我有位朋友, 前陣子, 他想買一部laptop, 佢知道我會買MacBook, 佢又話…“丫，其實買MacBook都好喎”. (其實佢係一個對電腦係唔熟識的) 佢買laptop黎都係因為佢見依家周邊既人都用，所以買. 佢平時對住電腦都係上下D social 網站, 佢甚至乎連check email都少. 佢連係google search野都唔識….其實真係冇咩必要走去買部laptop. 況且佢已經係 “人有我有” 既情況下, 已經買左部iPhone.

莫講話MacBook, 佢連用iPhone d/l apps佢都唔識.　我唔係想去踩低佢, 而係如果真係為左上網走去買部MacBook, 真係有D無謂~

很好笑, 我問佢點解要買MacBook 呢？(佢係對Apple野完全唔識的 ,除左有部iPhone之外), 佢同我講, 買部laptop都要5,6千, MacBook都係8千有找 (如果咩野都唔加). 況且有時去Starbucks坐低飲杯野,　拎部MacBook出黎都幾型 =.= 買MacBook為左型…. 佢問番我, 我又做咩要買MacBook, 我同佢講, 我係想操番熟Mac機, 做下freelance. 我同佢心態完全唔同囉. （唔係為左型囉, 同埋唔會專登拎部野出街囉）

最近, Apple 宣佈會出iPad, 佢又黎. 佢話佢 “一定” 會買囉, 佢話因為好平, 同埋好型囉. 佢又係同我講, “拎住部野係Starbucks好型” 囉. 佢連iPad有咩function 都唔知, 佢甚至同我講 “iPad未係變左既iPhone囉,　好似netbook咁囉” , 我同佢講，iPad係唔可以講電話, iPad 冇USB, 冇HDMI …. 佢聽完之後, 佢同我講, “嘩, wifi 個部好平麻” …. 我唔係有心串佢, 我問番佢你知唔知咩叫wifi既時候,　佢答我wifi 未即係3G囉….. no comment….

iPhone/iPod Touch Sequencers Report

We’ll start with Xewton Music Studio, a pretty comprehensive MIDI sequencer if you consider that it runs on a mobile phone. It features 128 MIDI tracks, 4 FX sends (reverb, delay, EQ, amp simulation) and 21 instruments – more than enough to get you started… But even though the instruments will cover most of your needs and you can edit their volume envelope curve (in a somewhat rudimentary way), don’t expect too much from their sound (the quality is on the same level as an old wavetable Sound Blaster sound card, in other words cheap-sounding, but usable, Soundfonts).

On the other hand, the sequencing functions are pretty comprehensive including a dual, virtual MIDI keyboard for real time control of two instruments, a piano roll view, an arranger window, velocity management, and all necessary sequencing functions like cut, copy, paste, transpose, etc. It goes without saying that you can set the volume and pan for each track and, more importantly, you can export your work as a WAV or MIDI file. In conclusion, it is definitely a must-have for the iPhone and well worth the $19.99 the developer asks for it.

Now let’s look at some several other sequencers…

…

Loop the Loop

To wrap up this non-exhaustive iPhone sequencer overview let’s take a look at loop-based production tools inspired by Acid/Garageband. With a brilliant design, IK Multimedia’s Groovemaker is available for different music styles at $7.99, but you cannot import your own loops, which is a major drawback. That’s why we prefer Looptastic’s Producer version ($9.99), because it allows you to import your own WAV, AIFF and OGC files. It can synchronize up to 20 files at the same time and allows you to export your mix.

It’s a pity that you cannot record! That’s the whole point of loopers and loop samplers! They come in very handy to record song ideas on the spot and loop the loop with our previous report about iPhone audio recorders. Anyway, we will only mention the nice StompVox, which lacks an export function, and take a nearer look at the excellent iSample which has been praised by Roger Linn himself and Jordan Rudess. This app provides six 30-second samplers, a mixer, a loop editor, delay and reverb effects, and a 12-pattern sequencer. Everything for only $9.99.

On the other side, some of you will appreciate the simplicity of Everyday Looper! The oddness about this 4-track looper is the GUI with no buttons: you can slide both ways using 1, 2 or 3 fingers to start or stop the recording, toggle between different tracks, and export the result of your work via WiFi. This app is very ergonomic and costs only $3.99.

To read the full detailed report see: iPhone Sequencers

What up, boos! Thank you all for sharing what makes your attitude take a 180*. What works for me will come as no surprise.

All I need when feeling down is a little textual healing. Sure, the other kind may be more popular, but this Valentine-less chiquita turns to more reliable methods. As soon as I finished writing yesterday’s post, I wondered whether the post was true anymore because I felt fine. Personally, I have to write it out. I have to turn the ugly into words. Then that’s all the emotions are– combined symbols made to represent words, made to represent emotions, made to represent what lies beneath.

Letting my inner monologue come out made for a chipper Tuesday. Though it was difficult to pry myself from toasty sheets, I told myself to just move forward. That’s all.

So I moved forward, directly into breakfast:

Koffee with pumproats.

In the pumproats (pumpkin+protein powder+oats): 1/3 C oats, 1 C water, 1 scoop Trader Joe’s chocolate whey protein, 1/3 C pumpkin, sprinkle of stevia, shake of cinnamon and a drizz of peanut butter. So delicious and batter-like.

One way to cope with a rut is to mix up one’s food choices. Currently, I’m being influenced by my supah protein-loving sistahs. High protein diets fascinate me mostly because they seem taxing, yet boast excellent results in toning. While I couldn’t imagine counting grams of protein (or calories or fat or carbs, for that matter), I will be trying to incorporate more into my diet. Then again, there is this vegan past of mine that knows absurd amounts of protein aren’t necessary for health. Then I think, “Yes, I want to be jacked.” Then, “OK, no, but we’ll see how it goes.” (Indecisive? Who, me?)

Protein-ed up, I trekked to class. Walking through the snow-covered ice was a workout in itself.

My mind was absent for most of Creative Non-Fiction. It wasn’t until Magazine that my brain was on fire. We talked about cover strategies for the magazines we’re creating, and naturally, I was thinking about SnackFace: The Mag. While the cover image itself is still being debated in my mind, I think I’ve come up with a tagline. What do you think?

SnackFace- Fashion with an appetite.

Totally cheesy? Totally fierce? I loved it at the time, but I never know.

What I do know, though, is that I was ready to get my SnackFace on when class was over. I trotted home and assembled a happy summer salad:

Flavors of Summer'09 right thurr.

Function before beauty. Or something like that.

In the salad: romaine, cucumber, celery, carrot, balls, cherry toms and the dressing that takes me back to San Fran:

I consumed bottles of this in the summer. Love.

Despite being transported to a sunny, warm place in my mind, my reality was the opposite. I pondered how I could view snow positively as I crunched this apple and stared at my car:

Middle man there. I cleared its snow, Popsicle-- no worries.

Alas, I had to forage through the treacherous snow to make it to Film. We watched The Conversation and I tried my best not to fall asleep. I snoozed for one minute, tops. I swear.

After class, I made my way home and made a delicious new-to-me snack:

Protein brownie batter.

I must admit that I was skeptical of April’s brownie batter. How could two scoops of protein powder, one scoop of peanut butter and some stevia taste like batter? And how could that small portion satiate my volume-eating preferences? Shoooo, child, that negative voice shut up as soon as I tasted this. Sweet, sticky, thick. (Ha.) It also took 10 minutes to finish, which I didn’t expect. I will make this again. And again.

With a burst of energy, I had an obnoxious Weezy-inspired, shades-of-stunna photo shoot:

Model stunna.

Supa stunna.

Sassy stunna.

Dear friends, I realize I may have lost many of you by now. I apologize for the SnackFace splooge.

Obviously feeling fierce, I let the energy carry into a 30-minute strength training session. I just erased sentences of nonsense descriptions because they were confusing. I can say, though, that my shoulders and toosh will be feeling it tomorrow.

Semi-hungry again, I got hopping on dinner. I’d been wanting a little Flatout pizza for a while:

Before.

After. Alright, it doesn't look all that different.

On the Flatout: 1 Laughing Cow French Onion wedge, about 2 T Dave’s Gourmet Butternut Squash pasta sauce, cherry toms, onion, spinach and tempeh. This baked in a 450* oven for 10 minutes and came out perfectly. What made it all come together was this beauty:

Dave, you're a good man.

MamaJ bought this gigantic jar at Costco, didn’t know what to do with it and pawned it off on me. Thank you, Mumsy! It lent a sweet, subtly savory flavor. Fabulous dinner:

Chillin' on a Target plate...that MamaJ bought. She's so bossy.

For dessert, I absolutely had to try the new Light n’ Fit:

Pineapple coconut, I want you all day, urrday.

Alone, it was chemically delicious. With cereal, it was gasmic:

TJ's Organic Morning Lite--like Smacks for fiber freaks.

I picked up Miss Muffin shortly after dining. We chatted, watched reality television, stalked…you know the drill.

Now that it’s 1am, I think I shall tuck away my clean laundry, wash the dishes and hit the hay. I’ve had plenty of textual healing for the night.

Ciao for now,

Kailey

QUESTIONS: How much do you care about your protein intake? AND

What do you think of the tagline for hypothetical SnackFace Mag–Fashion with an appetite.

PS: This bit of Weezy news made my day. Thank you, Samantha!

Yesterday MeDevil evening has sent to the last version beta to us of its program, iBlueNova. Now it is ready for being released and you will have to attend only some day that is succeeded to speak with Saurik for the publication in Cydia Store.

In this new and last version:

• It comes resolved the timeout in the shipment of rows with qualified authentication
• It comes resolved a problem with the qualification of the BT on the 3G
• Completed integration of the licences
• Resolved opening bug rows from iFile.
• Removed backgrounding native.

If you want to read to all the innovationes of the last version (Beta 4) we invite you to cliccare here, while found a book review complete I use on it of iBlueNova here.

[via ispazio]

New day, new toggle in Cydia: Data toggle. This toggle, when it is off, it should kill the data connection entirely. 3G can be on and you will not be able to access your internet via your provider’s data connection. You will notice you get an IP address, but it is a bogus one that we assign (1.1.1.0).

In short, this solution sets a bogus IP address, (1.1.1.0) to your data adapter’s IP address. This seems to kill EDGE / 3G without any battery drain issues reported in using other methods such as entering a bad APN.

The only downside is that to reenable data, we have to kill commcenter which can freeze the device for up to 15 seconds. (Should come back to life after that though).

[via FSM]

Wallpaper* and Phaidon have made a name for themselves over the years for producing small but well crafted city guides. If you are anything like me, you sure don’t like to be seen with a city guide that shouts out TOURIST, and a pocket sized one would be just wonderful.

Well, Wallpaper* has developed their city guides into a line of iPhone apps that are as well designed as the guides themselves.There are 9 different apps for 9 different cities around the world, available in the appstore and each one costs $3.99. However, they are giving away for free the Berlin City guide so all you need is to grab your copy and book some tickets for Berlin. Also, if you are interested in a printed version, there are over 80 Wallpaper* City Guides are available to buy online from the Phaidon Store.

[via FSM]

Just a quick heads-up: Google enhanced their mobile search engine UI . It seems that they are following the same trend on the browser version as well as on the mobile version of the search engine and try to keep it as minimalistic as possible.

[via FSM]

Combing through the logs, it says:

“Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; U; CPU OS 3_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/531.21.10 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.4 Mobile/7B320c Safari/531.21.10″

It must be the iPad OS 3.2 beta.

I haven’t been doing a very good job of updating my blog lately.  I could blame work, but thats only part of the reason.  Mostly it’s being lazy.  I really should have plenty of things to talk about.  So I’ll use this post to come up with a list of topics for future posts.

Motorcycle Racing.  Were getting closer to the 2010 racing season.  MotoGP, WSBK, and AMA (DMG) have all had a test or two lately.  I have to admit that I think the AMA series is going to be better then I first thought.  Lots of good riders on competitive machines. But there are still some really talented riders without bikes for next year.  And I’m not sure what the television package will be.  I’ll have to research this a bit more.

Foursquare.  I’ve started using Foursquare.  It’s kind of fun.  I’m already mayor of a few places.  I think this social network has some real potential, especially in the real estate industry.  I have some ideas, just need to sit down and write them down and post them up here.

Moto2.  One day I started thinking about the new Moto2 class in the MotoGP World Championship.  It seems like this class could be a good place to try out crowdsourcing.  I’m working on this in my head.  Started writing a bit down, just have to pick it back up again.

Work.  I might write about this.  Not sure.  Do I really want to think about it more?  Maybe I’ll just work on my “Real Estate Firsts.”  Been working on some commercial stuff.  Thats an interesting world.  Could make for a good post.

Tech.  I just picked up Bento a few weeks ago.  It’s kind of fun.  And the iPad is coming out.  I think that has some real potential in the real estate industry. I’m also hoping to get an invite to use flavors.me. Looks really cool.  Might have to start writing about some tech I guess.

I just need to start blogging more.  Facebook is getting boring anyways.

Why are they canceling flights? I don’t understand its only snowing a bit.

Hahaha just kidding, because of the impending  blizzard at the Big Apple my flight was cancelled tonight. It’s all good though they said that I should still plan on going to meet them next week.

So Mac World Expo happened today and guess what happened… absolutely nothing. Aperture 3 was announced … I think but who cares. Come on Apple where are the “i” cores that everyone is waiting for in the MacBook Pro.

Failed again Apple. Now I know you probably don’t want to introduce the new laptops because you don’t want to cut into iPad sales but come on give us what everyone wants.

To everyone out there? What do you think about Apple delaying the release of the new MacBook Pro?

Explain this Mr. Jobs

If the recently-announced Apple iPad does not have a camera from what we have been told by Apple then what is this blemish that gets created when the light is on it, it does not match the rest of the screen meaning there is something there breaking up the light. is it just a flaw in the image or is something more? a camera? a mere sensor? well Apple aren’t talking so the major believed rumor right now is that it’s an unannounced camera which will be available is either the 1st-generation iPad or the already being discussed 2nd-gen. If it’s there already, in my opinion, it would be immoral of Apple to hold it out for future generations solely because people want it now, so they will buy it now and then the newer one too. yes it’s good business to not give everything straight out of the box, but it’s also bad business ethics. I don’t think it’s right to hold back something you can give someone now until later, when you know those people have already bought it, basically forcing them to buy it again. Good for the bottom-line of the company but in my opinion it’s bad for the company’s public image. If the thing has a camera in it, tell us it has a camera in it. what on earth reason could they have for not announcing it? increase hype and speculation? For me, i’d rather they say everything it can do and make me drool and want it so much that I pre-order it immediately, because so far all the things I’m hearing about the iPad are negatively-based, it doesn’t do this, it doesn’t do that, It would be great IF…All this aside, I will be pre-ordering the 64GB WIFI version because I don’t need a camera, no one would wanna see my mug anyway, and all the other things that I want, like multi-tasking are software-based. I just wish Apple would adapt their strategy slightly, so instead of creating speculation and rumors, they create lust and desire for the products. It did feel like during the launch, that Steve Jobs really didn’t have much to say about it, he kept throwing out “magical” and also the internet in your hands, rewind 3 years when he launched the iPhone, the full internet right in your hand..in your pocket. Let’s just hope come launch-day, the iPad we say in January was just the tip of the iceberg and the one in March is 10x, 50x, even 100x better, and I have faith in Apple that it will be.

Gadgets are men’s best friends, aren’t we all fond of the! We always want simplicity in life. Automating your home media is one way to achieve it. Sexy and expensive home theater system are for the rich, but that should not mean that other should be deprived of it.

Here are list key requirements for home automation -

• Most likely you have tons of mp3, photos, & movies on your computer.
• You have a home theater system connected to your LCD.

Basic expectations -

• Play music on home theater (probably 5.1 channel system)
• Watch your movies & photos on your bigger LCD screen

Value add -

• Able to control your media with a remote, irrespective of source & target

The solution here is only specific to Apple products, but you can look for other alternatives if you are not an apple fan.

Prerequisites

• Tons of media
• iTunes on your computer
• Apple TV 
• LCD TV
• iPhone or iPod Touch or iPad (Optional)
• Wireless Router

Once you have all the prerequisites, all that you need is to configure them to work together.

The first thing to start with is setting up your Apple TV. AppleTV has an internal storage of up to 160 GB, so it can store your media from computer. It has ability to sync itself over the wire or wireless. I prefer wireless, after all who wants to see wires running between the system  tv. I have given the sound output of Apple Tv to my home theater and Video output to my LCD

After setting up AppleTV, you should be able to see it in iTunes. One of the very interesting thing now you will notice is that at the bottom right of iTunes you will have multiple speaker option. You can now choose which speaker you want the output to – computer or apple tv. This is how you can listen to your favorite songs on the much better home theater system. Note that you can not stream video this way. But there is a solution to that too.

Now, the catch is that AppleTV can only play MP4 videos, but the good thing is that MP4’s are better then AVI’s in quality and you even get High Definition (HD) videos.

As I said earlier, Apple TV has up to 160 GB of storage space, you can store all your media on it. But in care you have much more, then this is not the suggested approach. Instead configure your AppleTV to stream all kinds of media from your computer rather than storing it.

On Apple TV, go to Settings—> Computers, select “Add shared iTunes library’, proceed as per instructions.

Once you have done this, you shall be able to see all you media [movies & music] listing in Apple TV.

Your are now ready to play all you mp4  & mp3 on your computer on your LCD, without copying your media on a CD or USB drive.

Since Apple’s iPad announcement we’ve seen certain iPhone (now iPad, I guess) applications go solo the iPad platform to utilize the larger screen. Knife Media’s ‘Choma’ is a platformer in the style of Rolando or a 2D Katamari. I found the art very charming, view more in the trailer below or check out Knife Media’s website.

I think that there will never really be an answer as to who is better Apple or Microsoft because both sides have such huge fan bases.  Both Apple and Microsoft have had their ups and downs but both CEO’s have one thing in common, they have situated their companies in the history books as pioneers of their industry.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has just recently put himself back in the spotlight by unveiling Apple’s newest product the iPAD.  If there is one difference between Microsoft and Apple is their audience.  Both have an audience that would fight till the death just to prove they are better.

Apple over the last decade has been given the stigma as the young, hip, cool company while Microsoft is seen as older and more for business.  Apple has pushed itself to target students with their iPods and now iPhone.  Microsoft has jumped into the young gaming genre with their XBOX.   Both companies have been successful in their own right in targeting and gaining a new audience for their companies futures.

I can speak from my own experience that I never really had MAC’s growing up as a kid.  My schools had PC’s and not many of the labs had MAC.  There are many out there that still to this day will not get near a MAC because they just do not understand it and what a person does not understand he or she will fear.  Apple I believe has done an amazing job easing these fearful people into their operating system and that is thanks to the CEO of the DECADE Steve Jobs.  Steve with his keen showmanship has helped get Mac products into the hands of many that would never have given them a chance, me included.

With Apple pushing new products such as the iPod and the very popular iPhone the consumer has found that Apple’s products are very user friendly and have begun to buy MAC’s in an interesting rate.  The gap between MAC’s and PC’s is beginning to shrink and is giving Microsoft a run for their money.

Microsoft CEO Bill Gates sees the personal computer in much different eyes than Steve Jobs.  Bill is very business and less theatrical than Steve.  Microsoft has pushed itself to being the top in business and the “everyman”, as evident in recent ads.  Apple began to push hard that Microsoft run computers have major problems and have made them into a running pop culture joke.  Microsoft is hitting back saying that just because you a PC does not make you crazy because there are still many people in the world that use Windows operating systems.  Everyone from business men and women to young people are standing up against the sometime condescending tone of the Apple ads.

Steve Jobs believes in innovation and aesthetics and in all his products has pushed these two key points.  Microsoft had an edge in the 90’s and early 2000’s because there were many more games and software available for Windows PC’s than MAC.  Suddenly in the last decade we have seen a shift in availability of applications and software for MAC’s.  This is a clear shift in the industry as the result of amazing advertising and product placement in the market by Steve Jobs.  Recently Bill Gates stepped down as head of Microsoft to work on philanthropic work.  This change in Microsoft is interesting because they will have to hit harder to be able to keep the MAC juggernaut down.  Each year sales increase and the stock of Apple Inc continues to rise.  Many more Americans are using MAC’s and will continue to do so as long as Steve Jobs continues to masterfully engage us with his gadgets.  From Phones to MP3 players the Apple Computer Company has redefined itself several times.  It will take a major reinvention by Microsoft to be able to compete in the future.

I have a prototypical slacker’s love/hate relationship with writing. I love writing when I’m actually writing, and I dread having to write the rest of the time. I mostly get away with writing only when I have to, but that’s the whole point of this business here – I’m trying to write regularly. Daily writing would be ideal, and I’m making my way there, but not just yet.

Anyhow, I spent this past summer and this past semester trying my hand at fiction writing. First time I’ve ever done any creative writing really. While procrastinating on writing my story, I came across this:

Dark Room

Dark Room is a free Windows version of WriteRoom, which is a Mac only program that may or may not be free, but probably isn’t. The whole point of Dark/Write Room, since they’re the same thing, is to provide a distraction free environment (solid screen of your color choice) in which you can write. This is a great idea, and it has its usefulness, but the biggest problem with it is editing and readying your text for printing. It’s a hassle working between Dark Room with its plaintext formatting and a word processor, copying and pasting back and forth, having to make adjustments for formatting. I wish someone would make a Dark Room plugin for Word. I doubt Microsoft would allow that, so how about for OpenOffice? Regardless, I still use Dark Room from time to time because I love the environment. I set it to a dark dark gray with light grey text and it just looks so nice and keeps me focused. I could also just drink more coffee and not browse around so much, but it’s about the aesthetic of the experience, and Dark Room suits me just fine.

When I got my iPhone 3G, the Home Button was a lovely little place. Pressing it brought me to the cute little springboard, where I could flick back and forth, browsing my collection of sterling applications to run. It was wonderful. The Home Button was a place of possibilities. The largest physical switch on the device, it beckoned you to Try New Things! Do More! It was wonderful.

Sadly, the magic is gone. My Home Button is gone.

My Home Button has become the Stop What You Are Doing Button.

Listening to music via Pandora, and you need to look up a recipe? Press the Stop Button first.

Playing Glyder or Assassin’s Creed and need to check the weather? Stop, in the name of Jobs!

In the midst of your Twitter feed and need to check a meeting time? Stop! Leave your Twitter feed Now!

Reading news with Fluent News or CNN and need to jot a note down? Give up, press your Stop Button.

This really sucks.

Every day I use my iPhone. I probably press that damn key 50-100 times a day. Every time I press it, I am more annoyed that Apple hasn’t gotten off its revenue-generating butt and given us multi-tasking.

Every day, their flagship product (and oh yes it is that) annoys me. Can’t be good for business. Makes me wonder about an Android phone. A guy at work has a G1, and the browser is not awful. It multi-tasks. Probably doesn’t drop calls all the time.

Please, Apple, do something about this. Add an ‘Expert’ mode, make me have to buy it as a $25 add-on option — I’ll do it. In a second.

Because still, while my iPhone can do wonderful things, there are a ton things it can’t do that my ancient Motorola Q running Windows Mobile could do, years ago.

And that is sad. And clearly, at this late juncture in the iPhone OS’s lifetime, it is entirely a choice by Apple.

(And no, Jail-breaking is not an option. I have a 3GS, which only has a tethered Jailbreak available. And my iPhone sees iTunes about once every 6 months. I loathe iTunes. Any Jailbreak solution which depends on my having iTunes around whenever I reboot the iPhone is not a solution.)

I wonder if Steve Jobs’ iPhone makes him leave Pandora to look at his Email? Bet not.

One of the greatest things about growing up on the internet is the rise of online shopping. Amazon and Ebay made books and everything else and random junk and stuff available from both big corporations, small companies, and even individual sellers. Amazon has single handedly forced Barnes and Noble and Borders to sell books at a fair price. Unfortunately, they have also killed the small used bookstore, but they have also allowed a place for those stores, or anyone to sell books online. I take great pride in being as accommodating and efficient of a seller as possible in the Amazon marketplace with my unread course books that I don’t think deserve shelf space in my personal library (there will be plenty of built in shelf space in that walnut-paneled smoker-friendly room with a tube amp, record player, and oversized leather couches, but these books are just that spare). Ebay lets you sell everything. Craigslist is a sort of hybrid between internet efficiency and killing the newspaper. I guess the death of the newspaper and print journalism in general is sad too, especially since magazines are so much more interesting than blogs… The writing is better in magazines and newspapers. Sometimes. Either way, the democratizing force of the internet, especially when it comes to competition for bigger, less efficient, less cost effective, less attractive, (insert noun here), is undeniable and glorious. I’ll write more about this another time.

So Etsy, Etsy is like an online flea market/swap meet/boutique for unique things you’ve made or found. The best part about Etsy, which is also the most frustrating, is that it’s frustratingly dense to navigate. You have to flip through pages and pages within the same category, but since I’m never really on Etsy for anything specific, it’s really nice browsing through it. I also feel that this is a nice democratic gesture so that you don’t get bias towards bigger sellers. Everyone has a chance to sell whatever they’re selling. I read the other day (probably in a NYT article) that there are people actually making a living off Etsy. The lady interviewed stays at home and knits all day, which she enjoys, and she makes $60,000 or so. Anyhow, here’s some cool stuff I found today that I likely won’t end up buying but will talk about buying for at least the next few days.

I don’t even have a mac and I don’t ever want to get one, but I’d consider getting a mac just so I could get one of these. Actually, just so I could get the Snow White Bandit one.

Um yeah. These are just gorgeous. The detail is fantastic and the quality of his work looks to be unbelievable, especially for the price. Now I know nothing about Venetian style leather masks, and I can’t think of any reason I’d have to or could get away with wearing one, but I want one.

A previously-unknown MacBook Pro model with a 2.66 GHz Intel “Arrandale” dual-core processor was discovered in a Geekbench report on Thursday, suggesting that a refresh to Apple’s high-end laptop line may be released soon. The benchmark score for this computer significantly higher than currently shipping Mac Book Pro models with 2.66 GHz processors.

Geekbench aggregates benchmarks from thousands of users worldwide, allowing enthusiasts to compare different models in real-world configurations. This test was run by a computer identifying itself as a “MacBook Pro 6,1″ which suggests it’s an upgrade to currently shipping Pro models which all use “MacBook Pro 5,x” identifiers. The 6,x identifiers had been seen in developer releases of 10.6.2 last August. This computer was running an unreleased build of Mac OS X 10.6.2 called build 10C3067.

The preformance results listed in the report showed a Core i7 M 620 processor, the top of Intel’s new mobile Arrandale line that was announced last month. This computer received a “Geekbench Score” of 5260, as compared to high scores in the mid-four thousands for the existing top-of-the-line 17-inch 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro, and low four thousands for the existing 2.8GHz Core 2 Duo model.

A speed bump for the MacBook Pro has been expected for some time. An Intel giveaway last month touting a chance to win a MacBook with a Core i5 processor created a fresh spate of rumors before Intel sent out a new flyer claiming the earlier one was just an error.

I’ve been playing with some thoughts of late, mostly around a couple of themes that have always interested me.  About how rapidly culture has changed in the last 20 years.  About how rapidly customer service has changed in the last 20 years.

I have to think these are related as, to a large extent, culture either defines our behaviour or is a reflection of it.  And customer service is all about behaviour – that of the customers and those serving them.

I’m not a fan of most customer service I encounter these days and it’s not the fault of those serving…  It’s the fault of those responsible for training and educating those serving – the y are not giving them the correct tools.  Is this because those in charge have done their research and found that customers are less fussy these days?  Or is it because they’ve done no/poorly designed research?

Two companies stand out for me – in a good way.  Apple and Amazon.  Interestingly, they are both also innovators… cultural leaders.  Every contact I’ve ever had with Apple’s customer service has been a pleasure - and, as a long-term Apple junkie, there have been many.  If I’ve had a problem – a late delivery, for example – they way Apple has owned and solved the problem has made me even more of an evangelist.  And Amazon also delights – they deliver when (or often before) they say they will and take full responsibility for anything that goes wrong.

So which leads?  Culture or customer service?  Or are they co-leaders, working hand-in-hand?