Where's Al (Gore) Been?

Remember the last time you saw Al Gore? I'll bet he was wearing that beard he grew following the 2000 election.

I've always been an Al Gore fan, truth be told. Even though I didn't vote for him in '00, I've long thought he's a man of character and principle.

According to stories I'd read, after 2000 he returned to Tennessee, fired up a few Apple systems to write a book and hit the lecture circuit.

But do you know where Mr. Gore's really been? It's a fascinating story in flying under the radar, actually.

He cofounded Generation Investment Management, a company dedicated to environmentally friendly investing. And that's not it. He also took an advisory position with a dot-com in 2001. You remember the times; very few of those companies survived. The name of the one he joined? Google. And he hooked up with the company before its massively successful IPO.

But that's not it.

Later in 2001 he also teamed with Metropolitan West Financial, a financial firm, before joining Apple's board of directors 2003 (in time to ride Apple's rise to an all-time stock price high).

There's more.

He's also purchased a cable TV news network, then teamed with a former Goldman Sachs CEO to create an investment fund focused on sustainable energy principles. To top it off, he also stole headlines at this year's Sundance Film Festival with his new documentary An Inconvenient Truth.

Say what you want about Gore, but he's certainly been busy. While he may not have invented the Internet, he's certainly proving his entrepreneurial spirit.

Flickr's Gone Gamma

Flickr's made several tweaks to its UI and increased the number of photos that display per page. In addition, navigational elements have been moved to the page's right-edge.

All in all I'm undecided on the change's impact. I suspect the suits at Yahoo pushed some of the updates, but all I've really noticed is some delayed page load times (more data to load per page).

Still, Flickr's by far the best photo-sharing site out there. No one else is even close. Not bad for a site that's only in "gamma."

New MacBooks Released; Macs Less Costly Than Thought

Apple released the new 13-inch MacBooks today. The new laptops replace the old 12-inch G4s that, in my opinion, set a new standard for laptops.

The entry-level model (priced at $1,099) boasts a 1.83 GHz Intel Duo Core processor and a 60GB hard drive. The top end 2.0GHz model ($1,499) includes an 80GB disk (and comes only in black).

Each MacBook weighs 5.2 pounds, which makes me believe they're heavier than my G4. Supposedly the display's much brighter on the new models, too, but you won't find me parting with my PowerBook any time soon. I love it today as much as I did when I purchased it almost a year ago.

And, all those claiming Macs are too expensive may wish to review comments Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster released today. His research reveals Mac desktops are only 13 percent more expensive than Windows desktops and only 10 percent more expensive than Windows laptops.

You can read more on Munster's findings at CNET.

Ode To My Pogo

I bought it in 2000. Agonized over the decision, actually. A thousand dollars was a lot (always is). But I'd just signed a contract (it'd turn into a three-title deal, ultimately) with Coriolis and I needed an additional test system.

This thing was loaded from the get-go. A 1GHz Athlon CPU. Half-gig of RAM. CD burner. Twin 7200 RPM IDE HDs. A 128MB ATI All In Wonder Radeon card. Sweet.

The power supply went bad in 2002. Filled my office with dense acrid white smoke. Smelled like burnt metal for a week. Later the CPU fan would die. More than one hard disk died in this system.

I'll always remember reinstalling a new drive on September 11, 2001 after riding my LeMond home early from work (it was a bright beautiful blue Tuesday). My wife met me at the door and passed me a new hard drive that had arrived that morning (moments after the WTC was struck). Disturbing television coverage played in the background as I fired up Fdisk, partitioned the new drive and sat through yet another Windows install.

Diablo I and II helped pass anxious moments in 2001 (Dave Matthews played a post 9-11 charity concert as this PC fired up the American Red Cross donation site), layoff worries in 2002, the loss and arrival of loved ones in 2003, a burgeoning freelance business in 2004; you name it, I have history with this beige box.

Several upgrades saw added RAM, bigger disks, a DVD burner and more. This system, originally loaded with Red Hat 5 (I think it was) ran Windows 2000 betas (client and server), Red Hat Linux, Fedora Core Linux, Windows XP and even Windows Small Business Server in its late age.

But it began to slow. The Exchange store became corrupted. I couldn't add users. It'd reboot on its own.

The time had come. The Pogo was decommissioned this week after six years of dedicated service. Replaced by a 64-bit system that's twice as fast at half the cost, this Pogo deserves to rest in peace. It served me well.

Wal-Mart Seeks To Trademark Smiley Face Icon

Remember the old joke about Microsoft patenting ones and zeros? Well this story's no fib: Wal-Mart's aiming to trademark the smiley face icon.

Apparently the company began using the logo around 1996. Although the design became famous in the 1970s, Wal-Mart's claiming exclusive retail rights to the logo and has registered the smiley face as a trademark. The retailer claims it's invested heavily in identifying the icon with its brand.

Maybe they shouldn't have selected a design from the public domain?

I can't give them too much grief. Sam's Choice Dr. Thunder's pretty damn good. Tried it yet? Pick up a 12 pack. It'll cost you less than two bucks or so. And that's no joke.

:-)

Apple Wins Lawsuit Versus Beatles' Label

How appropriate that an old-school music label loses a lawsuit versus a new-age technology company in a trademark battle. It appears you can teach an old dog new tricks after all.

If you haven't been paying attention - and I can't say I blame you - Apple Corps. Ltd., the label that maintains the Beatles' commercial interests, sued Apple Computer Inc.

The complaint?

Apple Corps. claims Apple Computer violated a 1991 agreement not to enter one another's industries. Of course, Apple Computer's been using the Apple name and logo for 30 years. The technology company's original use of the trademark caused some hard feelings, but the two companies came to terms with the '91 agreement.

But then Apple launched iTunes and revolutionized the way music is delivered and consumed (dispute that all you want, but iPod sales have driven Apple's stock to an all-time high and the company's sold more than a billion - that's billion with a B - iTunes songs). That's what's really agitating Apple Corps.

So, they sued. And lost.

Instead of fighting the current and continually swimming upstream, music publishers should embrace the digital age and place electronic distribution of music at the forefront of their business models. Apple Corps. could take a wonderful step in that direction by making the Beatles' library of music available through iTunes. But it appears the company's still stuck in the seventies.

I, for one, am thankful Apple Computer isn't.

All's Well That Ends Well

Back in January I wrote about my concern for a juvenile Red-Bellied Woodpecker. We've seen him coming by the house for awhile, now, and I happened to catch him while I was working with the laptop out on the deck. It's good to see he's doing so well!