Oh, remember back when. I'm not speaking to all of you at this point. Only folks like Rob and I. We who started our very first foray into the the cultural shift of home computing with our very first computer, back in 1992. An APPLE.
Back then Apple was just a very minor player - minuscule in fact. We might not have invested in a computer that had almost no software available for it had it not been for an award from an employer that was in the form of this tiny little lap top. This laptop was so small the HARD DRIVE was just 40 MB. I think I might have e-mail files with attachments that large!
This was when the Internet was new and e-mail with sophisticated attachments, Java script, pdf files, video blogs, hell - blogs themselves - none of those existed.
We liked our little apple. Grandpa rough was amazed at what it could do, and by comparison to today's computer in our home, it couldn't do squat. It essentially was a glorified word processor. But, we marveled none the less. As time passed we soon joined the throngs of consumers who flocked to technology shows (do they even have these anymore?) and perused isles of CompUSA (also out of existence) and shopped for computers. There was no "Apple store". Apple's share of the market was so small as to practically make it an 'underground' market.
You had to search to find the hard ware, and search equally hard to find compatible software. Our friends who had all only recent discovered home computing and the proliferation of the PC scratched their heads as we attempted to explain why we were reluctant to jump on this same band wagon. We liked our Apple. It was different, it was innovative it was "intuitive".
While our friends called us for technical assistance, most of which left us perplexed as it sounded like a different language - we wondered why everyone didn't have an Apple. They were so simple, they required none of this in depth, challenging-for-the-day installations and worse, de-installations and viruses were only just becoming a new scary idea.
Apples were immune.
Now, nearly 20 years later. Our wish has come true. Well, mostly. Not "everybody" has an Apple. But, one by one, we've seen friends and family convert to the way of thinking that embraces a product that is simpler, more intuitive to use, is genius in the area of multi-media manipulation and this was all before the advent of Itunes and the like. Companion products like iPods and iPhones and now the ill-named iPad, all have created a cascade and exponential effect that no one could have imagined.
So, now it's a different world. We all speak the same language when we talk about "apps" and "syncing". And, that's good. But, I'm wondering if the thing that I liked most about my apple, that intangible that I was never able to identify until now, has gone away.
That would be I was "unique".
I wasn't necessarily smarter than anybody. I wasn't a visionary, or a psychic. I wasn't a braniac or any other manner of genius that allowed me to float above anyone else, but -- I was different. I felt like I was part of a secret club that no one else knew about. We had a secret handshake.
In groups and discussions when folks were belaboring the challenges that came with home computing. The constant barrage of updates and outdates, incompatible peripherals, networking issues, crashes and rebuilt motherboards, and on-and-on. We sought out the members of the parties that didn't seem to be jumping in on the bitch-fest and we would meet eyes. We'd grin and know - that we had identified another one. A minority like we who knew we didn't experience most of these issues. We just had a computer that plugged in, with printers and other devices that also just plugged in and it all worked. No drama. No problem.
Those days are gone. At least the exclusive club part. And as a result, Apple is no better a company. It's now a behemoth that attempts to continue to capitalize and exploit it's "cult" status. Like it's still a secret club that cool people belong to. Um. Not so much. With half a million iPads alone sold in the first month, the numbers Apple moves in hardware is staggering.
It's more and more difficult for them to portray themselves as the picked-on underdog of the computing world. Their Rodney Dangerfield bit of not getting any 'respect' has worn thin.
I'm reminded of this now when my iPhone won't do a simple thing like send text messages to more than 10 people like my 3-generation-ago sanyo phone could do. Somehow when talking to the tech support people at apple, it's not the same friendly corner-store kind of experience it used to be.
In fact. I want to reach through the phone - grab the 20 something on the other end and scream, "I've been supporting this line of products and company since you were in diapers!!!". Somehow that wouldn't quite be satisfying though. Like Barbara Mandrell used to sing.. I was Apple, when Apple wasn't cool... (isn't that how that song goes?).
Now, if Apple could find a way to identify the TRUE Apple fans, the originals, and give those folks the same cult feeling they had when they pulled their first 40 MB hard drive lap tops out of the card board box in 1992. Now, that would be something.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Apple - Losing its Underdog Status
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
Friday, April 02, 2010
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Just Like Nascar - Make Em Wear Their Sponsors
Well, it's actually only been formalized. We've all known for sometime that corporations have been funding political campaigns for sometime. Whether we're talking about Unions or Churches, or formalized businesses, small or large, incorporated or LLC's. They all do it.
The Supreme Court decision which conveys this though as permissible might be a huge misstep for all Americans. Just at a time when we're on the precipice of another financial downturn, the court takes this step to further undermine our confidence in our financial system, our legal system, our political system and ultimately our country.
I say this because by formalizing the right of corporate America to pour (additional) money into political campaigns the power pendulum has further moved to corporations OVER individuals.
Think about that for just a moment. This is another step in our countries movement to provide corporations with the same rights as individual citizens.
While a corporation is made up of citizens who work and run it, it shouldn't be viewed as an entity with the right to life. Capitalism in fact demands that the death penalty be imposed on it if it doesn't meet up to it's obligations to serve its constituencies, customers and share holders.
After the most recent Supreme Court decision, the individual constituent, mom and pop America will never be able to walk into a congresspersons office and gain an audience that will hold as much weight as say, Apple, General Motors, or Chevron-America. Who's appointment would you cancel if you only had time for one?
No. Mom and Pop America are screwed. Even Political Action Committees and grass roots organizations will never hold the clout, financial, political, media as NBC, IBM or Exxon-America. The sad thing is - these corporations ARE Mom and Pop America. We've disguised it of course, with fancy financial schemes and offerings but where does the money for your 401k go? Well, right to Westinghouse, American Airlines and Shell Oil-America of course. In the form of mutual funds we all invest in these companies. They take our money, with the promise to grow it. By the time we retire, or so the theory goes, we have a nest egg to which to supplement our Social Security, which in itself isn't a guarantee of existing by the time many of us reach the age of retirement.
But what happens if the corporations squander all their money and go bust? Well, don't worry. Mom and Pop America will bail them out. Under fearful terms like "too big to fail" we couldn't possibly let all those investments go out the window. But, by giving corporations carte blanche to go ahead and squander that money on trying to buy influence, they have essentially given the green light to the erosion and ultimate destruction in the faith of the American financial system.
So, I give you my money over the years through my 401k and you squander it. That's ok. Now you'll take a bail out through my taxes. It appears, almost as I'm paying TWICE and never really have a guarantee of ever seeing a return. Because the typical American investor, not unlike the typical American voter is too disillusioned and to apathetic to actually follow the trail of money it's not likely AIG-America will ever be accountable for all that money. No, Wells Fargo-Americal will never really have to make a full account because now they've just purchased a chunk of where the real power lay, in the U.S. Legislature.
Do you really think they will regulate themselves to prevent themselves from gaining access to money and influence that would thwart their own re-elections? Far from it. They'll schmooze Macy's America and if it all comes crashing down, Mom and Pop America will just have to come up with the funds.
After all, Bank of America will be OK. So will the Insurance congolerates. The true catastrophe may lay ahead. In a system where corporations, take our money and give it to legislatures, who will now protect corporations OVER individual citizens there's no incentive for the single voice in America.
The legislative agenda, the direction of the country and in fact the very electoral process itself will now be decided in block rather than vote by vote. If you thought the American single voter was disillusioned and detached before - just wait a few elections cycles. All this bodes bad for America. Well... unless you're McDonalds - and you're floating your guy Ronald for president. On second thought how could that clown be any worse than the ones sitting on the Supreme Court?
Monday, December 21, 2009
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
My Chart
Well, as I neared the end of the lap band adventure, here's the final graph. The little kick up at the end is my bounce up from the loosening. Which, they said may occur, mostly because I'm EATING now. Although I don't want that trajectory to continue up, or I'll have to get an adjustment to have saline put in. I'd prefer not to which means, diet and exercise - the two words I couldn't escape before - I still can't escape. But, now - anyways - I feel "hopeful".
Hope you're well. I am too.
