nates notes

A cautionary tale for all:

1) A new client orders an iMac G5 (and additional Apple RAM!) a couple of days before new versions released.
2) His old iMac then had problems which I fixed. While the Mac was 'offline' ...
3) He received the following email from the Apple store saying:

Dear Apple Store Customer,

Thank you for shopping at the Apple Store.
Today, Apple unveiled a new iMac with a variety of fantastic new features. Accordingly, we are pleased to revise your recent order and substitute the original product you ordered with the new iMac.

There are several options you may choose from. For more information on the new configuration, availability and to select your preferred option, please visit http://www.apple.com/go/transition/. You will need your web order number A12345678 and your email address to hand.

We will confirm the successful conversion of your order by e-mail within 24 hours.
If we do not hear from you within the next 5 working days, we will use our best judgement to convert your current order to the nearest configuration.
Answers to many post-sales questions can be found at the Apple Store Customer Service website: http://promo.euro.apple.com/promo/help/uk/consumer

Kind regards,
The Apple Store

4) Neither of us could do the 'conversion' as it already said that the order had been processed.
5) The client phoned Apple and the order had somehow been cancelled!!!
6) The client reordered the iMac (without the Apple RAM) and I'm pretty sure at this point he asked me if anything else. I incorrectly said No :-(
7) A friend of the client told him that the new iMac came without a modem.
8) The client called Apple and they stated that the only way that this could be resolved is to cancel the order and reorder with the modem.
9) The client then called me to check this. I said that that was the best thing to do, all the while apologising for my oversight about the modem.
10) When the client tried to do this, he was told that they couldn't because it had been despatched. Probably between 1st call and second!

This is the clincher:
He was told by AppleStore 'Any USB modem will work. Just go into PC World and pick one up'

Now unless I am mistaken, that is not the case and it hasn't been possible to do that for a couple of years now.

Why don't Apple just make it easy for everybody and sell this modem separately?
They should be available as replacements for the internal ones on older, dare I say it, Mac OS 9 Macs :-/
It's amazing how many people, out in rural areas, with these iMacs rely on dial up but don't use a surge protector!

I think this client was talking about broadband, so I will suggest that he goes for that. No point spending £35 on a 56K USB modem so that he can access his £15 a month AOL dial up account when you can get Pipex broadband for £15 per month and a Netgear DG834GT for £65!

Sending bouncing down the streets of San Francisco may seem the strangest way to advertise this tv line, but that's exactly what Danish director Nicolai Fuglsig did for the BRAVIA commercial in July this year. San Franciscans have seen some unusual things in their time, but how about 250,000 multi-coloured 'superballs'?

read more | digg story

You have to go out and buy the magazine or be a Time Magazine subscriber to read this on the Time.com site.
Thanks to Sebastian Meyer for the link :)

read more | digg story

I was having a similar discussion with someone else in the week and then this popped up...
JeffMacArthur.com: iRant: Widescreen vs. Pan and Scan (Fullscreen)

Hot off the radio waves:

BBC Radio 4 Today program 11/10/05

This is a piece that aired on the radio this morning on the future of the BBC. It is mainly discussing the licence fee and the transition to digital broadcasting.

There are some interesting comments made from about 1:45 in, about the distribution of their content via the internet.

'...programs on your mobile phone...'

'...lots of new devices...'

'...make all that (piracy) legitimate...'

'...stick it in your iPod and everything else...'

Roll on tomorrow evening :)

Video of Apple Expo Paris 2005

Well... I got it finished... only two weeks after returning.
That must be a record for me!
I hope you enjoy it.

I knew they wouldn't edit it from the streams.

BeeBleak

I was very interested to hear about the BBC connection with the Apple announcement.
I'm at this moment listening to yesterday's BBC 6 Music output to see if I can catch the announcement ;-)

The BBC are currently beta testing and due to launch a service where their TV shows will be available to download (using P2P technology), transferred to a 'mobile' device and viewed for up to seven days after broadcast until the DRM kicks in. This service is due to be limited to the UK only. Further information about the 'BBC Integrated Media Player' be found here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/imp/

There is no Mac client as yet. Maybe iTunes will end up play a part? The content could be limited to downloading/viewing in the UK using the existing UK store and 'sold' to other regions on the different stores. The infrastructure is already there. I don't think we have any time dependant DRM on the Mac yet but it'll only be a short time.

I think Think Secret have it completely wrong about Powerbooks and Macs next week. Maybe they are just playing at being stupid to aid their legal battles ;-) Updated Powerbooks do not make a 'One More Thing Moment'. This is likely to be a themed presentation based on a specific technology, like video distribution. The red curtains are certainly cinematic.