Apple Tea ... Leaves -- March 6, 2015

Rumor has it that Apple will be announcing updated MacBook Pros and MacAirs on Monday, March 9, 2015 -- just three days from now.

Shipping time for MacBook Pros and MacAirs has slipped. They used to ship "same day." Starting today, MacBook Pros and MacAirs won't ship for "one day." That one day is a "business day" -- Friday/Monday which suggests to many that if you had planned on ordering a MacBook Pro / MacAir today (the old version) you can still do so (order your laptop) but it won't ship until after Monday's announcement (and you will get the new version). Still rumor.

That announcement could be the "one more thing" that is announced alongside the Apple Watch Monday.

For newbies, this is the simplified Apple line-up, smallest to largest in footprint:

• Apple watch: coming (priced from $349 to $10,000)
• iPods: going
• iPhones: two current models; many, old inexpensive models still around
• tablets: several versions, various sizes, retina or non-retina; larger one coming
• laptops: two -- the MacBook Pro (the workhorse, C-130 of laptops); the MacAir (the Lear Jet of laptops); to be updated
• desktops: iMac; several sizes; older versions with disk drive; newer versions without -- just very, very thin
• super desktop: one

Caveat: that's my take on Apple line-up; it's not entirely correct/accurate, but it's good enough for me. For that, you need to go to Apple.com.

Just a quick note before I sign off for a bit: my workhorse is the MacBook Pro. Off and on over the past few days I have been using my wife's MacAir. The latter is incredible; wow, it's fast and light. It's very possible by the end of the year, I could have my own MacAir but if they come out with a larger (footprint) tablet, that's going to be tough to resist. But most likely, being the "cheap" person I am, I won't get either. Whatever.

Back to that $10,000 watch, at the link:

“Apple has always been about ‘affordable luxury’: at the higher end of the price range and with a premium feel, but it’s always been within reach of the ordinary consumer,” says Jan Dawson, technology analyst at Jackdaw Research. “This is the first time that Apple has moved into straightforward luxury.” 

A trillion-dollar company needs to set itself apart from all the also-rans.

The iPad. A lot of folks seem to be concerned about the iPad -- that it isn't pulling its own weight financially compared to the rest of the Apple line. Hold that thought. Link here. 

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Ice Age Now

Thor

Detroit breaks 114-year low temperature record
Washington, DC, record cold 

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How Blondie Created "Heart Of Glass"

The Wall Street Journal is reporting:

Mr. Stein: Originally, Debbie’s second line of the song was, “Soon turned out, he was a pain in the ass.” Mike thought that might not play well on the radio, so I threw out a phrase, “heart of glass,” which everyone liked. Debbie worked it in as “Soon turned out, had a heart of glass.” That’s the title we used on the song.

Heart of Glass, Blondie

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And The Maltese Falcon

My wife doesn't understand it, but I can watch the same movie five times in a row over the course of two or three nights when I get into "the mood."  Casablanca; The Great Gatsy (DiCaprio), Lost In Translation, Sunset Boulevard, The Big Lebowski, Only Lovers Left Alive, Midnight in Paris, The Maltese Falcon.

It was nice to see a column on the book itself, The Maltese Falcon, in today's WSJ: 

“It is the ultimate detective novel, and frankly not just detective novel,” Mr. Larson said. “I think it’s one of the best novels, period… Here’s this writer, here’s Hammett, who in 217 pages creates this world with four of the absolutely most vivid characters that literature, I think, has ever come up with.” 

I don't think I ever read a Zane Grey western, but my hunch is there are more than several devoted Zane Grey fans that check in on the blog every so often.

So, what am I reading now? I generally read several books at one time, remembering very little from each, but with notes, it helps. Athens by Christian Meier, is the big book right now; but I'm also starting to read Alison Weir's Eleanor of Aquitaine for the second time.  I have to keep reading and re-reading British history to remember it, but I think I finally know where Eleanor fits in.

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In Case You Missed It

You Don't Own Me, Klaus Nomi   From a comment regarding Leslie Gore's version: In 1964, this song/attitude was revolutionary. My sister worked at an A&W drive-in the summer it came out. It was the "car-hops" theme song. When they had a bad night, or pushy customer, they would come in and say "SOMEONE play B-16, NOW! and TURN IT UP!!"
To send a message out to the lot.