Real Kato Blog: Apple Watch: News and Rumors

Court case; new laptop rumors; new ads.

Apple Computer won its court case against Apple Records, the record company of The Beatles. The Beatles had alleged that Apple Computer infringed on its trademark by using the Apple logo in connection with music sales (a la iTunes). Apple Computer countered that the settlement reached by the two companies in 1991 (as the result of a very similar lawsuit) allowed it to use the Apple logo in connection with a "data transmission service", and that no one was mistaking Apple Computer for Apple Records. The judge, an admitted iPod user, agreed with Apple Computer.

You know, I love The Beatles, but they've got to get out of the Apple lawsuit business. It's just not helping anyone. What, if Apple Records win this lawsuit, are they gonna sell more records? Is it gonna bring John Lennon back to life?

Here's what would help: if The Beatles sold their music on iTunes. The popular conspiracy theory going around says that this lawsuit was just a bargaining chip in that process... that if the Beatles had won, you'd see their songs going for a higher price on iTunes than other music. Now that Apple Computer has won, maybe we can expect to see the Beatles catalog online for 99 cents per song, just like every other song. And hey, Paul, George, and Ringo: that wouldn't diminish the value of your music in the least.

MacBook, iBook, or nothing? Rumors have been swirling that Apple will be introducing a new, smaller, Intel-based laptop tomorrow, to replace the iBook and/or the 12" PowerBook. But today, many rumor sites backtracked, saying that new information points to a release date later in the month.

I've got my credit card ready, Apple, so just let me know.

Apple's new TV advertisements are getting a lot of airplay. The ads show an uncool suit-wearing business guy (representing a PC) next to a slightly grungy young hipster (representing a Mac), having conversations about viruses, networking, and so on. (For those of you trying to figure it out, the guy who represents the Mac in those ads is Justin Long, who was in "Jeepers Creepers" and "Dodgeball".)

The reaction to the ads seems mostly positive: Mac fans like the fact that Apple is finally making direct comparisons between Macs and PCs. PC users like the fact that Apple isn't telling people to switch away from the PC any more, but rather showing how Macs can peacefully coexist with all their PC stuff. And everyone seems to appreciate the humor.

On the negative side, some people find the ads a little too low-key, and of course there are those claiming Apple is being misleading about its innate virus resistance. Among the chief critics: McAfee, one of the leading makers of... anti-virus software. Gee, imagine that.

I actually have a great advertisement I could make from my friend Jen's LiveJournal entry yesterday: "I can't figure out how to get the video from my video camera onto DVD. So frustrating that all of the software available to do that just SUCKS. Most of it doesn't work for some reason or another, including crashing or blue screening. Why is it so hard?"

Isn't the answer obvious?

Permalink 8 Comment

Posted by Ken in: techwatch

Comments

Comment #1 from olafandyjon (Guest)
2006 May 8 - 8:56 pm : #

I LOVE iMovie and iDVD!!!! I just need faster processors to compress my movie files quicker.

Oh, and the Beatles winning the suit wouldn't George back either. :(

Comment #2 from John C (Guest)
2006 May 8 - 10:58 pm : #

Yeah seriously... plus as Jen is a hardcore UNIX-head, doesn't she realize that she can do everything she wants fro ma command prompt? Seriously.. Jen needs a mac in the worst way.

Comment #3 from Jen (Guest)
2006 May 9 - 7:17 am : #

I will never switch back to Mac. I'm too in love with my Thinkpads. Macs are a little too fluffy for me, these days. All rounded and light colored. What's wrong with a sharp-cornered black box? That's technology! Mmm... Thinkpad.

Turns out that my video problem was that I was using a USB cable instead of Firewire. Who knew? Firewire is working great.

Macs are fun and all, but I don't see any reason to switch back. It would take time that I don't have and money I don't care to spend for little benefit, if any. Also, then we'd be a PC-Mac household, because my husband will never switch, and that would suck. We don't want to be maintaining more than one type of OS. All the good Mac software becomes available for the PC reasonably quickly, anyway, if that's what you want.

Besides, I am an old geek. Not a young hipster.

Comment #4 from minty (Guest)
2006 May 10 - 11:51 am : #

The guy playing the PC in these ads is John Hodgman, who may look "uncool" but is really a hipster in disguise, and I bet he uses a Mac too. His book (The Areas of My Expertise) is great, and he's recently become the "Resident Expert" on The Daily Show. He has better glasses in real life.

Comment #5 from Crouching Hamster (Guest)
2006 May 10 - 9:49 pm : #

Fluffy??!!!

(My thrifty Republican brother who lives in Hicksville, WI recently bought a Mac. It is his first home computer. And he loves it.)

Comment #6 from Jenn (Guest)
2006 May 12 - 10:36 am : #

For some reason, I can't stand the new Apple ads, I will dive for the remote to mute the tv or change the channel when it comes on. I think it's that I really hate the Mac vs. PC debate, I've always found it tiresome. I use both. I like both. Everybody be quiet now.

Comment #7 from Jen (Guest)
2006 May 12 - 7:01 pm : #

Perfect response, Jenn! I also cannot stand the debate! I could use both, I just prefer the look and feel of my Thinkpad. I also prefer it over Dell, Sony, Alienware, etc. They all do the same things (unless you are a specialized user, which I am not), so I just buy the smallest one that feels good to me. That happens to be a PC - a Thinkpad.

Don't get me started on vi vs emacs, though.

Comment #8 from Jen (Guest)
2006 May 12 - 9:27 pm : #

You know what bothers me, though? That IBM-compatible personal computers are called "PCs". I mean, Macs are PCs, too, aren't they?

Also, do you remember the elementary school joke: "What kind of computer do you have?" "IBM." "Ha ha ha! He BMs! Hee hee hee!" I think it shows that we Ann Arborites were pretty technologically advanced, actually... those were the late 70s/early 80s, after all... not many people had a computer at home so the joke didn't work that often. Not that that was a bad thing.

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