And not just because Steve Jobs will be making my “worst” list in likability and celebrity acquiescence (read: making fun of a girl for asking for a photo won’t have him on Autograph Magazine’s top ten list of anonymous niceness anytime soon, like Johnny Depp always is). As if Jobs’ fans are as annoying as say, Vin Diesel’s must be. Personally, I think the human face of any product is like the personal ambassador for the brand, and being callously rude to polite, complimentary strangers affects how that brand is perceived. Blogging and instantaneous online reporting removes the wall of the impersonal and makes every point of contact meaningful in some way for the individual — whether that human-brand contact is in person, or on the other side of the monitor, watching (in this case, that’s you). And what if I’d waited 35 hours in line to buy an iPhone, just to be told off and laughed at for asking for a photo?
Update: This is now on Digg! “Steve Jobs tells off fan, calls her ‘rude’: Blogger and podcaster Violet Blue approached the Apple CEO on the Macworld floor to ask for a photo — and got completely blown off.”
/Update
Anyway, I still had high hopes for the ultra-portable Air but it’s skinny yet not that small, has one measly USB port, is missing lotsa features, is still by ultra-portable Hollywood standards quite heavy, and a battery life of only 5 hours. It’s almost exactly like my 2005 iBook huffed a few rails of coke for like six straight weeks but still ate cheeseburgers at 4am. And it’s not cheap, which is a factor for me. I desperately need a new laptop-cum-portable blogging station, and this ain’t it. I need something for the monthly Google talks I’m agreeing to give, my O’Reilly ETech talk in March and the SXSW panels/appearances I’m doing. It’s got me looking at things like the Panasonic R7 (can I lube it with Linux?), even kind of drooling over the Vaio TZ91’s and of course I’d give the OQO a fierce run, though I wish they’d quit with the Windows already. All have 6-8+ hours of battery life. And I’m saying all this as I’m about to be featured in the upcoming documentary “MacHeads”, where I talk about sex and Mac geeks. That will prolly never change…
The one thing I am lusting after — Scoble’s phone. Think of how much fun I could have livestreaming video to a channel you could watch anytime, like being told off by people like Steve Jobs or just hanging out with my assorted friends (like Tyra Banks) and my unusual experiences… Helio’s Ocean is a blast (disclosure: they gave me one and I use/promo the hell out of it), but the Nokia N95 looks pretty badass and could bring my blogging to a whole new level.
My Macworld bits and selected pics are after the jump (entire set with comments is here). Then we’re back to the usual sexiness around here… and more.
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Sexiest non-gadget accessories? Gelaskins, hands-down:
Super-lusty (I want!) non-Mac gadget with the Mac OS, plus awesum touch screen + built-in camera kelwness: the Axiotron Modbook:
The most asked about camera, which I also totally want super-bad, the Canon G9:
Tagging is not a crime, but peen-less male mannequins should be:
This is the Mac employee that harshly told us not to spin the Air demo models that were suspended from a wire — authority enforcement yes, but please, no accountability. She evidently thought I was paparazzi but was too slow for my quick-draw (and superb) Lumix DMC-TZ3K:
The Air, as compared to a finger. I guess I should be less mean because most of my friends have less ports than I do:
Then, on the way home, MUNI underground made it all crystal-clear:
