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What To Read This Weekend

It was Apple week and unsurprisingly even I got carried away and wrote a lot about Apple’s launch week. While the big high-end items were new MacBook Pros, the real story to me was the Fusion Architecture. But I am a chip-kinda guy. Sadly, Apple doesn’t give you the deep details, so one is left to postulate some well-reasoned ideas. So that is what I did.

Back in 2008, Steve Jobs said, “We don’t know how to make a $500 computer that’s not a piece of junk, and our DNA will not let us ship that.” That was then. This is now. The company knows how to do this, and do this well.

The real strategic story of the week was Apple pushing value. Thanks in large part to its ability to make high-quality things at scale, I am sure it is also preparing itself for whatever economic doldrums are

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iPoddery

Tony Fadell, one of the creators of Apple’s defining product, the iPod, recently reminded us that the music player was launched on October 23, 2001. As I was in the process of moving back to New York, I bought one from a local Apple dealer. Soon, I observed an interesting social behavior upon my arrival: people with white headphones nodded at each other in public, as if acknowledging a shared coolness. We were all part of a tribe — smaller than most realized. It was weird kind of a snobbery. Today, while Apple seems ubiquitous, back then, it was distinctly the underdog.

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iPod: 20 Years Later

This past weekend was the 20th anniversary of the introduction of the iPod, which not only quietly started the remarkable Apple renaissance but also ushered in a new era that would eventually subsume everything, including us. 

The iPod anniversary is a good reminder that the arc of time is long and invisible. It is appreciated only in time itself. In the immortal words of Steve Jobs, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.” 

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When iPod launched, digital music was a mess. Napster had awakened us to the potential of digital and online music, but the dream was a nightmare. The music industry hated Silicon Valley. (It still does.) You had to buy compact discs, rip them and then put those files onto your devices. These digital music players had exotic names — iRiver, Rio, and Creative Labs, for example. I had them

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A Letter From Om, Technology
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Goodbye iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano

All good (and even great) things come to an end. After twelve years, it is finally curtains for iPod Shuffle and iPod Nano. “Today, we are simplifying our iPod lineup with two models of iPod touch now with double the capacity starting at just $199 and we are discontinuing the iPod shuffle and iPod nano,” Apple informed Business Insider.

I have many fond memories of both iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle. Lot of folks forgot that Nano was the first “Apple Watch” and the idea came from its community of hardcore enthusiasts. I was one of those people who wore an iPod Watch.

Long before there was Marie Kondo and her love-what-you-own-philosophy, there was the iPod Shuffle, which prompted me to come up with The iShuffle Principle.

The end-of-life of these beloved music players means it is time for me to dig out my favorite pieces from the archives to

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Musings
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The forgotten joy of iPod Shuffle

As you all know, I have been on a bit of cleaning binge — I am getting rid of many things to put space back into my “living space.” It has been quite an effort — sometimes emotional, sometimes a reminder of my own lack of clarity before buying things. With rains descending on San Francisco this weekend, I stayed at home and essentially purged, purged and purged some more.

And as I cleaned out my desks — between too many rollerball refills, ink cartridges and what not, I found this iPod Shuffle! On a lark, I plugged in my headphones and just like that, the songs flowed in my ears. I absolutely was taken back to a moment in time when this went everywhere with me. The best part was the discovery of these Incase Headphones – they are absolutely gorgeous and sound fantastic. Well made and probably one

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Musings
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It is time for hotels to change

 

One of the most annoying things is checking into a hotel and finding out that they have awesome docks for iPods but none of these work for the iPhone. So you are always stuck trying to figure out how to listen to music and/or charge then without opening up a computer. The current trends are pretty clear — very soon iPhone or some smartphone will replace iPods in our lives. Maybe hotels paid a little attention to that an upgraded their docks?

Musings
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The iShuffle Principle

There seems to be a lot of talk these days about a whole slew of new iPod Minis, and new iPod Shuffles, with expanded capacities. I am sure many millions will be sold, and thousands of words will be devoted to reviews, and analysis of these new devices. But, as we wait for this new Podslaught, I would like to spend a few moments on the older, first generation iPod Shuffles, and how they have taught me a life lesson. Sounds decidedly dweebish, and overtly geeky! Nevertheless, indulge me.

One of the hardest exercises I had to undertake ever came a few hours after I spent $99 on an iPod Shuffle. I had to decide on 75 of my most favorite songs – tracks that will entertain me almost anywhere, anytime in any kind of setting. Why? With no control over what song was going to come next, it was

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