en-us http://www.keithwatanabe.net/index.php Keith Watanabe's Website http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/1/19/9d1acda6f5ce7f42755af897cce668bc.html iPhone, in LA via Skype. Apparently, my number appears as some random gibberish when the caller receives my Skype Out call. This is trash. Apple should go into a partnership with Skype/Ebay to integrate the service with Skype. There is a service which handles what I'm talking about, but it should be a natural match between both providers. I don't even mind if Apple takes a cut as part of the service, but it would be nice for something like this to work (either that or my friend should really start answering the phone more often!)]]> Sat, 19 Jan 2008 23:58:55 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/1/19/9d1acda6f5ce7f42755af897cce668bc.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/2/21/c083b7cfa7302c0ef531b372234970c3.html
These comparisons probably are what the industry should look at. It's 1984 all over again. Once again, we have a major giant in online search and advertising in the form of Google, giving little choice as Microsoft is painting. Jobs made a similar infamous speech playing the Ridley Scott directed Macintosh commercial. Everyone is eying Google as being like IBM back then. This time there are some changes in the roles, but I see similar outcomes. Here, Google is IBM. Microsoft's Gates and Ballmer are playing Steve Jobs giving a speech to the tech industry. Yahoo is Apple with their portal, branding, and search as being the only chance of survival for the rest of the industry. But Microsoft again is lurking in the background, waiting to pounce on the unsuspecting industry. They've done it once, and they can do it again.

We all are very familiar with the history that Microsoft and Apple had created after that. It was like George W Bush coming into power, after Clinton freed the nation from the GOP. But for some reason, people believed that we needed a war and that war cost the US its reputation, its dignity, its internal economy, the freedom of its people and turned the rest of the world into a hostile environment rather than a progressive one.

Yahoo and Google (along with open source software and the web) essentially have freed us from reign of closed systems, of limiting people's career potentials and of geographic boundaries. By uniting Microsoft and Yahoo, we would be returning to those days of being enslaved, kinda like the downtrodden masses in the 1984 Macintosh video. I don't think we want to return to that space again.]]> Thu, 21 Feb 2008 07:06:30 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/2/21/c083b7cfa7302c0ef531b372234970c3.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/4/21/6bcddd56bf500d4fda901bee65072def.html anti-Mac computer person since my days in college, i'm quite happy with my little iPod. What I'm not so happy about though is the piece of junk software that you have to use with it called iTunes. Last night I spent some time trying to sync up my iPod with several new playlist additions. You know, it takes my valuable time away. Looking at it this morning, the playlist and the songs I tried copying over didn't appear. What?!?!?!!? I was really looking forward to checking out some of my new playlist, especially if I hit the gym.

Then a while back, I was using my laptop at work to recharge my iPod. You see, the little wall charger's cable is too fucking small to connect to my iPod comfortably, so I just decided to go with the USB solution. Because of the stupid DRM, iTunes constantly would ask me whether or not I wanted to ERASE my data and sync up with the current version. If you leave the settings as is, this can be quite dangerous. And guess, what? Yup. I accidentally hit the "ok" button. There's no default setting that I can trust with this. And you risk harming your disk if you accidentally do this and unplug the sucker.

Then we get to the crappy localization aspect. Rather than smartly opening up the iTunes store globally, we have localized versions because we're geotagged. What the hell? I don't want a crappy localized version. I read English! That's why my settings on my desktop are set to English. Instead, iTunes, in its infinitely retardation, makes all these assumptions FOR YOU.

I virtually never use iTunes at home as my default media player. It's not good. I just have a simple XMMS playlist which works great. But I honestly just want to use iTunes to charge my iPod, create a few playlist and sync my songs. However, the piece of shit can't even get those basics things done right.

As much respect as I have for Steve Jobs and what Apple has done with the iPod (in the form of the iTouch and iPhone), I can't believe that Jobs can say with a straight face that iTunes (or a lot of Apple's garbage) is truly the best media player out there. It isn't.]]> Mon, 21 Apr 2008 08:37:22 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/4/21/6bcddd56bf500d4fda901bee65072def.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/6/30/e6b5abcdd6dc12ad66ae5b16da9eb2d5.html
While I don't agree with 100% of their business philosophy (a lot of vendor lock in, not unlike Sony), I have to give them props for their products. Definitely, with Steve back at the helm, there's a vision guiding Apple where they're pushing themselves as leaders in the industry.

I think one of the major keys to Apple's success is what I'm seeing as how they use case studies to present uses for their products. For instance, in the Time Capsule presentation, it's mentioned how one might be inconvenienced with a cable. A simple statement like that is actual profound in this industry because it illustrates a thought process behind their development of their products. Also, in looking at the MacAir, I could not help but think that Steve's ultimate goal is to have a piece of paper that can be folded up and remain non-obstructive and space saving. I imagine the scenario would come out of how computers tend to take a lot of space and notebooks themselves remain bulky.

Anyway, it's a great thing to see the evolution of Apple and what they're presenting as futuristic devices. My main complaint right now is that they're too media focused. I'm hoping that Apple can extend the whole "lifestyle" metaphor into other home appliances that interconnect with some form of software. Many Japanese companies have worked on those issues, but I find their interfaces to be blunt, brutal and not friendly at all. However, Apple has typically been in the forefront when it comes to interfaces so I'd like to see them continue expanding themselves into other areas like vacuums, automated lighting, dish washers, etc.]]> Mon, 30 Jun 2008 10:38:16 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/6/30/e6b5abcdd6dc12ad66ae5b16da9eb2d5.html