Looking for a copy of Options, Fake Steve Jobs blogger Dan Lyons's parody of the Apple guru? As I type this, Borders in San Mateo has 3 copies. The San Francisco stores in Union Square and Stonestown each have 5. Sometimes, people, you need to quit Googling and pick up the phone. Dial now and ask them to hold you one, which they'll do for three days.
Being an intrepid tech reporter, I buy books related to my work. I just picked up The Gawker Guide to Conquering All Media (obligatory: it is the greatest work ever put to print. You should buy copies for yourself and all your friends). I preordered Options by Forbes editor Dan Lyons, writing as Fake Steve Jobs, way back in July. I've been pantingly awaiting the arrival of my copy from Amazon.com. A few days ago, I got an email from Amazon saying my book arrival date was getting pushed back — to December 14. I thought it was just a mixup, but now we've heard from other sources that Amazon sent them the same email. What's going on? Here's what Fake Steve himself has to say about it.
After months of enduring whines from programmers, Apple has announced a software development kit for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Scheduled for release in February, the kit — a set of code libraries and specifications — will let them write programs that run on the iPhone instead of limiting them to Web-based applications. Apple is looking to provide an "advanced and open platform" while at the same time protecting users from malware and viruses and the like. Our guess at what's really going on here? Apple is building an iTunes-based platform to securely deliver apps to users. From movies to music to software, Apple is plotting a way to keep itself in the middle of any money-making transaction on its hardware.
When the iPhone was introduced, Apple gave one to every employee. After the price drop, Apple gave early adopters a $100 store credit. It was noted in a few articles that Apple employees would not get any rebate on their free phones. As many as 800 retail employees succeeded in cashing in their credits anyway — and reportedly got fired. No surprise. Why Jobs's smoothly tuned retail machine didn't prevent the rebates from being issued is the mystery here. We call for an SEC investigation! (Photo by Daniel Shaw-Cosman)
While beating up ruffians, Bruce Willis doesn't have time to rip and encode his movies, nor deal with the copy-protected gunk served on iTunes. Fox has wised up and is offering a special two-for-one Live Free or Die Hard deal: The DVD will contain a DRM-free digital copy of the film meant for playback on computers and portable video players. [Techdirt]
Mac fanboys are in a predictable tizzy over the announcement that Mac OS X Leopard, the newest version of Apple's operating system, will be out on October 26. Apple's homepage is counting down the days, hours, minutes, and seconds. An unwise strategy. The counter, after all, only reminds Apple's most dedicated users that Apple delayed the release — its first since April 2005 — from June until October to free up resources for the launch of the iPhone. By any rights, that counter ought to remind us that Leopard is 108 days, 4 hours, 1 minute, and 53 seconds late.
The ITunes Store is no longer charging a premium for its DRM-free songs, also known as iTunes Plus. Prices now match its current catalog of 99-cent singles, and users are no longer confronted by an annoying pop-up. The trivial observation to make is that Amazon.com forced Apple's hand by charging 99 cents for DRM-free MP3 files. But far more likely? Consumers made their disinterest in overpriced, annoying-to-download files clear by simply avoiding them, and Apple realized it had to cut the price. This, of course, doesn't bode well for record labels' plans to charge higher prices for hit songs. [Ars Technica]
Apple wants you to know that the iPhone is 100 percent crotchsafe, despite Greenpeace allegations to the contrary. "Like all Apple products worldwide, iPhone complies with RoHS [Restriction of Hazardous Substances], the world's toughest restrictions on toxic substances in electronics," an Apple spokesperson told Macworld. But already, Greenpeace has responded saying that, whether Apple complies with regulations or not, it should still disclose its toxic materials, just like rivals Nokia, Motorola and Sony Ericsson already do.
Steve Jobs has kissed and made up with his French girlfriend. Orange is the official iPhone cell provider in France. Why the delay in signing up Orange? The socialist French have an unlocking requirement for cell phones. Six months after you buy a phone, your provider must unlock it for you. A number of observers opined that this may a sticking point for Apple, but we don't see that there's anything they can do about it if they want to operate in France. Likely, the delay was in negotiating Apple's percentage of subscription revenues. No word on what the final price was.(Photo by mukluk)
After testing the iPhone in U.K. laboratories, Greenpeace researchers said they found it contains toxic brominated compounds, indicating the prescence of brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and hazardous PVC. Sounds unpleasant. Greenpeace published a full report here. In reaction to the news, The U.S. National Center for Environmental Health said it will file suit against Apple for breaking a Californian law which requires products containing certain chemicals to carry a warning label, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. The takeaway? However much you love your iPhone, please, for the love of Jobs, do not pry open the case and rub its innards up and down your crotch. It's tempting, we realize. But don't.
Doug Morris, head of Universal Music, the most powerful of the four major record-label groups, thinks he has a plan to reclaim the music industry from Apple, maker of the iPod and iTunes. There are scant details and the plan is in flux, but the basic idea, dubbed Total Music, is this: All of the studios will pool their content for online distribution and share in the revenue. The service will be a subscription subsidized by any form of provider: device manufacturers, music stores, cellphone carriers, whomever. The consumer doesn't have to pay for a music service because it's baked in, the music industry finally gets the revenue stream that they've been missing. But we're skeptical.
Al Gore, the senior advisor to Google, Apple board member, and former U.S. vice president, has won the Nobel Peace Prize for his crusade on climate change. Sure, there was that documentary. But his finest achievement, I feel, is his work in urination. Besides Apple and Google, Gore also serves as an advisor to Falcon Waterfree Technologies, a company which sells toilets that spare our earth's precious watery resources. They're installed in national parks, the Pentagon, and all sorts of other places. Whenever I unbuckle at one of these Mother-Nature-friendly rest stops, I think of Gore, take a wide stance, and smile.
OK, that's it. Apple Stores are officially the new Starbucks. They're everywhere. Rumors have a new store opening in Brooklyn and a megastore opening on 34th Street in Manhattan. Meanwhile, Apple is opening a superstore in my hometown of Boston to go with the eight already in Massachusetts. There are new stores planned for San Francisco, Zurich, Chicago, Maui, Berlin, Taiwan, another in Manhattan near NYU, two in Paris, at least three in Japan, several in Canada, a few in Australia, some in South Africa, Hong Kong and Munich. At least they're decent to look at. I shudder to think what Zune kiosks, probably appearing soon at your local megamall, will look like. (Image by sarahbaker)
A clinical psychologist has looked at the recent brouhaha between iPhone owners, Apple, and AT&T and come up with a theory. Steve Jobs is the overbearing, tyrant father who knows what's best. Dad dictates exactly what you can and can't do with "your" phone. AT&T is the stepmother, newly married into the family. Some kids are happy with the arrangement and perfectly willing to live by the rules. Others are rebellious, defying the parents and doing what they want without regard for the consequences.
I've said it for months: There is no Googlephone. At last, the "industry analysts" so often consulted by reporters at newspapers have come around to sharing my point of view, according to a story in the New York Times. Google is, indeed, working on cell-phone software, including an operating system. But all this software, I believe, is a sideshow. Before you get all excited about the prospects of a Google phone OS, remember: Google is all about advertising. Always has been, always will be.
