Stolen Blogs

First, let me just say that the Air is an extremely impressive piece of technology. The miniaturization, the optimization of space, the blatant disregard for current standards — it’s everything a revolutionary machine should be. Except it isn’t one. It’s a flight of Apple vanity that is completely impractical for anyone who needs to do more than the most basic functions with their computer. Find out why inside.
Let’s start with the obvious: no optical drive. I don’t think I need to list the many things that are available in spinning disc format exclusively, and the idea that you should pack around an extra drive (however compact) or piggyback on someone else’s kind of defeats the purpose of having an “ultraportable” notebook. I don’t use my drive that much, but in fact it’s indispensable even when I have enough USB drives to fill all my pockets.

Next, the processor. It’s fantastic that they’ve managed to micro-size the Core2 Duo, but for any kind of serious work — video and audio editing, watching HD video, playing games or emulating Vista for work — even my MacBook Pro is barely pulling it, and it’s got the Air under its thumb processor-wise. Not to mention that RAM is totally un-expandable; serious Photoshoppers will spend a lot of time waiting while they use that nifty multi-touch to zoom into their 400MB uncompressed PSDs.

And the inputs. One USB, one Franken-DVI. Hope you like plugging and unplugging things! It says it’s built for the wireless world - yeah, okay, but that world is make-believe right now. Sure, you could bring a hub along, but this goes along with the earlier complaint: what’s the point of a mega-portable laptop if you have to bring along a whole support team? It’s like a ditzy model-actress’s entourage: you just want to take the girl out, but she has to have her make-up guy, her photographer, her PA, and she’s totally incapable of doing anything on her own.

And lastly, let’s be honest: did we really need things to get that much thinner? My MBP is a great size, not too heavy, and it’s thin enough that there’s quite a lot of leftover room in the laptop compartment of my bag. The Air is whisper-thin but it does still weigh three pounds and its not like you can fold it up and put it in your pocket. What is losing that last half an inch doing aside from attracting stares?

There’s no doubt in my mind that a lot of people will buy this laptop, but its capabilities are really more in line with the Eee PC than a MacBook, and the Eee costs thousands less and actually is ultraportable. The price point is so far removed from this machine’s potential that it makes the iPhone look like a bargain. I’m glad Apple is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with current PC tech, but right now this computer looks like a bit of a lemon. A sexy lemon, though.

Edit: Apparently I’ve stirred up the hive, so I guess I need to address this one point more clearly. (I already did in a comment but who reads ‘em?)

The MacBook Air is not a subnotebook. The Eee and Everex, and Redfly are subnotebooks. They are tiny, basic, and are designed from the ground up to be micro-sized and limited. The Air is trying to be a regular notebook but failing - what Apple has done is take a regular notebook and flatten it (very well I might add), while simultaneously crippling it. Everything about it is a compromise except the width, and even the width doesn’t make it small; a real subnotebook is more than thin, it’s small in the other ways too. It may be thin, but with a 13.3-in. screen it’s not going in any cargo pockets. Look, it’s a sexy little thing but at that price it’s an atrocity and it is not a subnotebook or ultraportable. Sorry, but size, price, and hardware put it in budget laptop territory, and it’s simply not competitive there except in sex appeel. (Sexy lemon — get it)

The potential merger of Microsoft and Yahoo will put the two companies’ Web apps in internal conflict. In some cases, a Microsoft app might replace a Yahoo app. But in more cases, products from Yahoo, a company built for the online platform, will be the ones to survive. Here are likely outcomes from what would surely become a multiyear internal struggle.

Portals and start pages: Yahoo.com vs. MSN.com

Portal pages like My Yahoo and MSN.com, and their personal page counterparts My Yahoo and My MSN, act as big advertisements to whatever products and media the company wants to push on a given day. Yahoo and MSN will likely keep their distinct brands for a good long time while the underlying platforms and user bases are merged. On the surface, the products themselves are more alike than different. But online content and indexing is Yahoo’s main business; it will pick up this battle. Winner: Yahoo.

Search: Search.yahoo.com vs. Live.com

Yahoo, founded on Internet search, has three times the search market share of Microsoft. Microsoft will kill its good-money-after-bad Web search project and move its users over to Yahoo. Winner: Yahoo.

Email: Yahoo Mail vs. Hotmail

I give the nod to the killer development team over at Yahoo, which came over in the OddPost acquisition. While most of those people are now on other Yahoo projects, the OddPost platform is slick and innovative. Microsoft could slowly move its users over. Winner: Yahoo.

Mapping: Yahoo Local Maps vs. Live Search Maps

Microsoft has the pretty bird’s eye view and a 3D map viewer plug-in (which is cool but slow on many machines). But Yahoo has a better fundamental mapping product that allows click-and-drag rerouting. Google Maps is still more useful than both. Winner: a merger, hopefully, of Microsoft’s features with Yahoo’s nicer UI.

Photo sharing. Flickr vs. Live Spaces

Even though I think Flickr is too weird for the real world and that Yahoo should not have killed its straightforward and smooth Yahoo Photos, Microsoft buries its photo site in its blogging platform, Live Spaces. It’s a nice tool but the content and the users have hewn to Flickr, due to its community-forward features like group tags and its open API. Winner: Yahoo.

Bookmarking: Delicious vs. Listas

Ever heard of Listas? Exactly. Winner: Yahoo. (Actually, Microsoft has money in Digg, but it doesn’t own it.)

Video sharing: Yahoo Video vs. MSN Video

Both companies have capable video posting and sharing services, but neither has the rabid community of YouTube. Winner: Neither.

Social Networking. Mash vs. Wallop? Really?

Please. These sites are experiments. Wallop isn’t even inside the Microsoft walls; it’s a spin-out. The time for this kind of messing around is over. The merged company should buy Facebook during the inevitable upcoming valuation backlash. Winner: Neither.

Blogging: Yahoo 360 vs. Microsoft Live Spaces

Both are decent platforms. But neither have the flexibility of WordPress or TypePad or Blogger blogs, nor the clarity of focus of a personal blog site like Vox. Winner: Neither.

Instant messaging: Yahoo Instant Messenger vs. MSN Instant Messenger

These two IM networks already allow users to communicate across them, which speaks well of both companies. A merger of user accounts is the next step. Yahoo has a more flexible collection of interfaces to its platform, thanks to its integration into Yahoo Mail. Both Yahoo and Microsoft have Web clients. Winner: Yahoo.

Mobile: Go vs. Windows Mobile

Yahoo has the superior mobile portal, Go 3.0. However, Microsoft has its own mobile operating system. I smell synergy. Winner: Both.

Mashup tools: Pipes vs. PopFly

These are both really clever products, but with limited audiences. My anecdotal observation says that more people are using Pipes to build experimental Web apps. Winner, Yahoo, not that it matters all that much.

User authentication: OpenID vs. Live ID

Microsoft was ahead of Yahoo in trying to create a universal Web log-in scheme, called Passport. The updated version is called Live ID, but no major non-Microsoft products use it. Yahoo recently pledged support for the OpenID standard, which is gradually becoming a standard for Web 2.0 authentication. Winner: Yahoo.

Productivity: Nothing vs. Office Live Workspace

Neither company has a credible all-online productivity strategy. Yahoo is not in the space, and Microsoft is still pursuing hybrid apps: It’s Office Live Workspace service uses the Web for access to documents that are edited in Microsoft Office. Microsoft will begin to release crippled online versions of its productivity apps eventually, and must follow with an online version of Office before Google takes over in this market. Winner: Microsoft.

Ad networks: Right Media vs. aQuantive

These two ad networks, combined, are a more credible threat to Google than they are separately. However, Google’s lobbyists will ensure there’s argument that the combined network is just too big. Winner: the DOJ. Upshot: Microsoft is buying its way in to the Web 2.0 and Yahoo’s online products are, for the most part, the ones that will survive. However, there are still holes in the combined company’s Web 2.0 product set.

I realize that I have left out several categories. I will try to add them in later.

This is part four of a multi-part series on taking action in the month of May.Click here to read Part 1.

Click here to read Part 2.

Click here to read Part 3.

Maybe you’re accusing me of pushing you too hard with this Take Action Challenge thing. Maybe you’re resentful that I want you to start moving towards your dreams and your goals. Maybe you’re thinking, “Well, hmm, how can I guarantee that I will accomplish nothing by the end of the year?”

If you are one of these people, then this post is for you. I have compiled a list of tried-and-true methods that millions and millions of people use every day to stall out, get stuck, and keep proving to themselves that taking action just doesn’t work for them.

There are many ways to get nothing done. But since I’ve been accused of writing posts that are too long, I’ve narrowed this down to five items. Five proven techniques that keep us stuck and stalled.

Here’s how to get nothing done…

1 - Ask for permission.

Here’s a great way to get really stuck. Ask around a lot. Ask friends. Especially ask your co-workers. What do you think about my dream of being a poet? What do you think of me learning to invest my own money in the stock market? How would you react if I told you I wanted to start a business? How about an adventure? Should I try that?

The reason you want to do this is because most people don’t take chances. And most of them don’t want you to take a chance because then it will make them have to re-think their life choices. And man, that’d be a drag. If someone were to succeed when they tried something different, then that would mean that all these old beliefs and superhighways of negativity that people have constructed in their brains might not be the truth.

Well? Guess what? They’re not. Secretly everyone knows this, but the big conspiracy is to act like they don’t. So, ask for permission to try something different. Ask for permission to take action towards creating a life you love. Be careful though — there might be a few folks in your life that’ll give it to you! (Hint: These are the ones who laugh a lot.)

2 - If you scheduled a take-action task, ask yourself how you “feel” about doing it.

Try this: Schedule a visit to the gym before your work day begins. Set your alarm for 5am. When the alarm goes off, ask yourself the following: “Do I feel like getting out of my flannel sheets? Do I feel like traipsing out to my car and driving in the dark to a room where I will - under the pasty green glow of florescent lights - pedal in place for 35 minutes as guys named Jimbo create tremors in the building when they throw down their thousand pound dumbbells with a loud “Huuuuuuuuuuhrrrrhhh!”? Do I feel like hearing Gwen Stefani sing about bananas in the background of this scene?

What do you think your answer will be? Of course you won’t feel like it. You feel like flannel!

Here’s a secret: As long as you ask yourself if you feel like it, you won’t ever feel like it. So, keep asking yourself if you feel like it.

3 - Say “I think I’ll just check my email” before you begin.

Do I really need to say anything more about this one?

4 - Ask yourself this question often: “I wonder what people think of me.”

I find this technique to be the most successful way to stop me in my tracks. Especially when I’m about to sit down and write a song. It’s great to drum up some memories of bad reviews, or maybe even think about why a promoter decided not to book me. If I really work at it, I can think of a few people in town who don’t like me at all. I can hear them telling each other about how bad my songs are and how I probably won’t write another song. Sometimes, if I can’t think of these people, I can go back to high school in my imagination!

Before you get too deep into beginning any project, take a few moments to conjure up anyone you can think of that has ever had an opinion about you. Let them tell you whether or not you should begin now.

5 - Decide that it’s selfish to be the hero of your own life.

Oooooo. I’ve saved the best for last. Especially for us women. When all else fails, we love to pull out the selfish card. The selfish card is just one step above the B-word. Add on a simple, “Who do you think you are?” and you’ve got a surefire recipe for stopping in your tracks.

When I was first out of college, I kept telling people that I couldn’t believe that anyone could settle for a nine-to-five job and that there had to be a better way to live our lives. One person told me that I was being selfish, and that I didn’t get to just be happy all the time and to get over it. I found this to be quite effective in shutting me up for quite some time. You may find it works for you. Tell yourself that if you’re craving deep happiness, or inner peace, or outrageous joy - that you must be selfish.

But be warned: in order to maintain this attitude, you’ll want to avoid reading this amazing book, or seeing this amazing movie, or reading this amazing book, or this amazing book. You’ll also want to resign yourself now to the idea that life is meant to be a sacrifice with no daring adventures. Then, practice frowning into the mirror. A lot!

So there you have them. Go forth and, well…just stand there.

I thot of a site where I could collect the most spectacular blog posts I have seen around the Web. It materialized into http://www.stolenblogs.com.

The first post there will be this. Stolen.