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The increasingly inaccurately-named blog of journalist and futurist Chris Taylor. Either the most sporadically brilliant amateur blog, the most brilliantly amateur sporadic blog, or the most amateur sporadic brilliance on the Web since 2001.
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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.
Do you write any other blogs, by chance? Could that have something to do with the fact that Daily Blah isn't always Daily?
Yes -- the Future Boy blog for Business 2.0. And yes. If you want true, editorially-mandated daily coverage from me, that's probably the best place to look.
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.
Praise for Daily Blah:
"It is fun to watch the author's navel-gazing joy." - Sunday Times (UK)
"It's really funny and informative." - Dave Eggers, author
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"Better than Xanax." - Lessley Andersen, journalist
"Dude, lay off the crack pipe." - Souris Hong-Porretta, gamesmith
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Daily Blah for... Tuesday, January 18, 2005
I'm Shrinking!
My original headline was "honey, I shrunk the Mac." But I like my editor's Wizard of Oz reference better.
With its new cut-price computer and iPod Shuffle, Apple hits the small time
Until last week, Steve Jobs was not known for going after budget-conscious shoppers. Instead, $3,000 CPUs and $600 iPods were more the Apple CEO's speed. But after his company's strong holiday sales and the quadrupling of its first-quarter profits from the year before, Jobs can afford to be generous. As of next week you will be able to buy an entry-level Mac for $500 and a scaled-down iPod for $99. The new iPod is no heftier than a pack of gum, while the Mini Mac is smaller than your average Harry Potter hardcover.
Of course, you're making some sacrifices for those prices. The Mini Mac is what Jobs calls BYODKM--bring your own display, keyboard and mouse. That makes it ideal if you're a Windows user who wants to switch teams and already has those peripherals (the Mini Mac will work with just about any recent brand). But BYODKM is not such a bargain if you're starting from scratch--especially if you want extras like a wireless Internet card, which will set you back another $79.
The Mini Mac is a surprisingly powerful beast for its size. It has roughly the same memory and hard-drive size as a low-end G4 Power Mac and comes with the latest version of Mac OS X. Plug in the peripherals, and you will rarely notice the difference. The $99 iPod Shuffle, however, could never be mistaken for its larger cousin. There's no screen on which to view the song currently playing, and it holds only 126 tracks. (A $150 model doubles that capacity.) It's called the Shuffle because that's the best thing you can do with it: stick it into the USB port of your computer, and it will quickly download a new random selection (or a particular playlist) from the iTunes jukebox. This is great if you're a passive music listener but infuriating if you like to find particular songs.
Ultimately, there's a reason these products are called entry level: they exist largely to tempt you to upgrade to pricier Apple wares. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing--especially if your name is Steve Jobs.
From the Jan. 24, 2005 issue of TIME magazine
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