lee crane

The crew at Appleinsider have found the latest patent filings from Apple that outline some new details on a potential “tablet computer” that may or may not be released at the end of September (pictured left). It reminded me of the first laptop I bought at Radio Shack back in 1985 (pictured right). That TRS-80 Model 100 was a great machine.

[Link: Appleinsider via Gizmodo]

I spent the entire summer I turned 17 working on an archaeological dig in Israel. It was for college credit and it was the “Holy Land.” Every morning we’d get up around 3 AM and dig away at Tel Dor until noon when it became too hot to do much of anything but float in the clear blue water of the Mediterranean. We’d spend the afternoons sleeping, hanging out at the agricultural school where we lived, or cruising into town for falafels.

The oddest part of the whole summer was that every Israeli near my age was in the army. Everyone. So most of the people I spoke to off-site were in uniform and carrying guns. Though I was most certainly an annoying American kid on holiday and they were at virtual war with Lebanon, the girls were surprisingly friendly. As one said, patting her Uzi, “Why shouldn’t we be friendly, we have guns.”

Seeing photographer Rachel Papo’s photo collection of girls in the Israeli army Serial No. 387131 brought it all back.

[Link: Serial No. 3817131 via Boing Boing]

B&H Photo is now showing the Canon G9 as discontinued. The camera that every pro photog says is the best point and shoot digi in the world is getting scarce, at exactly the time I thought I’d check it out. Happens all the time.

Guess I’ll have to wait a while and see what Canon has planned that could possibly be better than this one. I’m thinking maybe it will be much discussed Canon Powershot G10, which should be announced in the next month or two.

[Link: B&H Photo]

Looks like Wasserman Media Group’s dive into digital properties with Sportnet (skateboard.com, motocross.com, surfspot.com, etc. . . ) has convinced sports management giant Octagon (you know, that swimmer Michael Phelps’ agent) to kick off its own digital division. It would make sense after their dabbling in “consulting” with live webcaster Go211.com.

To be led by technology industry veteran Jim DeLorenzo, the newly created Octagon Digital will be housed in Virginia within the company’s Athletes & Personalities division. Its focus will comprise three main areas: in-house consulting to existing Octagon units and clients; third-party consulting and property management that will take Octagon beyond its core business in sports and entertainment; and equity investments in new and existing digital businesses.

It is that last one that seems most interesting to me. We’re already getting into action sports digital bubble 3.0. Everyone is doing an action sports site, many are spending money, and very few are bringing it back in. The sports agencies are really the only people with a new angle to the online revenue game. I don’t really like what this does to the idea of “objective media,” but as far as grabbing cash, nobody does it better. (Click here for Octagon’s action sports client list)

[Link: Sports Business Journal]

I grew up in these woods and yet, this is the first time I’ve ever been to Burney Falls. Crazy how amazingly beautiful and incongruous these falls are. The high desert scrub surrounding this lush Eden would never suggest there was something like right off the side of the road. Even stranger: a half mile upstream the river disappears right into the ground.

Next time we’re taking a babysitter and we’re swimming it. No matter how cold it is.

On July 1, 2008 Starbucks announced that it would be cutting back on its retail expansion and closing 600 stores across the United States.

The Huffington Post recently posted the entire list. While looking over the list of closures (and knowing quite of few of the locations personally) I realized what this list actually is: it’s the Starbucks list of America’s really bad neighborhoods.

Check the list for a location near you and you’ll see exactly what I mean.

[Link: Huffington Post]

On the conference call this afternoon (which ended at 3:05 PM PST) Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer broke down outrageously solid numbers for Apple. Revenue was up 38% vs. 07. In the first six months of 08 total revenue are up $4.3 billion compared to the first six months of 07.

Normally, a company reporting these kinds of numbers would see their stock skyrocket. Not Apple. The numbers apparently did not measure up to the Street’s expectations and the stock dropped $17.68 in after-hours trading bringing the stock into what Trading Markets called below “recent support and at its lowest level in nearly three months.”

Apple said it expected fourth-quarter earnings of $1.00 per share and revenue of $7.8 billion, compared with average Wall Street targets of $1.25 earnings per share and $8.3 billion revenue, according to Reuters Estimates. — Reuters

Of course the elephant in the room was Steve Job’s health. Steve was not on the call. And when an analyst asked the question (apologizing profusely before he asked), Peter Oppenheimer’s answer wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for:

Steve loves Apple. He serves as the CEO at the pleasure of the Apple board and has no plans to leave Apple,” he said rather sternly. “Steve’s health is a private matter.”

Uh oh.

Sometimes you find to coolest stuff by taking a wrong turn. I haven’t been checking out the Snowboard-mag.com site at all lately, because, well, I guess because I don’t care. If I had, I would have learned about these cool little snowboarding journals two months ago.

But I didn’t. Instead, while cruising the web late at night I tripped into Shayboarder.com “the world of snowboarding through fembot eyes.” There blogger Shannon had (aside from more action business interviews than the corporate sites) a little write up about All-Weather Riding Journals that were created by a site called Mtnops.

Turns out Mtnops is Mark Sullivan’s newest web venture which he has refrained from discussing with me because he apparently wants to keep it a secret or something (I’m thinking Surfline.com for the snow set). Either way, these riding journals are really cool and you should probably buy one (they’re only $12 and they look Draplin inspired for sure.):

MTNOPS in collaboration with Rite in the Rain present the ALL-WEATHER RIDING JOURNAL. The journal is inspired by aviation and divers log books, to track the days you ride during the season. Everything from weather, to who you ride with, conditions, location and highlights are covered. In addition, the book features a “to work on section’ to track your personal progression.

Each journal is 6″x4″ and features 100 weatherproof pages (protected by U.S. Patent # 6,863,940) to track an entire seasons worth or riding. Each riding journal comes with a MTNOPS ALL-WEATHER PEN. The ALL-WEATHER RIDING JOURNAL can be used at home, on the lift, or in the car and is impervious to wet weather conditions.

[Link: Mtnops via Shayboarder]

[Link: AFP]