Goodnight, Johnny.

Here's the last interview that Johnny did for Esquire magazine, way back in June of 2002. This was only one of two interviews that Johnny did after leaving The Tonight Show on May 22, 1992. (I think he also did an interview for the Washington Post).

This interview/article is by the excellent Bill Zehme. I know you'll like it - all ten pages of Carsonian glory.

-aB

The Genius of Apple. Again.

Have you seen the new iPod Shuffle? A pretty neat, albeit not necessarily new innovation. iRiver and Creative Labs have both made small, flash-based mp3 players for a year or two.

Apple's newest product is pretty similar to these. Subtle differences include the fantastic Apple Design and a USB-based rechargable battery (instead of reliance on AA or AAA batteries). It's also a pretty good value, with the 512MB flavor going for $99 and the 1GB going for $149. (Although iRiver and Creative Labs models have LCD screens and other features at this price point.)

I'm betting that the margin on this product is rather small. Apple is betting on making money on the acessories. Go into any Apple store around the country, and you'll see about 10-15% of the shelving in the store dedicated to earphones, cases, chargers and car adapters (rather than computers and software). Recently, Apple retail stores doubled store space dedicated to iPod accessories, breaking up iPod and iPod Mini SKUs into different departments to help alleviate traffic issues in the stores. Too many people crowding in too small a space. Who thought?

And get ready for more. Go to Apple's iPod Web page, and you'll see the dozen or so accessories that will be coming out for the Shuffle in the next few weeks. Accessories are where the money is.

But there is one accessory missing from this list. One thing - one accessory - that it made more sense to include with all new iPod Shuffles. Something it made sense to give away rather than trying to milk $12 out of each iPod Suffle buyer. What is it? A lanyard.

Why is this so important. It takes the Shuffle from being an audio player to being a FASHION ACCESSORY. It's an advertisment for Apple and the iPod product. Just like the trademark white earbuds have been an ad for an "iPod In Your Pocket," the Shuffle lanyard will be sandwich board on every early adopting consumer around the planet. Because they'll want to show off their new toy, too.

Good thinking.

-aB

Absolutely Amazing Use of RSS Technology

Today, someone showed me the Web site 10x10, at www.tenbyten.org. Basically, it culls the RSS news feeds every hour and picks the top 100 stories, and their corresponding images. Those images are then shown in a 10x10 grid that us updated hourly.

Their press materials do a lot better explaining it, so here's a snippet of their "Process";

Every hour, 10x10 scans the RSS feeds of several leading international news sources, and performs an elaborate process of weighted linguistic analysis on the text contained in their top news stories. After this process, conclusions are automatically drawn about the hour's most important words. The top 100 words are chosen, along with 100 corresponding images, culled from the source news stories. At the end of each day, month, and year, 10x10 looks back through its archives to conclude the top 100 words for the given time period. In this way, a constantly evolving record of our world is formed, based on prominent world events, without any human input.

Go take a look. Pretty cool. It's a lot like a photographic version of the "News Maps" that I discussed here at GumpRants.com back in August.

-aB

Cingular Wireless + Text Messaging = Tsunami Relief

Cingular is giving all of its customers with text message service the ability to donate to the tsunami relief in South Asia and East Africa.

Over the next week or so, Cingular cusomers will receive a text message from Cingular, telling them how they can donate. By replying to the text message, customers can choose which of three charities they'd like to contribute to (Red Cross, UNICEF and Save the Children). Customers can also choose to donate $0.99 or $1.99, the same cost of a ring tone. All of the money will go to the charities.

Read about the program here.

I have a Cingular phone. I'll let you know when I get the message.

-aB

Great Interview of Jeff Bezos

Wired online today is presenting a short, but good interview of Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos.

In the interview, Bezos speaks about Amazon.com's inventory model, the success of "Search Inside the Book," and about the declining "bricks and mortar" music business.

He also talks about his predictions for the percentage of retail that will be transacted online. Snippet:

I think online ultimately will be 10 to 15 percent of retail. The vast majority of retailing will stay in the physical world because people have acute needs, they want things now. Also, there are products, like a yard rake, where the economics of delivery don't make sense. But a 600-pound table saw is a great item to sell online because it always gets delivered. And it's expensive enough that there is enough profit in it to cover the cost of shipping. Plasma TVs, same idea.

At the end of the interview, Bezos shares why Amazon.com is no longer doing television advertising. Very interesting stuff. Enjoy.

-aB

Hi-Def Radio One Step Closer

2,500 stations have now signed on to broadcast digital radio signals from their ground towers using this new standard.

This is radio's response to XM and Sirrus satellite radio. The only problem is that HD radio will require new equipment, just like satellite radio. And they still have the issue of limitations on broadcasting using ground towers.

Here's a snippet of the release:

The company charged with developing the standard for digital radio in the United States said on Wednesday it has struck deals to convert another 2,000 stations nationwide to its format.

The industry-backed iBiquity Digital Corp. said the new AM and FM outlets would bring the total number of stations broadcasting in the digital standard, called HD Radio, to 2,500 across the country.

HD Radio, the traditional broadcast radio business's answer to satellite, promises CD-quality audio without static or hiss, along with supplemental data services like song information and traffic reports.

Read the full story here.

-aB