Monday, July 19, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
Meanwhile, the real journalists are focusing on what matters
Thank you, David Pogue, for your wonderful blog posts about technology that keeps people from using cell phones while driving, and a piece about how you made the video to go with that, plus new services from cable companies and a shout-out to Android for being such a crappy, plucky little also-ran in the mobile computing space. Plus some great stuff on passport photos, music-sharing tips, and a fitness monitor.
You too, Walt Mossberg. The stuff has been terrific lately, eg, “Cookies, Android Phones, and using a Kindle in Japan.” And: “A Brief Rundown of What You Need in a Laptop.” (Top thing you need: An Apple logo. Nice.)
Guys, we realize it’s been slow lately, and there hasn’t been much going on in the tech space, especially around Apple. But you’re doing a great job of finding things to write about. Keep up the good work.
Oh, and a couple more I missed
David Carr of the New York Times says I’m churlish, which is ridiculous, and besides that, who says churlish? Oh, and Valleywag thinks all this hatred of me is hilarious and wonderful.
Yet more hate
Now some insightful fellow says we’re China:
The recent war between Apple and Adobe and the justifications made in Apple’s defense (ignore the predatory behavior in the tech space because it is too big a market to ignore) bring to mind the attitude that most large American corporations have regarding China (ignore the civil rights abuses because it is too big a market to ignore).
Hoo boy.
The backlash begins
It’s to be expected, so you shouldn’t get upset when you start seeing articles bashing us, like this:
TechCrunch says we’re silly little girls for using the word “magical.”
Alley Insider says traveling with the iPad isn’t so magical because you still need to bring a laptop and also if you just need to look something up quickly the iPhone is better so then what do you need the iPad for other than to impress fellow douchetards who see you using the latest crazy new gizmo and want to start talking to you? Money quote: “Having an iPad with you on a trip is a lot nicer than not having one. But having $500 is even nicer.”
The New York Post cites a single source who says the feds are about to open an antitrust inquiry on us because we’re forcing developers to use only tools we specify and they’d better not come from Adobe giving developers more freedom and trying to encourage greater competition in the market by empowering developers to develop apps for every single platform, separately, so that these apps will be as awesome and magical as they can possibly be.
Gizmodo picks up on that Post story and runs a photo suggesting I’m Michael Corleone. Yes, it’s Gizmodo. They’re still in business, apparently. Don’t get me started.
Anyway, dear friends, please do not get upset about all this. This stuff happens when you’re successful. People get jealous. There’s no need to take any of it to heart.
But if, by chance, this new wave of negativity does start to bother you, just go read Daring Fireball and allow the soothing feeling that you are superior to everyone else on the planet to start seeping back into your soul.
Peace.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Please stop thinking about Gizmodo, doors being broken down, etc.
Instead, please think about my latest totally impromptu essay, Thoughts on Flash.
I realize you might be thinking that I just published this “Thoughts on Flash” thing as a way to distract attention from the Gizmodo affair, where, as Jon Stewart put it last night, we look like a bunch of jackbooted “appholes.”
You might be thinking that this whole Flash essay was just a cheesy attempt to bury the Gizmodo “breaking down doors” meme, especially since it’s pretty obvious that we leaked the Flash essay to our Chief Apologist John Gruber and told him to start whipping up some buzz on Twitter about it, and he followed orders.
You might also be thinking that this only makes us look even more manipulative and ridiculous.
If that is what you are thinking, please stop thinking that.
Again, I repeat: This is not what we want you to be thinking.
So please stop thinking about it. Right now.
Please, instead, think about Flash.
Get yourself worked up about Flash. Argue about it. Get angry about it!
And please, as I’ve already said, stop thinking about Gizmodo.
Going forward, if you’re ever in doubt about what you should think about, and you can’t get through to me personally, just read John Gruber’s blog, and he’ll tell you what I want you to think.
Failing that, you can always think about Gandhi, who loves his new iPad and is totally downloading apps like a madman.
And by the way, Gandhi would totally break down your door if you stole something that belonged to him. He would fuck up your shit. Seriously.
Okay.
That is all.
Peace.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
We did not break into the home of the iPhone prototype seller
It was our private investigators, not us. And they didn’t break in. They just tried to. Actually what happened is they showed up and attempted to intimidate the kid into letting them search through his stuff. Perfectly legal. Perfectly acceptable behavior. There is no law, in California or anywhere else, that says it’s a crime to go to someone’s home and ask them to invite you inside and let you look through their stuff. There just isn’t. Hell, Jehovah’s Witnesses do this all the time. Except for the part about searching through your stuff. But why quibble over details.
Wired.com broke the story. And sure, what they’ve written is correct. Nevertheless we are demanding that they take it down, and if they won’t, we are threatening to reject all Conde Nast apps from the App Store, and to never let anyone from Wired come sit at my feet and ask me fawning questions and write down my phony scripted answers, ever again.
We’re pretty sure they’ll see the light on this.
Meanwhile, for now we’re asking John Gruber to ignore this story and simply pretend he hasn’t seen it or heard about it, and so far he seems to be complying. That’s for now anyway. Katie and her team are working on a version of the “Apple’s goons trying to get into some guy’s house” story that makes us look like the good guys.
We’ll have our side of the story up on Daring Fireball as soon as we can finish thinking it up. Stay tuned.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
That’s right, Michael Wolff, I run the bookstore. I’m also now your editor. In fact, I’m the editor of the entire world!
Poor Michael Wolff of Vanity Fair and Newser. He submitted his lousy application to our App Store, and got rejected. And now all the world must live in fear:
What we have now, suddenly, is one of the most mercurial and paranoid and unusual men in American business—willing to swear out a warrant if you cross him—telling you what you can and cannot read. In other words, the device you may be holding in your hand (my column, perhaps unbeknownst to Apple, is available on the Newser iPhone app) is not necessarily a benign one; the company that makes it not necessarily your friend.
Keep an eye on Daring Fireball to get our side of the story.
Obama: All of Gawker must go to prison
He called last night and he’s like, Hey, is there anything I can do? Can we maybe find a way to turn this into a federal crime? Maybe a hate crime thing? Or domestic terrorism? We could put some people in Gitmo and hold them without charges.
I was like, Dude, I thought we’re not doing that anymore. He goes, Uh, nope. We’re still doing that. I said, But wait, didn’t you say during the campaign — and he goes, Yeah, look, let it go, and how about we just rendition them to Cairo and let someone else take care of it, because frankly I’ve always wanted to see Nick Denton with a black bag over his head.
I told him I’d think about it. Enjoy the publicity for now, Nick Denton. You won’t be laughing for long.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Gizmodo suddenly not in a hurry to break a scoop
Obviously I knew about this when I posted yesterday, but I was waiting to see how long it would take Gizmodo to come clean.
News flash: Cops with a warrant searched the home of reporter-slash-receiver-of-stolen-property Jason Chen and took six computers — three days ago, on Friday night. Gizmodo just gets around to reporting it now. Strange, no?
Gawker’s COO says the warrant was not valid because in California you can’t bust into the house of a reporter and take his stuff. Well, excuse me, but as far as I can tell, that just happened. And do you know why it happened? Because this is my state, Gawker. I make the rules.
Penal code? Please. Cite your little laws all you want. Write memos to the cops. I own the cops. They work for me. So do the judges and the prosecutors.
In case you’re wondering how far we’re going to push this, let me put it this way: Katie asks me to ask you if anyone knows Jason Chen’s waist size, because she wants to buy him a skirt.
Yeah. It’s like that.
Welcome to the jungle, Gawker guys. You merry pranksters got crazy with the wrong dude when you tangled with me. Oh, you had a good laugh. You had a big “scoop.” You thought were all badass, didn’t you?
Well, now it’s my turn. And I will not rest until your entire “empire” is ground to dust under the heel of my running shoe.
To put it another way: