why wy?

Sometimes, I wonder if a blog should report the news - first hand, the blogger is present at an event or tragedy, second hand, the blogger as commentator. Or should a blog be an online diary, recording deeply personal things, dates (see xiaxue , sarong party girl), failure to get dates (finicky feline), getting paid for dates (belle du jour, whose site is long dead now that she's got a book coming out).

If you are wondering where this is all leading to... here's a summary of what people have been saying about the ipod shuffle. yes, it's old news, but file it under blogger commentary.

I think ipod lounge puts it best, describing it as an entry-level, suck-'em-in marketing ploy to draw people to upgrade to the ipod eventually. Now, those who can't afford an ipod yet can get a white stick of chewing gum that plays music. Even the way it is worn - around the neck - is telling. Apple wants you to flaunt this. Paint yourself black and dance and jump. It will sell, solely on the cool factor, because the specs will disappoint most geeks. Creative's Sim Wong Hoo, a rich geek, dismisses the ipod shuffle as "worse than the cheapest Chinese player. Even the cheap, cheap Chinese brand today has display and has FM."

What is surprising (to me) is the number of "apple is great, creative is jealous" comments this post generated, even among the geeks. Come on, a radio is pretty handy, most people i see on the train are already listening to little FM tuners. So Sim is right yet wrong. He really, really needs to pay more attention to design and usability. I want to see a local boy win, but unless Creative can generate the same kind of fever that causes mac sites to be mired in high traffic just before Steve Jobs speaks at macworld, it's not looking good.

I love Apple (ipod, ibook, os X, their iconic black and white ads) but it scares me the way they are becoming a company that can do no wrong. I think of the emperor's new clothes, I think of Steve Jobs naked, and I think maybe it's a good thing after all that the ipod shuffle has no display.