Yeah, what HE said
Filed under: Apple Bashing, Apple Fanboyism, Rampant Speculation, Steve Jobs, iPhone
Oh boy, things are really heating up for tomorrow’s big iPhone 4 “event”!
Apparently too cheap to buy a stamp and mail it, New York Senator Chuck Schumer today released an open letter to Steve Jobs (below) about his concern over the iPhone 4 and the discrepancies between what Apple is claiming is to blame for the reception issues, and what the rest of the world is claiming. Read more
Oh, this is going to be GOOD!
Filed under: Glitch, Rampant Speculation, Steve Jobs, iPhone
Apparently our invite got lost in the mail, so we had to make our best guess.
In keeping with Apple’s new pattern of publicly discussing iPhone 4 issues on Fridays, TUAW reports that Apple has announced an impromptu damage control session press conference for this Friday.
Apple is inviting select media representatives to a special press conference that will be held on Friday, July 16. The company provided no information about the conference other than to say it would focus on the iPhone 4.
Now, obviously this could go either way. On the one hand (as those of us experiencing iPhone 4 reception issues may hope) Apple could announce a hardware fix and a billion dollar recall. On the other, there’s the chance that Apple is simply going to announce they finally got a new shipment of orange bumper cases in, and they’re increasing the price from $30 to $40. Either way, it’s going to be a very interesting lesson in public relations, and I really hope they don’t throw poor Phil Schiller out to the wolves. Given how Steve’s been the one sending out all those infamous “don’t hold it that way” e-mails, he really better be the one headlining this event.
Prediction: Apple will begin giving away bumper cases with iPhone 4’s and issue $30 credit for early buyers in the next 2 weeks
Filed under: Apple Bashing, Cynicism, Steve Jobs, WTF, You Bet I'm Pissed, design, iPhone, stupid
When I first heard Gizmodo’s report that iPhone 4 cell reception was adversely affected by touching the stainless steel band that surrounds the iPhone 4 and serves as the antennae for the device, I was a bit skeptical. The fanboy in me wanted to think that since Gizmodo clearly has a bit of an ax to grind with Apple, they may be exaggerating the claims, or perhaps it was a problem affecting only a select number of handsets. Besides, everyone knows Apple would never sacrifice function over form, so they MUST have tested this design beforehand, right?
Well, one hour after getting my iPhone 4, and THREE dropped calls later (I am one of the rare iPhone customers for whom AT&T service has been rock solid), I began to worry. A quick test of my own revealed that Read more
Well, this explains a lot…
If you hate long, over-produced intros, you can start at 20 seconds in.
Thanks to faithful Macenstein reader Dave for the tip!
Steve Jobs is delusional
Filed under: Apple Bashing, Apple Fanboyism, Cynicism, History, Opinion, Rampant Speculation, Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs made a pretty bold claim when he responded to Bryan Webster’s eloquently written question abut the upcoming WWDC:
Wow. Them’s fightin’ words to be sure, and they certainly gave ME a chill when I first read them. I immediately had visions of a super-charged, video game playing Apple TV/DVR, fully open to developers, and an iPhone 4 with video chat and condom dispenser… Truly this WWDC is NOT going to disappoint!
But then I remembered something… history has an odd way of repeating itself. Let’s take a quick look at how the most faithful of faithful Mac addicts have reacted to the past couple WWDC announcements (via Mac Rumors).
Ouch. And we’re their biggest supporters! When you see how angry we Mac users get when Apple announces its latest technology, you wonder why Jobs and company even bother (of course a quick look at Apple’s stock price suggests some theories). And remember, all that anger is largely based on our own self-inflated expectations, based on rumors and wishful thinking. THIS year we actually have the man himself whipping us into a frothing, foaming frenzy of anticipation!
So, will this year’s WWDC disappoint? Yes. Yes it will. But, before you rush off to leave scathing comments on Mac Rumors this year, just remember, so did all the other WWDC’s, and yet ultimately you came to appreciate what Apple had accomplished, and odds are you’ve spoken with your wallets many times over. Do you own a MacBook? An iPod? An iPhone? An Apple TV? An iPad? As someone who owns (a couple of) all of the above, and who is usually underwhelmed by Apple’s keynotes, I can honestly say that an underwhelming Apple event is still 100 times better than the most exciting Microsoft event.
Of course, the only problem is Microsoft is no longer Apple’s competition – it’s Google, and they’ve got quite a lot of creative people over there. As Bryan said, Google is “taking the piss”. (Where the hell did THAT saying come from?) 2010 will be the first WWDC where Apple has really had to respond to the competition, so it should be pretty interesting.
And yes, my expectations are high, and yes, I am ready to be let down, and yes, I am ready to buy whatever Apple announces.
Steve jobs calls the kettle “black”
Filed under: Apple Bashing, Cynicism, History, Opinion, Steve Jobs, Theft, iPad, iPhone
“It’s just common sense not to use another company’s trademarks in your app name.”
Those are the words of Steve Jobs in response to an e-mail from app developer Chris Ostmo whose journalPad app was just forced to undergo an expensive re-branding or risk being pulled from the app store for including the word “Pad” in the title. The problem of course is (aside from the fact that Apple does not actually own a trademark on the word “Pad”) is Apple has done the EXACT SAME THING in the past. In fact, it only recently obtained the legal rights to use the term “iPhone” for its phone from Cisco, and the term “iPad” from Fujitsu. Both companies had products selling under those names at the time that Apple decided to put theirs out, yet they went ahead and used another company’s trademarks in their product name.
One could argue that Apple’s tactics are far worse than those of Ostmo, as no one would confuse his app with an actual iPad, where Apple was stealing other company’s hardware trademarks and slapping them on their hardware. One accidental internet order could make for a very unhappy (although presumably stupid) customer.
Still, as is the way of big business, the big fish eats the little fish, and Apple had the millions of dollars to buy the trademarks out from its fellow tech giants, where odds are Ostmo can’t buy “Pad” from Apple.
Even if it owned it.
Which it doesn’t.
[via 9to5]
Steve not returning your e-mails? Ask El Jobso!
With the recent flurry of short and sweet e-mail responses from everyone’s favorite Apple CEO, odds are Steve’s inbox is now flooded with inane questions of all sorts, thus severely limiting your chances of getting a reply. In fact, believe it or not, even my recent e-mail to Steve went unanswered. But luckily for all of us, there is now El Jobso, a virtual Steve that will answer all your questions instantly, and it’s about as verbose as the real deal. Here are some sample responses I received:
Can i get a free iPad? I don’t need a 3G one, WiFi is cool.
No.
Sent from my iPad.
Why should I buy an iPad?
Yes, I do hate Eric Schmidt.
Sent from my iSlate (checking out an old prototype).
Will the new iPhone OS be released alongside the iPad?
I’m on a horse.
Sent from Phil’s Blackberry.
Why don’t you buy a smaller shirt?
I’m sending Katie C. after you. You’ll regret you asked that.
Sent from Mars.
When is the NEXT iPad with coming out? The one with the Camera?
It sounds like you’re just looking for someone to get mad at other than yourself.
Steve.
Sent from my wife’s iPod touch.
Will I be able to use the iPad to manufacture weapons of mass destruction?
Good artists copy, great artists steal.
Sent from my iSlate (checking out an old prototype).
There’s a good reason why these answers are so dead-on. The site was created by Andrea Nepori, who famously received a REAL reply from Steve of “Yep” when asking if the current selection of eBooks would work on the iPad.
Steve Jobs cheese head probably tastes AMAZING, INCREDIBLE, and MAGICAL
Filed under: Apple Fanboyism, Awesomeness, Steve Jobs, That's Weird..., design
…Or gross. There IS a lot of pepper on that beard…
When Ken over at The Cook’s Den needed something special to spice up his iPad launch party, his thoughts naturally turned to carving Steve Jobs’ head out of cheese.
Above: Much like the iPad, Steve’s “Magically” delicious!
A self-described Apple fanboy, Ken has not only graciously posted instructions on how you too can carve your own Steve Jobs cheesehead, but he’s also detailed 3 different recipes that will surely make your guests’ heads go “BOOM!”
My only question is, isn’t it a little early to be making food for a launch party nearly 3 weeks away? What’’s the shelf life of a Steve Jobs cheese head? I know I’m not making my Strawberry Woz Pie until April 2nd.
Poll: What Should Steve Jobs name his Autobiography?
Filed under: Apple Fanboyism, Polls, Steve Jobs, contests
Well, we’ve gone through all your brilliant submissions for our What Should Steve Jobs name his Autobiography contest, and we’ve narrowed it down to what we feel are the 10 best choices. Now, normally our egos would demand that we pick the winning entry, but for once we’re actually going to pretend we care about what YOU think, and let YOU decide the winning name! So pick your favorite from the list below, and please be sure to make your choice carefully, as Steve Jobs is legally bound to go with the winning entry. (Poll closes Mach 21st).
Loading ...Enter our “What Will Steve Call His Book?” Sweepstakes!
Filed under: Apple Fanboyism, Awesomeness, Free Stuff, Steve Jobs, contests
This contest is closed. Congrats to faithful Macenstein reader Dr. Who who won with his entry of “One More Thing…”
With news that the notoriously private Steve Steve jobs has hired former managing editor of Time magazine Walter Isaacson to write his official autobiography, one can only wonder what Steve’s masterpiece will be titled. Will it be something cutesy, with an “i” in the front, like “iLife”, or “iAm So Rich”? Or something more obvious like “Why I’m so Awesome” or “I Will Eat Google’s Lunch”?
(Whatever it’s called, odds are the book will physically LOOK better than other CEO autobiographies and cost roughly 50% more.)
While one can never guess what Steve will do next, we’ve decided to let YOU try to help him out by coming up with the ultimate title for his book. Leave us a comment with your best ideas, funny or serious. We’ll pick our top 5 or 10 entries and put it them up for a reader poll. Enter as often as you’d like. 
Winner will receive a $50 iTunes gift certificate. The contest is open to everyone in the US (sorry, iTunes won’t let us buy gift certificates to non-US accounts), and runs until Friday (March 5th) at 11:59PM EST.
