"Steve Jobs...Is Dead." Engadget Podcast 129

oh, was that in poor taste? or did it just seem like the facts? back in 2009, it was an interruption comment made by paul miller that seemed to make nilay and josh pretty uncomfortable. paul blurted it out, deep voiced and dead pan. I imagined that after he said it, he was freaking out, making silent crazy faces, waving his hands around, being like, "what did I just say???" this is what I picture in my mind because the comment is so out of character (at least paul miller podcast character) that it reminds me of the time I dramatically mocked my third-grade teacher (who happened to be a nun) in front of her and everyone. I played her like she was a crazy, finger-shaking, bent-over old crone. for the first two and a half years of my attendance at that school, I didn't say very much, and then blam, I was lining up for a spanking (not really, but I did get sent to Sister Mary Margaret for some very stern words).

podcast 129 is nearly one-half steve jobs, and what his resignation might mean to apple and to the industry. the second half is about windows 7. there's a smidgen of CES 2009.

is this a man who has fanboys? I don't know, but he looks pretty cool to me. image via businessinsider.com

I like to read as much as the next guy, but biographies of the recently deceased don't usually make my list. I do, however, plan to read the jobs biography soon (why doesn't my public library own a digital copy of this book? seems like the ultimate oversight to me. I would like to meet the digital contents librarian to discuss improvements to the current purchasing scheme). I'm no apple fanboy, but the fact that one ceo/man can inspire so much hubbub/fanaticism/conspiracy theories/etc. is fascinating. that he reputedly generates a "reality distortion field" is also interesting. I can't believe I haven't seen pirates of silicon valley yet.

image via imdb.com

I just dug out my macbook pro purchase receipt to find its date of purchase. it turns out that I bought this laptop on November 10, 2010, which means that I must have purchased my dud of an hp pavilion sometime in the early part of 2009. after hearing this podcast, I am sad that I didn't know there was a beta version of windows 7 available. I never bonded with vista, I hated the pavilion, I was upset over the purchase decision I'd made, and I would have jumped on the chance to see if windows 7 could have improved my user experience. my hp isn't just slow, it's disobedient, and it suffers from short-term memory loss. every time the machine regains consciousness after being asleep or shut down, it "forgets" that we have a wireless signal and audio capabilities. therefore, every time we use it, we literally have to restart it once, if not twice. why? we haven't been able to figure that out. we thought that maybe it had something to do with the gazillion windows and hp updates the operating system was receiving, but after restoring to previous versions, barring automatic updates, and reading forums online, we still haven't been able to figure out what the problem is. it also has a really interesting, "I'm going to wake up with my fan on at 6am if I've been asleep, but still open" function. I'm willing to accept user error as the reason for my woes, but user error didn't cause the battery to die an early death. the computer only works if it's plugged in. am I ranting? YES I am! sorry. this is all to say that listening to the enthusiasm of the 129 podcast crowd makes me sort of nostalgic for the days when I was a pc. I use a pc for work, and I work a lot, but my work machine is still running xp (and a massive host of other outdated products - I can easily write another rant about this, but I'll refrain), so I don't get to play with any cool, new features.

that's me, speaking out of my cube. technically, I'm still a pc at work, but that doesn't really count.

nilay found and purchased the #1 crap gadget of the 2009 CES show (found in the depths of the international gateway, which is also the first part of CES that sounded totally awesome to me. I would love to work for a gadget blog once a year, just to cover the international gateway) from a chinese lady who harassed him in her native tongue, then yelled, "one dollar" a few times.

it glows! for all you fantasy fanboys out there. image via endgadget.com

he almost didn't buy the dragon controller, but then regained sanity and forked over the bill. josh called him a cheap jerk (really) for not buying a controller for everyone. paul loved it so much that nilay gave it to him. paul renamed it awesome gadget, which is what you need to use as the search term, if you're going to look it up on the engadget site. josh waxed about his favorite crap gadget from 2008, the miniphone, "it's just like a regular phone, except that it's a little bit smaller."

josh's mini-phone photo. image via endgadget.com

it occurred to me, while nilay was talking about his experience of being yelled at in chinese by some lady, that she may not have been yelling at him at all. some chinese people seem to be all lathered up and potentially bomb-like as they spit tiny foam flecks at you and hold forth at an insane volume, when from their point of view, they're making normal everyday, lovely conversation. my parents had one male friend who would actually make me wince when he was just saying nice things to me. we also had to wipe down our telephone mouthpiece anytime we allowed him to use our telephone.

bsod = black screen of death, and I was very proud of myself for knowing that. paul was deemed unfit for gauging the performance of his vista machine, since he "doesn't push it very hard," (his words) and only "uses it for zune and rhapsody," (nilay's words). he has played counterstrike on it once, however, as well as civilization IV. why does every male I know seem to have been devoted to that game at some point in their lives?

josh almost talked about the palm pre, but then decided to save it for next week. he did, however, mention that it uses the same battery as the centro. very interesting, right?