Best response to Westboro Baptist Church

Meet the students from Gunn HIgh School. The Phelps clan did.
[Via AMERICAblog]

I posted this video earlier this week at AMERICAblog Gay. The haters from Westboro Church decided to protest at Gunn High School in Palo Alto. But, the students at Gunn High were having none of the hate. These kids will make you proud.
[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/NEiwBCpiA0E]

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This is a great demonstration of what the First Amendment rights of even hate-filled groups should be protected. Using social media, an entire community came together to teach a lesson to young people that they will carry with them forever.

Singing stirring songs is always a better way than to return hate with hate You can usually get more people to show up for the former than the latter. Now with newer technologies make it easier to organize those people.

Denial of facts is the first step

by cliff1066™

Teabagger Revisionism
[Via Balloon Juice]

McClatchy has a good debunking of some of the “history” that teabaggers believe is fact.

Some examples: Teddy Roosevelt was a socialist, Joe McCarthy exposed liberals for the communists that they really were, Jamestown was a socialist settlement, and Alexander Hamilton was a small-government conservative.

And don’t miss this Bachmann gem:

It’s long been debated how well Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal government programs countered the Great Depression, but now a prominent conservative has introduced the idea that Roosevelt CAUSED the Depression.

“FDR took office in the midst of a recession,” Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., told the Conservative Political Action Conference in February. “He decided to choose massive government spending and the creation of monstrous bureaucracies. Do we detect a Democrat pattern here in all of this? He took what was a manageable recession and turned it into a 10-year depression.”

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Yep, something like 14 straight quarters of negative growth and an unemployment rate over 25% BEFORE he took office was simply a manageable recession.

I also like the idea that Jamestown, funded by by a corporation , was founded by a bunch of socialists. Or that the principle author of the Federalist papers, Alexander Hamilton – who favored a strong central government – was in fact not in favor of a strong central government. Or that Teddy Roosevelt was a socialist whose policies started the current destruction of the US. Or that McCarthy’s spy hunts have been vindicated, making him a hero.

Creating their own history is often a necessary process for creating cohesion of many groups. I just wish they were not rewriting history in order to do that.

Something for the artists

by patricio villarroel

iPad version of Brushes comes into view
[Via Macworld]

Remember all the excitement surrounding the New Yorker magazine cover that was painted with an iPhone app? That was Brushes, and the whole concept of a magazine cover being created on a mobile device caused quite a stir last spring.

Now, from Steve Sprang, the maker of Brushes, comes Brushes—iPad Edition, giving you the luxury of more space with which to create your own magazine cover—or any other design that strikes your fancy. Brushes—iPad Edition gives you a similar degree of artistic goodness as its iPhone companion.

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You can follow what people have done with Brushes at their Flickr Group. It could be a lot of fun to be sitting on a park bench with an iPad creating art.

And, the software remembers your brushstrokes so you can create a video of the art’s creation. Here is a nice example:

I wonder how this will change the creation of digital art? Here are a few more pictures from Flickr, all done on iPhones or iTouchs so far:

by jimblodget

by Benjamin Rabe

by RubensLP

by Chaaruzu 図

Almost like I was there

Inside the iPad launch-day hoopla
[Via Brainstorm Tech]

Even if you’ve seen it all before, it’s hard not to get caught up in the excitement

The double gauntlet. Photo: PED

A few minutes before the doors of Apple’s (AAPL) Fifth Avenue store are scheduled to open, weird noises — hoarse shouts and rebel yells — emerge from the big glass cube.

At the sound, hands holding LCD screens pop like dandelions out of the waiting throng, which by now must have swelled to at least 500 or 600.

Someone starts a countdown, a big cheer erupts, and suddenly we’re moving forward, headed toward a double gauntlet: Blue-shirted Apple employees on the right, clapping and cheering. Grim-faced camera crews on the left, trying to capture the madness on videotape.

And then we’re in, stumbling down the famous glass spiral staircase, greeted by a sea of blue shirts and still more cameras.

The actual purchase of the iPad couldn’t have been more efficient.

Down the spiral staircase. Photo: PED

9:05: I’m ushered to a station at the Genius Bar, where a friendly face asks me what model I want (16GB, $499). I’m handed a box from a big stack.

9:06: A second face, this one on a guy named Arlo, takes me aside, accepts my credit card and asks a few questions. (Accessories? No, thanks. $30 off on a two-year extension of my MobileMe account? Sure, why not. AppleCare protection plan? Not until I clear it with the powers that be.)

9:08: Arlo hands me his tricked-up iPod touch so I can scratch something resembling my signature with a blunt forefinger. He shows me the total: $618.41 for iPad, MobileMe and tax.

Gulp. OK.

Camcorders at the ready. Photo: PED

9:09: I have my iPad — or rather, Henry Luce’s — and a printed receipt for my expense report. A quick pit stop, and I’m on my way.

Outside, anybody with a white Apple bag is getting ambushed by the media. It’s a feeding frenzy. I do my bit for CNNMoney and head as quickly as I can for the nearest Starbucks.

Soon, but not until after I’ve filed this, I’ll get to crack open the shrink wrap and play with my — or rather, Time Inc.’s — iPad.

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This is a great description. Elmer-Dewitt almost gave us a live blog of the event in New York. He had a reservation and was out of there in less than 10 minutes. Wow! How many other organizations could have so effectively dealt with this sort of crowd? I wonder how long it takes for those without a reserved iPad?

He had been in line since 6:15, when there were 136 people in line. By 8, the line was about 300. There were people who traveled internationally to be in New York in order to get in line.Not may products could do this. One of them said this:

Vermaak, who coaches rugby for Harlequins, one of the oldest rugby clubs in South Africa, says he’s got the best reason of anyone here to buy an iPad. He’s going to store video clips of rugby games on it so he can show the players what they’re doing right and what they’re doing wrong.

“You wait,” he says. “In a few years, all the NFL coaches will be carrying iPads.”

Instead of taking Polaroids and printing them out, the assistant coaches could just send them to the iPads along the sidelines during a game, perhaps permitting live streaming in slow motion of previous plays. Not bad.

[Listening to: 25 or 6 to 4 (Remastered LP Version) from the album "Rhino Hi-Five: Chicago - EP" by Chicago]

Many Bothans died to bring us this information

from Fix-it

iPad teardown reveals a ‘gorgeous,’ symmetrical interior
[Via AppleInsider]

Soon after its release on Saturday, iFixit began their teardown of Apple’s new iPad, and discovered a hidden symmetry inside that the solutions provider said is “there for aesthetics alone.” The peek inside also revealed that both the NAND flash and custom Apple A4 processor were manufactured by Samsung.

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Well, not really but at least one iPad may have as the teardown comments included this – “You might break some tabs getting the display assembly off.”

Following the entire process at Fix-it is a lot of fun. They have such a good time doing something like this.

Best ad campaign ever

Apple reaps hundreds of millions of dollars worth of free iPad publicity
[Via MacDailyNews]

“The amount of free advertising that Apple has received for the new iPad is worth hundreds of millions of dollars over the last 48 hours alone,” Jason Schwarz writes for TheStreet.com.

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I don’t think I have ever seen a product launch that has carpet bombed almost every media outlet so effectively. Case in point – its placement in Modern Family. This was a genius move because, as opposed to most blatant product placements, which so obviously are out of place, the use of the iPad not only made absolute sense (Phil has shown himself to be a complete techno-nerd before) but its presence drove the plot forward in really funny and oh so true ways (Claire falling asleep instead of getting to the store at 5 AM to wait in line, getting in line but forgetting her charge card, losing her place in line because of the ‘line cutter’)

They could have used the search for almost any gift for Phil’s birthday and made a funny episode. But the use of the iPad added a relevance that enhanced the show, not distracting. Brilliant.

[Listening to: Deep from the album "Ten" by Pearl Jam]

I bet Microsoft waits too long

by net_efekt

Microsoft’s massive mistake: Trying to ignore Apple’s iPad
[Via MacDailyNews]

“Apple’s iPad represents one of the most powerful attacks on Microsoft’s Windows stronghold in history,” Jay Yarow writes for The Business Insider. “And Microsoft — the world’s largest software company — is ignoring it.”

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Not having Office for the iPad, not even working on it? Seems like a strategic mistake. I bet some of it comes from the pricing models. Microsoft sells several different varieties of Office ranging from about $100 to several hundred. If it creates an app version, it would probably have to drop the price a lot. And it would have to give Apple a cut, since that is Apple’s business model.

Lowering the price and giving Apple 30% probably does not mean Microsoft will make loads of money here, by its view. I would expect many of the big software houses feel similarly.

But to offer nothing? Apple is offering its ‘Office’ apps for the iPad. This will only increase their appearance in corporations. The app environment is ripe for small companies to produce products that are innovative enough to perhaps topple Office. At least the possibility is much more likely that really disruptive programs will come from this niche than from the mainstream software market.

So, why not simply provide a simple app that allows very simple Office tools and compatibility for the desktop office? It keeps their name in the game, makes them some money, would not really eat into desktop Office sales and perhaps preempts the appearance of a true competitor.

Adobe did this with a simple Photoshop-like app for the iPhone. If Microsoft waits too long, either Apple’s own suite will really take off or some other competitor may arise.

Since Microsoft has often been more reactive than proactive, I expect them to only move to the Pad when it looks like real competitors to Office have arisen.

[Listening to: I've Had Enough from the album "The Who]

The first in a long line of deals

by AMagill

Hyundai’s new Equus luxury car comes with Apple iPad loaded with ‘interactive’ owners manual
[Via MacDailyNews]

“Here’s a deal for automotive and electronics lovers alike: Buy a new Apple iPad for more than $50,000 and Hyundai will throw in a free luxury car,” Chris Woodyard reports for USA Today.

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So, all the owner’s material is placed on the iPad which comes free with the car. I think we will see a lot of such deals with a lot of different companies, even if they have to pay retail to Apple.

What happens when the car has a docking station for the iPad, allowing it to monitor and display fuel efficiency, tire pressure, trip calculator, GPS, stream music to the speakers and so on. It’s coming.

[Listening to: Hyperbole from the album "Three Cheers for the Broken-Hearted" by Glass Hammer]