tundraboy's Profile

I did something similar when I got my AEBS. I ethernetted* my old D-Link wi-fi to one of the AEBS ports and ran all my 'g' devices on it while the AEBS ran pure 5GHz 'n'. *Look it up in any 2008 dictionary. They put in this verb to compensate for the official delisting of the adjective 'gullible'.

Cognitive dissonance is a funny, sad thing to watch.

Most people get emotionally attached to music. That's why they buy the same album on LP (if they were old enough), then on cassette, then on CD and then remastered CD. What other proof does one need to realize that people want to own their music? You mention a music subscription plan and most people's immediate reactions are negative. "You mean as soon as I stop paying, all my favorite songs disappear?" Or even suspicious "You want me to get hooked on these songs so that I keep coming back and shelling out like a junky." And yet, a subscription, or shall I say "unlimited whole-song sampling privileges" can benefit both music buyers and sellers as it allows music buyers to expand their tastes and buy more music. So what arrangement would give sellers the income stream that they want from a subscription while allowing buyers to own the music that they like? Purchase $15 worth of music and you get one month's unlimited whole-song sampling privileges. For subsequent months, purchase just $10 dollars of music and your privileges continue uninterrupted for another month. Simple. No contracts to sign. No long term obligations.

Okay, Tanner let's not say Ferrari. Let's say the much much cheaper Mazda RX-8. Same point holds. Apple is trying to hit market-differentiated segments here. You are unhappy with the MBA because it doesn't hit the product space you wished it did. The product space you should compare the MBA to is the one for lightweight (3 lbs and under) laptops. Then the MBA doesn't fare too badly price-wise and feature-wise. Yes, they picked a different compromise than Sony or Toshiba, they gave up a drive and ports in favor of ergonomics and processing power. We'll see if the buying public chooses their set of compromises. You can pan the product if you think it pales against the other lightweights out there. You can pan the product if you think this is a market segment that Apple is foolish to get into. But to pan the product because it isn't more like a MB or MBP or even the 4+ lb 12" PowerBook is, yes, missing the point by a mile.

Not surprising that all the major studios are on board. These are led by (presumeably) pragmatic businessmen and personal enmities will never get in the way of making money. Jobs knew he had to bend some to satisfy the studios and the studios knew that they can't be left out of all the major download rental players. Especially since the threat of downloads leapfrogging Blu-ray seems ever likelier as bandwidth increases. On a different note, loved Randy Newman's insurgent take on Bush and US geopolitics.

I lugged a MacBook in a backpak 3 weeks across Oz last summer. The laptop weight what 5.66 lbs? It felt like the decimal point would shift to the right every hour of walking. I could absolutely use a lightweight laptop where I can leave behind the external opti and HDD and just rely on the SSD when I travel. And no lilliputian form factors please. That would make the thing useless. And yes this multi-touch screen fixation is beyond me. A multi-touch pad on the keyboard surface works but on a vertical screen? You're talking Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

Tanner, your articles are generally well researched and thought out. But here you're engaging in a surprising amount of FUD. Well even Michael Jordan had his off days.