But why now? Why touch?

This push for touch points to two things. First, we have the Windows 7 launch with some touch capability built-in. Like a proud parent, Microsoft wants to show off what its little baby can do and, as a result, rumor has it that it has forced OEMs to add touch to almost everything in their line. By pushing touch into the pipeline, Microsoft essentially ensures that it won’t face a repeat of the 2001 tablet PC debacle.

This push also comes from fear. If the Apple Tablet hits the streets this year, Windows 7 wants to be in the forefront of touch technology. By adding touch now, they can say they did it first and all of those laptop hunters can add one more bullet point to their arbitrary laptop wishlist (”I want good graphics, ummm, a keyboard, and ummm… lots of room for photos and a touchscreen.”)

Microsoft lost the mobile touchscreen war. They don’t want to lose the coming “desktop” war. While I have my own opinions on that, I will hand it to HP and Sony: their interfaces are gorgeous. The HP interface I saw last week has a number of simple tools – a recipe box, for example, that can take recipes from the web and import them into a private database – as well as the standard stretch’n'drag photo and note-taking applications that make touch actually compelling. Will you ever double-tap on “My Documents” with your finger? Probably not, but perhaps it’s nice to know you have that ability.

In the end, multi-touch will probably rule the day. Future-proofing is fine and more power to Microsoft for being pre-emptive this time. However, the fanboy in me says that Apple will redefine the space shortly and leave these experiments in the dust.

“As usual, the truth lies somewhere in between. But a little whining from Apple isn’t going to stop Microsoft from running the ads.” Looks like Devin was right, as he often is. Microsoft has updated the “Laptop Hunter” ad that had annoyed Apple, and now it’s much more benign.

This is the ad as it appears now:

(The original version isn’t available anymore.)

You’ll notice that the lines have changed somewhat. In the original version, the lines were, “This Mac is $2,000, and that’s before adding anything… Why would you pay twice the price?”

Now the line is, “”It seems like you’re paying a lot more for the brand.”

The brand isn’t mentioned by name, of course.

Microsoft had this to say, as to why it edited the commercial:

We slightly adjusted the ads to reflect the updated pricing of the Mac laptop shown in the TV advertisement. This does not change the focus of the campaign, which is to showcase the value and choice of the PC.

Our long national nightmare is over.

via AdAge

• Foxconn employee commits suicide after misplacing a secret iPhone prototype
• Rocket Bike!
• Newfangled touchscreen Coke machines
• Apple asks Microsoft to stop running Laptop Hunters ads
• Safe-cracking robot!
• Weezer – The 8-bit Album by net music label Pterodactyl Squad

LISTEN: Show Link | RSS Feed | iTunes Link

Wow, I’ve learned so much from all of this stimulating, relevant debate. Thanks, guys!

Just a few of the things I’ve learned from these comments:
1. The only reason to buy a Mac is OSX
2. The only reason to buy a Mac is the build quality
3. OSX sucks compared to Windows
4. Windows sucks compared to Linux
5. Windows sucks compared to OSX
6. Real video editors use Final Cut Pro and AVID… unless they use Sony Vegas or Adobe Premiere instead.

7. Fry’s Electronics is either universally agreed upon as the best electronics store in the world, or the worst, but it is most decidedly not anywhere in between.
8. Everybody who uses a Mac loves it to death… except for those who don’t.
9. Everybody who uses a PC loves it to death… except for those who don’t.
10. Apple’s support is better than Toshiba’s support which is better than Apple’s support which is better than Toshiba’s support.
11. Taking one side or the other, hyperbolically, makes you a terrible, blind fanboy incapable of seeing things objectively… but being objective means you’re “an ignorant fag who is afraid of conflict”.
12. Ram is like cupholders… which means you can buy it for 25 cents at a drugstore and hang it off the edge of your dashboard
13. Ram is like car seats, semi-permanently bolted into a vehicle and unable to be added to due to the limited capacity of the vehicle
14. Ram sticks are meant to be sat on or have drinks placed atop of them

15. The salesman is gay
16. You’re gay
17. I’m gay
18. Several people here “suck dicks”… which is apparently a bad thing, given the context with which this is said
19. The point of the ad is to sway people from Apple
20. The point of the ad is to sell Vista
21. The point of the ad is to tell the average consumer that Windows-based PCs are cheaper
22. The point of the ad is to tell professional filmmakers that Windows-based PCs are more powerful
23. Mac fans use horrible grammar
24. PC fans use horrible grammar
25. Most users of the internet at large UES HORRIBAL GRAMMER

…

Oh, and 26. Her tits are small.

As usual, the truth lies somewhere in between. But a little whining from Apple isn’t going to stop Microsoft from running the ads. After all, Apple didn’t stop running its “Twice as fast, half the price” ads after they admitted its claims weren’t “statements of fact.” Why should Microsoft stop running a consumer dog-and-pony show that has them coming out on top?

From the transcript of a presentation at the Worldwide Partner Conference today:

And you know why I know they’re working? Because two weeks ago we got a call from the Apple legal department saying, hey — this is a true story — saying, “Hey, you need to stop running those ads, we lowered our prices.” They took like $100 off or something. It was the greatest single phone call in the history that I’ve ever taken in business. (Applause.)

I did cartwheels down the hallway. At first I said, “Is this a joke? Who are you?” Not understanding what an opportunity. And so we’re just going to keep running them and running them and running them.

What the real content of that phone call was, we’ll never know — probably something along the lines of “Your ads aren’t really taking into account pricing changes we’ve made.” I doubt Apple would actually ask Microsoft to stop running the things. But the truth is that the ads, however much we may rail against them as artificial and the choices made in them as unwise, seem to have done Microsoft nothing but good among the not-bloggers crowd.

They can’t run them forever, covering every $50 increment and price point, but as long as they’re effective, why not? The retail store will be a whole new adventure for them (dangerous, too) and they can make some wacky, misleading ads for that come the end of Summer. They’re on a roll I tells you!

[via Ars Technica and Engadget]

Matt, Olivia and Jayden are a getting an HP dv7! Is it just me or is Olivia mildly attractive?

All of this is according to daily interviews conducted by BrandIndex to track the relative strength of each brand. On a scale from -100 to 100, Apple current rests a little above 12 points, while Microsoft is sitting pretty at 46. A score of zero means that an equal amount of good and bad things are being said about a brand, so both brands are getting more positive than negative feedback.

I wonder if the perceived value of Microsoft in the younger demographic has more to do with ignorance? That sub-$1000 PC laptop will only come with a trial version of anti-virus software, and won’t come with much in the way of productivity software. You can get OpenOffice and a free version of AVG antivirus, but I’d wager that most folks will want to buy a commercial antivirus product for that extra peace of mind; and many will feel obligated to buy Microsoft Office because it’s what everyone else uses. Suddenly that value laptop has a couple more dollar signs attached to it.

Of course, everyone and their brother know how to troubleshoot Windows PCs (”turn it off and back on!”), so the long-term maintenance may be cheaper. Apple machines are black boxes with few user serviceable parts under the hood of the operating system. You need to take your system to the Genius Bar and risk feeling like a complete moron under the scornful gaze of a hip twenty-something who gets to play with fancy Apple toys all day long.

At the end of the day, both Macs and PCs are tools, and one should buy the tool that they feel will best help them do the work they need to do. Neither is, prima facie, more valuable than the other, so all this posturing and advertising and talk of value is a waste of time. Spend the money making better tools, rather than trying to convince us that this tool is better than that one.

Okay so a PC is slow or has a small screen or has viruses causing you headaches. Apple’s response to the Laptop Hunters is just a little smarter than Microsoft’s ads. Or not at all. What’s more interesting is this other ad about customer care. Go check them out.

• Amazon’s new Kindle DX reader
• Point and shoot cameras with extreme zooms
• Tequila
• Windows 7’s XP mode
• Latest laptop hunters commercial
• T-Mobile getting visual voicemail

LISTEN: Show Link | RSS Feed | iTunes Link

Also, does that place look like a sweatshop to anyone else?

[via Wired and Cult of Mac]

As for video editing (her priority), a $2000 laptop is going to be much the same as a $1000 laptop in that case. Mobile processors aren’t particular gifted and if she really cares about the video card’s role in editing, she should be considering her sources and formats instead of just asking a blue shirt:
“Is this graphics card going to be powerful?”
“Mmhm.”
“Wow.”

The ins and outs of choosing a laptop are too complicated to be represented in a little minute-long tidbit like this, and I think that makes it stand up poorly to couch criticism. You know, when you’re sitting on the couch and you see this, and someone just says right afterwards, “Why didn’t she just add some RAM to the Mac?” or “How come she didn’t look at models with two hard drives, if she wants to do video?”

So they aren’t exactly showing why the PC is better. I mean, maybe it is and maybe it isn’t, but the things they have in the commercial are far from key differences. Whatever. Are they going to do $2500 next month?

Ironically, this spoof on Microsoft’s Laptop Hunter videos is the closest video to the truth. A shopper admires a Mac, but it’s a tad out of their price range so they slump to the world of PCs only to discovery Windows Vista, anti-virus software and plastic. They end up buying a PC ’cause, well, there isn’t any other option. Yay! It’s a PC.

via 9to5Mac

Casual Friday: Shock mouse costs $6, returns priceless fun until you get bored of it
Photo report: Japan’s KDDI au presents new designer brand for cell phones (iida)
Laptop Hunters circa 1985
Unruly nephews? Buy this life-sized velociraptor head
More creepy anatomical pillows, this time for your baby!

You’ve seen the second commercial from Microsoft’s Laptop Hunters series, right? You know, the one where G-diddy picks up the HP HDX 16 over a MacBook Pro. I won’t get into the PC vs Mac argument, but Giampaolo chose poorly because he didn’t know what he actually wanted.

Specs on our review unit are as follows:
• Intel C2D T9600 2.8GHz
• nVidia GeForce 9600M GT w/ 512MB DDR2 dedicated memory
• 16-inch HD HP Ultra BrightView Infinity Display (1920×1080)
• 320GB 5400RPM HDD
• 4GB of DDR2 SDRAM
• Intel Wi-Fi Link 5100 network connection and Bluetooth
• Blu-ray ROM w/ SuperMulti DVD+/-R/RW Double Layer
• 6 cell lithium-ion battery
• HP Webcam
• Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit

Performance

We use Primate Labs Geekbench for benchmarking and the HDX 16 scored 3179 overall. Just to give you a frame of reference, the last-generation MacBook Pro with the same processor scored a 3671 on Geekbench. The complete breakdown can be found in the gallery.

Because of the fancy graphics card from nVidia I used 3DMark03 to see what sort of score we’d get out of it. The GeForce 9600M GT managed to score a 12,847. I played a few minutes of Sega’s Iron Man and it was pretty smooth.

Start up takes approximately 66 seconds while shutting down is about 40 seconds.

Battery Life

This where the HDX 16 underperforms and it’s something that should weigh heavily on your decision making process. Off the charger, the HDX 16 gets roughly 58 minutes during Blu-ray playback. For our “real world” test, I cruised the web for about three minutes, literally, and watched 26 minutes worth of Chuck on Hulu, which amounted to one hour and 27 minutes off of the remaining battery time under HP’s “balanced” power plan.

You’d expect more out of the 6 cell battery compared to others in the market, and we suspect the HD screen is juicing it for all its worth.

Hardware

• Dimensions – 14.9×10.0×1.70 inches and a whopping 7.06 lbs. It’s not portable and hurts my back.
• Speakers – Altec Lansing handles the audio on the HDX 16 and the entire speaker system is laid out across the top section of the bottom panel. They’re certainly loud, but start to crackle when maxed out. However, you can adjust bass and treble with the touch controls above the keyboard. Located on the bottom of the laptop near the power connector is an HP Triple Bass Reflex Subwoofer that you really wouldn’t know was there unless you flipped the laptop over.
• Controls – located just above the keyboard are touch controls for wireless, bass/treble, volume, media playback and MediaSmart. They’re a bit finicky and you’ll need a bit of finesse and patience.
• Ports – located along the left side are the following ports: VGA, expansion port 3 connector, RJ-45, HDMI, eSATA/USB, USB, 1394 FireWire and an ExpressCard/54 slot. Along on the front are the following: 5-in-1 memory card reader (SD, MS/Pro, MMC, xD), IR and a mic/dual headphone port. Located on the right hand side of the laptop is the power connector, Kensington lock slot, USB, optical drive, TV antenna and the fourth USB port.
• Keyboard – Like other HP entertainment notebooks, the HDX 16 comes with a full-size keyboard with numpad. The keys have a nice finish to them and are very grippy.
• Track pad – The main issue with the track pad is it causes a lot of friction, so you’ll need to boost the speed of the cursor to actually get something done.

Screen

HP’s 16-inch HD screen is brilliant, but it’s far too glossy and I spent more time primping my hair than watching Chuck. It handles Blu-ray playback just fine with brilliant colors and sharp lines.

Conclusion

As a multimedia machine, the HDX 16 performs admirably, but the lackluster battery life and size make us long for something leaner and meaner. It can also get quite loud during graphics intensive processes, like, watching videos or playing games. But as a stationary machine (ie: plugged in) with a Blu-ray drive and HD screen it’s more than capable of keeping a multimedia junkie happy.

Product Page

I’m starting to suspect that the doofus-filled commercials are designed to confuse and confound Macintards into frothing wildly like Neil Cavuto on Fox News.

A fake tax return, posted on the Windows Team Blog describes the total cost of ownership, after purchasing arbitrary upgrades willy-nilly and assuming you own two Microsoft Office licenses for PC anyway, is $3,367 over the price of a Mac. Fine. We get it. Macs are as expensive as human growth hormone. But what is this document really showing?

Nothing. Assuming you have a few weeks of PC downtime in there, a few conficker infections, and an issue with Excel that completely blows out your hard drive, most PC users are looking at considerably more time lost in PC use as compared to Mac use. PCs are cheap because everyone wants to buy them and there’s no money in them anymore. It’s like saying matches are better than a lighter because they’re cheap and don’t require refills. This is absolutely true, but when you run out of matches, the opportunity cost of schlepping to the bodega to get a new pack far outweighs the firebringing power of a Zippo.

Somewhere inside Redmond a marketing team is chuckling to themselves. Why? Because they changed the script. They’re talking about money and when it comes to Macs, you can’t play there yet. Wait a few months for a $999 MacBook, however, and the game will really be afoot.

The anti-Apple campaign has been around for a while. Look at the kid. He is stoked that he’ll finally be able to release his creative itch via Photon Paint on his new Amiga! How exciting.

Adding commentary to these things is getting fairly tedious. The Mac attack wasn’t very egregious: “They’re kind of popular with this age,” eh? At least this model performed a bit better in standard benchmarks and it has Blu-Ray, one of the bigger draws for most people. Sadly, it’s not really a “full-HD” (1080p) laptop and it’s as big as a pizza box.

Here’s the product page in case you want to pick one up.