I don’t own any Apple products, but I find Apple’s marketing strangely entertaining. This is partly due to the fact that the advertising is often very well done and partly because it is just strange.

Apple’s most recent ‘Switch’ ad campaign is no exception (see the ads). While it certainly wouldn’t prompt me to buy anything, I would venture that it will be quite successful. Despite some absolutely hilarious criticism (Flash/Audio), the ads capitalize on a common thread among many computer users – we hate and fear our computers. The cause for this hate and fear cannot be pinned on any one product or platform, but Apple will likely succeed in planting a seed in many minds: “This computer sucks. Apple is better.”

I’m really just trying to justify why I watched a webcast of Steve Jobs’ keynote at MacWorld this week. As always, Steve gave a well-delivered, if not a little creepy, run down of how great Apple is. I don’t blame him – it’s his job.

What caught my attention was a short excerpt from the presentation that Jobs would love for none of us to have noticed. These few short seconds said more than the entire MacWorld conference. While doing a demo of the Mail utility in OS X, something went wrong with Jobs’ demo machine. It’s not clear exactly what went wrong, but Jobs casually leaned over, flicked a switch, and said something about a “backup” machine.

What he did was switch the monitor, keyboard, and mouse he was using to a completely new machine that was waiting in the wings – obviously in anticipation of just such a scenario.

Wouldn’t it be nice if every time you had a problem with your computer you could seamlessly switch to a standby?

I’m pleased (and proud) to be posting from my new house (new to me, at least). A few weeks of rewiring, painting, pulling up old carpet – to reveal some beautiful hardwood floors – and I’m enjoying my new place very much. It’s a small, simple home – exactly what I was looking for.

What did I learn about real estate? I learned some new jargon. I learned that you will be rewarded if you wait for the right place (or I was, at least). Oh, and you might get a bottle of wine from your real estate agent.

Working on the new house, moving, and getting settled have forced me to push back some planned improvements to aov. I’m not sure when I’ll get around to it since been a particularly busy summer at work. However, the updates are mostly for my own benefit – so you’re not missing much.

Many thanks to all those who have helped me out with the move and with the new place (especially my family).

There was some talk on this site about what can be called ‘news’ since I was interviewed on local CBC radio about the Northern Exposure petition. Well, I’ve been completely outdone.

Listen to this absolutely hilarious CBC PEI interview with a disgruntled hot dog vendor (RealAudio).

A few key quotes:

Interviewer: “What did you expect when you came here?”
Hotdog Man: “We expected, like, well, what we read in the paper.”
Interviewer: “Did you do any kind of market research before you came out here?”
Hotdog Man: “Not one iota.”
Interviewer: “So just basically going on rumour alone?”
Hotdog Man: “Crapshoot.”

Hotdog Man: “Can you imagine a hot dog cart with no umbrella? Like, how ridiculous.”

The local CBC radio interviewed me about the Northern Exposure petition yesterday. I didn’t hear the interview (it aired very early this morning), but they’ve got a piece about the interview on their website.

I have to admit – I’m a little embarrassed by the coverage. Don’t get me wrong, I love the limelight, and I love the show. It’s just that of all the things going on in my life, this is not something that I’m putting too much thought or energy into. I mean, a petition for third-world debt relief maybe – but for a TV show?

I don’t even own a TV.

And for the record, during the interview I said “literary allusions” not “illusions” as is unfortunately quoted with my comment about how “smart” the show was.

UPDATE: The CBC has corrected the illusions/allusions mixup on their site. Thanks.

ANOTHER UPDATE: The CBC has posted the full interview (4:17) in Real Audio format.

An anonymized conversation from the company intranet:

Subject: A&W

Dude #1:
I noticed, while gassing up this morning, that the new A&W on Univ Ave. is open for business! I don’t know about the rest of you, but it’s been a long time since I’ve had A&W…

Dude #2:
Maybe we should eat there for lunch today…. there was a line up yesterday.

(time passes…)

Dude #3:
Let’s never do that again.

Dude #1:
I don’t know about the rest of you, but it’ll be a long time before I eat A&W again…

Dude #2:
I feel gross.

This year, apparently due to the fear of terrorism (which is apparently the new communism), the CBC’s Canada Day celebrations were moved from their traditional venue on Parliament Hill in Ottawa to our humble Charlottetown waterfront. I took in some of the festivities and have a few observations to make:

• The entire night felt less like being at a live event, and more like participating in the production of a television show – which I guess it was. There were even commercial breaks via jumbo-tron. Who are we trying to entertain? Ourselves? The idea of connecting the whole country via satellite seems like a good one. However, rather than making me feel connected to the rest of the country, it left me feeling disconnected from the people and events around me.
• I gathered further evidence of my soon-to-be-famous law, Garrity’s Inverse Law of Congregational Intelligence. The law states that the intellect of individuals in a crowd decreases exponentially as the number of individuals in the crowd increases.
• Jimmy Rankin put on a great show.
• Smoking in public places should be banned.
• I love watching fireworks. There’s something simple and good about bright lights and loud noises. Having a live soundtrack from Rufus Wainwright was a nice touch (though I’d love to see him in a better setting).

I’m a little uncomfortable with the entire idea of Canada Day. Celebrating the country is fine – it’s a pretty good one. It’s the whole concept of pride that strikes me as odd. I don’t feel proud to live in Canada. I feel fortunate, glad, and appreciative, but I haven’t really done anything to deserve living in such a wealthy country.

The obligatory gold-medal Olympian in the ceremony made a comment about the rest of the world being jealous of Canada. I’m sure his intentions were honourable, but given how wealthy Canada is compared to so much of the world, I think this is insensitive. Yes, it’s great that we have doctors, clean water, freedom, and wealth, but I’m certainly not glad that these attributes make us unique.

Happy Canada Day.

There’s an interesting article, Push Here to Save Energy, in MIT’s Technology Review about the work of Bruce Nordman of the L. Berkeley National Laboratory.

Nordman is on something of a crusade to standardize the mess of office equipment power statuses – on, off, hibernate, sleep, power-saving mode, stand-by – the list goes on. Nordman’s research suggests that an enormous amount of money and energy is being wasted simply because people don’t understand (or bother understanding) the many variations of power-saving options in office equipment.

Nordman’s group is proposing a standard of three options: On, Off, and Asleep. They are also pushing for wider adoption of the semi-standard power symbol and the crescent moon shape for Sleep mode.

This is a great idea, however, anyone interested in the practical application of a standard like this should first read of Donald Norman’s attempt to simplify and standardize the Macintosh power button. Sounds simple. Isn’t.

I would suggest (if they haven’t already done so) that Nordman approach the American Institute of Graphic Arts for a truly public and standard symbol. The AIGA has many standard icons publicly available – include the balanced and beautiful Information symbols seen here.

A regular reader (and replier) on this site, our good friend Alan McLeod has won a major legal victory for the intelligent and honest people of Canada. Hopefully, the decision will be a long overdue step away from the absurd cycle of political patronage here on Prince Edward Island – where provincial staffing often changes with leading party.

Congratulations Alan, and thanks for contributing to these amusing excerpts from an article on the ruling on the Halifax Daily News.

Yesterday’s historic victory came on McLeod’s second-last day as a lawyer. He is leaving to work with six 23-year-olds in a Web application company, silverorange.com.

“This decision will probably be appealed,” McLeod said, “but I think it will be upheld. If I had lost this case, I was going to really have to question P.E.I. I would have said this place sucks.”

Well said – good to know that PEI does not actually suck (and I’m actually 23¾-years old, thank you).

Wow – well over 100 names on the Northern Exposure petition already. I’m pleasantly surprised by the reaction.

A few updates:

• I did get one email from someone who claimed to have spoken to Universal employees. He suggested that a release of the show on DVD would never happen. However, I remain optimistic – especially in light of the response here. If there is anyone who can shed any light on the financial / political / logistical realities of releasing a show like this on DVD, please let us know.
• I’ll wait until we get 250 names (or more, hopefully) and then I’ll print them off and send it to anyone and everyone who might influence a release (anyone who has info on who I should send it to or any mailing info, please contact me).
• A few readers also pointed me towards Amazon.com’s Northern Exposure DVD page. Since it doesn’t exist yet, you obviously can’t buy it. However, you can sign up to be notified if (when?) it is ever released. By doing so, you’re also ‘voting’ for the eventual release, as the page on Amazon.com states:
  

  NOT YET RELEASED: The studio is currently not producing this title on DVD, but to be notified when it is available, enter your e-mail address at right. You’ll also be voting for this release; we’ll let the studio know how many customers are waiting for this title.

Thanks to all those who have signed and linked to the petition. Tell your friends.

For anyone interested, things have been a little slow around here as I’ve been working on the next version of aov, and I’ve bought a house.

A snippet of a conversation overheard in line at the grocery store – one annoyed girl says to another:

“…and I was like, Andrew, I can’t be snoring. I’m awake.”