Muddling the Theme

Okay,

When... as a blogger... you get a three week break from writing your blog, what do you do? Well, you go read other people's blogs. That's exactly, what I've been doing as of late, with my time off, and I just have to say that there are some brilliant people out there. I am trying to expand our 'cool links' to feature some of these brilliant folks with something important to say about Art and how we use it. So, you'll see more links to the right as we move along.

I recently posted on Mike Daisey and his art and controversy and all that great stuff, and as I have been following friend and fellow blogger, Dennis Baker, I ended up diving into a whole great discussion about how we compensate artists (in this case theater actors) for their work.

All this fun, has lead me to wonder, if I am highlighting enough "Art" on this site. We spend a lot of time talking about the Funny and cool creative toys, but Art?

So, expect the great theme adjustment to begin to take place. I will still post on cool fun stuff, and random weird things I see, but it is important to engage in some rhetoric about the value we place on that which can be deemed ART.

I said this today...

I've never said the following phrase before. I think it may be humorous...

"That's a mustache, you just don't Rock."

Rumor: Apple Tablet

So, yeah, this will swell up huge even though it is a rumor.

Gizmodo is currently posting a blog article about the possibility of a touch based tablet that Apple may introduce at the end of September or October. This seems to coincide with a statement released today by Apple @ their Quarterly Earnings report.

This is from AppleInsider.com
"Apple's financial results conference call today was littered with references to future products coming from Apple. While some degree of optimism ("very excited about future") is the norm during these financial results calls, there was more discussion than usual about possible new products in today's results.Apple also described their formula for introducing "state of the art new products at prices their competitors can't match."

Gizmodo jumped in with these details from another post:
"Think MacBook screen, possibly a bit smaller, in glass with iPhone-like, but fuller-featured Multi-Touch. Gesture library. Full Mac OS X. This is why they bought P.A. Semi. Possibly with Immersion's haptic tech. Slot-loading SuperDrive. Accelerometer. GPS. Pretty expensive to produce initially, but sold at "low" price that will reduce margins. Apple wants to move these babies. And move they will. This is some sick shit. App Store-compatible, able to run Mac apps, too. By October at the latest."

The reality is no one knows for sure if this will just be a new "MacBook" or the long rumored but rarely seen Touch Tablet that folks have clamored about since the iPhone was introduced.

However, the key here is that continued Touch technology is become more popular and sought after in further applications. While Touch Tech is not new (anyone have the first gen Palm Pilots?), it has become more sexy with the iPhone's success.

As I sit here, I wonder to myself... what would life look like with out a keyboard and mouse to peck and poke with??? While HP is currently advertising a new touch PC, Apple must be getting anxious to get something out there that is not stylus based as many of the existing tablet lap tops. I for one feel confident in Apple to deliver a fine product, but I do not want a rushed product... Hello MobileMe.com.

However, another question I have is... what will this do to Mac OS. As a owner of the multi-touch Mac Book Pro, I know the applications of touch is limited in the OS world. Will we see Mac's OS abandoned for an iPhone centric OS in this new product.... I wonder. And if that is the case, that the MAC OS will be switched to an iPhone like OS, then what's the point? Why do I need a big old iPhone? Why not just give me what I need in the iPhone.

So, many questions, that spawn so many more.... Guess, we're on the clock until September to figure out the next big Apple Unveil.

Pause, for Miracles!

Well, Functioneers... I will be taking a hiatus for a few weeks to work on a very special project... my first born. So, check back end of July for new posts.

Real Quick Post! Angry @ iPhone!

So, in some ways I'm not sure if I should be outraged, since I will not be one of the folks in line to purchase a new 3G iPhone next Friday. The reason being two-fold! First, I can't see myself paying Sprint $250.00 to get out of my contract that expires in November. Second, I still refuse to buy an IPOD device that cannot hold the 27 GB of music I have on my current 30GB model.

However, despite that, I found myself pretty upset when I saw what AT&T is going to charge for the 'data plan' (used to be called phone plan) for the new 3G iPhone.

Apparently, the baseline price for the phone is $199.99 for an 8GB model with a $299.99 cost for the 16GB model. Now, WOW! that's a whole two hundred dollars cheaper than the previous model... and you get to have more features, right? Wrong!

Those prices are based on a two year committemnt to AT&T. Here is the cost of the plan.
450 minutes, 5000 night and weekend, unlimited data (email) $69.99. That my friend is the base plan, and it is yes, you guessed it, 10 dollars more than the previous base plan which was $59.99, but wait... the DATA side does not include SMS (text messaging) why? I have no idea, but apparently you get to pay $20.00 for SMS. WTF! So, that means you will pay 89.99 a month for this phone. Guess what over time, it means you are paying about way more for the new iPhones with a 'cheaper' price tag.

In my humble opinion this will do exactly what Apple is hoping will not happen. In tough economy with 1st Gen iPhones only a year old, with a new iPhone that has restrictive memory and no video camera... AT&T is pricing this product out of reach for many consumers, who will gladly stick with other services offering now similar devices at lower cost for plans. Steve Jobs better slap somebody at AT&T!