7 things Apple can do to REALLY clean up the App Store
Filed under: Opinion, You Bet I'm Pissed, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, iTunes
When Apple decided to make its somewhat arbitrary iTunes “porn” (and I use the term loosely) purge last month, one of the made up reasons it gave for justifying the move was that developers and customers were finding it hard to find quality apps amidst all the “adult” material. Well as we saw, removing those 5,000 apps (or less than 3% of all apps) did more or less nothing to fix the issue.
While we certainly do not wish to see ANY developers’ livelihood taken away from them (adult themed or otherwise) we have come up with a list of apps that are causing far more damage to the iTunes store than the adult apps ever did. So if Apple actually IS serious about cleaning up the app store and helping developers get noticed, here’s 7 sure fire ways they could do just that. Read more
Stop the madness! Please sign the “iPad is NOT Magical” petition
Apple Inc. has long been known to overuse favorable adjectives when describing its products, and while we as Apple fans have perhaps grown immune to words such as “revolutionary” and “amazing”, Apple’s insistence in using the word “Magical” to describe its new iPad is just unacceptable.
Even in today’s press release announcing the ship date would be delayed by a week, Apple insisted on using the term multiple times, as if something truly Magical would be susceptible to mortal production and shipping issues:
“Apple® today announced that its magical and revolutionary iPad will be available in the US on Saturday, April 3″, states the release. Steve Jobs goes on to say “We’re excited for customers to get their hands on this magical and revolutionary product and connect with their apps and content in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before,” when in fact the way the iPad allows us to “connect with their apps and content” is identical to the way we have already done for 3 years on our iPhones and iPod touches, albeit on a larger screen.
Using the term “magical” cheapens the iPad and makes Apple, a TECHNOLOGY company, rooted in science, look like a foolish snake oil salesman.
So please sign this petition to have Apple drop the term “magical” from its iPad marketing speak, lest your family be cursed for 1,000 years by the gypsies of good taste.
-Dr. Macenstein
Macenstein.com
Rumor roundup: iPad to ship March 43rd, HDMI coming to some Macs, Netflix coming to iPad/iPhone
I don’t normally comment on rumors, but I really can’t find anything else to wrtie about at the moment, so here’s my 2¢ on a couple of the latest rumors swirling around the interwebs.
iPad to ship March 43rd
Yes, the rumor mill is now predicting Apple will perhaps miss its March shipping deadline by a couple weeks. Apple has had more than a couple delays in shipping products in the past, and usually for big ones it pre-announces months in advance, so this would not be surprising. However I tend to agree with those who think the iPad will indeed begin “technically” shipping in March, with a very limited supply – although I would not rule out a scenario where Apple begins accepting online pre-orders in late March, for an April 8th delivery, just so that it FEELS Like they made their March deadline.
On a side note, how cool would it be if Apple stopped pre-announcing all their stuff 4 months before it shipped, and just one day you woke up, checked Apple.com, and saw there was something called an iPad, and it was available?
HDMI coming to some Macs
This rumor seems to particularly be attached to the Mac mini, and I can understand why it might be, as the Mac mini is really not good for anything other than being what the Apple TV SHOULD be, so it would make sense. But Apple only fairly recently began trying to force the mini dsiplay port down the world’s throat, and I think they still have about 2 years before they admit defeat. I would not entirely rule out that a new Mac mini ships with BOTH a mini display port and HDMI, but Apple seems to like its customers to buy adpaters, so I am not holding my breath on this one.
The upside to this rumor though, if true, might imply that the Apple TV would die, and the Mac mini would get a blu-ray drive, thus finally becoming something you can hook to your TV and replace a couple other gadgets. That is, assuming Apple either allows (or doesn’t purposely block) Netflix streaming from running.
Netflix streaming coming to iPad/iPhone
Speaking of Netflix, there is now a rumor of Netflix streaming coming to the iPhone/iPad, based on a new survey Netflix has sent out to gauge interest in such a thing. Even if you don’t have Netflix, an iPod touch, iPhone, or iPad, if you have a shred of decency, I implore you to take the survey and tell them YES WE WANT NETFLIX, if for no other reason than you know some lame tablet from HP or Toshiba or something is going to offer it and make us look bad. Plus I loves me my Mystery Science Theater re-runs on demand. A similar survey came out a few months back about PS3 Netflix demand, and we all know what happened there.
Why does it seem that only old people win stuff?
Filed under: Cynicism, Opinion, Slow News Day, You Bet I'm Pissed
When it was announced yesterday that the winner of the iTunes 10 billionth song giveaway was 71 year-old Louie Sulcer, I was torn. On the one hand, I was happy for Louie – he seems like a nice fellow, easy going, and into Johnny Cash apparently. But on the other hand, I HATE Louie with a passion. Why? Because he’s OLD, that’s why.
Now granted, Louie appears to be more with it than your average 71 year-old in that he not only owns an iPod but actually knows how to purchase songs for it via the iTunes store. But let’s face it, odds are even if Louie bought two songs a day for the rest of his life (we’ll estimate he’s got about 13 years left, given his age and weight) he STILL won’t be able to go through that $10,000 in iTunes points.
The same thing goes for the big multi-state lotteries. I can’t remember the last PowerBall or Mega Millions that wasn’t won by someone over 65.
I’m not bitter about Louie’s win (although I AM bitter about losing all the Mega Millions drawings). I didn’t try buying an iTunes song Wednesday even though all the Mac sites predicted the winning song was going to be bought that day. “You have to be in it to win it” as they say, and I have long since switched to buying songs on the cheaper Amazon store. But something about seeing a 71 year-old win anything technological just pisses me off. I feel like he won a Slingbox, 50 feet of Cat5 cable, a Roomba, and an Xbox 360 Modern Warfare 2 Limited Edition Console.
I know I’m insensitive, but it just feels wrong. Am I crazy?
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