Official iCreate Blog > iPod

I was seven the first time I went on a long-haul flight. I had many more opportunities to experience this mode of transportation for years after that, until the end of the millennium. In all that time, the entertainment system never changed: we were all given the choice of one film which we all had to watch on the same screen, at the same time.

Recently, this all changed and each passenger got their own personal screen and had the opportunity to choose what type of entertainment to enjoy, be it a film, TV show or even games, at any time during the flight. I got introduced to this new system shortly after I got hold of an iPod touch and this caused a problem: the idea of having a screen within arm’s reach was very exciting, having already interacted with my iPod for a few weeks and loving it.

Unfortunately, the plane’s system was nowhere near as high tech as that consumer device. For one thing, it wasn’t equipped with a touch screen. This device begged to be touched, but could only be controlled with a remote. On top of which it was incredibly easy to crash it and be faced with familiar Windows error messages, something my eldest daughter did numerous times during the flight with increasing frustration.

A few months later, my family and I were on another flight and faced with another entertainment system. This time, it could be controlled by touch… Actually, it was more like ‘press as hard as you can for the sensor to recognise the command’. The touch screen was also an obvious new addition as the cursor was still present on the display and the interface, again, left a lot to be desired.

Apple has nailed the entertainment system on the very small screen with the iPod touch and iPhone so why is it that airlines keep using Microsoft technology to power their machines? I wouldn’t mind if it worked as advertised, but sadly, most of the time it’s just an exercise in frustration.

This got me thinking: are the other travellers - or most of them anyway - tolerant of these unfriendly devices because they have grown used to struggling with badly designed devices? What would happen if Apple got a contract to fit an entertainment system on an airline built around iPhone/Apple TV technology? How would it affect the passengers? Would a glimpse of a better design make them realise how frustrating interacting with PCs can be? Could it join the iPod and iPhone and act as a catalyst to bring more people to a better computing platform?

Since the majority of new cars in the United States come fitted with iPod connectors as standard, it’s obvious that Apple aren’t averse to partnering with big companies. Maybe going for the airline market could be the next logical step. It would certainly make those flights a lot more pleasant and stress-free.

By now you’ve probably seen one of the new Microsoft adverts. You know the ones, Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld bantering in a seemingly nonsensical manner and at no point mentioning quite what they’re talking about or, at least, attempting to advertise.

Then there’s the other lot of ads from Bill and Co. The Gatesmeister doesn’t feature and Seinfeld has allegedly been canned, but the Redmond boys take aim at Apple’s I’m a Mac/I’m a PC campaign by, well… repeating the “I’m a PC” line. A wide range of people from all walks of life repeat the simple phrase “I’m a PC and I…” filling in the blank with everything from charity work to graffiti (yeah, PC users break the law too guys). This culminates with one chap proudly proclaiming “I’m a PC and I sell fish”. What the hell is going on!?

Online, people are wondering about hidden meanings in the Seinfeld ads, is the old woman Steve Jobs? Are scallop potatoes meant to be Macs? Was it really Bill Gates behind the Grassy Knoll? That’s stage one of the – wait for it - $300 million advertising campaign complete. People are talking about the ads.
Whether the consumers get it or not, they’re talking about Microsoft rather than just blindly using its software.

Then there’s the second batch of ads, the Seinfeld-less “I’m a PC” ones. Am I the only one to think this was a bad move? Even if I didn’t have a clue what Shoe Circus was meant to represent as Bill and Jerry tried on loafers, at least I was intrigued. Joe Public and a sprinkling of cash-hungry celebrities yelling “I’m a PC” in between my regular TV programming tells me two things; one – PCs are used the world over for a wide variety of tasks, both creative and dull. Tell me something I didn’t know. Two – Microsoft is aware of, possibly even worried/annoyed by, Apple’s “I’m a Mac” campaign.

The Bill & Jerry’s ads completely overlooked Apple’s ads. They ignored them as a company with such an enormous market share should. Microsoft is the Ford of the technology world, and you don’t see the Fiesta trying to rival a Ferrari when it comes to marketing.

So what are we left with? A petty playground squabble that will end up costing Microsoft about as much as it would cost to fix its currently flawed operating system. Don’t worry about Apple, boys. Take a look at yourselves! You’re re-branding a dead horse, that’s for sure, but people are still buying PCs and they’re still buying Windows. Just because the Zune didn’t take off doesn’t mean you’re failing.

Ultimately my problem comes down to the Microsoft fan boys (yes, I said “fan boys”). For years, us Mac users have been elitist and we’ve said that our platform is better than yours. There’s no getting around that. Now it actually IS better, and we’re still saying it. That hasn’t stopped Microsoft ruling the roost in the market share stakes. Nobody stopped buying PCs. But now, a set of overpriced and over hyped ads have appeared and the Windows users have crawled out of the woodwork to laugh and point and jeer and boast about their ads as if they’ve won some kind of battle. It’s a sad truth, but the Microsoft crowd are acting like the underdogs and that’s what entertains me the most. You don’t like our ads, nobody understands yours.

However you look at it, in terms of PR or user satisfaction, I’ll tell you one thing. I’m still glad “I’m a Mac and I don’t sell fish”.

Apple generally know how to get the Mac community excited and it seems they’ve done it again! This time with a monstrous banner. Well played Apple, you have whet my appetite. Roll on tomorrow. Look out for Twitter updates on the day (search twittter for iCreateMagazine) and we’ll also be trying our hand at live-blogging from the event itself - ok, not the event itself in San Fran, but the beamed show in London. So, watch this space as of about 4:00pm BST.

Can’t wait.

Hello again, its been another week of checking out the latest products to go with your Apple lifestyle. This time around I’ve got an iPod case and some speakers for you to look at…

This offering from Gear4 is very good case for your iPod Touch. Its called the iVAk and as well as being made from very tough plastic its got a built in hard screen protector so there’s no fumbling around with flimsy bits of plastic and worrying about air bubbles getting in the way of your display. It does however mean you need to be a bit more forceful with your finger while navigating menus and using gestures. The iVak also features a built in kick-stand so you can set your iPod down to watch some video, this is great for when you’re traveling. The case itself is scratch resistant and has a nice thin profile. It will set you back £24.99 and is a great for overall protection, the built in screen protector offers massive piece of mind when your iPod is in a pocket or bag. For more information go to www.gear4.com.

For those of you who like to get their music out there as often as possible, portable speakers are a must. This impressively compact system called the BlackBox mini from Gear4 has a great sound for its size and will run off of four AA batteries, USB or mains power. Because of its tiny size there’s no dock but you can connect an iPod using the provided mini-jack lead. It also has Bluetooth, so you can stream tracks from your mobile phone. The controls are touch sensitive and the whole unit is a deep glossy black. The mini also comes with a carry case so you can easily take it wherever you want. A unit of this quality doesn’t come cheap, despite its diminutive size. This one will set you back £49.99 and you can get more information by visiting www.gear4.com.

I admit it. I bought an XBox 360.

Well come on, until Apple really goes for it and launches a games console (not the Pippin!) I didn’t have much choice. I had a Wii for a while (because it seemed the most Apple-esque choice) but it didn’t quite cut it against the next-gen breed. 

So…I’ve had this Microsoft product in my home for a fortnight now. All has been good and, I hate to say it, I’ve enjoyed using it. I bought the top of the line Elite model and a bunch of games and, despite it looking like a VCR or some kind of high tech shoebox, things have been fine.Today I come home looking to settle down for a quick game of Call of Duty and what happens… the disc drive is emitting some kind of buzzing sound and no game can be read. I knew the last 14 days had been too good to be true.

Online I hop and, lo and behold, literally hundreds of people have had this problem if not thousands. Apparently it’s my fault. I should have made sure my XBox was kept cool and rested on its side!

What the @$%&!? 

There are some things I don’t need to be warned about. I know the coffee in my cup is hot and I know that smoking kills.What I didn’t know was that if you position an XBox in one of the ways it’s built to sit/stand it will break. I also didn’t know that if you allow an XBox to heat up to anything close to room temperature, it’ll break.

So Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is sitting out in Vegas at the moment complaining that the MacBook Air is too heavy, he’s moaning about the iPhone price, always dissing Apple. Ok Steve, at least when Apple brings a product to market, “It just works”. The bastard child of Sloth from The Goonies and an albatross can blindly tout Vista as a revolution and Windows Mobile as groundbreaking but can he honestly say that any of his products really face up to actual use and tests of functionality?

I’ve had a MacBook for two years. No faults. An iMac which I’ve had fixed once in 5 years of ownership and an iPhone thats been dropped, knocked and had a cigarette put out on its screen and it still works, still looks great. All of the above run Mac OS X by the way. Any problems with that? No. Even after upgrading to the latest OS which (unlike Microsoft’s effort is better than the previous version).

I’ve had an XBox less than half a month and its stopped working.

Another admission: I’ve owned an XBox before. The original model. What happened to it? The drive broke. Then the HD. Then some kind of video fault developed. All within one year.

I’m the idiot here. I naively thought that, as much as its operating system is a pile of the proverbial, Microsoft had its games devision nailed and would certainly have been committed to more stable hardware after many issues with the original XBox model. Man was I wrong.Knock it together, fire it out to the masses, pay the price when a huge percentage of the products fail.

The guy who sold me my XBox tried to push me onto a PS3, citing the “hundreds” of returns he’d been plagued with since he began stocking the XBox 360. I wish I’d listened to him. I wish I’d taken his advice, given my money to another company that cares about the end user, cares about products standing the test of time and cares about quality.As we well know, Microsoft is not a company on that list. 

I’m the sucker for thinking things couldn’t possibly get any worse.

So, to Evil Steve (Ballmer): Screw you, your stupid dancing antics, your sweating and your mangled vocal chords.

To Good Steve (Jobs): It’s time to bring out yet another device to shame the morons at Microsoft.

Alright, you lot? We’re talking protection today, not the kind you need on the mean streets where I’m from, but protection for your beloved Apple gadgets. So, the two products I’ve got for you are from PDAir, one for your Al Capone (iPhone) and the other for your fishing rod (iPod).

The first, called the Pouch Case for iPhone will set you back £14 and it’s not for the timid. Be proud, you own an iPhone – so wear it on your belt as a beacon of your technology bling. If you love your iPhone and want everyone to see you displaying it proudly about the hip, then you need this case. Premium leather, white stitching and a belt clip provide all the ingredients you’re gonna need. If you prefer to be subtle then you can remove the belt clip, but there’s not much chance it will fit in your sky rocket (pocket). This is a good all rounder that’ll stop you scratching the iPhone should you get in any scrapes or scuffles.

JFTB rating: Nugget – Score – Pony - Bullseye – Monkey

The next offering from PDAir is their originally named iPod Nano Case and it will set you back £12.50. In my opinion this is the best case they make. Flip cases are a bit hard to manage on the bigger iPods – there’s no cool factor when there’s tons of leather and plastic flying about while you’re trying to navigate menus on a packed tube train. On a small and compact case they’re actually very lemon-tart (smart). This nano flip case is excellent. It may look like one of those key rings that holds a picture of your cat, but it actually holds some swanky technology. Nice.

JFTB rating: Nugget – Score – Pony - Bullseye – Monkey

For more information on PDAir cases check out their website at www.pdair.com

This is a weekly column that I will be writing for iCreate so watch this space for more. You may get to hear from me on the podcast too…. Laters.

There have been various reports over the last few days that Apple is about to release a new colour in the iPod nano range. This time it looks like we may see a purple effort. The source of the rumour comes from a Circuit City circular ad distributed in Minneapolis and its spawned some serious debate on the internet.
Picture thanks to Engadget http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/02/ipod-nano-coming-in-purple/


There is already a purple iPod shuffle so its not beyond the bounds of reasoning that we may see an update soon. Watch this space!