There has been far too much written about Apple and the iPhone 4; however this is the one article that’s worth reading.

“Every recent consumer electronics product from Apple—definitely the iPad, but all iterations of the iPhone including the initial one—has been greeted with rounds of articles crowing about what an arrogant, foolhardy mistake it is and how this will finally, finally, be the moment the emperor is revealed to have no clothes. And ultimately this is what’s so infuriating about Apple: that’s not what happens. Ever. The critics are eternally playing the part of Charlie Brown trying to kick the football, and Steve Jobs always yanks it away at the last second. Nobody talks about making a “Nexus One killer” or an “HP Slate killer” or a “Zune killer”; Apple’s consumer electronics products become the reference points for their fields. The Mac isn’t an exception here, either. While it’s by no means a market leader, Windows became far more Mac-like over the years than the Mac became Windows-like.”

The Emperor’s New Antenna.

At the age of twelve or thirteen I wrote letters to my grand-father every couple of months. I never wrote enough and I regret it but…

The main subject of discussion was Ayrton Senna. I always talked about the fashionable driver of the day. My grandfather was unchanging in his admiration for Senna.

As with almost everything, he was right and I was wrong. Top Gear reminded me of the fact. He would have enjoyed this week’s tribute. As an aside, he’d hate what Top Gear has become.

Cars, driving, Jeremy Clarkson, James May, Richard Hammond – BBC Top Gear.

I remember watching the Monaco Grad Prix in disbelief. One handed Senna rewrote the book.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/50853/ayrton_senna_qualifying_monaco_91/

CHART OF THE DAY: The iPad Is Already Bigger Than The iPod — And Half As Big As The Mac.

It’s a really impressive graph, all the products either maintain or grow revenues.

Compare it with this…

http://blog.fosketts.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/chart-of-the-day-msft-operating-profit.gif

Note: the Microsoft one is profits and Apple revenues. But you get the idea.

The Other TaxPayers’ Alliance | Quote generator

The real Tax Payer Alliance are a strange bunch, all their quotes sound like the generator but they manage to get into an amazing number of articles on the web.

…hello, Aix en Provence.

So I’m sitting in the Gothic center of Barcelona reading this…

The image of a man you do not see – Roger Ebert’s Journal

And just to add to the mix, this morning I went and saw the German Pavilion; built by Mies.

I never liked the Tribune Towers or the Wrigley building. However, I love federal plaza but not IBM Plaza.

They look the same but they’re not!

Everything is about situation and the surrounding area. It’s why the Berlin Jewish Museum is so good and the Imperial War Museum in Manchester so bad; yet the actual buildings are so similar.

Try it again; Bilbao Guggenheim is amazing and the Walt Disney Concert hall a poor copy.

Which brings me back to Barcelona, it works because the mixture is mixed so well.

While I’m embedding video…

The Sandpit on Vimeo

Will anything ever sound this different?

Dangerous Minds | The making of 10cc’s I’m Not In Love.

After a short tour de France; Ile de Ré and Lourdes, we’re over the mountains and into Spain.

As child in the UK this was drummed into me at school before I reached the age of 12…

“If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;”

Rudyard Kipling

Fabrice Grinda: Musings of an Entrepreneur » If

I hated it then and it’s not improved with age.

Interesting to see someone taking it seriously. Madness.