Apple Needs to Take Bold Action

We know this company for the Mac computer, iPod, iPhone, and iPad. All were leaders in technology.

Many people do not believe that Apple (AAPL) will be a leading innovator now that Steve Jobs has passed away. There are flaws in that thinking. Steve Jobs lead the company through some serious mistakes and the company did thrive despite those events. Those bad decisions did impact company earnings and Apple’s reputation. Some examples below.

Sticking with AT&T as an exclusive partner for too long

If only Jobs had pulled the plug on Apple’s exclusive relationship one year earlier, the U.S. smartphone landscape might be radically different. Motorola released the first DROID phone for Verizon at the end of 2009. It was the first Android phone that we remember seeing in the wild. It was Verizon’s answer to the iPhone.

Emailing an iPhone 4 customer to say, “Just avoid holding it in that way,” was a mistake

Apple had its sterling reputation severely tarnished by Antennagate. The iPhone 4 became synonymous with dropped calls and signal problems. (Sneer if you want, but when we’d pull out the new iPhone a lot of people would ask us if we could even use it to make phone calls.)

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, needs to go Bold. That translates to taking on some new ideas for new products and extraordinary improvements for existing products. He can do it! The question is: Will he do it?

Performance Enhancing Drugs Used by Athletes

AP source: Armstrong tells Oprah Winfrey he doped

At the beginning of this commentary I confess to not being a big sports enthusiast. I watch three to four football games each year. UCLA vs. USC, the Rose Bowl, the Super Bowl and one more time at random. I watch the World Series and the NBA finals.

I believe that the professional teams know that some of their players are using drugs to enhance their performance. They just don’t want to confront the issue. After all a Barry Bonds hitting run after run draws larger crowds to the games and that translates to more money.

Are all extraordinary performances the result of drugs? Of course not. However, if owners of clubs want to sustain their reputations they need to enforce the rules that they have created.

As to the Tour de France bike race. This is supposed to be an amateur race but clearly there is significant money to be earned. Besides the prizes that are as high as €450,000($601,000 USD) and there are the salaries for pro team riders that range as high as €190,000. The Seattle Times reported, “Amid a booming market for TV sports rights, the Tour could be worth as much as $1 billion, says Conor O’Shea, a media analyst in Paris at Kepler Capital Markets. Is it any wonder that Lance Armstrong would be taking drugs to win?”

Where are the screeners who check for drug use? Where are the owners, managers, and others who are responsible for keeping sports drug free? The answer is simple. Money and fame are more important than honesty.

Who cares? Not many people. They watch the sports for entertainment. The public will ultimately abandon events that are not honest. Example: no one in America takes wrestling (WWE) seriously because it is thought of as pre-planned entertainment.

Vampire’s Arrival Could Help Tourism

An Associated Press story by someone with an unusual name (by American standards), Dusan Stojanovic.

The article is abridged. Of course using the appropriate font.

Villagers in Zarozje, Serbia aren’t taking any chances now that Serbia’s most famous vampire, Sava Savanovic, is rumored to be looking for blood

ZAROZJE, Serbia – Get your garlic, crosses and stakes ready: a bloodsucking vampire is on the loose. Or so say villagers in the tiny western Serbian hamlet of Zarozje, nestled between lush green mountain slopes and spooky thick forests. They say rumors that a legendary vampire ghost has awakened are spreading fear – and a potential tourist opportunity through the remote village.

A local council warned villagers to put garlic in their pockets and place wooden crosses in their rooms to ward off vampires, although it appeared designed more to attract visitors to the impoverished region bordering Bosnia.

Many of the villagers are aware that Sava Savanovic, Serbia’s most famous vampire, is a fairy tale. Still, they say, better to take it seriously than risk succumbing to the vampire’s fangs.

Vampire legends have played a prominent part in the Balkans for centuries – most prominently Dracula from Romania’s Transylvania region. In the 18th century, the legends sometimes triggered mass hysteria and even public executions of those accused of being vampires.

Sava Savanovic, described by the Zarozje villagers as Serbia’s first vampire, reputedly drank the blood of those who came to the small shack in the dense oak tree forest to mill their grain on the clear mountain Rogatica river.

Milka Prokic stands at twilight on Friday with a garland of garlic and a wooden stake, in the village of Zarozje, near the Serbian town of Bajina Basta.

“If Romanians could profit on the Dracula legend with the tourists visiting Transylvania, why can’t we do the same with Sava?”

Richard Sugg, a lecturer in Renaissance Studies at the U.K.’s University of Durham and an expert on the vampire legends, said the fear could be very real. Stress can bring on nightmares, which makes people’s feelings of dread even worse. “The tourists think it is fun – and the Serbian locals think it’s terrifying,” he said.

Los Angeles Gallery Update

See addtional and improved photos taken on Hollywood Boulevard. It was great fun taking these pictures. Click on the Los Angeles Photo Gallery at the top of this page.

Kate Upton on Vogue Italia November 2012: Seductive

OK ladies this is my blog. I get to post what I want. I am getting tired of politics. I am looking forward to Tuesday November 6 so that we can focus on other things. One thing to focus on is pretty models. This is posted under Happiness and Good Mood because seeing a pretty girl do a modeling of clothes makes me happy.

Kate Upton photographed by Steven Meisel – Video by Gordon Von Steiner
Flip through the complete Cover Story on http://www.vogue.it: http://bit.ly/UqKkA1

Tablet Computers are the New “Must have” Device

This blog is still written using MS Word and I still love my 19″ desktop computer. That is not likely to change.

There were e-readers before the iPad but Apple made tablets the new ‘need to have” category. Suddenly Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s Nook had taken on new value. Actually the iPad did both of those devices a favor. They spurred them to improve the quality and capabilities.

We saw some Europeans in San Diego last summer (2011) with their tablets. I realized they knew where the restaurants were located and could obtain other worthwhile info you were on vacation. Dragging a 17” laptop to London and Paris this past summer was no fun. It’s old and slow too and that made it even more unpleasant.

When Microsoft announced their new Surface tablet this past August I knew I would have to consider this new connection to the world. Now Apple has announced their new iPad Mini that does not include a mini price tag.

Many potential iPad buyers may have been contemplating the purchase during this coming Christmas buying season. They might now buy the Mini to save some money. Apple will have diverted buyers and that means less profit. From a shareholder viewpoint this decision will impact the bottom line.

The challenge for me is to determine the size and capabilities that will fulfill my immediate needs and what future needs I might have.

The Father

Should Catholics riot over this silly story? I hope they don’t! Muslims need to learn to take jokes about their religion as silly words.

—

A little boy got on the bus, sat next to a man reading a book, and noticed he had his collar on backwards.

The little boy asked why he wore his collar backwards.

The man, who was a priest, said, ‘I am a Father.’

The little boy replied, ‘My Daddy doesn’t wear his collar like that.’

The priest looked up from his book and answered, ”I am the Father of many.’

The boy said, ”My Dad has 4 boys, 4 girls and two grandchildren and he doesn’t wear his collar that way!’

The priest, getting impatient, said. ‘I am the Father of hundreds’, and went back to reading his book.

The little boy sat quietly thinking for a while, then leaned over and said, “Maybe you should wear a condom and put your pants on backwards instead of your collar”.

Prayers for Obama

I received this cleaver tounge-in-cheek email today.

Obama Is the shepherd I did not want.

He leadeth me beside the still factories.

He restoreth my faith in the Republican party.

He guideth me in the path of unemployment,

For his party’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the bread line,

I shall fear no hunger, for his bailouts are with me.

He has anointed my income with taxes,

My expenses runneth over.

Surely, poverty and hard living will follow me all the days

Of my life, And I will live in a mortgaged home forever.

I’m glad I am American,

I am glad that I am free!

But I wish I was a dog,

and Obama was a tree!

Where does one get this sticker?

PRAY FOR YOUR PRESIDENT !

Psalm 109:8

My wife and I were in slow-moving traffic the other day and

We were stopped behind a car with an unusual Obama

Bumper sticker on its bumper.

It read: “Pray for Obama Psalm 109:8”

When we got home my wife got out the Bible and opened it

up to the scripture. She started laughing and laughing. Then she

read it to me. I couldn’t believe what it said.

I had a good laugh, too.

Psalm 109:8 ~

“Let his days be few and brief; And let others step forward to replace him.”

At last — I can honestly voice a biblical prayer for our

President! Let us all bow our heads and pray.

Brothers and Sisters… can I get an

AMEN! If you think you’re too small to make a difference, you haven’t been in bed with a mosquito.

Damn Women Drivers

This morning on the Interstate,
I looked over to my left and there was a

Woman In a brand new Cadillac Doing 65 mph

With her face up next to her rear view mirror

Putting on her eyeliner

I looked away For a couple seconds…

to continue shaving
And when I looked back she was
Halfway over in my lane

Still working on that makeup. As a man,
I don’t scare easily

But she scared me so much I dropped
My electric shaver Which knocked

The donut Out of my other hand.

In all the confusion of trying to straighten out the car

Using my knees against The steering wheel,

It knocked My Cell Phone Away from my ear

Which fell Into the coffee Between my legs!

Splashed, And burned Big Jim and the Twins,

Ruined the damn phone,Soaked my trousers, And disconnected an

Important call.

Damn women drivers