Kanye vs 50 Cent

One of the most talked about events in the hip-hop community has been the well-publicized stand-off between performers Kanye West and 50 Cent.

Both of them were scheduled to release an album on the same day, and 50 cent threw down the gauntlet and said that he would stop singing if Kanye outsold him by the 11th of September.

What an amazing marketing move! Both albums, mediocre though they were, sold much more than they normally would have. Kanye's album had the top sales/week ever.

And more money was pulled from minimum wage earners who could really have spent the 2 X 17.99$ on things like medical care .....

Airport Indiscretions ...

.... No, this is not a post about the esteemed Senator from Idaho, Larry Craig!

I am constantly amazed by the conversations that I overhear at airport lounges - People seem to be carried away by the aura of anonymity that airports in specific and travel in general provides and often reveal what I would consider extremely confidential information while speaking on the phone.

I have heard salespeople talking about margins they are making off specific clients, I have heard executives discussing the case of a colleague who they believed was sexually harassing a subordinate and any number of other sensitive information.

What if your competition was sitting in the next lounger in the airport?

Overcooked Apple Pie?!

I think Apple's Marketing/Product Development team has lost it. Completely.

Take the iPhone for example - I saw it the day it was launched, and although it had a lot of "cool" stuff, I realized that functionality-wise it was at the same level as an Apple laptop - Very slick interface, very well designed widgets - But lacking is actual utility.

Making a simple phone call was difficult - And typing on that god-awful touch screen key pad - Dreadul! .... And then and there I thanked the good Lord for the Blackberries in my life !!

In my mind, the iPhone would only do well soon after its launch, because the buzz surrounding it would ensure that the million or so folks that live on technology's cutting edge would each buy it.

After that threshold, I predicted that sales would drop off - Once the novelty factor was lost, it would lose most of its appeal. And that is exactly what happened.

And then Apple jumped and cut their prices by $200! What a bad move ... the iPhone was now likely to cannibalize iPod sales.

And then Apple re-designs the iPod to look almost exactly like the iPhone. Geez, three strikes and you are OUT. The thing that is going to sustain Apple is their computers.

Disclosure: I have owned five Blackberries so far and they are the best email device by a HUGE margin.

Pet Peeve

I absolutely detest bluetooth headsets. I do not understand the logic of using them in airports where you have both your hands free. These headsets don't even work, so the users have to scream every word and the rest of the folks are made unwilling participants to someone's domestic arguments or corporate bull shit.

I hate them, with their annoying flashing light (UFO-like) and for making their users seem like crazy people talking to themselves ....

And one more thing - I think bluetooth users feel obligated to make calls even when they don't really have a reason to make one. Of course, if I wore a piece of plastic on my ear the whole day, I would probably do the same ....

No bluetooth in airports! That's a one point manifesto I could get behind.