iFatigue 2

More cutting edge iPad news.

iFatigue

If you had to draw up the perfect business model you'd probably start with Apple. What a very clever and successful company. They produce elegant, functional, modern, 'toys', guaranteed to give every Apple fan-boy a stiffy.

They charge two to three times the price for similar functionality (but with a few more bells and whistles) and, like similar manufacturers, produce equipment that soon becomes obsolete because they will produce an updated and 'better' version just down the road. They hook you in brilliantly, tie you in totally so that you can't go anywhere else and then sell you more stuff when they produce a more finished product. Very, very, clever.

The iPad is no different. It's a nice piece of kit but frankly it's nothing more (at present) than a big iPhone, with the notable exception that it can't make phone calls.

Unless you are a complete unblinking Apple lover then this latest product should not be bought. And, when they finally get it up to spec in a few months time, it will be more expensive than the present model and offer similar functionality to existing stuff at two to three times the price. So not much has changed there then.

The iPad would appear to be competing in the net-book market, a market that I suspect is already fairly saturated. I have a net-book, which I use when I travel, and my machine already does more than the iPad. Why would I change?

I walked past the Apple store at Odysseum on the outskirts of Montpelier the other day. It was elegant and very enticing, it was full of young men fondling their dreams, and it reeked 'expensive'. Many of the shops in this new shopping centre will try and sell you goods at inflated prices. Most of them were empty but not the Apple store. The technological equivalent of sports fans. You have to support your favourite team whatever the cost.

Whilst I find it very difficult to be enthusiastic about their stuff, I must admit that I admire their business acumen. I just wish that I could be as enthusiastic as others.

This is spooky

This video reads the exact opposite backwards as forwards. The meaning is also the opposite. How spooky is that. Thanks to Will and Ginny for this.

Great Scot

You can place your vote here. Well done that man!

The IPad

The iPad - watch more funny videos

Talking about the forces of anarchy

Some good news

Now that we all know what a virgin looks like, is it any wonder that suicide bombings have reduced?

Smile

Fancy a giggle?

Fair enough

Today I read an article about the dangers of heavy drinking and I must admit it scared me. So, that's it, after today - no more reading.

Rabbie bloody Burns

That's it, I've figured it out. They say that today is the most miserable day of the year. OK, it's the middle of winter and you've got another bloody year to look forward to, but wait.

Over breakfast, your social secretary reminds you that you've got an invitation to a bloody Burns Night. That's the real reason it's the most miserable day of the year.

'Oh no, I'd forgotten,' I say. 'Ring 'em up and say that my chilblains are playing up.'

'But you haven't got chilblains,' she explains, unhelpfully.

'Look, you figure something out,' as the thought of an evening of unintelligible 'poetry', false bonhomie, laced with bagpipes, haggis and whiskey beckons.

'I'm not going. What about a headache? You're always always using a headache as an excuse!' I say.

WTF

How rude!

So we're lying there in bed watching an interesting late night discussion on the the subject of banning the burqa. That's how exciting our lives have become! The discussion wandered around 'the panel' and all gave their view on whether or not it should be made illegal, like they are trying to do here in France.

Anyway, at one point, Jan turned slowly to me, looked me up and down, and said, "I think you should wear one."

See what I've got to put up with.

Haiti

This is a thought provoking article.

Mozzarella

For years I pulled my uncle's leg about the fact that I'd never seen buffalo on any of my trips to Italy and that it must be yet another Italian scam. I knew there was something fishy.

Anyway on our last trip to Foggia we actually found a farm, down by the sea, that made and sold buffalo mozzarella. Very good it was too - I think.