I Might Buy From Amazon Unbox If I Could Watch It On My Mac!

When I first heard about AmazonUnbox, I was excited. Any kind of competition to iTunes Store is highly welcomed by me. I figure, let them duke it out while we as customers (hopefully) sit back and benefit from them trying to out-do each other. In this case however, I'm not included in the customer base because I don't have Windows on my laptop, and my DVR isn't TiVo. I can't even try it to see if I like it.

Ok, ok... I know that's the price I pay for having a Mac, but don't you think it would at least do them some service to at least include me in the demographic? I'm not sure how it is where you live, but I keep seeing more and more people with MacBooks, and while we might not be the majority even by a far shot, I think we're a large enough percentage to at least get a chance. (In all actuality, my beef is mostly with Microsoft here for not giving me a full version of Windows Media Player for my Mac - don't they have a store too?)

I can say that I'm glad that Amazon at least threw us a bone with their new Amazon|mp3 service. I love how their songs fully integrate into iTunes and any other media player out there, including any and all PMPs. I hope (and truly think they will) give iTunes a run for their money!

And to be honest, with the way Apple has been acting lately, I guess I don't completely blame Amazon for doing this. After all, it is their store and they can choose who they sell to, but can't we at least work something out?

I'm interested in other peoples' thoughts about this.

AMAZING: South Korean Schools Create Human LCDs!

I'm still not sure how they do it, but in South Korea, school boys who are cheering for their soccer teams do so in a very interesting way: by creating what appears to be a human LCD screen displaying messages to cheer their team along. Apparently they do this by wearing multi-colored jackets (one color on the back, one on front and another on the inside) ans sometimes even incorporating their pants into the equation.

Here it is:



My biggest question: "How do they choreograph these things?"

Sony Walkman NW-A910 Hands On Pics

In lieu to my earlier post about TV On The Go, I just noticed that Engadget was able to get hands on with Sony's new Walkman NW-A910 1Seg Portable Media Player, and posted pics on their site. Looks pretty cool, but the screen doesn't look that bright in pictures... could be the lighting though.

Still no word on when this will be released outside Japan.

All This iPhone Criticism Won't Hurt Apple A Bit

It seems like everywhere I turn these days, I hear somebody griping about how Apple is turning into the new Microsoft, how they have become the "Big Brother" in their 1984 Macintosh commercial, and how they are against the developer community altogether by locking down their more than famous iPhone (so lovingly adorned the 'Jesus Phone' by many - mine has yet to walk on water though) with the latest 1.1.1 firmware update. And although there might be some aspects of truth in these statements, let's face it, neither Apple nor their ground breaking phone are going anywhere.

If you have ever heard the phrase "Bad publicity is good publicity", then you'll understand what I'm talking about. Every time somebody posts an anti-Apple blog, article or column.... BAM! Free advertising.

And then with the millions of people reading these sites every day, some who own iPhones, many more who do not; do we the faithful few realize how many people out there haven't actually seen an iPhone in person? I don't know about you, but when I hear bad publicity about a hyped product that I have never actually held in my hands, it makes me want to go to a store and check it out. If I do that, I might actually want to buy it, or at least another product in their store (I don't think I'm alone in this either. Has anyone been in an Apple Store lately? I always want to buy everything in there).

So, while we're sitting here drolling about how we don't like this or that, let us understand that Apple, Inc. is sitting back tapping their corporate feet to the plastic rhythm being made by the millions who are relentlessly pulling out their credit cards and blowing their children's savings on... you guessed it... Apple products!

In the meantime, my motto in regards to any kind of technology is and most likely always will be, "If it works for you, buy it. If it doesn't work for you, don't buy it."

It's as simple as that.

Why Can't I Access AT&T WiFi With My iPhone?

There's one thing about being an AT&T Wireless customer that I just really don't understand, and that is why my AT&T membership doesn't give me automatic access to all of their WiFi hot spots. It just seems like a natural conclusion that they would give their customers the ability to use their hot spots, but for some reason they don't have it in them to include this, at least in one of their packages. And it kills me every time I see an open AT&T WiFi network, and I can't connect unless I pay as much as I do for my internet at home?!?! I'm already paying an extra $20/mo for unlimited data on my iPhone. Now, I understand that they're probably more interested in making more $$ than they are with making me happy, but don't you think it might draw more people to their service?

I'm interested in what everyone thinks about this. And while I'm at it, how about free Mobile-To-Mobile Texting? Anyone? We've had free MTM Calling for some time now, and I think it's high time that they started including it with SMS as well. Give us a break people!