Michael Janzen

If you listen to this latest post by populist Jim Hightower, you’ll get the latest scoop on the corruption at Dell. It seems that they knew they were selling junk and were intentionally hiding the fact from customers… corporate customers. Yeah yikes. Talk about biting the hands that feed you.

Now they are refusing to release internal emails being requested by a court order, and they’re own lawyers want to sue them. Yeah, double yikes.

Who knows if this is enough to squash Dell, but it sure is a brand squasher.

Ironically, my work Dell is being replaced soon… get this… by an Apple. Not sure if that’s any better anymore. Have you seen the latest patent from Apple… spyware nicknamed Traitorware.

Maybe we should all just switch to Linux.

Yes that title is a play on the title of the old song “Video Killed the Radio Star,” which you can listen to right now on Rdio (assuming you have an account).

Rdio is a new music listening website that lets you listen to all the music you want, and don’t own, for just a few bucks a month.

I still pissed off at Apple for eating up Lala.com (an innovative iTunes competitor) and shitting it out. Now that Rdio is online and slowly opening up it’s services to listeners, I’ve got another start-up to cheer for… and secretly hope will rain down some Karma on Apple for their monopolistic activities in the world of music.

I’m not sure that Rdio will kill the Apple Star, but I’m very happy to see a new competitor enter the arena. Turn on your Rdio.

OK… this is not news, but an excellent moment to mention that there is nothing that can permanently stop the flow of free music and information. I know the music industry and the millions of intellectual property owners worldwide will continue to fight to keep a price tag on their content creations but in the end, information wants to be free, and will be.

I’m still pissed at Apple for buying and crapping out Lala.com, a competitor. While in a search for more free music online my wife pointed out that I can listen to free music all day long on YouTube. Thanks Julia!

I’m not saying everyone should give up and give it away free today. Just saying that those that begin preparing for the day where their business models will need to adapt will be the ones to stay in business.

Apple Inc. bought the online music service Lala.com back in 2009 and now Apple is shutting down their former iTunes competitor. (see news story at WSJ)

This kind of thing makes me sick.

It’s also a good example of what can happen when a company gets too big and uses its strength to squash a rival. You see instead of competing with Lala.com, Apple choose to simply buy them and shut them down. I guess that’s one of the perks that come with success, you can eat your competitors.

But I shouldn’t complain too much, I’ve been a cheer leader for Apple since they were small and part of the real mechanism behind Apple’s growth. So we can’t really blame the giants for their size if we’re not ready to change our voting (spending) habits.

I for one will think twice before I take another bite of this bitter Apple… and Linux is looking more and more user friendly every day.

It’s really bothers me that Apple bought and is now killing Lala.com, a competitor to iTunes. The cool thing about Lala.com is/was that you could listen to the whole song once. I didn’t use it much until I heard that Apple is killing it. Now I’m using it as my internet radio until May 31, 2010… the day it goes to the virtual electric chair.

I hope Apple listens to this next comment.

One thing I’ve noticed myself doing is making a list of music to buy as I’ve been taking listening trips down memory lane. In other words, access to the full songs is inspiring me to buy music I used to listen to on the radio years ago.

I could rip off the songs using screen/sound capture software, which I have right here. But that’s not worth my time and I’m happy to pay for the real thing. I’m certain the fact that it’s so easy to rip songs from streaming audio is why iTunes and others only deliver short clips but I suspect there are millions more people like me that would rather not hassel with is and just buy the music.

So… like I said I’m just making a list and not rushing off to iTunes to pay for music (yet). Before I spend any more money at Apple (in effect voting for Apple’s f#$%ed up behavior) my plan is to look for another music source because I am so f$%&ing pissed at Apple for eating and sh&%ing out it’s competition.

WTF is Apple becoming the Monsanto of the tech world?

I guess the underlying problem is that as companies get really big they can forget their roots and fail to notice the power and responsibility that success comes with. I suspect Apple is now at this point and time for guys like me, who like supporting the little guy to jump ship.

(note to self: look for a really user friendly GUI for Linux I can run on my old Apple hardware.)

In these days following Apple’s iPad announcement many people have pointed out the flaws in the iPad. Gizmodo and Lifehacker both have good lists of glaring flaws with the device that will definitely impact it’s adoption and usefulness.

Announcing all the details 60 days before they have a shipping product gives Apple the opportunity to make some quick changes to the design and price point based on public reaction but it also gives competitors an opportunity to catch up faster, and there seems like a lot of folks are moving in the low cost tablet direction.

My money is still on Google. Apple has left the door wide open for Google to swoop in and steal this new market segment Apple just defined.  It also looks like I’m not the only one who agree’s with this theory, see what the Android Guys say. But only time will tell if Google thinks it’s a smart move and has willing partners, for example it looks like HTC is ditching the idea of a tablet and refocusing on Android phones. Now that they know what the iPad will feature, will they get re-interested or back-off? It will be fun to watch.

Here’s the line up of potential competitors. Photo credit Gizmodo.

Today Apple announced the iPad, which is essentially a cross between a tablet computer and an iPhone. It appears to have a super easy-to-use interface and the expected sexy wrapper. It is most certainly a new class of device and should be a success; but it’s NOT the Amazon Kindle or netbook killer it was expected to be simply due to the price.

iPad Price

The price will range from $499 to $829. Kindles cost $259 and netbooks typically range in price from $300 to $500. Had Apple found a way to offer a version in the sub-$400 range I think they could have dominated this market.

Defending Apple’s Price Point

The iPad will be a far more capable device than any ebook reader or netbook for at least a year or two. So I can understand their reasoning for pricing it between low cost Macs and netbooks. My guess is that they are hoping buyers will agree that the added value justifies the added cost… but I’ll stick to my guns in saying that they could have cornered the market on this segment with a slightly lower price.

The other major competitor for them will be Google Chrome based tablets, (more here). In fact Google seems to be quickly becoming Apple’s and Microsoft’s biggest competitor on multiple fronts from hardware, to operating systems, to mobile devices.

In the end my money is on Google, not because they have a superior product, but because they have a superior business model and approach. They also seem to get that quality + low price will always beat top quality + premium pricing. Sad but true.

For those of you salivating over the prospect of owning a new Apple iPad you’ll need to get a sponge and mop up your keyboard because it will be some time before it hits store shelves.

Apple is rumored to be announcing their new tablet device on January 26, 2010, but have you noticed all the buzz about the tablet market heating up. For example, Google has been rumored to be working with HTC on the hardware for a Google Chrome based tablet and Freelance Semiconductor will reveal their new tablet any time now.

When the iPhone was launched it took competitors 1-2 years to catch up with viable competitors. Today the market is filled with great smart phones but the lead Apple gained early on will keep them in a strong position in that segment for quite some time.

But the tablet market appears to be a different animal. Unless Apple has something truly mind-blowing and low-cost to show the world on the 26th I suspect it’s not going to make the impact the iPhone did just three years ago today when it was initially announced.

Will the Apple tablet be another leapfrog like the iPhone or will Apple get lapped by the strong competition making their new tablet a relative failure like the Apple TV? I guess we’ll have to see… but in any event I would highly recommend avoiding limited devices like the Kindle since we’re about to see the emergence of a large number of low-cost tablet based computers.

As our technological world races faster and faster we see a common trend emerging. Innovation and meeting people’s needs always will always beat the competition in the long run.

Google appears to be at war with Microsoft as far as I can tell. Visit Google with Internet Explorer and in the top right of the page you’ll be strongly encouraged to switch to Google Chrome. I’ve been using Chrome on my Mac since they released it and I’m simply stunned at the stability and speed.

I’m not exactly your average computer user either and have years of experience managing teams of online application designs and web usability researchers. Not bragging just saying I’ve seen a lot of good and bad software and Google Chrome is amazing… an Internet Explorer Killer.

Apple has been rumored for months to have a breakthrough tablet in the works. Having watched Apple leapfrog the industry for a couple of decades now I suspect this new device will have the potential to stomp all over mono-function devices like Kindle and the print industry, just like it’s doing to the music industry. Apple could be positioned to steal more market share in print and recorded media markets.

Both of these examples illustrate the how the old-school digital and print world is loosing customers everyday because someone else from another industry is entering their information distribution world and stealing it away… simple because the newcomers aren’t bogged down in old-school thinking.

Survival of the fittest, and the fittest adapt and innovate.

Oh… by the way… television is next to go. Early adopters, like me, have already given up on that dreadful box and get our information and entertainment far more efficiently online. As Telcos speed up the internet more users will go online for their TV fix.

Well here it is, the new 13″ MacBook Pro. We ordered a normal MacBook for Julia the other day not realizing Apple was about to release this new MacBook Pro. A few days after ordering it they sent us a note saying they were sending this instead. We’re definitely happy campers; more computer for less money is always a deal. We’ve always been happy Apple customers and now we’re even happier

It’s really amazing how much power they can pack into so little space too. This little laptop has 4GB of RAM, 250GB storage, and plenty of speed for her photo and video play. We also bought a 500GB Time Capsule to backup all those precious photos and videos of Katie.