technology

app store / mac / technology — 11 Comments
21
Jul 11

Cuddling up with Lion

Pounding Apple for its perceived sins has become quite a sport. Antennagate, Final Cut Pro X, pick your favorite lapse.

But even with so many critics looking for another chance to pounce, Mac OS X Lion is getting a very warm reception — which is a pretty good indicator of what a solid product it is.

To prove just how misplaced my priorities can be, I completely ignored the work on my desk yesterday so I could download Lion and give it a good workout. I’ll share some reactions, trying not to duplicate the things you’re reading elsewhere:

The name. Since Apple unveiled Lion, some had pointed out that “Mac” was quietly being dropped from the name. It was simply going to be OS X Lion. Well … the big headline on the Mac App Store does in fact say OS X Lion. Likewise for all the Lion pages at apple.com. Ordinarily, I’d say that settles it — except for the fact that the installer greets you with a big, honkin’ Mac OS X Lion. And, post-installation, About This Mac does report that I am running Mac OS X. We must await clarification on this critical issue.

The come-on. The words below OS X Lion on the Mac App Store are: The world’s most advanced desktop operating system advances even further. Hmm. Am I having a deja vu?

The video. Following tradition, Apple delivers their tried-and-true product video on the Lion web page. Human highlights: Phil Schiller is clearly resisting those carbs. He’s looking good. Craig Federighi, who replaced former Apple software chief Bertrand Serlet, gets a starring role. In this formal scripted format, he’s not nearly as engaging as he is in an onstage demo. Loosen up, guys.

My life is upside down. For the most part, Lion is easy to pick up. It feels natural and fluid — except for the scrolling thing. Logically, Apple is correct — you should push upward to move the page up, and pull down to move the page down. It’s just that we’ve been working the other way for 20 years and that’s a tough habit to break. Not an issue though, because you can change the preference if you wish.

The incredible shrinking scroll bars. I get that we’re supposed to think less about scroll bars and more about gestures. Unfortunately, there are times when it’s a lot quicker to use a scroll bar, like when you want to quickly get to the bottom of a 200-page document and your app doesn’t support the Home and End keys. Lion’s scroll bars are microscopic, so you’ll have to aim carefully. Even worse, they don’t even become visible when you hover over them — you need to start scrolling via gesture before they show up. If I wanted to scroll via gesture, I wouldn’t be looking for a scroll bar.

The star field, MIA. With the introduction of Leopard, Apple fell in love with the now-overly-familiar star field image. It was the background for the log-in screen (unchangeable), the default desktop image, the Time Machine background, and a big part of the marketing imagery. Personally, I got sick of it after a few weeks. Plus, I never quite got the relationship between a leopard and a star field. But no matter, it’s finally gone now. Kind of. You’ll still see it on the Lion page at apple.com, and it lives on with Time Machine. But at least the log-in screen background has been upgraded. Now it’s a beautiful gray textured fabric, the same as the one that appears as background in Final Cut Pro X. Now if we can only talk someone into updating Time Machine…

The cuteness of iCal & Address Book. You can use many words to describe the design sense of OS X: Classy … elegant … timeless. Not “cutesy.” And certainly not “retro.” Personally, I’m puzzled by the new (or is that old) look of iCal and Address Book. They stick out like sore thumbs in an otherwise sleek and modern interface. If this is the way computing should be, why doesn’t the dictionary look like a frayed old Merriam-Webster? Why doesn’t iPhoto look like the old family scrapbook? My personal preference, likely shared by many, is a minimalist layout that presents the information clearly without visual distractions. May the gods deliver new skins soon.

Launcher. In the past, I’ve used an app-launching utility that works great for me, so I didn’t give a hoot about Launcher. Now that I’ve played with it, I’ve changed my mind. I’ll go with the flow on this one.

Mail. Better. Much better. Thanks. The addition of the configurable “folder bar” up top is a major boon.

The bigger the better — sometimes. I’m a big fan of full-screen apps, so I do love this feature, though it will be a while before non-Apple apps incorporate it. Only caveat: those with a bigger screen will want to use full-screen judiciously. Email isn’t so hot when every line of text is 15 inches wide. (Needless to say, full-screen is a huge winner on an 11-inch Air.)

Magic TrackPad, please. I’ve been fairly gesture-resistant so far, but Lion is putting me over the edge. I like the idea of gestures and the Magic Mouse offers too tiny a surface to gesture comfortably. I smell a visit to the Apple Store later today. Credit card on standby.

Overall conclusion. Apple made it clear that Mac OS X was going to be inheriting a lot of iOS goodness. In light of the Final Cut Pro X episode, that made me a little nervous. But with Lion, Apple is doing what it does best — pushing us in directions that may take some getting used to, but do represent a step forward. It can use a little tweaking and philosophical focusing, but it works beautifully. For 30 bucks, it’s a no-brainer.

 

advertising / observatory / technology — 3 Comments
19
Jul 11

Sites behaving badly

Way back at the beginning, when Al Gore invented the Internet, the rules were set:

Those who do the browsing should be able to choose what they see and hear. They should not have to worry about being grabbed by the collar and forced to see or hear anything they didn’t ask for.

Call it ”respect for the customer.” Or just common courtesy.

Unfortunately, there’s a growing trend that’s making common courtesy much less common.

Maybe it’s just me — or my aberrant browsing habits — but in recent weeks I’ve bumped into more and more sites that violate the Prime Directive.

Suddenly, out of the blue, an ad or video begins to auto-play. If it comes after I’ve been listening to music and my volume is turned way up, it can shock me out of my skin.

I must then hunt down the offending video amongst my many browser windows and tabs to turn it the hell off. Oftentimes it’s easier (though far more annoying) to just quit my browser and start all over again.

Sometimes, if I can locate the auto-playing video, I find it’s started with an ad that doesn’t even offer an option to pause until it’s finished playing. At that point, I’ll just exit the page altogether to rid myself of it — which I’m sure is the opposite of the site’s intention.

A variant of the auto-play intrusion is the “mouse rollover” approach. I was recently reading an article on Macworld.com while going back and forth with something I was writing in another window. A rollover ad in the path of my mouse would pop up into a large window and auto-play every time I glided over it. Due to a mouse hand that instinctively follows a straight path, I accidentally popped this little bugger open more than a dozen times in the course of just a few minutes.

Yes, at one time, sites used to be protective of our privacy. It was up to us to hit the Enable Sound or Play Video buttons. When those decisions are taken away from us, it’s unsettling.

Every site has its own rules re: what advertisers are allowed to do to attract attention. And of course they control their own auto-playing content. The reason for bending the rules, of course, is the never-ending quest for more attention.

Hopefully site owners will think more about the pollution they’re causing. Badly behaved videos and ads do not endear them to the customers they wish to attract.

Call me idealistic, but I suspect that most people look forward to visiting their favorite websites — not doing battle with them.

advertising / creative / iPhone / observatory / technology / windows phone 7 — 8 Comments
28
Jun 11

Jony Ive’s long-lost brother

Meet Marko Ahtisaari, fraternal twin of Jony Ive.

Interestingly, though Marko and Jony were separated at birth, Marko ended up working in the same line of business. He’s Senior VP of Design at Nokia, responsible for that company’s new N9 smartphone. DNA is a powerful thing.

But it gets even more interesting.

It turns out that everyone in Apple’s creative department has a twin sibling — and they all work at Nokia. That would include the launch video writer, the director and the entire video production crew…

It is absolutely true that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. In the world of global commerce, however, it’s also a big, lazy ripoff.

It’s just not possible to create a video so uncannily similar to Apple’s unless you set out with the specific goal of duplicating their work. (With the obvious motive of trying to duplicate their success.)

We should keep in mind that this is the sad work of Nokia’s marketing department, not their engineering department. However, the guys who designed and built the N9 aren’t off the hook yet.

It was last April when Nokia announced their new partnership with Microsoft, which was to result in Windows Phone 7 replacing their Symbian and MeeGo OSes. Yet the N9 is a major new phone from Nokia — still running MeeGo.

A high-stakes double-cross? Playing both sides of the street? Or just a ploy to thoroughly confuse the investment community?

Whatever, all of the above shows that Nokia is one company who has much to learn about sending a simple message. Or an original one.

[Thanks, cbee, for the tip.]

apple / apple news / observatory / strategy / technology — 47 Comments
24
Jun 11

Final Cut Pro X: the natives get restless

Well, well. This is something you don’t see every day: an open revolt by some of Apple’s most loyal customers.

It’s not that Final Cut Pro X is a bad product. Quite the opposite. It’s actually a tremendously cool and bold product. (I’ve been playing with it for two days now.) The problem is, for those who make a living with Final Cut Pro, it’s disturbingly incomplete.

To best appreciate the depth of frustration out there, you need to understand FCP’s history. Released by Apple in 1999, FCP had to do battle with the far more popular editing software from Avid and Adobe. Over the years, it grew more and more sophisticated, ultimately turning into Final Cut Studio — a full suite of high-end apps for video, sound, titling/effects, DVD authoring, color correction and compression.

Starting with nothing, FCP became the darling of Hollywood and the first choice among pro editors and video hobbyists. An amazing success.

But FCP was seriously due for an upgrade. So when Apple let loose that an all-new 64-bit version of FCP was coming, there was joy across the land.

It was a joy that came to an abrupt halt this week when Final Cut Pro X was released.

FCPX is indeed 64-bit, but it arrived missing features that many pros simply cannot live without. And Apple knows that.

For example, FCPX doesn’t support multiple cameras — which are a standard setup in many productions. It can’t open projects from previous FCP versions. It doesn’t support XML. (See what a big deal Apple made about XML in its own announcement two years ago.)

Apple said it was killing off a bunch of Final Cut Studio apps — Soundtrack Pro, Color and DVD Studio Pro — because their functions were now built into FCPX. However, FCPX offers up only streamlined versions of these apps.

Unfortunately, the list goes on. Creative Cow provides a thorough picture of what’s missing here.

The criticism that FCPX is really “iMovie Pro” is not far from the mark. For people like me, a high-end consumer app is a fabulous thing. For professional editors, broadcast news organizations and production companies, it’s a sad and disorienting thing.

This whole affair seems very out of character for Apple. Why would they create a product that is so forward-looking and revolutionary (it is), but do it in a manner that will provoke such a predictable backlash?

Some point out the obvious, that this is a “typical” Apple launch. The 1.0 version has a limited feature set, but provides a solid foundation for more advanced versions to come. That’s how it worked with iPod, iPhone and iPad.

Unfortunately, that argument has a big, gaping flaw. Apple did not introduce any of the i-things to a large existing customer base that relied on those products to earn a living. The FCPX intro is so illogical, I have to suspect there’s a deeper truth hiding in there.

As we know, Apple does not have infinite software resources. Mac OS X Lion and iOS5 have clearly been the main focus. With an update to FCP being way overdue, chances are that Apple simply set a goal for this product that became too difficult to reach.

Apple did not make a mistake in creating FCPX. They made a mistake presenting it as a high-end pro solution.

Imagine if they had unveiled FCPX as the new Final Cut Express instead. Buyers of that product would have been absolutely delighted by the many leaps forward in power and simplicity, and the missing features would have been insignificant to them. A new Final Cut Express would also have given pro editors a tantalizing preview of a new FCPX to come.

I only get disappointed by Apple when they create a problem that didn’t need to be created. By choosing the route they did, they created the impression that they’re oblivious to the needs of the editing pro — which we know is not true.

Apple’s response has been to say that the missing features will be added back in with updates coming soon. I’m sure they will. And you know what — that’s a perfectly acceptable solution. There’s little reason why the pros can’t continue to use the current Final Cut Studio until there’s a product that meets their needs.

And that’s my whole point. The only problem here is the manner in which Apple introduced FCPX. Great a product as it is, it’s just not a replacement for Final Cut Studio. Yet.

If there is no crisis, I’m puzzled why Apple would choose to create one.

apple / apple news / iMac / iPad / iPhone / iPod / itunes / mac / observatory / steve jobs / strategy / tablets / technology — 3 Comments
7
Jun 11

WWDC 2011: the morning after

Ah, the joy of software. This really is the stuff that makes Apple Apple, and it was fun to see such widespread improvements in one fell swoop.

As usual, some random day-after thoughts.

Mac OS X

Full-screen apps. This is a personal favorite. Can’t wait to see it in action. I currently use full-screen with all apps that enable it, and always appreciate the focus it brings. We’ve got the screen space — it’s a shame not to use it all.

Auto-Save. I look forward to not repeating some of the more humbling failures of my past. Turning the window title into a pop-up menu to access past versions is a nice touch. Being able to copy and paste from old versions is even nicer.

The feature count. Poor Lion. Only 250 new features. Leopard had 300.

Lion power, kitty price. $29 is amazing. Snow Leopard was the aberration at $29, compared to all the $129 Mac OS X upgrades before. But there was a reason for that — Snow Leopard’s changes were mostly in the plumbing. Lion is as rich an upgrade as any upgrade in history, but the price stays remarkably low. Why? My guess is that (a) Apple wants to move the entire base forward, because (b) there is far more money to be made down the road with a new foundation. I’m not being cynical, it’s just good business. The more people shopping in the Mac App Store and purchasing future iCloud capabilities, the merrier.

Space travel. I don’t know about you, but I’m sick to death of the current log-in star field and Time Machine theme. It wore out its welcome a long time ago, so I expected it to be replaced — but not by another space scene. Apparently, now we have a galaxy image. Apple has always delivered simplicity and elegance, and the space thing always felt like someone else’s idea of “cool.” Can’t we just pick our own backgrounds?

iOS

Feature count, revisited. Only 200 new features in iOS, compared to Lion’s 250 features. Obviously it’s harder to fit new features in a smaller screen.

The big payoff. To excite the crowd, Forstall showed off a slide stating that Apple has paid developers a total of $2.5 billion. It’s a great number until you do the math with the slide right before: customers have downloaded 14 billion apps from the App Store. Let’s see … 2.4 billion divided by 14 billion … that’s about 18 cents an app. Obviously, this says a lot about how many free apps are downloaded.

Notifications. Yippee! At last! It’s interesting that Forstall first confessed that there are problems current notifications, and then said, “We’ve built something that solves some of the problems…” Some?

Safari Reader. One of my favorite features. People may accept that ads pay the bills, but the ultimate reading experience will always be an ad-free zone.

Reading List. Love it. File away an article to be read later, and have that list appear on all your devices.

The geo-fence. Probably my favorite new term from the show (and very cool feature). In telling how Reminders work, Forstall talked about setting up a geo-fence around Moscone, so when he left the building he’d get a reminder. Hopefully, by winter we’ll have geothermal fences.

Camera. Despite talk about the quality of the iPhone camera, I rarely use it. One reason is the damn shutter button on the screen. Sorry, it’s awkward and just not the way we’re accustomed to using cameras. Using the hard Volume Up button as a shutter button makes me an instant fan. Photo-taking is also way improved by the new editing capabilities.

iMessage. It was presented as working across all iOS devices. What about the Mac? Wouldn’t I want to text people while I’m stuck at my desk?

iPhone 5 clue. With iOS 5 coming in the fall, the obvious conclusion is that it will come hand-in-hand with iPhone 5. I can hang in there that long.

iCloud

Demoting the PC. What a great example of Steve Jobs’ ability to simplify in the boldest way. He said they were demoting computers to be just devices, and moving the center of your digital life to the cloud. You get it in a second. And what PC company CEO on earth would say they’re “demoting” one of their biggest moneymakers?

Facing facts. When promoting iCloud, Steve paused to say: “Now why should I believe them? They’re the ones who brought me MobileMe … MobileMe was not our finest hour.” Say what you will about Steve, he dares to be honest.

DropBox killer? Nope. At least not yet. And I’m glad, because DropBox remains one of the greatest Mac utilities ever created. DropBox far out-iDisked iDisk, and its makers deserve to be rewarded, not obsoleted.

What about Me? Obviously the me.com site will ultimately be the icloud.com site. Do we still want me.com email addresses (did we ever?). Does the “me” word really have a place in the iCloud concept? We’ll soon find out…

Documents in the Cloud. Not the shortest name Apple has come up with. But it does have that “gorillas in the mist” meter going for it.

iTunes Match. Huge question mark. No one seems to know if this is a way to subscribe to iTunes versions of the songs you already own, or if your $24.99/year allows you to download the higher-quality versions of your songs to your own computer forever. So $24.99 is either one of the world’s great bargains — or not.

Antiquities. On one of the slides appearing behind Steve Jobs is a stack of CDs. Damn, they’re hideous. Did we ever actually use those things?

AAPL is down. It dropped five bucks yesterday. Down another $3.50 as I write this. Call this “iPad Syndrome.” Remember the industry’s reaction to the original iPad? “Just a big iPhone.” “No surprises, no new breakthroughs.” “Apple’s first dud.” The stock dropped. In broad strokes, just about everything we saw yesterday was “expected.” However, what’s expected can be the start of a whole new world. Like iPad.

The prognosticators. Not that we need to be reminded to take people’s opinions with a grain of salt, but… John Gruber’s pre-WWDC idea was “Think of iCloud as the new iTunes.” In fact, he’s still describing it that way after the show. It’s a good sound bite, but not totally accurate. In truth, iCloud is exactly what Steve Jobs said: the new hub of your digital life. Yes, that includes your iTunes content, but it also includes the things you create. For now, that includes the documents you create in iWork, but that capability will no doubt expand. iCloud is about your whole life — documents, photos, contacts, calendars, etc. — not just your entertainment. The Cult of Mac’s “exclusive” was obviously absurd, yet was quoted by many blogs and news services. They said iCloud would not be hosted in Apple’s new data center after all, but instead would reside on your Time Capsule (purchase required if you don’t already own one). Somehow it never struck them that Apple was signing contracts with the music companies for the rights to do something new with their music, not just store it on a personal hard disk.

All in all, good show. Let’s do it again sometime.

apple / apple news / observatory / technology — 4 Comments
2
Jun 11

The hyping of a Mac virus

Call it the price of success: Apple is plugged into a buzz amplifier.

Whatever the news, good or bad, it gets played back at max volume. And this amp comes complete with a distortion effect, so the facts we get don’t necessarily reflect reality.

Antennagate? It was a horrific lapse — except it had zero effect on sales and customer satisfaction.

Locationgate? It laid bare Apple’s true evil intent — except it quickly fizzled into nothingness.

With the attack of the MACDefender virus, the trilogy is complete. The virus bubble is burst! Mac users will now know the pain PC users have suffered for decades.

Except for one little fact: MACDefender isn’t a virus.

A virus is a nasty subset of malware that infects your computer without your knowledge, and often spreads to others. MACDefender is malware, of course — but it’s the kind that can’t do anything unless you invite it in.

It preys on those who somehow didn’t get the message that you should never, ever install an app from an untrusted source. Especially an app you never asked for.

But when the rumors get amplified, facts somehow become less relevant.

In researching this post, I was stunned to find that MACDefender is being reported as a virus in the majority of articles, often right up there in a headline like Virus Alert: MacDefender. In fact, most articles did the malware a favor by billing it as “MacDefender” instead of “MACDefender,” which is what it actually calls itself. This adds credibility, since no real Mac app-maker would make the clunky error of putting MAC in all-caps, as if it were a variant of “PC.”

Many are hyping this story because they believe it proves them correct that Macs are just as susceptible to viruses as PCs, but have been spared only because they’re so damn insignificant. Others are playing it up because it allows them their obviously long-sought revenge.

An Arizona IT company “will enjoy watching that smile getting slapped off the smug faces of those self-important Apple religious-fanatics (you know who you are),” but felt “a great swell of pity for the many innocent people who will be victimized in the near future because some fool told them Mac’s were virus-proof.” Never trust a guy who can’t even pluralize “Mac” correctly.

In a recent piece entitled The last Mac myth, I ragged on the theory that Macs aren’t targeted with viruses simply because there are so few of them in the world. The truth is, Apple products are a supremely juicy target, and offer any self-respecting evildoer a shot at instant glory. If MACDefender is the best they can do, I’m pretty sure the sky isn’t falling.

The best advice yesterday remains the best advice today: never download or accept any files that come from anyplace other than a source you know and trust.

Let’s all enjoy using our technology, but be responsible as well. No computer company, and no OS, can protect us against ourselves.

apple / apple news / iPhone / observatory / technology — 10 Comments
31
May 11

Anatomy of an Apple rumor

“Daddy, where do Apple rumors come from?”

Good question. Though conspiracy-mongers believe Apple masterfully manipulates journalists and bloggers, providing millions of dollars’ worth of free buzz, that’s hardly the case.

The Apple rumor/buzz machine stopped needing any help from Apple eons ago. That, thanks to years of phenomenal success and a famously mercurial CEO.

It takes only a hint of a fact, a mere whiff of a story, for journalists and bloggers to spread the story like wildfire. A good example of this is the recent avalanche of rumors surrounding the mysterious launch date of iPhone 5.

It started innocently enough:

Two months ago, Apple sent out an invitation its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). The invitation had only one line of text: Join us for a preview of the future of iOS and Mac OS X.

This invite was accompanied by a release from Phil Schiller, in which he said, “If you are an iOS or Mac OS X software developer, this is the event that you do not want to miss.”

Jim Dalrymple is a blogger known for his reliable sources. Jim immediately posted an article entitled No iPhone, iPad or Mac hardware coming at WWDC. His first sentence: “Apple closed the door this morning on any speculation that it would announce new hardware at its Worldwide Developers Conference saying it would focus on iOS and Mac OS.”

Apple “closed the door”? Yikes. A bit extreme, considering:

1. The invitation went out two months in advance of the WWDC. Apple has never, ever announced an intention to unveil new products two months in advance.
2. Apple’s developer event is, by no coincidence, aimed at developers. Every WWDC invitation in history has focused on software.

However, none of this stopped the story from being picked up by tons of news services and blogs, including the well-respected John Gruber at Daring Fireball. Most ran with with headlines like No iPhone 5 at WWDC this summer.

Of course Jim Dalrymple may well have other sources that lead him to this conclusion. But again, Apple did not close any doors.

And that was only the start of this rumor. Following this “definitive” word from Apple came more reports trying to scoop the initial reports. Analysts gleaned information from their sources. An Asian manufacturer had information indicating there would be a summer launch after all.

Just a few days ago, it was reported that Apple has been urging journalists around the world to attend the WWDC. To those all over this story, that meant something big was going to happen. One blogger said, “the obvious conclusion is that Apple is announcing a new iPhone.”

Gruber quoted that story, but doubted the “obviousness” of the conclusion by noting, “Again — Apple spread word just two months ago the WWDC wasn’t going to be used to introduce new hardware.”

Cut that out! Apple did nothing of the sort. Apple simply sent out an invitation to its annual software event, as they do every year. Everything else is a hunt for hidden clues.

I have absolutely no idea when iPhone 5 will be announced. Nor do I have any idea what will be announced at WWDC. Hard to tell with so much detective work going on.

But if you’re going to draw any conclusions, you might want to read between the lines of those who are reading between the lines.

 

microsoft / tablets / technology / windows phone 7 — 10 Comments
26
May 11

Ballmer: making the wrong kind of mistakes

Yes, you

I have a new theory about Steve Ballmer.

Maybe earlier in his life, or in a previous life, he did such wonderful things, he earned himself a guardian angel.

Really, how else does one explain how a man can remain employed through one planet-sized bungle to the next?

Many companies make mistakes in the pursuit of greatness. Apple makes some doozies.

But Microsoft, under Ballmer, consistently makes the kind of mistakes that can easily turn the company into the type of case study you don’t want to be: the “rise and fall” type.

I don’t pretend to understand the dynamics inside Microsoft. However, this is business. Very big business. No amount of loyalty, favoritism, appreciation or whatever can possibly rationalize the company’s poor showing since Ballmer assumed office.

How Microsoft, formerly the most valuable and profitable technology company on earth (“formerly,” thanks to Ballmer), with virtually limitless resources, could fall into its current state is almost impossible to comprehend.

After failing miserably with Vista, Ballmer has completely missed the two biggest technology revolutions in recent times: smartphones and tablets. And let’s not even talk about the $8.5 billion he just sunk into Skype.

The smartphone failure alone should have earned him his gold watch. It took Microsoft three years to come up with a viable alternative to iPhone. Even then, “viable” is probably being generous. Now, after Android, Microsoft must fight to be a distant third.

His public statements have become laughable, from predicting that iPhone can’t possibly succeed to passionately defending the PC as other technologies make it less relevant.

This week, Ballmer’s theater of the absurd redefined absurdity. First he blurted out that their newest OS, to be called Windows 8, will be released in 2012. Shortly thereafter, a Microsoft “spokesperson” issued a clarification: “It appears there was a misstatement.” Turns out, there is no timetable yet for the new OS, and there is no confirmation of its name.

Honestly, can you imagine this kind of screwup taking place at any other company?

It’s not like there isn’t a growing chorus of calls for Ballmer’s retirement. The latest came yesterday from the president of Greenlight Capital, David Einhorn. He describes the Microsoft CEO as being “stuck in the past.”

The good news for Microsoft is that Ballmer doesn’t have to be stuck in its present. It’s not all that hard to send a CEO packing.

Though I have no current fondness for Microsoft, I’ve often wondered how things might change if they actually had a visionary CEO. I imagine Microsoft’s stockholders have been wondering the same thing.

hp / observatory / technology — 6 Comments
24
May 11

Riding the wave vs. following the wave

You can tell a lot about a company’s spirit by the way it handles innovation.

Some live to lead the way, others prefer the safety of “wait and see.”

When I was reading about how HP passed over Thunderbolt in its new PCs, it stirred an ancient memory on this topic.

I was working on behalf of Apple when iMovie came out. Apple, of course, invested heavily in iMovie, plastering its message all over TV. You’ll have to remember, the ability to make cool videos on your computer was brand-new then. There was no YouTube. Apple wanted to get people thinking about something they hadn’t been thinking about before.

About a year later, I was working in the world of Intel (before they hooked up with Apple). By this time, there were plenty of apps for making videos on a PC. Intel, interested in creating a new campaign for consumers, decided they should first ask consumers what they like to do on their computers. So they ran focus groups all around the country. They found that most people were browsing the Internet and doing email (duh), and that sharing photos was the third biggest thing. Way down near the bottom of the list was making videos.

Email and browsing were a little too boring even for Intel, so they chose to highlight photos in their ads. In other words, they chose to sell people on what they were already doing vs. opening their eyes to something new.

I thought this was pretty sad, considering their technology enabled all kinds of cool things. They could have ridden the wave, but instead they followed it.

So the other day I was reading this PC World interview with HP’s worldwide marketing manager for desktops, Xavier Lauwaert.

Asked why HP chose not to include the new high-speed Thunderbolt technology in its latest line of desktop PCs, Lauwaert said, “Haven’t found a value proposition in it yet.”

He went on to explain, “On the PC side, everybody seems to be content with the expansion of USB 3.0. Do we need to go into more fancy solutions? Not convinced yet.”

Now I do understand that the verdict is not yet in on Thunderbolt. It’s more HP’s language that I find disturbing. (Assuming that Lauwaert is authorized to speak for the company. If not, he should be slapped.)

For a company built on innovation to hold back on new technology because they think customers are “content” is kind of lame. To ask “Do we need to go into more fancy solutions?” makes it sound like innovating is too much of a bother for HP.

Listening to these words leads one to believe it’s a case of either-or. It isn’t. Apple added Thunderbolt to iMac in addition to its other ports. It sounds more like rationale than putting the customer first.

If HP was built on invention, and it wishes to stand for invention, it really should act a bit more like it cares about invention. Not just in products, but in the words they choose.

advertising / intel / observatory / technology — No Comments
5
May 11

Intel’s “Chase” strikes again

Intel’s on-again, off-again flirtation with creativity has taken a turn for the better, thanks to the efforts of agency Venables & Partners.

Remember the neat film they made a few months back — The Chase — to introduce the latest Core i5 chip? What made it such a hit (over 2 million views) was that, instead of being confined to film, they used the visual language of computers to draw us into the action. In this “bad guys chase Bond-like woman” story, the characters run, jump and fight through FaceBook, YouTube, iTunes, chat windows, video games, Google Maps and more — and it all actually makes sense.

But it was a film. That is, all of this action took place inside the single frame you were watching on YouTube.

Now The Chase is back, and it’s literally broken out of its box. When you visit the Intel page on Facebook, you can see the movie, or you can “launch the HTML5 experience,” which performs its intricate choreography all over your own display.

Is it great? Well, they definitely get an A for effort. The HTML5 experience is truly fun to watch. It’s the launching part that gets a bit dicey.

Before you can watch, you have to download and cache what appears to be the Library of Congress, but is in fact all the video clips needed to run the experience.

Maybe you’ll have better luck with your setup. To be fair, I must have tried this a good 15 times, using Safari, Firefox and Chrome. Only twice did I make it in less than a minute (Chrome was fastest), the other times varied from pretty-darn-long to way-way-long (well over three minutes). Several times Firefox literally gave up the fight without even telling me why.

Once you get it going, it really is cool. One cosmetic difference between the movie and the HTML5 version is that HTML5 apparently requires the windows to be visibly loaded — so you get about eight tiny windows stacked at the bottom left of your display, hoping that you don’t notice.

Then there’s the game, in which you’re challenged to find nine bits from the movie hidden in various places on the Internet. Unfortunately, I couldn’t play because the Play button set off the Ken Segall Personal Defense System. Upon clicking, the app asked permission to do a Facebook body search, extracting my name, profile picture, user ID and list of friends. Not sure what would have happened, but it sure sounds like my friends would get spammed with a note telling them how much I loved this. I panicked and backed out.

So, yes, there are some negatives, but the creative work itself remains fun to watch. And the page does a nice job of creating some positive buzz for Intel.

It’s just unfortunate that the mechanics of the HTML5 production give you the feeling that this kind of stuff will work a lot better one day in the future. Maybe when we’re all using i5 chips?

Some credits for this effort. Agency: Venables & Partners; Writer: Josh Parshauer; Art Director: Beau Hanson; Associate Creative Directors: Paul Foulkes and Tyler Hampton. Interactive Creative Director: David Kim; Production Company: Nexus Interactive Arts (live action directors: Smith & Foulkes).

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →