Back to the Future. The Apple Knowledge Navigator.

Mai 24th, 2011 • Experimental, Ideas, Media, Mobile, Tech, Tools
Tags: 1980s, Apple, Brands, Cool, Creativity, Experimental, Future, Ideas, iPad, iPhone, Mobile, products, Tech, Tools, Touch

The following video was filmed in 1987 and stages a conceptual Apple design called the ‘Knowledge Navigator’. It is a concept described by former Apple Computer CEO John Sculley in his 1987 book, Odyssey. It describes a device that can access a large networked database of hypertext information, and use software agents to assist searching for information. Gesture control is included as well.

Apple produced several concept videos showcasing the idea. All of them featured a tablet style computer with numerous advanced capabilities. And I guess it reminds you of something. If you watch closely you will realize this video plays in the year 2010 or 2011…

Apple + T-Mobile. United in Impotence.

August 9th, 2010 • 2 comments Brands
Tags: Apple, Brands, disaster, iPhone, Iphone4, Mobile, Netherlands, PR

Dear Apple. Not ‘Antennagate’ is influencing my decision to buy an iPhone 4. Your inability to deliver does influence my decision. One day after the second launch wave hit Holland I tried to buy one in Amsterdam. Answer: I have to wait for at least 8-10 weeks. I mean WTF? We are talking about the day after the product launch. This is no intended artificial shortage – that is a disasterous launch for a product.

A week later I decided to really sign up for the waiting list via T-Mobile’s website in the Netherlands. I chose the desired model, click ‘bestellen’ (order) – and this is the result.

T-Mobile + Apple – wow, I am impressed. Well, in T-Mobile’s case I am at least happy they manage to keep up a consistent brand image no matter where you go.

Wired. Ready to go iPad.

Februar 17th, 2010 • 3 comments Media
Tags: Apple, Brands, Cool, Creativity, Experimental, iPad, Media, Print, Strategy, Tech, Trends

Wired Magazine has just launched its video preview for its iPad application. And yes it looks yummy! In fact it is very logical for Wired to be among the first to take this step. I think the iPad will be a piece of hardware to make print publisher’s wet dreams come true and offer a digital platform to buy and consume print media.

As a commenter explained: This visual demo is very likely an Adobe Air demo…which does not work on the iPad yet.

Apple. Inside the App Store’s Rejection Department.

Januar 29th, 2010 • Mobile, Tech
Tags: Apple, Apps, Cool, Funny, Ideas, iPad, iPhone, Mobile, Truth

The unparalleled freedom of Web 2.0 can nowhere be witnessed as fully as in Apple’s App Store. Well, of course there is criteria to become part of this exclusive digital warehouse – clear, transparent criteria to leave no room for speculation how to get in there. And in order to stop everyone with bad or fake ideas to take advantage of them, Apple, and you, the user, Apple has now opened the doors to its App Store Rejection Department. Thanks to Chris for this link.

Apple iPad. Endorsed by Print Publishers Worldwide.

Januar 28th, 2010 • 1 comment Allgemein
Tags: Apple, Burda, Industry, iPad, Media, Murdoch, Print, publishers, Strategy, Tablets, Tech, Tools, Touch, Trend, World

What a week for Hubert Burda! The Grandsigneur of German Publishers, ‘Chairman of the Board and Publisher of Hubert Burda Media, President of the Association of German Magazine Publishers, and co-founder of the European Publishers Council’  must have had a great night last night.

Why? Because it seems to me that he, as one of the most conservative protagonists of paid content on the web, has finally won.  Earlier this week he had opened Burda’s annual digital conference DLD in Munich. A digital conference which looks like all the industry meetings you know from around the world…except that it was hosted by a brand which publicly asked to disappropriate google because of their online media market share. Sounds ridiculous? Well, it is.

Burda described Google as a “killer application” which delivered almost half of all traffic to local journalism Web sites and yet managed to keep almost one-third of all Internet advertising revenues in Germany for itself. “All of that without making any investment of its own in the expensive business of journalism,” Burda noted.

Burda called for amendments to copyright and even suggested that Google should pay for the use of news it had not produced itself. Of course, the search engine wanted nothing to do with this suggestion. (‘Der Spiegel‘, Sept 09)

Actually your failed business model is not my problem

Earlier, in summer 2009, Burda and other publishers had managed to channel their whining about antiquated business model into the Hamburg Declaration of European Publishers. It demanded a ‘fair share’ by search engines like google. Google reacted with an offer to deny robots the access to the publisher’s pages. The conflict went hot. The web manned the battle stations when Silicon Valley started fighting against Munich. Well, and of course it could get even more bizarre when Rupert Mordoch started to ‘threaten’ google to block them from his newspapers and rumors about a Murdoch pact with Bing versus google made the headlines.

Burdoch’s ‘new business model’ was the old one…translated into digital: Making readers pay for stuff they read online.

In the new business model, we will be charging consumers for the news we provide on our Internet sites. The critics say people won’t pay. I believe they will, but only if we give them something of good and useful value. Our customers are smart enough to know that you don’t get something for nothing.

Similar to the music industry publishers never condescended to think about alternative business models. While print advertising revenues worldwide dropped like they were hot, no alternative business model was even explored. The direction was clear: Save mainstream print media at all cost. No matter wether there simply is no need for so many general interest magazines anymore, we do print…with a digital touch to make it look cooler.

The web’s response was unambiguous: Twitter founder Biz Stone commented the Burdoch’s closed payment model will ‘fail fast’ and it would be impossible to ‘put the genie back into the bottle’. Others compared the old men’s inflexibility to the disaster of the music industry etc. In autumn 2009 both, Burda and Murdoch, demasked themselves as dinosaurs – powerful but inflexible, free from creative power and about to make the same mistakes so many others had done before.

Read more »

Scare tactics. Apple, Microsoft and the question who’s lying.

November 6th, 2009 • Ads
Tags: Ads, Analysis, Apple, Fail, history, Microsoft

Microsoft has delivered quite a lot of enjoyment to my computer screens when it came to ads. Highlights such as Songsmith and the latest Windows 7 party spots can only be described as either really, really dark self-ironic humor or plain and simple as bizarre. In comparison – all of us love the Mac and the PC guy. But what they do is actually still to paint a pucture of the boring, conservative, uncool Microsoft which constantly tries to ignore its bad product quality and still lies to the user. But is this true?

Check out this short analysis of Apple vs Microsoft spots. It rather makes me perceive Apple as a brand constantly working with scare tactics.

NikeID for iPhone. Inspiration is everywhere.

Oktober 22nd, 2009 • 2 comments Ads, Brands, Mobile
Tags: Ads, Apple, Apps, Brands, Cases, Cool, Creativity, Ideas, iPhone, Mobile, Nike, Tools, visual, We like

It’s the second time in 3 weeks that I write about Nike. After having launched the soccer version of it’s Nike+ concept they have now equipped their incredibely useful, inspiring NikeID store with an iPhone app. And this app belongs to the one of the better brand-sponsored pieces of iPhone software I have seen in a while. The app says ‘Inspiration is everywhere’. And that’s why it comes with cool new features such as this: How about taking a photo and receiving a sneaker recommendation defined by the image’s color code? Or taking an in-depth look on the sneakers of your choice, making them rotate all with your fingertips?

Check it out here, it’s free.

(via digitalbuzzblog)

Verizon. Droid does.

Oktober 20th, 2009 • Ads, Mobile
Tags: Ads, Android, Apple, Brands, Cool, Creativity, Funny, iPhone, Mobile, usp, Verizon

Wohoo, Verizon!!! Way to go. Obviously all phone brands whose name is not Apple recently found their surprise love to the open Android OS. Verizon and Motorola have launched this campaign called androiddoes. And here is the TV commercial attached to it: Pretty cool and very aggressive (thx to illegaladvertising) .

Usability. Apple, Google and you.

Oktober 12th, 2009 • Allgemein
Tags: Apple, Funny, google, Interfaces, Usability, visual, World

Unfortunately this is pretty likely 100% true.

(From Stuff that happens via Scott Monty)