this is fyf

Meanwhile...Re: Steve Jobs Legacy

Apple has more cash than the U.S. Government, is the world's most valuable brand and just broke its own record for pre-orders on an iPhone with the 1 millionth pre-order of the iPhone 4S.

Still, his biggest triumph - to me - is that nothing about this success feels repugnant. It manages to somehow feel deserved; a paradigm of valuation that's probably worth trying to detangle, both in my own mind and from "The American Dream", but one that still has the power to bestow a sense of authenticity on an individual's fortune and dispel jealousy and ill-will.

Note for clarity and its appreciators: "Of course, the numbers aren’t directly comparable; the government’s number represents how much financial headroom it has before bumping up against an arbitrary debt ceiling, while Apple’s cash reserve represents the pile of money the Cupertino, California-based company has available on its balance sheet."

RIP Steve Jobs

My dad bought a Mac not long after they first came out. I don't believe we had a computer prior to that...I recall going to my dad's office and playing Othello on this giant mainframe computer the size of two rooms while the screen I was playing on was maybe 5"x 5"...but - even if not the first "word processor" our family owned - we've never had anything other than Macs ever since that first. Dad loved (and still loves) his Apples.

The furthest thing from an extravagant man or a spendthrift, he'd wear his shoes until part of his foot was sticking out through the holes in the sole. He'd wear literal holes in his pants and patch them and then let those wear through before throwing the pants out. Mom would have to conduct a covert operation in order to successfullly throw out his worn out underwear, undershirts and socks: taking them to the dump when he was at work, lest he come back and find them gone and pull them from the garbage can (Side note: I worry sometimes that he's a hoarder who's only saved from his hoarding tendencies by living with Mom.).

Still? He never failed to splurge on the latest Mac. Maybe not the latest latest, but we've always had current models - multiple, in fact! - that he kept/keeps meticulously up-to-date.

It's too late to call him tonight, now that I've heard the news, but I wonder how he's taking it. He's not particularly sentimental or emotional...nor is he one to show adulation, but...if anyone?...I bet Steve Jobs' death is taking some toll on him tonight.

Via Mashable.

A product highlighting our increasingly lustful relationship to...well, products.

Just the other night a friend was saying how big a moment phone sex had been for him in his life (He started calling at 14.). A reminder how quickly technology changes on the one hand (my friend is not old, by any means.) and the perfect segue to the topic of this post, iPhone protection, on the other.

See, Phonesex is a new line of iPhone protective covers with the lofty goal of exposing and commenting on "the fetishization of product in today's society" (sounds like something I could have written!?), while also producing a quality product that's as cool-looking as it is functional.

Models include "Hard-on" (above), "Chastity Belt" and "Stud-ley" and serve to drive home the point that we're engaged emotionally with these products as much as we are physically.

Not completely sold on the products themselves, but LOVE the concept!

Via Thrillist

Civilization Progress Report: Apple announces brand new product that doesn't work well and world pretends to be agog

This is how much I love all of you--all six or seven, perhaps eight--who read this. For about 83 minutes last night, I experienced some serious internet connectivity issue, which I tried to resolve by trying to (a) smack the modem against my parquet in hopes of forcing it to cooperate, (b) cuss at it in order to berate it into submission, (c) yank out several cords and plug them back in, and of course (d) feverishly click the RENEW DHCP LEASE button in my System Preferences panel. But as with most computer-related issues, this issue has kind of fixed itself. So you, dear reader, should regard this overlong palaver about my connectivity woes as an excellent segue into a number of very loud proclamations hipster egghead Steve Jobs made this week regarding technology that continues not to work as it should, but is let loose on the public, anyway. Presenting your world this week: A tangled mess of computer and telephone cords and short-circuiting motherboards!

• Did you remember to celebrate 90210 day yesterday? I didn't, but to my credit, I do at least own the entire series of So Notorious on DVD, so there you go! [Gawker TV]

• AMERICAN MIDOL Because American Idol is committed to excellence in pop music, they may be hiring acclaimed "Louboutins" warbler Jennifer Lopez to fill in as a new judge. [OK!]

From Your Flickr - In 95 degree heat, they have gathered together and they endure the wait all in the name of social justice. Wait? What? Oh. All in the name of getting a new iPhone.

You look at the picture and say, "Hey, that line's not so bad."  But it's a picture from 4 p.m. yesterday, outside the Meatpacking District's Apple Store as captured by SuaveMaeve.

UPDATE:   

At 8am (above), the line stretched past La Perla down 14th Street. By 9am, according to Apple employees, the line stretched down to 10th Avenue and up 10th to 18th Street.

Special Note for potential lemmings...I mean, buyers: If you have an outstanding balance on your account that is equal to or greater than the cost of the phone you're trying to buy? You'll need to bring your account current in order to complete the upgrade. 

   

Freakin' love this.  Not exactly the whiskey flask or gun in the Bible, but close enough.

Sadly (Or practically? Who carries round a 17" book in the days of iPads?), it doesn't fit my 17-incher. Guess I shouldn't have been such a size queen.

Hat tip: MUG

Apple "juice" continues to leak?

What's going on at Apple these days?? Now there's two iPod Touch prototypes appearing for sale on eBay with Apple Development Team credentials clearly affixed.

Oh and it appears the new versions will have a camera.

via www.iphonehacks.com

Emoji Art

 

"Color Stories" by Steve Winick.

You see, Grindr is for social networking, not hookups.  So it survived Apple's culling of sexual applications.