Tim Marman's Loosely Coupled

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• Another ironic Mac commercial

  We already know some of the ads in the Get-A-Mac campaign don't exactly make sense . The latest, "Counselor", seems particularly ironic to me. In the ad, the Mac says that the PC "is a wizard with numbers and dresses like a gentleman". The PC is able to say that the Mac is "better with creative stuff", but quickly qualifies such behavior as "completely juvenile and a waste of time". Wait... I thought Apple was the one running the slander campaign? Speaking of which, Apple and Microsoft really do need some counseling. Some of the 5.5G iPods were released with a virus , which Apple blamed on Microsoft because of its insecure OS. Microsoft, of course, said it was simply Apple's lackluster quality control . Let me just come out and say it - Apple wouldn't stoop to releasing a device that intentionally included a Windows-only security exploit to "prove a point", would they? I mean, sure, they'll have some lawsuits, but pretty effective marketing move... Posted Oct 19 2006, 02:33 PM by Tim with | with no comments Filed under: Rants, Security, Gadgets, Web 2.0, Marketing, YouTube, Apple, Advertising

• Buzzwords say all the wrong things

  As I've written in the past, I'm not a big fan of buzzwords because "they're vague, overbroad, ill-defined, and most of all trivialize what is really going on in the first place." Matt at 37Signals says there might be other reasons to avoid buzzwords . These buzzwords are often a mask. People who use them are covering up their ideas — or the lack thereof. They are overcompensating. They don’t have anything substantial to say so they try to use impressive sounding words instead. But people who abuse buzzwords don’t sound smart. They sound like they are trying to sound smart. Big difference. It's easy to use buzzwords and important-sounding words to gloss over your point when you don't really understand what you're talking about. It's a lot harder to be clear and concise. Aim for the latter. (Speaking of which, I'd recommend Plain Language for Lawyers , even if you're not a lawyer or law student). Posted Oct 10 2006, 12:23 PM by Tim with | with no comments Filed under: Personal, Web 2.0, Innovation, Marketing, Blogging, Recommendations