Creative CEO; Sim Wong Who Could Sum Up This Mistake With One Word; "Doh!"

...

As reported by Engadget:

Creative Zens Ship with Worms

" ... about 3700 Creative Zen "Neeons" shipped with a virus. The virus in question was the W32.Wullik.B@mm worm. Creative released a statement today to help consumers pinpoint the possibly effected devices."

First, this press release was only in Japanese - the link above is a translation. Interesting ...

This wasn't played out in the press yesterday as much as I thought it would be ... hence; the reason I didn't report this.

This does have merit to report though - another beautiful facet of the iPod and the Mac [in conjunction with the iPod] is clear. Halo Affect aside - the Macintosh experience is just better with the iPod ... that's why people are ACTUALLY buying more Macs.

The WMA platform is also exposed for the insecure, inferior garbage that it is. In some ways, Apple just received a pat on the back for making their own AAC format and locking out Napster, Sony, and Real.

Personally, I think Sim Wong Who [Creative CEO] is a very dangerous and backhanded person ... he has openly declared war on Apple and regularly makes fun of the iPod.

My little conspiracy theory is that he [or people that assist him] regularly troll the internet, making comments in blogs and forums about how bad the iPod is. It is not beyond this conspiracy to include: He might be behind MANY of the lawsuits brought against the iPod - directed at Apple.

[UPDATE] Creative claims to have a patent on the iPod interface. Why don't they sue then? The reason - drag Apple through as much bad press and PR as possible. And my question is: Why hasn't anyone mentioned that Microsoft patent again?

And while on the topic - I realize Creative doesn't have to make any of it's products Mac Compatible, but has anyone else noticed that ever since the iPod became a phenomenon - there is not a single product made by Creative that is natively Mac compatible?

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Why Did Everyone Miss This???

I didn't post this here because I thought that most every Mac website would have picked it up. But, they didn't.

Yesterday, Pirates Of Silicon Valley was released for the first time on DVD.

I had made my own homebrew VHS to DVD copy a long time ago. I had wondered if it was ever going to come out on DVD to stem the rampant piracy this movie sees.

It's truly a great movie about the history and beginnings of Apple Computer and Microsoft.

If you remember - Noah Wylie, who played Steve Jobs in this movie - came out at the Summer 1999 MacWorld Expo in place of Steve Jobs - for the keynote.

I thought this was very interesting ... Steve must have seen some merit in the way he was portrayed in the movie - which wasn't in the best light.

Oh, One Of Those Statistics! iPodGarage Celebrates 10k posts; 6k from Bill Palmer, 2k from staff, 1k deleted, & 1k of actual posts from readers!

I thought it noteworthy to mention a blurb about a press release I saw today ...

The iPod Garage Forums saw their ten thousandth post this week, as new members continue to pour into the Forums left and right looking for iPod and iTunes help and discussion.

The Forums at the iPod Garage are quickly becoming one of the most popular iPod-related Forums on the internet, and we look forward to thousands more new members as we head into the latter part of 2005.

Note that any story that has comments has at least 50% - 60% posts from Bill Palmer (site owner) and another 10% - 20% from James Monahan (a site groupie & site writer) and other "staff members at iPod Garage"

Also note the stretch made at the end of this press release - "..and we look forward to thousands more new members" The extrapolation that 1000's of members are making these thousands of posts!

I have received literally dozens of emails from people telling me that their posts have been deleted when they challenged anything iPodGarage/ Bill Palmer had to say. I know that around the time I posted a story on him .... 10 or so of my posts were deleted.

This is yet another "hyped statistic" thrown our way from Bill Palmer. And yes, I am a depraved lunatic for pointing it out!

I would like to add a quick note. While doing research and interviews for last week's story about Jack Campbell & Company; most everyone of importance in the Apple world thinks Bill Palmer is a loon and praised me for my exposure of him on this site. Now, there is a statistic about iPodGarage you can actually verify.

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Why Can't Any Analyst Analyze Apple News Anymore? Apple Buying G4's Through 2008 Means Relatively Nothing!

Ok, I wasn't going to post much today, but I decided I would have to add my two cents to the "big news of the day and of the past weekend".

It was announced that Apple has entered into a contract with Freescale [Motorola's spin off of it's microprocessor division] to buy G4 CPUs through 2008.

Many reporters are saying that Apple is expecting a slower transition to Intel Chips than first realized or that Apple may even be hedging their bets a bit.



People - Applecare is 3 years long. If someone bought a G4 based Mac today - the AppleCare would not run out until August of 2008. Apple's current plans are to sell PowerPC Macs until a completed transition from PowerPC to Intel in 2007!

I see this as the only reason - in fact, I see Apple making another announcement in 2008 to extend contracts for G4s another 2 or 3 years (possibly 4) just to keep Applecare and parts inventory. Apple is required to keep parts for 5 years and doesn't end of life / stop support completely for computers until 7 years past introduction.

Here is the official agreement and filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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Apple to iPod Buyers: iSettle

The Apple iPod Settlement Page

From this page:

The Court has conditionally ruled that the Litigation may be maintained on behalf of the following Class:

All persons or entities residing in the United States who purchased or obtained a First, Second, or Third Generation iPod on or before May 31, 2004.

Excluded from the Class are Apple; any entity in which Apple has a controlling interest; Apple's directors, officers, and employees; Apple's legal representatives, successors, and assigns; any Judge to whom the Litigation is assigned and the members of his or her immediate family; and all persons and entities who timely and validly request exclusion from the Class in compliance with the requirements set forth in this Notice.

The above definition of those persons who fall within or are excluded from the Class is referred to in this Notice as “the Class Definition.”

I. PURPOSE OF THIS NOTICE
The purpose of this Notice is to inform you, as a potential Class Member, of (a) the existence of the Litigation; (b) a proposed Class Action Settlement of the Litigation, described below; and (c) your rights with respect to the proposed Settlement. Those rights include the right to be excluded from the Class and the Settlement. If you are a Class Member and do not request exclusion in compliance with the procedures and deadline set forth below, you will remain in the Class and be bound by the terms of the Settlement.

Plaintiffs' Counsel have investigated and evaluated the claims asserted in the Litigation and have determined that the proposed Settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate for the Class as a whole, in light of the benefits of the settlement and the disadvantages of continuing the Litigation. The proposed Settlement is a compromise of disputed claims and does not mean that Apple has any liability as alleged in the Litigation. Apple has denied and continues to deny any wrongdoing or liability on its part.

II. DEFINITIONS
The following defined terms are used in this Settlement and this Notice.
First Generation iPod: First Generation iPods (iPod) are white and have a mechanical scroll wheel that physically turns and a Firewire port with no cover.

Second Generation iPod: Second Generation iPods (iPod Touchwheel) are white and have a touchwheel that does not physically turn and a Firewire port with a cover.

Third Generation iPod: Third Generation iPods (iPod with Dock Connector) are white and have a touchwheel that does not physically turn, a horizontal row of control buttons, and a dock connector.

“Battery Failure” means that the capacity of an iPod's battery to hold an electrical charge has dropped to four hours or less of continuous audio playback, with earbuds attached, with respect to the Third Generation iPod, or five hours or less of continuous audio playback, with earbuds attached, with respect to the First Generation iPod and the Second Generation iPod.

“Store Credit” means a credit in the amount of $50 redeemable toward the purchase of any Apple-branded products or services (except iTunes downloads, iTunes Music Store Cards, iTunes Gift Certificates, or any other product redeemable for iTunes downloads or cash) at either The Apple Store (Online) or at a kiosk (a computer linked to The Apple Store (Online)) located in a “brick and mortar” Apple retail store, issued as a discount code number. Store Credit may be transferred once but may not be aggregated or redeemed for cash. Store Credit may be used to purchase multiple products but, in all instances, the full value of the Store Credit must be used up or exhausted in a single transaction. Store Credit does not apply to any shipping, handling and sales tax charges applicable. Store Credit will expire eighteen (18) months after the date of issuance.

“Battery Replacement Program” or “BRP” means a service policy and/or program implemented and maintained by Apple, under which Apple will replace a consumer's iPod with an iPod of similar or better quality if the battery's ability to hold an electrical charge has diminished. The price currently charged by Apple for iPod replacement under the Battery Replacement Program is $99.00, plus a shipping fee of $6.95, for a total cost of $105.95.

“APP” means the AppleCare Protection Plan For iPod, a program that extends the 90-day complimentary single-incident phone support and one-year warranty on an iPod for a period of up to two years from the date of purchase. At this time, the price charged by Apple for the APP is $59.00.

Rio Says Bye-O: Another causualty of war with the iPod

Rio ~ by Duran Duran



As reported by Engadget:

Since shipping the first mass-market (and second altogether) digital audio player in 1998, the 32MB PMP300, Rio weathered storm after storm. After prevailing against the RIAA MP3 player backlash, Rio parent brand S3 merged with Diamond Multimedia to form SONICblue, only to be cut up and sold to D&M Holdings under the Digital Networks North America (DNNA) name, along with other withering SONICblue brands such as ReplayTV and Escient; after a brief comeback with their relatively popular line of Karma and Carbon devices, D&M once again cut up the business, selling Rio’s IP (including software and long-standing patents and patent applications) and engineering resources to chipset manufacturer SigmaTel. Today D&M announced to no great fanfare that they would be shuttering Rio’s doors permanently, though the Rio brand and trademark will not change hands as of this time. Like the orphan child with the heart of gold neglected its whole life until its premature and lonely death, we mourn the passing of Rio—loved so dearly but by so few.

This says volumes about the power that Apple holds with the iPod at this moment. There are no signs of the iPod popularity waning. But, the real thing that has given the iPod an MP3 player God status is the third party peripheral support. The shear number of accessories and targetted support from websites such as iLounge.com are astounding. The 3rd party support gives a customer illusion that the iPod is everywhere [not that it isn't].

I personally had a Diamond Rio that used Smartmedia as it's storage format. It was a nice player. At this same time I had a digital camera that used Smartmedia; so I was able to share media between devices. The problem with Rio's choice to go with Smartmedia was that it was a proprietary and dying format. It was also limited to a 128MB capacity. Compact Flash and Secure Digital were taking over and Sony had just come out with Memory Sticks. Music enthusiasts, who were the first to adopt MP3 players, demanded more storage ... Creative entered the market with a hard drive based player. Then Apple came along and surprised the world with the iPod that used even smaller hard drives. At this point, Rio had still not entered the hard drive based player market.

To me, the main reasons for the demise of the Rio was poor execution, poor roadmap, and lackluster product design.

_______________________________

New or spotty visitors - don't forget to read the Jackwhispers exclusive story and it's followup:

Jackwhispers EXCLUSIVE: Insolvency Solves Jack: DVForge filing for bankruptcy & going out of business

AND THE FOLLOWUP:

DVForge Still In Business? No, I'm Not ... Yes, I am ... No, I'm Nooooooot ... Yes, I am .... NO! YOU ARE NOT! More lies from DVForge & Company!

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Apple Naming Policy

Apple's naming policy:

Guidelines for Using Apple Trademarks and Copyrights

I refer to the page above often on this site.

Here is an excerpt from this page withFixYourThinking emphasis in bold:

Apple's trademarks, service marks, trade names, and trade dress are valuable assets. In following these guidelines, you help us protect our valuable trademark rights and strengthen our corporate and brand identities. By using an Apple trademark, in whole or in part, you are acknowledging that Apple is the sole owner of the trademark and promising that you will not interfere with Apple's rights in the trademark, including challenging Apple's use, registration of, or application to register such trademark, alone or in combination with other words, anywhere in the world, and that you will not harm, misuse, or bring into disrepute any Apple trademark.

I say that entities such as Bill Palmer and Jack Campbell harm, misuse, and bring Apple trademarks into disrepute.

This particular example from the Naming Policy Page is most interesting concerning the MacMice brand name and the iPodGarage website:

Variations, Takeoffs or Abbreviations: You may not use an image of a real apple or other variation of the Apple logo for any purpose. Third parties cannot use a variation, phonetic equivalent, foreign language equivalent, takeoff, or abbreviation of an Apple trademark for any purpose. For example:

Not acceptable: Appletree Jackintosh Apple Cart

Ever wonder what the reasons were for ipodlounge.com becoming ilounge.com? This was one - under pressure from Apple.

How could the company name MacMice or the website name iPodGarage not be in violation of these terms as well?

As a side note, while looking up information about Apple's naming policy, I found two instances where Apple has gotten in trouble for "violating" another's name.

Singer Bob Dylan purportedly sued Apple Computer for naming a computer language; "Dylan." (An abbreviation for "Dynamic Language.")

Deceased astronomer; Carl Sagan also complained to Apple when they starting using "Sagan" as the internal code name for the PowerMac 7100. Apple stopped using his name, but instead started calling it the "BHA." Sagan sued Apple anyway for trademark infringement, defamation, and invasion of privacy; claiming that it was well known that Apple used "BHA" as an acronym for "butt-head astronomer." The case was thrown out of court.

Hey, That iPod is MyPod

As reported by MacWorld UK

Thief brings Apple retailer's stolen iPod into store


One iPod thief has been caught red handed, and red faced, by staff at Apple retailer KRCS.

Adrian Smith, manager at the Nottingham-based Apple reseller, had his iPod stolen from his car last weekend.

Fortunately for Smith, the cable-less criminal walked into KRCS just days later, seeking cables for a "suspiciously familiar-looking iPod".

Smith told Macworld: "I immediately recognized it. I told the bloke I’d have to try different cables, and when I plugged the iPod into the Macintosh it came up as 'Adrian’s iPod' straight away."

A quick-thinking Smith told the 'customer' he’d have to check the iPod further, and while fellow staff-member Iain McKechnie kept the thief talking, Smith called the police, who recognized the description Adrian gave of the man and responded instantly.

An arrest was made on the spot, with Nottingham city police congratulating Adrian on his instant recognition of his own property and prompt reactions.

Apple could easily integrate security into the iPod by integrating a lost and stolen database into the Apple website. If the iPod is stolen and connects/syncs with the iTunes Music Store - a message could come up - please bring your iPod into the Apple Store OR just disable data transfer on the iPod.

Of course, of the greatest security features of the iPod - being the best reason to buy it from Apple directly - get your iPod engraved with your name and phone number.

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Other World Computing From Another World When It Comes To Good PR

...

I saw this ad and explanation appear on the XLR8YourMac.com website:

DVForge (USB Mic Plug/Guitar Plug, Midi Keyboard) and Firewire Cased Superdrive sales - (From site sponsor OWC)
" DV Forge Blowout! Prices up to over 52% off retail!
Mic Plug - Connect an XLR Balanced Microphone via USB to your Mac for $19
Guitar Plug - Connect up your Guitar via USB to your Mac for $19.00!
GaragaKey - 37 Velocity Sensitive MIDI Keyboard Perfect for GarageBand-$79

Best Regards,

Lawrence R. O'Connor

Other World Computing "

Mike at XLR8YourMac then followed with this message:

(BTW - I didn't know anything about DVForge but after a couple of reader mails that mentioned they had read about the company filing for bankruptcy [which the DVForge press page denies] and concern over warranty and delivery, Larry at OWC replied they have the above items in OWC's stock and as listed in the OWC pages, they are providing the warranty, not DVForge. Larry also said the products they have were tested and approved by their own Music Guru Roger Adler. Larry also said "OWC did not engage on any of the other DV Forge products that were offered and promoted to OWC.")

I realize that OWC probably got a great deal on this inventory closeout from Jack Campbell and Company - but at ALL TIMES; integrity should be placed before monetary gain. OWC has officially lost all of my future business.

My best friend asked me if this was a wise decision. Wouldn't I take advantage of a great deal if Jack offered me some of the inventory? I talk about the SightFlex ( a DVForge product ) a lot and I have even sold a few. I have also sold a few The Mouse Mice. That said, this closeout sale has an aweful lot of controversy surrounding it - Larry O' Conner knows this and OWC have officially supported Jack Campbell and Company in one of the worst corporate shams I have ever seen.

An Apple Recall By Any Other Name Is Not A Rose!

From the Apple website:

The iMac G5 Repair Extension Program for Video and Power Issues applies to first generation iMac G5 computers that have video or power-related issues as a result of a specific component failure. If your iMac G5 is exhibiting any of the symptoms listed below and your computer's serial number is within the noted ranges, your computer may be eligible for repair, free of charge. If Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP) determines that your iMac G5 computer is eligible as part of the program, the repair will be covered by Apple for up to two years from the original date of purchase even if your iMac G5 is out of warranty. This is a worldwide Apple program.

Affected systems will exhibit one of the following video- or power-related symptoms:

Scrambled or distorted video
No video
No power
Note: If your iMac G5 is not experiencing any of these symptoms, you do not have to contact Apple or any Apple Authorized Service Provider.

Which iMac G5 computers are affected by the iMac G5 Repair Extension Program for Video and Power Issues?
The program is available for certain iMac G5 models that were sold between approximately September 2004 and June 2005 featuring 17- and 20-inch displays with 1.6GHz and 1.8GHz G5 processors.

The affected iMac G5 computers have serial numbers where the first 5 digits fall into the ranges noted below.

Serial Number ranges:

W8435xxxxxx - W8522xxxxxx
QP435xxxxxx - QP522xxxxxx
CK435xxxxxx - CK522xxxxxx
YD435xxxxxx - YD522xxxxxx

Here is a link to full page

This is essentially a politically correct and public damage control way of saying; RECALL.

This will be added to RECALLS section of Jackwhispers

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Stampede at the iBO -OK Corral

Apparently there was a stampede at the Henrico County Virginia sale of iBooks yesterday.

As reported by MacMinute

'Panic ensues in rush for cheap laptops'

August 16 - The Henrico County school system is selling 1,000 used iBooks for US$50 at the Richmond International Raceway in Richmond Virginia, when it turned into a "violent stampede," reports AP. "People threw themselves forward, screaming and pushing each other. A little girl's stroller was crushed in the stampede. "Witnesses said an elderly man was thrown to the pavement, and someone in a car tried to drive his way through the crowd," notes the report. "It's rather strange that we would have such a tremendous response for the purchase of a laptop computer -- and laptop computers that probably have less-than- desirable attributes," said Paul Proto, director of general services for Henrico County. "But I think that people tend to get caught up in the excitement of the event -- it almost has an entertainment value."

Looks like 17 people were injured including an elderly man who was shoved to the pavement.

This school system should be ashamed of themselves. This "spokesman" should be fired for saying that such an event had "entertainment value"

An investigation and possible litigation should be considered for the following reasons:

1) For dropping the iBook program and causing more headaches, learning curves, and especially a potential virus and security threat to the school district

2) For changing the terms of this sale

3) For not getting the maximum value out of these laptops

4) For not holding it by sealed bid and in lots of 1 - 3 - 5 - 10 separated out by working - damaged - not working - extras/adapters

5) For not planning better and for excluding anyone who wanted to attend.

See this previous Fix Your Thinking story for more background to this charade:

New Wikipedia entry: Debacle; see also Henrico County

[UPDATE] Here are photos of the event

[UPDATE] And here's video (click on the little camera graphic)

The Price Of Going Out Of Business

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Have you ever been to a going out of business sale?

Did th eneon 30% - 70% OFF signs entice you from the highway??

You get inside and find most everything is 30% off - 30% off of an outrageously high price???

A large grocery store chain is going out of business in my area and I thought I would take the lag in news in the Mac Universe to discuss Going Out Of Business Sales.

First of all, once a company has announced to the public that they are going out of business - usually they have already struck a deal with a liquidator to sell their entire inventory.

What does that mean?

Usually, upon announcement of a bankruptcy or financial problems - large store chains are contacted by dozens of companies that will offer immediate cash payouts for remaining inventory. Sometimes, these payments will involve buying the fixtures and even purchasing the lease on the property.

Some companies, such as Apple, have contractual deals with stores, that sell Apple goods, that their items cannot go below a certain price; while under the same store name. Liquidators don't always follow these contractual rules.

Upon going out of business the store will usually just hand over management to the liquidator. They come in, give the employees a quick crash course on what's going to happen over the next few weeks, and then the fluorecscent signs start going up.

Typically liquidators tell the employees:

1) Do not tell customers when the next % off reduction will be - tell them to keep checking back

2) Discourage customers from purchasing already clearanced items by reminding them about a no return policy

The liquidators then bring in researched pricing information and do a complete inventory update; where they consolidate as much of the store as they can. They purposely leave empty racks with one or two items on them to make it appear as if things have already been sold. At this time, they also remove all sales and all mentions of discounts, loyalty programs, and rebates.

Usually items are re-priced with original manufacturer's suggested retail.

Original Manufacturer's suggested retail prices are ficticious prices that play two roles. One is to make a consumer feel that they are getting a bargain. The other purpose is to make the reseller feel they have a low price. Hardly anyone sells at Suggested Retail prices, but many stores try to accentuate the Suggested Retail vs "their actual retail price".

THEN 30% - 70% is taken off the Original or Suggested Retail Prices. Since these prices are typically 20% higher than average retail, items are often a mere 10% off. With online retail being an average of 10%-15% off of brick and mortar stores - this is hardly a discount anymore.

Where this can make a big difference is electronics. Electronics and computers typically have defied pricing models and gotten less expensive over time. A local Service Merchandise went out of business about a year ago. The store had 8 MEG Smart Media memory cards for digital cameras for $54.99. But hey, they were 70% off.

An example from the grocery store I visited yesterday is candy for $1.09. Candy that typically sells in my area for an average of 55¢ to 85¢.

Just a note, I have been getting 128 MEG Smart Media cards for almost 5 years for $29.99 or less at retail and online

Liquidators will often remove high end items from a store before a sale. For example; most all iPods were removed from a local Radio Shack; when it recently went out of business near me. (Radio Shacks are individually franchised.)

I believe there should be new laws passed concerning going out of business:

1) The tax writeoffs these companies take for bankruptcy are enormous - laws need to be in place to discourage bankruptcy.

2) I believe it should be investigated more thoroughly if sales taxes are being paid by these liquidators at the end of each sale

3) Prices should be marked with average retail, not suggested retail

4) Retailers should be forced to a timetable of reuse for their abandoned property or the property should be put up for auction. KMart's recent closing of 100's of stores nationwide left large holes with ugly run down buildings littered across my area (and I'm sure other cities in the US as well) These buildings are often an eyesore and sometimes a public danger as kids and vandals use them for playgrounds.

Sometimes a business's loss can be your gain, but just be aware - liquidators are in the same scum category as spammers and telemarketers!

The Best Price In Town For A Ripoff: Bill Palmer now charges $1000+ an hour for a new LoadPod Service

Bill Palmer only hit the the tip of the iceberg when he called me a depraved lunatic a month back. Because what he forgot to mention was that I am rubber and he is glue, and everyhing he says bounces off me and sticks to you know who.

He has a crazy new service charging $100 (for iPod Minis) and $150 (for regular iPods) where he will send "a LoadPod employee" to your home that will transfer all your iTunes to your new or restored computer.

I'm not quite sure what the difficulty level, that requires an extra $50.00 to transfer 4-6 Gigs of Data vs 20-30 Gigs of Data - maybe 4-6 minutes? The average iPod user has 2000 or less songs on their iPod or computer ... enough to fit the Mini. If their "regular iPod" has the same song count as a Mini - do they get charged the Mini rate? Besides, the Mini has a slower hard drive - it takes slightly longer to transfer 4GB of data on it vs a "regular iPod".

Let's see ... I just wiped my hard disk of the 5486 songs on it. I connected my iPod - in 7 minutes 40 seconds - all my music files were transferred back to my computer. I didn't have to do anything.

If your computer is already authorized for a particular iPod I hardly see what his service is all about. If it is not your iPod and you want the songs onto your computer, and you can't figure out that there are at least 25 programs at retail and available as freeware and shareware; then something is wrong with your head.

To deauthorize a computer, all you have to do is go to the "Advanced" menu in iTunes ... up to 3 computers can be authorized for any iPod. If you can't bring the original computer up to the desktop (Mac or PC) all you have to do is send Apple an email or call 1-800-SOS-APPL and they will reset it and all your downloads for you. The next time you connect to the iTunes Store you will be asked if you want a download of your old purchased library again.

There are also tons of tutorials to be found by searching Google where no software is needed. We are talking less than a 20 minute ordeal - even if you have to download software.

Let's see at 7 minutes 40 seconds that over $1000 an hour!

He's sure to be rich by the time he's 760 years old ... at a fool [cough cough] a customer a month.

From the press release at LoadPod/iPodGarage:

"LoadPod's iPod-to-computer service can also be used by those iPod users who have bought a new computer and don't have an easy method of moving their existing music to their new computer"

That's why the iPod is the number one MP3 player; dumbass - it's so easy; it practically does it by itself.

Also ... theres this disclaimer:

... there are no hidden charges of any kind.

Here's the hidden charge ... you find out you are a completely priceless idiot once you pay for this service.

A lot of details and delusions of Bill were previously covered here.

Lastly, look at this press release written by Bill Palmer that was on iPod Garage (a Bill Palmer site):

"LoadPod invented the iPod loading industry, and as the industry leader, we're proud to be the first and only company to offer this new service nationwide," said Bill Palmer, LoadPod's President and Founder.

I'll bring this up again ... If he invented the iPod Loading Industry - why wasn't he mentioned in the top 10 in the June issue of Popular Mechanics?

You know, I had actually backpedaled about Bill privately to some of my friends. I think LoadPod is a great idea - if offered as part of a business. It's not something to offer as a true "employee" compensation package or as a standalone product. I had thought it was such a good idea I was planning to do a similar offer, but after really looking into it - I saw no money and no potential. I will just do it - if a customer asked me to.

Bill has finally proven to all of us - he's just in it for the money.

Apple Loses What They Have Gained, But Really Lost Nothing At All [UPDATED]

As reported by Engadget:

... after three years of working to obtain a patent on the iPod software interface, Apple’s application was rejected by the US Patent and Trademark Office. Apparently, primary inventors Steve Jobs and Apple VP Jeff Robbin were beaten to the punch by one John Platt, who submitted a similar software design patent application in May of 2002, five months prior to Apple’s. Platt’s application describes an interface that “generates playlists for a library collection of media items via selecting a plurality of seed items, at least one which is an undesirable seed item”

The interesting thing is John Platt - the patent holder - works for Microsoft.

But, I really don't see that Platt's patent is related. Nor is the rejection a Final Rejection.

Truthfully, I would contend that audio files are simply that - files not media which this patent covers. Platt's appliaction was also not designed specifically for portable MP3 players.

Apple has come a long way with the iPod ... and I don't really see the necessity of a patent on the interface, because that's not what sells iPods.

These reasons sell iPods:

- Apple users had it first - Apple people are just cooler and windows counterparts had to have one

- Apple buyers are loyal and have a very unique hype machine on the internet

- The name iPod is just as popular if not moreso than Apple, Coca Cola, eBay, or Walmart

- The number of accessories - translating into support

- The number of sales locations - translating into support

The website MacsOnly has some good reporting about this patent issue:

John C. Platt. Mr. Platt is formerly of Synaptics, the former Apple trackpad maker, and now working at Microsoft. Unfortunately, AppleInsider did not get it precisely correct even though they appear to have read the applications but that doesn't excuse the subsequent wild deviations ...

...

Apple Refunds What Shouldn'tve Been Charged In The 1st Place

...

CBC in Canada reports:

Apple to give levy back to iPod owners

Mon, 08 Aug 2005

Music lovers who paid extra for their iPods because of a levy will soon be able to get their money back, Apple Canada announced Monday.

"Apple is pleased that the Supreme Court of Canada let stand a lower court ruling that blank media levies on iPods are invalid, and will shortly announce a claims process so consumers can request a refund for the levies they paid," Apple said in a press release.

This tax never should have been charged in the first place. It was specifically targetted at the iPod and an unfair tax. The iPod is not a luxury item. Many that justified this tax - compared it to the luxury tax on automoblies.

What about people like me that rarely listen to music on their iPod? I use it (almost) solely as a small bootable firewire hard drive for technical purposes. Why should I have been made to pay a "music tax" for something I don't use for music? Also, I would consider every laptop to be just the same - why were laptops excluded? My guess: someone who doesn't like Apple in Canada had a lobby friend in the Canadian government.

...

SuperDrives Not So Super?

"After purchasing 2 new Apple machines (a 12" PowerBook and a 1.42Ghz Mac Mini) with SuperDrives I was all excited. As time went on, the excitement faded with frustration as faulty firmware on the drive made it very picky about the media used. 90% of the media I had tried on this drive will detect as 2x media - nowhere close to the advertised burn speed (8x and 4x respectively)."

Apple has done very well at denying that there is an issue with these drives, however there is mounting evidence that these drives are well and truly crippled by the Apple shipped firmware. After discussing these issues with the manufacturer of the MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-835E drive, it became clear that this was caused by problems with Apple supplied firmware.

On the Apple discussion forums, there is a thread detailing the exact problems with more than 300 replies - many of these mirroring the frustrations of not being able to burn anywhere near the quoted specs of the devices purchased. I have now setup a petition that people may sign to collect something that cannot be ignored by Apple. Please point people who are having this issue to:

http://superdrive.crc.id.au

I shall be presenting this issue to Apple's Australian managers again in the near future, and would like this issue to be resolved by Apple by then. I can be contacted on the details for any questions you may need answering. (see linked page for email contact link)

I'll let all that speak for itself ... I have had this same issue with an iMac G5 Superdrive as it is the same type of notebook form factor drive found in PowerBooks and the Mac Mini.

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This Mouse Changed My Life: About Testimonials & Product Rating In The Mac Market Place

Movies companies do it all the time. You see the big white words flash onto the screen and zoom and pan over the words:

Usually the review is by some unknown critic from a local newspaper in the director's hometown.

Third party Apple product reviews and product sales hype are pretty much the same way.

You can't take anything said about 3rd party addons and peripherals seriously unless concrete facts are provided and actual sales figure testimoinials are given.

With all the bad press Jack Campbell gets on the internet - which is his largest sales medium - it's hard for me to believe he is the number one seller for any product he sells in any category he serves.

Yet, this doesn't stop him from making blind, no faith statements like this recently on his BLOG:

Both our USB and BT mice outsell every other inidividual brand/model of USB/BT mouse in the independent Apple Reseller stores that stock and display our products. Since the folks at Apple don't particularly like me, and, I won't give the expected 70%+ discounts that the big-box stores want, we pretty much sell everything through several hundred neighboirhood independent Apple resellers (and a few smaller online shops). In those stroes, our mice rule. I dount that the DVForge or MacMice products will ever be in Apple Retail, Best Buy, CompUSA, etc., as I just don't feel like making the same silly compromise so many other manufacturers make to get stocked in those stores: basically, to give away the products at or below cost.

"Both our USB and BT mice outsell every other inidividual brand/model of USB/BT mouse in the independent Apple Reseller stores that stock and display our products."

Of course this is a backpedal clarification of this statement he had made in a previous BLOG entry:

"I actually use Apple 1-button mice on all of my personal Macs, despite having the number one selling USB and Bluetooth multi-buttonmice in my own product line."

Now there is a testimonial - the owner of the company doesn't even use his own products!

Smalldog used to carry DVForge products and discontinued them.

They actually dropped reselling DVforge and MacMice. So did MacZone. So did MacConnection. So did MacWarehouse.

MegaMacs sells DVForge products, but I guess Jack is saying he outsells their entire inventory here:

3btn optical mouse usb/psw/scroll wheel 6ft cord
3Button Optical Mouse
ADB Mouse II (Apple)
Adesso PowerScroll Illuminated Mini Mouse
Apple Pro Mouse -White, NO Box
Apple Pro Mouse - Black Used
Apple Wireless Mouse
CompuCable USB Mouse
Interex ADB Ergo Mouse
Interex ADB Plain Mouse
Iridio Optical Mouse
Kensington Mouse in a Box USB/ADB
Kensington PilotMouse Optical
Kensington PilotMouse Optical Pro
Kensington PilotMouse Optical Pro Wireless
Kensington PocketMouse Mini Wireless
Kensington Studio Mouse for Mac
Kensington Studio Mouse Wireless
Kensington Studio Mouse Wireless
Logitech Cordless Click! Plus Optical Mouse
Logitech Cordless Mouse
Logitech Cordless Mouse
Logitech Cordless MouseMan Optical Mouse
Logitech Cordless Optical Mouse
Logitech Mini Optical Mouse
Logitech MX 500 Optical Mouse
Logitech MX 700 Optical Wireless Mouse
Logitech Optical Notebook Mouse Plus USB 10 Pack
Logitech Optical Notebook Mouse Plus USB
Logitech Wheel Mouse Optical SE:Black
Macally 1 Button ADB Mouse
Macally iMouse Jr
Macally iOpti Jr
Macally iOptinet USB internet Mouse
MacSense iCatch mouse adapter
Macsense USB AeroMouse 2 button Wireless Mouse
Memorex Cordless Optical Scroll Mouse
Mini Optical Mouse with Scroll Wheel Mouse
PageWalker ScrollMouse
PageWalker ScrollMouse
UnoMouse 1-btn USB mouse
USB 3-Button PowerScroll Mouse
USB PowerScroll Black

And yes, ADB mice count too - because there are a lot of ADB Macs still on the market. A lot of those Macs have USB cards in them, but people will still opt for USB to PS2 adapters and ADB Mice. I know a lot of people that use iMates with ADB Mice on USB Macs.

Why don't people like Jack get an actual statement from a distributor? List actual distributors that sell the product - where; if we wanted to, verify it. If DVForge is the #1 in their business - Jack should be happy to name them and they should be MORE than happy to give Jack that statement as a testimonial. Or, do the people that sell MacMice/DVForge products not want to be associated with the truths that are around the internet that MacMice products are subpar and stolen intellectual property?

Be wary of any review or product hype in the Mac Universe - often the reviewers over state and review products that have simplistic functionality, just to get into Google searches and to get free product samples. A lot of small website owners get in products to review just so they can resell the products to others immediately following the review. They hand out favorable and overly detailed reviews so the product manufacturer will send them future products to review!

"IT IS A SOURCE OF INCOME FOR MANY SMALL MAC WEBSITES!"

Really, how much can one say about a mouse - unless it has revolutionary functionality or design such as Apple's Mighty Mouse? How much can one say about an iPod case in a review? Apparently, people like Bill Palmer can write 10-15 paragraphs about any iPod case ... and since he reviews 2-5 every week - I'm sure he keeps his pockets lined when he resells them after the review.

The blind testimonial should be looked at with scrutiny. A good review will give you pros and cons. If there aren't any cons, then the product wasn't worthy of a review. If the product is simplistic in nature, the only pro can be price and availability - and therefore - also unworthy of review.

Where have you found the best unbiased reviews for Apple peripherals from 3rd parties?

JackLooks: Problems With Tiger [UPDATED]

Today's JackLook covers Tiger.

I haven't been recommending Tiger to any of my clients because up until 10.4.2, it was just too buggy.

A number of my clients have been installing it, and so far, it's been a nightmare to support.

I have had 3 clients come into my store not being able to install Tiger at all.

One customer, I isolated as a memory issue. It seems certain versions of the Mac OS have had problems with memory before. Many who upgradedc from OS 9 to OSX found that their memory may not have worked. I always recommend that you have all the same memory in your Mac for best performance.

For instance:

Use (4) 333 DDR 3200 DIMMs from Kingston - all double sided - same capacity

Rather than a mix of single sided, 512MB, 256MB, 128MB and PC 2700 & PC 3200 from PNY, Kingston, Crucial, or even Apple's own Samsung and Hyundai memory



It appears as if Tiger likes completely optimized, up to date machines. It installed perfectly onto my PowerBook.

My main machine is a PowerBook G3 Pismo - upgraded to a 550Mhz G4, a 7200RPM 2.5" notebook hard drive, a slot load DVD-R/CDRW, with 1GB of PC133 SODIMM memory. I have modded the Powerbook to have internal bluetooth and Airport Extreme wireless.

I was a little worried about installing it on my PowerBook because of the various reports I had read on XLR8YourMac.com and the fact that I have my PowerBook so heavily modded.

One problem I potentially faced; was my Motorola 802.11g card possibly no longer being recognized. Reports around the web showed that previously supported cards with a broadcom chipset no longer worked. I have not experienced this problem; yet.

I've dealt with the following problems:

A number of my clients use hi end audio cards in their Macs - this page gave a little assistance for MAudio equipment

As for MOTU Cards with breakout boxes - they seem to work better in Tiger

The ethernet adapter (that I mentioned in last week's JackLooks) that I sell no longer being recognized - drivers were made a few weeks back.

Tiger not installing at all or having problems installing.

I have discovered that just about the only way to solve this problem is to use Alsoft Diskwarrior BEFORE installing Tiger. After using it, all the installations that were problematic went off without a hitch.

I also found it helpful to be within reach of a broadband connection to update. 10.4.2 is imperitive to have. So, if you don't have broadband, make sure you get an Apple Service "person" in to perform the update for you as soon as possible.

There are FOUR real pains to deal with all Tiger installs:

1) Importing your mailboxes into the new mail application.

- If this is hanging on you or taking too long; go to Library/Mail/Mailboxes and remove all the mailboxes, just drag and drop them one by one onto the mailbox column on the right hand side.

2) Waiting for Spotlight to index your whole hard drive

- There's really nothing you can do to stop this - and if there was a way - you wouldn't want to. This is an important core functionality of Mac OS X Tiger. Just be patient. I have found that logging in as root seems to speed the process up. 2-6 hours is common - so be patient.

3) The localization files in OSX Tiger are not as easily removed as in previous versions of 10.

- I use a program called Delocalizer. The forum at VersionTracker say it works with Tiger. So far, all I have seen it remove is about 4MB of space. There is still almost a GB of localization files on my hard drive.

4) Dashboard is a resource and memory hog. It can actually slow your system down. I have it off on my my main machine; my PowerBook. One day, when I move to a faster system, I will most likely try to use it again.

- Dashboard does not have an easy to way to turn it off, so I use this Applescript to turn it off easily. You can place this in the startup items folder to launch at startup if you like. You should see a noticeable increase in speed after you turn dashboard off if you don't have a lot of memory or a lower end G4.

Overall, Tiger is much faster than Panther and especially Jaguar. It's well worth the upgrade. I am particularly pleased with the stability of the Mail program.

Tiger is the first operating system that requires onboard firewire for installation. You must have a machine that came with a firewire port before installing! It doesn't actually use the firewire port to install, it's just a requirement. This basically means any Mac 350Mhz and faster; except the Bondi Blue slot load iMac from 2000. (It only had USB - no firewire)

[Update] Here is another tidbit I found from MacFixIt.com:

You can repair the disk while booted in single user mode if you do not have access to a retail Mac OS X 10.4.x (Tiger) DVD/CD. To startup in single user mode, hold down the "Command" and "S" keys simultaneously at startup. Once properly booted, type the command fsck at the prompt. Repeat these process until no errors appear.

Remove Adobe Version Cue to resolve some startup/shutdown issues As aforementioned, third party utilities can often play a role in startup/shutdown issues. It appears that in some cases, the Version Cue component of Adobe's CS (creative suite) 2 package interferes with startup and shutdown of Mac OS X 10.4.2 systems.

If you are experiencing these issues, you may want to try removing the Adobe Version Cue software.

Again, if the problem is so severe that you cannot properly startup your Mac normally, you may need to boot in Safe mode.

Once booted, the first choice for removing the Version Cue software is to use the Uninstaller application located in the Adobe Version Cue folder within your Applications folder. Failing that, you may need to manually remove Version Cue. In order to do so, delete the following files/folders:

Adobe Version Cue folder from the Applications folder
VersionCueCS2.prefPane folder from the Library/PreferencePanes folder.
com.adobe.versioncueCS2.plist file from the Library/Preferences folder.
AdobeVersionCueCS2 folder from the Library/StartupItems folder.

Tax Free Weekend

It's that time again ... back to school.

Many states now offer weekends where certain back to school items (including computers) are tax free.

This is a great opportunity to get a Mac at a fraction less.

My state tax holiday is this weekend. (South Carolina)

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The Applause Sign Is Blinking (Again)

Back in March of 2005, Jackwhispers brought you an article called: The Applause Sign Is Blinking

This article covered 3 innovative and creative Apple retail ventures that were unique and against the grain of usual copy cats.

Jackwhispers is often criticized as being an overly editorialized and dramatized site that is mostly filled with complaints. Ok, thanks. But from time to time, I have to admit, some things just have to be praised. Here are 3 things in the Apple Community that I feel deserve some applause at the moment:

1) Griffin RadioShark: This product has to be one of the most useful and innovative to come from a third party in years. It is an AM/FM Radio for the Mac and PC that offers recording and live pausing It has especially come in to it's own value with the recent release of new software and Tiger Dashboard Widgets to control it.



2) iPod Baby Clothing I have seen several babies with this clothing on and I am wondering if there is anyone else out there that is capitalizing on it ???


3) Podbrix I mentioned this venture the last go around, but I have to continue the praise for this unique and simplistic approach for an artist to make money in the Apple Retail Universe. A limited edition Woz goes on sale at 3PM EST today.

New Wikipedia Entry: Debacle: See also Henrico County

As reported by The Unoffocial Apple Weblog

Last week, it was reported that the Henrico County Public School system in Virginia was dumping iBooks for $50 each. Many of you made clear your plans to try for one, some of you even stating you were planning to drive from miles and miles away just to get a shot.

Turns out that's not such a bright idea, folks. As many readers pointed out, these iBooks are low-end 500MHz G3 models and they've been used and abused by high-school students for a whole year. Local technicians familiar with these machines have even chimed in to say that most of the 1000 iBooks being sold have logic board problems or worse. In other words, $50 for the iBook and another $50 in gas and tolls, for argument's sake, and you're probably already losing money. Any hopes you had of profiting on eBay should have been dashed when you saw that there was a one iBook per person limit - even if you live locally. More after the jump...

And now, of course, we've all drawn so much attention to this event that the residents and taxpayers of Henrico County are mad as hell and they are not going to take it anymore. That's right... they've called an emergency meeting to try to change the terms of the sale of the "I-books" so that only Henrico residents are elligible to purchase them, or at the very least get the right of first refusal on them.

According to a local news station, "it's expected that Henrico supervisors will hold a meeting Wednesday and vote on an emergency ordinance that will allow the county to offer the computers to Henrico residents first." Readers of the Richmond Times-Dispatch have quite a bit to say about this too.

Turns out, the emergency motion was granted ... so now ONLY Henrico County residents can participate in the sale. If I were a resident of Virginia and had a trip planned ... I might consider suing the school district. I would have planned for 4 people to go with me so I could have valuable iBook parts for my repair inventory and eBay sales.

I would really like to see the serial number range of these iBooks posted online. It would be interesting to see how many of the "residents" getting an iBook are actually just gaining power seller status next month on eBay!

Does a woman with 2 month old baby twins in a stroller get three? They are residents of Henrico County, but hardly taxpayers. If one looks at it from a certain perspective - a woman in this situation is actually costing the school district more because she is getting tax credits and maternity leave.

The whole "redecision" oozes "insider" at the school district.

Honestly, I think it should be limited to one per household. A family of four could rake in $2000 (street value) from a $200 investment. The Unofficial Apple Weblog obviously doesn't sell on eBay ... a chop shopped iBook 500 can fetch as high as $900.00 and just outright as high as $550 (as these iBooks are configured).

The Unofficial Apple Weblog also doesn't understand Mac Enthusiasts ... some would go, just to go and have fun ... that's what the majority of people are doing when they attend Apple Store Grand Openings and even Macworld Expos. It's a brotherhood and sisterhood ... not a logical gathering.

And people saying this sale should be exclusive to Henrico residents because of tax - you're fooling yourself - ALL public education is partially funded by national funds and grants. And if it's not at a particular school district - it just means funds were shifted from somewhere else.

And Henrico County ... you have NO TOURISTS? If I visited from South Carolina ... I pay your "taxes" too!

Only 17 Days since the last ...

...knockoff, that is!

As reported by Engadget:

Oh ho, so Luxpro is no longer the only game in town in the iPod shuffle knockoff department. The Morestar MP270 really just looks like a shuffle with a 7 color 128x32 screen tacked onto it, like the EZ Tangent but even more blatant. Interestingly, you can supposedly get it in capacities as low as 64MB, which seems a little ridiculous but hey, it’s bound to be dirt cheap. It’s doing MP3 and WMA support, comes with an FM radio and recorder, voice recorder, 12-hour battery life and transfer via USB2.0.

More later to see if Apple follows up on this one ...

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Jason O Grady: Why he doesn't run YOUR marketing department

I used to love O'Grady's PowerPage. It's where I got my start on the internet with Macs beyond Apple.com and eBay. I loved the people in the forums; they were friendly and very helpful.

Over the years, the PowerPage has gone through many changes. Over the last two years, it's gone completely sour. Jason O'Grady is now an out of touch, insensitive, arrogant prick. He joins the growing list of Dvorak clones that publish articles on their site, just to get hits, rather than come up with original content. He has eliminated forums and comments on his site, mostly due to the number of scathing comments he receives. He is from the same generation of late 20 to early 30 somethings on the internet that think they have a valuable opinion just because they have a successful webpage. (Oh whoops, I fall into that crowd too.)

Here's his latest "O'Grady's Out Of Touch" column:

It's Been 15 Years: Time to Dump the Term "PowerBook"

02 August 2005 07:00 EST
Jason D. O'Grady
From the Opinion Dept.

The venerable PowerBook has been with us since 1991 when Apple released the PowerBook 100...

The article discusses how Apple should drop the name "PowerBook". I love the name. It exudes ... well ... POWER. It states a level above the iBook. The iBook is for people who want a Mac laptop. The PowerBook is for people that want Power!

It was one of the most genius naming schemes Apple has ever come up with and honestly I think separates it from the PC notebook world; by name alone.

Two ironic notes:

Ironic that The PowerPage would want to drop the name PowerBook The site was initially focused on the PowerBook. And the site name implies that.

The PowerBook was introduced in October of 1991 - It is now August 2005. It hasn't even been 14 years yet. Jason obviously needs a remedial math course. But, I've pointed that out previously when he celebrated a 8 year anniversary.

[OUTDATED PIC LINK]

This picture* indicates 9 years (1995-2004) and I pointed this out in 2005 which would have made it a 10 year anniversary; not an 8 year anniversary. [This graphic has changed since my original story, but visit The PowerPage and see if you can still notice a mistake in this same page header. You can also do a google cache of the site to see that the picture above was accurate three months ago.

Remember; FIXYOURTHINKING brought you EXCLUSIVE content - illustrating Jason O Grady and a connection to Nick Ciarelli of Think Secret and how this connection may shed some light on the Apple lawsuit against both Think Secret and O'Grady's PowerPage.

[UPDATE] He may have been right (Apple DID change the name) but that the name PowerBook is still better than MacBook - even though the name MacBook has kinda grown on me.

We Speak; Apple Listens (but only for two days this year)

Two arguments about Apple that the PC Crowd have had since the late 90's are:

• Apple processors are slower - because Megahertz means Power

• Apple Mice only have one button and no scroll

Well, today Apple has officially quelled the complainers.

Apple is taking care of the Megahertz Myth by going to Intel Processors

And now Apple has officially introduced a 4 button, programmable, scroll mouse.

It is very innovative and I applaud Apple for keeping it simplistic and retro.

You can also switch the button configuration for left or right handed! It feels the same in both hands!

People who like the one button will not notice any difference, but people who want scroll and extra buttons now have it.

Expect a bluetooth version to follow soon.

[UPDATE] Bluetooth Apple Mouse released

See more about the new Apple Mouse called Mighty Mouse: here

MR. DRM meet MR. CPU: A Second Look At Apple's Processor Plans

Many who said that Apple didn't choose INTEL because of the DRM issue - may have been wrong afterall ... this further propogates my theory on control of the processor by Apple and as a means of possibly selling Apple branded Upgrade processors:

From Slashdot:

Apple: Mac OS X Intel Kernel Uses DRM

Monday August 01, @01:07AM

from the folks-are-surprised-about-this-why-exactly? dept.

An anonymous reader submits "Several people have discovered that the new Intel kernel Apple has included with the Developer Kit DVD uses TCPA/TPM DRM. More specifically, it includes "a TCPA/Palladium implementation that uses a Infineon 1.1 chip which will prevent certain parts of the OS from working unless authorized."

One other thought I've had since the Intel announcement that relates loosely to the topic at hand... what if Apple also plans to, even more aggressively, catch PC makers for copycatting Apple hardware design? PC Makers can no longer claim, "The biggest difference is that the Mac runs on PowerPC and the PC in question runs on Intel" Note the following:


Click on the image to read more about this MacMini Clone


See Jackwhispers previous article: Maybe it wasn't IBM or Motorola's fault - but maybe it was - How Apple May Have Planned To Get Into The Processor Upgrade Business

Also see the June 2005 Archive for related stories.

The Mac Website Equivalent To Crack Cocaine: 2 Guys, A Mac, & A Website

Screenshot of 2 Guys Website - down on August 1 2005


I've been wanting to do a story for some time on another Bill Palmer venture/association: The Two Guys, A Mac, and A Website website.

This is the oddest, most idiotic site I believe I have ever come across. No seriously.

Nonsense sayings, such as "200% more fishsticks" litter the site.

Interestingly, the site was registered by James Monahan ( found by checking the site's whois record ). He pretended to be a Bill Palmer supporter in the forums in this BLOG and often makes comments in the forums on Bill's iPod Garage site - which of course gives the illusion of interest. The site is registered to an address in Ohio, so one can only assume that this James Monahan is the friend Bill speaks of in his latest BillPalmer.net blog entry.



Here's an interview I found (through Google) at SpyMac:

Around Town: 2 Guys, a Mac, and a Website
10/01/2004 17:00 | Kristie Masuda

2 Guys, a Mac, and a Website (2GAMAAW) is different from other Macintosh sites; it is "not a news site, not really an opinion site," but its informative, nonetheless.

"2GAMAAW is just a fun thing we do in our spare time. The site is hosted off of my Power Mac G4 on a cable connection, and because of that we have a low overhead. It wasn't until recently that we decided to put ads and a store on 2GAMAAW, and that was only in the hopes of making enough money to put the site on a real server. The site has never been about making money, and truth be told, the ads generate barely any revenue at all, so the site is still hosted off my home computer." Ken from 2 Guys, a Mac, and a Website told Spymac. "We are so passionate about the Macintosh [and] are just a group of Mac users who just like helping other Mac users, and promoting the Macintosh. But above all else, we are just a group of Mac users who like having fun. Most of our articles have a light tone to them, and I think I would have a hard time finding very many articles that didn't have at least one joke in them. After all, bad jokes are still jokes, right?"

One way Bill uses his friends at the 2 Guys Website; is to get links on sites that won't advertise his LoadPoad or iPodGarage links - for instance AppleXNet.com. It seems that this site also shares advertisers with Palmer's other sites. There is no way I would want to be associated with a site like this.

And just as a note ... I verified with Charter Cable (not sure which cable company 2 Guys uses) - you are not allowed to host commercial venture websites from cable modems. Chater does not allow BLOGS to exceed 10GB of bandwidth or to run CGI script.



Here is an example of a recent column at 2 Guys - judge for yourself:

During the past year I have been on a secret mission for the 2guys Crew living on the street posing as a homeless man following Cosmic Stan. Stan has led me through many different cities in many different States.

One thing I have found amazing for a homeless person is that Stan always seems to find a way to come in to large sums of money, Almost every day he can be seen using an ATM machine then heading to the local Strip club for hours.

The rest of the story, which I will save you from, is even worse and eventually moves to poorly grammared garble; where words don't even fit next to each other.

The lesson here is: Be careful who you advertise yourself with and be cautious of who your advertisers support. The association may put you in an awkward position.

[UPDATE] The Two Guys website is back up. Picture above is an actual screenshot of the frontapge as it stood for two days. The site itself has not been updated (other than to fix the bug as shown above) for 4 days now.

Of course all of this comes after last week's announcement to make more frequent updates.

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