And that kind of got me thinking. It seems around 2011 / 2012, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft all decided to copy as much as they could from the Apple playbook. Tablets, phones, music stores, even the pace and style of their public-facing keynotes. While this Apple-aping seemed like an insurmountable task at the time – and Microsoft hasn’t been all that successful – Google seems to finally have hit the point where they may stand a better chance at copying Apple’s strengths than the other way around.

Specifically, take a look at web services. For the first time, I’m not sure if Apple’s iCloud can compete with what Google is doing with Google Now and their various Google Apps. Siri and Apple Maps aren’t as good as Google Voice and Google Maps. And are we still using iWork ’09?

There’s no question Apple still has an upper hand in hardware design and the desktop-strength OS X. But moving into the “post PC era,” Google may not need a desktop OS – Android and Chrome may be sufficient.

I’m already feeling this shift, in that a Retina Display isn’t personally that big of a selling point, whereas services that work across all my devices is. It may not be as important to shave another millimeter off the iPhone thickness than the software.

And lastly, Google seems to have snatched the “visionary” crown. I am still wholly skeptical of Google Glass and the Google Self-Driving Car, but Google Fiber is something I wish Apple were doing.

So Apple’s WWDC 2013 is crucial. There’s already rumor of an iOS 7 UI overhaul. But now “iRadio” essentially has to appear. And I really hope there’s even more unity between OS X and iOS, and iCloud.

There’s still time for Apple to impress. But I don’t think the world is going to wait much longer… and Google certainly won’t.

= 5 stars

Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake
Directed by David Fincher

Synopsis

Antisocial, selfish college student Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) creates the social networking website Facebook.

The Good

• First scene establishes Zuckerberg as an anti-hero: a pretentious brain obsessed with social status, using technology to enact passive-aggressive revenge against an ex-girlfriend’s. I found myself admiring his smarts and determination while simultaneously disliking his emotional immaturity and questionable ethics, resulting in a compelling, layered character to base a film around.
• Andrew Garfield as the more socially mature, likable friend / business partner, Eduardo Saverin. His eventual fate becomes the film’s central, ethical dilemma. Also great is Justin Timberlake as early investor Sean Parker who tactfully wheedles his way between the two founders.
• Fincher’s omnipresent, oppressive yellow filter suggests corruption everywhere. Also oddly compelling is a race photographed with tilt-shift, making the ritual look outdated and inconsequential compared to Zuckerberg’s schemes on the other coast.
• Aaron Sorkin’s dense dialog speeds by like electrons over wire in scenes containing visually dull situations like people talking, or sitting with computers in in lawyer’s offices, that would become dull in the hands of other writers and directors. You share the illogical sense of urgency behind any new tech startup; to recognize and grab unrealized potential.
• Trent Reznor’s minimalist score suggests humanity and technology merging in uncomfortable ways.

The Bad

• Eisenberg’s performance fits the script’s depiction of an amoral uber-nerd, but hardly resembles the real-life Zuckerberg.

Conclusion

The relentless advance of technology and the companies behind it makes the phrase “the nerds will inherit the earth” a foregone conclusion, but The Social Network suggests the downside cost to society, as a soulless world where money and success is worth screwing over your friends. And so the creation of Facebook – whose purpose is supposed to keep us connected with our friends – ends up destroying Zuckerberg’s relationships, becomes a deliciously dark joke. Highly recommended.

Seems the easy way to solve this is to release an iPad version of Office. But until then, there’s a myriad of iPad apps for creating text documents, and you can always hook up an external keyboard. But more often than not, a physical keyboard for the iPad would be a hindrance.

I think Bill should be the one feeling frustration – that the iPad is such a success despite there not being any Microsoft software running on the thing…

I haven’t yet done the math on whether $50 a month will be worth it. It may very well be, what with access to all the apps, but every CS upgrade over the past few years has felt more difficult to justify and more something I did out of duty to remain current than any awesome new features. I also seem to use mostly Photoshop / Fireworks, and Illustrator / Dreamweaver much less these days, so for two or three apps, $50 frankly seems rather steep. The inertia of CS6 and not wanting to try something new may be too large to overcome this time around.

And killing Fireworks is pretty depressing; it’s always been web design focused, and has the best abilities of both Photoshop and Illustrator (bitmap and vector). Also have several scripts that I don’t really want to figure out how to recreate in Photoshop. It’s sad to see the former Macromedia products (Flash, Fireworks, Dreamweaver) fade away over time.

Time to embrace the inner Luddite … “if it ain’t broke…”…

Anyhow, it now seems 4K may be part of the reason why we haven’t seen an updated Apple Thunderbolt Display – they may be waiting for the Intel’s Thunderbolt update which supports the higher resolution, which isn’t due until 2014. It also may be the hold up behind an Apple TV proper. 4K televisions are starting to appear, but at likely prohibitive prices, even for Apple’s premium brand. And Apple’s current obsession with high resolution screens make 4K look like a worthy goal after the Retina Display.

But I have to take a step back and wonder if it’s all worth it.

I suppose it’s weariness of the whole upgrade cycle. Seems like the move to HD wasn’t that long ago. We just got a Blu-Ray player and I gotta say the difference between that and regular resolution is noticeable, but not that big a deal, personally. Of course, we “only” have a 40″ TV; maybe if we had one of these 70-80 inch deals it would make a difference. It’s also due to the type of content we watch. I don’t think HD adds much to a dialoge-y indie drama or some old classic. It might be nice to climb up George Clooney’s nostril in 4K but more likely it’d generate a headache.

And in a roundabout way, I wonder if 4K is something that’s worth waiting for in an Apple product. I do appreciate the Retina Display on the iPhone and want one on our future iPad, but I haven’t seen it as a good enough reason to trade in the MacBook Air for a Retina Display MacBook Pro. It also sounds like there’s been a fair number of hardware issues with the display.

Anyhow, I think this may be the end of the upgrade cycle for me. Once you hit the limits of human vision, the only direction one can go is bigger… which isn’t by default better.

Personally, while no fan of over-the-top skeuomorphism, the colored rectangles of Windows Metro and Windows 8 go too far in the other direction. Perhaps I’m a bit biased, but colored boxes seem like a step backwards when computer graphics have come so far.

My person preference is somewhere in the middle. The latest version of iTunes is about right. More white space, less BS, but just the hint of 3D indicating what’s active (the track listing of a selected album looks to be on a level below, and buttons look pressed-in). Just the barest suggestion of the brushed metal past, but it’s still there.

In other words, I trust Jonathan Ive to not go full retard.

All hyperbole aside, at its most basic Google Glass is a computer screen positioned “slightly above your line of sight and slightly to the right.” And it’s a few inches away. Now imagine switching your focus between the real world – several feet before you – and this tiny screen, repeatedly. Butcher observes: “A friend – who wears contact lenses – who tried out the Glass for a full 10 minutes complained of an hour-long headache afterwards from having to look up at the screen.”

The back-and-forth could be difficult for those of us with existing eye problems. I’ve long been nearsighted (have trouble seeing things far away), but I seem to be farsighted as well (things too close are blurry, too). It seems my optimum viewing distance for a screen is about a foot or so away. And the desktop monitor and iDevices (at arm’s length or in a lap) all seem to hit this distance.

Anyhow, Butcher also describes the negative social implications and concludes that Glass is too nerdy for the mainstream, which I agree with. But viewing the screen itself over a long period of time might be a bigger usability issue, which could doom Glass right out of the gate.

Guess I’ll have to wait to try one out in person.

Synopsis

Don and Megan vacation in Hawaii, Peggy adjusts to her new job outside of SCDP, Betty falls further out of touch.

The Good

• The sunny opening in Hawaii – even further west than California – provided nice contrast with the cold, east coast snow at episode’s end.
• Don meeting a much younger soldier with whom he somehow switches cigarette lighters. The younger soldier’s darkly prophetic words “what goes around, comes around.”
• Death, death, and more death: Don reading Dante’s Inferno, funerals, the doorman’s heart attack, Don’s sick, the client’s grim misreading of Don’s pitch. It could all refer to Vietnam, the passing of Lane Pryce, but also the inevitable passing of a entire generation – note the anachronistic funeral in the face of 1968.
• Subtle reminders of Don’s fabricated identity. Megan’s new acting career is appropriately similar, as she is recognized in public for the character she plays, not who she really is. And Don’s pitch of Hawaii as a “jumping off point” seems informed by his Korean experience, where he was essentially reborn.
• Nice to see Peggy in a different work environment out of Don’s shadow; hope she comes to represent a liberated woman on the rise, and introduces more of the youth / counter culture elements I’ve long wanted to see on the show.
• Sally drifting away from mom. It’ll be a treat to revisit earlier seasons and see how much she’s grown up over the years.

The Bad

• Slightly less unbearable Betty scenes than last season, but it’s just more of the same: she’s clueless, childish, and increasingly out of touch. Is it bad that I hoped those squatters would do something nasty to her, after her inane ribbing of Henry? And ugh, she dyed her hair.
• Disappointed that what with New Years, 1968, the whole Summer of Love thing has passed. At least the younger folks (specifically Abe and Stan) have sprouted period-appropriate hair.

Conclusion

Solid first episode, but not anywhere near as masterful as past premieres, and there’s a temptation to write off anything that didn’t make sense as foreshadowing. Hope the show takes Don’s line about “not doing this anymore” to heart – and some new doorways open in future episodes.

Personally, there’s really only one person I could see moving into that top role: Jonny Ive. Some of the Jobsian reality distortion must have rubbed off during all those lunches. And keep Cook on board as COO. Cook may be a humble enough guy to actually do this.

Ive could shine at those keynotes, selling some unfamiliar gadget. I don’t quite get sucked in by any of the current regulars; not even Schiller. It’s sometimes not until seeing Ive’s appearance in an associated product video that I feel the old magic.

But anyone else, and I fear more damage would be done than good. And bringing in someone outside the company would be the worst move ever. Those kinds of changes generally indicate a company that has completely lost its way.

Here’s the short list:

• USB to square-thingie (A to B): 5
• USB to small flat thingie (A to Mini-B): 3
• USB to extremely small flat thingie (A to Micro-B): 2
• One USB extension cable
• 2″ long USB adapter (no idea what this is for…)
• Coax cables: 3
• Firewire 400: 3
• Firewire 800: 3
• Firewire 400 to 800: can’t recall why I have this. Probably for some old Mac
• eSata: 3
• Ethernet (various lengths): 5
• HDMI: 1
• HDMI to DVI: 2
• DVI to DVI: 1
• Analog monitor cable: 2
• Optical audio: 2
• Power cables: 6
• Various audio cables: 5
• Various earphones: 7
• iDevice to analog out adapter: for the first iPad, pre AirPlay, now useless
• Really old universal power adapter
• Earphone that goes to a micro USB port? Probably from some old cellphone.

Reasons for keeping (hoarding) so many cables:

• May be useful at some point in the future. Like that one time the cable guy asked for an Ethernet cable to test the router, or for the future MAME cabinet that I’ll get around to, someday…
• Came with some device. LaCie is generous with their external drives, explaining all those never-used eSATAs.
• Anything Apple branded is particularly hard for me to get rid of.
• Stupidly expensive. In particular, a Monster HDMI cable, since replaced with equally-good, no names.

Anyhow, a future of all-wireless – or just HDMI and Thunderbolt – can’t come soon enough…

Still, there’s a point (maybe around $300?) where the stock looks “cheap” enough that I buy those shares again, at a nice discount. And yeah, I can see it falling lower, as Apple hasn’t announced anything new let alone minor recently, and particularly with earnings set to drop next week – my gut feeling is they will be a re-run of wildly-profitable-on-paper but not-enough-to-satisfy investors, who are increasingly looking for something amazing that more than likely isn’t technologically possible just yet. And so, the stock continues its slide.

I can definitely find humor in an unintentionally terrible movie, but something feels off when it’s bad on purpose, which is in turn, intended to be funny. The shorter word: lazy.

I look forward to the Amazon Kindle version, now…

I dunno, how do average people feel about techno-nerds wearing Google Glass outfitted with cameras, taking pictures and live video without anybody’s permission? Or Google Maps cars driving by their houses, taking pictures?

And for some strange reason, if Google themselves developed a flying drone, wired a live feed to someone’s Google Glass device, or said it was for mapping technology, Schmidt would some way to justify that privacy invasion as totally OK. Because, well, Google isn’t evil.

The Good

• Small and light enough to hold in one hand.
• Relatively easy to read, with a pretty high resolution eInk display plus backlight allowing for reading in the dark.
• Decent price, which you can reduce a bit more with the inclusion of ads, which aren’t too annoying, and only appear when the device is set aside and “off.
• Really long battery life, mostly due to the low power requirements of the eInk display.
• The Amazon Prime Lending Library: borrow one book a month for free. Although it’s a subset of available content, I’ve already found enough titles to last a few months.
• The device’s single focus (reading) might seem like a limitation compared to a multifunction device like the iPad, but it’s actually a feature in this case, as it cuts down on the distraction factor – when reading on the iPad, I often find myself pulled away to email or some other app just because I can. Not so on the Kindle, since, well, it’s pretty much only good for reading.

The Bad

• Extra features surrounding the reading experience aren’t so great. Shopping for new Kindle titles on the device itself is slow and laggy enough that I’d rather switch to another device to buy a title and return to the Kindle to download from the cloud. And the “experimental” web browser is named as such because, well, it sucks. Unless you have a need to see how the web felt in 1996.
• Laggy and sometimes unresponsive touch screen, especially compared to your favorite iDevice. Find myself pressing / swiping and wondering if I did something wrong, only to have the device respond a second or two later, just when I’m about to try something else.
• Still don’t like the occasional flash-to-negative effect, something inherent to the eInk display. It isn’t too distracting when engrossed in reading, but everywhere else, it’s annoying.
• Font choices and display leave something to be desired. Really want ragged right instead of justified text.

Conclusion

My personal litmus test for a decent electronic reading experience is how it performs in a specific situation – reading in bed before bedtime. The Kindle, with its light weight and back lit screen beats the iPad on both counts, particularly the latter. In a dark room, the iPad (and iPhone for that matter) always feels too bright even at the lowest brightness setting. And so the Kindle is the first device I can  really curl up in bed with – just like a traditional book.

Amazon deserves ample credit for getting ahead of the “digital everything” trend. Content (music, books, movies) wants to become digital and distributed over the Internet. And with Amazon traditionally selling the “dead tree” containers (CDs, paper books, DVDs), they must evolve or be left behind. And so the Kindle is the receiver of such content, versus an Android or iDevice. But Amazon sweetens the pot even further, with subscription-based Amazon Prime, and applying the same low-ball pricing strategy it has to physical merchandise to Kindle hardware – it’s a safe bet the cheapest Kindle will eventually be free with an Amazon Prime subscription, putting pressure on all other tablet makers not unlike Amazon’s pricing games have constrained traditional retailers like Best Buy.

Anyhow: Kindle, yeah, enjoying it so far.

• Pretty much hooked on Amazon Prime, which includes the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. Tons of reading material that I won’t have to purchase outright.
• Still waiting for the “perfect” iPad (either an iPad Mini with Retina Display or an iPad proper light enough to hold with one hand). Or an updated Thunderbolt Display. Anyhow, Apple hasn’t released anything intriguing lately.
• A really long time ago I worked at a startup that basically sold a Kindle precursor. You’ve probably never heard of SoftBook Press, because well, they failed. But the current success of the Kindle just indicates that the business idea was solid – the company was just ten years too early. 
• It’s around that “what the heck” price.
• When obsolete, it’ll make a nice weather vane.

So it’ll be fun to play with a product not Designed in Cupertino, in the near future.

It’s also a bet on the popularity of Facebook – I believe you’ll find a Facebook app on the vast majority of smartphones. Therefore, there’s little chance of Google trying to block Facebook home installs.

The only question remaining is what Apple will do to keep Facebook relevant on iOS. They’ve already touted Facebook integration in iOS 6 and OS X proper. It seems there will now be pressure for more.

And don’t get too used to Google’s version of Amazon Prime… ultimately, this me-too approach leads to a future date with spring cleaning (remember Google Reader).

Now it’s just a matter of time before always-a-bit-late Microsoft joins in. And throw Amazon in there, too. I’ve always longed to read Kindle books on my wrist-space a word at a time.

Meanwhile, expect some post-PC era hardware company (HP/Dell) to acquire Pebble…

Meaning, where once I would look first at a Sony television, surround sound, etc. now it’s Samsung all the way. My Mac(s) are hooked up to Samsung monitors, at least until Apple refreshes the Thunderbolt Display.

That last bit is a slightly worrisome situation. Rumors have Apple working on a smart watch. And so Samsung is making one. Plus they aren’t secretive about it, proudly saying “we’ve been preparing the watch product for so long.” And it feels a safe bet the watch will come out before Apple’s take.

That’s kind of an interesting position for Samsung to be in, basically making the stuff Apple doesn’t / hasn’t released yet. They may not be as perfect as Apple products, but they’ll work until we (possibly) get the Apple version.

And so I hand money over to Samsung for an Internet-enabled TV while waiting for the Apple TV proper, monitors while waiting for a Thunderbolt Display refresh… and possibly this watch, too… so long as it works with an iPhone.

I gotta admit though, been checking Google Reader way less recently. Still read a handful of blogs, but most likely links to their good stuff appears on Twitter/Facebook. Subscribing to one blog’s feed possibly creates more noise than signal, as not every single post is gold.

But the larger picture that this whole blogging thing has changed immensely since the days of Technorati and Google Reader. Perhaps a “blog” itself has become increasingly pointless, but that’s a subject for another post…

Addendum: Hitler has a few things to say about this…

= 5 stars

Starring Spike Lee, Danny Aiello, Rosie Perez
Directed by Spike Lee

Synopsis

Mookie (Spike Lee) delivers pizza on a very hot day where things go from bad to worse.

The Good

• Lee himself as Mookie, a pivotal character – he grew up in the black neighborhood but works at Sal’s, forming a bridge between the black and white points of view. He sees the pressure building but keeps a cool head, and does the crucial “right thing” of the title.
• The neighborhood politics are efficiently set up, showing the resentment of the locals to businesses like Sal’s and a Korean grocer. They don’t consider the business owners part of the neighborhood, yet they patronize the stores and willingly hand over their hard-earned money.
• Larger symbolic layer of love vs. hate, embodied by MLK and Malcom X, and how we’re all torn between these opposing forces. Sal swings between both extremes, alternately swing a bat and screaming obsenities and saying the kids grew up on his food. His son xxx is fueled by hate while the other is forgiving and kind. Radio Raheem wears “love” on one hand and “hate” on the other. And there is a deejay constantly broadcasting “love” over the neighborhood – unfortunately he’s wholly ignored and eventually drowned out by a giant boom box blasting Public Enemy.
• Freezes in celluloid the Rodney King riots and police brutality.
• Lee’s direction effectively recreates a sweltering temperature with blown out colors, but tension is also added with amusing camera angles, characters addressing the camera directly, and Scorsese-like tricks. The camera tilts to one side whenever people get pissed off, reflecting a tilted world view in the absence of rational thought.

The Bad

• Characters lean to the stereotyped, caricatured side of things, which the Hispanic and Korean characters are unable to rise above.
• First half proves a bit tedious on repeat viewing – the romantic fiddling between Mookie / Tina and The Mayor / Mother Sister drags things down.

Conclusion

Notable for its incendiary, thought provoking stance – every character has both good and bad sides, and there is no clear solution to many of the conflicts. I see Mookie’s decision as a cunning diversion – after the death of Radio Raheem, the mob is set to kill Sal, and a trash can spurs the mob to take their frustrations out on a building, not a man – human life is worth more than a pizzeria. But to outsider’s eyes who values property and capitalism above all, or who have never experienced discrimination or repression, the entire concept of “trashing your own neighborhood” seems alien. And for its fearlessness in the face of danger, I gotta give it five stars.

Which reminds me of the 20th Anniversary Mac Apple released back in 1997. It was pretty futuristic at the time, sporting an LCD display, trackpad, and Bose speakers. It cost nearly $8K.

I’d love to see Apple do something similar today. Maybe another attempt at the artsy G4 Cube with the title “Steve Jobs Special Edition Mac” …

His (TLDR) reasons seem to be better features, larger screen, interoperability between apps, and customization.

Meanwhile, Samsung’s Galaxy S4 is supposed to drop on March 14. Normally, I wouldn’t give a crap, but now I’m at least curious…

Personally, it’s understandable. Basically Apple absolutely has to release a new, innovative product this year. It’s all about building the best products. Doing so would do a lot to prove they still have what it takes post-Jobs. Instead what we get is the the same line about having great stuff in the works, everything is fine, we’re looking at new stuff. Yeah, that’s what was said last year, and pretty much everything in 2012 was iterative. Meanwhile, the iPhone is no longer clearly a generation ahead of Android, and the competitors are catching up.

Maybe I’m starting to wonder about Cook himself. Yes, he’s a stellar operations guy but maybe he’s just too nice – lacking that “dick factor.” Like take Sergey Brin’s recent snark while hyping Google Glass – that smartphones are “emasculating.” You may disagree, but note that Steve Jobs was never one to hold back the insults.

Now I am not personally suggesting Cook should be replaced as CEO, but I can guarantee that if Apple stock continues its slide, others will not hesitate to do so.

Anyhow… it’s time for some new Apple products. Everything else will fall into place if we get something bold and new. And ideally makes other people’s products look like crap.

Price? $1,299. Uh…. okay. Back to hoping for a Thunderbolt Display refresh…

It runs Chrome OS. I really don’t know why anyone with half a brain wouldn’t just get a MacBook Air / Pro and run Chrome, the browser, on it. Or get a Retina Display iPad and try using nothing but Safari.

Sounds cool for so many reasons. Transforming hardware (curved, flat, wrapped) makes for a great launch similar to the iPad Smart Cover, swiveling iMac screen or the toilet-seat iBook handle. But unlike the latter’s near-uselessness, a wrist-wrapping display could actually be more efficient than current watches to put on / remove.

The changing screen orientation could be practical, too. You wouldn’t have to hold your arm a certain way like a traditional watch. I’d like to consult the inside of my wrist (easier, try it) rather than the traditional top-of-the-hand position.

The power sounds intriguing with mention of solar and kinetic energy.

And I have a lot of faith that with Apple’s minimalist design sense, it would both look futuristic yet something people would actually want to wear. As opposed to the Google Glass project which seems a bit too nerdy for comfort.

So yeah. iWatch. Bring it on. I can actually forgive Apple for not releasing an Apple TV Proper this year if iWatch comes to pass…

Recently ran into several sporting square holes which I now believe are “decking” screws. But they were used all over the basement to hang up shelves and even a few phone jacks.

I can understand different types of screws needed for different materials, but this whole screw head thing is frankly nutty.

I’ll never complain about USB / Firewire / Thunderbolt again…