That whole "me and my" thing that Microsoft started just bugs. It's like the boomer mantra or something. SocialSecurityMe! Humvee-Me! ViagraMe! Steve's a boomer too, you know. And he couldn't resist messing with .Mac and renaming it MobileMe. Ugh. Not that it was a great service mind you, with all the good free Web2.0 stuff that's available now, but it just wasn't quite bad enough to stop using. Until they changed the name, that is. That was the last straw. So I'll be Flickring and g-mailing and del.icio.us-ing and Facebooking and Twittering from now on. UnsubscribeMe.
