Not to be a nitpicking pain in the ass (OH, wait, this IS Slashdot...), but Hank is a Mac user. He was even in one of the "What do you have on your Powerbook" print ads opposite some record company assclown. Of course, as the hardest working man in show business, if Henry wanted to run Dell, who's going to stop him? DRINKIN' BLACK COFFEE! BLACK COFFEE! DRINKIN' BLACK COFFEE! STARING AT THE WALL!
To be honest, Missing Sync and some other free apps (whose names escape me) work better for me than any of Palm's software. It syncs with the components already built in to my OS, most importantly my Address Book. Palm's software was unreliable, slow, and (c'mon, I'm a Mac guy) Ugly. This is hardly upsetting news. Not to mention, if the rumor mills are correct, Apple has another PDA in the works. So, again, I say "Big Deal".
Hell Yes. Thank You. The entire notion of what's acceptable as "professional" has gone too far. Hell, if it wouldn't earn me a trip to Guantanimo for bio-terror, my reply would have been to shit in an envelope and send it right back. Then again, I'm kind of a pain in the ass.
It seems simple to me. If you like ITMS and iTunes or the iPod, Apple and HP will have those available to you. If you don't like them... Don't buy them. Vote with your dollars. Microsoft is mad because Apple finally figured out how to let everyone know they beat Microsoft to the punch. Whether you like Apple or not, it's about freakin' time they started getting some press with the products they release. I happen to like the service and the gear, so I can only try to reassure you that it's worth the money, and I have yet to have their DRM get in the way of anything I want to do. It sounds to me like Microsoft is feeling the burn from people exploring choices other than them. In that statement, I mean to include not only Apple products, but also OSS. I thought they were all about innovation driving market share?
Absolutely. It's refreshing to hear that somebody out there can try to find compromise and not just run straight to the "left" or "right" out of habit. There are obviously many factors to consider in this discussion, and there is one that hasn't been brought up here yet. In western NY, yes there is something west of White Plains, there is a large push to install these windmills. As I understand it, the company that builds them is offering people (small) rental income for their land. In one of the most economically depressed areas in the state, people will certainly jump at the chance to make a few bucks off of land that they aren't "using", so it looks like they'll be built. What most of the people here do not understand is that the company has a habit of filing for bankruptcy protection to get out of those rental agreements and service contracts. They get a pile of cash up front, build them, and then split. To make it even more ridiculous, the town they're trying to build these in, Westfield, was one of the only places in this end of the state that didn't lose power during this summer's blackout.
In a nutshell...
1) Minimal impact on amount of power supplied to the grid.
2) Grinds up birds (Westfield is in the path of LOTS of migratory birds, and home to quite a few eagles.).
3) Construction company collects money, builds 'em and bails.
4) Property values decrease (Farms with less available farm land are not so valuable).
5) Taxpayers left paying for the project receive little or no real benefit from the project....
I would say, right there, we have enough reasons to stop building these things until we can figure out a way to remedy those five issues. Perhaps larger than any of those five issues is the likelihood that an area already taxed to death with no jobs and out of control social services is going to sidetrack other opportunities for progress to try this out. I'm pretty close to the person who is fighting this locally, so contact me if you'd like to do the same... I'm sure he would share his exhaustive research on the topic with you.
Aside from my comment about downloading porn in mom's basement, the rest of my original post was simply an observation based on actual experience in the industry that was being discussed in that thread. Since I would never purposely insult the slashdot community, please accept my humble apology for making a joke at the expense of basement-dwelling porn viewers... Since I'm apparently not privvy to the planned "revolution", I can only assume that you must have 133t 5k1llz or better kung fu, or some such thing. Keep me posted on the target date for my death... I'd still like a chance to go skydiving, learn how to use a real computer, and do a little traveling before I'm lined up against the wall. Seriously. From now on, my comments on slashdot will be limited to sidetracking threads by complaining about anyone who might have any insight into the topic. Viva La Revolution!
So, are you bitches modding me as a troll because I prefer macs, or because I have a job? Seriously. My having real world practical experience with equipment that's relevant to the parent post somehow seems troll-like to you? Whatever.
Dear fuckwit AC... Ad hominem... stupid generalizations... anecdotal evidence? How about personal experience in a real world setting? I'm not quoting marketing drone propaganda from the brochures, or laboratory benchmarks, or anti Mac FUD. I use these systems every day. For a living. How about "when you can't come up with an argument, contributing nothing to the discussion and posting as AC works just as well."? Blow me.
Most People? You must mean most people trading Paris Hilton WMVs... For those of us who do not live in our mom's basement, who actually make a living in the audio/video industry, Macs are still the dominant platform. Yes, I know PCs have been gaining ground, but they've hardly sent the Mac home with a pink slip. I work in 5 different OSs daily (2 Mac flavors, and 3 Windows flavors)... In the 8 years I've been doing this work for this company, the Macs have always been more reliable and offered more flexibility. Though they may not be as fast per se, the amount of time a stable system can save you over a cheap system adds up... and of course in this business, time is indeed roughly equal to money. We've had this argument a few hundred times in the last few years, so I will spare everyone the usual lengthy comment. Suffice to say that I work in that industry, use those machines, and you are mistaken. I'll grant you the games comment though... But I have to tell you, it's not exactly breaking my heart.
You have to remember, many "popular" bands were, at some point, an "indie" band. Nobody, except boy bands and the Brittany clones, is born into the charts. So, for every band on the charts, there are probably hundreds more that sound like them... They just didn't get the record deal. And, as far as who might own an iPod... Fuck you. Paying a premium price for well designed gear that does what it claims to do does not make one trendy. Punk rock since '84, ran a tiny label in the 90's, design work and promotion for bands to this day... Shove your "indier-than-thou" bullshit right up your ass. I've torched cars for less.
Amen. In the last three years, I've made recommendations to several different people. I figure, if they're going to be calling me in the middle of the night then they better have a system I can troubleshoot in my sleep. The ones who listened are quite happy with their Macs. The ones who didn't now swear that "next time" they are definitely getting a Mac. As for my ex-girlfriend... I built her a 300mhz Win98 machine (heh.). To be fair, she has learned quite a bit on her own... Owing mostly to the fact that I don't answer the phone when her numbers come up on the caller id (ooops.). My rule is simple. If I'm making a recommendation for somebody I care about, or actually giving them a computer... They're getting a Mac. I feel it's a better platform (No Flames, please.), and I can be their tech support rather than some guy with a three ring binder in Bangladesh. The people I have no particular interest in... "Dude, you're gettin' a Dell.". Those people get directed to the Bangladeshi Binder Guy.If you love someone, buy them a Mac. Hell, even though you don't know me, buy ME a Mac...
At least if we were reverting to the behavior of the 50's we would have some recourse... Just think, when we got sick of hearing what some nitwit like Bo Derek thought, all we would have to do is float a rumor that she's a communist. The creepy Un-American Activities Committee would shut her up for us. Stealing is wrong, blah blah blah... But seriously, I could go to PRISON for having a copy of some shitty movie? That's when it's time to get all Waco/Natural Born Killers on them... When it's gotten so bad that we will jail people to keep Hollywood dirtbags from losing a few bucks here and there, it's time for some real insanity. No longer content to passivly enjoy the chaos, I would feel obligated to accelerate it somehow until the machine breaks. I strongly urge anyone located near celebrities or politicians to throw bags of flaming dogshit at any of these whiny parasites they come across. Just my two cents. Hell, two cents is about all I'm left with after being taxed nearly to death so our "leaders" can spend more time debating things like "How do we punish the kids who didn't pay to see a prerelease version of Kangaroo Jack?". Between welfare and this nonsense, remind me again what it is I'm getting for my hard earned tax dollar... Ugh.
I work in video production for a large (we have our own Death Star) cable company. Advertising sales offset some of the costs, but for each cable network on the channel lineup, we have to pay a fee to that network to carry it. Consumers want more channels, we have to pay more fees. Many of the networks come to us as a package deal... For a "good" network that people actually want, we often have to carry a couple of crappy ones that nobody really cares about. I do know that our rate increases for customers have grown at a slower pace than the fees we have to pay out. We are expected to make up that difference by selling more advertising at higher rates. We also get to go through the joys of downsized staff, aging equipment, and lowered pay scales. The customer doesn't get gouged too badly, the execs at the top are making good money... It seems like every time we add new channels, it's us working stiffs that actually make the content that get shafted. I'm not suggesting that the product is worth every penny, but when people demand more networks, it costs money across the board. It doesn't help that we now are expected to carry more than 20 spanish-language networks... For every network, no matter how stupid you think it is, there is an army of viewers who can't live without it. It sucks, but I definitely understand why the cable operators are so protective of every inch of their territory. As for commercials... well, they pay for the shows you like to watch. Without them, you would be looking at much higher subscription rates. Don't forget to pass some of the blame to your favorite stars. Their high salary demands have to be met somehow... And, while we're at it, thank professional athletes and their outrageous salaries too.
Look, I realise that we all want a system that's fair to everyone (except maybe the RIAA), but this is just stupid. If you can get the song for 99 cents, just get the damned song for 99 cents. I know this is a big "free stuff" crowd, but I think this is just getting annoying. Mac users, pay your 99 cents. Windows users, now it's your turn to wait for a product to get ported to your platform... welcome to the party. *nix folks... well, I'm not sure what to tell you. Everyone likes to save a buck once in a while, but if you can't spring the 99 cents for that Alan Parsons Project song, maybe digital music isn't your biggest problem. And, what kind of ass bids more than 99 cents on a song that's available for 99 cents? I won't even get into what moron bid more than the cost of a CD. It's 2003 and I do not have my jetpack, hovercar, or vacation home on Mars... Is it perhaps because all the "smart" people are hiding out online bitching about cheap vs. free music? I don't care anymore. Put whatever price you want to on it. If your shitty band's CD is too expensive, I will not buy it. If your music download service is too expensive, or just plain sucks (coughcoughbuymusic.comcough)... I will not use it. That's the whole point of this crazy system, we're supposed to help it evolve by voting with our money. When only 8 people buy the next Britney Spears CD, the label will drop her and she'll move on to her next job, hopefully porn. Hopefully really weird and degrading porn. Anyway, it should be a self-cleaning system to some degree. Apple did a pretty good job of splitting the difference between the RIAA thugs and the free lunch crowd. Just pay the stupid 99 cents and move on.
As the kind of Mac user that will break a bottle on the edge of the bar and come after you for badmouthing my OS, nobody is more excited about the rumored release of the 970s than I am... But, I can't help taking a "wait and see" approach today. There are a number of reasons that the "leak" from last week looked sort of fishy. So, I think it may be a few hours premature to use the word "revolution". Believe me, I hope you are right. In any event, Intel should really come up with something more than faster clock speeds and bigger fans. My housemates are both Windows guys and their systems don't seem much faster... Just louder and hotter. So, hopefully, this afternoon will be big big news for us Mac geeks.
Fingers crossed......
Man, we could drag this out all day...
Colored coffee could be called iCoffee,
coffee that spills all over the place
when you least expect it would be
Coffee 95/98... Open Source Coffee
would be a bag of beans and a separate
cup of water with your choice of several
heating elements and grinders... A drink carrier
with multiple cups becomes a Beowulf cluster...
Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk.
Come to think of it, maybe decaf would be a good idea...
I have a pile of AAC files from Apple. They all sound great... Plus they won't leave you hanging with a song file with a big fat skip in the middle of it. Just out of curiousity, why exactly would the ogg crowd do a better ripping and encoding job?
As embarrasing as that might be, I'll get over it. She can take over being the family geek, or at least put in some time as family tech support so I can take a break!
I had an original (beige) G3/266 Motherboard crap out on me at work. My boss wanted to send it to whichever shop said they could turn it around the fastest. After 2 MONTHS of them screwing around, my warranty ran out. I spent a few days dealing directly with a senior support person at Apple. The day the blue and white G3s came out, he offered to just swap the old G3 for a new one with similar specs. When he said they had about 10 of the beige units left, I jokingly asked him to delay the order until he HAD to give me a blue and white. He laughed and said that he had planned on doing that anyway. The very next morning, I had a brand spanking new G3/350 tower sitting on my desk. I can't say enough about how cool they've been to me over the years. I assume that unlike other tech support farms, Apple likes to hire people who also "drank the cool aid". Whatever you think of Macs, you have to give Apple some respect for the way they handle (most of) their business. My mom (!) was forced to change her own motherboard on a Packard Bell 286 years ago because her warranty "didn't include labor". They were happy to send a new motherboard, they just wouldn't cover the cost of having the work done for her. I have to say, that gave me a whole new outlook on (a) customer service, and most importantly (b) my Mom. Whenever any of the gamers I am acquainted with brag about building their own system, I love to tell them that my mom not only preferred DOS to any windows system, but she also swapped out her own motherboard. That was probably 11 years ago... Just 2 weeks ago, she retired her 286 and bought a 1Ghz 17 inch iMac. O.K... I'm gettin' all misty now.... Anyway, Apple's support is awesome.
Re:Countdown to iPod user bitching starts now.
on
Neuros Review
·
· Score: 1
I have owned an iPod for 6 days now. I am not rich, but I do know how to save money to buy quality products. I'll spare everyone the feature by feature comparison and just say this: I LOVE my iPod... It does everything as advertised, it holds a shitload of music, it's easy to manage (via iTunes), and I'm easily getting a solid 8 hour day out of it... Including travel time with an FM transmitter to replace the CD player in my car. 6-Disk changer? HA. My iPod is only about half-full and it shows something like 10 straight days worth of music! So, I can't say that the Neuros sucks, but I can vouch for how fucking sweet the iPod is.... Plus, the chicks dig it.
Don't forget the "size of a baby's arm"... Spy magazine had a good sized collection of quotes that used that as a term of measurement. I'm not sure how many baby arms equal a bowl of Super Colon Blow...
Slashdot Mirror
Not to be a nitpicking pain in the ass (OH, wait, this IS Slashdot...), but Hank is a Mac user. He was even in one of the "What do you have on your Powerbook" print ads opposite some record company assclown. Of course, as the hardest working man in show business, if Henry wanted to run Dell, who's going to stop him? DRINKIN' BLACK COFFEE! BLACK COFFEE! DRINKIN' BLACK COFFEE! STARING AT THE WALL!
I would think that, with charges pending, Michael Jackson wouldn't be allowed to leave California, let alone Earth.
To be honest, Missing Sync and some other free apps (whose names escape me) work better for me than any of Palm's software. It syncs with the components already built in to my OS, most importantly my Address Book. Palm's software was unreliable, slow, and (c'mon, I'm a Mac guy) Ugly. This is hardly upsetting news. Not to mention, if the rumor mills are correct, Apple has another PDA in the works. So, again, I say "Big Deal".
Hell Yes. Thank You. The entire notion of what's acceptable as "professional" has gone too far. Hell, if it wouldn't earn me a trip to Guantanimo for bio-terror, my reply would have been to shit in an envelope and send it right back. Then again, I'm kind of a pain in the ass.
It seems simple to me. If you like ITMS and iTunes or the iPod, Apple and HP will have those available to you. If you don't like them... Don't buy them. Vote with your dollars. Microsoft is mad because Apple finally figured out how to let everyone know they beat Microsoft to the punch. Whether you like Apple or not, it's about freakin' time they started getting some press with the products they release. I happen to like the service and the gear, so I can only try to reassure you that it's worth the money, and I have yet to have their DRM get in the way of anything I want to do. It sounds to me like Microsoft is feeling the burn from people exploring choices other than them. In that statement, I mean to include not only Apple products, but also OSS. I thought they were all about innovation driving market share?
In a nutshell...
1) Minimal impact on amount of power supplied to the grid.
2) Grinds up birds (Westfield is in the path of LOTS of migratory birds, and home to quite a few eagles.).
3) Construction company collects money, builds 'em and bails.
4) Property values decrease (Farms with less available farm land are not so valuable).
5) Taxpayers left paying for the project receive little or no real benefit from the project....
I would say, right there, we have enough reasons to stop building these things until we can figure out a way to remedy those five issues. Perhaps larger than any of those five issues is the likelihood that an area already taxed to death with no jobs and out of control social services is going to sidetrack other opportunities for progress to try this out. I'm pretty close to the person who is fighting this locally, so contact me if you'd like to do the same... I'm sure he would share his exhaustive research on the topic with you.
Aside from my comment about downloading porn in mom's basement, the rest of my original post was simply an observation based on actual experience in the industry that was being discussed in that thread. Since I would never purposely insult the slashdot community, please accept my humble apology for making a joke at the expense of basement-dwelling porn viewers... Since I'm apparently not privvy to the planned "revolution", I can only assume that you must have 133t 5k1llz or better kung fu, or some such thing. Keep me posted on the target date for my death... I'd still like a chance to go skydiving, learn how to use a real computer, and do a little traveling before I'm lined up against the wall. Seriously. From now on, my comments on slashdot will be limited to sidetracking threads by complaining about anyone who might have any insight into the topic. Viva La Revolution!
So, are you bitches modding me as a troll because I prefer macs, or because I have a job? Seriously. My having real world practical experience with equipment that's relevant to the parent post somehow seems troll-like to you? Whatever.
Dear fuckwit AC... Ad hominem... stupid generalizations... anecdotal evidence? How about personal experience in a real world setting? I'm not quoting marketing drone propaganda from the brochures, or laboratory benchmarks, or anti Mac FUD. I use these systems every day. For a living. How about "when you can't come up with an argument, contributing nothing to the discussion and posting as AC works just as well."? Blow me.
Most People? You must mean most people trading Paris Hilton WMVs... For those of us who do not live in our mom's basement, who actually make a living in the audio/video industry, Macs are still the dominant platform. Yes, I know PCs have been gaining ground, but they've hardly sent the Mac home with a pink slip. I work in 5 different OSs daily (2 Mac flavors, and 3 Windows flavors)... In the 8 years I've been doing this work for this company, the Macs have always been more reliable and offered more flexibility. Though they may not be as fast per se, the amount of time a stable system can save you over a cheap system adds up... and of course in this business, time is indeed roughly equal to money. We've had this argument a few hundred times in the last few years, so I will spare everyone the usual lengthy comment. Suffice to say that I work in that industry, use those machines, and you are mistaken. I'll grant you the games comment though... But I have to tell you, it's not exactly breaking my heart.
You have to remember, many "popular" bands were, at some point, an "indie" band. Nobody, except boy bands and the Brittany clones, is born into the charts. So, for every band on the charts, there are probably hundreds more that sound like them... They just didn't get the record deal. And, as far as who might own an iPod... Fuck you. Paying a premium price for well designed gear that does what it claims to do does not make one trendy. Punk rock since '84, ran a tiny label in the 90's, design work and promotion for bands to this day... Shove your "indier-than-thou" bullshit right up your ass. I've torched cars for less.
Amen. In the last three years, I've made recommendations to several different people. I figure, if they're going to be calling me in the middle of the night then they better have a system I can troubleshoot in my sleep. The ones who listened are quite happy with their Macs. The ones who didn't now swear that "next time" they are definitely getting a Mac. As for my ex-girlfriend... I built her a 300mhz Win98 machine (heh.). To be fair, she has learned quite a bit on her own... Owing mostly to the fact that I don't answer the phone when her numbers come up on the caller id (ooops.). My rule is simple. If I'm making a recommendation for somebody I care about, or actually giving them a computer... They're getting a Mac. I feel it's a better platform (No Flames, please.), and I can be their tech support rather than some guy with a three ring binder in Bangladesh. The people I have no particular interest in... "Dude, you're gettin' a Dell.". Those people get directed to the Bangladeshi Binder Guy.If you love someone, buy them a Mac. Hell, even though you don't know me, buy ME a Mac...
At least if we were reverting to the behavior of the 50's we would have some recourse... Just think, when we got sick of hearing what some nitwit like Bo Derek thought, all we would have to do is float a rumor that she's a communist. The creepy Un-American Activities Committee would shut her up for us. Stealing is wrong, blah blah blah... But seriously, I could go to PRISON for having a copy of some shitty movie? That's when it's time to get all Waco/Natural Born Killers on them... When it's gotten so bad that we will jail people to keep Hollywood dirtbags from losing a few bucks here and there, it's time for some real insanity. No longer content to passivly enjoy the chaos, I would feel obligated to accelerate it somehow until the machine breaks. I strongly urge anyone located near celebrities or politicians to throw bags of flaming dogshit at any of these whiny parasites they come across. Just my two cents. Hell, two cents is about all I'm left with after being taxed nearly to death so our "leaders" can spend more time debating things like "How do we punish the kids who didn't pay to see a prerelease version of Kangaroo Jack?". Between welfare and this nonsense, remind me again what it is I'm getting for my hard earned tax dollar... Ugh.
I work in video production for a large (we have our own Death Star) cable company. Advertising sales offset some of the costs, but for each cable network on the channel lineup, we have to pay a fee to that network to carry it. Consumers want more channels, we have to pay more fees. Many of the networks come to us as a package deal... For a "good" network that people actually want, we often have to carry a couple of crappy ones that nobody really cares about. I do know that our rate increases for customers have grown at a slower pace than the fees we have to pay out. We are expected to make up that difference by selling more advertising at higher rates. We also get to go through the joys of downsized staff, aging equipment, and lowered pay scales. The customer doesn't get gouged too badly, the execs at the top are making good money... It seems like every time we add new channels, it's us working stiffs that actually make the content that get shafted. I'm not suggesting that the product is worth every penny, but when people demand more networks, it costs money across the board. It doesn't help that we now are expected to carry more than 20 spanish-language networks... For every network, no matter how stupid you think it is, there is an army of viewers who can't live without it. It sucks, but I definitely understand why the cable operators are so protective of every inch of their territory. As for commercials... well, they pay for the shows you like to watch. Without them, you would be looking at much higher subscription rates. Don't forget to pass some of the blame to your favorite stars. Their high salary demands have to be met somehow... And, while we're at it, thank professional athletes and their outrageous salaries too.
Look, I realise that we all want a system that's fair to everyone (except maybe the RIAA), but this is just stupid. If you can get the song for 99 cents, just get the damned song for 99 cents. I know this is a big "free stuff" crowd, but I think this is just getting annoying. Mac users, pay your 99 cents. Windows users, now it's your turn to wait for a product to get ported to your platform... welcome to the party. *nix folks... well, I'm not sure what to tell you. Everyone likes to save a buck once in a while, but if you can't spring the 99 cents for that Alan Parsons Project song, maybe digital music isn't your biggest problem. And, what kind of ass bids more than 99 cents on a song that's available for 99 cents? I won't even get into what moron bid more than the cost of a CD. It's 2003 and I do not have my jetpack, hovercar, or vacation home on Mars... Is it perhaps because all the "smart" people are hiding out online bitching about cheap vs. free music? I don't care anymore. Put whatever price you want to on it. If your shitty band's CD is too expensive, I will not buy it. If your music download service is too expensive, or just plain sucks (coughcoughbuymusic.comcough)... I will not use it. That's the whole point of this crazy system, we're supposed to help it evolve by voting with our money. When only 8 people buy the next Britney Spears CD, the label will drop her and she'll move on to her next job, hopefully porn. Hopefully really weird and degrading porn. Anyway, it should be a self-cleaning system to some degree. Apple did a pretty good job of splitting the difference between the RIAA thugs and the free lunch crowd. Just pay the stupid 99 cents and move on.
Can we get extra credit for giving the ringleaders a "Pennsylvania Necktie"?
Amen brotha.
As the kind of Mac user that will break a bottle on the edge of the bar and come after you for badmouthing my OS, nobody is more excited about the rumored release of the 970s than I am... But, I can't help taking a "wait and see" approach today. There are a number of reasons that the "leak" from last week looked sort of fishy. So, I think it may be a few hours premature to use the word "revolution". Believe me, I hope you are right. In any event, Intel should really come up with something more than faster clock speeds and bigger fans. My housemates are both Windows guys and their systems don't seem much faster... Just louder and hotter. So, hopefully, this afternoon will be big big news for us Mac geeks. Fingers crossed......
Man, we could drag this out all day... Colored coffee could be called iCoffee, coffee that spills all over the place when you least expect it would be Coffee 95/98... Open Source Coffee would be a bag of beans and a separate cup of water with your choice of several heating elements and grinders... A drink carrier with multiple cups becomes a Beowulf cluster... Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk. Come to think of it, maybe decaf would be a good idea...
I have a pile of AAC files from Apple. They all sound great... Plus they won't leave you hanging with a song file with a big fat skip in the middle of it. Just out of curiousity, why exactly would the ogg crowd do a better ripping and encoding job?
As embarrasing as that might be, I'll get over it. She can take over being the family geek, or at least put in some time as family tech support so I can take a break!
I had an original (beige) G3/266 Motherboard crap out on me at work. My boss wanted to send it to whichever shop said they could turn it around the fastest. After 2 MONTHS of them screwing around, my warranty ran out. I spent a few days dealing directly with a senior support person at Apple. The day the blue and white G3s came out, he offered to just swap the old G3 for a new one with similar specs. When he said they had about 10 of the beige units left, I jokingly asked him to delay the order until he HAD to give me a blue and white. He laughed and said that he had planned on doing that anyway. The very next morning, I had a brand spanking new G3/350 tower sitting on my desk. I can't say enough about how cool they've been to me over the years. I assume that unlike other tech support farms, Apple likes to hire people who also "drank the cool aid". Whatever you think of Macs, you have to give Apple some respect for the way they handle (most of) their business. My mom (!) was forced to change her own motherboard on a Packard Bell 286 years ago because her warranty "didn't include labor". They were happy to send a new motherboard, they just wouldn't cover the cost of having the work done for her. I have to say, that gave me a whole new outlook on (a) customer service, and most importantly (b) my Mom. Whenever any of the gamers I am acquainted with brag about building their own system, I love to tell them that my mom not only preferred DOS to any windows system, but she also swapped out her own motherboard. That was probably 11 years ago... Just 2 weeks ago, she retired her 286 and bought a 1Ghz 17 inch iMac. O.K... I'm gettin' all misty now.... Anyway, Apple's support is awesome.
I have owned an iPod for 6 days now. I am not rich, but I do know how to save money to buy quality products. I'll spare everyone the feature by feature comparison and just say this: I LOVE my iPod... It does everything as advertised, it holds a shitload of music, it's easy to manage (via iTunes), and I'm easily getting a solid 8 hour day out of it... Including travel time with an FM transmitter to replace the CD player in my car. 6-Disk changer? HA. My iPod is only about half-full and it shows something like 10 straight days worth of music! So, I can't say that the Neuros sucks, but I can vouch for how fucking sweet the iPod is.... Plus, the chicks dig it.
Don't forget the "size of a baby's arm"... Spy magazine had a good sized collection of quotes that used that as a term of measurement. I'm not sure how many baby arms equal a bowl of Super Colon Blow...
I've got to tell you... I liked Episode VII much more than Episode I. Better dialogue AND Han Solo!