Full of sound and furry
Continued look at the dumb things people are saying about Steve Jobs.
This week’s Macworld column looks at the continued aftermath of Steve Jobs’ resignation. Because people continue to say dumb things about it. Oh, and Paul Thurrott is annoyed by you all.
Silly pundits still saying dumb things about Apple no matter who’s in charge.
This week’s Macworld column posits that in these confusing times of change it’s nice to have something familiar, even if it’s that people always will say stupid things about Apple.
Wow.
Al Qaeda Inc. might suffer some initial setbacks from Osama bin Laden’s death, but so did Apple Inc. when shares dropped over rumors of Steve Jobs’ illness. But it did not take long to realize that Jobs has established a highly functional corporation, and the shares bounced back.
Drug trafficking, kidnapping fund al Qaeda (tip o’ the antlers to Dan Frakes)
It does.
(tip o’ the antlers to Rod Knowlton)
Terrific.
Update: As Matt Drance points out, you can donate to the It Gets Better project here.
Link to an opinion piece on reporting about Jobs’ health.
I totally understand that living in the public spotlight means that privacy sometimes is difficult to come by. I really do understand that. But there are still lines. While I find it distasteful, I get that the Mac Rumors and Apple Insider teams feels compelled to report that Jobs has been seen at a cancer treatment clinic.
However, linking to stories about how long someone has left to live is a different thing entirely — and is way over the line. Gizmodo, 9 to 5 Mac, Cult of Mac and others all crossed that line today.
Nice piece by Stephen M. Hackett (tip o’ the antlers to Jeff Carlson).
Who’s business is it?
Steve Jobs takes a leave, the Google exec shuffle and mind your own beeswax, Gawker, all in this week’s Macworld column.
Apple or China?
One presumes that Don Tennant would conclude that Apple’s emphasis on maintaining high margins is the reason child labor has been found to have been used by the Chinese companies that supply it, Dell, HP, Lenovo and other computer makers.
Couldn’t be China’s fault.
OK, there’s bitching and then there’s primo grade-A bitching.
Macworld Already a Bummer, With or Without Apple.
“Worst. Macworld. Ever.†said one attendee after the Tuesday keynote. “This sucks.â€
This displays little more than a lack of proper historical perspective. Gil Amelio ring any bells? Please, let’s not review the tape, people. It could get ugly.
It also displays a lack of proper verbiage. More correctly, the attendee should have said “Worst. Macworld. Expo. Keynote. Ever.” as he or she could not have been to the showroom floor yet.
Also, there’s all the drinking. We’re not nearly done with that.
This year’s keynote was an epic yawner.
Personally, while the keynote obviously lacked the big announcements of recent years, the Macalope found the iLife demonstration to be awesome, and the crowd seemed to agree.
No new iPhone.
Please. No serious analyst thought there would be a new iPhone.
No new iPod.
iPod? Nobody at all thought there would be new iPods.
No new iMac, and — despite lots of pre-show hype, rumor and buzz — no new Mac Mini.
Yes. A bunch of people thought there might be a new Mini and maybe a new iMac. But did Apple in any way shape or form lead anyone to believe there would be? No. This kind of sentence construction is designed to make you think that it’s somehow a failure on Apple’s part that they didn’t deliver an iMac or a Mini. It’s not.
You can be disappointed that Apple didn’t announce more (and, don’t be mistaken, the Macalope is) but you’re just being a tool if you’re claiming to be disappointed because Apple didn’t announce specific items “everyone said they were going to announce”.
The keynote also ended with a thinly veiled insult: Tony Bennett singing “I Left My Heart in San Francisco†— surely a goodbye middle finger to International Data Group, which owns Macworld Expo.
Of course it seems to be a middle finger if you’re the kind of person who sees everything through the prism of motives that appeal to your high-school Heathers mentality. The horny one actually thought it was a nice send-off.
Was it a great keynote? Well, no. Phil Schiller actually did a great job delivering it. Has anyone watched CEOs from other companies? They’d be lucky to have their keynotes delivered by Schiller, let alone Jobs. Apple followers are spoiled.
The problem is he just didn’t have that much to announce. But expecting pie-in-sky items like new iPhones and iPods is just jackassery in the third degree.
The Macalope will have some more thoughts on the keynote in his piece for Macworld on Thursday.
ADDENDUM: The Macalope, while not shy about profanity, doesn’t usually point it directly at a silly pundit, but in this case he’s going to make an exception for this:
Topping it off was Tony Bennett, who came onstage and belted out a couple of songs nobody under 60 knows.
Well, a pleasant fuck you to you, Mathew. The Macalope is well below 60 and was utterly thrilled to see a legend like Tony Bennett singing classic songs. Unless you go to Vegas frequently, this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see someone whose name will go down in history as one of the greatest performers. And so far everyone the Macalope’s talked to has raved about it.
Don’t be a dick.
BusinessWeek’s Peter Burrows jumps on Jobs’ health right out of the gate. Maybe Jobs is sick, maybe he isn’t. The truth of the matter is that Macworld just doesn’t make sense for Apple anymore. Burrows doesn’t get it.
Here we have a company with $27 billion in the bank, that gets massive, global exposure from a talk that rarely lasts two hours. If Apple can’t see the ROI in Macworld, what company can justify the tradeshow bill?
Apple gets “massive, global exposure” when it sneezes. They’re the perfect example of a company that doesn’t need a trade show. Why go to all this trouble when all people have to do to learn more about your products is wander into one of your stores or open up a newspaper?
It’s still a sad moment for the Macalope. Macworld has been the place to get to know other Applephiles for 20 years. He won’t miss the conference, but he will miss the partying.