- Oops, you just spilled Quechup on your pants
- Geek Week: XP's not sacked, iPhone dev kit hacked
- A Fool's Paradise
- So long and thanks for all the dish
- Geek Week: E-voting experts and nymphomaniacs wanted, inquire within
- Smoking guns and broken voting machines
- Sequoia and e-voting: The best government money can buy
- Geek Week: Google Wireless, Vista SP1, and other thought crimes
- Scientology, The China Syndrome, and my wiki ways
- Diamonds are a CEO's best friend
June 29, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Geek week in review
Wait, don't tell me. Something big is happening today, but I can't seem to put my finger on it. Hmmm... what could it be?
iPhone, therefore I am. Whatever you think of Steve Jobs (saint or sinner, macher or mensch) you have to admire how the man has played the media to perfection. The selling of the iPhone is high tech's most masterful marketing campaign since the introduction of Windows 95 – and Apple didn't have to pay the Stones $12 million or hire Jay Leno. One measure of the insanity: more than 4,000 iPhone-related domains have been registered this year, and another 4,000 are expected. One optimistic eBayer is auctioning off iphone-usa.com for a starting bid of $25K. And who knows, he might even get it. The stupidity is only just starting.
Don't Stop Believin'. Microsoft has released a “fact pack” to its OEM partners, serving up tasty talking points to convince customers not to wait for Service Pack 1 before eating the Vista enchillada. Among the fun facts: Vista has suffered fewer security vulnerabilities than XP did in its first 90 days. (Also, it goes really well with guacamole.) Meanwhile, the top two questions asked of Microsoft's UK licensing team are slight variations on "Can we downgrade to XP now?" and "How do we downgrade again?" Somewhere in Redmond, a chief executive's desk is tumbling to the earth.
Who gives a Chivas? Because the Internet just isn't commercial enough, Chivas Regal and MSN have launched a new channel where you can watch Flash videos of “Chivas Life Ambassadors” cavorting on catamarans with buxom bimbos. It's kind of like The Playboy Channel without the sex, nudity, or pipe-smoking octogenarians. This is apparently parent company Pernod Ricard's attempt to prove Chivas is not just for fat stogie-smoking businessmen from Des Moines. If the Chivas marketing mavens really wanted to prove they were 'down with the kids', they shouldn't have picked MSN.
Soft cell. After serving a smidge more than half of her 45-day sentence, Paris Hilton is now free to get herself arrested again. Frankly, I'm disappointed – I had two more weeks of Paris in Prison jokes ready to go. There is no truth to the rumor, however, that the sobriety-challenged heiress got her sentence commuted so she could wait in line for an iPhone. She has people for that.
Would you stand in line for an iPhone? Tell your story below or email me here. Top tipsters may receive a bag for storing their most prized possessions.
Posted by Robert X. Cringely on June 29, 2007 07:57 AM
RATE THIS ARTICLE:
-
- COMMENTS
Would I stand in line for an iPhone? Well, let's just say I have yet to get a cell phone of any kind. As long as there is a Cell Plan attached I'll stay away. Once wireless Internet access is as ubiquitous as cell phone coverage and hopefully is net neutral I'll consider an access device that include a soft voip phone. Yeah. I know. I'll be waiting a long time.
Posted by: Earl Shannon at July 2, 2007 12:51 PMApparently someone didn't like the ebay you mentioned, as it has been pulled.
Anyone want to guess that Apple had it pulled for copyright?
