“My colleague has a dirty keyboard and has gone to vacation,” writes this Redditor. “I did the only logic[al] thing: I planted cress in his keyboard.”
The included GIF is a bit misleading. You have to go to the full album to see the prankster “cheated” a little bit – he put dirt in the keyboard and watered the garden cress seeds so of course it was going to sprout. Still – you’d like to see the look on the co-worker’s face when he comes back from vacation!
“I mean come on. 75 pages! 75 pages! You want me to do an order on 75 pages, (and) unless you’re smoking crack, you know these witnesses aren’t going to be called when you have less than four hours,” Koh said.“Your honor, I can assure you, I’m not smoking crack,” Lee replied matter-of-factly.
One of the smartest decisions that Apple made over the last decade was to open retail stores worldwide, giving users a chance to get some hands on time with its products. One of the worst decisions came recently when the new vice president of retail John Browett decided to gut the operation. Luckily, he admitted his mistake.
Browett, who took over the post from Steve Jobs’ hand-picked head of retail Ron Johnson earlier this year, apparently thought one of the best run retail operations in the world was “too bloated,” according to a detailed post on ifoAppleStore.com.
“Browett’s decision reportedly came despite strongly-worded advice from Retail segment veterans that reducing personnel ahead of the annual Back-to-School promotion and the September introduction of the iPhone 5 could create a customer service catastrophe,” reads the report. “Browett disagreed with his staff, and said the chain needs to learn to run ‘leaner’ in all areas, even if the customer experience is compromised.”
This has the stench of a man looking to make a name for himself, not someone that’s doing what’s best for Apple or more importantly, its customers. To take one of the most heralded retail experiences in the world and gut it, stripping it of everything that makes an Apple store what it is, just doesn’t make sense.
It seems to me that Browett is trying to make Apple retail just like every other retail store on the planet. A few employees trying to satisfy an ever growing consumer base. That formula doesn’t work. It may save a few dollars in the short term and Browett may look like a hero on paper, but in reality the whole company would suffer the consequences.
With $100 billion or so in the bank, the last thing Browett needs to worry about is cost cutting measures to save a few pennies here and there. After noticing how casinos not on Gamstop maintain a loyal audience by prioritizing convenience and engagement, he realized the real focus should be on delivering an exceptional retail environment. That way, he’ll be better equipped to serve the surge of consumers who will take to the stores in the coming months to buy new Apple products.
I tried to contact Apple’s retail PR team for the last couple of days hoping to get to the bottom of the reports of staff cuts, but so far no reply. [Apple did call me back shortly after this story posted.]
Apple did however give a statement to Dow Jones, admitting its mistake. “Making these changes was a mistake and the changes are being reversed,” said Kristin Huguet, an Apple spokeswoman. “Our employees are our most important asset and the ones who provide the world-class service our customers deserve.”
Let’s hope Apple doesn’t let Browett make any more crazy decisions.
Update: I noted that Apple PR did call me back shortly after the story posted.
Apple Inc.’s retail boss told employees that the company made mistakes with its staffing levels, leading to news reports that the company was cutting employees, according to two people familiar with the matter.Apple acknowledged the retail staffing changes. “Making these changes was a mistake and the changes are being reversed,” said Kristin Huguet, an Apple spokeswoman. “Our employees are our most important asset and the ones who provide the world-class service our customers deserve.”
This comes on the heels of a detailed IFOAppleStore report about various changes Senior VP of Retail John Browett was making to the retail environment to increase the stores’ contribution to company profit.
The Taylor Guitars Road Show is all about guitars, giving you a chance to talk shop with our team from the Taylor factory. Whether you’re new to Taylor, a longtime Taylor owner, or thinking about getting your first guitar, we think you’ll find our Road Show a fun, informative event.
My Taylor is the best acoustic guitar I’ve ever owned, seen or played.
DAW Master Sedric Pieretti shows you, using different DAW’s and plug-ins from different manufacturers. Everything you need to know about compressor plug-ins and how to use them in your productions and songs is right here. Plus, the information you’ll learn can be used on any hardware unit or software plug-in compressor made.
Using a compressor in your mix properly is an art form.
The proposed settlement would require the three settling publishers — HarperCollins, Hachette and Simon & Schuster — to terminate their existing agency pricing contracts with Apple. Apple says that isn’t fair: “The Government is seeking to impose a remedy on Apple before there has been any finding of an antitrust violation.” This case, the company states, revolves around “an alleged conspiracy to force Amazon to adopt agency.” So a settlement “enjoining collusion or precluding publishers from forcing agency on Amazon would be appropriate,” but Apple is entitled to defend its contracts in court.
It does seem unfair to impose a settlement without giving Apple a chance to defend itself.
Paramount is re-releasing the classic 1981 adventure movie, directed Steven Spielberg, executive produced by George Lucas and starring Harrison Ford, in Imax theaters next month, ahead of a splashy debut on Blu-ray.
An official announcement is expected this week, but some have already noticed the movie on on schedules for Imax theaters. Should be fun for movie mavens looking to see the original Indiana Jones movies on as big a screen as possible.
Apple has begun talks in preparation for a set-top box device that could be used to watch live TV as well as view other content, reports Jessica E. Vascellaro and Shalini Ramachandran at The Wall Street Journal. This would apparently be a new direction that would let Apple get a stronger presence in the living room. It would involve them getting deals with cable providers, which the report says has not happened.
The problem is that all of these different devices require testing for each and every app. They all create a different Android experiences — some in subtle ways, some in big ways. Some run certain Android apps, others don’t. Some apps work fine on one device then are buggy as hell on another one. Sometimes this gets fixed, sometimes it doesn’t. It depends on the popularity of that device and the resources the development team has.
Although Adobe is no longer actively developing the [Flash] player for Android, Blackberry or Symbian devices – and never released it for Apple iOS or Windows Phone handsets – it has said it would continue to offer security updates and bug fixes for existing versions until September 2013.
When you finish watching an episode of a TV show, we’ll minimize the credits and tee-up the next episode. If you do nothing, the next episode will start to play in 15 seconds. You can also stop it to get more information or select another episode.
Jim Dalrymple and Dan Benjamin talk about a unibody iPhone, Apple’s cable television patent victory, Origin going multiplatform, the iBookstore changing the game for textbooks, more of the Samsung v. Apple lawsuit, as well as a new one for Apple with Microsoft, and rabid beavers.
How far would you go to get a bird’s-eye city view while swimming? If you’re staying at the Holiday Inn Shanghai Pudong Kangqiao, you’ll get to take a dip in their glass-bottom pool, which appears to be suspended in mid-air as it partially hangs over a 24-story drop.
Business Insider, CNet, ZDNet, eWeek, Gizmodo, and the rest (there really are too many to name) aren’t news organizations, they’re the online equivalents of 24-hour cable news noise networks with half the facts and one-third the personalities. These websites perpetuate a myth that they are well-informed, knowledgable news outlets that tell the world what it needs to know. What I’ve learned, however, is just the opposite: they’re ad-driven FUD machines that run on pageviews stolen from attention-deficient readers who would rather digest a shocking headline on a digital tabloid than read thoughtful commentary provided on an actual news site.
For many, the lure of an exclusive social network and the lust for reaching the masses will keep most attached to both services; including myself. As much as I would rather just be navigating to one unified service, App.net has the potential to disrupt my social experience. A disruption that can turn out to be pleasant surprise or another failed startup.
Joe brings up some good points about App.net. It’s intriguing, but right now people are splitting their time between the two. Until it gains critical mass, we really won’t know how it will do. But the price — any price — may stop that in its tracks.
Many have asked if I supported App.net. I tried but something happened during the sign-up process. I contacted them via the support email and tried on Twitter to get a response, but never heard back. So, no I didn’t pay for the service, but I would have.
Feral Interactive has announced the forthcoming publication of a Mac version of LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, slated for release on Thursday, September 6. The game will cost $29.99 and will be available in the Mac App Store and through other download sites.
This new title features characters from the DC Comics universe beside just Batman – it also features Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Robin, as well as bad guys like the Joker and Lex Luthor. Batman and his super hero allies must team up to save Gotham City from the Joker’s latest evil plans.
Each super hero has unique powers and equipment – Superman has super strength and freeze breath, while Wonder Woman is equipped with her golden lasso and Green Lantern has his power ring. Batman and Robin, predictably, have an array of gadgets to help them too.
The game features an “open world structure” that lets players explore Gotham City however they’d like. And like recently LEGO games, LEGO Batman 2 sports a single-player mode and a cooperative multiplayer mode that lets other players drop in or drop out whenever they want.
Greg Price has been doing Ozzy’s live setup for a lot of years, so he knows what he’s talking about. He lists the mics used and the plugins he uses on each channel. He even gives you the presets to download for each plugin. I’ve known Greg for a number of years and he is an incredibly talented audio engineer.
I looked on my server, and there was a whole other website squatting on my domain, selling vpn access to god knows who out of who knows where. I’d been hacked.
The ‘460 patent protect elements of email and photo browsing in a camera-equipped device. Specifically, it covers three different functions: sending a text-only email, sending an email with an attached photo, and stepping through different photos in a gallery mode. According to Dr. Yang’s testimony, the iPhone 4, 3G, and 3GS — along with the iPad 2 and fourth-generation iPod touch — all infringe the patent on both iOS 4 and iOS 5.
It’ll be interesting to see how Apple argues this.
A Samsung Electronics designer testified on Tuesday that she didn’t copy Apple when creating the icons for the Galaxy line of products. “Not at all,” senior user experience designer Jeeyuen Wang said, through an interpreter.
Oh, okay then, let’s just cancel this trial and move on because they look NOTHING LIKE APPLE’S.
“iBookstore is a game changer,” Hermes told The Loop. “We have a depth of high-quality content and the iBookstore allows us to be on a level playing field with the big publishers. No other platform would allow us to have our textbooks on that level and give users a choice.”
YourTeacher has been around for a decade, specializing in helping students learn math, but it wasn’t until Apple released iBooks Author that they entered the digital publication market. Using their existing content, Hermes said they put together textbooks they thought would help kids learn in a better way.
While it would have been difficult, or nearly impossible, for a small company like YourTecacher to compete with the big textbook manufacturers, iBookstore has opened the door for companies of all sizes.
With a company tagline of “Your Personal Math Teacher” Hermes and business partner Mike Maggart took the idea of an interactive textbook and added a teacher. Using video in the textbooks, students can get help whenever they have a problem, and practice widgets let them know how they are doing as they make their way through the book.
“We don’t dwell on how interactive or how cool it is,” said Hermes. “We’ve just taken the teacher and built it into the textbook. It’s not about this incredible layer of interactivity, it’s about having a teacher there to help you if you need it.”
Of course, using technology in the classroom is not new. School districts have been buying laptops for students for over a decade, but they never lived up to the promise based on the feedback Hermes received.
“I think the whole iPad thing is different for kids and schools,” said Hermes. “The response has been so overwhelming and different from what we got with laptops. This is really changing things.”
With the iPad and iBookstore leading the way, Hermes believes we’ll see even more small publishers entering the market over the next 3 or 4 years.
“Apple took a sledgehammer to the old model,” said Hermes. “Now the consumer or school can test a free chapter from iBookstore and decide for themselves what they want to buy.”
EA’s answer to Steam, digital distribution service Origin, will be coming to Mac, Android and Facebook soon, as well as smart TVs.
The news came from Peter Moore, EA’s COO, during his keynote speech at Gamescom, the annual video and computer game show in Cologne, Germany.
Origin lets users buy and download EA video games directly from EA, rather than going through another game store. At the moment it supports PC and console platforms, but EA is planning to expand its reach.
EA games are already available for the Mac through the Mac App Store and through other online stores; the company has worked extensively with TransGaming to produce Mac versions of some of its titles, which TransGaming sells through its own GameTree Mac online service. It’ll be interesting to see how or if EA expands its offerings with this move.
