iPhoney

I don't know what is up with the blogger today, but i had a lovely rant written and then it lost it!

My rant was about Apple head honcho Steve Jobs unveiling this




Below is the email conversation i had with my boss:

From: Insano
Sent: 11 January 2007 16:12
To: Salivating Boss
Subject: RE: come and pick up my comments on copy and....

Did you notice the message at the bottom of the webpage - This device has not been authorized as required by the rules of the Federal Communications Commission. This device is not, and may not be, offered for sale or lease, or sold or leased, until authorization is obtained.
They say it’ll be available at the end of 2007 in Europe/UK.
Checked out the tech specs – only 4G-8G? For music/pics/email memory – not enough.
They need to enlarge their memory before it’ll really take off. Many won’t want to part with their 80G iPods.
I’m going to hold out for the next Sony Ericsson generation.
Other than that, it’s a very slick presentation. Looks like it’ll take off. Good luck to them.


From: Salivating Boss
Sent: 11 January 2007 16:45
To: Insano
Subject: RE: come and pick up my comments on copy and....

You really are an anti-Apple cynic! 8Gb is enough for my top 20% of favourite music, I’d have it as well as my 80Gb ipod but instead of my phone – wouldn’t you?


From: Insano
Sent: 11 January 2007 17:00
To: Salivating Boss
Subject: RE: come and pick up my comments on copy and....

Apple is a minion if The Man. (that’s the liberal hippie in me).
I’ve done some more reading on the subject and boy, are the boys at Apple going to get flack!
What is the best thing about having an mp3 player in your phone? The fact that you can set your favourite song as your ringtone and message tone. The iPhone, due to iTunes licensing, cannot do that. And while you can buy tracks for a few pence, to buy the ringtone will cost $25.
It also doesn’t support third party software, so I foresee a problem with those who want to load Skype and Adobe reader onto their phone.
It’s also been network locked to one network in the states until 2009. This network doesn’t cover half of America. And in Europe? Think Virgin will grab it up? Or Vodafone?

The camera may be 2 Mega pixels, but does it have a zoom or flash function?

Come on. Who are they trying to market this to? The professional who needs internet capabilities and an easy to use phone who wants to look cool? Or to the next generation who want the multimedia functions? I know for a fact that my little sister, her friends and even I choose our phones based on their multimedia capabilities. We want to be able to record concerts clearly, have at least 10G of music to choose from and set the songs as our tones.

And I’m going to bet that within the first six months, at least a third of the phones purchased will be returned due to touch pad issues.

I rest my case.

Survival of the Hippest

I overslept this morning, causing me to get to work at 9:30am. Being South African, the working hours are still very bizarre. By the time I get down to working, it feels like I’ve lost half my day. Call me crazy, but I prefer starting work at 8:00am and going to 5:00pm. It gives you that extra hour in the evenings to get home or go to the pub and it doesn’t feel as late as it does when you work til after 6:00pm.
Then again, since the sun sets at 3:30pm already, it feels late by 2:00pm. Or maybe that’s just the sleep deprivation talking.

Anyway, while on the train this morning, I had a thought. Are people these days more concerned with their purpose/role in life than previous generations? If so, is it because we have more options than ever? Think about it. A few hundred yeas ago, your destiny was set. You’d marry young. Either be rich or poor, not travel very far or anywhere other thanthe village square and spend your life raising children and crops.
Now, we have so many options. Shall we work or study? Where should we do the above choice? Should we travel first? What career suits me? The list goes on and on. It doesn’t help when you end up having a pointless job that doesn’t really contribute to the overall well being of the population.
Like people who work for the tax man. I’m sure they end up hating themselves at the end of the day when they have to write letters to themselves reminding them that they owe their employers money.
And what about marketing people? (myself included). Whose life did we affect in a good way today with our irritating marketing emails and advertisements? Did we push a girl over the edge into an eating disorder with the latest Dior advert? Did we cause that five car pile up on the freeway because of the Victoria Secret billboard we put up next to it, distracting (naturally) male drivers? Did people really buy the lies we sell to them?

I watched The Day After Tomorrow the other day, and was struck by the same realisation as the Emmy Rossum character. In a natural disaster, I’d probably be the first person to die or be eaten or something. I don’t have natural disaster skills. Hell, I can’t even think of hunting an animal, nevermind the skinning and preparing etc. So I’ll have to survive on plants, but I can’t tell the difference between poison ivy and normal ivy.
My Brownie leader must be hanging her head in shame as I write this. I’m sure a natural disaster would be a great way to clear the world of unwanted elements and people, but I’d like to think that I’ll be likely to survive and have a skill to offer.

Maybe I should join the girl guides instead of an amateur theatre society. I can hardly see how knowing the full score to South Pacific will be beneficial when you’re hunting for food.
Essentially it boils down to this question – What kind of survivor are you? The ‘I’m barely surviving’ or the ‘I’m thriving’.

If any accountants say they’d be thriving, they’re lying.

Oh! And I’m going to tag everyone who come to visit to list their island soundtrack in the comments. I’m curious as to whose iPod I’d have to smash, I mean, borrow should we be stranded together.

A message FROM your iPod