As the weather cools, the topwater bite heats up.
Archive for September 12th, 2006
Though none may dare call it “scotch,” North America now has its second single malt whisky distillery.
“I welcome them to our very small community,” said Lauchie MacLean, of Nova Scotia’s Glenora Distillers. “The more single malts there are, the more marketing dollars go in to expand our product.”
According to the Scotch Whisky Association, Scottish friars began brewing single-malt whisky in the 15th century and since the late 1600s there have been more than 750 licensed distilleries in that country. Today, Scotland boasts more than 100 licensed scotch distilleries.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs took to the stage to announce Apple’s latest consumer electronics efforts this afternoon. I find myself fairly ambivalent about most of the products he introduced today. There was a lot of speculation before the show that Jobs would announce a totally new product. Most of the speculation focused on an “iPod Phone” but there was also heavy speculation that Jobs would introduce a “true” video iPod, or an iPod geared singularly towards video. Neither of those were on the menu for today.
Jobs did, however, introduce a new product, a product code-named “iTV”. Essentially it’s a box that allows someone to stream media wirelessly from a Mac or PC to their television. While I think that’s cool, Jobs strayed from the long-held practice of announcing products only as they became availble for purchase. The iTV isn’t due to hit stores until the first quarter of 2007.
I’m guessing Apple announced the iTV today because the show would’ve been a huge letdown otherwise. The iPod changes that Apple did announce were underwhelming to say the least. They added storage capacity and a brighter screen to the video iPod but shied away from more useful features like wireless access and a larger screen. They made the iPod Nano thinner and gave it an aluminum case that comes in several colors. They also introduced an 8 GB model. SanDisk beat them to the punch on that two weeks ago. Lastly, they made the iPod Shuffle smaller. Woohoo.
None of this makes me excited to run out and buy an iPod and I’m in the market for a new MP3 player. I’ve been waiting for Apple’s announcement, hoping that they would introduce something that I had to have. After today, I’m more inclined to go out and buy the SanDisk simply because it doesn’t require me to use iTunes. Most of my music has been downloaded through Napster. The SanDisk player can also be expanded to 10 GB using MicroSD cards so it beats the Nano on features as far as I’m concerned.
While Apple did release a new version of its iTunes software that allows for movie downloads, I saw little that was truly innovative. The iPod line is in danger of becoming commoditized unless Apple does something to separate them from other players. With Microsoft entering the fray, Apple had better gear up and do something a little more significant than offering up what are essentially product tweaks. I don’t expect Microsoft will get their media player right in the first version, but their player should have wireless built in and they’ve shown with the Xbox that they’re willing to stay in the market until they get it right. Sony stopped innovating and their market lead is threatened. Apple needs to take note and get their game on or they could find themselves in the same position.
A satellite map of what the NC coastwill look like after the global warming sea-rise.
Almost all of the Outer Banks is gone. Don-Lee is an island.
After 16 days on strike, Detroit teachers have reached a tentative agreement to return to work.
Whew. The entire country, nay, our entire planet dodged a bullet on this one. The thought of that fine school system at a halt causes me to shudder for our future as humans. The cure for cancer will certainly spring from those learned scholars and their pupils.
It seems that Sony just can’t catch a break. First they pushed back the launch of the Playstation 3. Then the laptop batteries they provide to Dell start to explode. Then the laptop batteries they provide to Apple start to explode. Then they push back the launch of the Playstation 3 again. And now? Now Sony is delaying the launch of the new Walkman in Japan due to chip problems. Could this be Divine Retribution for Sony’s unethical behavior in the past?
If so, HP investors should probably start dumping their stock.