Warning:*This post may contain spoilers!*

As the picture shows Apple has done it again. They’ve just announced it at the WWDC08 in San Francisco. I know that because I’m liveblogging from the PWAAWWDC08 (People Who Aren’t Attending WWDC08 aka. my living room).

They’ve taken *insert common gadget name here* reinvented and redesigned it. All I can say is: The new Apple i*insert Apple gadget name here* is freakin’ awesome!!!

I can wait to get my hands on the i*insert Apple gadget name here*!

According to Steve Jobs the suggested retail price will be $5.499 which is pretty cheap for a i*insert Apple gadget name here*.

I know a lot of students will have to get one. Most bloggers will get one for free. They need something to attach the schwag to.

Again thank you very much Steve Jobs. The Apple i*insert Apple gadget name here* is awesome. I can’t believe you guys have done it again.

I can’t wait until you release the SDK in a year so the business people can get one too and actually use it.

UPDATE: Some of my readers have pointed out that I’ve forgotten to put in the name of the new iSomething. I’m terribly sorry about that.

UPDATE 2: More readers have pointed out that my big head is hiding the actual new Apple thingy. Again I apologies.

This is only my second video, so please be gentle.

Using summize.com I’ve gathered some of the tweets from desperate, disappointed or even angry twitterers after twitter.com’s nasty downtime last Wednesday.

Which program and on which hardware I made the video is not important, at least not now, but it’s a part of my quest for the Apple.

Of course, this could also be Robert Scoble and other twitter super users (Fake Steve Jobs calls them twittertards) fault. I doubt it though. They just need a solid backbone and some better infrastructure.

I say that without knowing what their problem is, but my guess is just as good as blaming someone else.

Anyhoo I just wanted to show you this little video I made the other day. I’ve uploaded it to Viddler and YouTube.
The song is Alana Taylor’s Twitter Song. Thank you very much for letting me use it.

Did you remember to read last week’s interview with Shoemoney? This season’s last interview is with Fake Steve Jobs.

Most people know Steve Jobs (creator of the iPhone), but not everybody read Steve Job’s secret blog/diary.

Some say it’s not written by Steve Jobs himself, but by Fake Steve Jobs. Some even say that Fake Steve Jobs actually is Forbes senior editor Dan Lyons.

Fake Steve Jobs aka. FSJ has nicknames for many things. Microsoft is The Borg, people who work at Microsoft are Borgtards, twitterers are twittertards, WSJ tech-journalist Walt Mossberg is Goatberg and Sarah Lacy is hot.

FSJ writes why Apple is so cool, and why Apple’s products are so damn innovative and awesome. He finds most people annoying and is upset by negative people.

FSJ like turtlenecks, black, white, trees, zen and is a benevolent dictator.

This video from TechCrunch’s Crunchies says it all:

And now the interview with the great Fake Steve Jobs

What is your background picture?

Solid blue.

Why did you chose that picture?

I’m boring. And easily distracted. Solid color lets me focus on what I’m doing.

If you have a personal and a work computer, which program do you use the most on your personal computer?

Firefox.

Which program do you use the most on your work computer?

Firefox.

Internet Explorer or Firefox?

Firefox.

Why do you use IE or FF?

I hate IE. I hate all the new Microsoft apps. Too cluttered and bloated.

What is your favourite program?

Firefox.

Which program is the worst?

If you mean what’s the worst program I use, I’d say it’s Quark CopyDesk. If you mean what’s the worst program in the entire known universe, it has to be Lotus Notes.

Do you have any tips and tricks on how to get the most out of your computer or blog?

Spend as much time as possible working on it.

Mac or Pc and why?

Mac. The OS is better.

Thank you very much Mr. Fake Steve Jobs. I’m really thrilled that you took the time, out of your very busy and innovative life. I know it can be hard to communicate with the man on the street.

Peace out!

This is the season finale (I always wanted to say that) of Show Me Your Desktop, but unlike certain other “shows”, I don’t cancel something, just because people don’t watch it. (Take that Fox, CBS, ABC and SciFi).

Season 3 will be back very soon with brand-new questions and more interesting people.

As you might have read, I’m on a quest for either a MacBook or a PC. The comments in the latest post clearly shows that the battle between Apple and Microsoft – or OS X and Windows – is very easy to spot.

Which one offers the most value? Since both the MacBooks (Pro) or generic PC have the same hardware specifications, it all comes down to the operating system.

The noble art of OS-bashing goes on…

After reading many blogs about people who has switched from Windows to Mac (so called switchers), I see a pattern, that most switchers follow.

The blogger is very often a very loyal Windows “follower”. To the surprise of the blogger, he/she learns from friends and relatives, that they actually love this OS X-stuff.

Fundamental differences

Ok then now the blogger has bought a Mac and he describes the differences between the two operating systems. Somebody has moved the “Close-button” from right to left. Then they realise that a program isn’t just shut down in OS X.

After a couple of weeks most switchers are getting the hang of it and they seem to be rather fascinated about the new OS.

A sense of joy, you only get from a few brands, seems to characterize a lot of Mac people.

Of course, everything isn’t a dance on roses. There are also stories about the total opposite experience, but not many.

It’s like many Mac owners, new and old, have a new look on life and they almost feel sorry for PC users. They haven’t seen the light.

From a PC owners point of view, this state of mind is often seen as arrogant and fanatic. Some Mac owners are used to the accusation of being a part of a cult. If a happy owner is a cultist, then perhaps that’s true.

THE Brand

The joy of owning a Mac is very visible at the 2008 edition of Brandchannel’s annual brandjunkie survey, where almost 2,000 marketing people are asked about different brands. The survey is not about ranking the brands, but about values like, “who would you site next to at a dinner party?”

The result is a certain victory for Apple with six top positions and one second. Microsoft got two top placements and one second.

14.6% of the questioned people would rather sit next to Apple at the dinner party, while 4.1% would prefer Virgin. It seems that people identify the companies with the figureheads and prefer Steve Jobs and Richard Branson.

Another interesting question is:”If a brand was sent 100 years back in time, how would they influence history?”. Again Apple wins by 15.5%, while Microsoft come in second with 10.4%. I’m not sure that I agree with that.

They would have a lot to say about world events, business and what is likely to happen in the future. They could also be quite good fun and have a different view of the world. A good combination of work and non-work conversation.

The first victory to Microsoft could be a sour apple (pun intended). 6% would rather discuss matters with Microsoft. Apple come in second with 4%. I wonder what they would discuss with Microsoft.

Very Inspiring

Apparently Apple inspires people. 22% of the voters say that Apple is the most inspirational brand. Nike comes in second with 6%.

Microsoft isn’t among the top 10 brands.

So has this small analysis taken me closer to a decision? Should I be a part of the Cupertino cult and be another victim in a cynic strategy?

As many of my twitter followers probably are aware of I’m currently working on getting my hands on a MacBook Pro or just a MacBook. I just can’t make up my mind.

I’ve been a happy Windows-user for many years. Way back when you typed Windows in DOS to start Windows 3.11 for Workgroups.

But I haven’t really gotten over the disappointment of Windows Vista. A year ago I “leased” big HP Notebook with 17″ screen and Windows Vista Home Premium, but it was so dang slow.

When I started my new job a few months ago I had to return the HP Notebook to my previous employee. (It’s tax/employee benefit-thing). I’ve been without a laptop since April 1st. I have a company one, but I’m not using that one for private stuff.

Instead of buying a new Dell XPS something, I decided that I wanted a MacBook Pro. A quick trip to Apple.com/store quickly gave me a price indication – $2,499 for a MacBook Pro. Ok, I can live with that.

How much does it cost in Denmark then? Dkr. 17,299 or $3,460! I can buy a return-trip to New York, buy a MacBook Pro and still save money compared to the Danish price.

Of course, if I get busted in customs, the saving is gone, but I can fly out of Hamburg (Germany) and avoid customs that way.

Why would I want a MacBook? As I mentioned Windows Vista has been quite the disappointment, but another my interview series “Show Me Your Desktop” has had a huge influence on the decision too.

It’s a part of my world domination problogger plan too.

So where am I going with this? Well initially this was meant as an intro to my Apple Mac research post, but the intro has become so long, that I’ll write that in a second post. Therefore this is called “My Quest For The Apple Part 1″.

In Part Deux I’ll write about how strong a brand Apple really is and why people become “switchers”.

Do you ever consider the environment when you buy a new gadget? I tend to forget and pick gadgets with lots of features, nice design and geek status.

However eco-friendly gadgets are also a competitive parameter. The gadgets manufacturers has found out that consumers are interested in green products.

So which gadget should you buy if you want to be green?

Greenpeace recently launched a report “Searching…for Green Electronics“. The report analyses several parameters among others; dangerous chemicals in the product, energy saving and can it be recycled. Several companies refused to participate in the survey. This includes Acer, Apple, Asus, Creative, Microsoft, Nintendo, Palm and Sharp. I’m very disappointed in you guys. I own an iPod, Zen Vision M, Xbox360 and Nintendo Wii…tsk tsk @ me.

The scale goes from 1 to 10, 10 being the best grade and this is the top 3 lists:

Cell phones:

1. Sony Ericsson T650i – 5.30 points
2. Nokia N95 – 4.40 points
3. LG Electronics KE970 4.05 points

PDA or Smart Phones:

1. Sony Ericsson P1i – 5.10 points
2. HP iPaq 510 – 3.95 points
3. Mio Technology P350 – 3.15 points

Notebooks:

1. Sony Vaio TZ11 – 5.29 points
2. HP Compaq 2710p – 4.82 points
3. Toshiba Protégé R500 – 4.74 points

Greenpeace states that no manufacturers score high within all criteria. Still, Greenpeace give Sony and Sony Ericsson a thumbs up! I guess this must make Sony’s competitors green with envy…If I’m looking at our latest energy bill, our consumption is equal to a family of four. We are only two adults and a 5 month old toddler. All our domestic appliances are power saving. The same goes for the light bulbs. Nothing is left in stand-by mode either. EXCEPT… My PC runs 24/7 with router, ADSL modem and all kinds of power adapters. Two laptops and a 42″ plasma TV. I guess they eat a bit too.

If you are interested in more green gadgets, cars and scooters. Read “5 Green And Eco-Friendly Gadgets”.

Do you own any green gadgets? When you buy new gadgets do you prefer the eco-friendly ones? What are you doing to reduce energy consumption?

Last week I asked Duncan Riley to Show Me Your Desktop. Duncan started a new urge in me. I want to replace my two 19″ monitor with 22″. If you don’t want to be tempted, then please don’t read last week’s interview with Duncan Riley.

This week it’s Lisa Bettany’s turn to share her desktop with us. If you aren’t familiar with Lisa’s blog “Mostly Lisa”, you are missing something in your feed-reader. She has some hilarious videos, clever blog posts and takes great pictures. The media part is because of her involvement in the multimedia company Redpilot. However Lisa is more than just a blogger, actress, model, nocturnal and geek. She is also in the top 8 in Wired’s Sexiest Geeks 2007. So remember to vote for her.

I also noticed that Lisa has a thing for Mac. Yet again we meet a lovely Canadian with a Mac-fetish and great photography skills. I have to get myself one a Mac. Beautiful people use Macs.

What is your background picture?

OS Leopard theme “Aurora”

Why did you chose that picture?

In the past, I have always used my favourite photographs as my desktop, but being a bit of an Apple fangirl I couldn’t help but get into the OSX Leopard craze. Plus, I personally feel that this is the best desktop image Apple has come out with and who doesn’t like space themes?

If you have a personal and a work computer, which program do you use the most on your personal computer?

I’d have to say Safari, because I am constantly blogging or searching the www. Adobe’s Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, iTunes, iPhoto, iChat, VLC, Transmit, and Entourage are my other top applications.

Which program do you use the most on your work computer?

Work computer = home computer. I run my multimedia company from home, usually in my pajamas.

Internet Explorer or Firefox?

I only use Safari. I use FF as a default when I have browser issues with Safari, but I find Safari to be a cleaner, more aesthetic, better functioning application over-all. Plus, I was getting bogged in FF plug-ins and wasting far too much time searching for new ones. 2008 is all about stream-lining my resources and getting things done!

What is your favourite program?

A toss up between Adobe Photoshop and Final Cut Pro. Both are intensely powerful programs that allow me to create beyond my wildest dreams. I haven’t even touched the power of these programs.

Which program is the worst?

Microsoft’s Excel. I’ve done my fair share of data entry and just the sight of it makes me frustrated, bored, and slightly nauseous. I’m currently moving over to Apple’s spreadsheet program “Numbers”.

Do you have any tips and tricks on how to get the most out of your computer or blog?

What you put into your blog and the blogging communities is directly proportional to what you get out of it. I reply to every comment and email I receive about my blog. It means something to me someone has taken the time to write me a thoughtful comment, or just a “hey, I liked that post”. I also visit try and visit their blogs if they have include their URL in their comment. I have met great people and found wonderful blogging communities this way. Also, writing relevant, interesting, and varied posts with cute pictures of yourself also helps ( ;

Mac or Pc and why?

For me and the type of work I do, Mac > PC. It’s just that simple.

It might be a comfort to some, that Lisa is struggeling with some of the same problems as you are – Joining too many social networks. That’s why I’m really glad she found the time to answer my questions. Thank you Lisa and good luck with the audition.

PS: Thank you for cleaning your desktop before taking the screen dump.

I’ve previously written a guide to ebooks and audiobooks, but the guide doesn’t cover Amazon’s latest gadget, Amazon Kindle.

In this post I’ll list five facts and five things the Kindle lacks.

People have talked about ebooks for ages, but like hover cars and meals in pills, they’ve never really broken through. I’ve always had a thing for Sony’s Reader, but it’s only available in the US. Perhaps Amazon’s Kindle could be the thing I’m looking for. With access to the world’s biggest book catalog, this could be the first big step towards the ebook revolution.

Read this post and you’ll be the judge.

5 cool facts about Amazon Kindle:

1. Kindle uses the American EVDO network, which is similar to the European 3G network, only a bit slower. Amazon picked EVDO, instead of WiFi. This lets the user buy and download books no matter where you are. There is no subscription fee. A book usually costs $10 and takes from about 10 minutes to 10 seconds to download.
2. Kindle has a very basic web browser in black/white and with no Flash or Java support. If you want to subscribe to magazines or blogs you have to pay extra. $.99 per RSS-feed is the price if you want to read your favourite blog’s RSS feed. Even though the feed is free, you still have to pay to recieve it.
3. Kindle is born with 256 Mb storage, that’s about 200 books. You can expand the storage with SD-memory cards. According to Amazon the text is automatically updated, if there is an error in the book. Kindle can also play mp3s.
4. With it’s white plastic surface the Kindle isn’t a beauty. I’m sure Apple would never create anything like this. However it has the same size as a book and unlike a laptop it’s silent and doesn’t get warm. The 6″ e-ink screen can be read in direct sun light and the battery can last up to 30 hours of reading. Personally I think this is only good for books. I’d hate to read my favourite magazine in black/white.
5. Ebooks bought at Amazon are protected by AZW DRM. This way you can’t share yor books with your friends. The Kindle can also read “unprotected” books in the Mobipocket, txt, html, JPG, Gif or Word-format. You can also copy text from the net straight onto Kindle using USB or email the text to it. If you email text to Kindle it will cost you extra.

And now 5 things the Kindle lacks:

1. No PDF-support. How can one of the biggest book formats not be supported. This is a definitive must in the next version.
2. A black/white screen is cool when you are reading books, but I want colours when I’m reading magazines.
3. Why not combine real books and ebooks? If I buy a real books I should get the ebook for free or at a very low extra cost.
4. Why should I pay to read blogs that people write for free? I’m not going to pay $15 $.99 per RSS-feed. I paid $399 for the Kindle.
5. Who designed the Kindle? A designer that escaped the from the former Soviet union?

So having read this – Will you buy an Amazon Kindle? Are you using another ebook reader?

Perhaps you think ebooks are overrated and just a hype. Let me know what you think.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Amazon’s official Kindle commercial

Phew… Finally some time to blog again. I usually publish a Show Me Your Desktop interview on Sundays, but due to the screen writers’ strike we’ve had delays this season… Ok that’s not true, the cursed work has kept me busy, but now all important projects and presentations are done.

If you missed last week’s interview with Sarah Meyers head over here to read it. Sarah just launched Pop17.com.

This week it’s Duncan Riley’s turn to Show Me Your Desktop. If you Google Duncan Riley a lot of different articles and posts comes up. Many of them are about why he left b5media in 2006. That’s 1½ year ago, so there isn’t anything interesting in that anymore. Instead I’ll focus on what Duncan does now.

He is one of the more controversial bloggers. His posts on TechCrunch often starts a heated debate. This particular debate extended into this blog post on Duncan’s personal blog. I’m still not sure what the Australian government’s plan is, but what I gather it sounds really stupid.

Duncan also hosts a really interesting podcast show on thepodcastnetwork. Here he interviews a very mixed crowd from local Australian web experts to American money makers.

He is also a VERY active twitter. I remember Michael Arrington once told him to Wtwit less and write more.”

And now on with the interview.

What is your background picture?

The Apple store in San Francisco I took in July 2007.

Why did you chose that picture?

It seemed appropriate for my Mac Pro. The picture itself has the Apple logo on the store nearly dead middle

If you have a personal and a work computer, which program do you use the most on your personal computer?

I have two computers. A Mac Pro at home, and a Macbook Pro (17″) for when I’m on the road. As I work for myself there’s no personal or work computer as such.

Twitteriffic would get the best work out on both computers, aside from the browser and Mac Mail.

Internet Explorer or Firefox?

Until days ago I would have said Flock. It’s a great browser that in my experience at least is less of a memory hog than FF2 was. I’m now using the latest beta of Firefox 3. The first beta still had memory issues, but as of beta 2 it’s a pleasure to use, and it’s very memory efficient (even more so than Flock). It looks like Mozilla has finally fixed the memory leaks that ruined Firefox 2.Why do you use Fireox?

I was a windows user until nearly 12 months ago, and even then I used Firefox over Internet Explorer. I’m a heavy tab user and Firefox has done tabs from pretty close to the beginning. IE 7 is a vastly improved browser over IE6, but by that stage, like a lot of people, I’d switched to Firefox and had no interest in going back.

What is your favourite program?

Skitch. Being able to do 95% (perhaps more) of my image editing tasks super quickly and without having to open Photoshop has been a blessing for me, and it’s made me far more efficient in my day to day workWhich program is the worst?

Cyberduck, but to be fair FTP on a Mac just never seems to be as smooth for me using any program as compared to Windows.

Do you have any tips and tricks on how to get the most out of your computer or blog?

You need to have the right tools so that your focus is on blogging, not fighting with the software you have installed. Switching to Apple products was the best move I’ve ever made, I no longer worry about whether my operating system is getting a virus, or needs maintaining…or anything really. Macs just work.

In terms of other tools look for products that make your blogging easier. I use Skitch for basic image editing, Grammarian for US English grammar and spell check, iMovie to mix videos and Garage Band to mix podcasts. All make my life a lot easier and I think my work is better for using them. If you’re blogging for yourself, there’s a range of desktop blogging tools available as well, unfortunately for me the quirks of my main writing gig at the moment for TechCrunch means that I have to use WordPress directly, but presuming you don’t have a similar issue, use a blogging client.

Last tip: multiple monitors are a god send. I have twin 22″ monitors, on my left monitor I run Twitteriffic and Firefox, on the right monitor mail, Skitch and any other program I may want to run. This allows you to have a document or email open and visible at the same time you have access to your browser (or blogging client), negating the need to switch between windows when writing a blog post. You can go for one bigger monitor, but cost wise 22″ monitors in Australia at least are down to around the $300 mark ($275 US), much cheaper than say one 30″ at $1500-$2000, and ultimately you get more desktop with the twin monitors. Some suggest 3 works better again, but in my case I’d need a bigger desk first

Click to see a larger image

Thank you very much for taking the time to answer my questions Duncan. The dual 22″ monitor made me a bit envious. I’m pretty sure three monitors would be overkill. I’m not sure what the benefit of that would be.

Personally I use two 19″ monitors (one HP and one IBM), but an upgrade to 22″ wouldn’t be too bad.

How many monitors do you use? Which size and brand? And why do you use more than one monitor?