Videos of two TV commercials from Dodge (the car company). One that PETA hates, one that mocks PETA.

1. Dodge TV commercial with monkey.
2. Dodge TV commercial with invisible monkey.

Priceless.

Better than the Apple Store Genius Bar, it’s Apple’s new Friend Bar. Video from ONN:

Building on the success of their Genius Bars, today Apple Stores across the country unveiled the Friend Bar where obsessive Apple users can come to discuss Mac products…

And, in news of the future:

The company also announced that next year it will roll out the iStore, a miniature version of an Apple Store which customers can set up in their own home.

So you can stand in line all day in the comfort of your home. Only $6,000.

Someone needs to tell Adobe that the iPhone and iPad are for media consumption, not media creation. Photoshop Express for iPad and iPhone takes over where Photoshop Mobile left off:

Take the editing* and sharing ease of Photoshop.com wherever you go. Adobe Photoshop Express software is more than a mobile photo editor, it lets you upload, view and share your photos.

*Editing support and features vary by mobile device.

Uh huh.

Why did HP’s board really ditch CEO Mark Hurd? Sex? No. Expense account? Nope. From Eric Schonfeld on a survey published in TechCrunch:

Steve Jobs has a 98 percent approval rating among Apple employees, Cisco CEO John Chambers has an 81 percent approval rating, and Hurd’s tennis partner and defender, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, has a 78 percent approval rating.  Even Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz (56%) and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer (52%) are more loved by their employees than Hurd.

HP’s employees hated the guy.

Every now and then an analyst or investment group tells Apple to give back to shareholders some of the company’s tens of billions of cash. Jennifer Valentino-DeVries in The Wall Street Journal:

As of June 26, Apple had cash plus short- and long-term securities worth $45.8 billion, up $4.1 billion in three months. What does the company plan to do with that cash?

Sanford Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi:

We think Apple’s cash policy — or lack thereof — is an important shareholder issue and one that we believe needs to be better addressed by Apple’s board.

What should Apple do with the nearly $46-billion cash hoarde? Sit on it. It’s not like shareholders haven’t been rewarded already.

Dr. Atakan Peker, co-inventor of Liquidmetal, says the product may show up in future Apple products. Duh. From Cult of Mac.

It is hard to predict what will come, when you leave such a technology to the imagination and creativity of Apple product development and innovation. I won’t be surprised with some very interesting products in the future.

Apple has an exclusive agreement with Liquidmetal Technologies to use the product in consumer electronics. I bet Apple has figured out a way to reduce costs of the exotic material.

Dr. Laura Schlessinger used the N word to a caller on her radio show. Not once, but several times.

I articulated the N-word all the way out — more than one time, and that was wrong. I’ll say it again — that was wrong.

She used the N word to a caller to suggest how often she’s heard it, and it shouldn’t automatically be cause for offense. When the caller objected, Schlessinger replied:

Oh, then I guess you don’t watch HBO or listen to any black comedians.

Fair enough. Why is it that the N word is acceptable for some, but not others? And isn’t that a form of language racism?

From AP:

Shoots of marsh grass and bushes of mangrove trees already are starting to grow back in the bay where just months ago photographers shot startling images of dying pelicans coated in oil from the massive Gulf oil spill.

In other words, nature finds a way, and the doom-and-gloom crowd were wrong?

Whether it is a triumph of cleanup work, the marshes’ resiliency or both, scientists have reported regrowth of grasses, black mangrove trees and roseau cane, a lush, tall cane found in the brackish waters around the mouth of the Mississippi River.

What about all the pre-oiled shrimp and fish showing up in Gulf Coast restaurants? What about all the oil in the Gulf? Where did it all go?

Who should we believe about this mess?

Matt Hamblen spreads rumors from a New York Times blogger in Computerworld:

Amazon.com is reportedly considering building prototypes of gadgets other than its Kindle e-reader.

Because the Kindle is such a sales success. How many Kindles have been sold? No one knows and Amazon won’t say. Analyst Jack Gold:

If all Amazon is doing is making a gadget to sell, why would they not just resell all the other devices available on the market from all the vendors that want to sell in the Amazon marketplace? But having a gadget plus services makes sense, following the Kindle example.

Because the Kindle has been such a huge success, 10 years after the iPod Amazon should get into the portable media player business. Uh huh. right.

Nicholas Delon in CrunchGear on the new Windows PC trojan horse which empties bank accounts:

Oh, it only affects Windows systems. But you knew that already.

The scariest part is that the trojan, after clear out your bank account, serves up a fake bank statement page. It looks like you have all of your money, but you actually have $50 left in your entire account.

Again, no current anti-malware software can detect the trojan, so for the time being you’re on your on.

I suggest we all stop using the Internet to be safe.

Works for me. Would the internet be a better place without Windows PCs?

Ridiculous summary by John Malloy in Fast Company:

Intel was clobbered after Barclays Capital said Apple’s iPad is eating away at sales of PCs and netbooks that use its chips. The firm cut shares of the world’s largest chipmaker to ‘equal weight’ from ‘overweight.’

It isn’t the iPad doing the damage. It’s Intel damaging itself by getting crushed from dozens of mobile devices using non-Intel chips.

Christian Rudder has a bunch of charts from surveys which show the obvious. iPhone users are better looking and have more sex.

In conclusion, the data strongly suggest that if you’re single, you (or someone you know) should learn a little bit about photography. Technique can make or break your photograph, and the right decisions can get you more dates.

It’s actually not that hard. Use a decent camera. Go easy on the flash. Own the foreground. Take your picture in the afternoon. Then visit the nearest Apple store. Done.

My fiance’ uses an Android smart phone. I use an iPhone. The charts are accurate on one thing. I’m better looking, but the sex is 50-50.

Microsoft is feeling the pinch and reverting to their nasty days will Bill Gates was alive. Check out the Microsoft PC versus Mac web site:

There are some things you simply can’t do out of the box with a Mac like watch, pause, rewind, and record TV like a DVR.

It’s funny how many PCs running Windows 7 can’t do that, either.

Most Macs can’t hook up to your TV unless you buy a converter dongle. Many PCs running Windows 7 are designed to connect directly to TVs, so you can watch movies and see photos on the big screen.

Most versus many?

Unlike Macs, many PCs running Windows 7 support Touch, so you can browse online newspapers, flick through photo albums, and shuffle files and folders—using nothing but your fingers.

Yes, and those touch screen PCs have been such hot sellers. So have the tablets running Windows.

Apple’s productivity suite file formats won’t open in Microsoft Office on PCs. This can be a real hassle for Mac users sharing work documents with PC users.

No mention of Microsoft Office for Mac. I wonder why?

Google and Verizon propose a Net neutrality framework. From Marguerite Reardon in CNET News:

The major breakthrough in the proposal is an agreement that the nondiscrimination clause that the Federal Communications Commission has proposed as part of its regulatory efforts would be enforceable.

If it’s so good then why are other carriers and major players not lining up to help push the proposal into law? Maybe it’s only good for Google and Verizon.