Along with Apple's greater successes, most notably the iPod and most recently with its new line of Intel computers, are products that the company would rather soon forget. Thirty years of experience in the world of computer electronics will do that to you.

Among the bastard products that Apple has produced are: The Lisa, a machine that, while innovative for its graphics user interface, was priced ridiculously high at $10,000; the Newton, one of the first Palm-like devices out there that appeared a generation too soon for consumers; and the Taligent, one of the companies few vaporware computers that promised the world, but delivered nothing in the end.

According to Forbes: Lucky for Apple, almost every disappointment or pratfall led to a bright idea that kept the company alive. For example, it took the commercial failure of the cumbersome and slow Macintosh Portable computer to give way to the svelte, ergonomic PowerBook laptop--a basic design that has stayed with the industry to this day. The same is true of the dynamic personalities behind the technological innovations. If Steve Jobs hadnÂ?t been ousted from the company and forced to watch the ten-year reign of three ineffectual chief executives, he may never have had the creative burst that led to the iMac, the iPod and iTunes.

So it all worked out in the end.

Wouldn't it be nice to stay in a hotel where your every need would be taken care, of including your choice of music? Well at the 21C hotel in Louisville that is just what they do.

This 21 century hotel is all about relaxation and convenience, from the time you arrive at the hotel and are whisked directly to your room with no check-in, to the time you leave with the option to take your pre-programmed iPod with home with you.

Yup you heard right! When you call to make a reservation you will be contacted 5 to 7 days later asking if you need movie tickets, transportation and your favorite music. The music is then downloaded onto an iPod that will be waiting for you in your room.

At the end of your stay you will have the option of taking this pre-programmed iPod with you but don't get me wrong you credit card will be charged for it along with the $209 USD to $359 USD a night that you will be charges.

You will have to hold of on your reservations for now cause the hotel is still under construction and wont be finished till the end of the year.

If you asked the question seven years ago, you'd probably be laughed at: Which company has been more successful, Apple or Microsoft? The question is posed again now, in the context of the hurricane that Apple has been in recent years, and now actually requires some thought to answer.

Cnet is seeking the opinion of its readers to decide which company has experienced more success in the electronics world of computers. While Microsoft has benefited more chiefly from the financial gains of producing THE operating system used by the masses, Apple has gained a credibility all its own by pioneering areas that didn't exist before them, and now innovating on popular ideas and perfecting them.

According to the article: Both companies are clearly technology pioneers that have secured their places in the PC revolution. But, just for the sake of argument, if you had to pick just one company to label the most successful, which would it be?

Well, who wants to take a stab at it? I, on the other hand, think the question should really be: Who would win in a fist fight, Steve Jobs or Bill Gates?

I haven't been to any of the Apple stores that have the cool glass staircases, but I've seen some pictures.  Now there's a great write-up on the origin of this eye-catching bit of architecture.

It seems that none other than Steve Jobs himself is named on the patent file for this ascension technique.  The technical feet is very impressive, considering the weight and code requirements that had to be met. 

The writer of the article gets a little excited (in my opinion) about the experience of walking up and down the glass stair case, but then again I've never done it, so I can't really talk.  If you've been there, done that, give us the scoop - is it really THAT cool?

Sometimes our passion for the devices we live with everyday grow beyond the simple limitation of a consumer and his newly purchased product and extends to the realms of fascination. Accordingly, there are people out there who swear by products they simply can't live without, and a smaller number that simply swears when someone who does live without them.

The San Francisco Chronicle has a few checkpoint items to tell whether or not you fall into this latter category, that pledges allegiance to a product that cannot talk to them, but they say speaks to them. Here they are:

1. You believe that Apple is superior and have tried to convert people.
2. You consider Steve Jobs your god.
3. You sent a 'Happy 30th Birthday' to Steve Jobs.
4. You refuse to throw away your old Mac computers and/or collect vintage Macs and other Apple paraphernalia.
5. You start your day by reading  Apple blogs.

Um, check, check. Check, check aaaannnndddd, check!

This is a comfort for Apple. After a gripe with the French government over a bill forcing Apple to make its downloads work on all digital music players, the American Government expressed its support to the embattled music download service company. Citing violations of intellectual property rights as the reason why the American government is throwing its support to Apple, the American Commerce Secretary asserts that any apparent violation of one's property right will not go uninvestigated.

Is this another Franco-American cultural and technological war? Also, would this mean the end of iPod sales in France? I would have to think so.

So Microsoft pushed Vista's launch into January of 2007.  That's like what, the 15th time they've set a new [later] release date?  And there's now many 'innovative' features shipping with it?  Sorry, I'll get off my soap box here.

But it's interesting how OS releases differ between Microsoft and Apple.  Apple fans tend to be excited, and line up for these releases.  It's a party - not because Apple plays it up that way, but because people want to be a part of it.  Microsoft on the other hand has to try to make a big deal out of it through their marketing department.  The delays don't seem to be winning any fans either.

The Mini-Microsoft blog is extremely disappointed, and calls for the immediate firings of many of the top people in Redmond.  Someone needs to be held accountable, right?  The best part comes in the comments at the bottom.  What appears to be a bunch of Microsoft employees, sound like they're awfully pro-OS X, and not so pro-Vista.  Seems like bad news for MS when it's got employees who are sick of it's incompetent execution, and support the Apple alternative...  (Course these people could be anyone, but it's more fun to assume they are indeed MS employees.)

Oh, and speculation is that 10.5 (Leopard) may be out just before, or around the same time as Vista...if it doesn't get pushed out any more in the next 10 months.

The Financial Times reports that, depending on how the French parliament votes on a draft copyright law, Apple may have to make music downloaded from its iTunes site compatible with rival platforms.

The French parliament is currently debating whether or not to approve a draft copyright law that would impose "interoperability" on online music stores such that music downloaded from any site can be played on any platform. Should the law be passed Sony and Microsoft would also be forced to comply with it, but in the event that it is passed Apple has the most to lose. Apple currently dominates the world market for paid MP3 downloads.

The most drastic option open to Apple is for it to pull out of France entirely. We have to admit that this does make some sense; after all, the company's business interests are at stake, and online music downloads are hardly a marginal business for Apple.

That said, however, we also think that if the law is passed, it might be beneficial for Apple to try to stand its ground at first and see how it can be circumnavigated, if at all. The law being debated implements an EU directive regarding intellectual property, and as such this might only be the first of many such cases all throughout Europe.

Better learn how to deal with it now than have to keep having to give up ground later on, oui?

Since students are walking around campus's everywhere listening to there favorite tunes on there iPods than why not use the iPod as an educational tool.

Georgia college & State University is doing just that. Out of a staff of 300 faculty 100 are now using the ipod to assist in there students learning. For example in some classes you are able to download movies instead of watching them in class which allows the teacher to free up that time for classroom discussions.

Other professors us the iPod for lectures, language study programs, music and thumbnail art sketches which are available for students to download onto their iPods.

That sounds fine and dandy but what if a student doesn't have an iPod? No worries they have a solution for that with 400 owned iPods on loan to students for certain classes or they can be checked out of the libraries. The faculty is so serious about the iPod technology that they have organized a team called iDreamers who's job it is to come up with new ideas such as portable yearbooks.

Of course there are some critics to this new use of technology as stated below.

"Learning is through interaction, discussion, critical questioning and challenging of assumptions," said Donna Qualters, director of the Center for Effective Teaching at Northeastern University in Boston. "Those cannot be duplicated on an iPod -- you have to be there to experience that learning."

This doesn't stop GCSU who's officials say that the school makes sure the iPod supplements the classroom work.

I think it would be great to see the iPod integrated into more universities. You can't stop technology so why not use it.

Bryan Appleyard at the Sunday Times writes a reflective piece on Apple (for the company's rapidly approaching 30th birthday).

In it he asserts that anyone seeking to comprehend Apple and its successes and failures to date must focus on the aesthetic aspect of the company and its products, not just their technical side. As he says, the company refuses to identify itself as just a company: it is culture, art, and a quasi-religion as well, which impacts on the design and features of the products it sells, and how it sells them too.

ItÂ?s an art thing, says Appleyard, the story of how, even in our time, art and art alone can make, break, remake and, above all, express a contemporary cultural reality. Makes a lot of sense, and nicely put to boot. Click the link for more. It's a little long, but well worth the read.