I love my iPhone and take it with me constantly, but if you think a smart phone is a full on substitute for a Mac (or Windows) notebook, think again. John R. Quain of Fox News tried an iPhone, a Palm Pre, and an Android G1 to see if they could replace a laptop (John, they’ve been called ‘notebooks’ for many years). His troubles are common:

In the end, I only managed to make it 4 days with the smartphones before I gave on my digital expedition and returned to my laptop. Certainly, if all you need to do is send e-mail and occasionally surf the Web, the latest crop of souped-up cell phones can get you pretty far. But for some tasks — such as finishing this article — only a full-fledged notebook will do.

The laws of physics play into this, too. Try writing a lengthy article on any smart phone keyboard. Ouch.

Yoko Ono, widow of Beatle John Lennon says The Beatles are coming to Apple’s iTunes Store. Maybe, but soon? Wouldn’t they rather sell the CDs for six months, then make the tracks available on iTunes? What difference will The Beatles make to the iTunes Store? MacDailyNews:

Apple’s iTunes Store will become “real” to many millions who’ve never purchased a single track online. The Beatles’ stamp of approval will make iTunes Store and the concept of digital downloads something that’s finally worth looking into for many who haven’t done so yet. That’s the real significance of the arrival of The Beatles in Apple’s iTunes Store, not that those of us yet to reach a certain age have long ago ripped our Beatles CDs to iTunes.

“The Beatles stamp of approval?” I don’t buy that. Oldies who remember The Beatles won’t be any more turned on to iTunes purchases just because they can buy Beatles tracks.

Insightful commentary on Microsoft’s decline from John Dvorak got caught in a time and space vortex only to be released for publication five years later. Noteworthy:

Try to remember all the crazy directions Microsoft has gone in over the past few years. Note the dizzy remarks by Chief Executive Steve Ballmer, who recently insisted that online advertising would soon account for the majority of Microsoft’s income.

Microsoft is a software company who profits by Windows and Office, and not much else; especially investments. Contrast Apple’s steely discipline to Microsoft’s child like inability to focus:

Let me restate it. Microsoft is a software company. It has been distracted too easily by the success of others in essentially unrelated fields.

Dvorak goes on to list the fields where Microsoft stumbled:

• Copied AOL with MSN; lost money
• Copied Netscape browser; lost money
• Copied publishers; lost money
• Copied AOL-TV; lost money
• Copied Yahoo! and Google; lost money
• Copied iPod with Zune; lost money

Meanwhile, as Microsoft’s Nero fiddles around, the cash cows die of neglect.

Now comes the latest fiasco: Microsoft wants to open retail stores, all of them next to or near an Apple store. This strategy is reminiscent of the defunct hamburger chain from the 1970s that was a McDonald’s copycat. McDonald’s would do all the research, and then the chain would open a location around the corner. It did no other real advertising or marketing. (At least Microsoft is trying to advertise with its “buy a cheap laptop” ads on TV. Too bad the company doesn’t really sell laptops.).

It’s a slow motion train wreck that we’ve been watching for years. Sad, but somehow it all just fits.

Mac users often point out that it is Microsoft that steals features. That makes Apple Microsoft’s defacto Research and Development Division. Not so, says John Rizzo in InfoWorld:

Windows 7 and Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard each contain features that originated in the other OS. Some features were stolen so long ago that they’ve become part of the computing landscape, and it’s difficult to remember who invented what.

But it’s important to find such features to increase web site page views, and advertising revenue, right? I’ll spill the beans:

1. Finder Sidebar vs. Windows Navigation pane
2. Mac Path Bar vs. Windows Address bar
3. Back and Forward buttons in folder windows
4. Minimize document windows to an icon
5. Screen sharing
6. Time Machine’s backup and restore
7. System preferences control panel
8. ActiveSync & Exchange support
9. Command-tab vs. Alt-tab
10. Terminal

This is looney hit whoring at its finest. Where did Microsoft’s innovations come from if they didn’t come from Apple? Terminal? Mac OS didn’t require terminal access until OS X (it’s built in to Linux and Unix flavors, and OS X, so it’s not exactly copying, is it?). ActiveSync? Apple didn’t copy it as much as license it. The rest are almost as silly.

Why would Apple hold a special event to launch the new iPods right after the Labor Day Weekend? That’s one week before Microsoft launches the Zune HD. Meanwhile, Zune marketing head Chris Stephenson decided to bail on Microsoft and the Zune. Nate Anderson in Ars:

Stephenson’s decision to leave now certainly looks like a no-confidence vote in the Zune’s direction, if not the specific Zune HD model. Certainly, the Zune has failed to do anything so pedestrian as “sell at retail,” despite being quite a decent player with some cool customization options like the Zune Originals program.

And the Zune HD has HD radio, and the Zune store offers a monthly all-you-can-eat subscription service, and Microsoft is paying iPhone app developers to port apps to the Zune, and…