Friday, September 19, 2014

What I Did NOT Expect To See Today

Home for lunch and and am browsing around the 'Net. 

Went to the ESPN home page and this feature story greeted me. 

I know that name.  He used to coach at NMSU. 

Certainly not everyday that you see an article of any type devoted to a former head coach of the Aggies.  In fact the vast majority of NMSU head football coaches vanish into seemingly thin air once their three years are up. 

And as I was telling someone the other day at a Rotary Club meeting, should my alma mater ever snag a guy who can make winning teams out of the material he has in Las Cruces, the bigger schools will quickly come a-knocking and he'll be out of there faster than you can say "buyout." 

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

And on the day following Apple's presentation...

I surf the web after coming home from work and learn Macworld laid off most of its staff.

And are discontinuing their print magazine.  (At least the online edition will still be around.  I need my thrice-weekly dose of the Macalope.) 

I'm not real surprised.  Just a few days ago I browsed through the latest issue (I do subscribe, given that our local high schoolers sell magazine subscriptions as part of their yearly fundraising.)  About two thirds of the way through the issue I noticed full page ads that were not ads at all.

Either they were promotional pieces for other IDG outlets or they were public-service oriented.

I've got the issue right next to me now.  Page 53?  "Stand Up To Cancer."

Pages 56-57?  Macworld podcasts and TechHive (also an IDG enterprise) podcasts. 

BTW, we're still in the main articles of the magazine.

Page 67?  Videogamevoters.org (fight for free speech!)

69?  ESRB.org (parents, make sure you know about video game ratings!)

73?  TechHive

77?  FEMA (brought to you by the Ad Council)

83?  The Nature Conservancy

89?  Subscribe to Macworld magazine on the iPad!!

And last but not least, on page 93 we have theshelterpetproject.org encouraging the readers who made it that far in the publication to adopt a pet from your local shelter.

None of these are wrong, they just seem significantly out of place given this publication has long been the leader of the pack in Apple coverage and analysis.

I'm glad the high schooler hasn't knocked at my door yet.  Would hate to have blown my hard-earned green to just get the November issue.  But lest you think I'm cold-hearted I am more than willing to renew my subs to Outdoor Life and Field & Stream.  It's nice to have several interests. 




Tuesday, September 09, 2014

You know I had to....

I haven't watched the entire Apple keynote from earlier today.  Hope to do that within the next day or two. 

Nice to see Apple doing what they do so well--recreating a product that you didn't know you wanted or needed until they roll it out. 

Over supper tonight I showed the Apple Watch introductory video (from Apple's own site) to Geogal and Geoana.  The 10-minute little film wasn't even over before Geoana stated she wants a Watch. 

And then Geogal posed to her Facebook that she was thinking of getting a Fitbit but will now wait for the Apple Watch to hit the market. 

For me?  The nerds in Cupertino introduced some more cool gadgets today however I am content to still purchase a Macbook Air and possibly follow that with an iPad mini.