1. CNN.com and their claim as a credible news agency…marked by a recent trend where the word “S3X” has to appear on the homepage at least one time every day. Clearly a corporate initiative to boost ratings.
2. Watching a cool hip hop group change into a pop-music-machine, complete with light up leather jumpsuits and an apparent LOVE of Auto-tune.
3. Bobbing my head to a few of said pop-songs. What can I say, it’s catchy.
4. The fact that every rapper seems obligated to sing some heartfelt anthem, but only with a very heavy-handed dose of Auto-tune.
5. Lazy dog owners who have turned every neighborhood sidewalk into a canine-sponsored mine field now that the snow is melting.

There are a number of people who are looking to Apple’s new data center(s) in North Carolina as home to a new cloud-based Apple Service. Speculation ranges from hosting all of a user’s iTunes purchases on the cloud, allowing them to transfer it to their devices whenever they wish. Another theory is that iTunes will launch a streaming music service paid by subscription. Others look at a recent email purportedly by Steve Jobs, in which he states that Mobile Me will get better in 2011. Then, there are these guys, who come, seemingly out of nowhere and claim that apple will actually make Safari, Apple’s web browser, the only way to access iTunes-this done through a side-bar (because everyone loves another side bar…). So what’s really going on here? Continue Reading »

1. Office shut downs in other cities for 1″ of snow when they call for 20″ in Chicago and business as usual.
2. 3D AutoCAD…if a start-up in Denver can make 3D accessible, shouldn’t the industry “leaders” be able to do it too?
3. Traveling throughout Europe with my Mac problem-free, only to drop it in my living room on new years. (yeah, this is not new, but the hate builds over time..let me tell you)
4. Realizing that my 8-core, 8GB ram Desktop at work is still slower than my abused, 4-year-old Mac.
5. Has Microsoft been on the hate list yet, because if not, I hate that I overlooked that.

1. The jokers who stole my grill. Not this kind, or that kind; the one from my now-asymmetrical car. For the second Time.
2. Trying to learn French, only to have my Spanish pronunciation thwart me every step of the way.
3. Sitting next to the reading-my-paper-fully-open-so-deal-with-it guy on the El.
4. Typing too fast and scrwng–screwnig–screwign–AAHHHH. S-c-r-e-w-i-n-g up the spelling over and over because you’re rushing to corrct–corretc–I give up.
5. Autodesk. (needs no elaboration to those forced to use their products)

1. Buying Hugo Boss shoes that start to squeak the week after you buy them.
2. Returning those $200 shoes for a second pair that squeaks after…you guessed it, a week. In the same place.
3. Being a big enough sucker to go back to Nordstrom’s and exchange them for a THIRD pair.
4. External Hard drives that take over your computer with nagging registration and “free” software.
5. Being forced to order 6 magazine subscriptions with your meager Frequent Flier miles because they now expire after 12 months.
6. Realizing that when you buy picture frames at Target, having all 4 corners glued is optional.
7. Watching your new white board twist into a geometrically impossible shape in less than 3 days because you made the mistake of buying it at Target.

1. 8pm “naps” that last 14 hours.
2. Mittens on a snowy commute in Chicago; dexterity is not to be undervalued.
3. Spirit Airlines.
4. Cabies that complain your credit card takes too long after telling you they spent 2 hours waiting at the airport.
5. Telling your friends about a Groupon, but forgetting to buy it yourself.
6. Making lists for things you had on other lists, but didn’t do.
7. The Jones Team thinking they are as hardcore as the KAFD 4.10 team.

Apple is known for many things these days. The iPod is still hugely successful, but no longer on the tip of everyone’s tongue like the iPhone and iPad are. Those two devices have each created and led a new resurgence of the mobile device market, both for smart phones and Tablets. The iTunes music store is the world’s largest retailer of music; the App Store is an unrivaled success, with over 300,000 apps, having paid over $1 Billion dollars out to developers and the Mac computer lineup is out-pacing the overall PC sales 2:1. This has put Apple on the books as the Largest Tech company by market cap, beating Microsoft in total value as well as in total revenue for their last quarter, posting $20 Billion in sales.

So we have a company who has forced the Music Industry to change their distribution model, they have upended the mobile phone carriers and handset manufacturers, they have created the successful model for mobile phone app distribution that all others are trying to emulate. The real question is what’s next? What is the next big opportunity for apple? Continue Reading »

We all live in a world of constant frustration. Life in the office is no different. The gent to my left is a bit of a hater, but usually for very good reason. I like to remind him not to drink so much Haterade, to which he usually returns some smart quip.

He brought up the idea of a “Hate List;” a short list of the things that are currently giving us hell. The inaugural Hate List can be found here, but it will be an organic thing, changing as needed to truly express the heinous things we have to deal with.

It’s true, writing them down feels better, maybe everyone needs a Hate List.

1. Wind Turbines that don’t turn, ever.
2. Smoothies advertised as containing “Fresh Frozen Fruit”
3. Hipster I saw the other day smoking a pipe while playing Game Boy.
4. The color mauve in most applications.
5. Blinker doors on the Blue Line.
6. Thumb Drives that try to install stuff when you plug them in.

What do you do when your boss cancels his annual trip to Florida? Well, if you’re my roommate David, you look for another opportunity to pull the annual prank that happens to line up with his vacations. Years past have included the old tin-foil office, endless sticky notes covering his office, each replete with a handwritten note. This year, he thought he might go a little bigger.. Continue Reading »