It's a Lovely Day to Sit Under the Apple Tree

Click to see something Resolutionary!

Nothing like gettting out from under a rock.  And what a day;  it's sunny and warm!  Go sit under an Apple tree.

The new iPad has been announced by Apple, along with pricing.  When the Apple store reopens shortly, the new iPad, 3rd generation, will be available for pre-ordering.  It will be available March 16th.

Pricing will stay the same as the previous generation.  The iPad 2 will remain available from Apple, at $100 off at each price point.

New & improved - the new iPad features:

• 4G/LTE from Verizon, Rogers, Bell, Telus, and AT&T
• Retina display at 2,048 x 1,536
• iOS 5.1 (available for compatible devices, as well)
• iSight 5MP camera with advanced optics
• a faster quad-core processor
• voice dictation (Siri Lite?)
• 10 hours battery life, 9 on 4G
• iPad can serve as a hotspot for up to five other wireless devices

Pricing: 

• Wi-Fi only
  $499 16GB
  $599 32GB
  $599 64GB

• Wi-Fi + 4G
  $629 16GB
  $729 32GB
  $829 64GB

If you've seen an iPad 2, you will notice the sharper display of the new iPad.  Looks fast, too.  Pretty neat stuff. 

But Hey!  I'm still a PC.

Flashy, Creative, Visceral, Unique and ...

AdWeek gives us their best of 2011 commercials (click on pic to go to AdWeek's posting, with the top 10 as video clips). 

Some - most - I'd never seen. So I don't watch alot of TV; I still found all of them - even the gruesome video game spot - stunning. If you have time, enjoy. But be warned - the spot for Dead Island is not for the faint of heart.

The winner - by popular demand, certainly by Web views - of which I cannot disagree, I enjoyed the first time as well as every time I saw it.  Volkswagen's The Force.

The Ads are Gone from Facebook and Gmail

I hear Jimmy Fallon saying, "Thank you, AdBlock Plus, for removing those annoying, unnerving ads that read my emails before I do."  So have you ever noticed the advertising in Gmail or Facebook that "know" the keywords in the message?

Firefox was the first browser that had an extension (think, "App") that would prevent virtually all advertising as you surf the Web.  Chrome has had it since 2010 and similar AdBlock add-ons for Internet Explorer & Safari are available. 

I highly recommend adding AdBlock Plus to your browser.

Android's Opposable Thumbs

Pardon me in advance if I don't explain all the cultural references.  That's what Google is for, right?  

 Google's Android is the heart & soul of the iPhone's competition.  Android, I will explain, is the operating system behind all of the Droid-based smartphones that attempt to do or better what Apple provides with its industry-leading and iconic touch phone.  And Google has given us the Android character (available for sale, too).

I happened to watch five minutes of the Sony Ericsson Open match between Nadal and Djokovic, when I saw the Android is Ready to Play ad:  youtube Android commercial

The basic premise - having opposable thumbs provides superior facility - is clever, smug, even funny.  It's a great metaphor to imply that Android has evolved to the next level.

However, Sony's ad is darkly funny - to the point where it will probably be pulled.  The implicit theme, that someone lost their thumbs for Android's gain, is made explicit with a follow-up ad, The Donor:  youtube Android commercial The Donor

It reminded me of a Nike ad for its new soccer ball (of which I cannot find a picture - yet).  Imagine, a soccer goal - post, net, green grass and white lines - punctuated with two arms firmly grasping a Nike ball, but sitting inside the goal.  Add that the arms have been dismembered from the owner, as the ball could be hit hard enough to rip the arms off the goalie.

Incredibly creative, artistically executed, devastatingly & daringly funny, and ... not really fit for public, G-rated consumption. 

Anyhow, Android may be a bigger monster with its thumbs.  Did I mention the operating system behind virtually every iPad competitor is Android?  See a threat to any other operating systems?  If only there were apps to replace Microsoft Office....