Leatherheads or Propellerheads?

"They say the next big thing is here, that the revolution's near, but to me it seems quite clear, that it's all just a little bit of history repeating."

The best defense is a strong offense, but the way the San Francisco 49ers offense is playing nowadays, their defense is their offense! Why they couldn't repeat the history from the Joe Montana/ Steve Young/ Jeff Garcia years is not so clear :-D (But it may have something to do with lousy ownership!) To invoke another song: where have you gone Eddie DeBartolo, a nation turns its lonely eyes to you, what's that you say, Mrs York? Joltin Joe (and Steve & Jeff) has left & gone away, hey, hey, hey!

Man, I miss those halcyon days of the 80s & 90s, when the 49ers teams won most of their games & featured all stars like Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Steve Young, John Taylor, Roger Craig, Tom Rathman, Brent Jones, Ronnie Lott and the many other players that made me a NFL fan for life.

No Wonder It's Called The Jesus Phone

No sooner did my post go up (about the pope joining Facebook) than my iPhone overheated and I'm now seeing the white screen of death. Jeez... I was just kidding. You don't mess with Texas and you certainly don't want to mess with you-know-who. Now I understand why it's called the Jesus phone :-D

Looking For Love In All The Right Places

Within a few hours of my Pope 2.0 post, I found out that Pope Benedict XVI finally joined Facebook. At first, I couldn't tell the exact date when he joined and I was thinking to myself: "Wow! Looks like he just joined a few hours ago...who said that he doesn't listen to his peeps?" Upon further digging though, I discovered that he joined last week O:-) Welcome, your Holiness- I hope you have more friends than anybody else. This is the certainly the place where you'll find the next generation of believers/ followers/ members & God knows (as I'm sure you know all too well, what with the direct line you have and all) that we could use more peace and love in this world. Is it really him? I dunno, but I'm thinking I'd better friend him up just in case... doesn't hurt to get some extra points with the Man upstairs ;-)

Pope 2.0

Peggy Noonan of the Wall Street Journal claims that John Paul was the perfect pope for the television age, "a man of images," whereas Benedict is the perfect pope for the Internet age. She says "he is a man of the word. You can download the text of what he said, print it, ponder it." It's a nice article that reminisces about John Paul and contrasts his style with that of Benedict's and ends with some hopeful words: "Nothing is ended, something beautiful has begun, we just won't understand it for a while."

As the pope embarks on a historic visit to America, here's what I don't understand: if Benedict is Web 1.0, when will we see the Web 2.0 version? Yes, the Vatican has a website and podcasts and videos that they use to disseminate their message. But it looks to me like a one-sided conversation. A generation that seems to spend most of its time pushing buttons (cell phone, video game, iPod, you name it) needs something more interactive. How about using social media to create a dialog with the Church? Should the pope start a blog? Or heaven forbid, get on Facebook or Twitter? Why is the Vatican not using modern technology to communicate? Shouldn't the pope tweet his peeps? It's one of the most effective (and instantaneous) mass communication mediums I have seen. Seems to me that Robert Scoble, Guy Kawasaki & Gary Vaynerchuk are doing a better job of umm... evangelizing their brand than His Holiness. Of course, they're not working with material that is 2008 years old, but still... we live in difficult times where moral values are in danger of being replaced by moral relativism and the Church needs to find a way of getting its message out in a format that is relevant to the 21st Century.

Not all is lost though: according to Sister Judith Zoebelein, editorial director of the Holy See, the Vatican has recently switched to Macs. What's that you say? Don't bite into the Apple? Sorry, too late ;-)

Blender Makes a Blunder on Record Company Screw Ups

Blender.com recently posted an article about the 20 biggest record company screw-ups of all time. Their tagline? "From turning down The Beatles to stomping Napster- the most ill-advised, foolhardy and downright idiotic decisions ever made by The Man." While those 2 decisions certainly qualify as big-time screw ups, I was surprised that ceding control to Apple for digital music sales did not make the list. Now that Apple is America's 2nd largest music retailer, the labels have realized their folly and are doing their utmost to prevent history from repeating itself when it comes to TV shows and movies. I think it's only a matter of time before iTunes becomes #1.

Unbearable Lightness of Being A MacBook Air Owner

Today I needed to access my old PowerBook G4 for some reason... man, did it feel heavy! After using the MacBook Air for almost 1 month, I had forgotten how heavy my last computer was. Kudos to Apple for redefining what "heavy" means.

More Book for Your Buck

Apple just rolled out new and improved MacBooks (and Pros) but the form factor and materials remain unchanged. The new "low end" MacBook Pro, at 2.4 GHz and with 256MB of VRAM, is a scorcher, and for everyday general purpose use, I really don't see why anyone would feel the need for (even more) speed (famous last words, I know!). It's an incredible value at $1999 and makes you wonder about that $200 price gap between the MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air; well, that difference, it just got more pronounced. The MacBook Pro is about double the weight but it's also (almost) twice as fast. Throw in a removable battery, built-in Ethernet, built-in Firewire, built-in optical drive & a hard drive that is more than twice as large and you're making a very compelling argument for ditching the MacBook Air and going back to a regular form factor computer. Now you may be wondering: how I can pen this after saying, not even 2 weeks ago, that I was a MacBook Air believer? The answer is that I'm still a believer, but I just don't move around (with my laptop) that much that I need this ultra-portability. Still, the keyboard and the ultra-quiet nature of the MacBook Air is keeping me Air-bound. For now... And therein, as the Bard would tell us, lies the rub: when the MacBook Air 1st came out, it compared quite favorably to the existing MacBooks, both in terms of speed and looks. While the MacBooks were bound to be speed-bumped (and as technology marches on, so will the MacBook Air get speed-bumped one day), what about design-bumps for the MacBook and MacBook Pro? The major appeal of the MacBook Air has got to be its sleek form factor, just like those models on the runways in Paris and Milan: slim & sexy (though the similarities don't end there, since both have been accused of being perhaps too slim!). The debate about the pros and cons of the MacBook Air will get more pronounced when the form factor of MacBooks changes. Can't wait to see what Apple does at that time to retain the MacBook Air's value...

MacBook Air Makes A Believer Out of Me

So, there's this post out there where I'm quoted as saying that "the MacBook Air is Apple's next Cube. Yes, it's sexy & all that, but how can you justify spending $700 more just to fit your laptop in an envelope?" My initial skepticism was based on reservations about the slower processor, the non-removable battery & the lack of Firewire ports- of course, more limitations in an Apple product directly translates into more opportunities for FastMac, but that's another story. To me, it seemed like Apple was trying too hard to make the thinnest computer in the world instead of the best sub-notebook in the world. Would a few more millimeters really prevent it from being the sexiest laptop ever?

Well, that was before I got my hands on one... For the last 2 weeks, I've been playing around, er, I mean, testing the MacBook Air and comparing it to other portables like the plain ol' MacBook & MacBook Pro and the one thing that is standing out for me is solid build quality and the keyboard, which is the most important element (to me) when deciding on a computer model. Looking back at all the laptops I've used since being "Welcomed to the Mac," I can honestly say that the MacBook Air keyboard comes closest to approximating the feel of the PowerBook 160 keyboard (yeah, I know, I just dated myself, but hey- let's not get distracted!). The other thing I like about it is the trackpad, not the iPhone-esque multi-touch gestures but the non-slip nature of the pad itself. In my experience, the trackpad in the MacBook causes the cursor to jump all over the place whereas the MacBook Pro has the perfect trackpad and cursor behavior. In some ways, the MacBook Air borrows a few Pro features & feels like a MacBook Plus, making it the perfect laptop for busy (and harried) executives like me.

"Disappointment haunted all my dreams...
Then I saw her face
Now I'm a believer!
Not a trace of doubt in my mind
I'm in love (ooh yeah)
I'm a believer!
I couldn't leave her if I tried..."
-- The Monkees