VW – the Mac of cars

I was showing a friend my new Beetle the other day, and letting him spin around the block in it. He admired the interior, the gauges, the simple, painstaking design aesthetic and unique character that the Beetle embodies from top to bottom, and asked me sort of rhetorically, “It’s really sort of the Mac of vehicles, isn’t it?”I had to agree. Quirky, stylish, fun, lovable and generally hard-working. Pretty much sums it up.

Make your own hardware.

A day later, everyone is still raving about the Apple iPhone. I’m so glad they knocked it out of the park with this one. With so much anticipation, it would have been a major disappointment to do another ROKR flopr. Also so glad that Steve quoted his mentor, Alan Kay, in this week’s keynote, who said that “companies that are serious about making software should make their own hardware.”He must have had a change of heart after seeing how bad iTunes phones could be. That’s not a user experience Apple wants to promote. Or maybe he just remembered why they made their first Mac hardware and software together. Diluting control means diluting experience.

Virgin’s worldwide war on batteries

Saw that Virgin Airways is restricting the use of all Apple and Dell laptops until further notice. Got to keep your battery separate, wrapped, and in a bag away from your computer during the entire flight, until it can be determined that these batteries are no longer exploding and causing fires.Here’s the question — If I tape a bottle of shampoo to my Mac battery, and try to carry it on — can I get a free one-way ticket to Guantanamo?