iPad: Slim & discrete, but can you swim with it?

Steve Jobs has applied his marketing genius again - he has made Apple Nation lose their minds over the latest Apple product release, - iPad; Apple's alleged "laptop killer" tablet computer.

Allow me to preface this with the fact that I own an iPhone...and love it.

God I hate Apple.

Apple thinks that their best-in-class marketing will make every middle-class American with discretionary income think that they will need their products.  Well, Apple is dead wrong.  The company has been successful, as of late, because they have revolutionized the personal music listening experience.  The combination of iTunes and all of the iterations, up to and including the iPhone, are to thank for this revolution.  Mac computers have achieved success due to their top end components and excellent displays.  Coupled these attributes with addictive marketing and 20-somethings led the march to overpay for trendy must-have Macs.  Steve Jobs has been one of the best innovators of the 2000's.

Someone forgot to tell Steve Jobs that innovation must be accompanied by common sense.

Let's start with the name: iPad.  Really?  I think Apple should incorporate a roomful of drunk college guys into their R&D process.  How the hell does a Fortune 100 company name their latest and greatest creation after a feminine hygiene product?  I'll stop short of elaborating on this.  Let's suffice it to say that "iTampon" was a trending topic on Twitter minutes after the announcement.

Now let's get to why the iPad is terrible in terms of functionality.  I would be lying if I said all of my criticisms were original to me.  For a professional list of gripes with the iPad check out Gizmodo's 8 Things that Suck about the iPad. Here are my personal favorites of why the iPad is an iFlop:

• Overall, the iPad is an overgrown iPhone, without the the telecom functionality.
  
• No Flash -  You have to be kidding me.  The lack of Flash support is by far my biggest gripe about the iPhone.  How does one expect to be a "laptop killer" if it doesn't even support one of the most popular website formats; not to mention the inability to stream video via Flash!
  
• No Multi-tasking - You can only run one application at a time on the iPad.  Dealbreaker.
  
• No USB port - the definition of USB: "Universal Serial Bus" is a wired serial bus standard to interface computers and electronics devices. Only Apple would have the audacity to create a computer without a USB port.
  
• Not Widescreen - Welcome back to the stone-age.  Maybe Apple will start selling 4:3 Standard Def tube TV's again too!

What I will say in defense of the iPad is that the price point is interesting starting at $499.   However, $499 is a little pricey for something that you only need once a month.  Sure, its slim and discrete, but can you swim with it?

Obama burns Magic

If the video won't play above, you can click the link below to open it in YouTube in your browser:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHrZd7JxvPQ

The day before President Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States, announced a three year freeze in federal discretionary spending, he spent the afternoon welcoming the 2009 Los Angeles Lakers to the White House. Following tradition, that has transformed into ritual over the past 20 years, the Lakers traveled to the nation's capital to receive the President's congratulations via a short press conference and photo op (you can view the press conference in it's entirety above). The entire team made the trip including the Zen-Master Phil Jackon, Kobe Bryant, Pao Gasol and even Magic Johnson (Minority owner and "Team Vice President").

Obama, an avid Chicago Bulls fan and proud Chicagoan in general, congratulated the team, and specifically congratulated Phil Jackson on winning his tenth NBA title. The President went further saying,

"I do want to point out that six of [the championships] came with the Bulls.

(turns and looks at the team behind him)...

You Remember that Magic...90-91...

Remember when Jordan went up (gestures with hands)!"

Obama jabs Magic at 2:47 in the video

This is, by far, the best moment in Obama's tenure as President. All politics asdie, except perhaps those sporting in nature, I love that the President is a socially accessible person. He loves his hometown team no matter what his job is and who he works for. And he's not afraid to say it; even if its in front of millions of constituents. Obama's impromptu grilling of Magic about MJ and the Bulls rolling the Lakers in the Finals almost 20 years ago is a great example of why Obama is so well liked: He has personality. He speaks proudly of his team, even during the dreadful Joakim Noah and Ben Gordon-less era. Even though he's president, you feel like you could approach him at a bar and strike up your typical guy small talk in the universal language of Men - Sports (Yes, both Men and Sports have, and deserve capitalization).

So, my hat's off to you Mr. Obama. During these trying times of economic dispair, war and jobless-ness, you keep it light with your likable personality. After all, anyone who had a pulse in the 90's enjoys a good MJ story. Too bad China doesn't like basketball; wait a second...

7 Year Old Haitian Rescued after 9 1/2 Days

I'm no news reporter, but I couldn't help but blog about this. A 7 year old Haitian boy buried under feet of rubble after surviving the 7.0 tremor in Haiti last week. He emerged after living through 9 1/2 days of aftershocks without food or water. Understandably terrified, he was reluctant to come out when first found; but once coaxed by a relative and resuce workers his fear passed and transformed to overwhelming joy. Matthew McDermott, a free-lance photographer for AmeriCares magazine, captured the moment in a perfectly timed photo. McDermott explains in the video above.

McDermott aslo captured, now famous, photos from ground zero in New York during 9/11. Some might say that the free-lance photographer is taking advantage of people in their greatest time of need. I disagree. McDermott's photo journalism is shedding light on the horror and tragedy that is taking place in Haiti right now. He explained that his intentions are to publish the photo in AmeriCares magazine in an effort to raise funds for the Haiti Relief Effort; and noble intentions those are. A photo really does say 1,000 words and I think these are words that all of us can relate to. We are fortunate to live in the greatest country in the world. That is something that I truly believe in and am very thankful for. Along with that, we are fortunate to have the resources to handle a disaster of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti as well as any country on Earth. Even so, tragedies like Hurricane Andrew, the 1989 California earthquake and Hurricane Katrina prove that even with the best support system in the world, we are all susceptible to the pain loss and sufferring. We are all 1 human race and equally understand the feeling of pain. This is why I think Matthew McDermott is on a rightous mission with his million dollar photo. We all feel pain, we all want to help the people of Haiti in this trying time. Hopefully, McDermott's photo will encourage us to do so and the majority of that million dollars will end up directly in the hands of a needy Haitian.

My undying love for Costco

Costco is like heroin to me.

I don't know what it is but I can't help but love shopping there. Maybe it is the fact that Costco is everything in a big-box retailer that Wal-Mart (and Sam's Club) is not (and believe me that is a big deal because I hate Wal-Mart). Or maybe it is the fact that I love everything in life to be as large scale as possible. In the words of fiance: Go big or go home!

Kate and I went to Costco today to do a little Sunday (although today is really more like a Saturday due to MLK day tomorrow) shopping. She really wanted to buy one thing: a hefty bag of clementines; her new favorite snack. I wanted to stock up on Gatorade for working out. Here is the list of everything we ended up buying:
Clementines
Gatorade (two 24 cases)
Sara Lee Soft & Smooth Bread (2 loaves)
Wedge of well aged Gouda (1 lb)
Coarse Shredded Parmesan Cheese
Salted Almonds (3 lbs)
Ice Mountain Water (24 case)
Kirkland Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (6.5 lbs)
Frozen Edamame (4-14 oz packs)

Total: $99.92

Costco has my demographic nailed. It's a club - everyone loves to be in clubs. For instance, the first thing you see when you walk in...a huge wall of big screen TV's - 3 rows deep. In the back, aisles of excellent red wine at affordable prices. On weekends and busy days they have free samples, I ALWAYS love free samples - who doesn't? Then, they make you get an Amex to pay for it all (unless you want to pay in cash, and honestly who carries cash anymore). The best part about it is that you get 1% back on all purchases at Costco...it's like they're paying you to shop there!

For better or worse, I will continue to love shopping at Costco, even if my bank account doesn't.

Conan lays into NBC

Seeing that FFF has one lone follower, I thought I should play to my audience and start off the blog with a crowd pleaser. Less than 24 hours after NBC brass announced that they would like to retun Jay Leno to the coveted 11:05 timeslot and bump Conan O'Brien back by 30 minutes, Conan stepped up to the plate with plenty of amunition for his opening monologue. You can watch the monologue, as well as the entire episode above.

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Good for Conan.

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Jay Leno's ratings have been plummetting for years and his lack of success in Prime Time solidifies that fact. So much so, that NBC's hand was forced by its affilliates to replace Leno in Prime Time as his poor ratings were negatively affecting lead in ratings to the local news. Leno stepped down by his own choice and should have to deal with the consequences. Conan has paid his dues and certainly has climbed the late night ladder at NBC. If you don't believe me, you should check out some of Conan's shows from early in his career - painful. But, he endured and found his niche in late night and now, in my opinion, is the funniest late night host on TV. The sun has set on the late night career of Jay Leno. He needs to realize that and respectfully bow out. Unfortunately, I doubt that will be the case; after all Leno needs to finance his massive car collection somehow. Jay's car collection is one thing (and probably the only things) that I respect about him. Maybe that is what he should shift his career focus to.

"Form Follows Function" - Louis Sullivan

"It is the pervading law of all things organic and inorganic,
Of all things physical and metaphysical,
Of all things human and all things super-human,
Of all true manifestations of the head,
Of the heart, of the soul,
That the life is recognizable in its expression,
That form ever follows function.
This is the law." -Louis Sullivan (architect 1856-1942)

In perhaps a moment of haste, I decided to start a blog. My main motivation for this forthcoming trail of thoughts, ramblings and perhaps a piece of my mind here and there, is house my attempt at photojournalism.

I named this blog after one of my favorite quotes by iconic Chicago architect, Louis Sullivan. Form Follows Function was the mantra which served as the foundation for the famed Chicago School of Architecture. I like to think I live my life by this same principle, or try to at least.

If anyone actually reads this feel free to post comments or even request a blog topic if you're feeling saucy.