Good question. My very first Mac, which I got in early 1984. Hard to match that purchase for pure product joy. But then there’s my first Laserwriter. Or the terrific modularity of the Mac IIci. Then there’s every single iPhone I’ve ever gotten, each better than the last.

But that original Apple II. That was so much fun. If I have to pick one, I’ll go with my first.

From Apple’s official service pricing page:

The following prices are for Apple repair service. Pricing and terms might vary at other service providers. All prices are in US dollars and are subject to tax. We’ll add a $6.95 shipping fee if we need to ship your iPhone. We’ll test your product to determine the final service fee.

Service is available for most issues. We’ll let you know if we can repair your iPhone and tell you which service you can get.

Obviously, your warranty coverage will affect your price.

From the NFL press release:

Partners since 2013 through the Twitter Amplify program, the NFL and Twitter will provide free, live streaming video of Thursday Night Football without authentication to the over 800 Million registered and non-registered users worldwide on the Twitter platform on mobile phones, tablets, PCs and connected TVs.

In addition to live streaming video of NFL action, the partnership includes in-game highlights from TNF as well as pre-game Periscope broadcasts from players and teams, giving fans an immersive experience before, during and after games.

No authentication required. Still, Twitter will no doubt gain new subscribers from this deal and that seems to be the primary reason for their bid.

It will be very interesting to see how much this changes the experience of watching a game.

“This is about transforming the fan experience with football. People watch NFL games with Twitter today,” said Jack Dorsey, Twitter CEO. “Now they’ll be able to watch right on Twitter Thursday nights.”

Watching Twitter. And watching Twitter worldwide. So NFL fans throughout the world will, presumably, be able to watch Thursday Night Football with no authentication required, for free.

Karen Freeman, writing for WatchAware, ordered this Milanese Loop replica Apple Watch band on Amazon and gave it a rave review.

If you head over to Amazon, you’ll see that it got rave reviews there as well. Going to add this to my birthday wish list.

Great article from Ben Thompson on Tesla, their game plan, and what it means to be disruptive.

A few (of the many) highlights:

Nearly 300,000 people have willingly parted with $1,000 despite the fact they will not have a chance to purchase a car for years; an astounding 115,000 of them sent in their deposit before they even knew what the car looked like. A friend got in line to make his reservation at 6:45am and there were 123 people in front of him. This is, no matter how you measure it, a phenomenon that is nearly unprecedented; the only possible comparison is Apple and its iPhone.

And this, from Tesla’s “secret master plan”:

The strategy of Tesla is to enter at the high end of the market, where customers are prepared to pay a premium, and then drive down market as fast as possible to higher unit volume and lower prices with each successive model…The second model will be a sporty four door family car at roughly half the $89k price point of the Tesla Roadster and the third model will be even more affordable.

In keeping with a fast growing technology company, all free cash flow is plowed back into R&D to drive down the costs and bring the follow on products to market as fast as possible. When someone buys the Tesla Roadster sports car, they are actually helping pay for development of the low cost family car.

And on one key difference between the disruptive forces of Apple and Tesla:

When it comes to the iPhone I have argued that Apple’s smartphone was, relative to the phones on the market, Obsoletive: the iPhone effectively reduced the phones that came before it to apps on a general purpose computer, justifying a higher price even as it made cheaper incumbents obsolete.

This doesn’t quite work for Tesla: at the end of the day a Model S is still doing the same job as a traditional BMW or Mercedes-Benz. It just does it better: a Model S accelerates faster, it has more storage, it has innovative features like limited auto-pilot and a huge touch-screen interface, and you don’t have to stop at the gas station. Most importantly, though, it is a Tesla.

Tesla is helping establish the electric car as a legitimate alternative to combustion engine vehicles. Interestingly, while Apple would be more than happy to be the only phone in the marketplace, Tesla wants, and needs, more players to help build out the required infrastructure, and establish legitimacy.

Great article, Ben.

If you weren’t paying attention, you may have missed this bug’s arrival and departure entirely. Interesting that Apple was able to fix this server-side. That is, Apple fixed Siri on their end, without you having to install an update.

Motherboard:

A commissioner at the US Federal Trade Commission who is leaving the agency after six years of working on consumer privacy issues has some critical words for the ad industry.

Speaking with Ad Age, departing FTC commissioner Julie Brill lamented the current state of consumer tracking and data collection on the web, linking the rampant rise of ad blockers with the ad industry’s foot-dragging and non-cooperation in the commission’s efforts to create privacy systems based on user consent.

Like many critics, Brill points to Do Not Track, the failed system meant to allow consumers to opt-out of invasive tracking by flagging their browsers, which the ad industry fought tooth-and-nail and eventually killed by ignoring the flags outright. She says that the industry’s resistance to doing things the “easy” way is at least partly to blame for the consumer response.

Bang on. If the industry had respected consumer wishes and respected their customers, we wouldn’t have the proliferation of ad blocking and ad blocking blockers resulting in a virtual arms race of Us vs Them.

Mental Floss:

We all need happy little trees in our lives sometimes—and Bob Ross’s official YouTube channel has got them! The first 10 seasons of Ross’s beloved series, The Joy of Painting, are now available to stream for free. That’s nearly 150 episodes of the iconic artist calmly painting happy little landscapes and teaching us all about “wet-on-wet” oil painting techniques and how to take care of our painting supplies and canvases.

Do not start watching these videos unless you have a lot of free time. Ross’ voice is so gentle and soothing, you’ll either fall asleep or be hypnotized and end up watching 10 hours non-stop.

Businessinsider:

Nest, a smart-home company owned by Google’s holding company Alphabet, is dropping support for a line of products — and will make customers’ existing devices completely useless.

It’s a move that has infuriated some customers, and raises worrying questions about the rights of consumers in the ever-more connected future.

This is going to be a continuing problem with the Internet of Things and why I don’t trust or want to use most of them. Many IoT devices simply won’t work without an internet connection. And some, like this product, can be obsoleted on a whim by the manufacturer.

You know I’ll be getting one (or more) of these. A Wylde guitar for $1,000 is too much to resist.

The Wirecutter:

Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and stop expecting printers to “just work” because that would make sense in a world where a touchscreen supercomputer fits in your shirt pocket. Like most things in life that you have no control over, you’ll be happier if you accept printers for the janky money pits that they really are.

Most of you are going to hate something about any printer that you buy, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Instead of fighting it, try to reframe the issue in your mind: You’re not buying a printer because you’re supposed to have one at home. You’re buying a printer because it’s (just barely) less inconvenient than going to a copy center.

Having used home and small office printers for over 25 years, it’s hard to argue with their premise. I have an Epson R2000 printer I love – when it works. But I dread having to print something on it because I know, even if I printed just fine yesterday, some problem will crop up when I use it today to make me waste time, energy, paper, and ink troubleshooting it.

Forty songs from Apple ads, to celebrate 40 years of Apple!

This Reddit post is by someone claiming to be a Nest engineer:

As a Nest engineer, I won’t say any numbers that aren’t public, but this company is already on deathwatch. Once that happens, most people will quickly have shiny paperweights because it’s a constant firefight keeping these systems up. We have $340M in revenue, not profit, against a ~$500M budget. No new products since the purchase, and sales/growth numbers are dire. Our budget deal expires soon, and all the good engineers on my teams have discreetly indicated they are going to flee once their golden handcuffs unlock (many have already left despite sacrificing a lot of money to do so).

Tony and his goons demand crazy timelines so much that “crunch time” has basically lost meaning. Just when your labor bears fruit, they swoop in, 180 the specs you just delivered on, then have the gall to call your team “incompetent” for not reading their mind and delivering on these brand-new specs. I waste most of my time in pointless meetings, or defending my teams so they don’t flip their desks and walk out. People fall asleep in corners and cry in the bathrooms, health and marriages are suffering. Already the churn is insane, close to half the company if not more. Skilled engineers can tell the environment is toxic, so we’re filling vacancies with mostly sub-par talent.

Wow. If true, that’s bad news, especially for people who have invested in the company and the company’s products. And if it’s not true, this is certainly a damaging post, as it’s flying around the internet.

I tend to shy away from Kickstarters, purely because there is no guarantee that you’ll get the goods after you fund them. But this one might be worth a look.

The DoBox is an all-in-one device, but it does a lot. Here’s a picture of what i suspect is their latest prototype:

It gives you an ethernet jack, 2 USB ports, HDMI, microUSB (for charging). You can use those ports to move data to/from your iOS devices and to charge your iOS devices. Lay your Apple Watch on top of the box to charge it without a cable (direct induction).

According to the video, you can use the USB port to attach a mouse and keyboard, use them on your iOS device. I’d love to see that firsthand. Sounds like a perfect travel device.

Lots of possibilities here. Jump to the KickStarter page and watch the video to get a sense of the DoBox in action. I’ll be getting one, will let you know how it works out.

This site is a fan tribute to the original Zelda game. You can use arrow keys, AWSD keys to move around. Space bar is A. At first blush, a pretty fun experience, sound and all. If only I could figure out the sword part.

Kirk McElhearn on tweaking the Finder to make your Mac experience more efficient.

Tuck this one away, pass it along to folks you support.

Interesting post on marketing, virtual reality, and Apple from NSShadowcat:

> ‘What value do I, as a customer interested in the Rift, get out of looking at a bearded man with a Rift strapped to his face and his jaw dropped?’. Obviously the message is ‘the Rift experience is jaw-dropping’, but how do you convey that to me across a screen? Show me a simulation of what using the thing might look like in a video? Maybe. But doesn’t watching a 2-D simulation on a screen inherently take away the experience AR/VR is selling in the first place? The best such a video does is make me curious to have a first hand experience. For more on modern marketing continue with this review BlackStorm Roofing Marketing.

And:

> Let’s subject phones to the same situation. The iPhone 6S page shows off its build, design etc. beautifully but still doesn’t give me — a customer interested in buying a phone — a sense of what my experience with the thing would be. Which is why Apple’s ads try to embody the iPhone experience — nimble, fantastic and excellent. (Take the first 6S ad — my favourite 6S ad — for example; also, the Cookie Monster ad is a marvel that sells you the same joyful, humane experience and there isn’t even a human in it.) On the other hand, for those who are looking for plenty of ways to market, tools like a Digital Business Card may be a great option.

And:

> The best an AR/VR simulation video can achieve is to inspire the curiosity to check one of these things out in person. I can think of no product that has a similar ‘see it in person to know what it is’ pitch to it. Cars, phones, watches, home appliances are all products you know a lot about before you go for the ‘What does it feel like in person?’ store visit.

If and when Apple gets into virtual reality, they’ll need a strong marketing position which can be achieved by using services from agencies like this SEO Las Vegas, NV agency. Not only is their brand one of the most well know in the world, easily eclipsing anyone else in the VR space, but they have many years of experience marketing the experience of something that can’t be experienced without a store visit.

Interesting read.

A double-win for Apple Pay. Not only is Barclays one of the biggest UK banks and a great pickup for Apple Pay, but this is a major shift on Barclays’ part, after their attempts to create their own standard with bPay.

Whether your own website needs a new logo or your clients are screaming for one, this Mighty Deal from Zeppelin Graphics is the perfect solution. This fantabulous mega bundle is really 3 Logo Creation Kits in 1! In total, you’ll get yourself more than 500 professional design elements to create your new logo. Each element is fully customizable thanks to the original PSD, AI and EPS files that let you change up the color, shape, size and more.

A newly discovered Siri search handling bug allows nefarious users to bypass passcode protected lock screens on iPhone 6s and 6s Plus handsets, granting easy access to Contacts and Photos data. The vulnerability is likely applicable only to a subset of devices, however.

That’s not good.

Alamo Drafthouse:

The Alamo Drafthouse has partnered with Mondo and 20th Century Fox to create one-of-a-kind special screenings of ALIEN and ALIENS featuring exclusive collectibles, customized video preshows, and all sorts of additional Xenomorph insanity at each location!

In honor of LV426, the moon where the Nostromo first encounters the Xenomorph eggs that started so much trouble, the Alamo Drafthouse and friends are bringing you this ultimate celebration on Earth’s “426”, April 26.

If you are lucky enough to live in a city with an Alamo Drafthouse, you owe it to yourself to see one of the greatest horror sci-fi movies of all time. I never had the opportunity to see either movie in a theater and am jealous of those folks who will get the chance on April 26th.

I have this plug-in from Universal Audio and love it. What this company does to allow people to make music is outstanding. Watch the video.

Fraser Speirs, who has written extensively about iPads in classrooms, takes us through setting up the new Apple Classroom.

The New Yorker:

Franklin has won eighteen Grammy awards, sold tens of millions of records, and is generally acknowledged to be the greatest singer in the history of postwar popular music. James Brown, Sam Cooke, Etta James, Otis Redding, Ray Charles: even they cannot match her power, her range from gospel to jazz, R. & B., and pop.

At the 1998 Grammys, Luciano Pavarotti called in sick with a sore throat and Aretha, with twenty minutes’ notice, sang “Nessun dorma” for him. What distinguishes her is not merely the breadth of her catalogue or the cataract force of her vocal instrument; it’s her musical intelligence, her way of singing behind the beat, of spraying a wash of notes over a single word or syllable, of constructing, moment by moment, the emotional power of a three-minute song. “Respect” is as precise an artifact as a Ming vase.

There is no one on the planet who sang like Aretha did in her prime. My mom was a huge fan (sadly, mom would ruin a lot of my listening by singly along, badly) and we listened to everything she recorded when I was a kid. Even now, at the age of 74, she is a better singer than 99.99% of people on tour today and can still occasionally reach the vocal power of her 70’s fame.

The author has also written “The History of Aretha, in Ten Videos” for those of you unfamiliar with her early performances and even some of her later ones. In particular, her performance of “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” at last December’s Kennedy Center Honors will send shivers down your spine.

Vocativ:

Leading off is the Atlanta Braves, who unveiled what they’re calling the “Burgerizza” last week. This towering monstrosity of fat-saturated beef, cheese, and starch is exactly what you think it might be: a 20-ounce bacon cheeseburger jammed between two personal-size pizzas—one pepperoni, one plain—in lieu of buns.

Why not try the Sweet Spot Cotton Candy Dog, “an all-beef hot dog with cotton candy-infused mustard … topped with just enough cotton candy to make it both sweet and salty.” (Infusing mustard with cotton candy apparently turns it the color of nuclear waste.)

Some of the food pictured is truly disgusting. I’m not sure what started this gatronomic arms race but there’s no need for it. It’s a baseball game. The only food you need is a hot dog or a hamburger and a beer.

Michael Gartenberg:

VR has been part of that club for the last thirty years. When, and if Apple does bring a VR product to market it will look very different from anything we’ve seen before or see today. That kind of leap is what Apple looks for prior to making things that are virtual into reality.

Apple does not follow trends unless there is a way they can innovate and bring it to the masses. Don’t expect anything from them until they can do that.

But even if the government walks away from that battle, the growing number of state and local authorities seeking the FBI’s help with locked phones in criminal probes increases the likelihood that the FBI will have to provide it. When that happens, defense attorneys will cross-examine the experts involved.

Although each lawyer would mainly be interested in whether evidence-tampering may have occurred, the process would likely reveal enough about the method for Apple to block it in future versions of its phones, an Apple employee said.

You know that Apple engineers have been all over this since the FBI first announced they found a way into the phone. If they haven’t already found the weakness, they will as soon as these cases go to court.

Tesla Motors Inc said orders for its new Model 3 electric sedan topped 253,000 in the first 36 hours — a fast start for the company’s first mass-market vehicle, which may not begin to reach customers for another 18 months or more.

That’s impressive.