I don’t normally post memes, but this video had me really laughing. It’s an excellent example of how sense of style and thought patterns differ between Microsoft and Apple, even though it’s just a parody. Enjoy.

The music video for Such Great Heights was just added to the iTunes Music Store. I find that very funny considering the recent hubbub.

I just saw a really interesting technique used in a web comic. Have you ever spoiled the comic you’re reading by glancing at the end before you finish reading it? I sure have. Well, this fixes that, and makes the comic a bit more interactive and fun at the same time. Check out this Sam & Max comic. You may not know who they are, but that’s OK. The effect won’t be lost on you. Just try mousing over the panels, one at a time.

Apple just had another keynote two days ago. You can watch it online via QuickTime if you like. It’s pretty good, and has some very significant hardware announcements, but it isn’t the most important one in Apple’s history. Determining which keynote is the most important is a difficult task, but I’d wager a bet that if all the geeks I know made Top 5 lists (especially the Apple lovers in the bunch), the Macworld Boston keynote from August of 1997 would be in every one of their lists.

It’s the first keynote given by Steve Jobs since his departure from Apple in 1985. It’s one of the most volatile and divisive moments in Apple’s history. It contains a gigantic Bill Gates looking down on a tiny Steve Jobs on the stage while the audience shrieks and boos. That’s good keynote. And it’s all done Steve-style. You know the style. (I become more and more impressed with that style every time I see other CEOs or powerful people speak. They just don’t have it. Roz Ho does not have it. Nothing personal, Roz.)

And now Google has it online, so you can download it, or stream it right there in your browser. (The downloadable version is much higher quality. I recommend it.) I just wanted to point out a few things I noticed about this keynote. Only Apple geeks would care about this stuff (or even understand what I’m talking about, for the most part) but I found it really fascinating.

• The entire thing looks incredibly 80s to me, and this was only 9 years ago! It might as well have been 20 years ago. Everything looks ancient. The styles. The text on the screen. The colors. Everything.
• Steve Jobs is introduced by some random “expo guy.” This could be an exception since it’s his first Apple keynote in a long time, but today, the keynote starts when the lights dim and Steve just walks on stage. There are no formal introductions. Especially not intros that are six minutes long.
• Apple Garamond font! Woo! Old school.
• Steve gets a long standing ovation. Those are rare today.
• Steve isn’t wearing his trademark black shirt and jeans.
• At about 7:10 in we see a good example of the presentation slides Steve uses in his keynote. It has the same black-to-grey gradient that became the standard theme of Apple’s Keynote software, which was introduced six years later for this exact purpose.
• About nine minutes in, Steve gives instructions on how to turn around a beleaguered business. Heed those words, I’d say they’ve proven themselves wise in the last 9 years.
• Someone apparently boos Larry Ellison’s appointment to the board. Boos are really rare today; the audience is more polite and less rabid.
• The “production quality” of the keynote is generally way, way lower than it is today. It would appear Apple has learned the importance of fit and finish with that many cameras in the room.
• Steve asks the audience if they’d like to see a video that he’s preparing to show them. He still does that. I’ve never been sure why. He almost never asks what the crowd would like in any other situation.
• About 19 minutes in, Steve says Macs had around 7% marketshare. I’ve heard much lower numbers than that in the last few years, and yet Apple is a much, much healthier company.
• Steve says 64% of all web sites (remember this is just the ones that existed in August of 1997) were created using a Mac! That’s very surprising to me.
• Steve makes a point of saying they’re going to go after the creative and educational markets. These days, it seems Apple has a very strong presence in those areas, but has also really exploded into new areas that weren’t mentioned at all in those days. Interestingly, people who don’t follow Apple or technology at all would probably say that the creative and educational markets are the markets where Apple is strongest. I used to hear that constantly, but that misunderstanding has been decreasing in the last couple years.
• At around 26 minutes in, Steve starts to talk about “partnerships” with other companies. He’s either actually nervous, or just acting, but you can really see his demeanor change. He’s about to talk about being friends with Microsoft to a group of people who deeply hate Microsoft.
• Microsoft committed to equal MS Office releases for PC and Mac from 1997 to 2002. They just committed once again to another five years, and that was announced last Tuesday. What an interesting period the first five were. I wonder what the next five will hold.
• Steve announces in this keynote that Internet Explorer will become the default browser for the Mac. The crowd is vehemently against this. We know what replaced IE several years later. Thankfully, Apple also shipped Netscape alongside it to give people the ability to easily switch. (To be fair, IE on OS 9 was a decent browser, all things considered.)
• The portion of the keynote from 30:40 to 34:50 is one of the most important, captivating moments in Apple’s history. The crowd’s reaction to Bill, and Bill’s reaction to the crowd are absolutely amazing. Steve’s sermon after Bill speaks is totally incredible.
• It’s just amazing how uncharismatic Gates appears to be when you’ve been watching Steve for half an hour.
• The “Think Different” campaign is initiated verbally by Steve just after his Microsoft-related announcements. He loosely quotes parts of the poem used in the upcoming Think Different ad without the audience realizing it would be in an advertisement coming out a month later, and become cornerstone of Apple’s branding in the years to come

Forbes had an interesting idea, and apparently decided to go through with it. They have a page up now called The E-mail Time Capsule which can apparently be used to send yourself an email in the future. They’ll hold your email for a year, three years, five, ten, or even twenty years in the future.

At first, the whole idea doesn’t seem that impressive until you realize how much technology changes in two decades. What kind of computer did you own in 1985? Yeah. It’ll be at least that big of a jump again in the next twenty, and they’re confident that your message to yourself won’t get lost amidst server swaps, internet protocol changes, etc, due to the way their time capsule works.

So send yourself a message, already! And if you don’t mind, copy and paste it over here in the comments so we can see it too. Oh, and if you don’t like Forbes for some reason, apparently there’s another group doing almost the same thing. They’re called FutureMe. For all I know they were doing it before Forbes. I don’t know if they’ve got the nice backup system(s) in place that Forbes has, but… whatever. Go nuts.

A friend of mine is conducting a survey about online video content and other stuff, and he’d love it if you’d take 10 minutes and click a few boxes. It’s best if you finish on or before Monday, November 14th. Thanks!

I’d be interested to hear your comments on the topics it raises, too. What do you all think of downloadable content, purchasable video, and viewing video on mobile devices? What price is worth it? Have you downloaded video from the ‘Net? How did you watch it?

I’ve gotten three emails in the last week with a set of questions about my favorite foods, favorite movie, my dream vacation spot, what kind of ice cream I would desire to become if I were to suddenly become ice cream, etc. The sender had answered the questions, and I was obliged to answer the same questions, and return my answers to the originator. If you’re thinking this isn’t a new thing, you’re right.

Let me tell you what also isn’t new. The people who send these emails seem to lack a fundamental understanding of the options email presents. They not only send it to 30 or 60 people (one acquaintance proudly proclaimed he was sending it to his entire address book) but they put every single person in the “To” field. They just slam ’em in there like cattle in a train car. It stinks in there, people!

For those of you who are wondering why this is a problem, please humor me and I’ll teach you something about email, and possibly a little Netiquette along the way. This lesson is called “blind carbon copy.” It’s probably better known in its abbreviated form: BCC.

Why BCC? It’s simple. Let’s say that you have 60 people in your address book, and you’re favoring them all with your questionnaire. OK, fine. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, I guess. (Please cut off the part at the end where a magical curse from some kind of unnamed email god is promised for those who don’t return the questionnaire. You know you’re above that. While you’re at it, remove any animated pictures which may adversely affect those with epilepsy. Thanks.) The problem happens when 10 of those 60 people (or worse, 30 or 40) are really excited to get this questionnaire, and decide to answer the questions too! But you didn’t use “BCC”. You used “To”. So now, these 10 – 40 excited people I’ve never met have my email address. And they’re so excited to respond that they decide “My answers are great! Everyone wants them!” and they click “Reply All”.

Don’t ever click “Reply All”, people. Outside the corporate world, it’s the Red Button on the military console. Far more powerful than you think it is. Just don’t.

So now all 60 people have email after email after email flooding into their inboxes. These are emails from people they’ve never met. They’re all introducing themselves and answering the admittedly inane questions. If you know the person giving the answers, it can be fun. If you don’t, it’s maddening and stupid. True, you can just delete the first one. And the second. And the third…

Then two or three of the first 10 – 30 excited people decide to have a personal off-topic conversation (or better yet, an argument) via email while using Reply All. These people are truly dumb. I’m happy they were able to learn to type. These emails may be the pinnacle of their life’s achievement. Be sure to pat them on the back and congratulate them when you see them next.

So while the originator of the thread certainly didn’t intend for this catastrophe when sending the first email, he’s inadvertently allowed it to happen by not being conscientious about BCC. And this whole mess was so easily avoidable. It’s sad, really.

So remember, friends don’t let friends misuse the “To” field.