AAPL Again

So I'm sure none of you care about my stock market woes - but I'm deep into Apple at this point so I'm going to share anyway:
Can someone tell me why a couple of people on Wall Street have the ability to throw Apple's stock into free-fall? I'm not kidding. Some analysts decided that Apple wasn't going to make much money in the coming quarter - which is absolute hooey (it's the Christmas season for crying out loud). - and AAPL dropped like a rock.
One also said that Apple needs to drop products above $1500. This is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Why is a Wall Streeter giving advice to Steve Jobs? Yeah, I would love a cheaper Mac, but as my Daddy always said, "You get what you pay for." (I'm sure you said it at some point, Dad). ASUS et al can drop a hundred cheapo netbooks* - and stupid consumers will buy them up for the next year or so. But when their netbooks break, or can't handle the load of modern computing, then everyone is going to realize their mistake and jump back to quality, modern machines (like Apple's).
Oh yeah, want my guess on who's buying AAPL right now? Those same analysts that's who! Seriously, haven't you guys screwed up the economy enough already?

* For those of you who don't know, a netbook is like a 5 year old laptop that got hit by a shrink ray.

$120 + 4 Weeks

This is what makes college great. I'm in this course called Technology Based Entrepreneurship and we just got a new project. The professor broke us into groups, gave each group $120 of her own money, and told us we had four weeks to make as much money as possible with that $120 seed.
The group that makes the most money gets all the money (minus the professor's investment) and the highest grade.
Game on!

Not a Day Goes By

Oh wait - it just did. I completely forgot to post yesterday - thus ending my purely awesome streak. Probably a good thing too; I think I've been posting more often then you guys are reading. So with the streak over I think I'll take this time to usher in a new era of less frequent posting.

TOC

Today was the Technical Opportunities Conference at CMU - aka the job fair for geeks. Despite having some very interesting things going on already, I decided to take a look around. Plus, most of my classes canceled for the event.
It's actually a lot of fun if you do it right. Some people just go because everyone is giving out free stuff, but that's such a waste. Other people are really intense about the whole thing, and I think that just ruins it. And some people end up standing in line forever just to talk to some big name companies (and I really hate lines of any kind).
What I did today (for the first time, and it ended up really great) was to search for the companies without big lines, but who also had very interesting booths. Usually I didn't know who they were, and sometimes I couldn't even tell what they did. But if you just start talking to some of the people manning the booths you can have a lot of fun. So often I found myself having really interesting conversations (sometimes about them, sometimes about me, and sometimes about something completely different). These are the people who are doing things that are going to be really big tomorrow, and you can learn a lot from them. And since there is no line behind you, there is no pressure to keep things moving. Sometimes I got so interested in what was being said I then decided to drop my resume on them.
Once again, I have found that the key to life is to be cool, confident, and relaxed.

Gmail

All of you people who keep insisting Gmail is out of beta - shut up! You are beginning to piss me off. Gmail is still in beta. Before you ever say something like that again, look at the Gmail website. See the word under "Gmail" in the logo (see above for example)? Yes, that is the word "beta". It's not that hard for someone to figure out - and you look like an idiot when someone proves you wrong.

When The Lights Go Down In The City

It's scary.
So Pittsburgh seems to always have problems. Last year it was the water pipes. This year high winds have screwed with the entire power grid. One of the busier intersections near where I live (and on my way to campus) happens to be effected - so it has no traffic lights. Which is even scarier since I take risks just by riding a bike. And then it gets even worse at night a good distance of the street is unlit.
This are has been dark now for more than 24 hours. And we don't have emergency lighting. Or cops controlling traffic. Can someone please call the National Guard - it may be too easy for them, but the city of Pittsburgh obviously can't handle it.

Pinch of Salt - Beta!

OK everybody - I've put some massive coding time into PinchOfSalt.org, and it's time for you to go crash it! That's right, head on over to beta.pinchofsalt.org - where the only recipes so far are my mother's (which were mainly imported from her previous cookbook app).
Let me know what you think. Remember, this is a beta (actually more of an alpha), so some things are still not done. Notably: user based search, help docs, and testing in anything other then Safari and Firefox.

Intellectual Argument

I could survive on pure intellectual argument for about a month (or until I dehydrated). Being back in that academic community means that there is always someone ready to duke it out with you on any topic you could imagine. It's pure awesome.
And then I go home and make pancakes.

A Shipping Story

On April 9, 2008 at a little after 1:00 in in the afternoon an individual purchased a pink iPod Shuffle from a reputable eBay seller. Six days later he realized that he had entered the wrong shipping address - but alas! - it was too late. The package had already shipped, and had reached its destination. It seemed the poor pink iPod would be lost forever.
On August 22, 2008 (over four months later), by some miracle of the US Postal Service, his package wandered back to its origin point in Pittsburgh, PA. Luckily, this was just one day after the seller returned from summer vacation. The seller immediately contacted the buyer and informed him of the good news.
Due to some logistic issues, the buyer had the seller put the iPod on ice until things could be worked out.
However, today, that pink iPod is going to embark once more on a journey. And hopefully this time it will be its last!

I Take It back

I take it back. Apple definitely put out some awesome stuff on Tuesday. As Engadget noted, Apple is now gunning for the handheld gaming market - just see the latest ad if you don't believe me (and yes, this is BIG, CRAZY NEWS). The new iTunes 8 is also very nice. Although it took Genius forever to catalogue all my music (understandably) - it was worth it. The Genius playlist is totally awesome. And I really like the new (albeit acquired) visualizer.

Feast

I had a veritable feast last night (OK, a relative feast). I was starving, and I am never starving. You'll laugh, but salad (with my homemade dressing) and pizza rolls, followed by a variety of cookies, is really satisfying. It could have something to do with the fact that on Tuesday and Thursday, dinner is my first meal of the day (I don't eat breakfast, and my day is pack with classes). :)

Conclusions

So I was right, and I was wrong. There was a bit more from Apple today than a simple product refresh. But I was still expecting a tad more. Seems the stock market thought so too. Shame.
Anyway, if you're interested, check out this Engadget post for a pretty good play-by-play.

Predictions

Tomorrow is Apple's "Let's Rock" event. Considering the time of year, a holiday season iPod refresh is expected by everyone. There are, of course, rumors of all sorts of other things too. But we'll get back to that.
Taking a look at Apple's stock (AAPL) today, we see a considerable drop in value. This is strange considering tomorrow's event. Historically, we see an uptick before an Apple event as anticipation mounts, with a sharp drop right after as people cash in and/or are disappointed. Why the down tick then? Well, I've heard it suggested that some big players are fiddling with the market, that the whole market is down (which is kinda true), and that there just isn't much expected from this event.
That last one is what certain analysts are saying of tomorrow; that it will disappoint. I disagree. Apple itself is unusually vocal about the importance of this event - which it would never do without justification. So I'm saying we're going to see more than just your average iPod refresh. Also notable, expectations aren't that high in the first place - so I don't think anyone is actually going to be disappointed. So, putting my money where my mouth is, I have picked up more Apple shares while the fruit is ripe (ha ha).
Oh, Microsoft is also pegged to release new Zunes tomorrow. Which is hilarious. Not only does no one care about the Zune - they especially won't notice because of the Apple event.

Spore Day

So the highly anticipated game of Spore comes out today. It is truly an awesome looking game (and unfortunately i don't think my computers' specs are up to par). I could try to explain it - but you should just watch this awesome trailer for the game:

Two Tours

I missed it last year, but last night I went on the KGB Underground Tour. The KGB is easiest-ly described as an anarchy group (but not dangerous), so this tour is the things-the-admissions-tour-would-never-include tour. It was very entertaining - but that wasn't all.
After the tour I broke off, but ended up back where a few remaining people from the tour were. I soon caught wind that there was shortly going to be a second, better, tour. See, during the first tour KGB was kind enough to point out certain places on campus that "don't exist". Well, this second tour certainly did not go to any of those "non-existent" places. He he.

Bill Gates Traumatizes Millions

I hate to just echo the Blogosphere* - but I can't pass this one up. In an attempt to rejuvenated their public image, Microsoft has begun airing a series of ads with Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter who has apparently been paid $10 million (and is actually a Mac user). One wonders how the aging crypt-keeper of technology and the has-been comedian could help anyone's image, but we'll see. Most terrify is the end of this first ad, where Bill Gates booty-shakes. To see for yourself (and wind up scratching your head):



*I apologize in advance - I am not going to cite any sources because this is just all over the place.

Bon Anniversaire!

So yesterday was actually the one year anniversary of this blog's first post.
Birthday gifts for the blog can be sent to:

Chris J. Shull, the Blog
c/o Chris J. Shull...

The Blog likes extension cables, Twizzlers, and iPod Touches - among other things.

Mmmm

What's better than pancakes for breakfast? Fresh, home-made pancakes for breakfast, that's what! My Bisquick got, ummm, mothball flavored while in storage (yeah, that was bad). So I got more yesterday.
Some of you may be surprised that I'm eating breakfast at all. Luckily my sleep schedule is crazy, so I've been waking up really early (so your breakfast is my lunch) - early enough to be hungry for food before I leave. Thus, I had pancakes today.
I love those moments where life is just gooooooood.

Google Chrome

Announced yesterday, the beta of Google's new Google Chrome web browser will be released today. Based on WebKit (yes, just like Safari!), Chrome looks to be like an OS-in-a-browser - if it works as described. Seeing as Google's bread and butter these days is web apps, I'm guessing they got frustrated with current browser limitations and decided to make their own. The question is, will it be adopted? The sad truth is that most users still use IE The Terrible, despite the offerings of Firefox, Safari, etc. I'm curious how Google plans to change this.
Also, check out the informative and entertaining Google Chrome comic book.
As of writing, the Google Chrome website is still unavailable.

On the Hand

Anyone who has spent any time around me has likely noticed that I often take quick notes on the back of my hand. I've always said that it is much easier to lose a piece of paper then it is to lose my hand - and if I lose my hand I have bigger problems anyway.
Well, I finally found a good reason why this practice may not be so great. Last night I slept with my hand pressed against my face. Low and behold, I awoke to find that which was on my hand had transfered over to my cheek! (A picture is not forthcoming.)