Just as we approach the beginning of a new year, 30GB Zunes around the globe have decided to take a break. Gizmodo reports that around midnight last night, Zunes started becoming unresponsive and practically useless. Okay, we all knew that Zunes were practically useless, but now that they’ve become unresponsive as well, that’s something to talk about. 

Apparently, around 2:00 AM today, the Zune models either reset, or were already off. Upon when turning on, the thing loads up and… freezes with a full loading bar (as pictured above). I thought my brother was the only one with it, but then it happened to my Zune. Then I checked out the forums and it seems everyone with a 30GB HDD model has had this happen to them. - Gizmodo report. 

I must admit this is the weirdest stunt out of Redmond. When I was reading the report, I didn’t know what to think! At least give it a feel-good 31st December date. What’s with the extra day left? The public however is hell bent on calling this the Z2k9 (or more pricisely, Z2k~9). 

This sure sounds like something out of a Sci-Fi movie, but there’s no need to panic. I mean, even if all the Zunes in the world turned into evil robots, that would mean we would have around 23 brown cripples to take care of. Not a problem at all. Anyway, since we are into naming every event that happens, 

Anyone’s iPod Touch also acting up? If you notice anything weird, shoot us an email. Nothing? We thought so.

Those of you following our twitter feed will be knowing by now, that Balmer made a comment about adopting Webkit for Internet Explorer.

Addressing a developer conference in Sydney Australia, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s ”Developers! Developers! Developers!” chant was met by a student question, ”Why is IE still relevant and why is it worth spending money on rendering engines when there are open source ones available that can respond to changes in Web standards faster?”

“That’s cheeky, but a good question, but cheeky,” Ballmer said. “Open source is interesting. Apple has embraced Webkit and we may look at that, but we will continue to build extensions for IE 8.”

So is Microsoft actually looking into adopting WebKit or was it a deflective answer? My guess is the latter. For one, Microsoft has already spent too much time with their Trident rendering engine set to feature in IE 8. The betas has been out for a long time now, and the final version should be out soon. Moving to a different engine would delay the whole process.

Secondly, what of those websites which are designed with IE in mind? Moving to a different rendering engine would again create compatibility issues that both customers and developers aren’t going to take well. And considering the reaction to Vista, Microsoft will always be scared that this will create even more switchers. Of course, when Apple does something like this, the users learn to deal with it, which is ideally the way it is supposed to be. 

Having said that however, the WebKit switch would be ideal for IE. For one, they don’t have to look too much into development of the engine, as Apple is actively developing the open source engine. They could instead spend more time on adding proprietary features to the browser. The engine is super fast, standards compliant, and passes the Acid3 test with flying colours. The benefits are endless!

What’s your take on this? Should we consider this bit of news as ‘news’, or do we just print it out, fold it and throw it in the trash?

Before I say anything, know that these are the words that came out of this same guy’s mouth, “There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.” Moving on…

Microsoft’s CEO Steve Balmer dismisses the Android platform as financially unsound and doomed to be a failure for Google, reports Suzanne Tindal for Cnet News. 

Speaking at Telstra’s annual investment day, Ballmer said designing Android wasn’t easy for Google. “They can hire smart guys, hire a lot of people, blah dee blah dee blah, but you know they start out way behind, in a certain sense,” says Balmer. 

He questioned Google’s ability to make money with Android. “I don’t really understand their strategy. Maybe somebody else does. If I went to my shareholder meeting, my analyst meeting, and said, ‘hey, we’ve just launched a new product that has no revenue model!’…I’m not sure that my investors would take that very well. But that’s kind of what Google’s telling their investors about Android,” he said.

Personally, I don’t think the Android platform is going to take off in the way the iPhone has, but if Balmer thinks it sucks, then I must reconsider my views.

And just so that you wake up to an awesome friday morning, here’s an awesome video of Balmer doing the monkey dance! Continue Reading »

One thing that missed the boat for the Notebook event, was a new Get A Mac ad. It was really weird looking at an old one being played at the keynote. But Apple seemed to have already been working on a new ones, and has put its finishing touches on two brand new ones. 

Titled “V Word” and “Bean Counter”, these two are direct replies to the Microsoft’s activities in recent times. The first one refers to Microsoft announcing that the next version of Windows will be called simply “Windows 7”. PC bans the use of the “V word”. The second one, and in my opinion their best yet, has a nice jab at Microsoft’s recent advertising campaign that we’ve seen go down the drain.

Both ads are well done, and are a pleasant watch. Go check ‘em out at apple.com/getamac/ads.

Ahead of tonight’s big Apple event, where it is widely rumoured that they will announce their first sub-$1000 notebook, Microsoft has gone for a surprising PR drive. In an interview to CNET, Brad Brooks, VP of Windows Consumer Product Marketing repeated the favourite argument against Apple - they are expensive and one has to pay hidden costs. Microsoft has also sent an email to technology writers that even provides a detailed comparison of Mac products (the current range) and ‘equivalent’ PC machines. 

While Apple fans will rubbish these claims (they already are responding in droves), I thought it was remarkable because it is an acknowledgement from Microsoft that Apple is a threat to both their market share and mind share. Both the CNET interview and the email from Microsoft are a treat to read. In the context of the recent ‘I am a PC’ effort which again was acknowledging that a smaller competitor is running circles around him, this smacks of desperation and falsehood. I am sure it will get nods of acknowledgement from die-hard Windows users but how does one explain the un-taxing experience of using an Apple to them?

A lot has been said about Microsoft and their efforts to counterattack Apple’s brilliant ‘Get a Mac’ ads by launching their own ‘I’m a PC’ ads, which is a part of their $300 million campaign. After scrapping the Gates-Seinfeld ads, the ads now feature a John Hodgman lookalike who claims, “I’m a PC, and I’ve been made into a stereotype.” The ad is followed by many other humans who claim that they’re PCs. Apparently, as it was with WALL·E, there are a few Apple Connections with these ads too.

1. ’I’m a PC’ campaign created with Macs

Can you believe that! Flickr user LuisDS has found out, through the metadata of the official creative copy of the “stereotyped PC user” and other photos appearing on Microsoft’s “I’m a PC” website, that the images were created on a Macintosh. And it doesn’t end there. Microsoft, instead of using their own Expression Studio software, which they claim “takes your creative possibilities to a new level”, were found using Adobe Photoshop CS3 (on a Mac, no less) from Adobe’s popular Creative Suite. Expectedly, Microsoft folks have now covered up their mistake by removing all the data from the images. Not just that, this article on RoughlyDrafted goes on to claim that the ads were audio-mixed on Macs too. I guess it’s true, creative minds always choose a Mac.

[Milind: As a sidenote, the Windows logo, packaging, the blueprints of Bill Gates’s house, a lot of previous Microsoft ads, and most PC magazines were also created on a Mac.]

2. Pharrell Williams uses a Mac too

Pharrell Williams, or simply ‘Pharrell’, the American music producer, songwriter, and rapper, features in the Micrsoft ads along with other celebrities such as Eva Longoria and Deepak Chopra, claiming “I’m a PC”. Well, okay; but as it turns out, Pharrell is also an ardent Apple lover. According to MediaBistro, Pharrell owns an iPhone and has gone on record singing praises for his iPod in interviews. Not just that, he also apparently uses a Mac.

It seems you can make anyone talk what you want them to as long as money is involved. [Ed note: You know what they say, “you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink”.]

3. John Hodgman, Mr. PC himself, uses an iPhone 

OK, so this isn’t exactly related directly to Microsoft and its campaign, but it’s about the PC guys adoring Apple and is quite interesting. John Hodgman, Mr. PC from Apple’s ‘Get a Mac’ ads, was recently seen using an iPhone. I wonder how he finds time off his busy schedule of stopping users from ‘Switching to a Mac”. Although it is not too clear whether he bought it himself or Steve just gifted him one, seeing the popularity of the ‘Get a Mac’ ads, but the fact remains that he’s still drooling over the ‘Gadget of the Year’.

I think I get it now: it doesn’t matter what type of PC user you are (since PC is more of a generalised term; you may be a PC user using Windows, Linux distros, or BSD), there’s nothing that can stop you from adoring an Apple product.

This is it, folks. This is what it has come to! Microsoft has finally closed shop for its Seinfeld-Gates series, released some “Life without Windows” print ads, and has started airing the ‘Get a Mac’ clones, “I’m a PC”.

“I’m a PC and I’ve been made into a stereotype”, says the fake Hodgman. John Hodgman, as you may know, is the guy who plays the PC in the ‘Get a Mac’ ads. Why they couldn’t have just used Gates is beyond me. After all, Hodgman is the fake Gates!

The ads show a series of scenes with various people anthropomorphizing themselves as “PCs”. How Microsoft could think that a meaningless repetition of “I’m a PC, I’m a PC” could ever be interesting, I’ll never know. And if Microsoft thought that ending the ad with Deepak Chopra’s “not a human doing, not a human thinking; a human being” is any saving grace, they better rethink their strategy. 

Microsoft has obviously gone on a defensive stance with this little skit, trying to collect all the beans spilled by Apple’s parade of ‘Get a Mac’ ads. Ultimately, no one will understand what the ads are trying to say, and this will not result in a single additional copy of Vista being sold. In fact, Apple Stores are probably getting hammered with new customers wondering what the fuss is about!

And if you think Microsoft cannot be dumber than this, you should know that they forgot to hide the fact that four of the images that Microsoft used on its PressPass site were made on a Mac! ComputerWorld has found that the images in question use “Adobe CS3 Macintosh” as the creation software, which leads us to wonder, does the mythical Mac in Gates’s basement actually exist? 

You can watch all three ads, if you have the tolerance, after the jump. And unlike on the Microsoft page, you can view them without installing any Silverlight crap. Continue Reading »

Whatever happened to Bill’s plans of retiring and dedicating his life to helping the world with his great schemes of philanthropy? I sure thought it was a damn good way to retire. However, from what I can see, all he is doing right now is helping Microsoft burn up cash on petty jokes and self-deprecating humour.

If you look at the latest ad, the second spot in their $300 million campaign, you cannot draw any other conclusion. In fact, this is even worse than the first one with Bill’s underwear joke. A full four and a half minutes long, it speaks of Microsoft for two seconds, and that too just in passing. Seriously guys, what’s happening here? Is the top brass at Microsoft playing the most expensive prank on us?

If, for some reason, you think I’m exaggerating, see for yourself. You have been warned that you will lose four and a half minutes of your life watching this, so don’t blame me later on.

The story goes like this: Dan Lyons, famous for his Fake Steve act, writes his debut article with a very dangerous topic in mind, “Apple Is What Microsoft Was—Bigfoot”. Apple being the new Microsoft? That too coming from someone like Lyons? In this work of art (note the sarcasm?), Lyons goes on about how Jobs and Gates are both the same, except that Gates is successful (apparently, being worth billions of dollars isn’t being successful as long as you’re not the richest man in the world). 

Known for his work over at Engadget, Ryan Block takes on Lyons like a cat plays with a mouse. Easy work for Block though, as Lyons’s article didn’t hold much weight in the first place. Has Apple been very unlike the Apple we have known for a long time? Indeed, it has. But saying that Apple is becoming a bully just because they are vulnerable right now with the iPhone 3G issues and the “MobileMess” nonsense is straying a little too far from the fence.

Personally, I think Lyons is overhyped. Alone, he is nothing but an average individual who can string a some words together to make a sentence. Behind the identity of (fake) Steve Jobs, he was a feared demon whose word almost carried the same weight as Jobs’s own. And to quote Block’s smashing finish:

“Maybe it’s just me, but I think Dan did a much better job at cutting to the heart of what makes Cupertino tick when he was doing so with subversive parody.”

Of course, Lyons couldn’t let go without a reply of his own, albeit a very petty one. I would highly recommend you staying away from this reply if you do believe Fake Steve still resides in Dan Lyons.

After hinting at getting back at the Get a Mac ads, then signing on Jerry Seinfeld to do the job on a $300 million ad campaign, Microsoft has finally got their first ad out the doors.

“Huh?”

Watch the ad and that is definitely going to be your reaction. The 90 second ad consists mainly of friendly banter between Jerry and Gates at a discount shoe store, totally unrelated to Microsoft. And even the last 20 odd seconds, which actually speak about Microsoft, have some vague mention of the future and it being delicious. So in effect they are admitting that Vista is a flop and you had better wait for the future to bring in something better.  

Another way to look at this, is Microsoft is trying to get a new brand identity for the whole company, and not just Windows. An identity that is hip, cool, and fun loving. But having two old guys do that isn’t exactly the right way to go about things. Either that, or I just don’t get it.

This certainly isn’t their best foot forward. Bill Gates is a natural though, and his humour is well received. But this, as a competition to the Get a Mac ads? No way! 

Take a look for yourself and let us know what you think of this, what I would like to call, epic fail.