In the competition between PCs and Macs, we outsell Apple 30-to-1. But there is no doubt that Apple is thriving. Why? Because they are good at providing an experience that is narrow but complete, while our commitment to choice often comes with some compromises to the end-to-end experience.

Even though the iPhone 3G is all sorts of sexiness in a handheld device, memory is limited to 8GB and 16GB. That's fine for people with only 8 or 16 gigabytes worth of music and videos...but what about the rest of us? You got four options:

• Buy a bigger iPod or mp3 player
• Hold out a few months for a larger iPhone
• Manually drag and drop songs you like, one by one, onto your iPhone
• Use iTunes' Smart Playlists feature

I've used that latter option -- Smart Playlists -- for years, when I figured out a way to cram 24 gigs of music to a 4GB iPod mini.

The basic idea is this: you set conditions on what you want to hear and the Smart Playlists will automagically build itself. For example, I may want:

R&B, at least 3 stars, that have not been played in the past week.

To do this in iTunes, just click on File, then New Smart Playlist, and then fill it out accordingly:

Cool, huh? Now whenever you add music to your iTunes, as long as it matches these conditions, it will automagically get added to this Smart Playlist.

Here's what I did for my 4GB iPod mini back in the day:

Up to 4GB's of the most recently added songs that are rated at least 2 stars, that haven't been skipped in the last month, and haven't been played in the last week.

If you notice, I have Last Skipped and Last Played in there. These are what make it powerful; as I listen to music on my mini (and skip the ones I don't like), the Smart Playlist will essentially learn what I like/dislike and rotate in songs from my 24 GB library.

Easy as pie.

For more Smart Playlist ideas, check out SmartPlaylists.com

Kid Rock's reaction to Atlantic Records' request to denounce file sharing:

Wait a second, you've been stealing from the artists for years. Now you want me to stand up for you?

Kid Rock on downloading music illegally:

I don't steal things. I'm rich. [As for everyone else] download it illegally, I don't care. I want you to hear my music so I can play live.

Read on: Kid Rock Boycotts iTunes, Champions P2P

headbang:

Let's start with the basics:

• Black and White
• $200 for 8GB, $300 for 16GB
• Hits stores on July 11

Now for some of the stuff you probably don't know:

• $30/month for Unlimited Internet — The iPhone is significantly cheaper for two reasons, the first reason being the iPhone is now subsidized by AT&T. The cost of unlimited internet increased to $30/month, up from $20. $30/month times 24 months = $720.
• Good Luck Unlocking - Because AT&T is banking on your 2-year commitment, they're gonna be extremely anal about people trying to unlock their iPhones. In the previous model, you could buy the iPhone from the store, bring it up and activate it (or hack it). Now, just like any other phone, you have to get it activated immediately after you sign up with AT&T.
• GPS = Convenient, Stalkerlicious - With the built-in GPS, you're gonna see all sorts of apps that take advantage of geo-location (knowing where you are). When you take pics, it'll know your exact coordinates of where you took the pic. Want to see reviews of all the restaurants around you at any given moment? Done. Want to track where your friends are? You could fire up an app and see their locations on Google Maps. "Dude, why the fuck are you at my girlfriend's house?!"
• 32GB by February? - Apple is pretty good about updating their products at regular intervals. iPods tend to get updated in September in preparation for the holiday season. September is a little too soon for an update, especially since the 3G isn't hitting stores until July 11. But January is a nice time to introduce an update because that is when Apple holds its biggest conference.

My final verdict:

People that have an iPhone...just keep it. Have a little self-control (I know, it's hard) and hold out for the next minor update, which should be coming sometime early next year.

Everyone else? $200 and $300 is a fucking STEAL compared to all the other stuff that is out there. It's an iPod + a phone + a web browser + a portable YouTube player (which is great for laughs at parties). All you Facebook whores will love it too.

As Josh pointed out the other day, Time Warner is launching a test program where they will throttle down people's internet, enforce a bandwidth cap, and charge for overrages.

What does this mean to you?

This means that ISPs (Internet Service Providers) are planning on controlling what you can and cannot do on the internet. This means that they can choose what sites you can and cannot visit. This means they want to kill the fastest, greatest, most democratic form of communication the world has ever seen.

And this isn't the first time in history we've seen this happen.

When radio first came out, anyone and everyone be their own radio station. They could broadcast freely, speak their mind and do whatever the hell they want. Freedom of speech at its finest.

And then the FCC came along and said, "Alright, no more pirate radio. If you want a radio station, you have to pay us a shitload of cash." So what happened? All of the fun, off-the-wall, liberal-minded radio stations were shut out.

The same exact thing happened with television. Look at it now...the media controls the information that the public consumes.

FOX Television have a problem with Ron Paul? No problem! They just cut him out from debates and downplay anything significant he does.

George W. Bush wants to impose Martial Law? No problem! Just don't mention it in the news.

Does Ron Paul really know what he's talking about? Does Bush really want to impose Martial Law? Maybe, maybe not...but either way, we don't get to decide for ourselves because the media controls what we see and hear.

So back to Time Warner...let's say that this Time Warner experiment is profitable. If other ISPs buy into it, the internet you know and love today could become like cable television:

Facebook and Google? No problem! Just pay for the basic internet package and you're good.

Little sites like the577.com and www.melmyfinger.com? Sorry but by 2012, you might have to pay a premium to keep enjoying 'em...

While the RIAA tells you it's illegal to rip your music CDs to your iPod, proposes a $5/month Music Tax and an iPod Tax, Trent Reznor says "download it, remix it, share it, post it on your blog, play it on your podcast, give it to strangers, etc"

Here's what the official website says:

as a thank you to our fans for your continued support, we are giving away the new nine inch nails album one hundred percent free, exclusively via nin.com.

the music is available in a variety of formats including high-quality MP3, FLAC or M4A lossless at CD quality and even higher-than-CD quality 24/96 WAVE. your link will include all options - all free. all downloads include a PDF with artwork and credits.

for those of you interested in physical products, fear not. we plan to make a version of this release available on CD and vinyl in july. details coming soon.

I'm not a particular fan of Nine Inch Nails, but I'm a huge fan of people that stick up for the little guy.

Thank you, Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails. You guys fucking rock. :bigthumbup:

Record labels must be getting desperate. First the RIAA proposes a $5/month taxation to be added to internet connection bills because, apparently, everyone is a pirate. But now the UK music industry is demanding a tax on iPods and other Mp3 players.

Fuck that shit.

disappointed:

Don't worry, the design is stripped down just for the day. Here's the explaination by Lorelle:

This is the third year of the annual CSS Naked Day which honors web design and designers around the world who help make our websites and blogs look "pretty" to the eye while still being totally functional under the hood. Dustin Diaz wanted to give the web world an opportunity to remind everyone of the benefits of CSS web page design. By removing the stylesheet for the day, the world would see naked web pages, giving a little more appreciation for the skills of web page designers.

As explained yesterday in the Blog Herald announcement of CSS Naked Day, this is also an opportunity to showcase how usable and accessible your web page structure is even without the pretty, reminding the world that it is the law that your website must accessible by everyone using any method to access your blog.

Over 1814 blogs are participating! (I'm #974!)

Something bad happened at work the other day. A big folder for one of our projects was deleted. Nobody knows how, but it just magically disappeared. The backups we have of that folder also disappeared. Months of man-hours, by multiple coders, just went bye-bye.

Fuuuuuuck.

But wait, there's some good news and bad news.

Good news. There was one sole surviving backup, tucked away safely on an old server.

Bad news. The backup is over three months old.

We've employed the services of a data recovery specialist (the same kind of forensics that the CIA and FBI use). But that shit is hella expensive and can take a few days. Even then, 100% data recovery is not realistic.

Luckily, we have notes, bits and pieces of our work on our personal computers. It'll take a few days, but we'll be able to recover.

The point I'm trying to make here is the importance of backing up your shit. And no, I'm not just talking about your work, mp3s and porn. I'm talking about the important shit like your digital photos.

A few months ago I read someone's Facebook status message that said, "[I'm] depressed cuz my computer died and lost all my photos."

disappointed:

Work can be redone. Mp3s can be re-downloaded. And porn really isn't that important.

But those photos you've been taking on your digital camera of all your since high school -- shit like your graduation, your wedding and the birth of your first born -- are absolutely priceless. Photos are something that should last for the rest of your life. Something that you can show to your children and your children's children. Not backing up your stuff is just as bad as taking all of your parents old photo albums, putting them out on the sidewalk and hoping nothing bad happens to them. That's just retarded.

And to those of you who don't know, lemme tell you something about hard drives -- they will die on you. 100% guaranteed. The same way that a car engine will break down completely.

So please, do yourself a favor. Buy an external hard drive and use some kind of backup software. Or use an online backup service like Mozy.com (secure, unlimited space for just $5/month).

I use both. :bigthumbup: