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Add one part satire to two parts sincerity. Sprinkle on a couple of rants. Stir liberally.
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Daily Blah FAQ
Who are you?
I'm the newly-appointed Future editor at Business 2.0 and the former San Francisco correspondent for Time Magazine.
Wow, so does this mean everything you write reflects Time Inc's opinion? Or do you perhaps have some sort of standard disclaimer to the effect that it doesn't?
Naturally, the opinions contained in this blog are not those of my employers. In fact, some opinions may be the polar opposite of my employers. Some may be the same, for all I know. Hey, it's not like I ask my employers their opinions about everything in the news, okay? Let's just say that if this were a Venn diagram with one circle marked "my opinions" and the other one marked "my employers' opinions", there would doubtless be some overlap. But neither I nor my employers are able to pinpoint exactly where that overlap is.
What is this Daily Blah thing?
An experiment for a column I wrote about blogging back in December 2001. All these years later, I haven't been able to kick the habit.
If it's called Daily Blah, how come you don't ... hey, wait, you're writing every day!
See? Told you I'd try harder.
Mister, you talk funny. Are you one of them furrners?
Why yes I am, as it happens. I was born, raised and educated in Great Britain. I've been living in the U.S. since 1996 and identify as British.
I say, old chap, you forgot the "u" in "colour."
No I didn't. I may identify as British, but I am also an American journalist writing for an American audience about mostly American issues. These two different sides of me are a constant source of tension. Nevertheless, Daily Blah will adhere to American English grammar and spelling.
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"It is fun to watch the author's navel-gazing joy." - Sunday Times (UK)
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Daily Blah for... Wednesday, December 03, 2003
iPod's Dirty Little Secret
"The dirty little secret of all this," Steve Jobs told me the other month, "is that there's no money to be made on a music store. We're selling iPods." Now there are rumblings that iPod has a dirty little secret too. According to this amusing little Quick Time video, the iPod's battery usually dies at age 18 months -- after the warranty has run out. The battery being locked inside that mirror-coated casing, it's just as easy to get a brand new iPod.
So is this true? Is Apple indulging in planned obselesence? I'm not so sure. I've had four iPods since they were launched two years ago. And yes, the first one I had -- the one Apple gave me at the launch -- died after about a year. But the first version of any technology is always pretty buggy, and this original iPod was no exception. It crashed fairly frequently. The other three iPods have been fine. Of course, it's not unusual in this business for 10% of any particular computer to be dead by the time it leaves the delivery truck. And only one version of the iPod is older than 18 months, so far. We'll see in the coming months. If the allegation is true for more than 10% or 20% of users, Apple could have a revolt on their hands.
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