RandomMaccess

The biggest problem with doing a show based on Elvis Presley’s life is that he became larger than life (and no, that’s not a “Fat Elvis” joke). The King of Rock and Roll became a legend that nothing (eventually not even he) could live up to, then sadly — a parody, a stereotype. How then (…)

Interesting post by Dan Frommer for Business Insider (via CNN.) I don’t disagree with most of the points made here, although I’m not sure I see a strong Apple presence in Social Media as critical. I would love to see more from the AppleTV, but it’s the networks, not Apple, holding back progress there. And (…)

The one-year anniversary of the iPad (I discussed it on a MacJury panel this week) and an episode of Shawn King’s Your Mac Life brought to mind a piece I wrote in 2004 to discuss the 20th anniversary of the Macintosh. Although the article is now seven years old, I think the analysis is still (…)

Speaking of Google, the company posted a job listing for an autocompleter today. The position is based in the company’s Mountain View, California headquarters and “obscure locations around the world.” Among the qualifications: Good typing skills (at least 32,000 WPM). Willingness to travel (in order to provide local autocompletions) or relocate to obscure places like (…)

Google today announced it was launching the beta version of its GMail Motion service, a “new way to communicate.” From the site’s webpage: The mouse and keyboard were invented before the Internet even existed. Since then, countless technological advancements have allowed for much more efficient human computer interaction. Why then do we continue to use (…)

Amazon launched an online storage and streaming service called “cloud drive” that gives 5GB of free storage space to users who have an amazon.com account. The service can be used as online storage space, but it also provides the ability to stream music to any web-enabled computer or Android device, according to the announcement. Users (…)

Harry McCracken on Technologizer with a great scoop on the “fans” featured in a promotional video touting Samsung’s new Galaxy Tab: (Two of the people) came off as performers dressed for their parts and parroting Samsung talking points. I couldn’t tell whether we were supposed to take the clips as a documentary or a mockumentary. (…)

RIM Co-CEO Jim Balsillie on carriers’ reaction to the company’s upcoming lineup of phones, during yesterday’s earnings call: “Their jaws dropped — the carriers’. They love it. And the biggest risk that we have is getting it certified and getting it to market in a certain time.” And therein lies the problem: RIM and other (…)

The pricing on the New York Times recently announced digital subscription packages has a lot people scratching their heads. From The New York Times itself: Beginning March 28, visitors to NYTimes.com will be able to read 20 articles a month without paying, a limit that company executives said was intended to draw in subscription revenue (…)

On the tenth anniversary of the introduction of Mac OS X, I thought it would be fun to take a look at this RandomMaccess column from April 1, 2003 — an April Fool’s Day look at an imagined reception of Apple’s then still-nascent operating system: “I blew it. It’s as simple as that,” said a (…)