Jef Raskin passed away this weekend. He was the person who initially started the Macintosh project at Apple - though the project was ultimately wrestled away from him by Steve Jobs, the initial vision behind it was Jef's. His other major computing achievement was the Canon Cat - a late '80s text-based computer that was pretty faithful to Raskin's ideas.
The irony in this is that Raskin was very bitter about how his role in the Macintosh was glossed over and how Jobs pushed him aside, and he had very poor things to say about it over the years. And it turns out that Raskin died of pancreatic cancer - which is what Jobs had last year as well. Except Jobs had the more easily cured variety, and Raskin did not. It kind of sums up the whole way history has treated the two of them.
Monday, February 28, 2005
That bumping sound you hear
That's the sound of dinosaurs mating. Or, specifically, Federated Department Stores and May Department Stores. Two dinosaurs, coming together in hopes of staving off extinction just a little bit longer.
I'm old enough to remember a day when the department store was still the "all that and a bag of chips" of retailing. Malls are still designed with them as anchor tenants. Department stores set the fashion trends and were destinations for your shopping day.
A few factors combined to effectively kill them off, though. First was the rise of the national-scale mass merchandiser. Regional mass merchandisers like Ames and Caldor have been around since the middle of the last century, but Walmart (and, to a lesser extent, Target) have become so big and powerful as to have diverted customers away. They killed the regionals, and then started overlapping the department stores, as well. Then, discount clothing stores like Kohl's and TJ Maxx picked off some of the high fashion market.
The other big nail has been the specialty retailer, especially in high-margin clothing. Specialty stores are typically laser-pointed at a particular demographic, and squeeze the life out of it. The Gap, Chico's, Abercrombie & Fitch, and more are all eating valuable customers that otherwise would be the property of department stores.
Faced with this, the department stores have been merging left and right and discounting aggressively. But their costs and real estate are generally a lot more than the box stores, which has clobbered the industry. The handwriting's been on the wall for a while.
I don't think this will affect my wife too much (she works in the cosmetic biz, handling accounts for both chains), but it will be interesting. Here in New England, Filene's is traditionally a much stronger brand name than Macy's - Macy's was the successor to the old Jordan Marsh chain (always the poor sister to Filene's). In our local mall, three of the four department store anchors are owned by either May or Federated (Filene's, Macy's, Lord & Taylor - only JC Penney is separate here), and most of the other area malls have them in competition. I suspect that a lot of Boston-area malls will have one or the other divested to a competitor.
I'm old enough to remember a day when the department store was still the "all that and a bag of chips" of retailing. Malls are still designed with them as anchor tenants. Department stores set the fashion trends and were destinations for your shopping day.
A few factors combined to effectively kill them off, though. First was the rise of the national-scale mass merchandiser. Regional mass merchandisers like Ames and Caldor have been around since the middle of the last century, but Walmart (and, to a lesser extent, Target) have become so big and powerful as to have diverted customers away. They killed the regionals, and then started overlapping the department stores, as well. Then, discount clothing stores like Kohl's and TJ Maxx picked off some of the high fashion market.
The other big nail has been the specialty retailer, especially in high-margin clothing. Specialty stores are typically laser-pointed at a particular demographic, and squeeze the life out of it. The Gap, Chico's, Abercrombie & Fitch, and more are all eating valuable customers that otherwise would be the property of department stores.
Faced with this, the department stores have been merging left and right and discounting aggressively. But their costs and real estate are generally a lot more than the box stores, which has clobbered the industry. The handwriting's been on the wall for a while.
I don't think this will affect my wife too much (she works in the cosmetic biz, handling accounts for both chains), but it will be interesting. Here in New England, Filene's is traditionally a much stronger brand name than Macy's - Macy's was the successor to the old Jordan Marsh chain (always the poor sister to Filene's). In our local mall, three of the four department store anchors are owned by either May or Federated (Filene's, Macy's, Lord & Taylor - only JC Penney is separate here), and most of the other area malls have them in competition. I suspect that a lot of Boston-area malls will have one or the other divested to a competitor.
Sunday, February 27, 2005
Whooooo!
In today's adventure, we went to a WWE house show over at the new Agganis Arena in Boston (on the BU campus). It was at 2 PM, which proved to be a little iffy - David slept for the whole ride in, but not enough. So he was kinda moody for a while. Overall, the outing went pretty well, though. As for the results, see below...
Shelton Benjamin def. Christian to retain the Intercontinental Title
Chris Masters def. Val Venis (Masters has combined the look and skill of Lex Luger with the moves of Ivan Putski - not a good combo)
Superstar Billy Graham punked out the Coach in an amusing skit
William Regal and Tajiri def. La Resistance to retain the Tag Team Championship
Rhyno def. Tyson Tomko (aka. Goat Boy) with the "Gore! Gore! Gore!"
Trish Stratus def. Molly Holly & Victoria in a triple threat match to retain the Women's Championship
Then, while David and I were getting popcorn (which improved his mood immeasurably), Kane def. Gene Snitsky (hardcore rules)
Chris Benoit (who remains way over) def. Mohammad Hassan by DQ. After the match, Hassan's manager Shawn Daivari got a Crippler Crossface that popped the crowd big-time
Shawn Michaels def. Edge - very good match
And in the main event, Batista and Randy Orton def. Triple H and Ric Flair in a cage match.
The notes from the show:
- First off, I liked the house show. Other than the time setting up the cage before the main event, there were basically no breaks in the action. I've only been to TV events before, where they stop for commercials and stuff. The action was nice. And 9 matches plus the Graham segment in about 2 and a half hours is nice.
- Ric Flair is still arguably the most over wrestler on the planet, and he's in his late 50s. The cage match was worked to get Flair and Orton out of the action relatively fast (Flair even bladed, which surprised me), so it could focus on the Aich-Batista showdown (previewing Wrestlemania's main event).
- The Michaels-Edge match was well-planned out, with a nice finish.
- Hassan has "it". Terrific on the mic, good psychology, and he works much better in the ring than you'd expect from a rookie. He's got the potential to be the next big breakout heel star.
- Chris Masters sucks. Really. Val did his best to make him look good, but to little avail. It's too bad Val hasn't gotten more chances to get a face push - the crowd loves him.
- Shelton Benjamin is one amazing athlete (he should be, he was a legit track star and All-American wrestler in college). And Christian can have a first-rate match with anybody. They work well together.
As far as David went, he was difficult at first and moody, eating very little at Qdoba beforehand (we arrived and parked right in time for lunch at about 1:20 or so). The first few matches he watched intently, before deciding that he was hungry, he wanted Brown Bear (who we'd left back in the car), and he "didn't like the wrestling show". Then, after getting some more milk and some popcorn he had a lot more fun. Jane took him up to the concourse as the final match was winding down, and he was telling us how much fun he'd had on the way home. We had some nice folks sitting behind us, one of whom was a local indy wrestler whose name escaped me (but I'd heard it before). Nice guy, and David took a picture with him.
There were other toddlers there - more than I expected. David was about as young as they got, though, not many were younger than him.
Agganis Arena is gorgeous. Good job, BU.
Shelton Benjamin def. Christian to retain the Intercontinental Title
Chris Masters def. Val Venis (Masters has combined the look and skill of Lex Luger with the moves of Ivan Putski - not a good combo)
Superstar Billy Graham punked out the Coach in an amusing skit
William Regal and Tajiri def. La Resistance to retain the Tag Team Championship
Rhyno def. Tyson Tomko (aka. Goat Boy) with the "Gore! Gore! Gore!"
Trish Stratus def. Molly Holly & Victoria in a triple threat match to retain the Women's Championship
Then, while David and I were getting popcorn (which improved his mood immeasurably), Kane def. Gene Snitsky (hardcore rules)
Chris Benoit (who remains way over) def. Mohammad Hassan by DQ. After the match, Hassan's manager Shawn Daivari got a Crippler Crossface that popped the crowd big-time
Shawn Michaels def. Edge - very good match
And in the main event, Batista and Randy Orton def. Triple H and Ric Flair in a cage match.
The notes from the show:
- First off, I liked the house show. Other than the time setting up the cage before the main event, there were basically no breaks in the action. I've only been to TV events before, where they stop for commercials and stuff. The action was nice. And 9 matches plus the Graham segment in about 2 and a half hours is nice.
- Ric Flair is still arguably the most over wrestler on the planet, and he's in his late 50s. The cage match was worked to get Flair and Orton out of the action relatively fast (Flair even bladed, which surprised me), so it could focus on the Aich-Batista showdown (previewing Wrestlemania's main event).
- The Michaels-Edge match was well-planned out, with a nice finish.
- Hassan has "it". Terrific on the mic, good psychology, and he works much better in the ring than you'd expect from a rookie. He's got the potential to be the next big breakout heel star.
- Chris Masters sucks. Really. Val did his best to make him look good, but to little avail. It's too bad Val hasn't gotten more chances to get a face push - the crowd loves him.
- Shelton Benjamin is one amazing athlete (he should be, he was a legit track star and All-American wrestler in college). And Christian can have a first-rate match with anybody. They work well together.
As far as David went, he was difficult at first and moody, eating very little at Qdoba beforehand (we arrived and parked right in time for lunch at about 1:20 or so). The first few matches he watched intently, before deciding that he was hungry, he wanted Brown Bear (who we'd left back in the car), and he "didn't like the wrestling show". Then, after getting some more milk and some popcorn he had a lot more fun. Jane took him up to the concourse as the final match was winding down, and he was telling us how much fun he'd had on the way home. We had some nice folks sitting behind us, one of whom was a local indy wrestler whose name escaped me (but I'd heard it before). Nice guy, and David took a picture with him.
There were other toddlers there - more than I expected. David was about as young as they got, though, not many were younger than him.
Agganis Arena is gorgeous. Good job, BU.
Friday, February 25, 2005
On top of everything else
OMG! The Oscars are this weekend! And I couldn't care less!
I will, however, look to see what the wackiest Oscar outfits are on Yahoo's "Most Popular" photos listing Monday morning.
Last night was a truly entertaining time. We were heading to sleep around midnight, and suddenly David woke up in his bed. I heard him, and went in. He was sitting up in bed, with a bewildered expression on his face, and he told me he didn't want to go to school now - he wanted to stay home and go to sleep instead. I told him that it was OK, he could stay in bed because it wasn't morning yet. So He said "Okay", and immediately passed out again.
It must have been caused by all the beans he ate last night, or something.
I will, however, look to see what the wackiest Oscar outfits are on Yahoo's "Most Popular" photos listing Monday morning.
Last night was a truly entertaining time. We were heading to sleep around midnight, and suddenly David woke up in his bed. I heard him, and went in. He was sitting up in bed, with a bewildered expression on his face, and he told me he didn't want to go to school now - he wanted to stay home and go to sleep instead. I told him that it was OK, he could stay in bed because it wasn't morning yet. So He said "Okay", and immediately passed out again.
It must have been caused by all the beans he ate last night, or something.
Thursday, February 24, 2005
Birthday Props
A shoutout goes out today to the Lukester, Woodge's little guy. He turns 3 today. Also, a holla for Steve Jobs - he's 50 today.
And our little David is now 2 years and 9 months old as well. What's the significance of that, you ask? Well, he will "graduate" from daycare next week, and begin the transition to preschool on Tuesday. They plan on a 2-week transition, where he spends some time in each room. The new preschool room is almost immediately adjacent to his current toddler room.
Oh, and one other thing. Microsoft sent me two leis and a pineapple today. W00t!
And our little David is now 2 years and 9 months old as well. What's the significance of that, you ask? Well, he will "graduate" from daycare next week, and begin the transition to preschool on Tuesday. They plan on a 2-week transition, where he spends some time in each room. The new preschool room is almost immediately adjacent to his current toddler room.
Oh, and one other thing. Microsoft sent me two leis and a pineapple today. W00t!
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Yay- new toys!
Apple introduced new iPod models this morning, as expected by the entire universe (as far as I can tell). This is their effort to completely suck all the life out of what little remains of the non-Apple music player market. And they just may pull it off.
First of all, the iPod Mini now has two versions. The old 4GB one is now $199 (a $50 price cut). There's a new, 6GB Mini at the old $249 price. They dropped the gold color, but kept the other four. Also, the Mini now ships with just USB 2.0 cabling as a default - it still works with Firewire but the cable now is extra. And the battery life has been boosted way up - Apple is now claiming 18 hours of playing time. Sweet.
Then, the old 40GB iPod is dropped, and replaced with 30 and 60GB versions of the iPod Photo. Lower prices ($349 and $449), the same USB 2.0 default, and a new Camera Connector for $30 that lets you plug your digital camera directly into the iPod for downloading. 20GB and U2 iPods are still around, with no price change.
With these, Apple is now hitting every price point from $99 to $449 - the Shuffle at the two lowest increments, the Mini at the next two, the classic 20GB iPod at the $299 price, and the Photo models up to $449. Which neatly cuts off the air supply of pretty much all the competition.
It's a nice change to see Apple doing it to someone for a change instead of someone doing it to Apple.
First of all, the iPod Mini now has two versions. The old 4GB one is now $199 (a $50 price cut). There's a new, 6GB Mini at the old $249 price. They dropped the gold color, but kept the other four. Also, the Mini now ships with just USB 2.0 cabling as a default - it still works with Firewire but the cable now is extra. And the battery life has been boosted way up - Apple is now claiming 18 hours of playing time. Sweet.
Then, the old 40GB iPod is dropped, and replaced with 30 and 60GB versions of the iPod Photo. Lower prices ($349 and $449), the same USB 2.0 default, and a new Camera Connector for $30 that lets you plug your digital camera directly into the iPod for downloading. 20GB and U2 iPods are still around, with no price change.
With these, Apple is now hitting every price point from $99 to $449 - the Shuffle at the two lowest increments, the Mini at the next two, the classic 20GB iPod at the $299 price, and the Photo models up to $449. Which neatly cuts off the air supply of pretty much all the competition.
It's a nice change to see Apple doing it to someone for a change instead of someone doing it to Apple.
Monday, February 21, 2005
RIP, HST
Hopefully the "why" will come out in a story, note, or post-dated column he wrote. I always figured that if he shot himself, it would be in a drunken game of Russian Roulette, not deliberately.
Popup revenge
In the last week or so, the scourge of pop-up and pop-under ads have returned to portions of the web. Essentially, some folks have figured out tricks to defeat the pop-up blockers that are nowadays de riguer in any serious browser (even Windows IE, since XP SP2). I can't help you on the IE side, but I can give you tips that will help if you're a Safari (Mac) or Firefox (any platform) user:
Safari: Download and install PithHelmet, a wonderful plug-in for Safari that patches WebCore to give Safari all sorts of neat ad blocking capabilities.
Firefox: From the Firefox "Tools" menu, select Extensions, then in the window that comes up click on "Get More Extensions". Once you're at the Mozilla Foundation's official site (where that menu selection takes you), you'll find Adblock under "Most Popular" - that one's a must-have. There's also an extension called "FlashGot", which gives you control over the use of Flash on pages.
Between these tools, you should have little trouble sending these sleazy pop-under weasels back to the netherworld from whence they came. Enjoy!
Safari: Download and install PithHelmet, a wonderful plug-in for Safari that patches WebCore to give Safari all sorts of neat ad blocking capabilities.
Firefox: From the Firefox "Tools" menu, select Extensions, then in the window that comes up click on "Get More Extensions". Once you're at the Mozilla Foundation's official site (where that menu selection takes you), you'll find Adblock under "Most Popular" - that one's a must-have. There's also an extension called "FlashGot", which gives you control over the use of Flash on pages.
Between these tools, you should have little trouble sending these sleazy pop-under weasels back to the netherworld from whence they came. Enjoy!
Friday, February 18, 2005
Expose yourself to Art
You can go ahead and rush down to Manhattan to see "The Gates". I was raised there, and I've been to Central Park. I'll pass (though it's supposedly a lot nicer now than it was in the '70s). But I would like to go down to Somerville to see The Somerville Gates. It looks just as interesting, and it's a much shorter drive to Somerville from my house.
He got off easy
This assclown got off easy by only having his Expedition burned to a crisp.
I think anybody who tosses a lit cigarette out of the window of a car deserves the death penalty.
Use the ashtray next time, moron! I hope you were upside-down on the car loan, too.
I think anybody who tosses a lit cigarette out of the window of a car deserves the death penalty.
Use the ashtray next time, moron! I hope you were upside-down on the car loan, too.
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