Domo, Makku Desu!!!

Ok, I can't wait till later and I have alot of time on my hands this morning.

Behold! My latest favorite commericals (I actually like all of them, but I can't obviously put them all up, however, if you guys want I will since I got the ones with subtitles):

As Fast as the Shinkansen

Holy crap, that was fast!

I brought in Ringo (my MacBook - figured I named it so I might as well use its name) to the Apple Store yesterday and everything was processed by 7pm. They call me later TODAY as in 4pm, several hours after my last post to tell me that it is already repaired and ready for pickup.

DANG! That is really fast. I was expecting a week minimum. Talk about Japanese efficiency.

So all the plastic is replaced, and no dirty palm marks/chips/peeling plastic to be found. Nothing wrong with the hard drive either. I wonder if the Apple people got a kick out of reading "ringo" in hiragana as my hard drive name, and if they got the pun.

So because I got my laptop - and fully charged to boot - I decided to make use of my train trip back home. Voila! The Tokyo blogs are finished. Please back track a few entries because like I said before, they are under their respective dates. Just a warning, it's a bit of a read because I got about 6 pages on word with Times New Roman in 12 with the standard margins.

Enjoy! I know I will enjoy the results of Ringo's cosmetic surgery.

Faulty Plastic

So I go to the Apple Store in Osaka. I got onto a local train after my koto lesson and realizing that I might not making it in time for my appointment so I called Ingram who was luckily at home and rescheduled my Concierge appointment. Turns out I was able to connect to a rapid train and actually arrived at 6pm. However, I still had to wait a bit. No problem.

Turns out, the reason why I had to wait was because there is a Genius at the Genius Bar that actually spoke fluent English. I had a sense of this in Apple Ginza, because there was actually a foriegner working at the store. I was a bit surprised to say the least and maybe a little perplexed and ticked off? Me being foriegner sometimes equals `no speak Japanese` so people get into a tizzy.

However, in the case of Apple no one went into a frenzied tizzy that was visible at least, and that I appreciated. I even told the guy I was prepared to go over the problems with my MacBook in Japanese, since he saw me write my address in kanji. That is what gets them - when Japanese people see me write my address in full kanji and in the proper Japanese way then they realize that yes, I do speak Japanese and yes I live here. Interesting thing is, all my information on my MacBook is in their system, and I got the laptop in the United States.

So problem 1 - the piece broke off the palm rest. Problem 2 - I got the first generation MacBook and people complained that the palm rests got dirty too fast. Apple finally recognized that it was a faulty part and not the consumers fault; I asked the Genius if Apple Japan does that too and he sad yes. I had been meaning to call Apple or go to Apple OSaka about that problem but it just seemed so nit-picky that I didn`t really bother. So in a way, that piece breaking off was a blessing in disguise.

Problem 3 - the part surrounding my screen was a little dirty where the magnets in the lid were...in sum, all of the plastic on the keyboard and surrounding the screen was faulty. It was even starting to pop off on the lower left hand corner, which I suddenly realized as I saw the side of my laptop.

I didn`t even need my Apple Care because my laptop was still in warranty (so maybe I jumped the gun when I got it? Oh well, better be safe than sorry) so I did`t have to pay for a thing. Except maybe train fare. Genius and I talked a bit about the weather in Japanese, and he complemented on my desktop wallpaper which was a photo of Santorini (a very belated thanks to Libby as I downloaded it off her Flickr). He even laughed at the name of my hard drive, which was `Ringo` - written in hiragana.

No laptop for a week. I got Chen`s library card so that I can use the Kyodai library when I am not at Rits (seriously, too far and it is actually CLOSED on Sundays) and my user id still works on the computers which is good because I have to prepare for my presentation soon.

But on the bright side, Apple is going to to a whole system check as well, and I practically get a brand-new looking computer. Apple always does hard drive checks; when my sister brought in her PowerBook because a piece of the plug got stuck in the socket to charge her battery, sure she had to pay about $200 (because she doesn`t have Apple Care, I think she has it now) but got a whole new motherboard and hard drive because when they checked the hard drive, Apple discovered that there was something wrong that was undetectable (I think it was the way the hard drive/motherboard was mounted in the computer), leading to a possible total breakdown of the computer that would be totally unrepairable - or cost a sh*tload of money. So she practically got a new computer for $200.

In other Apple news, the iPhone came out. Obviously, just in the States so the only hype I see is from the news, but personally I might get the Helio Ocean when I go back to the States. Its cheaper, has 3G and is from a South Korean cell phone company. South Korean cellphones are amazing - you can even watch live tv with them and its the same in Japan.

A Decade of Resonating, An Afternoon of Boredom

It's raining out and while listening/watching to my CNN/ABC/NYTimes podcasts, (I really wished I knew how to knit so I can do something with my hands other than play video games and fiddle with the blog) I came across the 1997 article by Wired entitled "101 Ways to Save Apple." As I was reading the list, I was intrigued at how some of the things (not all, and I am too much of a Mac newbie to get all the subtleties) are resonating in one degree or another 10 years later (my comments/reaction in parentheses):

2. License the Apple name/technology to appliance manufacturers and build GUIs for every possible device - from washing machines to telephones to WebTV. Have them all use the same communications protocol. Result: you monopolize the market for smart devices/homes. (Can anyone say "iPod" and placing the "i" in front of practically anything in spoofs, and the soon emergence of the iPhone?)

7. Don't disappear from the retail chains. Rent space in a computer store, flood it with Apple products (especially software), staff it with Apple salespeople, and display everything like you're a living, breathing company and not a remote, dusty concept. (Well, with the Apple stores the "coolest" place to hang out these days and the place to get your Mac fixed - I actually called the one on 5th Avenue in a panic the night I got my computer because Apple Care was closed and 5th ave is 24/7, AND I got people to help me - this idea is actually one-upped. Sure, the retailers have spiffy little Apple sections, but when one willingly schleps from Kyoto to Osaka and spend all the money on train fare to get your iPod from the actual Apple store, you know Apple was really on to something there).

12. Build a fire under your ad agency. People don't need warm, fuzzy infomercials about the Mac family. And who cares what's on Todd Rundgren's PowerBook? People want to know about power (the CPU kind, not George Clinton's), performance, and price.
13. Exploit every Wintel user's secret fear that some day they're going to be thrown into a black screen with a blinking C-prompt. Advertise the fact that Mac users never have to rewrite autoexec.bat or sys.ini files. (I put these two together because the new Apple campaign is downright funny and even better in Japanese - see Domo, Makku Desu" post - and at the same time drives the fear. In my case, it just makes my frustration more apparent and gives my a viable solution other than throwing the Vaio out my bedroom window. Look at the new ones about Windows Vista too.)

19. Get rid of the cables.Go wireless. (The Apple TV is pretty sweet.)

30. Reach forward by reaching back. Secure the hearts and wallets of college students through a highly targeted AppleLoan program. (Or rather, the incentive of free or steeply discounted iPods when buying a new laptop.)

31. Build a PDA for less than $250 that actually does something: a) cellular email b) 56-channel TV c) Internet phone. (Not quite there yet, but the iPhone is pretty close.)

34. Port the OS to the Intel platform, with its huge amount of investment in hardware, software, training, and experience. Don't ignore it; co-opt it. Operating systems are dependent on installed base; that is your biggest hurdle now. It is not the head-to-head, feature-set comparison between Windows and Mac OS. (MacBook, MacBook Pro and all the new ones that make people cringe and drool depending on the opinion. But my first Mac is the Intel MacBook, so I am drooling - especially when I upgrade my memory to 2GB either this or next summer.)

39. Build a laptop that weighs 2 pounds. (Well...close, but the MacBook is pretty sweet to tote about - at least I have my CD player with me now as opposed to the 6 pound monster that was the Vaio.)

53. Recharge your strategy for Europe, where the PC market penetration is lower than in the US and the population is educated and interested in high tech. There's an opening there that doesn't exist here. (Kinda hard when they are pretty pricey compared to the US prices and PC prices abroad. Some people even buy them while traveling to the US, as I remember in an old NY Times article from a long time ago, since the laptops can just use adapters, but it's different for computers. My old flatmate got a Mac after I told her about the Mac/iPod deal for students, but she paid a pretty penny for it compared to my friend who got the same Mac/iPod back in the States. And Japan/Asia likes teeny, tiny laptops.)

79. Exploit your advantage in the K-12 education market. That's the future. Most students use the computer as a true multimedia tool, and their technological expertise is very sophisticated, especially when compared to the typical business user. (My mom uses the new Macs at school, and prays for the day when our Dell dies so we can switch and truly become a Mac house. She says they are really easy to use for the kids.)

87. Price the CPUs to sell. Offer novice users the ability to enter the Mac market at a competitive price point and move up the power curve as their level of sophistication increases. The initial price keeps new buyers away. (There are more options now, but I know that I could have gotten a 'Wintel' laptop for much cheaper with the same specs. But I was tired of rebooting the Vaio about twice a year because the hard drive became so filled with crap - updates, HA! - and my hard drive crashed so I had to replace it. Pfft.)

101. Don't worry. You'll survive. It's Netscape we should really worry about. (Well, I don't know about NetScape but you can surely see that Apple is the cool kid on the block - or in the halls of school, the subway, along the Kamo River, washing your dishes, doing the laundry, at the gym, walking the dog...)

***

And for those that are against the whole iPod thing (picking up quite a bit in Japan, I am beginning to see the "white buds" everywhere in addition to the mp3 player remotes typical of Sony, etc.) and have very justified and understandable reasons why you think it's evil (mainly price and lack of a radio, sometimes I think about that too, but I don't listen to radio) - I was brought into it by 'force' (insert sarcastic/wry tone), one could say when I received an iPod as a gift. So, all my files are in the AAC format because I am stingy with my hard drive space and liked the idea that my music collection can be on the drive without taking up alot of space. I didn't want to de-compress all of my music, so when I needed a new mp3 player I pretty much stuck with Apple because it's easy to use, I could buy it in Japan and get English instructions, and damn, that little shuffle is so cute. Plus, it's really easy to switch between songs when you are riding your bike at top speed, but I really hate the new headphones, they keep falling out of my ears even when I smile.

You Know You`re a Mac User When...

...you are on AIM on a PC and you forgot all your friend`s screenames and get them mixed up, because on iChat you have it configured so that it shows the real name and not the screen name.

Also, when you are on a PC you unconsciously move the mouse to the upper right hand corner and get mad when nothing happens, because you have too many windows open and you just want to get to that particular one that you need in a flash.