Apple Stores on CUUSOO
Posted: March 26, 2012 Filed under: Apple, LEGO | Tags: Apple, Apple Store, architecture, CUUSOO, LEGO, modular Leave a comment »Speaking of LEGO and architecture, some interesting Apple Store designs have popped up on LEGO’s crowd-sourcing site CUUSOO. These have absolutely no hope of getting produced (can you imagine Apple giving permission for their logo on anything?), but they are nice models that deserve a mention. In fact, they deserve your votes too, so go to CUUSOO and support whichever one you find most attractive (or, better yet, all of them.)
This model from “gotoandbuild” made the rounds of several Apple news sites, and has racked up 1,800 votes thanks to the exposure. That’s not all that close to the necessary 10,000, but it does make it the most popular so far. It started off as a small store and morphed into a larger construction as it gained momentum. The inclusion of Steve Jobs and Steve Woz figures (including Segway!) is genius, though I’m not a big fan of the interior since the computers are fairly bulky and drab. That Apple logo could use some work too, but overall it’s a nice set.
This alternative from “kjveg1″ is my favorite, although the main photo doesn’t give it credit. Since it’s created with LDD software rather than physical bricks, it’s harder to get compelling images. This building is about the same size, but the products inside look much better and it includes the classic window displays featured in every Apple Store. The hanging logo on the second story is nearly perfect, and there’s an absolutely remarkable billboard on the back. Even the “floating” glass staircase is just right. I might have to build this one myself someday.
Last but not least, “Sess” has proposed a LEGO Architecture set featuring the famous 5th Ave. Apple Store in New York City. The iconic cube lends itself well to microscale LEGO, and the Architecture sets command a premium brand that fits Apple. It’s a much smaller construction, but it would look fantastic on my desk.
Apple Store Observations on the New MacBook Air
Posted: August 1, 2011 Filed under: Apple | Tags: Apple Store, MacBook Air, MacStories 1 Comment »Cody Fink at MacStories reports on his latest visit to the local Apple Store, where he played with the new MacBook Airs for an hour. However, his real goal was to observe the customers interested in Apple’s latest notebook. It’s an interesting experiment, and one I’ve done less seriously many times. By taking the time to listen, he discovered some interesting things about people’s perceptions of the Air. It turns out that most shoppers were looking for a college laptop as a family, as one might expect. People have serious misgivings about the lack of an optical drive, and most have trouble believing it has the speed and processing power to hold up. These are deal-breakers for some, despite what Ben Brooks thinks. The average consumer is still deeply entrenched in the specs-only method of buying computers, and seeing miniscule storage space, absurdly thin design, and no optical drive can be a turn-off. I know several people who have passed up the Air for the latter reason alone. As Cody says in his conclusion, the Air is truly ahead of its time, but I have a feeling that it won’t be for long.
iPad hands-on
Posted: March 15, 2011 Filed under: Apple | Tags: Apple Store, BolgPress, iPad Leave a comment »Well, I took a trip to the local Apple Store to try out an iPad 2 in depth, and I learned a few things. First, it’s perfect for anyone who knows nothing about computers. This is an old discovery, but it’s truer than ever. Facetime and PhotoBooth really flesh out the possibilities in the latest model. It’s also very fast – I noticed a few slowdowns, but it was overall incredibly snappy. It handled multiple multitasking apps and didn’t lag much in the slightest. If I was made of money, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy one for everyone I know who has computer troubles. I’d also make excellent use of it, but that’ll have to wait for a bit.
Unfortunately I had to take a short trip over to the MacBook Airs to write this, since the online WordPress editing didn’t work at all on the iPad – typing resulted only in white space. Obviously it can’t do everything, but I’ve had good luck using BlogPress on my iPod touch – I’m sure it works just as well on the iPad.
