Microsoft Corrects Laptop Hunters Ads. Sort of.

Last week, Microsoft COO Kevin Turner said he was turning cartwheels in the hall over Apple’s apparent request that Microsoft stop running “Laptop Hunters” ads that quoted out-of-date pricing for Macs. This week, Microsoft is rejiggering at least one of the ads to…stop quoting out-of-date pricing for Macs.

As Ad Adge reports, Microsoft has tweaked the “Lauren and Sue” commercial to remove a reference to a the price of $2000 MacBook Pro that no longer costs that much. Good. But the company doesn’t seem to have done a sweep for all info in the ads that’s no longer true: The ad with a shopper named Sheila that Microsoft posted on YouTube still has her saying the best MacBook Pro under $2,000 has only 2GB of RAM and shrugging in disbelief and/or contempt. But after Apple’s last round of price cuts, you can get a MacBook Pro with 4GB of RAM for $1499.

I dunno why there’s any controversy here: Of course Microsoft should update its commercials to reflect the facts of the current PC-vs.-Mac situation. It’s not about the Microsoft-Apple war, it’s about accuracy. Anybody want to argue otherwise?

Palm to Apple: Block This!

Last week, Apple blocked the technique that Palm was using to let the Pre sync seamlessly with Apple’s iTunes. I assumed that it was game over. Wrong! Palm released WebOS 1.1 today, and among its new features is the ability to sync with iTunes 8.2.1, the version of Apple’s media software that foiled the earlier version of Palm’s Media Sync feature.

There’s an interesting technical backstory here, though we don’t yet know what it is. Did Apple do an insufficient job of making it tough for the Pre to sync? Did Palm figure out an entirely different method for accomplishing a similar end result? If Apple blocks Palm’s new approach, will Palm strike back with workaround #3? Is it possible for Apple to make utterly sure that non-Apple devices can’t sync with its software? I’m assuming/hoping that folks who know more about this stuff than I do (such as Jon Lech Johansen) will soon tell us what’s going on.

I said in my earlier post that I had trouble summoning righteous indignation over Apple’s anti-Pre tactics. I still do. But if this is going to turn into a cat-and-mouse game, I’m rooting for the rodent–which is plucky Palm. Although I still think that the best all-around solution would be for Apple to open up iTunes so that owners of the Pre–and other devices–could easily give Apple money for music, too. Who wouldn’t be better off if such a scenario came to pass?

Earth to Chicago: Gaming’s “M” is Movies’ “R”

There’s a storm brewing in the Windy City over the allegedly unconstitutional treatment of video game ads, with an industry trade group suing Chicago’s transit authority.

This turn of events stems from Grand Theft Auto IV. Last year, a rash of shootings led the Chicago Transit Authority to pull GTAIV bus ads, after a local Fox News report drew a tenuous link between the ads and the incidents. GTA Publisher Take-Two Interactive claimed breach of contract, and the transit authority reinstated the ads, but later banned all advertisements for M-rated games. It’s important to note that R-rated movie ads are still allowed.

That brings us to the Entertainment Software Association’s free speech lawsuit, and a question posed by the Christian Science Monitor: “Are ‘mature’ video games worse than rated-R movies?”

No. Let’s put the “games are worse because they’re interactive” argument aside for a moment and look at the ratings themselves. Here’s what the Motion Picture Association of America says about R-rated films:

An R-rated motion picture may include adult themes, adult activity, hard language, intense or persistent violence, sexually-oriented nudity, drug abuse or other elements, so that parents are counseled to take this rating very seriously.

Now, here’s the Entertainment Software Ratings Board on the M rating:

Titles rated M (Mature) have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older. Titles in this category may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language.

Looks pretty similar to me, especially the phrase “intense violence” in both descriptors. If the ratings themselves are so similar, the point of contention will surely be interactivity. But as courts have repeatedly found, it isn’t proven that violent video games cause violence because you play them, while movies don’t because you watch them.

Whether you like violent video games or not, their first-amendment protections should be a no-brainer to anyone who’s even dimly aware of past laws and lawsuits. I can’t see how the Chicago Transit Authority will emerge the victor in this case.

Bill Gates, Tech Blogger

Gizmodo, which published a fun series of stories about 1979 tech last week, has followed up with a post by a guy who was there: a retired tech exec named Bill Gates. Gates says that Microsoft was still in the process of figuring out that the BASIC programming language was going to be important in 1979, which surprised me. By 1979, Microsoft had been doing BASIC for four years, and a lot of us had already cut our computing teeth on various forms of Microsoft BASIC.

The conventional wisdom usually seems to be that it was the debut of MS-DOS on the IBM PC in 1981 that made Microsoft into a monolith, but I’ve never bought it. The PC industry may have been tiny in the mid-to-late 1970s, but Microsoft was already smack dab in its middle, thanks to Gates and Paul Allen’s incredible prescience in realizing that computers would be everywhere and they had a chance to get Microsoft software onto virtually all of them. I’ve often thought that even if Digital Research or some other company had ended up being the primary supplier of operating systems for the IBM PC, Microsoft might have ended up as a gigantic company–just through some other route.

Jeff Bezos: Amazon’s 1984 Actions Were “Stupid”

Amazon’s decision to remotely delete pirated copies of George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm from customers’ Kindle e-readers and refund their money was stupid, thoughtless, and self-inflicted. That’s not an irate blogger talking–it’s Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, who indulged in some serious self-flagellation at the company’s forums, as reported by TechCrunch’s MG Siegler.

Bezos’s mea culpa is one of the most refreshingly humble statements I’ve ever seen from a tech company CEO. But it’s pretty much standard that examples of major tech companies making boneheaded DRM-related decisions are followed up by backpedaling and apologies. If other companies remembered that, they’d make fewer boneheaded decisions in the first place and spend less time apologizing. Sounds like a win for everybody involved.

Here’s Bezos’s post in its entirety:

This is an apology for the way we previously handled illegally sold copies of 1984 and other novels on Kindle. Our “solution” to the problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles. It is wholly self-inflicted, and we deserve the criticism we’ve received. We will use the scar tissue from this painful mistake to help make better decisions going forward, ones that match our mission.

As far as I know, Amazon hasn’t said what it intends to do in future instances of publishers selling pirated books through Kindle–a situation that’ll surely happen again, and one which copyright holders have a right to be upset about. But maybe part of the solution lies in figuring out better measures to prevent the stolen goods from getting into Amazon’s virtual bookstore in the first place.

The Windows Cash Cow Takes a Beating

Microsoft has announced its fourth quarter financial results, and for those of us who are Microsoft customers rather than shareholders, the most striking factoid may be this: The company’s revenue from Windows took a hit of more than a billion dollars compared to what it reaped a year ago. How come? Well, the crummy state of the worldwide economy didn’t help, but another factor was the ongoing popularity of netbooks. They typically sell for less than a $400, and usually ship with a copy of Windows XP that Microsoft can’t charge as much money for as it’s used to getting for Windows. No wonder we haven’t heard Microsoft (or much of anyone else in the PC industry, including netbook manufacturers) wax enthusiastic about netbooks.

The industry keeps predicting the imminent downfall of netbooks, which will supposedly be killed by more powerful thin-and-light notebooks which just happen to cost more. Starting in three months, those thin-and-lights will ship with versions of Windows 7 which Microsoft will be able to charge more for–and it seems like a safe bet that Windows 7 will help Microsoft’s financial statements look a little rosier in general once the OS ships. But I persist in believing that it’s also entirely possible that $400 (and $300) netbook-type computers are here to stay, and could make up a significant part of the laptop industry from here on out. If consumers buy ‘em, there’s little or nothing that PC manufacturers and Microsoft can do to stop them. And if netbooks stick around, they’ll have a profound effect on Microsoft’s fortunes whose real impact is yet to be seen.

Facebook Relents a Little on No-Name-Change Policy

Last month, Facebook began letting members choose vanity named-based URLs and told them that they wouldn’t be allowed to change the names they picked.

Now ReadWriteWeb is reporting that the site has backpedaled and says you’ll be able to change your name–once:

It appears that Facebook has quietly launched a new option in the settings area called “username” where you have the option to change your Facebook username. To find this option, go to “Settings” at the top-right of the Facebook page and then click on “Account Settings.” The second option from the top is “Username.” Press “Change” to enter in your new username and then click “Confirm” when you’re ready to set it.

Seems reasonable–if nothing else, Facebook should allow folks to change their Facebook name when they change their names in real life, via marriage or other means.

The name-change restrictions presumably have less to do with technological limitations and more to do with Facebook’s fussy insistence that the people on Facebook should be real people going by their real names. In a Web that’s rife with anonymous trolls, pseudonymous jerks, people posing as other people, and fictitious characters, I sort of admire its stance. (And hey, I go by the very real name of harrymccracken on Facebook–feel free to friend me there if you’re a friend of mine or feel like one…)

iGoogle Does Comics

I’m in San Diego for the massive pop-culture convention known as Comic-Con–along with roughly half the world’s population, judging from the crowds. And when I jumped online, I discovered that Google is here in spirit, too:

On my display, at least, that art is a bit tough to make out, but those are four DC Comics heroes: Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Plastic Man. But the really cool part of Google’s comics celebration is that it’s come up with more than fifty iGoogle themes based on comics. The variety is spectacular: There’s Mutts, Peanuts, and Nancy; Superman, the Hulk, and Krazy Kat; Beat Girl; designs by Jaime Hernandez, Daniel Clowes, and Kim Deitch; and lots more. Including–inevitably–Ziggy.

At the moment, I’m enjoying E.C. Segar’s Popeye:

Like other iGoogle themes, these ones auto-change depending on the time of day. Nicely done–but I hope Google decides that every day is comics day, and continues to add more. If there was a Pogo theme, I’d install it in a heartbeat…

Apple’s Monopoly: High-End Computers

This is sort of amazing:  BetaNews’s Joe Wilcox has blogged about an NPD report that says that in June, 91 percent of dollars spent on computers costing over $1000 went to Apple. (I think the figure just covers sales at retail stores, not via the Web and other venues.) Windows still ships on 90 percent of computers, but it dominates in the sub-$1000 realm and on corporate machines–two areas that Apple has strategically chosen not to take seriously.

In other words, both Microsoft and Apple have operating system monopolies in the areas where they focus. (Microsoft would presumably be happy to grab more market share in $1000-and-above systems, but the pricing dynamics of the PC market make that more or less impossible.) For all the debate about Mac vs. PC, you could argue that the two platforms effectively don’t compete with each other any more than Chevrolet and Audi do.

5Words for Thursday, July 23rd 2009

A billion dollars for shoes.

Adobe’s Flash Player security warning.

Coming in 2019: artificial brains!

Apple rescinds threats against Bluewiki.

Disney puts movies on MicroSD.

Rubik’s cube gets touch interface.

From iPhone to alarm clock.

XP to Windows 7: no!

HTC will focus on Android.

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Xbox Sells Costlier Game Downloads. Why Can’t the App Store?

Xbox Live Arcade is no longer a purveyor of quick-hit, $5 video game downloads, but a place where $15 games are beginning to thrive.

That’s what Kotaku found after looking at the cost of downloadable Xbox 360 games, from the console’s launch in 2005 up to last month. The average cost of video game downloads has climbed, especially in the last two years, but the reason is a shift in how many of these games cost $10, $15 or even $20 for a purely electronic copy. The tell-all chart, compiled by Stephen Totilo and Andrew Freedman, is located here.

The rise in prices on Xbox Live Arcade isn’t a bad thing. It means the kinds of available games are richer experiences, coming closer to what you’d get from a boxed title. Braid, an indie game priced at $15, is the perfect example. Same goes for the recently released Sam & Max Save the World ($20) and upcoming Shadow Complex (likely to cost at least $20).

Digesting this, my mind jumped to the iPhone’s App Store, whose free market is a mixture of zero-dollar “Lite” games, $10 offerings from major publishers and everything in between. A recent report by Pocket Gamer found that the average price of top 10 titles is $1.89, while top 100 games average $3.80. So I wonder: Will App Store games get better, causing a surge in prices?

Before I go on, let me acknowledge that I’m totally comparing apples (har har) and oranges. Not only are the two data sets different, but the gaming platforms don’t necessarily lend themselves to the same demographics or same style of play. But my point isn’t to make a direct comparison between two non-competitive marketplaces.

What interests me is how Xbox Live Arcade is cleverly evolving into a place for high-quality game downloads, while the App Store is not. Pocket Gamer notes that the most successful $10 iPhone games are big-name franchises, such as Doom: Resurrection and The Sims 3, but those are just dumbed down versions of their computer counterparts, and even they’re undermined by the amount of inexpensive and simple games available. Meanwhile, Xbox Live Arcade is bringing in entirely new games while phasing out the cheap stuff.

The difference, of course, is that Microsoft takes on a greater role in regulating its market. I’m not saying Apple should do the same, but when it comes time to spend $15 on a downloadable game, I know which market will get my money.

Maybe Apple TV Should Be a TV

Alas, poor Apple TV. Its manufacturer likes to treat nearly everything it makes as both a technological breakthrough and sales blockbuster, but when it discusses Apple TV at all, it usually dismisses it as a “hobby.” As New TeeVee’s Chris Albrecht points out, the little white set-top box got nary a mention during Apple’s financial conference call yesterday.

Apple TV is actually pretty good–I own one and use it with a TV that has no other means of receiving programming–but it’s a nice product in a category that may never change the world in the way that the Mac, iPod, and iPhone have. There just seem to be a limited number of folks out there who want Internet-based entertainment in the living room enough to go through the cost and hassle of installing a box. Apple TV competitors Vudu and Roku–both of which I also like–face the same issue, but as the products of much smaller companies, they presumably can be counted as successes even if sales never explode. Apple, on the other hand, is used to selling its gadgets by the tens of millions.

When you come down to it, though, Apple TV isn’t about being a box: It’s about giving you access to tons of content on your TV. The box itself is an encumbrance, especially if your entertainment center is already as crammed with stuff as mine is. Wouldn’t Apple TV be cooler if it went boxless–by being built into new TVs?

This isn’t a new idea–in fact, it’s one of those persistent Apple rumors that hasn’t come true to date, but might someday. In its usual form, it involves Apple getting into the HDTV biz itself. I’d like to see that happen, but I can think of more reasons why Apple might not want to make TVs than ones why it would. TVs are a commodity; TVs come in too many sizes; TVs wouldn’t give Apple true control over the user experience. (There’s no way the company could completely disintermediate the cable company or mask all of its bad interface decisions.)

But even if Apple doesn’t want to make TVs, it could integrate Apple TV into TVs–by offering the platform as a feature which TV companies can integrate into their sets, in a fashion similar to Yahoo’s cool Internet TV platform. You gotta think that TV manufacturers would jump at the chance to sell an iTunes-ready TV. And when I buy a new HDTV, built-in access to the music and movies I’ve already bought from Apple would be a meaningful selling point.

TV makers might not want to build a hard drive into their sets to accommodate Apple TV, but that’s okay–another unfulfilled Apple rumor involves something called iTunes Replay, which would store your entertainment on a distant server and stream it to your devices on demand. Such as…your TV!

Yes, I know that Apple has a lousy track record when it comes to putting its technology into other companies’ products. (Exhibit A: the Motorola iTunes phone.) But it surely wants to establish an outpost in our living rooms, in a way that goes beyond being a mere hobby. I’m willing to be surprised–and knowing Apple, I probably have this all wrong–but the moment, I can’t think of a more logical way for it to do that than to build the iTunes experience right into our TVs.

That iPhone Worker Suicide Story

Apple has confirmed that an employee of its Chinese manufacturing partner Foxconn committed suicide last week. Various online reports say that the staffer, Sun Danyong, was responsible for iPhone prototypes and took his own life after one disappeared. And some stories are saying that Foxconn’s security department may have harshly interrogated or beaten him.

It’s hard to know what to make of this without definitive facts on what happened–the fact that it happened so far away, and that some of the coverage is in another language, doesn’t help clarify things. One story quotes a Foxconn spokesperson as saying “regardless of the reason of Sun’s suicide, it is to some extent a reflection of Foxconn’s internal management deficiencies.” That’s either a misquote or an example of amazing honesty that you’d never hear from an American PR person. But Daring Fireball’s John Gruber is right: Apple needs to find out what happened, and needs to be prepared to fire Foxconn if it’s enforcing Apple-related security by assaulting its own employees.

Microsoft Finishes Off Windows 7

Windows 7 has been released to manufacturing, according to a report by Mary Jo Foley on her blog that’s been confirmed by a Microsoft post. Windows 7 is due for commercial availability on October 22nd, which means that PC manufacturers have three months to test the final version of the OS, manufacture the first Windows 7 systems, and get them onto store shelves.

News about the release was synchronized with CEO Steve Ballmer’s keynote address at a Microsoft sales conference, according to the report. For those are you who are keeping track, the build number is 7600.16385, and it was compiled last Monday, July 13. In other words: Microsoft has delivered Windows 7 on schedule.

Microsoft took preemptive action to avoid antitrust troubles with the European Commission last month, stripping its Internet explorer browser out of European editions of Windows 7. Microsoft had a contingency plan to ship Windows 7 in January in the event that antitrust actions delayed its release.

Yesterday, the company outlined when Windows 7 would become available for different categories of customers. Business customers, developers and IT professionals will receive first dibs, and be able to download Windows 7 early next month.

It will be interesting to see whether Windows 7 provides a stimulus to global PC sales, which have been slumping in the midst of the worldwide economic downturn. My prediction is that there will be a modest bump in sales– these things happen in cycles.

Windows 7 is a big improvement upon Windows Vista, but the hoopla of days when people lined up to buy OS’s is over. There are simply too many alternatives, and the Web is the great equalizer.

My trusty old Windows XP computer accesses the same Web services that someone on a Windows 7 PC uses, and my iPhone keeps me connected when I’m away from my desktop machines. If I buy a new PC I’ll opt for Windows 7, but the functionality that it delivers will not dramatically alter my daily experience with personal technology. Do you agree?

It’s Official: Microsoft to Offer Windows 7 “Family Pack”

Households that have multiple computers will be able to buy Windows 7 at a discount, Microsoft revealed in a blog posting yesterday–confirming recent rumors. “We have heard a lot of feedback from beta testers and enthusiasts over the last 3 years that we need a better solution for homes with multiple PCs,” according to the blog entry. The license is limited to installation on three PCs in select markets, it noted. In comparison, Mac OS X family packs permit end users to install the operating system on up to five Macintosh computers.

“I’ve been one of those people nagging on that. Glad to hear it. Anything you can do to make it easier to buy the product helps facilitate its acquisition. Apple has already done this for some time,” said Michael Cherry, a Directions on Microsoft analyst. “Multiple computer families is a factor– particularly with netbooks coming along.”

Likely customer demographics will be families that have children or teenagers, he added.

It makes sense for Microsoft to offer greater value to families. The message of its recent “I’m a PC” advertising campaign is value, and its licensing policies should be consistent with its marketing.

5Words for Wednesday, July 22nd 2009

Apple-Verizon tablet rumor. Again.

Plastic Logic e-reader’s AT&T connection.

MySpace getting its own Webmail.

Chinese iPhone worker suicide drama.

Ugly Palm Pre sales estimates.

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