Apple the Bully

Thankfully, I made it back to Austin in one piece today (errr...yesterday, but this is still the Sunday post)! I think I was happier to come back than to leave Houston. As much as I enjoyed my trips and relaxing, I felt lazy and really need to get back in my groove, though I'm confident that plenty of good times will still follow. Anyway, I think I give Apple too much credit here and I want to balance it out with some of their problems: they like bullying their employees and fans. I know, the bigger problem is FairPlay (what an ironic name for it), but that's a topic for another day. Apple's employees are monitored fairly closely and even reprimanded for visiting sites divulging Apple rumors. Plus, they're sometimes fed false information so that leaks can be traced. Of course, this is their right. They can treat their employees however they like in the name of turning a profit and paying these employees' salaries. However, they've started a fresh campaign now against bloggers reporting on Windows Mobile phone skins that simulate the iPhone interface, and they have been known to get uppity about YouTube videos that don't even give away their precious secret. I think this is a pretty crazy tactic, and I'm glad that bloggers are taking a stand. Talking about someone violating a patent shouldn't make you a criminal. What are they really getting out of alienating their fans? They keep doing it, and it's really starting to piss people off. How far should they really go to scare people from starting rumors?

Many many miles from Macworld, CES was going on where Bill Gates was doing the keynote. What's interesting is what a stark contrast his speech was from the one Jobs gave. In a word, it's boring. I think Gates just isn't the song-and-dance type of guy, he'd rather his products speak for themselves, and he's lost the zest that Jobs has for being so involved with his products. Still, I hope that the Microsoft-haters haven't lost sight of how important Gates was to personal computing as we know it today; he's just kind of old now (it happens). This is interesting: Napster bought AOL Music. Did that make anyone else do a double-read? Because it caught me off guard. Not only is Napster struggling, but it's considerably smaller than AOL. I guess they figure that they're not going down without a fight, which I guess is noble in theory; I just don't like the idea of borrowing music, I'd rather just buy the CD and be done with it. Lastly, Cingular is no longer "Cingular". It will now be AT&T. Why? Because AT&T successfully bought BellSouth, which frankly makes Cingular their bitch and no one else's. I guess we can say good-bye to those commercials with the orange man?

I'm pretty baffled by the box office this weekend: Stomp the Yard took the lead with over $22 million. It got pretty horrible reviews, but so did the other new releases this weekend. I recommend everyone just find a theater near them that's showing Pan's Labyrinth, because I'm pretty sure it's better than the top 10 movies in the box office right now. The only other thing to talk about is that Latino Review put up their script review of Planet Terror, Robert Rodriguez's part of Grind House, and I was surprised to find that they loved it. I figured it'd be hollow and just meant to poke fun at campy zombie flicks, especially since Rodriguez has always had issues with solid dialog, but I guess Tarantino gave him some tips?

If found a PostSecret postcard very appropriate to my post from before I left for Seattle, so I felt that I should share:



Now, for the first time in a good while, some Unconscious Mutterings:

I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Episode :: One


2. Source :: Presents


3. Jerk :: Face


4. Introduce :: You


5. Ralph :: Wiggum


6. Stare :: Contest


7. Cast :: Crew


8. Scenario :: Campaign


9. Flu :: Cold


10. Mad :: TV