Brian T. Nakamoto

Blog Hiatus 2010

Off to tour Switzerland, and das land that invented Claudia Schiffer. Ergo, there won't be any new updates here for the next couple of weeks, especially since AT&T charges a dollar per megabyte for iPad data—the discounted rate for buying 200 MB in advance! It'll be interesting to field test the iPhone 4 in Europe where GSM coverage is generally more robust. It'll also be awesome to validate that an iPad plus a couple of 32 GB SDHC cards can stand-in for a MacBook Pro on vacations...

Apple Responds To FutureTap

FutureTap has posted a follow-up to their blog post that got picked up by some media who seem determined to paint Apple as the new Borg or Skynet. As reported by media who practice a modicum of journalism, the furor was much ado about nothing. One hopes outlets who covered the initial hysteria will also follow-up, and help educate people about patent law.

Dell Streak

Continuing yesterday's theme of crappy websites from companies that should be able to afford better marketing... Dell's latest attempt at a smartphone, the Streak, goes on sale tomorrow. Suppose the $299 (with 2-year AT&T contract) Streak has some potential to be a dedicated car phone and nav system since it sports a Texas-sized 5-inch touchscreen. Dell should consider bundling Navigon MobileNavigator for Android. Anyhow, Apple fans will never forget Michael Dell's mean spirited comments about shutting down Apple so it's always fun to indulge in some schadenfreude at Dell's expense. Dell would have been better off hiring QVC to make Streak videos, or not posting them on the main product page.

Update: It looks like marketing wisdom has prevailed, and the videos have been banished to Dell's YouTube page albeit the link below still works...

PC versus Mac

Borg marketing is finally reacting to regular, quarterly reports from Apple that half of their retail store customers come from the collective of PC users. As the Legend points out (by way of the Fireball), Microsoft's new sub-site seems aimed at retaining Windows users more so than assimilating the Mac faithful who won't hesitate to share more reasons Why You'll Love a Mac.

Mark Papermaster Departs Apple

According to The New York Times, Mark Papermaster, Apple's senior vice president of Devices Hardware Engineering, has left the company. The Times and other rampant speculation online make it sound like he was effectively Steved. Maybe Steve can patch up his relationship with Jon Rubinstein to bring him back, assuming Palm's CEO is not looking to take over HP. Apple's PR timing continues to be too brilliant to be mere coincidence!

Doomsday

After The Descent, Neil Marshall directed Doomsday, his homage to the Mad Max and Snake Plissken flicks. There are even not-so-subtle references to Aliens. Alas, Doomsday is somewhat of a mess. It starts off well enough, gets lost in a forest, and then really goes to hell when a seemingly invincible Bentley is driven into action. The film veers dangerously close to being a "Doomsday Movie" spoof towards the end. It's a shame that Marshall didn't muster more originality instead of going overboard with blatant tributes to classics of the genre.

Love the Way You Lie – Eminem (feat. Rihanna)

Joseph Kahn's direction manages to balance two music and two film stars in Eminem's hotly anticipated video for Love the Way You Lie. It's a trip to watch one of the hobbits (now probably better known as that guy from Lost) in a dysfunctional relationship with Megan Fox!

Flipboard For iPad

Flipboard is a fun way to browse content from Twitter, Facebook, and around the web on an iPad. It'll be truly great once they add support for more Twitter and Facebook content, and any website. Suppose they are taking their time to rollout new features having been overwhelmed by traffic during their launch a couple of weeks ago.

Happy National Underwear Day & International Beer Day!

Today is National Underwear Day, and International Beer Day! It was surprisingly difficult to find a picture featuring both underwear and beer that's at least semi-SFW.

P.S. Congrats to civil rights advocates who won a historic federal court case against Prop 8 yesterday. The judgement is an interesting read (PDF).

BlackBerry Torch

CrackBerry addicts rejoice! (Except for those in the UAE, or who use Verizon.) RIM unveiled the BlackBerry Torch yesterday. At first glance, it looks like the Ontarians drew inspiration from iOS and webOS, and then shoved the latest BlackBerry OS into a Pre-like form factor. Upon closer inspection, BlackBerry 6 seems like a perfumed pig reminiscent of how Palm OS might have evolved had they not had the wisdom to start anew with webOS. The Torch hardware appears to be a huge improvement over the godawful design of the BlackBerry Storm series. It'll be interesting to find out if RIM did a better job than Palm of preventing the Torch from being top heavy when it's in extended keyboard mode. $199 is disappointing for a smartphone that's heavier, thicker, and less powerful than an iPhone 4. That said, RIM isn't ceding North America to Apple or Android without a fight of epic epicness.