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Switched On: Happy TOSgiving
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment: By reading this column, you agree to the following "TOS" (turkey over stuffing) between yourselves and the providers of the work known as "Thanksgiving". Providers of said work grant upon you an exclusive, non-transferable license to enjoy "Thanksgiving" for a period not to exceed 24 hours. During this time, licensee may participate in a range of Thanksgiving-related traditions, including reckless overeating, expressing enthusiasm for a team of burly men advancing toward a patch of grass, or watching giant, life-threatening monsters float toward you; in short, provider makes no guarantees that Thanksgiving will be significantly different from the regular activities of World of Warcraft devotees. Licensee may greet fellow community members using the term "Thanksgiving" provided it is preceded by favorable intent, such as "Happy Thanksgiving" or "Have a great Thanksgiving." Licensees need not disclose compensation received for spreading awareness of the Thanksgiving feast via word-of-mouth advertising through services such as PayPerPlate, but in such case, licensee agrees to comment positively on all such aspects of said feast, including but not limited to the texture of any string bean casserole. Licensee may engage in other non-traditional leisure activities over the course of the 24-hour period, such as completing viewership of movies downloaded from various digital rental services.
Switched On: In search of elegance
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment: In playing the three beats that define the waltz of Apple's digital music strategy, Microsoft has sought greater simplicity with the Zune. But that's not really what it's about per se. If you were to point a gun to my head and ask what is the one word I would use to characterize Apple's design goals since the first iPod, I'd say, "What are you, crazy!? Get that thing away from my head! You could hurt someone with that!" And then I'd scream as loud as I could. But if you were to simply ask without the firearms, I'd say, "elegance."Elegance differs from simplicity and even minimalism; words included in its definition include "restraint." and "grace," but also "opulence." iTunes and the iPod's surface and click wheel embody these words; the iTunes Music Store does not at this time, but its model does. Apple likely does not pursue minimalist designs for their own sake. Every time a company adds a feature to a product, it adds the opportunity to do it wrong. Zune was an opportunity for Microsoft to look at the subscription model that has bedeviled its PlaysForSure partners and exercise restraint. Instead, it must now deal with the complexity of accounts that it has further complicated with an abstract points system. It also forces consumers to choose between two music acquisition methods that compete with themselves on some level. Microsoft implemented RDS for the Zune's FM radio, but the information often comes in one-word chunks, or is contradictory.
Switched On: Resetting Sony's player-haters
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment Brian: I'm not the Messiah! Will you please listen? I am not the Messiah, do you understand? Honestly! Woman: Only the true Messiah denies His divinity. Brian: What? Well, what sort of chance does that give me? All right! I am the Messiah! Followers: He is! He is the Messiah!--Life of Brian
