Hey Apple – Happy 15 years of MP3 Portable Music Player Awesomeness. Thanks for our 6.5oz – 5 GB – 1,000 song MP3 player that had the first original 20 minute skip protection with a Firewire chargeable battery that provided 10 continuous hours of music playback in an ultra-portable device that ultimately changed the world! I think we can all safely say the last 15 years was better then the 15 years that proceeded it … all due to the ability of rocking out to our own music anywhere we could possibly dream, on our iPods!
I remember my first iPod party … it took 2.5 days to continuously and randomly play all 1,035 songs on my iPod. Ironically, the final song played happened to be “Closing Time” by Semisonic. 2.5 years later Apple partnered with HP + Compaq to to introduce the first and only iPod licensed product called the “Apple iPod by HP”. What a bullshit move really, for Apple fanatics … but in reality it was genius. HP’s tagline at the time was “Invent” which was laughable, but in 2004 HP shipped over 30 million computers, which all had iTunes compounded with the iTunes Music Store as the default music player. The rest of the story … is just history.
[YouTubeUlar] <— 6,332
On March 5th, 2013 the Yard House decided to drop a new series of videos to support their "We Are Yard House" campaign they started a year ago. I'm not going to lie, this is rejuvenating to me because I feel as if Yard House was a dying brand in my book following their $585 million dollar sellout last year to Darden Restaurants (Red Lobster, Olive Garden, LongHorn, Bahama Breeze, Seasons 52, The Capital Grille, Eddie V’s).
At the turn of the century the Yard House was iconic into where I conducted a lot of business due to it’s atmosphere, music, beer and former leader Steele Platt. Steele created a very unique environment based on good music and beer. His automation ability to control all the music at all times in all of his restaurants using an iMac and MegaSeg was revolutionary and ahead of it’s time – kind of like his first restaurant project, the Boiler Room at the Tivoli in Downtown Denver.
Kids, you have to remember this was before your iPhones, iPods and iTunes and way before Apple owned the world. Free wireless internet was all the rage and to see someone who believed in technology (and beer) the way we do was refreshing. I remember emailing Steele from his Colorado Mills Yard House (opened in 2003) thanking him for the awesomeness he was creating, and I’m pretty we sent him an original iPod as a friendly gesture on behalf of Apple Rockies.
We eventually quit populating our bodies into the Yard House as time wore on… they initiated a 45 minute time limit on their free internet, removed the option to drink out of a full yard glass, and honestly – I think it just became a little too popular and busy for us. In no way is that a bad thing in business, but it certainly is difficult to maintain the same “cool” experience to your initial users as you move forward with sizing.
I have nothing against the Yard House, I just feel as if they haven’t reached out to me lately and their new “We Are Yard House” campaign finally fills that void. These stories are long enough to demand respect, which good work is granted, but short enough to keep my attention clicking through them.
[Vimeo] <— 5,786
I was lucky enough to meet Tony Fadell in 2002 at Apples World Wide Developers Conference. He was a busy guy... but we connected for a brief conversation about awesomeness. He went on to create some of the most amazing gidgets and gadgets we carry in our pockets at Apple and is now working on an automagically self programming thermostat that you just want to hold.
Cheers to 99% for standing him up and asking some decent questions.
[YouTubeUlar] <— 79,224
A nice little recap of the generation I was so fortunate to have grown up in. Thanks for sharing the wealth of knowledge in the biography of your life Steve Jobs. If you haven't read Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs... I suggest you try it out. But since I don't read, plan a gigantic road trip and listen to it like I did.
Walter Isaacson – Steve Jobs (Unabridged)
Apple just announced an entirely new iPod lineup, iTunes 10 and a little black box known as a new Apple TV.
Although I personally prefer my original 5GB scroll wheel iPod – It looks like another holiday season is is going to be stuffed with Apple in our stockings.
iPod Shuffle:
2GB – 5 Colors – $49
Now with buttons, VoiceOver and a built-in clip
iPod Nano:
8GB – 7 Colors – $149
16GB – 7 Colors – $179
Features Multi-Touch display, built-in clip and incredibly small
iPod Touch:
8GB – $229
32GB – $299
64GB – $399
The iPod Touch now has FaceTime, Retina display, HD video recording and Game Center
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