I don't have empirical data to back this up, but am pretty sure that the people who were ranting about what a stroke of genius the iPod Shuffle was because it had no screen, randomness was good, that 512MB/1GB was just right for a flash-based MP3 player, and that no sensible person would want/need any flash-based MP3 player apart from the iPod Shuffle are now gushing their hearts out over the iPod Nano.

(insert customary refrain)

I remember my brother-in-law, a Mac whore, observing that the best product doesn't always win. He was referring to the Mac vs Wintel market share figures, and pointed out the VHS vs Betamax affair.

I guess you might say the same about the iPod. The Cult of Mac doesn't particularly care about the actual product itself.


Someone: you question maccies?
they will gush over anything that steve jobs produces
only apple can take a function [shuffle] that has existed for all time on cd players and mp3 players and turn it into a fugging lifestyle option

Someone else: that's the magic of apple. macham jedi mind trick.
Steve Jobs can shit in a bag, put it in a white box and sell it.

Someone (2): seriously..ipod doesn't even look nice :P


Someone else (2): no
because the battery still sucks

Me: nono
mac whores don't care about that


Usability consultant: I would say that iPods are 40% hype and 60% usabiliy
features matter little and Apple has proven it time and again

Creative refuses to get it
Why? Cos they are staffed by Engineers
Their boss is an Engineer
Their Marketing Dept is an Engineer
And having worked with Engineers alot I find I have to explain a lot to them why doing things from a User-centric POV is impt

Me: hahahahahaha
that's why Singapore CMI in the new economy
we have too many engineers

Usability consultant: not enuff humanities trained folk too
becos gahmen say science and engineering mo impt

then one day Indian and china came along and said
look! We got many of those and cheap too

Me: Do Science and Engineering, they said! Be a productive member of society and earn money they said! I'd rather be doing Liberal Arts!

***

Someone: me n some frens plan to set up a clothing biz
gonna call it M N G S T N
to jibe at all the mango apparel


Someone else on maths in a US university: some of the sample questions they give to me is so difficult i can't solve it

and there is a lot of stuff here they teach and test that is out of the syllabus in singapore like convergence and divergence of series...
groups.. blah blah.. even the fundamental theorems of calculus i've never seen before one lorh!

sg we assume differentiation.. here everything must prove by limits and sequences of summation

Me: haha
first principles ah
actually understanding the damn thing

in singapore we're engineers and technicians
there they're scientists and thinkers ;)

Someone else: they are not so concerned about the right answer or by the correct method.. more like using as many different possible methods to get the same answer

alot of stuff is based on proof.. deduction.. and assumption.. so its like.. stuff that even f maths is hesistant to test upon

its been interesting and eye opening