I am really high as I write this--over 30,000 feet, I guess.  I have spent the last week in Tokyo for work and finally--finally--have, well, at least a few hours in which to try to sum up the last couple of weeks.  Let's see what I can do.

 

MacWorld 2007.

 

yeah, a lot of people have written about it.  I have been asked about it a lot this past week (I was in Tokyo doing press interviews, which is easy to type, but believe me, it was totally, totally cool; maybe I can talk about that later) and I might as well just say that I think the iPhone is probably the first truly 21st century technological advance, at least in the consumer market.  It's a complete sea-change, this is the world of William Gibson and Neal Stephenson, at least inasmuch as how we are always connected to each other through technology 24x7x365, that kind of pervasive network idea is concerned.  (A clumsy sentence, I know, but I am really cramped in this terrible seat, still a bit jet-lagged and I want to get this out!)  I am looking forward to seeing what the iPhone looks like in about 3 years, to be honest.  I think it's a good 1.0, but there are several things that has to happen for it to be a true success, the key one being that it has to be an open platform that other people can develop for.  Apple cannot own this product, it has to be--it is--a fully realized device, with its own operating system and Apple can't do everything on its own, as much as they would have the consumers believe.  I think it's too expensive, I am not convinced that people actually want a $500 device that is all screen (maybe that's just my clumsiness talking...I have been joking that I not only drop my cell phone, but I drop it and then kick it under the car into a puddle).  It's too big, it's a little too flashy for grittier areas...but who knows?  I still think it's cool, I just am taking it for what it is--the beginning of something totally new.  It's a brave product and I am looking forward to seeing what people do with it.

 

Very quickly, I stand by my previous post about the AppleTV.  I think it's way too much for way too little.  I assume that Apple will be introducing HD downloads, otherwise I think this thing is DOA.  I can already buy HD movies using my Xbox 360, I see no reason why people will be interested in blowing up iPod video (640x480) on their HDTVs.  By the way, I cannot believe that you have to use an EDTV (640x480) tv with the device!  That's insane.  Plus, you can't play just any video you get from the web, it's only the stuff you get from the iTunes Store.  I think this will change.  At the very least, in order for this thing to succeed, it has to have a tuner (apple tivo, please?) and it should be a wireless basestation as well.  I have no idea why anyone who owns an airport express would buy this thing and I doubt consumers will understand why they need it.  This is NOT a new way to watch TV at all.  It's just silliness.  Apple needs to realize that when you start hooking up boxes to TVs, people are suddenly having "living room" conversations, not computer ones. They start asking questions normally reserved for the kids at Best Buy and the otaku at Circuit City. The Apple reps at MacWorld were woefully ill prepared for the show and I could see a lot of them saying "uhm...no" to skeptical attendees.  Still, there's an idea there--Apple needs to be in this space--Steve just has to admit that people do want to watch TV and go from there.  If talking on the phone was the killer app for the iphone, watching TV--real TV--is the killer app for AppleTV.

 

No new machines, no new word on 10.5, best Keynote in recent memory, no real announcements..not much of a show.  It was all about the iPhone and that's fine. Let's see what happens over the next few months.  I don't think Apple is going to rush 10.5, by the way.  Everyone knows that Vista sucks and is just a redo of Mac OS X 10.2.  Everyone knows this and they are starting to buy Macs. Rushing out 10.5 would not be doing anyone any favors.  If anything 10.5 has to be the most stable OS release in their history--everyone is going to be paying a lot of attention to it.  Please don't rush this, guys; we'll wait.  

 

(by the way, just to get it out of the way, these thoughts, all the stuff on my site is what I think personally and has nothing to do with the people I work for.  I think I should say that once in awhile.)

 

That was MacWorld.  I drove home Thursday, had some crazy meetings on Friday, and then Saturday morning was off to Tokyo.

 

To

ky

o

 

 

 

holy crap.  All my life I have wanted to go to this amazing city.  I assumed I knew what to expect--and I did, i got what I expected and then my expectations were trampled over by a thousand busy salariman in Shibuya.  First thoughts:

 

- biggest city I have ever seen.  This is the first megacity I have ever been to.  LA is a sprawl, New York is a metropolis, San Francisco is city on the hill, Tokyo is the megacity.  You go up 50 floors and look out the window?  It's all city.  ALL city.  I have some pictures...it just keeps going.  all buildings. towers in the distance?  Mount Fuji?  Who knows where that is, look at Roppongi Hills.

 

- you see the pictures with people walking around with white dust masks on?  They are not wearing them because the air is bad.  They are wearing them because they are sick and they don't want to get anyone else sick.  Think about that for a second.  Everyone does this--it is the culture.  Whit asked an editor at this press event we were at, "Well, don't you think some people are like, 'Ugh, I feel sick but I just don't want to wear the damn mask today?'" and the guy paused and thought for what seemed like 10 seconds.  He was silent for almost 10 seconds and looked back at us and replied, "well, I suppose that would be possible..."  The best?  Whit was walking down the street and saw some dude with his mask pulled down so he could smoke his cigarette.

 

I loved Tokyo.  Wait till you see the pictures.  I can't wait--I think we took over 200 and  I have some great movies, too.  Whit came along, too--she did her own thing while I was at work (and work I did, I was very busy, but it was cool) and then we went out in the evening.  

 

Just a few thoughts that come to mind:

 

- Shibuya - all those people cross the street. it happens.  the video screens blaring ads for cosmetics and car insurance..right there in your face.  record stores and cafes literally everywhere

 

literally everywhere you went you could find some hole in the wall cafe or bar. or both.  places with 7 seats where the guy took 10 minutes to brew the coffee and you took 20 to sip it from the nice china and listen to the dude's jazz collection, all the while Tokyo HAPPENING outside your door, 15' down the circular staircase it took you 15 minutes to find.

 

no street names or numbers.  just "the third building on the fourth block of the 2nd section of that place...on the fifth floor"--seriously.  

 

The first few days, the first night I got there, I couldn't believe it.  I hadn't been that taken with a place since I first visited new york in 1996.  If I were not an actor, i would have moved to Tokyo, i think.  It's that good. It's that insane.  Now?  I would love to be there for a few months, but I miss trees and flowers and vowed to stay away from winters that cold a while ago.  bitterly cold winds...invigorating at first, the irritating, then loathsome.

 

(I AM SO FREAKING CRAMPED.  Imagine, or just do it--just pull back your elbows almost as far as they can go, and then press them against your sides, tight, and then pretend you are typing about, yeah, about 7" in front of you, your palms about 3" from your stomach.  that's me right now.  My right thumb wants to...well, I dunno.  It's tired of this, that's for sure.)

 

getting tired, i am trying to be tired, it's 2am in LA and 7pm the same day in tokyo.  

 

Advertising everywhere.  Wow.  I can honestly say the US shows a lot of restraint compared to Tokyo.  There are ads everywhere you look in the Tokyo subways.  above the seats, and above that, on the ceilings.  Little flag type ads that hang from the ceilings.  rows and rows.  video screens.  little ads between the door and the windows.  I was surprised they didn't cover the windows, to be honest.  Still, it was good for me, it helped me get my hiragana and katakana back a bit.  

 

Not a lot of trees, but it was winter, so the trees that were there were very devoid of green. I have a feeling that cherry blossoms would be awesome and kind of understand why they take on no small significance in the culture.

 

flying into Japan is like flying over a very large makeup kit, by the way.  lots and lots of rectangles, all of them looking like different kinds of blush and powder.  It does, check it out.

 

 

< my battery died while I wrote this so I am going to post this first part and then write a second part...>