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Why 'Wired' Seems to Have It Wrong About Amazon and Apple

The December 2011 issue of Wired is out, with a photo of the left half of Jeff Bezos' face on the cover.  I was excited about this issue, because I wanted to read about the moves Amazon.com [and my Amazon WishList] is making to be a cloud content provider in addition to seller of books and anything else you can find in a supermarket or shopping mall.

Instead, I was disappointed.

The article by longtime tech writer Stephen Levy repeated some tiresome comparisons between Amazon and Apple. Amazon is content company, right? Because it makes most of its money selling more content things, both real (like books, shoes, and DVDs) and electronic (like ebooks and streaming movies). Yep, it's not a hardware company, though its big news right now is hardware in the form of the Kindle Fire.

And Apple isn't a content company, right?
Because it makes most of its money selling hardware things, like computers and mobile tablets and smartphones. Yes, it's not a content company, even though its current big news is user content management in the form of launching iCloud.

The article also disappointed because all too soon it descends into a Q&A dialog that doesn't grab me. It doesn't talk enough about the Amazon consumer experience and what might be coming down the pike. The most I learn about consumer experiences at Amazon is that Amazon really doesn't like to talk to me on the phone, really is not proud of being a profit-making enterprise, would offer single pricing for movie streaming if, gosh, only the movie content providers would agree, and seems more head-in-the-clouds than futuristic.

There's an ethereal quality to Bezos that bothers me, and I'm trying to put my finger on why.

Meet My Tech Sidekicks: R2-D2, Sancho Panza, Radar O'Reilly, Robin, Sam Stewart, Tonto, and Max Klinger

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Above: Images of the sidekicks after which I have named my computers and smartphones: R2-D2, Sancho Panza, Radar O'Reilly, Robin the Boy Wonder, Samantha Stewart, Tonto, and Max Klinger. (Click on the thumbnail photos in the row on top to switch images.)

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When I was a kid, it was common for families to name their automobiles. This was just as, I suppose, families named their horses up until the 19th and 20th centuries. Which made sense, since horses were animals and they were alive.

But now I feel that my computers are somehow alive, too. At least they're pretty smart, they do my bidding, they look out for me (if I teach them how), and they do seem possessed of certain personalities.

So I name my computers. Many years ago, when I obtained my first laptop, a used Dell Inspiron, I named it "R2-D2," after the character in Star Wars. I thought of R2-D2 as my wing, just as he flew in a round hole on the wing of Luke Skywalker's X-Fighter.

Thus began my personal tradition of naming computers after sidekicks from stage and screen.

Both of my Dell Inspirons were named "R2-D2." My first MacBook laptop was named "Sancho Panza," the sidekick to Don Quixote, the Man of LaMancha. My first iPhone was named "Radar O'Reilly," after the sidekick corporal and company clerk to the commander of the MASH 4077th mobile Army surgical hospital in the movie and TV series "M*A*S*H." (Radar's real name was "Walter.") The second iPhone was named "Robin," after the Boy Wonder sidekick to Batman.

My next MacBook received a name from a British detective series, "Foyle's War." In a first, my computer was named for a female sidekick, Samantha Stewart, who drives and breaks cases for the show's namesake character, Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle of Hastings, England. So the laptop is graced with Ms. Stewart's more familiar name, "Sam Stewart."

My Mac Mini at the office is named "Tonto," after the sidekick to the Lone Ranger.

Fun with Steve Jobs and Robert Reich (and Conan O'Brien)

In the past twelve hours, I've had way too many laughs watching these two videos.

• Steve Jobs introducing the iPad in — ahem — "superlative" style, cut down from 90 minutes to 3 minutes. (Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog, a.k.a TUAW.)
• Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, in tandem with Conan O'Brien. (Via Reich's blog.)

Have fun!

Ringing In Marta's Installation

Last Sunday, I was honored to ring the parish bell at First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington for Marta's installation as the 18th senior settled minister of the church. 

The bell of the church survived the disastrous fire of 1975 that destroyed the century-old elegant fourth meeting house of the church. Now the bell sits protected in the back of the sanctuary of the fifth meeting house, the modern structure where the church worships today. Still, for the bell, it's a comedown. It used to sit in the Arlington spire at the center of the town in what was thought to be the second-highest church spire in the Commonwealth.

I rang the bell 20 times, one for each of the 18 settled senior ministers and twice for the two settled associate ministers who have served the church. That was fun, but it was also a reminder to me of the living tradition of Unitarian Universalist ministry spanning all or part of five centuries in America.

Lida Junghans, a member of the church, took pictures. I'm in my Dad's old wheelchair for the ceremony because I was recovering from foot surgery. Wheeling me around: David Whitford. (Thanks, David!) This was only my second trip outside the house since returning from my surgery on January 14.

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Texting a Donation to Haiti

At the invitation of President Bill Clinton, who's been all over the media, I did something new: texted a donation to the Clinton Foundation for its Haiti relief programs. Easy to do.

Good News for University of Dayton, Where My Son Studies, in Acquiring NCR Corporate Campus

 The University of Dayton completed acquisition of the former headquarters campus of NCR, the New York Times reports. It will be a research park, alumni center, and more.

Good news for UD, where my son is a student. More is available from the UD website.

iPhone Speakrs to Love

If you're a careful reader, you'll spot the typo in the headline of this post.

But it's not a typo. It's a riff on the the name of my new favorite product: Livespeakr, which bills itself as "the ultra-portable speaker system." It's made specifically for iPhone and the iPod Touch.

The product is priced at $80. Thanks to a Christmas gift card from my brother and his family, I was able to purchase  a "Livespeakr" for my iPhone from Amazon on sale at just $39. I'm writing about it here because it is an extraordinary product.This is a totally delightful consumer experience.

The speakers support the iPhone in portrait or landscape positions. The sound is superb, and a USB charger makes it easy to power the Livespeakr's battery from a wall socket or from my computer. Te box and presentation are elegant.

I've been looking for speakers for my iPhone for a long time. Thanks, John!