$ Apple is Now Debt Free $

[Q Classic]

man, and i thought trying to argue sense into agathon and asher was bad...

who is this hagbart fellow, anyway?

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Hagbart
Sorry I have to say this, Asher, but you are not a very nice person.



Hope I'm not violating Apolyton code of politeness.

No, you are just pointing out the obvious. It doesn't matter if it's gay marriage, computers or whatever; he'll always be the first to stoop to childish insults.

Not that there's anything wrong with childish insults, if delivered with style and irony; but genuine, unreflective malice is the mark of a sociopath.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Hagbart
The Creative Jukebox was released in late 2000.
The original iPod was released in dec. 2001.

That's ca. 1 year.
1 year does not equal 3 years. Learn maths.

Sorry, was getting the Nomad II and Jukebox dates mixed up.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Agathon
No, you are just pointing out the obvious. It doesn't matter if it's gay marriage, computers or whatever; he'll always be the first to stoop to childish insults.

Not that there's anything wrong with childish insults, if delivered with style and irony; but genuine, unreflective malice is the mark of a sociopath.

Where's the childish insults?

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Q Cubed
man, and i thought trying to argue sense into agathon and asher was bad...

who is this hagbart fellow, anyway?

You can't argue sense into me!!!!!

[Q Classic]

you can say that again. where the hell did hasselhoff come from?

[Agathon]

As JohnT said, until DH gets his due for ending communism, the avatar shall remain.

[Hagbart]

Another innovation from Apple: The Newton, the first pda.

Sadly it was a decade ahead of it's time, so it didn't survive.

Quote: "Apple pioneered the very first PDA in 1993. However, the debut was a flop. But, instead of abandoning the market, Apple worked to improve on the original Newton. It has consistently stayed a leader in the PDA revolution by offering and innovative features over the past three years. "

http://is.gseis.ucla.edu/impact/f96/Projects/vchen/newton.htm

Deal with it.

[Nostromo]

A little something on the history of GUI's:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_GUI

[Q Classic]

hagbart, i never said that apple didn't innovate. i said that a lot of what you consider apple's "innovations" are anything but.

deal with it.

[Q Classic]

hasselhoff's only good series?

Knight Rider.

[Hagbart]

Originally posted by Q Cubed
hagbart, i never said that apple didn't innovate. i said that a lot of what you consider apple's "innovations" are anything but.

deal with it.

Well Asher did.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Hagbart
Well Asher did.

I never said they didn't innovate, I said MS innovates more.

Deal with it.

By the way, the Newton was the first PDA with the acronym "PDA", but not the first PDA.

Things like this predate the Newton (this one from Sharp):

[Asher]

A lot of planning went into the Pepsi-iTunes deal, didn't it.

http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5162098.html?tag=nefd_lede

ow-tech 'hack' takes fizz out of Pepsi-iTunes promo
Last modified: February 19, 2004, 1:58 PM PST
By Jim Hu
Staff Writer, CNET News.com

It doesn't take a code breaker or a math whiz to lift songs from Apple Computer's iTunes online music store--it just takes a good pair of eyes and a trip to the corner store.

iTunes fans have "hacked" a high-profile Pepsi promotion aimed at giving away 100 million songs through special codes marked on the underside of bottle caps. The codes can be entered on the iTunes site to download a single for free. One in three bottles is a winner, but it turns out that the markings can be read without removing the cap.

CNET News.com confirmed that it is not only possible to pick out winning bottles in advance; careful scrutiny can reveal the full 10-digit redemption code, meaning no purchase is required to get a free iTunes single courtesy of Pepsi.

"I've always been looking under caps whenever they had a giveaway," said Jon Gales, Webmaster for MacMerc.com, an online community for Macintosh users and developers, which published a detailed description of the code-grabbing technique on Wednesday. "I thought it was human nature. People have been doing it for years."

The bottle cap loophole could disrupt Pepsi's ambitious marketing campaign, which kicked off with splashy TV spots that aired during the Super Bowl and also took a shot at file-swappers. The giveaway comes amid growing interest in music as a promotional tool for soft drinks and other products. Pepsi's archrival, Coke, has also jumped into digital music, launching a digital download store in Europe.

Pepsi said that as a precaution against prying eyes and other shenanigans, the company restricted the number of codes a given customer could redeem in a day.

"We always put redemption limits in place on promotions like this," said Dave DeCecco, a Pepsi spokesman, "but we found that most consumers played by the rules."

Apple declined to comment.

Technology buffs were buzzing over the Pepsi "hack" this week. Gales' site crashed Wednesday after it was featured on Slashdot, a popular Web site devoted to open-source programming. The "hack" was also spoofed in a fake security posting to the influential Bugtraq security mailing list.

"This attack is not new," the posting noted. "Prior soft drink distribution versions have been vulnerable to this attack in the past. Known vulnerable versions have included the Mountain Dew "Free Soda" giveaways."

Apple typically sells singles for 99 cents and albums at rates comparable to those found at brick-and-mortar stores. Despite the popularity of iTunes, the business as a standalone doesn't make money. Apple's real purpose for selling music is to drive sales of its popular iPod digital music player, which does make money. For this reason, Apple took the unprecedented step of launching a Windows version of the iTunes store after years of developing software solely for its own operating system.

The iTunes music store only lets people transfer songs onto their iPod. No other hardware device is supported by iTunes.

Apple is not the only company that has expressed interest in the music download business. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has also publicly mulled opening a music store using the software giant's Windows Media Player software. Gates admitted that the venture would not be a significant revenue driver, but a way to keep people loyal to Microsoft's software.

Web giant Yahoo has also begun exploring ways to step into the business. The company recently acquired a start-up called Mediacode to develop a Yahoo music player and download store, sources said. At the same time, Yahoo has been approached by companies such as Roxio's Napster, BuyMusic.com and MusicMatch to partner with, or acquire, them.

RealNetworks, Microsoft's main competitor in digital media software, has pinned its future on selling music subscriptions and downloads through its Rhapsody subsidiary.

All of these companies argue they cannot overlook the growing number of consumers buying music off the Internet, even if it means losing money for a while. In the meantime, they hope to make up the loss through sales of other products, such as concert tickets and soft drinks, and the partnership deals such sales suggest.

Macmerc Webmaster Gales said he discovered the exploit shortly after seeing the bottles in stores. But he said he paid for the bottles after selecting winners.

"The store's happy because they're still making a sale, and Pepsi is happy too," Gales said. "The difference between this game and other games is you don't have to save caps, send them away and wait 8 weeks to get a T-shirt. The instant gratification made it more fun to get a winner."

[Hagbart]

It's not Apple's fault that Pepsi can't make good enough bottles.