ESPN.com: China boycotts ceremony in Taiwan

The 100-strong Chinese delegation boycotted the opening ceremony of the World Games in Taiwan on Thursday, underscoring the limits of the historic breakthrough in relations between Taipei and Beijing.
…
“Ma has been telling Taiwanese that Beijing accepts his claim that Taiwan and China can agree to differ on whether the two sides belong to the same country, but the Chinese delegation’s no-show has contradicted that,” said Lo, who generally supports the pro-independence opposition. “This will lead people to question the legitimacy of Ma’s statements.”

But fellow political scientist George Tsai of Taipei’s Chinese Culture University — usually a supporter of the government — said that China had shown goodwill by allowing Ma to preside over the opening ceremony.

“Beijing could demand the World Games follow Olympic rules and forbid Ma to attend, but it didn’t,” Tsai said. “This shows Beijing has made concessions.”

That’s so “generous” of Beijing not to press the World Games to ban the President of Taiwan from attending when it’s being held in his own country.  It certainly calls into question President Ma’s strategy of being friends with China if China can’t even attend the opening ceremony of the World Games.

Taiwan is a de facto independent nation since World War II ended Japanese rule. 

From Fortune.com: New iPhone no threat to the Flip camcorder

The iPhone can do almost everything the Flip
can, and in some cases, even more. In spite of this, tech and camcorder industry analysts don’t believe it’s a threat. Ironically, they say that many consumers are attracted to the Flip precisely because it lacks the iPhone’s panoply of functions and add-ons.
…
Despite the seeming trend of convergence toward a single multipurpose device, analysts claim many consumers still prefer electronics dedicated to one task. “The notion of the hybrid cannibal device always pops up,” says Chris Chute of research firm IDC. “The consumer doesn’t say to themselves, ‘I’m going to buy one device that does everything okay.'”

The iPhone is a stealth threat to all single function devices.  You might not buy the iPhone thinking it’ll replace all these devices, but when you use it you realize that it’s good enough for all these uses and you have it with you all the time.

I have a Canon PowerShot SD780IS that I really like because of its small size, but unless it’s dark and I need a flash, I can get pictures that are pretty good with the iPhone camera.

And now that the iPhone has video and it’s already in my pocket all the time, I have no need for a Flip camcorder.  So, how is the iPhone not a threat to the Flip?

From Boston.com: Remembering Apollo 11 via Daringfireball.net

Spectacular photos commemorating the 40 years since the launch of Apollo 11 on July 16, 1969.  This is a must see.

From MacNN.com: Microsoft retail shops to open near Apple’s

Microsoft’s planned retail stores will deliberately open near Apple stores, the company’s COO Kevin Turner said in a presentation today at the Windows Partner Conference. The executive was emphatic that the stores wouldn’t imitate Apple retail, at least in the long term, but that they would “innovate.” Specifics of how this would work weren’t mentioned in the session.

“Innovate” for Microsoft means do what Apple does.

The problem is the needs of Apple are different than the needs of Microsoft.  Apple needed the retail stores because of the lack of retailers carrying Apple products and the ones who did often had pretty poor displays of Apple product.

Apple started with the “store within a store” concept at the now defunct CompUSA.  When they first started, Apple actually asked for volunteers to sign up to help answer Apple related questions because the CompUSA workers were clueless about Macs.  I actually worked one Saturday and received an Apple “Think Different” polo to wear while working there.  During the day, I made quite a few sales and had to grab CompUSA employees to checkout.

What does Microsoft need the stores for?  Windows is on nearly every PC shown.  The Xbox360 is pretty popular and sold everywhere.  The Zune?  Well, it exists.

The problem for Microsoft is that they really have nothing compelling to show.  Having Windows on your PC is not a feature, it’s a necessary evil.

From ESPN.com: Judge orders jury trial in Stringer suit

A federal judge in Ohio concluded that manufacturer Riddell Inc. had a duty to warn Stringer that its helmets and shoulder pads could contribute to heat stroke when used in hot conditions.
…
Holschuh wrote it was “reasonably foreseeable … that a user of [Riddell’s] helmets and shoulder pads during extremely hot and humid conditions might suffer from a heat stroke.” Thus, Holschuh concluded, Riddell “owed Stringer a duty to warn.”

If it is reasonably foreseeable, then doesn’t that fall under “common sense”? 

What to do with the leftover flap from the Netflix mailing envelope.

Netflixorigami.com